Drug Use and Drug Users: Attitudes and Behaviors of a Group of Western Australian Rotarians

1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Bunbury ◽  
Jane Cowling
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Illicit Drug Users ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Western Australian

A group of 169 Western Australian Rotarians was surveyed to examine their attitudes concerning the treatment of users of different kinds of drugs, their own use of alcohol, cigarettes and analgesics, and their perceptions of their own drug taking habits. The survey findings revealed that while most Rotarians had realistic perceptions of the extent of their own drug use, there were discrepancies in their attitudes regarding the treatment they suggested for various drug users. Overall, illicit drug users were viewed less favorably than users of the legal drugs.

scholarly journals The Exposure Assessment in Current Time Study: Implementation, Feasibility, and Acceptability of Real-Time Data Collection in a Community Cohort of Illicit Drug Users

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory D. Kirk ◽  
Beth S. Linas ◽  
Ryan P. Westergaard ◽  
Damani Piggott ◽  
Robert C. Bollinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Response Rates ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Illicit Drug Users ◽  
Prompt Response

Objective. We describe the study design and evaluate the implementation, feasibility, and acceptability of an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study of illicit drug users.Design. Four sequential field trials targeting observation of 30 individuals followed for a four week period.Participants. Participants were recruited from an ongoing community-cohort of current or former injection drug users. Of 113 individuals enrolled, 109 completed study procedures during four trials conducted from November 2008 to May 2013.Methods. Hand-held electronic diaries used in the initial trials were transitioned to a smartphone platform for the final trial with identical data collection. Random-prompts delivered five times daily assessed participant location, activity, mood, and social context. Event-contingent data collection involved participant self-reports of illicit drug use and craving.Main Outcome Measures. Feasibility measures included participant retention, days of followup, random-prompt response rates, and device loss rate. Acceptability was evaluated from an end-of-trial questionnaire. Sociodemographic, behavioral, clinical, and trial characteristics were evaluated as correlates of weekly random-prompt response rates ≥80% using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations.Results. Study participants were a median of 48.5 years old, 90% African American, 52% male, and 59% HIV-infected with limited income and educational attainment. During a median followup of 28 days, 78% of 11,181 random-prompts delivered were answered (mean of 2.8 responses daily), while 2,798 participant-initiated events were reported (30% drug use events; 70% craving events). Self-reported acceptability to study procedures was uniformly favorable. Device loss was rare (only 1 lost device every 190 person-days of observation). Higher educational attainment was consistently associated with a higher response rate to random-prompts, while an association of HIV infection with lower response rates was not observed after accounting for differences in trial recruitment procedures.Conclusion. Near real-time EMA data collection in the field is feasible and acceptable among community-dwelling illicit drug users. These data provide the basis for future studies of EMA-informed interventions to prevent drug relapse and improve HIV treatment outcomes in this population.

scholarly journals Has illicit drug use become normalised in groups of Swedish youth? A latent class analysis of school survey data from 2012 to 2015

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik Karlsson ◽  
Mats Ekendahl ◽  
Josefin Månsson ◽  
Jonas Raninen
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Latent Class Analysis ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Illicit Drug Use ◽  
Illicit Drug Users ◽  
High Prevalence

Background: It is often assumed that illicit drug use has become normalised in the Western world, as evidenced for example by increased prevalence rates and drug-liberal notions in both socially advantaged and disadvantaged youth populations. There is accumulating research on the characteristics of young illicit drug users from high-prevalence countries, but less is known about the users in countries where use is less common. There is reason to assume that drug users in low-prevalence countries may be more disadvantaged than their counterparts in high-prevalence countries, and that the normalisation thesis perhaps does not apply to the former context. Aim: This article aims to explore to what extent such assertions hold true by studying the characteristics of young illicit drug users in Sweden, where prevalence is low and drug policy centres on zero tolerance. Material and Method: We draw on a subsample ( n = 3374) of lifetime users of illicit drugs from four waves of a nationally representative sample of students in 9th and 11th grade (2012–2015). Latent class analysis (LCA) on ten indicators pertaining to illicit drug use identified four classes which we termed “Marijuana testers”, “Marijuana users”, “Cannabinoid users” and “Polydrug users”. Findings: Indications of social advantage/disadvantage such as peer drug use, early substance-use debut and truancy varied across groups, particularly between “Marijuana testers” (low scores) and “Polydrug users” (high scores). Conclusions: Our findings corroborate the idea that the majority of those who have used illicit drugs in the Swedish youth population have tried marijuana a few times only. We discuss whether or not the comparably large share of socially advantaged “Marijuana testers” in a comparably small sample of lifetime users can be interpreted as a sort of normalisation in a prohibitionist drug policy context.

scholarly journals Illicit drug use in seven Latin American countries: critical perspectives of families and familiars

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (spe) ◽  
pp. 763-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaqueline da Silva ◽  
Carla Aparecida Arena Ventura ◽  
Octavio Muniz da Costa Vargens ◽  
Cristina Maria Douat Loyola ◽  
Daniel Gonzalo Eslava Albarracín ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Illicit Drug Use ◽  
Illicit Drug Users ◽  
Treatment Facilities ◽  
Drug Problems ◽  
Latin American Countries

This cross-sectional multi-centre study explored how family members and friends of illicit drug users perceived protective and risk factors, treatment facilities and policies and laws regarding illicit drug use. Family members and friends of illicit drug users were recruited in 10 urban health care outpatient units in 7 Latin American countries (Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico) to complete a questionnaire. The majority of the respondents chose psycho-social factors over genetic or biological explanations as causes of drug problems. Respondents felt that families and governments were responsible for preventing drug problems. Church/religious institutions were most often mentioned in the context of accessible treatment. When asked about access to treatment facilities, the majority said that there were not enough. Shame about drug use, cost, and limited treatment options were most often cited as barriers to treatment.

scholarly journals Subtypes of Illicit Drug Users: A Latent Class Analysis of Data From an Australian Twin Sample

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Lynskey ◽  
Arpana Agrawal ◽  
Kathleen K. Bucholz ◽  
Elliot C. Nelson ◽  
Pamela A. F. Madden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Latent Class Analysis ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Psychiatric Comorbidity ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Illicit Drug Use ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Class Analysis ◽  
Illicit Drug Users

AbstractThis article applies methods of latent class analysis (LCA) to data on lifetime illicit drug use in order to determine whether qualitatively distinct classes of illicit drug users can be identified. Self-report data on lifetime illicit drug use (cannabis, stimulants, hallucinogens, sedatives, inhalants, cocaine, opioids and solvents) collected from a sample of 6265 Australian twins (average age 30 years) were analyzed using LCA. Rates of childhood sexual and physical abuse, lifetime alcohol and tobacco dependence, symptoms of illicit drug abuse/dependence and psychiatric comorbidity were compared across classes using multinomial logistic regression. LCA identified a 5-class model: Class 1 (68.5%) had low risks of the use of all drugs except cannabis; Class 2 (17.8%) had moderate risks of the use of all drugs; Class 3 (6.6%) had high rates of cocaine, other stimulant and hallucinogen use but lower risks for the use of sedatives or opioids. Conversely, Class 4 (3.0%) had relatively low risks of cocaine, other stimulant or hallucinogen use but high rates of sedative and opioid use. Finally, Class 5 (4.2%) had uniformly high probabilities for the use of all drugs. Rates of psychiatric comorbidity were highest in the polydrug class although the sedative/opioid class had elevated rates of depression/suicidal behaviors and exposure to childhood abuse. Aggregation of population-level data may obscure important subgroup differences in patterns of illicit drug use and psychiatric comorbidity. Further exploration of a ‘self-medicating’ subgroup is needed.

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