The Eye of the Needle

Elsewhere in this volume, Pates and Wichter (chapter1) trace the birth and development of the needle and syringe and the first medical and recreational experiences with this technical innovation—famous and infamous at once, because of its association with both the global eradication and diffusion of life-threatening infectious diseases. Recreational or non-medical drug injecting remained a primarily western phenomenon until late into the 20th century. But globalization and global drug prohibition have resulted in the world-wide diffusion of drug injection, most strikingly into drug production areas and adjacent sub-regions, where traditionally milder preparations of the same alkaloids (or their precursors) were being consumed through less hazardous modes of administration.