Adolescent Illicit Drug Use and Policy Options in Australia: A Multicriteria Decision Analysis

The etiology of illicit substance involvement is a multidimensional problem shaped by factors across individual, social, and environmental domains. In this study, a multicriteria framework is employed to incorporate the input of specialists regarding risk and protective factors and the effectiveness of alternative interventions to mitigate the adverse harms and consequences associated with adolescent drug initiation and subsequent use. Using a seven-stage drug use continuum (nonuse, priming, initial use, experimental use, occasional use, regular use, and dysfunctional use), experts rate social and environmental factors as the most important from nonuse to occasional use. Experts often support preventive and harm-minimizing strategies to interrupt the progression of drug involvement and accumulation of drug-related harms among adolescents. Compared with preferable interventions, less preferable options (e.g., drug testing/monitoring) are considered to have a negative policy impact on key social, environmental, and drug dimension domains, which tend to override their positive impacts on other areas.

Download Full-text

A Technique for Estimating the Impact of Improvements in Drug Testing Sensitivity on Detection and Deterrence of Illicit Drug Use by Navy Personnel.

10.21236/ada326352 ◽

1997 ◽

Author(s):

Jules I. Borack

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Drug Testing ◽

Illicit Drug ◽

Illicit Drug Use ◽

Navy Personnel ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

The Role of Drugs in Workplace Injuries: Is Drug Testing Appropriate?

Journal of Drug Issues ◽

10.1177/002204269502500404 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 703-722 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Scott Macdonald

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Drug Testing ◽

Illicit Drug ◽

Household Survey ◽

Illicit Drug Use ◽

Alcohol Problems ◽

Age Group ◽

Workplace Injuries ◽

The Relationship

In the past decade, many employers have adopted drug-testing programs to reduce workplace injuries. However, little scientific evidence shows that drug use is a significant and substantial cause of total workplace injuries. The purpose of this study was to empirically assess the role of drugs and alcohol in causing workplace injuries. Questionnaires were received from 882 Ontario employees in a household survey. Results showed that many variables were significantly related to job injuries. The variables were ranked according to the relative importance of each variable's contribution to total job injuries. Alcohol problems, licit drug use, and illicit drug use ranked 7, 11, and 12 respectively among a group of 12 significant variables. In order to examine the likelihood that drug use was a cause of job injuries, the relationship between job injuries and alcohol problems, licit drug use, and illicit drug use was examined across categories of third variables. For age, the relationship between drug use and injuries remained strong for the youngest age group, but disappeared for the oldest age group. Logistic regression analysis confirmed the plausibility of noncausal explanations of job injuries for illicit drug use, but not for alcohol problems or licit drug use. Overall, the results indicated that illicit drug use does not appear to be a major cause of job injuries. The implications of these results for drug-testing programs are discussed.

Download Full-text

Under-reporting of drug use among individuals with schizophrenia: prevalence and predictors

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291713000548 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 61-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

A. L. Bahorik ◽

C. E. Newhill ◽

C. C. Queen ◽

S. M. Eack

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Justice System ◽

Regression Models ◽

Drug Testing ◽

Illicit Drug ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Neurocognitive Deficits ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Methamphetamine Use ◽

Urine Drug

BackgroundIllicit drug use is common in individuals with schizophrenia, and it has been suspected that many individuals under-report their use of substances, leading to significant barriers to treatment. This study sought to examine the degree to which individuals with schizophrenia disclose their use of drugs on self-rated assessments, compared to laboratory assays, and to determine the contributors of under-reported drug use in this population.MethodA total of 1042 individuals with schizophrenia who participated in screening/baseline procedures for the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) completed self-rated assessments of substance use and laboratory drug testing. Laboratory tests assayed cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine use; the procedures included radioimmunoassay (RIA) and urine drug screens.ResultsA significant proportion of participants tested positive for drug use on laboratory measures (n = 397; 38%), and more than half (n = 229; 58%) did not report using these drugs. Logistic regression models confirmed that patients who were most likely to conceal their use tended to be older, and presented with greater neurocognitive deficits. Patients who accurately reported drug use tended to have greater involvement with the criminal justice system. Illness severity and psychopathology were not associated with whether patients disclosed drug use.ConclusionsRates of under-reported drug use are considerable among individuals with schizophrenia when compared to laboratory assays, and the exclusive reliance on self-rated assessments should be used with caution. Patients who under-report their drug use are more likely to manifest neurocognitive deficits, which could be improved by interventions attempting to optimize treatment.

Download Full-text

Illicit Drug Use in the Pain Patient Population Decreases with Continued Drug Testing

January 2018 - Pain Physician ◽

10.36076/ppj.2011/14/189 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 3;14 (2;3) ◽

pp. 189-193 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Amadeo Pesce

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Drug Testing ◽

Illicit Drugs ◽

Illicit Drug ◽

Illicit Drug Use ◽

Pain Patient ◽

Spearman Correlation ◽

Urine Drug Testing ◽

Urine Drug ◽

Pain Patients

Background: A major concern of physicians treating pain patients with chronic opioid therapy and similar drugs is determining whether the patients are also using illicit drugs. This is commonly determined by urine drug testing (UDT). However, there are few studies on whether or not monitoring patients by this technique decreases illicit drug use. Objective: To determine if the presence of illicit drugs decreases over a number of physician visits where UDT was performed. Method: The method involved a retrospective study of tests for the illicit drugs marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstacy (MDMA) phencyclidine (PCP) and the heroin metabolite, 6-acetylmorphine as confirmed by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). A database of 150,000 patient visits was examined for the presence of any of these 6 drugs. Results: A total of 87,000 patients were initially tested. The number of patients who were repeatedly tested decreased over time. The percentage of patients positive for any of these illicit drugs decreased from 23% to 9% after 14 visits where UDT was performed. When graphed there was a trend to decreasing use. The Spearman correlation = -0.88, P < 0.0001. The major illicit drug was marijuana. When this was removed from the analysis, there was an even greater correlation with decreased illicit drug use. Spearman correlation = -0.92 (P < 0.0001) using a weighted correlation. Limitation: Patients continuing to use illicit drugs might be dismissed from practices thus biasing the study towards illicit drug avoidance. Conclusion: Continued UDT might decrease illicit drug use among pain patients. Key words: Pain patients, UDT, urine drug testing, LC-MS/MS, illicit drugs, decrease drug use

Download Full-text

Discounting, Cognitive Inflexibility, and Antisocial Traits as Predictors of Adolescent Drug Involvement

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.676250 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Hernández ◽

Diana Mejía ◽

Laurent Avila-Chauvet

Keyword(s):

Simultaneous Estimation ◽

Card Sorting ◽

Cognitive Inflexibility ◽

Drug Involvement ◽

And Function ◽

Substance Related Disorders ◽

Substance Involvement ◽

Sorting Test ◽

Age Range ◽

Experimental Use

Cognitive impairments, such as steep delay discounting, have been correlated with substance-related disorders. However, antisocial traits, cognitive inflexibility, and loss discounting have been barely considered despite having a high relationship with problematic consumption. This study aims to identify the predictive power of these variables in four types of drug use. Fifty-two adolescents (age range of 13 to 19 years) were assessed with a substance involvement test, four discounting tasks using $3,000, a card sorting test, and antisocial screening. Discriminant analysis with simultaneous estimation and varimax rotation was carried out. Function one included discounting of both losses, function two AT and CI, and function three probabilistic gains. The three functions explained 60.1% of the variance. The results show that preference for small and soon punishments and larger and unlikely punishments distinguished non-use and experimental use of moderate consumption and problematic consumption. High antisocial traits and low cognitive inflexibility distinguished experimental use groups of non-use. Risk-taking did not discriminate effectively between moderate consumption and problematic consumption. A replication of this study with a larger sample size is recommended to verify the results.

Download Full-text