With God's Help I Can Do It: Crack Users’ Formal and Informal Recovery Experiences in El Salvador

Abstract

Crack use has increased dramatically in El Salvador in the last few decades. As with other developing countries with sudden onsets of drug problems, El Salvador has few medical staff trained in addictions treatment. Little research has examined drug users’ attempts to reduce or abstain from drug use in countries where government-regulated formal medical treatment for drug addiction is scarce. This paper uses qualitative and quantitative data gathered from active crack users to explore their formal and informal strategies to reduce or abstain from drugs, and compares these with components of informal and formal treatment in developed countries.

RÉSUMÉ

Avec l’aide de Dieu, je peux le faire: Les expériences de réhabilitation formelles et informelles des consommateurs de crack.

Dans les dernières décennies l’utilisation du crack a augmente au Salvador. Comme d’autres pays en voie de développement avec des soudains problèmes de drogue, le Salvador à peu personnel médical qualifie dans le traitement des dépendances de drogue. Peu de recherche a examine les tentatives des consommateurs de drogue de réduire leur utilisation de drogue dans les pays ou le gouvernement pas réglé le traitement médical formel pour l’addiction au drogue. Ce papier utilise des méthodes qualitatives et quantitatives pour analyser des informations obtenues des consommateurs du crack. Notre intention est d’explorer les tentatives formelles et informelles reporte pour les drogues pour réduire leur consommation de drogue et comparez-les avec des traitements formels et informels utilisé pour les pays développés.

RESUMEN

Con la ayuda de Dios, lo puedo hacer: Las experiencias de rehabilitación formales e informales de los consumidores de crack.

En las últimas décadas, el consumo de crack ha aumentado drásticamente en El Salvador. Como en otros países en proceso de desarrollo con problemas de inicio repentino, El Salvador cuenta con poco personal capacitado para tratar la drogodependencia. Pocas investigaciones han examinado las estrategias que los consumidores de drogas usan para reducir o abstenerse del consumo de drogas en países que ejercen poca regulación gubernamental en el tratamiento formal de la drogodependencia. En este ensayo, utilizamos datos cualitativos y cuantitativos para explorar las estrategias formales e informales que los consumidores activos de crack usan para reducir o abstenerse del uso de drogas. Tambieén comparamos estas estrategias con los componentes del tratamiento formal e informal usado en países desarrollados.

Keywords :

• drug treatment
• faith based
• crack
• El Salvador
• natural recovery

THE AUTHORS

Julia Dickson-Gomez, PhD, is a medical anthropologist with over 13 years experience working in El Salvador. Her research interests include looking at the impact of structural factors on HIV risk and developing multi-level HIV prevention interventions. She has worked with active drug users, commercial sex workers, and ethnic minority communities in the United States and El Salvador.

Gloria Bodnar, MA, is a clinical psychologist and Director of Research at the Fundación Antidrogas de El Salvador for the past 11 years. In this role, she has conducted research on treatment organizations in El Salvador, drug use among street youth, the relationship between crack use and HIV risk, and national surveillance studies. She has also been involved in building coalitions to prevent substance use, and in job training and placement programs for youth in detention.

Carmen Eugenia Guevara, BA, is a community psychologist and research associate at the Fundación Antidrogas de El Salvador. In this role, she has conducted numerous qualitative and quantitative research projects with active drug users. She is interested in pursuing a degree in clinical psychology.

Karla Rodriguez, BA, is trained as a community psychologist and worked for many years as a researcher at the Funcación Antidrogas de El Salvador, conducting research with community samples of active drug users. She currently works as a research analyst at the Instituto Universitario de Opinión Pública at the Universidad Centramericana José Simeon Cañas overseeing qualitative data collection and analysis on several projects related to community violence and public opinion regarding security and governance.

Lorena Rivas de Mendoza, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Public Health at the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas. Her research interests have focused on determining knowledge and risk behaviors regarding HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases among at-risk populations in El Salvador and developing communication campaigns to prevent the spread of HIV.

A. Michelle Corbett, MPH, is a Certified Health Education Specialist with a BA in Cultural Anthropology and a Master's in Public Health. Specializing in qualitative methods, she is currently a doctoral candidate in the Institute for Community, Population and Public Health at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her research interests include HIV/STI prevention in the United States and developing countries, globalization, structural violence, and women's health, participatory approaches to community development and health, and Central America.