Inability to Access Addiction Treatment Is Associated with Initiation of Injection Drug Use

Use of needles increases the risk of complications from unhealthy drug use. Addiction treatment may provide an opportunity to prevent young people who have unhealthy drug use from initiation of injection drug use. Researchers used data from the At-Risk Youth Study, a prospective cohort of street-involved youth (age 14–26) in Vancouver, Canada. For this study, they included 462 youth who had never injected drugs at baseline and had at least one follow-up visit.

• The median age of the cohort was 21.5 years and 31% were female. Participants were followed for a median of 22.4 months and 21% initiated injection drug use during follow-up. The median number of years between initiation of “hard” drug use (heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine) and injection drug use was 7.1. Of the cohort, 28% reported being unable to access treatment at some point during the study period.
• On multivariable analyses, inability to access treatment was associated with initiation of injection drug use (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.02). The only other factor with a significant association was methamphetamine use (aHR, 2.00).

Comments:

This study reinforces the importance of accessible and timely treatment for substance use disorder. More needs to be done to reach out to vulnerable youth to prevent progression to more serious problems.

Darius A. Rastegar, MD

Reference:

DeBeck K, Kerr T, Nolan S, et al. Inability to access addiction treatment predicts injection initiation among street-involved youth in a Canadian setting. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2016;11:1.