Risky and Precarious Dependencies of Puerto Rican “Idus” in El Barrio : An Ethnographic Glimpse

Abstract

In his article, "Why do Puerto Rican IDUs Inject So Often", Merrill Singer (1999) traces the behavior of Puerto Rican injection drug users (IDUs) back to the migration of Puerto Ricans to the northeastern US after World War II. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, he writes, "injection drug use continued to spread among Puerto Rican youth in New York City (the primary host for most Puerto Rican migrants during that era), with little in the way of government recognition or response" (1999:34). Ultimately, drug injection became a regular feature in Puerto Rican communities nationwide. However, it was not until the late 1980s, when the transmission of HIV/AIDS appeared and much of its transmission among heterosexuals was attributed to the sharing and multiple person use of syringes and other injection paraphernalia, that minority injection drug use began to be a reason-ably well-funded research topic.