HIV infection among victims of accidental fatal drug overdoses in New York City

Abstract

If opiate abuse continues to rise in the United States, HIV infection will increase in the next few years. Women who abuse drugs participate in risky sexual practices and are more likely than men to develop HIV infection from receptive sex as well as sharing of needles. Harm reduction programs should address risky sex as well as needle programs. There should be further study of why African-Americans who died of drug overdoses have the highest rates of HIV infection.

Gender differences in sharing injecting equipment by drug users in England

“…Doherty et al, 1998;Tardiff et al, 1997;Thorpe et al, 1997), but overall there is a com plex pattern of ® ndings from studies outside Britain. This research has been narrowly concerned with sharing needles and syringes rather th an the wh ole range of injecting equipm ent.…”

The governance of female drug users

“…Stricter enforcement against women for drug use violations in the US, Canada and the UK is testimony to the greater responsibility for risk avoidance female drug users have to bear. Within drug policy, categories of risk constitute women illicit drug users as more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour and injecting practices than men, to risk the health and wellbeing of the foetus in pregnancy and their children, and place communities at risk of moral contamination (Tardiff et al, 1997;Ettorre, 2007). Women's illicit drug use is frequently constructed as signalling sexual promiscuity and associated with prostitution (see, for example, Inciardi et al, 1993).…”

The Governance of Female Drug Users

“…Stricter enforcement against women for drug use violations in the US, Canada and the UK is testimony to the greater responsibility for risk avoidance female drug users have to bear. Within drug policy, categories of risk constitute women illicit drug users as more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour and injecting practices than men, to risk the health and wellbeing of the foetus in pregnancy and their children, and place communities at risk of moral contamination (Tardiff et al, 1997;Ettorre, 2007). Women's illicit drug use is frequently constructed as signalling sexual promiscuity and associated with prostitution (see, for example, Inciardi et al, 1993).…”