“I want to stop using drugs. What should I do next?”
The care of individuals living with HIV who inject drugs involves a unique subset of patients. People who inject drugs have become a key driver of new cases in the United States as the opiate epidemic has impacted such a large group of the population. The proliferation of oral narcotics prompted increased use of injectable opiates as the sale of oral medications became both more expensive and difficult. This epidemic has been confluent with the development of addiction, which can be very hard to treat, as well as the impact of adherence of active addiction on antiretroviral therapy medications. The challenge to the clinician caring for people who inject drugs is to become fluent in the treatment of HIV, hepatitis C virus, and hepatitis B virus, the psychosocial skills of dealing with addiction, and opiate substitution therapy. The chapter outlines approaches to care for this population that can assist with these clinical challenges as the actual selection of medications will not be unique for this population. Therefore, different approaches are being learned, not different sets of medications (except for opiate substitution treatment).