STAGE 1. Assessing needs
What steps should be completed?
Step 1: Explore the magnitude, characteristics and consequences of drug use
Some diseases are closely related to the use of some drugs, so infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), AIDS, and some types of viral hepatitis is especially common in people who inject drugs. Similarly, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are closely associated with smoking, certain digestive and liver diseases are associated with alcohol abuse, and certain psychopathological and cardiovascular complications are often observed in people who use cocaine or other psychostimulants.
Health authorities routinely record data on the number and main characteristics of cases diagnosed with some of these conditions, especially the communicable diseases, and they also often record the people treated by the emergency health services. As a result, access to this information will provide useful data to understand how drug use contributes to the development of different diseases in the community.
It may be useful to take into account the following guidelines when collecting information about morbidity and other health and social problems caused by drug use:
© COPOLAD. Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies.
