The influence of the idu

The Influence of...

____________

LAWRENCE                EAGLE-TRIBUNE                        MASS. HEALTH                 CDC

Although case studies show that MSM is the prevailing mode of transmission, IDU has been a larger factor that has been contributing to the cumulative AIDS cases in Massachusetts. Thirty six percent of the cumulative AIDS cases in Essex County, and 34% of the cumulative AIDS cases in the Massachusetts state were due to IDU. Between the years 1996 and 1998, approximately 471,000 persons used heroin for the first time in Massachusetts, and 72% of these users were under the age of 25. Heroin has been affecting adolescent drug users significantly. Younger IDUs in Massachusetts use heroin as their primary drug of choice, and compared to middle-aged and older users, are more likely to have a history of mental health treatment. The higher rate of young injection drug users may be due to decrease in cost of these injection drugs during the past two decades. Drug users who are dependant on heroin are mostly unemployed, which makes coherent sense being that today heroin would be sold for only $4. Moreover, Boston is one of only four cities in Massachusetts where syringes can be legally purchased through state-supervised programs (5). Drug use has been a frequent cause of death, and providing clean syringes alone for these drug users in the city does not seem to reduce the rate of those infected with AIDS (32, 33). Moreover, if an individual must be of legal age to acquire clean syringes, how do adolescent drug users acquire clean syringes? There must be some alternate route to decline the number of adolescents who begin to use drugs, and still provide for the older IDUs with syringes.