The risks
The main risks you expose yourself to when injecting are:

• Hepatitis infection (viruses that can damage your liver)
• HIV infection (the virus that can cause AIDS)
• Overdose
• Vein damage
• Infection from bacteria
• And increasing your level of drug dependence.

The draw of the needle or ‘needle fixation’ is something that is talked about a lot. People say they feel ‘addicted to injecting’ and unable to stop.

Drug dependence has two parts: physical addiction and psychological dependence. The first is the response of the body to the absence of drugs, the second is the beliefs and emotions that drive people to use.

Injecting does not affect the physical addiction much BUT it is a very powerful ritual that can be extremely difficult to give up.

However, it is certainly not impossible to go back to other, safer ways of taking drugs.

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