QUESTIONS UNDER STUDY / PRINCIPLES The main aim of this study was to investigate profiles of drug users, with a particular focus on illicit drugs other than cannabis, and to explore the effect of early-onset intensive use (drunkenness, daily smoking, high on cannabis) on profiles of illicit drug use. METHODS Baseline data from a representative sample of 5,831 young Swiss men in the ongoing Co...

Substance abuse and dependence are among the most common psychiatric disorders among pregnant and parenting women. These disorders among welfare recipients have attracted special concern. Chemical testing has been proposed to identify illicit drug use in this population. This analysis scrutinizes the potential value of drug testing, using recent data from the Women's Employment Study and the Na...

Problem gambling, substance use disorders, and their cooccurrence are serious public health concerns. We conducted a comprehensive review of the literature to understand the present state of the evidence on these coaddictions. Our main focus was illicit drug use rather than misuse of legal substances. The review covers issues related to gambling as a hidden problem in the illicit drug use commu...

BACKGROUND Given ever-reducing budgets of community and school substance use prevention programs, there is a call for identifying the first substance in the sequence leading to polydrug use. METHODS Examining data from a nationally representative sample of 2835 United States 12th graders, we sought to determine (1) the first substance adolescents use; (2) order in which adolescents progress t...

BACKGROUND Knowledge regarding the causes of comorbidity among substance use disorders can have significant impact on future research examining the etiology of these disorders. Unfortunately, the conclusions of past studies examining the comorbidity among substance use disorders are conflicting; some studies emphasize familial influences common to multiple substances, while others emphasize sub...

The purpose of this study is to analyze the alcohol and illicit substance consumption characteristics in a sample of 572 batterers in treatment by court order. The results indicate that the prevalence of alcohol consumption in the past year was 89.3%, whereas within illicit substances, the prevalences were higher for cannabis (27.8%), followed by cocaine 20.3%). In order to analyze the possible...

Objectives To identify the associations of characteristics of the neighborhood environment with substance abuse among clients receiving treatment for drug abuse in Thailand. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted of 1128 drug addicts from 28 neighborhoods who were receiving treatment at all 7 compulsory drug detention centers in Thailand. A trained interviewer conducted structured inte...

OBJECTIVES We explored changing relations between substance use, welfare receipt, and substance-abuse treatment among low-income mothers before and after welfare reform. METHODS We examined annual data from mothers aged 18 to 49 years in the 1990-2001 National Household Survey of Drug Abuse and the 2002 National Survey of Drug Use and Health. Logistic regression was used to examine determinan...

We examined relationships among personality (i.e., negative affectivity and conscientiousness), and use of licit and illicit substances in a sample of 421 college-aged social drinkers (52.7% women, 47.3% men). Results indicated significant relationships between personality and substance use as well as gender differences. Negative affectivity was related to greater illicit substance use, but not...

OBJECTIVE Data on use and misuse of six classes of illicit substances by male twin pairs were used to examine whether genetic and shared environmental risk factors for substance use disorders are substance-specific or -nonspecific in their effect. METHOD Lifetime history of use and abuse/dependence of cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, sedatives, stimulants, and opiates was assessed at persona...