Drug dealing and drug using behaviors among people who inject drugs in Colombia: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Introduction: People who inject drugs (PWID) are highly exposed to drug-dealing networks. In Colombia, a recent dramatic increase in drug consumption has been reported. However, involvement of PWID in drug dealing, their demographics, and drug using behaviors has not been studied. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 1,099 PWID recruited by Respondent Driven-Sampling in five Colombian cities was conducted in 2014. Correlates of demographic characteristics, drug dealing, and injection behaviors were examined by multivariate analysis, and a binary logistic regression model. Results: Drug-dealing PWID were predominantly male (86%) with a mean age of 26 years. 56% of participants—of whom 64% had low familial socioeconomic status—had been involved in drug dealing in the previous six months. Compared to non-drug-dealing PWID, drug-dealing PWID reported higher daily injection rate (AOR: 1.3), higher odds of injection equipment confiscation by the police (AOR: 1.4), and were less likely to pay for the drugs they injected (AOR: 0.6). Conclusions: Involvement of Colombian PWID in drug dealing was higher than previously reported, and drug-dealing PWID presented sociodemographic vulnerabilities and risky injection practices. Addressing these findings may lead to effective policy design and implementation, decreased drug-dealing involvement, harm reduction, and consumption prevention.

KEYWORDS:

• Colombia
• drug abuse
• drug dealing
• intravenous

Funding

This study was supported by the Panamerican Health Organization under Grant number NºCOL/LOA/1400008.001. The time of author Mateu-Gelabert was partially supported by Grant No. 1R01DA041501 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Panamerican Health Organization under Grant number NºCOL/LOA/1400008.001.