'I'd never share a needle'…[but I often have unsafe sex]: Considering the paradox of young people's sex and drugs talk

Analysis of the self-reported sexual and drug injecting behavior of 178 young people and the qualitative accounts of injecting drug use and sexual behavior of a smaller group of 30 who are interviewed as part of the larger sample revealed that young people's stories of the culture and practices surrounding injectingdrug use were encouraging with regards to the attention given to notions of responsibility and care for others.

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the self-reported sexual and drug injecting behavior of 178 young people and the qualitative accounts of injecting drug use and sexual behavior of a smaller group of 30 who are interviewed as part of the larger sample. The research was conducted in the Australian state of Victoria and Queensland through 89 youth specific health and housing services. Results revealed that young people's stories of the culture and practices surrounding injecting drug use were encouraging with regards to the attention given to notions of responsibility and care for others, and a coherent discourse of belief in safe injecting practice was also evident. A notion of the 'druggie' or responsible drug user was contrasted to a 'junkie' or irresponsible user, within the culture of drug use described. Conversely, reported sexual behaviors revealed neither consistent discourses about safe sex, nor an unambiguously expressed personal commitment to safe sex.