NCJ Number
178165
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 1999 Pages: 401-422
Date Published
1999
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article reports on a study that examined sniffing as a mode of administration among three subgroups who sniff heroin: those who had never injected, those who were also injecting, and those who had ceased injection.
Abstract
Modified life-history interviews were conducted in 1994 with 26 people currently sniffing but not injecting, recruited in street-based settings in conjunction with an ongoing study of risk behavior and seroprevalence among drug injectors. These were supplemented by survey interviews and brief open-ended interviews with 23 people who combined heroin injecting with heroin sniffing, recruited from a parallel component of the ongoing study, based at a hospital detoxification ward. Not merely a brief precursor to heroin injecting, heroin sniffing can continue for long periods, and persist during and after period of injection. Each subgroup used heroin sniffing to regulate various perceived risks: heroin tolerance and financial expenditure (among those who have never injected), situational risks (among current injectors), and personal crises (among former injectors). These findings suggest the importance of personal factors over syringe availability or fear of HIV in use of modes of heroin administration. 1 table and 37 references