Who uses needle and syringes?
• People who inject drugs do not fall neatly into any particular ethnic or socio-economic group, nor are users found solely in urban settings. • Approximately 20% of the total number of needles and syringes are distributed in WA by non-metropolitan NSPs. • Nationally, it has been noted that there is an increase in injecting drug use in Indigenous youth, and in people from culturally and linguistically diverse background. • This emerging trend calls for programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate. • It is difficult to estimate the number of injecting drug users (IDU) due to the illegal nature of the activity. • Recent figures from the 2004 national drug strategy household survey estimated that nationally, 73,800 people aged 14 years and over had injected drugs in the last 12 months. • According to the survey, meth/amphetamines were the most commonly injected drug in the last 12 months, followed by heroin, steroids, other opiates, cocaine and methadone. • Not every IDU in
