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 updated June 30, 2005

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Over-the-Counter Syringe Purchase in Four Communities

Project Title	Over-the-Counter Syringe Purchase in Four Communities
Funding Source	NIDA
Project Dates	1999 - 2001
Project Number	DA-12340
Team	Principal Investigators- Wilson Compton, M.D. Co-Investigator- Wendy Reich, Ph.D. Renee Cunningham-Williams, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator of Collaborating Sites	Robert Booth, Ph.D. Carl G. Leukefeld, D.S.W. Merrill C. Singer, Ph.D.

Abstract

The Research on Over-the-Counter Syringe Purchase in Four Communities (DA12340) Study included the following protocol. Male and female, minority and white recovering injection drug users serving as research assistants attempted to purchase syringes using an identical protocol on four consecutive weeks on the same day of the week at approximately the same time of day. The research assistants attempted to purchase syringes by asking for "a ten-pack of 100 unit insulin syringes", which is a common size used by diabetic patients but also frequently used by injection drug users. Across the four sites, 1600 needles purchase attempts were made during the four-week period.

Immediately after leaving the pharmacy, research assistants recorded data including hours of operation, type of pharmacy, and location of pharmacy, as well as personal characteristics including the age, race, and gender of the research assistant and the perceived ethnic status, gender and approximate age of the pharmacist. Other information included the number of customers in the store upon entry, length of time spent waiting prior to asking to purchase the syringes, the length of time between request for the syringes and successful purchase or refusal, price of the syringes, perceived tone of the interactions, and when refused, stated reasons for refusal to sell the syringes. Research assistants wrote a brief synopsis of the experience with particular attention to any unusual experiences or interactions

A second component of the study has been a series of eight focus groups (4 with injection drug users and 4 with pharmacists). These focus groups aimed at examining urban and rural injection drug user attitudes and behaviors across the four sites, including frequency of over the counter syringe purchase compared to other methods of acquiring syringes and examined urban and rural pharmacist attitudes and behaviors across the four sites in order to evaluate reasons for barriers to over the counter syringe purchase.



 

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© 2004 Washington University in St. Louis