International Journal of Drug Policy
Volume 21, Issue 4 , Pages 321-329 , July 2010

Women's health and use of crack cocaine in context: Structural and ‘everyday’ violence

  • Vicky Bungay

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Canada
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: University of British Columbia, School of Nursing, T201-2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 2B5. Tel.: +1 604 822 7933; fax: +1 604 822 7423.
  • ,
  • Joy L. Johnson

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • ,
  • Colleen Varcoe

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • ,
  • Susan Boyd

      Affiliations

    • Studies in Policy & Practice, University of Victoria, Canada

Received 27 August 2009 ,Revised 16 November 2009 ,Accepted 18 December 2009.

References 

  1. Adelson N. The embodiment of inequity, health disparities in Aboriginal Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2005;96:S45–S61
  2. Adlaf, E. M. & Begin, P. S., & Sawka, E. (2005). Canadian Addiction Survey (CAS): A national survey of Canadians’ use of alcohol and other drugs: Prevalence of use and related harms: Detailed report Ottawa: Canadian Centre on Substance Use.
  3. Alford DP, Compton P, Samet JH. Acute pain management for patients receiving maintenance methadone or buprenorphine therapy. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2006;144:127–134
  4. BC Vital Statistic Agency. (2005). BC vital statistics agency annual report. Retrieved January 1, 2006 from https://www.gov.bc.ca/stats/annual/2005/index.html.
  5. Benoit C, Carroll D, Chaudhry M. In search of a healing place: Aboriginal women in Vancouver's Dowtown Eastside. Social Science & Medicine. 2003;56:821–833
  6. Bourgois P. Crack and the political economy of social suffering. Addiction Research & Theory. 2003;11:31–37
  7. Bourgois P, Prince B, Moss A. The everyday violence of hepatitis C among young women who inject drugs in San Francisco. Human Organization. 2004;63:253–264
  8. Boyd SC. From witches to crack moms. Women, drug law and policy. Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press; 2004;
  9. Boyd SC, Johnson JL, Moffat B. Opportunities to learn and barriers to change: Crack cocaine use in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Harm Reduction Journal. 2008;5:1–36
  10. Browne A, Fiske J. First Nations women's encounters with mainstream health services. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 2001;23:126–147
  11. Browne, A. (2003). First Nations women and health care services: The sociopolitical context of encounters with nurses. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
  12. Browne AJ. Clinical encounters between nurses and First Nations women in a Western Canadian hospital. Social Science & Medicine. 2007;64:2165–2176
  13. Brownridge DA. Male partner violence against Aboriginal women in Canada. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2003;18:65–83
  14. Buchanan D, Tooze JA, Shaw S, Kinzly M, Heimer R, Singer M. Demographic, HIV risk behavior, and health status characteristics of “crack” cocaine injectors compared to other injection drug users in three New England cities. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2006;81:221–229
  15. Bungay V, Malchy L, Buxton JA, Johnson J, MacPherson D, Rosenfeld T. Life with jib: A snapshot of street youth's use of crystal methamphetamine. Addiction, Research and Theory. 2006;14:235–251
  16. Bungay, V. (2008). Health experiences of women who are street-involved and use crack cocaine: Inequity, oppression, and relations of power in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
  17. Bungay V, Johnson JL, Boyd SC, Malchy L, Buxton J, Loudfoot J. Women's stories/women's lives: Creating safer crack kits. Women's Health & Urban Life. 2009;8:28–41
  18. Butters J, Erickson PG. Meeting the health care needs of female crack users: a Canadian example. Women & Health. 2003;37(3):1–17[2003 (33 ref)]
  19. Buxton J. Vancouver drug use epidemiology: Vancouver site report for the Canadian Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use. Vancouver: BC; 2007;
  20. Carspecken PF. Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide. New York: Routledge; 1996;
  21. CHASE Project Team (2005). Community health and safety evaluation (CHASE) project: Final Report Vancouver, BC: BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Providence Health Care.
  22. Cohen E, Navaline H, MetzgerF D. . Risk behaviours for HIV: A comparison between crack-abusing and opioid-abusing African-American women. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 1994;26:233–241
  23. Collins PH. Black feminist thought. Knowledge, consciousness and the politics of empowerment. New York: Routledge; 2000;
  24. Compton M. Cold-pressor pain tolerance in opiate and cocaine abusers: Correlates of drug type and use status. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 1994;9:462–473
  25. Cooper H, Moore L, Gruskin S, Krieger N. The impact of a police drug crackdown on drug injectors’ ability to practice harm reduction: A qualitative study. Social Science & Medicine. 2005;61:673–684
  26. Culhane D. Their spirits live within us: Aboriginal women in Downtown Eastside Vancouver, emerging into visibility. American Indian Quarterly. 2003;27:593–606
  27. DeBeck K, Kerr T, Li K, Fischer B, Buxton J, Montaner J, et al. Smoking crack cocaine as a risk factor for HIV infection among people who use injection drugs. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2009;181:572–585
  28. Dion Stout M, Kipling G. Aboriginal people resilience and the residential school legacy. Ottawa ON: Aboriginal Healing Foundation; 2003;
  29. Dion Stout M, Harp R. Lump sum compensation payments research project: The circle rechecks itself. Ottawa: Aboriginal Healing Foundation; 2007;
  30. Duffy M, Jacobsen BS. Univariate descriptive statistics. In:  Munro BH editors. Statistical methods for health care research. 4th ed.. Philadelphia: Lippincott; 2001;p. 29–62
  31. Edwards J, Halpern C, Wechsberg W. Correlates of exchanging sex for drugs or money among women who use crack cocaine. AIDS Education and Prevention. 2006;18:420–429
  32. Ensign J, Panke A. Barriers and bridges to care: Voices of homeless female adolescent youth in Seattle, Washington, USA. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2002;37:166–172
  33. Ensign J. Ethical issues in qualitative health research with homeless youth. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2003;43:43–50
  34. Falck R, Wang J, Carlson R, Siegal H. The epidemiology of physical attack and rape among crack-using women. Violence and Victims. 2001;16:79–89
  35. Falck R, Wang J, Siegal H, Carlson R. The prevalence of psychiatric disorder among a community sample of crack cocaine users: An exploratory study with practical implications. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders. 2004;192:503–507
  36. Farmer P. Pathologies of power. Health, human rights and the new war on the poor. Berkley: University of California Press; 2005;
  37. Fischer B, Rehm J, Patra J, Kalousek K, Haydon E, Tyndall M, et al. Crack users across Canada: Comparing crack users and crack non-users in a Canadian multi-city cohort of illicit opioid users. Addiction. 2006;101:1760–1770
  38. Fischer B, Powis J, Cruz MF, Rudzinski K, Rehm J. Hepatitis C virus transmission among oral crack users: Viral detection on crack paraphernalia. European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 2008;20:29–32
  39. Goodman D. Toronto crack users’ perspectives: Inside, outside upside down. Toronto: Safer Crack Use Coalition; 2005;
  40. Guitierres S, Puymbroeck C. Childhood and adult violence in the lives of women who misuse substances. Aggression & Violent Behavior. 2006;11:497–513
  41. Hatton DC. Homeless women's access to health services: A study of social networks and managed care in the US. Women & Health. 2001;33:149–162
  42. Haydon E, Fischer B. Crack use as a public health problem in Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 2005;96:185–188
  43. Jeffrey LA, MacDonald G. It's all in the money, honey”: The economy of sex work in the maritimes. Canadian Review of Sociology & Anthropology. 2006;43:313–327
  44. Johnson, J., Malchy, L., Mulvogue, T., Moffat, B., Boyd, S., Buxton, J. et al. (2008). Lessons learned from the SCORE project: A document to support outreach and education related to safer crack use. Vancouver, BC: Nursing and Health Behaviour Research Unit/NEXUS, University of British Columbia.
  45. Klein S, Long A. A bad time to be poor. An analysis of British Columbia's new welfare policies. Vancouver, BC: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; 2003;
  46. Kimerling R, Alvarez J, Pavao J, Kaminski A, Baumrind N. Epidemiology and consequences of women's revictimization. Women's Health Issues. 2007;17:101–106
  47. Quantz R. Critical ethnography in education (with some postmodern considerations). In:  LeCompte M,  Millroy W,  Preissle J editor. The handbook of qualitative research in education. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1992;p. 447–505
  48. Lejuez CW, Bornovalova MA, Reynolds EK, Daughters S. Risk factors in the relationship between gender and crack/cocaine. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2007;15:165–175
  49. Leonard L, DeRubeis E, Pelude L, Medd E, Birkett N, Seto J. “I inject less as I have easier access to pipes”, Injecting, and sharing of crack-smoking materials, decline as safer crack-smoking resources are distributed. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2008;19:255–264
  50. Macias J, Palacios R, Claro E, Vargas J, Vergara S, Mira J, et al. High prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among noninjecting drug users: Association with sharing the inhalation implements of crack. Liver International. 2008;28:760–781
  51. MacMaster SA. Experiences with, and perception of, barriers to substance abuse and HIV services among African American women who use crack cocaine. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. 2005;4:53–75
  52. Maher L. Sexed work. Gender race and resistance in a Brooklyn drug market. Clarendon Press; 1997;
  53. Malchy L, Bungay V, Johnson JL. Documenting practices and perceptions of ‘safer’ crack use: A Canadian pilot study. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2008;19:339–341
  54. Maxwell JA. Understanding and validity in qualitative research. Harvard Educational Review. 1992;62:279–298
  55. McCall L. The complexity of intersectionality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 2005;30:1771–1800
  56. Metsch LR, McCoy HV, McCoy CB, Miles CC, Edlin BR, Pereyra M. Use of health care services by women who use crack cocaine. Women & Health. 1999;30:35–51
  57. Morrow M, Frischmuth S, Johnson A. Community-based mental health services in BC. Changes to income, employment and housing supports. Vancouver: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. BC Office; 2006;
  58. Murphy S, Rosenbaum M. Pregnant women on drugs. Combating stereotypes and stigmas. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press; 1999;
  59. Pauly B, MacKinnon K, Varcoe C. Revisiting “who gets care?” Health equity as an arena for nursing action. Advances in Nursing Science. 2009;32:118–127
  60. Pivot Legal Society . Voices for dignity: A call to end the harms caused by Canada's sex trade laws. Vancouver BC: Pivot Legal Society; 2004;
  61. Pivot Legal Society . Cracks in the foundation: Solving the housing crisis in Canada's poorest neighbourhood. Vancouver, BC: Pivot Legal Society; 2006;
  62. Porter J, Bonilla L, Drucker E. Methods of smoking crack as a potential risk factor for HIV infection: Crack smokers’ perceptions and behavior. Contemporary Drug Problems. 1997;24:319–347
  63. Prinzleve M, Haasen C, Zurhold H, Matali J, Bruguera E, Gerevich J, et al. Cocaine use in Europe—a multi-centre study: Patterns of use in different groups. European Addiction Research. 2004;10:147–155
  64. Reimer Kirkham SR, Browne AJ. Toward a critical theoretical interpretation of social justice discourses in nursing. Advances in Nursing Science. 2006;29:324–339
  65. Raghavan C, Mennerich A, Sexton E, James S. Community violence and its direct, indirect and medicating effects on intimate partner violence. Violence Against Women. 2006;12:1132–1149
  66. Robertson L, Culhane D. In plain sight: Reflections on life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver. Vancouver, BC: Talonbooks; 2005;
  67. Sandelowski M, Barroso J. Classifying the findings in qualitative studies. Qualitative Health Research. 2003;13:905–923
  68. Scheper-Hughes N. Small wars and invisible genocides. Social Science & Medicine. 1996;43:889–900
  69. Schlosser A, Abdallah AB, Callahan C, Bradford S, Cottler L. Does readiness to change predict reduced crack use in human immunodeficiency virus prevention?. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 2008;35:28–35
  70. Shannon K, Ishida T, Morgan R, Bear A, Oleson M, Kerr T, et al. Potential community and public health impacts of medically supervised safer smoking facilities for crack cocaine users. Harm Reduction Journal. 2006;3:1–8
  71. Shannon K, Kerr T, Allinott S, Chettiar J, Shoveller J, Tyndall M. Social and structural violence and power relations in mitigating HIV risk of drug-using women in survival sex work. Social Science & Medicine. 2008;66:911–921
  72. Shannon K, Rusch M, Shoveller J, Alexson D, Gibson K, Tyndall M. Mapping violence and policing as an environmental-structural barrier to health service and syringe availability among substance-using women in street-level sex work. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2008;19:140–147
  73. Spittal P, Bruneau J, Craib K, Miller C, Lamothe F, Weber A, et al. Surviving the sex trade: A comparison of HIV risk behaviours among street-involved women in two Canadian cities who inject drugs. AIDS Care. 2003;15:187–195
  74. Sterk CE. Fast lives. Women who use crack cocaine. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 1999;
  75. Sterk CE, Theall KP, Elifson KW. Health care utilization among drug-using and non-drug using women. Journal of Urban Health. 2002;79:586–599
  76. Dion Stout, M., Kipling G. & Stout R. (2001). Aboriginal women's health research: Synthesis project final report. Ottawa: Centres of Excellence for Women's Health [On-line].
  77. Thorne SE, Kirkham S, O’Flynn-Magee K. The analytic challenge in interpretive description. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 2004;[On-line, Available: http://www.ualberta.ca/∼iiqm/backissues/3_1/pdf/thorneetal.pdf]
  78. Varcoe C, Dick S. The intersecting risks of violence and HIV for rural Aboriginal women in a neo-colonial Canadian context. Journal of Aboriginal Health. 2008;4:42–52
  79. Ward H, Pallecaros A, Green A, Day S. Health issues associated with increasing use of “crack” cocaine among female sex workers in London. Sexually Transmitted Infections. 2005;76:292–293
  80. Waldorf D, Reinarman C, Murphy S. Cocaine changes. The experience of using and quitting. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 1991;
  81. Williams M, Bowen A, Ross M, Timpson S, Pallonen U, Amos C. An investigation of a personal norm of condom-use responsibility among African American crack cocaine smokers. AIDS Care. 2008;20:218–227

PII: S0955-3959(09)00169-8

doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2009.12.008

International Journal of Drug Policy
Volume 21, Issue 4 , Pages 321-329 , July 2010