Injecting drug use is of major concern to both Western and developing nations, causing extensive associated harm at both individual and public health levels. This book provides readers with authoritative and practical information on injecting drug use and the health consequences of this behaviour.

Includes topical issues such as needle fixation, transitions to and from injecting, and illicit drug use in prison settings.Documents the relationship between injecting practice and infectious diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C.Explores harm reduction approaches such as safer injecting and supervised injecting rooms.Reflects international perspectives from expert contributors.

Richard Pates is Clinical Director of the Community Addiction Unit in Cardiff and is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist. He has been working with drug users for the past 16 years. He has research interests in injecting, especially needle fixation and the treatment of amphetamine users. He is also the Editor ofJournal of Substance Abuse.

Dr Andrew McBride MB ChB MSc FRCPsych has been a Consultant Psychiatrist with the Specialist Community Addiction Service in Oxford since 2002. After training in Manchester and south Wales, he established Mid Glamorgan Community Drug and Alcohol Team in 1988 and moved to the Community Addiction Unit in Cardiff in 1996. His clinical interests include the implementation of structured interventions using team and interagency approaches. Publications have been eclectic, including studies of amphetamine prescribing, cannabis use and needle fixation, and reviews of alcohol withdrawal treatment and khat use. He has recently co-edited an introductory textbook on substance misuse.

Karin Arnold is a researcher at the Cardiff Community Addiction Unit, and a psychology postgraduate at the University of Cardiff. She is currently working on a dexamphetamine treatment trial and has a continued interest in the study of needle fixation.

Series Foreword.

Contributors.

Acknowledgements.

Introduction (Andrew McBride, Richard Pates and Karin Arnold).

1. History of Injecting (Richard Pates and Jan Wichter).

2. The Eye of the Needle: an Ethno-Epidemiological Analysis of Injecting Drug Use (Jean-Paul Grund).

3. Pharmaceutical Aspects of Injecting (Jennifer Scott).

4. Needle Fixation (Richard Pates, Andrew McBride and Karin Arnold).

5. Women and Injecting (Rosdana Oretti and Pim Gregory).

6. Injecting in Prisons (David Shewan, Heino Stover and Kate Dolan).

7. Hepatitis C associated with Injecting Durg Use (Nick Crofts).

8. HIV and Injecting Drug Use (Robert Heimer).

9. Odde Commotions: Some Other Health Consequences of Injecting (Andrew McBride and Jan Wichter).

10. Transitions to and from Injecting (Matthew Southwell).

11. Safer Injecting: Individual Harm Reduction Advice (Helen Williams and Mark Norman).

12. Overdose: Prevalence, Predictors and Prevention (Trudi Petersen and David Best).

13. Supervised Injecting Rooms (Robert Haemmig and Ingrid van Beck).

14. Injecting Drugs- The User's Perspective (Jimmy Dorabjee).

Index.