Despite a long history of successful, community-led harm reduction programs and rising health inequalities suffered by PWUD, research collaborations between PWUD and researchers remain generally ignored. PWUDs are crucial in identifying developing concerns in the drug industry, as well as related health behaviors and consequences. PWUD are thus ideally positioned to contribute meaningfully to all parts of the research process, including the generation of research questions, the conceptualization of study design, and the contextualization of findings.

It is suggested that PWUD have unrivaled...