Giving away used injection equipment: missed prevention message?

Background: Our objective was to examine factors associated with distributive injection equipment sharing and how needle exchange programs (NEPs) can help reduce distributive sharing among injection drug users (IDUs).

Methods: 145 English speaking Canadian IDUs ages 16 years and over who had injected in the past 30 days were recruited for a cross-sectional survey. Participants were asked about their socio-demographic characteristics, HIV risk behaviours, social support, drug treatment readiness, program satisfaction, health and social service use and NEP drug use.

Supervised methadone consumption: client issues and stigma.

Supervised methadone consumption is an important part of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) but may contribute to stigma for clients. Data from qualitative interviews with MMT clients (n = 64) conducted in 2002-2003 in Canada were analyzed using thematic analytic methods. Three themes dominated clients' accounts of supervised consumption (convenient access to services, relationships with pharmacists and dispensing staff, and attributes of the dispensing space) and were interwoven with experiences of stigmatization.