STREET-LEVEL DRUG MARKETS - NETWORK STRUCTURE AND HIV RISK

Ethnographic and formal social network methods are used to define and situate three categories of injecting drug users - a core, an inner pe riphery and an outer periphery - in a street-level drug market scene. Different locations in these network structures are shown to be associ ated with different levels of AIDS risk behaviors and of HIV infection rates. A network perspective helps to understand HIV risks and to dev ise appropriate interventions.