This study, within the field of Anthropology of the Body and Health, analyses the social representations and practices of drug users, with regards to AIDS, its forms of infection and prevention, both in sex and drug use. The methodology used is based on ethnographic principles with oral interview and participant observation techniques. The research was carried out between 1997 and 2000 when, firstly, I joined a Damage Reduction team in their AIDS prevention activities and, afterwards, when I researched drug users and their social networks. Also, with the implementation of the Damage Reduction Programmes among injecting drug users, I present some implications of these discourses and preventive practices among people who use drugs.
sexuality; AIDS; drugs