Ryan McNeil1, Thomas Kerr2, Hugh Lampkin3, Will Small4. 1. BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: rmcneil@cfenet.ubc.ca. 2. BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 3. Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 4. BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Many cities around the globe have experienced substantial increases in crack cocaine use. Public health programmes have begun to address crack smoking, primarily through the distribution of safer crack use equipment, but their impacts have been limited. More comprehensive safer environmental interventions, specifically safer smoking rooms (SSR), have been implemented only in select European cities. However, none have been subjected to rigorous evaluation. This ethnographic study was undertaken at an 'unsanctioned' SSR operated by a drug user-led organization in Vancouver, Canada, to explore how this intervention shaped crack smoking practices, public crack smoking, and related harms. METHODS: Ethnographic fieldwork was undertaken at this SSR from September to December 2011, and included approximately 50 hours of ethnographic observation and 23 in-depth interviews with people who smoke crack. Data were analyzed by drawing on the 'Risk Environment' framework and concepts of 'symbolic', 'everyday', and 'structural' violence. FINDINGS: Our findings illustrate how a high demand for SSRs was driven by the need to minimize exposure to policing (structural violence), drug scene violence (everyday violence), and stigma (symbolic violence) that characterized unregulated drug use settings (e.g., public spaces). Although resource scarcity and social norms operating within the local drug scene (e.g., gendered power relations) perpetuated crack pipe-sharing within unregulated drug use settings, the SSR fostered harm reduction practices by reshaping the social-structural context of crack smoking and reduced the potential for health harms. CONCLUSION: Given the significant potential of SSRs in reducing health and social harms, there is an urgent need to scale up these interventions. Integrating SSRs into public health systems, and supplementing these interventions with health and social supports, has potential to improve the health and safety of crack-smoking populations.
INTRODUCTION: Many cities around the globe have experienced substantial increases in crack cocaine use. Public health programmes have begun to address crack smoking, primarily through the distribution of safer crack use equipment, but their impacts have been limited. More comprehensive safer environmental interventions, specifically safer smoking rooms (SSR), have been implemented only in select European cities. However, none have been subjected to rigorous evaluation. This ethnographic study was undertaken at an 'unsanctioned' SSR operated by a drug user-led organization in Vancouver, Canada, to explore how this intervention shaped crack smoking practices, public crack smoking, and related harms. METHODS: Ethnographic fieldwork was undertaken at this SSR from September to December 2011, and included approximately 50 hours of ethnographic observation and 23 in-depth interviews with people who smoke crack. Data were analyzed by drawing on the 'Risk Environment' framework and concepts of 'symbolic', 'everyday', and 'structural' violence. FINDINGS: Our findings illustrate how a high demand for SSRs was driven by the need to minimize exposure to policing (structural violence), drug scene violence (everyday violence), and stigma (symbolic violence) that characterized unregulated drug use settings (e.g., public spaces). Although resource scarcity and social norms operating within the local drug scene (e.g., gendered power relations) perpetuated crack pipe-sharing within unregulated drug use settings, the SSR fostered harm reduction practices by reshaping the social-structural context of crack smoking and reduced the potential for health harms. CONCLUSION: Given the significant potential of SSRs in reducing health and social harms, there is an urgent need to scale up these interventions. Integrating SSRs into public health systems, and supplementing these interventions with health and social supports, has potential to improve the health and safety of crack-smoking populations.
Authors: Jennifer L Gardy; James C Johnston; Shannan J Ho Sui; Victoria J Cook; Lena Shah; Elizabeth Brodkin; Shirley Rempel; Richard Moore; Yongjun Zhao; Robert Holt; Richard Varhol; Inanc Birol; Marcus Lem; Meenu K Sharma; Kevin Elwood; Steven J M Jones; Fiona S L Brinkman; Robert C Brunham; Patrick Tang Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2011-02-24 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: M Eugenia Socías; Evan Wood; Will Small; Huiru Dong; Jean Shoveller; Thomas Kerr; Julio Montaner; M-J Milloy Journal: Drug Alcohol Depend Date: 2016-09-20 Impact factor: 4.492
Authors: Andy Guise; Jason Melo; Maria Luisa Mittal; Claudia Rafful; Jazmine Cuevas-Mota; Peter Davidson; Richard S Garfein; Dan Werb Journal: Int J Drug Policy Date: 2018-03-07
Authors: Jenna Valleriani; Rebecca Haines-Saah; Rielle Capler; Ricky Bluthenthal; M Eugenia Socias; M J Milloy; Thomas Kerr; Ryan McNeil Journal: Int J Drug Policy Date: 2020-04-11