Invisible drug injectors revealed
Julie Szego
Social Affairs Reporter
August 7, 2003
There is a public servant on a salary of $80,000, a fashion designer, computer programmer, hairdresser and successful musician. There are home owners earning a comfortable crust and enjoying stable lifestyles.
A study of injecting drug users who frequented the Salvation Army's health information exchange seeking clean syringes during six weeks last year revealed profiles at odds with common stereotypes, according to a Melbourne researcher.
In Who's Using?, James Rowe, from RMIT University's Centre for Applied Social Research, found that of more than 550 users who attended the exchange over one week, about one-third were not receiving Centrelink benefits. About 20 per cent of more than 400 users had not received housing assistance in the past two years.
Dr Rowe said in-depth interviews with a smaller sample of 150 users showed that more than 10 per cent had full-time jobs, in the arts, the public service and the IT industry. All were recreational drug users, injecting amphetamines, cocaine or heroin, but able to keep their lives on track. Most obtained needles from the Salvation Army service because of its discreet shop-front, Dr Rowe said.
"It's usually very hard to access this population of drug users, so researchers tend to get only the most visible 'bottom end'," he said. "They just don't reveal themselves as drug users because they hold down jobs and are aware of the social stigma involved."
The skewed statistics then formed the basis of "prohibitionist" drug policies that wrongly assumed all users were criminals.
About 48,000 people contacted the Salvation Army service last year to obtain syringes and condoms as part of the State Government's harm minimisation policy.
The study found that street-based users, such as homeless people, faced greater health risks but also considerable obstacles getting medical attention. This was mainly due to many medical services being closed at night and on weekends.
Dr Rowe said reduced levels of street heroin did not mean users were injecting less, as many of those surveyed administered cocaine, tranquillisers and amphetamines intravenously.
From:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/06/1060145724518.html
