HAPPA Program Archive HAP05

Sniffer: Working with Heroin Sniffers to Prevent Drug Injection
Don C. Des Jarlais, Cathy Casriel, Ray Rodriguez, Andrew Rosenblum, Samuel Friedman, Bruce Stepherson and Elizabeth Khuri

Sniffer is designed to prevent intranasal heroin users from making the transition to injection drug use, and to prevent those who have used injection drugs in the past from returning to that mode of use. Participants attend four 90-120 minute sessions in which didactic materials, group discussions, and situational role play scenarios are employed to communicate information about AIDS, drug use, sexual risk behavior, and drug abuse treatment options. The intervention also seeks to reduce non-injection use of illicit drugs, but advocates harm reduction practices and treatment rather than condemning the behavior of group members who use illicit non-injection drugs. The program's effectiveness was evaluated in a study of 104 intranasal drug users in New York City, each of whom had injected heroin less than 60 times in the previous two years and was HIV and/or hepatitis B negative. Participants were recruited and assigned to test and control groups. All subjects received information about AIDS prior to enrollment. Follow-up interviews at roughly nine months after enrollment collected information about drug use and sexual behavior as well as attitudes towards AIDS. Participation in the intervention was associated with a significantly lower probability of self-reported injection drug use and increased condom use during the follow-up period. (Des Jarlais, Casriel, Friedman and Rosenblum, 1995; Casriel et al., 1990).