Monday, June 4, 2012

Lack of confidentiality at services

Lack of confidentiality at services: Young people, as well as adults in this case, may feel
ashamed, fear stigmatization or the lack of privacy and confidentiality when considering
approaching treatment services. They may be afraid to make their problem visible, and thus
avoid using services. The desire to keep the drug problem discrete results from the strong
stigma associated with drug use (and with HIV/AIDS), mentioned under social
consequences.
Economic instability: While adult IDUs usually have an income (at least initially), youth
often suffer from economic instability, as they are unemployed and often unskilled after
dropping out of school. Many youths have to resort to crime or commercial sex work to get
money for drugs. Lack of money may also prevent youth from seeking health care, as they
may not be able to afford care or medication that they would need to buy.
The recent decades have seen a decrease in the age of initiating drug use. This is a concern, as
the age of initiation of injection drug use is important in assessing the severity of the associated
risk. Trends seem to indicate that youth are beginning injection at younger ages.
If a youth begins drug abuse very early, some additional problems arise because:
At younger ages the individual is less likely to understand the consequences of his or her
drug use.
Early onset of drug use is often connected to polysubstance use.
The longer a person uses drugs, the more severe will be the long-term health related
consequences.
Early onset will often mean school drop out and this will in turn leave few career or job
opportunities in the future. Inability to find employment can lead youth to remain on the
streets and in the drug-using scene.
Young girls, who usually have not completed school education, often end up in commercial
sex work to get money for drugs or to get drugs directly.
In Eastern Europe, the trend in illicit drug use is towards an ever-younger initiation of injecting
drug use. “In Ukraine and St. Petersburg (Russian Federation), up to 20 per cent of injecting drug
users are teenagers, with the youngest being around 12 years old [10].”
Social consequences: Injecting (and non-injecting) drug use also brings social consequences
with it. Consequences include dropping out from school, family conflict resulting in having to
leave the home, delinquency and social isolation. Since drug abuse is illegal, IDU’s usually try
to minimize contact with law enforcement agencies and officials. IDU is also stigmatized in
most societies, so there is a legitimate reason for the IDUs to hide from society [11]. IDUs are
isolated from the mainstream and usually do not come forward for help or information, even
when this is available. Also, health services, treatment and counselling services are often
designed for adults or addicts The needs of young people, especially those in the early phases
of their “drug careers”, so to speak, who often do not even consider themselves addicts, are not
catered for.

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