Objectives: This article reviews the evidence on the adverse health
consequences of low socioeconomic status, homelessness, and
incarceration among drug users.
Observations: Social and economic factors shape risk behavior and
the health of drug users. They affect health indirectly by shaping
individual drug-use behavior; they affect health directly by affecting
the availability of resources, access to social welfare systems,
marginalization, and compliance with medication. Minority groups
experience a disproportionately high level of the social factors that
adversely affect health, factors that contribute to disparities in health
among drug users.
Conclusion: Public health interventions aimed at improving the
health of drug users must address the social factors that accompany
and exacerbate the health consequences of illicit drug use.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40329/2/Galea_Social Determinants and the Health of_2002.pd
