Drug Users' Opinions Of Genetic Testing When Looking At Addiction

As medical science continues to grow by leaps and bounds, findings show that emerging technologies can potentially reveal an individual's susceptibility to addiction and substance abuse, partially determined early on via certain genetic variants.

Now, recent findings published in the International Journal of Drug Policy examined the lack of data on the attitudes of marginalized populations towards genetic testing.

A new study by researchers affiliated with New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR) is the first to present the perceptions of genetic testing among drug users.

"Most participants were uncomfortable with engaging in genetic testing for either addiction-related care or for research to understand addiction, because most did not consider addiction to be a genetic disorder," said David Perlman, M.D., Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel's Icahn School of Medicine and director of Infectious Diseases and Biomedical Core at CDUHR, in a news release. "All participants were more comfortable understanding genetics as explaining physical traits rather than behavior. They viewed addiction as a behavior resulting from environment and experiences rather than genetic inheritance."

For the study, researchers gauged drug users' attitudes and understandings of genetics and genetic testing in six focus groups. All groups were segregated by race and ethnicity to increase participants' comfort in talking about racial and ethnic issues. Over half of the participants (about 53 percent) reported having either HIV/AIDS or HCV, or co-infection, and understood the potential value of genetic testing.

However, despite concerns regarding stigmas with testing, many participants also indicated that testing would make them feel more positive because it could improve their medical care.

In the end, it's all about knowing what you're dealing with that helps improve your life as well as an understanding of the illness.