Injection drug Use

Injection drug use is risky for a host of reasons, and may affect men and women differently. However, the essence of that risk may be broken down into two broad categories: addiction-risk and Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD)-risk. Of course, these categories mutually enforce one another; STD's can be transferred through the sharing of needles as well as through unprotected sex, and the use of injection drugs often creates an impetus for each of these events (Falck, et al. 42). For men and women, addiction-risk will depend largely upon the injection drug of choice, as well as the physical and psychological constitution of the individual. STD-risk will likewise obtain for injection drug users no matter what the gender. But different STD's will certainly present a larger risk to injection drug users depending upon whether or not they are men or women. Ultimately, the use of injection drugs initiates a sequence of high-risk behavior, exacerbating at each step an individual's susceptibility to addiction and disease.

Addiction-risk is very difficult to assess in men and women, as many factors must be considered that are admittedly difficult to measure. For instance, whether one injects heroin, cocaine, or a mixture of the two (a speedball) will certainly factor in to the overall addiction-risk present in that individual. This is so simply because different people exhibit different susceptibilities to addiction. These susceptibilities are impacted (perhaps activate

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Category: Medical - I