Small B.C. communities urgently need targeted drug prevention and treatment programs, a Simon Fraser University health sciences researcher says.

Between July and November of 2008, Dr. Benedikt Fischer and his team undertook a study of 148 primary crack users in Nanaimo, Prince George, and Campbell River.

Crack users, according to related studies, are more likely than users of other substances to encounter significant health issues, such as HIV, Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), sexually transmitted diseases, and mental illness.

While drug research based out of Vancouver often focuses on users in large cities like Vancouver’s own Downtown Eastside, this study looks specifically at the drug-use characteristics of small- and mid-sized BC towns. In these less urban communities, Fischer says “crack use is the number one street drug,” but typically receives “much lower attention than other forms of drug use.”

And for Fischer, the findings are alarming.

“Crack users tend to be characterized by disproportionate levels of health and social problems,” his study notes. “Extreme poverty, homelessness and illegal income generation” are some of the features of crack users’ “distinct ‘social profile’” as described in Fischer’s research.

Another key finding of Fischer’s study: “the majority of participants assembled their crack-use paraphernalia largely from high-risk materials like scrap metal, metal piping, or broken glass pieces – which are prone to lead to oral cuts, wounds or burns” and increase the risk of transmitting infectious diseases.

Fischer also found that many participants in the study were using several other substances -- legal and illegal -- in addition to crack, including alcohol and opioids. Participants also displayed levels of HIV and HCV infection similar to those observed in primary injection-drug users. A number were unaware that they were infected with HCV.

Most of the 148 crack users he studied believed “any attempt to quit” using crack would be “futile.”

Fischer and his team argue for several comprehensive improvements to the available intervention and treatment services in non-urban B.C. communities. More specifically, users’ safety must become a priority.

Fischer calls for “crack kit” distribution programs and safer inhalation facilities for crack users. He and his team support more training for health workers so they can better address the myriad health challenges faced by crack users, and argue that more research into treatment options is needed.

The team’s findings will be published next month in Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy.

Shannon Smart is completing a practicum at The Tyee