Cocaine, AIDS, And Intravenous Drug Use Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This consists of papers from a conference hosted in 1991.It doesn't feel dated however.

This book offers examples.Before needle exchanges took place in the US, they were shown to work in Australia and other countries.One author said drug users need to organize like the gay male community has.At first, this sounded naive, but the author stated that it has happened in the Netherlands.This book mentions solutions that work:using bleach on syringes, having drug addicts teach each other about avoiding STDs, etc.This book implies that drug addicts have learned to clean their needles, but that hasn't helped them to have safer sex.I wish I could have learned more about cocaine generally:how to spot a user, how to know if someone has re-started, how to encourage them to quit drug use because they may contract the virus.

I won't call this book homophobic, but it's a bit heterosexist.Several authors state that, "cocaine users could spread HIV to their children and wives."There is little discussion of the many MSM who also use drugs.What about the fact that they may be spreading the virus to non-drug-using male lovers?The book never mentions that some straight-identified drug users engage in same-sex prostitution to score drugs.Thus, though they do not identify as "gay," they may get the virus through same-sex sexual activities.

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Product Description:
In lay language, Cocaine, AIDS, and Intravenous Drug Use presents what works and what doesn't work in counseling drug dependent persons. Those in the substance abuse treatment field have been concerned in the last few years with combating the deadly combination of cocaine addiction and AIDS. This encouraging book describes in detail, new methods being tested for effectively decreasing the risks for HIV infection of drug-dependent persons.

Many complex issues are covered, providing a helpful range of ideas in AIDS risk reduction and drug treatment programs in one book. New breakthroughs seen in the past years are highlighted, including the pathbreaking but controversial Tacoma Syringe Exchange program. Other topics addressed include psychopharmacologic agents in the therapeutic management of the cocaine addict 's physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms; new perspectives on remedies for methadone patients and treatment; the effects of long-term alcohol and chronic alcohol/cocaine exposure on cardiac function; female sex partners and the HIV infection, including a review of the special problems facing women who have drug-injecting sex partners; and a large selection of chapters on prevention of the AIDS epidemic among drug injectors and users, including a review of AIDS risk reduction in drug treatment programs, syringe exchange programs, and organizing drug injectors against AIDS.

Cocaine, AIDS, and Intravenous Drug Use shows the harsh realities of the cycle of drug use and the spread of AIDS and fosters a realistic understanding of the choices facing treatment programs and agencies. Helping to generate a research agenda for the 1990s, this needed book examines what has been successful in treatment and prevention and raises issues to promote greater research in the fields for improved treatment and prevention of drug abuse and HIV infection.