Medical care of individuals who use injection drugs should focus on initial management of local or systemic complications of injecting drug use and then on referral to appropriate chemical dependency treatment programs. 

Some patients may have multiple medical problems and poor socioeconomic status. They may lack medical insurance and a stable place to live, and they may have mental health problems, either preexisting or associated with chronic substance use. Therefore, each patient requires a comprehensive physical examination as well as a thorough history. The patient possibly does not know what he or she has injected because many of the street drugs are altered or laced with other substances.