Boyd, C.J. & Mieczkowski, T. (1990). Drug use, health, family and social support in crack cocaine users. Addictive Behaviors, 15(5), 481-485.
This article examines the social support network (and lack thereof) of 77 male and 23 female crack cocaine dependent inpatients (ages 18-50) from a drug treatment program. Of particular interest was whether the quality of inpatients' social support networks differed as a function of several variables. These variables included: gender, amount of drug consumption, number of people with whom the drug was smoked, and perceptions of the problem by family members.
Bowser, B.P. (1989). Crack and AIDS: An ethnographic impression. Journal of the National Medical Association, 81(5), 538-540.
This article presents findings of ethnographic surveys of residential blocks in the Bayview Hunter's Point section of San Francisco. Surveys were conducted to determine where crack sales routinely look place. Descriptions of crack sellers and users, the location of crack deals and the general crack culture and economy are provided.
The results of the conducted surveys are said to suggest implications concerning the effect of crack usage on the human immodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic. For example, the point is made that female crack addicts who support their habit through prostitution may transmit HIV more effectively than women addicted to other drugs such as heroin or even to other forms of cocaine.
The author makes the point that the isolation that is characteristic of the drug culture, (users tend to socialize with other users) may prevent acquired immune deficient syndrome from spreading beyond the subculture. However, the point is also made that if crack increases sexual desire and impairs judgement, then teenage addicts may be spreading HIV to other populations at a rate heretofore unsuspected; this because even if they are part of the drug culture, teens do intermingle with other segment...