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. 2017 Jul 3;52(8):1051-1058.
doi: 10.1080/10826084.2016.1271432. Epub 2017 Mar 21.

Heroin and Methamphetamine Injection: An Emerging Drug Use Pattern

Alia Al-Tayyib  1 , Stephen Koester  2 , Sig Langegger  3 , Lisa Raville  4
Affiliations

Heroin and Methamphetamine Injection: An Emerging Drug Use Pattern

Alia Al-Tayyib et al. Subst Use Misuse. .

Abstract

Objective: We sought to describe an emerging drug use pattern characterized by injection of both methamphetamine and heroin. We examined differences in drug injection patterns by demographics, injection behaviors, HIV and HCV status, and overdose.

Methods: Persons who inject drugs (PWID) were recruited as part of the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) system in Denver, Colorado. We used chi-square statistics to assess differences between those who reported only heroin injection, only methamphetamine injection, and combined heroin and methamphetamine injection. We used generalized linear models to estimate unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios to describe the association between drug injection pattern and reported nonfatal overdose in 2015. We also examined changes in the drug reported as most frequently injected across previous NHBS cycles from 2005, 2009, and 2012.

Results: Of 592 participants who completed the survey in 2015, 173 (29.2%) reported only injecting heroin, 123 (20.8%) reported only injecting methamphetamine, and 296 (50.0%) reported injecting both drugs during the past 12 months. Injecting both heroin and methamphetamine was associated with a 2.8 (95% confidence interval: 1.7, 4.5) fold increase in reported overdose in the past 12 months compared with only injecting heroin. The proportion of those reporting methamphetamine as the most frequently injected drug increased from 2.1% in 2005 to 29.6% in 2015 (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The rapid increase in methamphetamine injection, and the emergence of combining methamphetamine with heroin, may have serious public health implications.

Keywords: Heroin; methamphetamine; overdose.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Most frequently injected drug among persons who inject drugs. Source: National HIV Behavioral Surveillance, Denver, Colorado, 2005–2015.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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