Abstract

Injecting drug use is one of the leading risk factors for infections and drug-related deaths. Despite these risks, many people who inject drugs (PWID) continue to inject despite access to alternative intake methods. In this study, we explore this seemingly paradoxical attraction. We conducted 80 qualitative interviews with PWID, recruited from low threshold settings in five Norwegian cities, where we focus on the process of injection initiation and why PWID maintain such behaviour over time, despite associated negative consequences. The analysis shows how participants’ experiences evolved from a fear of the needle, to embracing it as a meaningful practice. First, this involved social interaction and learning from other PWID, second, appreciating the intensity and speed of the intoxication, third, the positive ritual aspect of injecting, and finally, a devaluation of other modes of use. The study thereby helps expand upon and provide new understandings of the interactional process and cultural context of drug use, in which the interplay of social factors influences individual actions and promotes injecting over other modes of use. Future interventions for reducing the number of PWID thus need to consider how various social contexts impinge on, or even encourage, injecting drug use.

摘要

注射吸毒是感染和与毒品有关的死亡的主要危险因素之一。尽管存在这些风险，许多注射吸毒者 (PWID) 尽管可以使用替代摄入方法，但仍继续注射。在这项研究中，我们探索了这种看似矛盾的吸引力。我们对 PWID 进行了 80 次定性访谈，这些访谈对象来自挪威五个城市的低门槛设置，我们重点关注注射开始的过程，以及为什么 PWID 随着时间的推移保持这种行为，尽管存在相关的负面后果。分析显示了参与者的经历如何从对针头的恐惧演变为将其视为一种有意义的实践。首先，这涉及社交互动和向其他 PWID 学习，其次，了解醉酒的强度和速度，第三，注射的积极仪式方面，最后，其他使用方式的贬值。因此，该研究有助于扩展并提供对药物使用的相互作用过程和文化背景的新理解，其中社会因素的相互作用影响个人行为并促进注射而不是其他使用方式。因此，未来减少注射吸毒者数量的干预措施需要考虑各种社会环境如何影响甚至鼓励注射吸毒。