Study: More targeted treatment needed for crack users

A study conducted by a health science researcher at a Canadian University has concluded that more targeted treatment is key to helping crack users in smaller communities. Benedikt Fischer from Simon Fraser University investigated the social, health and drug use characteristics of 148 crack users from three non-urban communities in British Columbia. The paper will be published in Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy.

According to Fischer “in many B.C. communities, crack use is the No. 1 street-drug problem, yet we give it much lower attention than other forms of drug use.”

The results of the study were interesting and revealed that participants displayed a “high prevalence” of concurrent physical and mental health problems. The study also showed that crack users are at high risk of HIV and even though the blood-borne virus is not directly linked to the use of crack which is inhaled not injected. Although problematic crack users are at higher risk of hepatitis C (HCV) because sharing crack use paraphernalia can transmit the disease, the high rate of HIV is due to other factors. Amongst the participants of the study rack use tended to occur in conjunction with the use of a variety of other legal and illegal “psychoactive substances,” including alcohol, cocaine and opioids. The study found that the participants also were at a “higher elevated risk” of health problems because of unstable housing, illegal incomes and frequent run-ins with the law.

The study recommended an improvement in training and resources for drug treatment programs. The report also points out that many crack users were not aware that they could contract HCV from sharing crack use paraphernalia and many who had contracted the drug did not know they had it. Because of this the report advises that accessibility to infectious diseases testing be improved in the areas where the study was focused. The study also recommended the distribution of “crack kits” which contain information about infectious diseases, testing locations and treatment centres. The researchers also suggested that Canadian policymakers should look at the benefits of drug consumption rooms in some European countries and think about create safe crack inhalation facilities.

The assessment also highlighted the importance of continued research into the expansion of treatment options.  “We need better and more targeted prevention and treatment for crack use in order to reduce its enormous negative public health impact,” Fischer stated. Because of the lack of adequate treatment programs many of the participants of the study saw trying to get rid of their crack addiction as a “futile effort.”