Geographical injecting locations among injecting drug users in Sydney, Australia

Aims. To document the geographical injection locations of IDU, and the fact ors and harms associated with injecting in public places. Design. Cross-sec tional survey. Setting. Sydney, Australia. Participants. Two hundred inject ing drug users. Findings. Nearly all subjects (96%) had injected in a publi c place, and 89% had done so in the preceding 6 months. Large proportions h ad injected in all locations studied, including cars (90%), public toilets (81%), the street (80%) and trains (55%). Injecting in public places also o ccurred frequently, with 53% of subjects having injected often in at least one public location during the preceding 6 months. Twenty-seven per cent of subjects had injected often in the street over the preceding 6 months, 22% had injected often in cars and 17% had injected often in public toilets. F requent injectors in public places were more likely to be male, and to have overdosed in the preceding 6 months, injected significantly more drug clas ses in the preceding 6 months, injected in more bodily injecting sites in t he preceding 6 months and had more current injection-related problems than other IDU. Conclusions. Injecting in public places was practised by the ove rwhelming majority of the sample, and a pattern of increased harm was assoc iated with frequent public injecting. In attempting to quantify the harm as sociated with injecting, and to reduce such harm, the locations injections take place in are of major importance.