Historique
Périodique
The drug career of the older injector
(La trajectoire des usagers de drogues par voie intraveineuse âgés)
Auteur(s) :
LEVY, J. A. ;
ANDERSON, T.
Année
2005
Page(s) :
245-258
Langue(s) :
Anglais
Refs biblio. :
48
Domaine :
Drogues illicites / Illicit drugs
Thésaurus mots-clés
USAGER
;
VOIE INTRAVEINEUSE
;
PERSONNE AGEE
;
FACTEUR DE RISQUE
;
AGE
;
TRAJECTOIRE
Note générale :
Addiction Research and Theory, 2005, 13, (3), 245-258
Résumé :
ENGLISH :
Drug theorists have used the concept of a career to understand why some individuals enter and become deeply entrenched in a life organized around illicit drug-use. Previously career analyses have focussed on the lives and activities of chronic users at youth and middle age. We extend this work by examining the drug careers of life-long drug injectors (injection drug users, IDUs) of age 50 and more. Based on in-depth interviews with 40 active injectors between ages 50 and 68, we explore the interactional effects of aging and drug-use as they affect the lives of older injectors on the streets. We show that age forms a career contingency with the power to realign former roles and relationships. Retiring from the life career of chronic users seems doubtful for older users except through illness and death. Our findings point to the developmental aspects of a drug-dependent life style and why patterns and practices of drug-use change over time. (Author's abstract)
Affiliation :
School Public Health, Univ. Illinois, 1603 West Taylor St., Chicago, Illinois 60612, judlevyuic.edu
Etats-Unis. United States.
Etats-Unis. United States.