Understanding Nonprescription and Prescription Drug Misuse in Late Adolescence/Young Adulthood

This study explored the extent to which nonprescription and prescription drugs misuse among adolescents/young adults are related to their perception that it is safer than illicit drugs, ease of access, and lower societal stigma. Adolescents/young adults (; , ) completed an online survey about their nonprescription and prescription drug misuse, other substance use, and correlates of use. Perceived risk, societal stigma, and access to nonprescription and prescription drugs were predictive of misuse. Results support program planners working towards targeting perceived risk and societal stigma in reducing misuse and the need to restrict and monitor access to nonprescription and prescription drugs for adolescents/young adults.

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Misuse of prescription and illicit drugs among high-risk young adults in Los Angeles and New York

Journal of Public Health Research ◽

10.4081/jphr.2012.e6 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 6 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Stephen E. Lankenau ◽

Sheree M. Schrager ◽

Karol Silva ◽

Alex Kecojevic ◽

Jennifer Jackson Bloom ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Young Adults ◽

High Risk ◽

Los Angeles ◽

Prescription Drug ◽

Prescription Drugs ◽

Illicit Drugs ◽

Drug Misuse ◽

Prescription Drug Misuse ◽

Local Markets

Background. Prescription drug misuse among young adults is increasingly viewed as a public health concern, yet most research has focused on student populations and excluded high-risk groups. Furthermore, research on populations who report recent prescription drug misuse is limited. This study examined patterns of prescription drug misuse among high-risk young adults in Los Angeles (LA) and New York (NY), which represent different local markets for illicit and prescription drugs. Design and Methods. Between 2009 and 2011, 596 young adults (16 to 25 years old) who had misused prescription drugs within the past 90 days were interviewed in Los Angeles and New York. Sampling was stratified to enroll three groups of high-risk young adults: injection drug users (IDUs); homeless persons; and polydrug users. Results. In both sites, lifetime history of receiving a prescription for an opioid, tranquilizer, or stimulant was high and commonly preceded misuse. Moreover, initiation of opioids occurred before heroin and initiation of prescription stimulants happened prior to illicit stimulants. NY participants more frequently misused oxycodone, heroin, and cocaine, and LA participants more frequently misused codeine, marijuana, and methamphetamine. Combining prescription and illicit drugs during drug using events was commonly reported in both sites. Opioids and tranquilizers were used as substitutes for other drugs, e.g., heroin, when these drugs were not available. Conclusion. Patterns of drug use among high-risk young adults in Los Angeles and New York appear to be linked to differences in local markets in each city for illicit drugs and diverted prescription drugs.

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Combinations of prescription drug misuse and illicit drugs among young adults

Addictive Behaviors ◽

10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.12.003 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 39 (5) ◽

pp. 941-944 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Brian C. Kelly ◽

Brooke E. Wells ◽

Mark Pawson ◽

Amy LeClair ◽

Jeffrey T. Parsons

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Prescription Drug ◽

Illicit Drugs ◽

Drug Misuse ◽

Prescription Drug Misuse

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MisuMedPT - Morbi-mortality consequences of misuse of psychoactive prescription drugs in Portugal

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa166.1320 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

A Araújo ◽

C Bulhosa ◽

J Goulão ◽

A P Martins

Keyword(s):

Prescription Drug ◽

Prescription Drugs ◽

Illicit Drugs ◽

Opioid Analgesics ◽

Drug Misuse ◽

Public Health Issue ◽

Poison Control ◽

Published Data ◽

Prescription Drug Misuse ◽

Drug Poisoning

Abstract Background In Portugal, there are no published data on the health-related consequences of prescription drug misuse, which is therefore a public health issue of unknown dimension in our country. Poison control centres and other pharmacoepidemiological sources can be part of a surveillance system for monitoring medicine's use and misuse. Methods Retrospective observational study of intentional exposures to opioid analgesics, antiepileptics, antidepressants, anxiolytics, hypnotics and sedatives reported to the Portuguese Poison Information Centre (CIAV) between 2014 and 2018. Variables studied were demographic characteristics of individuals, geographic distribution of calls, co-exposure to alcohol or illicit drugs, call origin, case evaluation and guidance. Results CIAV received 24624 calls reporting 34203 intentional exposures to any medicine, 31169 (91.1%) of which involving one of the studied psychoactive medicines and 20906 exposures having emergency room advice or effective hospitalisation. The most frequently involved medicines were benzodiazepines (62.0%) - alprazolam (15.4%) and diazepam (12.0%) - with trazodone ranking fifth (6.0%). Combination with non-medicinal products was seen in 2169 calls (9.4%), 2052 (94.6%) of which with alcohol. Conclusions There is female predominance in the poisonings reported involving any of the medicines studied. Benzodiazepines and antidepressants are the top classes reported. The rate of intentional exposures to psychoactive medicines is higher in Coimbra district, whose significant university student population requires further analysis of data. To adjust for the variability in the level of medicines' use in the population, work is undergoing to include rates of intentional poisonings in patients prescribed the studied medicines. To better characterise the potential consequences of misuse of psychoactive prescription drugs in Portugal, additional data on deaths involving these medicines will also be included in the project. Key messages First published Portuguese data on prescription drug poisoning reported to CIAV. First Portuguese project to analyse prescription drug poisoning, forensic and hospitalisation data.

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Prescription drug misuse during pandemic

Indian Journal of Forensic and Community Medicine ◽

10.18231/j.ijfcm.2021.035 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 170-174

Author(s):

Anand Shankar ◽

Anupama J Anand

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Drug Use ◽

Data Collection ◽

Prescription Drug ◽

Prescription Drugs ◽

World Health ◽

Drug Misuse ◽

Age Group ◽

Prescription Drug Misuse ◽

Prescription Drug Use

Prescription drug misuse is when someone takes a medication inappropriately. The prescription drug misuse is not an uncommon issue but the use of prescription drugs has significantly increased during the covid 19 pandemic. The major factors that has contributed to the increased dependence to prescription drug use during the pandemic is the increased paranoia about the virus and the drug dependency of the substance abusers. The context of the study is the increased use of prescription drugs among young adults and case reports of violence attributed by drug use. The main aim of the study is to identify the trend of prescription drug use among young adults and the factors that contribute to the misuse. The study primarily focused on young adults and recorded the responses using the questionnaire. The methodology for the proposed study was through online interaction with the participants in the form of survey through google forms. The data collection method included literature review of published articles pertaining to the topic, newspaper articles and websites. The data collection was primarily through google forms and participants response are analyzed for arriving into conclusion. Further-more data from published article, journals, data published in websites like the National Health Portal, National Institute of Health (NIH)- National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), World Health Organization (WHO). Both primary and secondary data is used for data collection. An age group between 20-30 was collected. This age group was selected due to the possibility that most utilization of prescription drugs would be contributed by these groups. Mostly randomized sampling was carried out due to the limitation of collecting data one to one considering the pandemic situations. After analyzing the results, it is inferred that there is a significant increase in use of prescription drugs during the pandemic time and the study also found a trend of alarming concern of buying prescription drug without it being prescribed by the medical practitioner which hence is a serious case of social concern.

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Deportation of Family Members of US-Citizen Latinos and Misuse of Prescription Drugs: United States, 2019

American Journal of Public Health ◽

10.2105/ajph.2019.305516 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 110 (4) ◽

pp. 560-566 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Miguel Pinedo

Keyword(s):

Prescription Drug ◽

Prescription Drugs ◽

Online Survey ◽

Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽

Family Members ◽

National Sample ◽

Drug Misuse ◽

Prescription Drug Misuse ◽

Logistic Regression Models

Objectives. To investigate how personally knowing a deported migrant relates to past-year prescription drug misuse among US-citizen Latinos. Methods. Between April and May 2019, a national sample (n = 3446) was recruited to complete an online survey. Multivariate and multinomial logistic regression models examined the role of (1) personally knowing a deported migrant and (2) the relationship to the deportee (e.g., family, friend) on (1) any past-year prescription drug misuse and (2) the frequency of prescription drug misuse. I limited analyses to US citizens only (n = 3282). Results. Overall, 19% of all participants reported any past-year prescription drug misuse. Latinos who had a family member who was deported reported significantly higher odds of past-year prescription drug misuse and were exceedingly at higher risk for misusing prescription drugs 3 or more days in the past year as compared with Whites and Latinos who did not personally know a deported migrant. Conclusions. Public health prevention strategies and deportation policies need to consider and address how the deportation of an individual will affect the health of that individual’s US-citizen family members.

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Integrating Theories of Gender and Sexuality With Deviance: The Case of Prescription Drug Misuse during Sex

Gender & Society ◽

10.1177/08912432211009859 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 089124322110098

Author(s):

Laura C. Frizzell ◽

Mike Vuolo ◽

Brian C. Kelly

Keyword(s):

Prescription Drug ◽

Prescription Drugs ◽

Minority Stress ◽

Sexual Minorities ◽

Deviant Behavior ◽

Gender And Sexuality ◽

Drug Misuse ◽

Identity Conflict ◽

Prescription Drug Misuse ◽

Sexual Identities

Social scientists have expended substantial effort to identify group patterns of deviant behavior. Yet beyond the ill-conceived treatment of sexual minorities as inherently deviant, they have rarely considered how gendered sexual identities (GSIs) shape participation in deviance. We argue for the utility of centering theories of gender and sexuality in intersectional deviance research. We demonstrate how this intentional focus on gender and sexuality provides important empirical insights while avoiding past pitfalls of stigmatizing sexual minorities. Drawing on theories of hegemonic masculinity, emphasized femininity, and minority stress together with criminological general strain theory, we demonstrate how societal expectations and constraints generate strains among GSI groups that may lead to distinctly patterned deviance, using the case of prescription drug misuse during sex. We employ thematic analysis of 120 in-depth interviews with people who misuse prescription drugs, stratified by GSI. We identify six themes highlighting distinct pathways from strain to misuse during sex for different GSI groups: intimacy management, achieving sexual freedom, regulating sexual mood, performance confidence, increased sense of control, and managing sexual identity conflict. In this article, we demonstrate the empirical and theoretical importance of centering gender and sexuality in deviance research and provide a roadmap for theoretical integration.

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