TARGETED TREATMENT PROGRAMS KEY TO HELP CRACK USERS: STUDY

Targeted prevention and treatment programs can help crack users in
smaller communities, according to a study from a Simon Fraser
University researcher.

In a paper to be published in Drugs: Education, Prevention and
Policy, health sciences researcher Benedikt Fischer's team documents
a recent investigation of the social, health and drug-use
characteristics of 148 primary crack cocaine users in the mid-sized
communities of Nanaimo, Campbell River and Prince George.

"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," Fischer said in a news release.

The study found that participants were at a "crucially elevated risk"
of health problems in part due to unstable housing, illegal incomes
and frequent run-ins with the law.

Participants often had both physical and mental-health problems and
crack use tended to happen along with other legal and illegal
substance use. These users also had HIV and hepatitis C rates similar
to primary injection-drug users and many users with hepatitis C
didn't know they were infected.

The study subjects used materials such as scrap metal, metal piping
or broken glass to use crack, causing injuries.

Most participants "saw any attempt to quit crack as a futile effort"
because of a lack of viable treatment options.

Citing the "high prevalence of crack use" across Canada, the study
calls for improved resources and training for health workers,
improved accessibility to infectious-disease testing in the study
locations, "crack-kit" distribution programs that include information
on prevention and health care, safer inhalation facilities for crack
users and more research and 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 said.