As shown in Table 1, the current users in our sample tended
to be younger and less educated than the methadone and former
user groups. In particular, only about half of current users (52%) had
graduated from high school, compared to 68% of the respondents
in both methadone and former user groups. Higher proportions of
the respondents in our methadone group were employed fulltime
and married compared to the other two groups. Most notably, the
average age at which one first injected heroin differed significantly
among the three groups, with the current users in our sample starting
at an older age than both the methadone and former user groups
(20.2 years vs. 17.7 and 18.6, respectively).
With regards to the drug-related outcomes, current users were
significantly less likely to exhibit internal LOC, compared to the
other two groups. Less than half of the current user group had a
LOC score of 4 or higher, compared to 96% of the former users and
84% of the methadone group. Interestingly, former users were the
most likely to report a “very high” chance of injecting in the future
(45%), followed by current users (35%). The methadone group was
the least likely (20%) to report a “very high” chance of injecting in
the future. A significantly greater percentage of current users (42%)