What We Do Not Know About Organizations of People Who Use Drugs

Abstract

In this paper, we present some brief thoughts about drug users’ organizations. After a brief discussion of users groups’ history, we suggest a number of issues that require further research.

Keywords :

• drug users’ organizations
• users’ groups
• harm reduction
• HIV/AIDS
• hepatitis C
• social movements

THE AUTHORS

Samuel R. Friedman, Ph.D., sociologist, is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (New York, USA) and the Director of the Interdisciplinary Theoretical Synthesis Core at the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research. Dr. Friedman is an author of more than 400 publications on HIV, STI, and drug use epidemiology and prevention. He has both studied drug users’ organizations since 1985 and has also worked closely with drug user activists in their efforts to fight HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and other medical and social harms that drug users encounter.

Eric Schneider is codirector of the association ACCES, France. He was engaged since the late 1989, in HR, Care for PUDs, Activism and Advocacy. He is a Founder member and former Chair of the UK National Outreach forum, 1991, Former Chair, of ASUD, Marseille, Former Chair of ASUD National (France), and Former Chair of INPUD.

Carl Latkin Ph.D., is a Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health, Behavior & Society. His work has focused on the social and physical context and well-being of drug users and other marginalized populations and developing intervention to enhance the role of drug users in community-based health promotion.