Heroin Sniffing as Self-Regulation among Injecting and Non-Injecting Heroin Users

Abstract

This paper examines sniffing as a mode of administration among three subgroups who sniff heroin: those who had never injected, those who were also injecting, and those who had ceased injection. Modified life-history interviews were conducted in 1994 with 26 people currently sniffing but not Injecting, recruited in street-based settings in conjunction with an ongoing study of risk behavior and seroprevalence among drug injectors. These were supplemented by survey interviews and brief open-ended interviews with 23 people who combined heroin injecting with heroin sniffing, recruited from a parallel component of the ongoing study, based at a hospital detoxification ward. Not merely a brief precursor to heroin injecting, heroin sniffing can continue for long periods, and persist during and after periods of injection. Each subgroup uses heroin sniffing to regulate different perceived risks: heroin tolerance and financial expenditure (among those who have never injected), situational risks (among current injectors), and personal crises (among former injectors). These findings suggest the importance of personal factors over syringe availability or fear of HIV in use of modes of heroin administration.