Xylazine awareness, desire, use and exposure: Preliminary findings from the Rhode Island community-based drug checking cohort study

Original research
par
Park, Ju Nyeong et al

Date de publication

2024

Géographie

USA

Langue de la ressource

English

Texte disponible en version intégrale

Oui

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Oui

Évalué par des pairs

Yes

L’objectif

This study characterized xylazine awareness, desire, use and exposure among people who use drugs (PWUD) in Rhode Island, US, at a local drug checking service. 

Constatations/points à retenir

Implementing point-of-care drug checking services at harm reduction organizations could be useful in rapidly increasing xylazine awareness and engaging at-risk individuals in prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and rapid care for xylazine-related wounds.

La conception ou méthodologie de recherche

We analyzed data from an ongoing PWUD cohort study. In 2023, 125 PWUD were enrolled and surveyed. Using point-of-care Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-S), we tested a drug sample from each participant onsite and confirmed the results offsite at a laboratory. 

Mots clés

About PWUD
Drug checking
Harm reduction
Illegal drugs
Injecting drugs