Dust in the Wind: The Growing Use of Embalming Fluid Among Youth in Hartford, CT

Abstract

This study suggests that use of embalming fluid as a mind-altering drug has been underreported. Based on a social network recruitment strategy, findings from a study in 2000 of 401 outreach worker-recruited polydrug-involved youth (ages 16–24 years) from the inner city of Hartford, CT indicate widespread (over 80% of study participants had used the drug at least once) and regular use of embalming fluid mixed with either marijuana or mint. This paper reports findings on frequency and distribution of use, experience, and consequences of use, access to the drug, and characteristics of embalming fluid users. Given the toxic substances that comprise embalming fluid, and the tendency, affirmed in the present study, of the drug to be associated with violent behavior, there is a need to recognize embalming fluid as a drug of concern among youth.

Keywords:

• embalming fluid
• dust
• drug use trends
• youth drug use
• diffusion of drug use patterns
• recreational drug
• drug availability
• drug availability perception

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Merrill Singer

Merrill Singer, Ph.D. is the Associate Director of the Hispanic Health Council (HHC) and Chief of Research at the HHC's Center for Community Health Research in Hartford, CT. In addition, he is research affiliate of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at the Yale University School of Public Health. Dr. Singer has been the Principal Investigator on a continuous series of federally funded drinking, drug use, and AIDS prevention studies since 1984. His research focuses on cultural and structural factors in drug use in the U.S., China, and the Caribbean, emergent drug trends, health consequences of drug use, and public health intervention among disparity populations.

Scott Clair

Scott Clair received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 1996 from the University of Houston. Previously a Senior Data Analyst at the Hispanic Health Council, he is currently a Survey Scientist at the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research at Iowa State University. Dr. Clair has been actively involved in numerous research projects examining the relationship of risky behavior in at-risk populations particularly within the context of social networks.

Jean Schensul

Jean J. Schensul, Ph.D. (Minnesota, 1974), a medical/eduational anthropologist, has been Executive Director of the Institute for Community Research, since 1987. She is the recipient of a number of NIH and other federal grants for research on HIV and “substance abuse” prevention in adolescents and adults in the United States, and India. Dr. Schensul is past president of the Council on Education and the Society for Applied Anthropology. Recent publications include the Ethnographer's Toolkit, a seven book series on qualitative and quantitative methods (Altamira Press, 1999) and articles on drug use and HIV prevention in youth and older adults. In addition to leading the ICR, she is a Research Associate, Department of Psychology, Yale University and guides qualitative research at the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS.

Cristina Huebner

Cristina I. Huebner, MA, worked as an ethnographer at the Hispanic Health Council on the Pathways Study from 1998 to 2001. She performed qualitative data collection and analysis through her fieldwork on the streets, in local dance clubs, and at raves in order to better understand youth networks involved in using and/or selling drugs and their transitions in drug use. Cristina presently works at Yale School of Medicine's Connecticut Mental Health Center as a Research Associate on a study regarding adherence to medication among the Latino population.

Julie Eiserman

Julie M. Eiserman, M.A. joined the Center for Community Health Research at the Hispanic Health Council in January of 2000. Between 2000 and 2001, she worked as an ethnographer on the Pathways Study. Following that, she performed qualitative analysis for the Syringe Access, Use and Discard Study, which investigated injection drug-using behavior and HIV risk. Currently, she is the Qualitative Evaluator on the CDC-funded Drug Monitoring Study, which is addressing emergent illicit drug use trends and related health risks in Hartford. She is also the Field Coordinator on the Hartford Rapid Assessment, Risk and Response Project which is assessing late night HIV risk in Hartford and related prevention and service needs. She received her Medical Anthropology degree in 1998 from Case Western Reserve University.

Raul Pino

Raul Pino, M.D. graduated from medical school in Havana, Cuba in 1987. Project Director of the Pathways Project, he currently serves as the Project Director and Co- Principal Investigator of the NIDA-funded project entitled ?ÄœClub Drugs, Resource Inequities and Social and Health Risks among Urban Youth and Young Adults” at The Institute for Community Research (ICR) in Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Pino has worked for the past 6 years in various federally funded drinking, drug use, and AIDS prevention research projects. His areas of research interest include STIs, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy and substance abuse.

José Garcia

José A. García, MSW, currently works at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund as Program Coordinator of the Policy Analyst and Advocacy Program. As part of his many responsibilities, he is in charge of the PRLDEF Data Center, which is working on an assessment of the data needs of Latino Community Base Organizations. Mr. Garcia graduated from the University of Connecticut with Master in Social Work specialization in Social Policy. During his time in Hartford, he work as a NIDA fellow at the Institute of Community Research studying the micro-economics of drug dealing in the Puerto Rican community in Hartford, Connecticut. He also was part of team that studied the influence of ecstasy and other party drugs in Hartford, CT. Mr. Garcia is originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico.