August 20, 2013

Dr. Stephen Lankenau also coauthored another recent article titled "Control over Drug Acquisition, Preparation, and Injection: Implications for HIV and HCV Risk among Young Female Injection Drug Users," published in ISRN Addiction. This article was written with colleagues from Los Angeles, San Diego, and New York, and aimed to understand how the social context of young female injection drug users during the initiation of a new drug (a ketamine injection) contributes to HIV/HCV risk.

The findings suggest that lack of control over drug acquisition, preparation, and injection may elevate women’s risk, and that these phenomena should be considered as a behavioral risk factor when designing interventions. This study is supported by Dr. Lankenau's R01 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.