Levels Of Drug Use Research Articles

International Variations in Youth Drug Use: The Effect of Individual Behaviours, Peer and Family Influences, and Geographical Location

This international study investigates factors underlying international variations in rates of youth drug use among representative samples of 15-year-olds in five cities (Bremen, n = 871; Dublin, n = 983; Groningen, n = 487; Newcastle upon Tyne, n = 880; Rome, n = 666). It reveals a higher level of drug use in English-speaking compared to continental populations. Drug use was associated with peer, family and individual factors. Logistic regression showed that family structure and sport were associated with lower rates and delinquent behaviour with higher rates of drug use in all cities and among males and females. Among males, city of residence also independently predicted drug use. The effect of traditional families and studiousness in reducing drug use was most evident for male drug use in low-use cities: higher rates of use in English-speaking cities appear partially due to the drug use of low-risk males.

Protective correlates of stages in adolescent substance use: A swiss national study

Objective: To identify factors potentially protective against involvement with additional illicit drugs among adolescent users of marijuana. Design and Methods: A cross-sectional, secondary analysis of a national data set of Swiss adolescents was performed. The original survey was conducted in 1992–1993 ( N= 9268). Stages of substance use were conceptualized as lifetime use of marijuana of three or more times and as use of marijuana and other illicit drugs (opiates, inhalants, cocaine, hallucinogens, or stimulants) more than twice in the past month. Behavioral characteristics associated with level of drug use were examined. Based on the resilience literature, factors potentially protective against progression of drug use were examined in their bivariate relationships and analyzed in a multiple regression model. Results: Almost one quarter of the surveyed adolescents were classified as past or current marijuana users. One in 20 of these adolescents also used other illicit drugs. Prevalence of risk-related behaviors (e.g., antisocial behavior, accidents, suicide attempts) was elevated for marijuana users compared to nonusers and even more elevated for users of marijuana with other illicit drugs. In a multivariate logistic regression model, communicating well with a parent was significantly associated with not having progressed to use of illicit drugs other than marijuana [for males, odds ratio (OR) = 0.72, confidence interval (CI) = 0.55, 0.92; for females, OR = 0.60, CI = 0.39, 0.93]. Other significant protective correlates for boys were academic achievement (OR = 0.66, CI = 0.47, 0.92), type of education: school versus apprenticeship (OR = 0.42, CI = 0.21, 0.87), confiding in a family member (OR = 0.49, CI = 0.28, 0.85), and regular participation in a sports club (OR = 0.39, CI = 0.22, 0.77). Conclusion: Within this national sample of Swiss adolescents, a cross-sectional analysis identified the quality of relationships within the family and factors related to school associated with lack of progression of illicit substance use. However, longitudinal studies will be necessary to confirm these associations and to allow for designing interventions targeting the enhancement of protective factors among young people already at risk for serious substance use.

Lost Opportunities? Prison Needle and Syringe Exchange Schemes

Community needle and syringe exchange schemes (CNSES) have become an established part of harm reduction strategies in the UK. However, prison needle and syringe exchange schemes (PNSES) have not been afforded the same attention. This article explores some of the pertinent issues that surround PNSES debates. The focus is on the UK, although it draws on international sources as the issues presented transcend international borders. To represent the range of considerations that surround PNSES debates the following six questions will be addressed: Are PNSES unrealistic and unpopular? Do PNSES conflict with the duties and principles of the prison service and its staff? Do PNSES affect levels of drug use and drug injection in prison? Would PNSES affect levels of infections? Will drug injectors use PNSES? Will PNSES affect safety and security? The article concludes with a call for a much fuller debate on the issue of PNSES.

Entrepreneurial police and drug enforcement policy

The hypothesis that drug enforcement is relatively high in local jurisdictions where state laws dictate that police retain seized assets is tested in the context of a reduced-form equation of the supply and demand for drug enforcement. The results are robust across model specifications, some of which directly control for the level of drug use: legislation permitting police to keep seized assets raises drug arrests as a portion of total arrests by about 20 percent and drug arrest rates by about 18 percent. Police bureaucrats apparently desire discretionary budget increases, and they have considerable discretion in determining resource allocation.

Group self-identification as a prospective predictor of drug use and violence in high-risk youth.

This study provides a 1-year prospective analysis of group self-identification as a predictor of adolescent drug use and violence. Youth identified with discrete groups. In most comparisons, 1 year later, a high-risk group reported greater levels of drug use and violence-related exposure than other groups, and the statistical relation between group self-identification and drug use or violence remained after baseline assessment of the drug use or violence measure was controlled for. This is the 1st study to demonstrate that group self-identification is a significant prospective predictor of drug use and other problem behaviors.

School-based adolescent drug prevention programs: 1998 meta-analysis.

This paper reports on a meta-analysis of 207 universal school-based drug prevention programs that compared the self-reported drug use of treatment to control or comparison youth. Programs are classified into Interactive and Non-Interactive groups based on a combination of content and delivery method. Weighted categorical and weighted regression methods have been used to determine the attributes that most effectively reduce, delay, or prevent drug use, including program size, type of control group and leader, attrition, target drug, intensity, grade, special population and level of drug use. Program type and size are found to be significant predictors of effectiveness. Non-interactive lecture-oriented prevention programs that stress drug knowledge or affective development show small effects. Interactive programs that foster development of interpersonal skills show significantly greater effects that decrease with large-scale implementations.

Modeling prevention program effects on growth in substance use: analysis of five years of data from the Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial.

The efficacy of prevention programs is typically determined through analysis of covariance. To date, a growth curve modeling approach is not used extensively in program evaluation. However, for longitudinal data there are several advantages to using this approach as compared to methods comparing means at two time points in a piecemeal fashion. In this study, latent growth curve models were used to evaluate the effect of a program on the average level of drug use, rate of change (growth) of drug use, and acceleration or deceleration in the rate of change of drug use. The study relied on data from the Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial, a randomized longitudinal drug use prevention program. The program consists of drug use information, resistance skills training, and normative education components. Data regarding cigarette and alcohol use were collected over a 5-year period, grade 7 to grade 11. Students receiving the normative education program had significantly lower average levels of reported cigarette and alcohol use, lower rates of growth for reported cigarette and alcohol use, and less deceleration of reported levels of cigarette and alcohol use as compared with the control group. Growth curve analysis is a powerful and effective tool with which to model change and program efficacy.

The Association of Group Self‐Identification and Adolescent Drug Use in Three Samples Varying in Risk1

This study provides a cross‐sectional analysis of the relations between group self‐identification and adolescent drug use in 3 samples of youth: comprehensive high‐school, continuation high‐school, and runaway/street youth. Youth identified with discrete groups in all 3 samples, and similar general groups were formed. In most comparisons, a high‐risk group showed greater levels of drug use than did other groups. This is the first study to demonstrate that group self‐identification (a) is a generalizable construct across different types of adolescent samples, (b) is related to use of drugs other than tobacco, and (c) remains a significant correlate of drug use controlling for its relations with demographic variables and several other psychosocial variables.

Correlates of alcohol and drug use among low-income Hispanic immigrant childbearing women living in the U.S.A.

Alcohol and drug use is a widespread and serious problem with deleterious consequences for the health and well-being of childbearing-age women and their children. Little information exists regarding etiological factors for substance use among Hispanic childbearing-age women immigrating to the United States (USA). This research provides a correlational analysis of factors associated with alcohol and drug use. The Social Stress Model for Substance Use Prevention provided the conceptual framework for this cross-sectional, interview-administered survey of 60 low-income predominantly Mexican–American women. The outcome variable was alcohol and drug use (alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine and opiates). Independent variables included the major constructs of the model: stress, social support, social influences, personal competencies and community resource utilization patterns. Findings suggested that the levels of drug use were lower among this study sample than in the general USA population regardless of pregnancy status. Bivariate correlations demonstrate that women with higher drug use indices had more lenient attitudes regarding drug use and were more likely to have family and friends that used alcohol and drugs. Although drug use was relatively low among this sample of women, both women who used alcohol themselves and women whose partners used alcohol and drugs reported significantly higher levels of stress, weaker social support and poorer levels of self esteem. Implications for practice and future research are suggested.

Genetic and environmental influences on transitions in drug use.

Genetic and environmental factors influence drug abuse, but abuse represents the culmination of a sequence of events. Different levels of use may have different determinants and these determinants may differ across drug types. Approximately 3200 male-male twin pairs from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry were interviewed by telephone. Data were obtained regarding exposure to six categories of illicit drugs, initiation of use, continuation of use, regular usage, and diagnosis of drug abuse/dependence. Genetic, common environmental, and unique environmental influences on transitions of drug involvement, defined as movement from one level of drug use to the next, were investigated. Marijuana had the highest conditional probability for the transition from exposure to use, from use to use more than five times, and from use more than five times to regular use. The rate of transition to regular use of heroin was higher than the rate for amphetamine, cocaine, sedatives, and psychedelics. Cocaine had the highest conditional probability for the transition from regular use to abuse/dependence. Significant genetic influences were observed for a number of transitions in marijuana, amphetamine, and cocaine usage.

Tackling drug use in prison: a success story

Downview prison, like most UK prisons, experienced a growth in drug use, and addiction among prisoners, throughout the 1980s. In 1992 a strategy was introduced with the aims of reducing the level of drug use in the prison, and of providing treatment to prisoners with the most severe problems to help them stay drug and crime free on release. The strategy, jointly managed by the Prison Managers and an independent treatment organisation, included the requirement that all prisoners sign a contact promising to avoid all drug use in prison; a system of incentives that reward compliance with the drug strategy; and provision of a treatment programme to those prisoners who admit they need help. The results now observed include a reduction in positive drug tests from 50% in 1983 to 8% in 1997; contravention of prison rules reduced by 775% over the same period, and almost 200 graduates of the treatment programme. This article will detail these achievements and analyse the key elements of a successful prison drug strategy.

Developmental Variations in Factors Related to Initial and Increased Levels of Adolescent Drug Involvement

The impact of maternal and adolescent factors on initial and increased levels of drug use by adolescents was examined in two groups of adolescents: 210 younger adolescents (ages 12–14 at initial assessment) and 199 older adolescents (ages 15–18). The adolescents and their mothers were interviewed at 2 points in time, 3 years apart. The results indicated that adolescent unconventionality is a crucial determinant for both initial and increased levels of drug use for both age groups, but intrapsychic distress is more important for the younger adolescent's initial use. Lack of maternal attachment and poor control techniques were associated with initial levels of drug use for both groups. However, the mother-child relationship and models of the mother's unconventionality had a greater impact on the older than on the younger group's increased involvement. Interactive results suggest that adolescents from both age groups who are well adjusted can off-set the potential risks of maternal models of drug use.

Antisocial Personality Disorder and depression in relation to alcoholism: a community-based sample.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and depression frequently co-occur with alcoholism. This study examined the relationship between the presence of ASPD or depression and the course and severity of alcoholism. Alcoholic men (n = 207), recruited from a community-based sample, the Minnesota Twin-Family Study (MTFS), were categorized according to comorbid diagnoses into the following four groups: alcoholics with ASPD (n = 25), alcoholics with depression (n = 24), alcoholics with neither ASPD nor depression, but who were allowed to have additional psychopathology (n = 130) and alcoholics with no other psychiatric diagnoses (n = 28). The four diagnostic subgroups were compared on alcohol and drug use, alcohol-related problems and personality dimensions. ASPD was associated with an earlier age of first intoxication, a more chronic and severe course of alcoholism, more social consequences of drinking and higher levels of drug use. On the whole, depression was associated with a less severe course of alcoholism. Alcoholics with depression and alcoholics with ASPD had higher negative emotionality, and alcoholics with ASPD had lower constraint scores on the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. These findings, derived from a community-based sample, indicate the importance of assessing comorbidity among alcoholics and confirm the association of ASPD with a more severe and chronic course of alcoholism and with higher likelihood of drug abuse.

Drug Use–Chronic and Relapsing or a Treatable Condition?

It is argued that the term “chronic relapsing disorder,” which is used frequently to characterize drug use, does not capture the complexity of drug treatment evaluation findings and thereby limits an understanding and appreciation of the accomplishments of drug treatment. Specifically, it is noteworthy that a substantial minority (19%) of treated drug users have been found to maintain abstinence over a 6-year period posttreat-ment, and that the three major multisite treatment evaluations sponsored by NIDA have all found that overwhelming majorities of treated drug users do not revert to the levels of drug use (or criminal activity) shown pretreatment. Thus, the view of inevitable and continuing adoption of pretreatment behaviors, i.e., chronic relapse, gives undeserved comfort to those who deny the utility of drug treatment, and does so at a time when changes in the health care industry threaten the integrity of that treatment.

Drug use Among Schoolchildren in Rural Scotland

This paper reports on levels of substance use among a representative sample of 765 schoolchildren aged approximately 12–15 years-attending 5 schools in rural Perth and Kinross District, Scotland. Experience of tobacco was reported by over half of the sample (56.0 %). Of smokers, 53.2 % reported having smoked in the past month. A majority of pupils had consumed an whole alcoholic drink (72.4 %), 55.8 % of whom had drunk alcohol in the past month. Just under half reported having been intoxicated (46.6 %), with a mean number of 17 days reported drunk in the past year. Pupils reported high levels of awareness and exposure to illicit drugs. A quarter reported lifetime experience of drugs (25.4 %). By age fifteen, 44.4 % had tried a drug. Cannabis accounted for most of this drug use (23.0 %), although 12.8 % reported use of more than one drug (the mean number taken was 2). The levels of drug use reported are comparable with national survey results and suggest the degree to which drugs are prevalent in rural as ...

Drug Prescribing in Rural Health Facilities in China: Implications for Service Quality and Cost

Overuse of drugs in rural areas of China has led to a growing concern regarding service quality and cost. The study found evidence of high levels of drug use in some rural health facilities in comparison with a number of other developing countries. Such a result was significantly associated with the government policy of financing health care, regulation and monitoring of health services, and users' attitudes and behaviour. It underlines the need for measures to be taken in China to improve drug use in order to allow its population access to effective care at reasonable cost.

Drug use and Crime: A Historical Review of Research Conducted by the UCLA Drug Abuse Research Center

The UCLA Drug Abuse Research Center (DARC) has become one of the nation's most respected research organizations involved in the study of drug abuse by providing reliable, comprehensive findings. This article provides an encapsulation of the crime-related research conducted at DARC during the past quarter century. Research has focused on the correlates of drug use and criminal behavior and the effects of treatment and criminal justice interventions on subsequent drug use and criminal offending. The relationships have been examined, both directly and by statistical modeling, to assess the degree to which criminal behavior covaries with levels of drug use. The article discusses implications from the findings and makes recommendations regarding future directions for policy and research. [Translations are provided in the International s Section of this issue.]

Levels of Drug Use in a Sample of Scottish Independent Secondary School Pupils

This short report quantifies the lifetime prevalence of substance use among a sample of 557 school pupils drawn from the independent school sector in Scotland. The mean age of these respondents was 14.4 years (range 11–18). A majority of the sample was female. Almost two-thirds (62.9%) of the sample reported lifetime use of tobacco. More than half (57.3%) of these smokers had done so within the past 28 days. Alcohol had been consumed by most of the sample, with a majority (61.4%) reporting having experienced at least one episode of drunkenness. As with smoking, more than half of respondents (61.2%) who had ever experienced drunkenness had done so during the previous month. More than one-quarter (26.0%) reported having used an illegal drug. In line with other studies, the drug most likely to be used was cannabis. Use of any other drugs was comparatively low (11.0%). By secondary school year five (ages 16–17) a majority (56.6%) of these respondents had tried an illegal drug. These data indicate that a high level of substance use among school pupils is not a phenomenon restricted to comprehensive schools.

Drug Use and Offending Behaviour Among Young People Excluded from School

Increasing concern is being placed upon the long-term outcomes of pupils excluded from school and their possible increasing involvement in drug use and crime. Data presented in this paper explore levels of drug USE and offending behaviour of a sample of 14-Z6-year-olds excluded from school. Interviews were conducted with 86 school excludes attending Pupil Referral Units (education centres for young people excluded from school) in North West London during 1996, as part of an ongoing evaluation of a drugs education intervention being delivered by the Home Office Drug Prevention Initiative. The majority of the excludes lived in single parent families with nearly two-thirds having no adult wage earner. Over half of subjects were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Offending behaviour among the sample was high. Nearly all had committed a criminal offence, with nearly half having committed an assault or wounding, and nearly a third having committed a burglary. Levels of lifetime, current drug use, and the range of drugs used were also high among the sample. Over three-quarters of the excludees (78%) had used an illicit drug, with 38% having used a drug other than cannabis. Nine per cent reported lifetime use of cocaine and 5% use of crack cocaine. The data would suggest that young people attending Pupil Referral Units are a high risk group in terms of drug use and offending and would be an appropriate group for targeted interventions, although developing such interventions is likely to be challenging. Subjects had long histories of persistent truanting, previous exclusions and contact with social welfare and criminal justice organizations. However, bearing in mind the extent of their previous drug taking and criminal behaviour, this group might particularly benefit from early interventions, prior to the onset of these problematic behaviours.

Uses and misuses of epidemiology in shaping and assessing drug policy

Seven ways that epidemiology can be used in the analysis of drug policy are identified, as follows: to determine the causes of drug use and abuse; to monitor the levels of drug use and abuse in our communities; to identify trends over time in drug use and abuse; to complete the clinical picture of drug use and abuse; to identify syndromes of abuse; to identify target groups or individuals for preventive interventions; and to determine the effectiveness of interventions for the prevention or treatment of drug abuse. Common misuses of epidemiology are also identified.