ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2020
An urgent impetus for action: safe inhalation interventions to reduce COVID-19 transmission and fatality risk among people who smoke crack cocaine in the United Kingdom.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- The utilization and delivery of safer smoking practices and services: a narrative synthesis of the literature.Harm reduction journal · 2023Pooled it
- Innovation, respiration and drug paraphernalia policy: a mixed methods study of crack pipe practice and respiratory harm in England.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Crack-cocaine use practices, harms and respiratory problems: an analysis of gender differences using data from a cross-sectional survey in England.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Safer inhalation devices: a rapid Health Impact Assessment of a harm reduction pilot for people who smoke crack cocaine.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Responding to the increase in substance use, HIV, HCV, and overdose in New England (RISE-NE): Protocol for a prospective cohort study.PloS one · 2026Article
- Native and Non-Native Individuals with Substance-Related Problems Accessing a Street Mobile Unit from 2016 To 2023: Results of a Longitudinal Study in Northern Italy.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2025Article
- Improving measures of context in process evaluations: development and use of the Context Tracker tool.Trials · 2024Article
- Changes in injecting versus smoking heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine among people who inject drugs in San Diego, California, 2020-2023.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- Associations of U.S. state-level COVID-19 policies intensity with cannabis sharing behaviors in 2020.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Safe inhalation pipe provision (SIPP): protocol for a mixed-method evaluation of an intervention to improve health outcomes and service engagement among people who use crack cocaine in England.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Analysis of the UK Government's 10-Year Drugs Strategy-a resource for practitioners and policymakers.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- High levels of interest in access to free safer smoking equipment to reduce injection frequency among people who inject drugs in Seattle, Washington.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2023Article
- Not all screens are created equal: examination of surface features and other physical properties of commonly used screen materials for smoking drugs.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- "That Line Just Kept Moving": Motivations and Experiences of People Who Use Methamphetamine.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2023Article
- Puff, Puff, Don't Pass: harm reduction for cannabis use during a viral respiratory pandemic.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- A qualitative study exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) and drug service provision in the UK: PWID and service provider perspectives.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- Barriers to management of opioid withdrawal in hospitals in England: a document analysis of hospital policies on the management of substance dependence.BMC medicine · 2022Article
- No party, no drugs? Use of stimulants, dissociative drugs, and GHB/GBL during the early COVID-19 pandemic.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- Harm reduction must be recognised an essential public health intervention during crises.Harm reduction journal · 2021Article
- Transition from injecting opioids to smoking fentanyl in San Francisco, California.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Crack cocaine use is rising in the United Kingdom (UK), with smoking the primary form of administration. Provision of safe inhalation equipment for crack cocaine is prohibited under UK law. Pipes used for crack cocaine smoking are often homemade and/or in short supply, exacerbating COVID-19 transmission and respiratory risk. This is of concern, given high prevalence of respiratory health harms such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among people who smoke illegal drugs. This commentary draws on scoping review and mixed method empirical evidence to argue for provision of safe crack inhalation equipment in the UK, with commensurate legal reform. Review of crack inhalation interventions illustrates the health protective and service engagement benefits of smoking equipment supply. Survey data generated with 455 people who inject drugs in London illustrate high prevalence of current crack use (66%, n=299). Qualitative accounts illustrate perceptions of relative smoking safety - alongside accounts of severe respiratory-related health harms. To date, injecting drug use has been of primary concern in relation to harm reduction initiatives. It is crucial that people who smoke illegal drugs are considered a vulnerable population in regard to COVID 19 transmission and fatality risk, with innovative harm reduction measures scaled up in response.
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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.