Drug use by people is on the rise and is of great interest to public health agencies and law enforcement agencies. As found by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 20 million Americans aged 12 years or older consumed illicit drugs in the past few 30 days. Given their ubiquity in everyday life, drug abuse related studies have received much and constant attention. However, most of the exis...

OBJECTIVE To identify emergency department patients who are ready to change their illicit drug use behavior. METHODS A cross-sectional study of 198 Emergency Department patients at least 18 years old, seeking emergency department services, using at least one illicit drug, and scoring positive for alcohol problem based on CAGE score ≥ 1. RESULTS Of the patients, 46% were "not ready" to chang...

BACKGROUND A number of studies indicate that 10.8%-34% of patients with chronic pain use illicit drugs. One hypothesis for this occurrence is that some patients may be supplementing their prescription medications with illicit drugs. OBJECTIVE The primary purpose of this retrospective data analysis was to test the hypothesis that people whose urine specimens are positive for the medications th...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the prevalence of drug use among institutionalized children and adolescents; to assess the degree of associated use of illicit drugs with alcohol and tobacco; and to determine which is the gateway drug to illicit drug use. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Fundação Estadual do Bem-Estar do Menor, in Porto Alegre (FEBEM) Southern Bra...

The abuse of illegal drugs is one of the greatest challenges that the world is facing today. Occurring in all countries, from the richest to the poorest, it is a problem that involves all groups and, increasingly, all ages, fuelling global crime, corruption and terrorism, generating unimaginable wealth for the few and limitless harm for the many, costing millions of lives and threatening the ve...

OBJECTIVE Illicit drug and heavy alcohol use is more common among sexual minorities compared with heterosexuals. This difference has sometimes been attributed to more tolerant substance use norms within the gay community, although evidence is sparse. The current study investigated the role of perceived drug availability and tolerant injunctive norms in mediating the linkage between minority sex...

AIMS Limited data are available about whether rural-urban migration, often characterized by exposure to urban life stress and a reduction in social network and support, can affect the prevalence of illicit drug use and hazardous/harmful drinking. The purpose of our study was to examine the prevalence of these risky behaviours among Thai young adults and to describe their association between the...

OBJECTIVE Recent studies show an alarming rate of alcohol and drug use among university students. The objective of this study was to assess the level of association between lifestyle and socioeconomic status and the prevalence of alcohol, tobacco, medicine, and "illicit drug" use in the last 12 months among university students. METHODS The sample included 926 undergraduate students in the Bio...

ƒ A significant minority of REU reported engaging in specific harm reduction strategies as a result of the introduction of roadside drug testing. BACKGROUND Driving under the influence of illicit drugs and/or alcohol is a significant road safety concern (1-3). Although changes in actual crash risk vary between drugs, all illicit drugs are associated with cognitive and performance effects that a...

backgroung: hbv still continues to infect many people worldwide despite the availability of an effective vaccine for more than three decades. high prevalence of hbv may exist in high risk groups, particularly among intravenous drug users (idus). this group is among groups with higher risk of infection due to their hazardous behaviors such as sharing needle for drug injection. objectives: this c...