ArticleJournal of substance abuse treatment2016
From Long-Term Injecting to Long-Term Non-Injecting Heroin and Cocaine Use: The Persistence of Changed Drug Habits.
Article in Journal of substance abuse treatment, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stability or versatility: transitions in fentanyl routes of administration.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- A qualitative study exploring motives for the transition from injecting to smoking drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Article
- "Injecting yourself there is stigma around it; taking a few tablets is not too bad, is it?": understanding perceptions and preferences of anabolic-androgenic steroid route of administration.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Injection cessation and relapse to injection and the associated factors among people who inject drugs in Iran: The Rostam study.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Article
- Injecting drug use opportunities and reasons for choosing not to inject: A population-based study of Australian young adults who use stimulants.Drug and alcohol review · 2022Article
- Risk of hepatitis C virus infection in injecting and noninjecting drug users receiving opioid substitution therapy.Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2020Article
- Implementation of Syringe Services Programs to Prevent Rapid Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission in Rural Counties in the United States: A Modeling Study.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTransitioning from injecting to non-injecting routes of drug administration can provide important individual and community health benefits. We assessed characteristics of persons who had ceased injecting while continuing to use heroin and/or cocaine in New York City.
methodsWe recruited subjects entering Mount Sinai Beth Israel detoxification and methadone maintenance programs between 2011 and 2015. Demographic information, drug use histories, sexual behaviors, and "reverse transitions" from injecting to non-injecting drug use were assessed in structured face-to-face interviews. There were 303 "former injectors," operationally defined as persons who had injected at some time in their lives, but had not injected in at least the previous 6 months. Serum samples were collected for HIV and HCV testing.
resultsFormer injectors were 81% male, 19% female, 17% White, 43% African-American, and 38% Latino/a, with a mean age of 50 (SD=9.2), and were currently using heroin and/or cocaine. They had injected drugs for a mean of 14 (SD=12.2) years before ceasing injection, and a mean of 13 (SD=12) years had elapsed since their last injection. HIV prevalence among the sample was 13% and HCV prevalence was 66%. The former injectors reported a wide variety of reasons for ceasing injecting. Half of the group appeared to have reached a point where relapse back to injecting was no longer problematic: they had not injected for three or more years, were not deliberately using specific techniques to avoid relapse to injecting, and were not worried about relapsing to injecting.
conclusionsFormer injectors report very-long term behavior change toward reduced individual and societal harm while continuing to use heroin and cocaine. The behavior change appears to be self-sustaining, with full replacement of an injecting route of drug administration by a non-injecting route of administration. Additional research on the process of long-term cessation of injecting should be conducted within a "combined prevention and care" approach to HIV and HCV infection among persons who use drugs.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.