Copping Areas as Sampling and Recruitment Sites for Out-of-Treatment Crack and Injection Drag Users

SUMMARY Monitoring behaviors and serostatus of drug addicts requires the recruitment and assessment of successive samples of the not-in-treatment population. Sampling of street addicts presents a number of difficult methodological problems. This paper describes the strategies used to implement random sampling strategies in the recruitment of out-of-treatment crack and injection drag users in the San Juan Metropolitan Area. A three-stage sampling procedure was designed. This procedure generates independent monthly samples of the population of interest. The advantages and constraints involved in the methodology are discussed.