Patterns of Substance use in an Immgrant Population in Spain

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
A. Qureshi ◽  
N. Rutow ◽  
C. Visiers ◽  
E. Pedrini ◽  
H.W. Revollo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Service Access ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Drug Use Patterns ◽  
Migratory Process

Aims:The relationship between immigration and drug abuse and its treatment is complex and poorly understood. The objective of this study is to gain insight into patterns of drug use and service access and how they are influenced by social factors and the migratory process in a population of foreign born drug users in Barcelona, Spain.Methods:An interview protocol was developed for the study which examined drug use patterns, social and health factors, and treatment, and was administered to 118 foreign born users in harm reduction centers. 92% were male and 8% were female. 42% were from Eastern Europe, 35% were from the Magreb, 14% from the European Community, 6% from Subsaharan Africa and 3% from Latin America.Results:With migration opium use decreased whereas cocaine, heroin, and speedball increased, which also constitute the primary drug used by this sample. Social support was correlated with greater consumption of heroin, cocaine, and alcohol, whereas lower social stress was predictive of higher cannabis use. Hard drug use was predicted by illegal status and a lack of stable housing. Acculturation and acclturative stress were not found to be related to substance use. Treatment was positively evaluated, with no perception of lower quality of care.Discussion:Drug use patterns shift with the migratory process, and, it would appear, adapt to the dominant local ones. The unexpecting findings regarding social factors and acculturation and acculturative stress may indicate differences in the Spanish drug use context, and as such warrant further research.

scholarly journals Changes in Drug Use Patterns During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Monitoring a Vulnerable Group by Hair Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessio Gili ◽  
Mauro Bacci ◽  
Kyriaki Aroni ◽  
Alessia Nicoletti ◽  
Angela Gambelunghe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Laboratory Data ◽  
High Risk Population ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Self Medication ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Drug Use Patterns ◽  
The Government

Abstract Background From March 22 until May 18, 2020, a complete lockdown in Italy was ordered by the government as a drastic and unprecedented countermeasure against the COVID-19 pandemic. Social isolation measures affect some populations more than others, and people with mental and drug and/or alcohol disorders are more likely to be adversely affected by home confinement. The literature on substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic is still nascent, but past research on other large-scale disasters suggests a modification in drug use patterns. This study presents for the first time experimental laboratory data on the use of alcohol and drugs in a high-risk population during Italy's first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Thirty subjects with substance use disorders were monitored for the use of traditional drugs and alcohol every 3 months before, during and after lockdown by the analysis of hair, a biological matrix that permits retrospective evaluations. Results There was a general decrease in the use of traditional drugs during the lockdown: the number of samples positive for heroin, cocaine, MDMA and cannabis fell considerably and then resumed to pre-lockdown levels when the period of confinement was over. Interestingly, the consumption of benzodiazepines and alcohol followed the opposite trend. The number of benzodiazepine-positive samples increased and remained high even at the end of the lockdown. Similarly, alcohol consumption underwent a significant increase during the period of confinement and remained high even after the lockdown restrictions were lifted. Conclusions Confinement measures produced significant changes in drug/alcohol use patterns with a shift towards the use of substances that are more easily accessible and used for the self-medication of stress, anxiety, irritability, depressive symptoms and insomnia. Furthermore, the combined use of alcohol and benzodiazepines can alleviate the negative effects of abstinence from drugs that are no longer easily available. It is concerning that the levels of alcohol and benzodiazepine consumption have remained high even after the lockdown. Mixing benzodiazepines and alcohol can result in a number of serious short-term and long-term effects, which inevitably place further pressure on drug addiction and health services during and after the pandemic.

Multiple-Drug Use among High School Students

1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1099-1106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha J. Eisterhold ◽  
Patrick Murphy ◽  
William Beneke ◽  
Gary Scott
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Marijuana Use ◽  
Multiple Drug ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
School Students ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Drug Use Patterns

A survey of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana use was completed by 309 high school students in a rural midwestern county. Frequencies of use of these drugs were similar to data obtained in urban coastal populations. Significant multi-drug-use patterns were identified. Most drug use began at ages 14 or 15 and occurred in social situations implicating social factors as primary determinants of adolescents' drug use.

Religious Correlates of Teenage Drug Use

1975 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin F. McLuckie ◽  
Margaret Zahn ◽  
Robert A. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
Parochial School ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Mixed Support ◽  
Drug Use Patterns ◽  
The One ◽  
Relationship Of

This paper analyzes the relationship of religiosity and patterns of drug use among students in the seventh through the twelfth grades. Data were collected in a statewide questionnaire survey of more than 30,000 students. Hypotheses regarding the constraining influence of religion on drug use patterns received mixed support. On the one hand religiosity as measured by affiliation and by parochial school attendance did not uniformly constrain drug use. For example, while Catholics and Protestants were relatively low in current use, Jewish teenagers had the highest rate with nonaffiliates the second highest. Extent of involvement in religion (as measured by frequency of attendance), on the other hand, did seem constraining since nonattenders were more than twice as likely to be drug users as were regular weekly attenders. Data on these teenagers' evaluation of drug information sources is also presented. Here it was found that drug users tend to trust traditional sources of Information less than do nonusers and trust those with personal drug experience more than do nonusers. All students, however, whether drug users or not, tended to value information from those presumed to have technical knowledge about drugs, i.e., physicians and medical school professors. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also explored.

scholarly journals Incarceration and drug use patterns among a cohort of injection drug users

Addiction ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kora DeBeck ◽  
Thomas Kerr ◽  
Kathy Li ◽  
M.-J. Milloy ◽  
Julio Montaner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Injection Drug Users ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Injection Drug ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Drug Use Patterns

Differences in drug use patterns and HCV among African-American adult drug users

2014 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. e242
Author(s):  
Nicole E. Whitehead ◽  
Larry Keen ◽  
R. Trenz ◽  
J. Rose ◽  
W.W. Latimer
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
African American Adult ◽  
American Adult ◽  
Drug Use Patterns

scholarly journals 20 years of Portuguese drug policy - developments, challenges and the quest for human rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ximene RÊGO ◽  
Maria João OLIVEIRA ◽  
Catarina LAMEIRA ◽  
Olga S. CRUZ
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Local Data ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Drug Use Patterns

AbstractPortugal decriminalized the public and private use, acquisition, and possession of all drugs in 2000; adopting an approach focused on public health rather than public-order priorities. Arguing that the Portuguese Drug Policy Model has not proven influential enough to emancipate drug use from the stigma that associates it either with crime or pathology, this article critically discusses the developments and current challenges the Portuguese drug policy confronts, namely the growing diversity of drug use patterns observed in Portugal as well as in Europe. To this end, international and national legal instruments concerning drugs and official local data were analysed. Despite encouraging results, conclusions indicate that these policies are marked by contradictions and ambiguities that have permeated its history since the very beginning, and modest ambitions, particularly regarding the implementation of harm reduction measures. Moreover, the polemical Supreme Court judgment that reestablished, in 2008, drug use as a crime when the quantities at play exceeded those required for an average individual’s use for 10 days, might have impacted the landscape of drug use penalization. The last decade saw an increase of punitiveness targeted at drug users, including criminal sentences of jail terms. We finish with some suggestions that could be employed in the practical application of drug policy.

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