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The Context of HIV Risk Among Drug Users and Their Sexual Partners

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All <strong>of</strong> these issues <strong>and</strong> considerations have relevance to the examination<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>HIV</strong> risks among heterosexual male non-IDUs who exchange crack for<br />

sex.<br />

THE BARTERING OF SEX FOR CRACK COCAINE<br />

Although the bartering <strong>of</strong> sex for crack had been mentioned in the<br />

popular media at the very beginnings <strong>of</strong> the crack epidemic (Gross 1985;<br />

Lamar 1986; Lawlor 1986), the first empirical study <strong>of</strong> the phenomenon<br />

did not appear in the scientific literature until 1989. In that analysis,<br />

drawn from a larger study <strong>of</strong> drug use <strong>and</strong> street crime among serious<br />

delinquents in Miami, the potential for <strong>HIV</strong> acquisition <strong>and</strong> transmission<br />

through sex-for-crack exchanges was addressed (Inciardi 1989). Of 100<br />

girls in the 14- to l7-year age range, 27 had bartered sex for crack during<br />

the 1-year period prior to interview. Of these, 11 had traded sex for drugs<br />

on fewer than 6 occasions but had nevertheless exchanged sex for money<br />

on an aggregate <strong>of</strong> 6,850 occasions. By contrast, there were others in the<br />

sample who had bartered sex hundreds <strong>and</strong> even thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> times.<br />

At about the same time that this research was being reported, others<br />

began to notice rising rates <strong>of</strong> syphilis <strong>and</strong> other STDs among crack users<br />

(Bowser 1989; Fullilove <strong>and</strong> Fullilove 1989; Fullilove et al. 1990; Kerr<br />

1989; Knopf 1989a, b). Shortly thereafter, sex-for-crack exchanges were<br />

targeted for systematic study, but to date, only a few reports have<br />

appeared in the literature. Moreover, one <strong>of</strong> the difficulties in assessing<br />

the nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>HIV</strong> risks associated with crack use, particularly among<br />

heterosexual male non-IDUs, is the fact that most crack users engage in<br />

multiple risk behaviors.<br />

A study <strong>of</strong> risk factors for <strong>HIV</strong>-1 infection was conducted at an STD<br />

clinic in an area in New York City where the cumulative incidence <strong>of</strong><br />

AIDS in adults through mid-1990 was 9.1 per 1,000 population <strong>and</strong><br />

where the use <strong>of</strong> illicit drugs, including crack smoking, was common<br />

(Chiasson et al. 1991). <strong>The</strong> overall seroprevalenee among the 3,084<br />

volunteer subjects was 12 percent, with 80 percent <strong>of</strong> these seropositives<br />

reporting risk behaviors associated with <strong>HIV</strong>-1 infection, including maleto-male<br />

sexual contact, IV drug use, <strong>and</strong> heterosexual contact with an<br />

IDU. <strong>The</strong> seroprevalence in individuals denying these risks was 3.6<br />

percent in men (50 <strong>of</strong> 1,389) <strong>and</strong> 4.2 percent in women (22 <strong>of</strong> 522).<br />

<strong>Among</strong> these individuals, the behaviors associated with infection were<br />

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