Chapter 9: Alcohol Use Among Adult Puerto Rican Injection Drug Users

SUMMARY

This study explores the association between race/ethnicity and alcohol use for a population of 27,117 Massachusetts injection drug users. This population had all entered the Massachusetts drug treatment system between 1996-2002. Through logistic regression methods, controlling for age, gender, education, employment and homelessness, the study identified that Puerto Rican IDUs were close to 40% less likely to have ever used alcohol compared to their African American counterparts and 60% less likely to have ever used alcohol compared to their White counterparts. To further verify this finding, a sensitivity analysis was conducted for a subsample (n = 469) of IDUs who were not in treatment and who were interviewed by trained interviewers rather than by administrative intake workers. This sensitivity analysis confirmed the relationship between race/ethnicity and alcohol use for IDUs. This finding suggests that drug treatment for Puerto Rican IDUs should focus on their opiate addiction rather than on poly-drug use.

Key Words:

• Race
• ethnicity
• alcohol use
• drug use