ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2022
The COVID-19 pandemic and the health of people who use illicit opioids in New York City, the first 12 months.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Designing and evaluating a technology-based intervention to address deep ambivalence about COVID vaccination among people who inject drugs.Health education research · 2025Trial
- Syringe service program utilization, behavioral, and experiential factors associated with greater naloxone protection in a longitudinal cohort of people who use illicit opioids in New York city.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Syringe Service Program Utilization, Behavioral, and Experiential Factors Associated with Greater Naloxone Protection in a Longitudinal Cohort of People Who Use Illicit Opioids in New York City.Research square · 2025Article
- Study assessing the effectiveness of overdose prevention centers through research (SAFER): an overview of the study protocol.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Navigating the COVID-19 Risk Environment, Overdose Prevention, and Self Care Practices of People Who Use Illicit Opioids in New York City.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- Historical and theoretical roots of the big events framework.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Volatile drug use and overdose during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Article
- Changes to opioid overdose deaths and community naloxone access among Black, Hispanic and White people from 2016 to 2021 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: An interrupted time-series analysis in Massachusetts, USA.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Article
- Utilization and disparities in medication treatment for opioid use disorder among patients with comorbid opioid use disorder and chronic pain during the COVID-19 pandemic.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Article
- Field Testing the "Avoid the Needle" Intervention for Persons at Risk for Transitioning to Injecting Drug Use in Tallinn, Estonia and New York City, USA.AIDS and behavior · 2023Article
- "As long as that place stays open, I'll stay alive": Accessing injectable opioid agonist treatment during dual public health crises.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- Racial/ethnic disparities in opioid overdose prevention: comparison of the naloxone care cascade in White, Latinx, and Black people who use opioids in New York City.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- Multi-level influences on increased overdose risk behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic among people who use drugs in Rhode Island: a qualitative investigation.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- The effects of COVID-19 on New York State's Drug User Health Hubs and syringe service programs: a qualitative study.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- Sales trends of psychotropic drugs in the COVID-19 pandemic: A national database study in Brazil.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Reducing opioid related deaths for individuals who are at high risk of death from overdose: a co-production study with people housed within prison and hostel accommodation during Covid-19.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Consensus recommendations for opioid agonist treatment following the introduction of emergency clinical guidelines in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic: A national Delphi study.The International journal on drug policy · 2022Article
- 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
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundConcurrent opioid-related overdose and COVID-19 crises in the U.S. have imposed unprecedented challenges on people who use illicit opioids.
methodsUsing the experiences of 324 people who use illicit opioids between April 2020 and March 2021, we examined four domains of health and well-being potentially impacted by COVID-19: drug risks and responses, healthcare and related services, material hardship, and mental health. Data were drawn from participants' completed monthly survey assessments which were grouped into four periods of interest for the unfolding pandemic: April-June 2020, July-October 2020, November-January 2021, and February-March 2021.
resultsA majority of measures in our four domains showed early COVID-19 related impacts, which quickly diminished as people and agencies responded to the pandemic. Difficulty obtaining food was the most frequently reported material hardship and appeared worst in April-June 2020. Over half of the population reported depression in April-June 2020, but this declined over the study period. Some participants reported changes to the heroin supply, including higher prices, lower quality, difficulty finding the drug, and fentanyl contamination. There was no discernable temporal shift in the frequency of use of each substance or the frequency of withdrawal symptoms. Over the study period, the mean number of overdoses per month decreased while the percent of opioid use events at which both a witness and naloxone were present (i.e., protected events) increased. Most participants receiving MOUD experienced an increase in take-home doses.
conclusionsFindings speak to the resilience of people who use drugs as a population with disproportionate experience of trauma and crisis and also to the rapid response of NYC health agencies and service providers working with this population. Despite evident signs of adaptability and resilience, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted some of the unique vulnerabilities of people who use illicit opioids and the need for greater rates of "protected" opioid use and greater availability of wrap-around services to efficiently address the safety, food security, mental health, and treatment needs of the population.
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