Slovenia is a country in transition with a relatively successful record both in the economic and social spheres. It has not escaped all the adverse consequences of transition (high unemployment, especially among youths, changes in values). Massive heroin use has also started in the 90s, and there are approximately 450 intravenous drug users or 900 regular users per 100,000 inhabitants. Those groups that were uprooted in the process of transition (young people, males, immigrants) are vulnerable to problematic use. The HIV prevalence is extremely low, while that of hepatitis C is relatively substantial. Difficulties with employment, housing shortage and severed social ties are all the result of problematic heroin use as well as the factor that promotes it along with the changes in youth culture and social values. Poverty is probably one of the most important vectors towards destructive outcomes while postindustrial hedonistic individualism is an important cultural vehicle toward the increase in drug use.

Keywords:
Heroin, Social harm reduction, Social change, Ethnography
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© 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel
2002
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