Sociodemographic Disparities in Access to Addiction Treatment Among a Cohort of Vancouver Injection Drug Users

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Abstract
Vancouver's explosive HIV epidemic among injection drug users (IDUs) has received international attention due to the presence of a large needle exchange program. The role of addiction treatment has not been evaluated in this setting. We evaluated factors associated with use of addiction treatment among a prospective cohort of Vancouver IDUs. Addiction treatment was negatively associated with Aboriginal ethnicity and unstable housing, both of which have been associated with HIV infection in previous studies. These findings demonstrate low levels of addiction treatment among Vancouver IDUs and suggest that programs may need to be targeted towards specific populations with poor access.