Drug Procurement Practices of the Out-of-Treatment Chronic Drug Abuser: ACooperative Agreement for AIDS Community-Based Research Consortium Project

摘要

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) sponsored a study of the drugprocurement practices of active injecting drug users (IDUs) and crack users. Using a community-based research infrastructure developed by NIDA to respond to emerging drug-related issues, trends, and consequences, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the study designed a rapid response assessment of patterns of drug use, methods obtaining drugs, and income sources and expenditures for drugs in a noninstitutionalized, out-of-treatment population. The identification of patterns and procurement practices of chronic drug-using populations can be useful in the formulation of drug abuse policy decision. The selected sites provide regional representation and diversity in demographic composition, the price of street drugs, procurement patterns, and resources used to obtain illicit drugs. Data collection was performed using structured interviews. Data collection at each Drug Procurement Study site was guided by the primary objective of providing a sample of the population of out-of-treatment, noninstitutionalized drug users based upon local knowledge of patterns and trends.