CONTEXT The genetic contribution to liability for opioid dependence is well established; identification of the responsible genes has proved challenging. OBJECTIVE To examine association of 1430 candidate gene single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with heroin dependence, reporting here only the 71 SNPs in the chromosome 11 gene cluster (NCAM1, TTC12, ANKK1, DRD2) that include the strongest ob...

The World Drug Report of 2012 [1] reports that, globally, illicit drug use is a common occurrence and is a growing health problem in some regions. Global reporting estimates indicate that approximately 230 million people or 5% of the global adult population have used illicit drugs. While somewhat stable use is ongoing in developed countries, resource-limited settings are seeing the growth and e...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To assess the prevalence of illicit methylphenidate use among undergraduate college students at a large university, and to identify alcohol and other drug use behaviors, as well as the negative consequences and risk factors, associated with illicit methylphenidate use. DESIGN Internet survey. SETTING Large public university. SUBJECTS Thirty-five hundred randomly selected ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate alcohol/tobacco and/or illicit drug misuse in Chronic Diseases (CDs). METHODS A cross-sectional study with 220 CDs adolescents and 110 healthy controls including: demographic/anthropometric data; puberty markers; modified questionnaire evaluating sexual function, alcohol/smoking/illicit drug misuse and bullying; and the physician-conducted CRAFFT (car/relax/alone/forget/...

Safer injection facilities provide medical supervision for illicit drug injections. We aimed to examine factors associated with syringe sharing in a community-recruited cohort of illicit injection drug users in a setting where such a facility had recently opened. Between Dec 1, 2003, and June 1, 2004, of 431 active injection drug users 49 (11.4%, 95% CI 8.5-14.3) reported syringe sharing in the...

drug abuse in pregnancy is not uncommon, and the use of illicit opioids during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes. the aim of the study was to assess neonatal outcome of pregnancy with maternal addiction. materials and methods:   in this cohort study we assessed 100 pregnant women 15 -49 years old. to identify drug exposure was used self- questionnaire (self-repo...

AIMS To assess recent drug use through urine testing as well as the prevalence of tobacco and alcohol dependence among young males and to analyse the associations between tobacco dependence and cannabis use (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, THC), tobacco dependence, and alcohol dependence as well as between THC use and other illicit drug use. METHODS Urine samples were collected, and nicotine an...

BACKGROUND The intersection between illicit drug use and female commercial sex work has been identified as an important factor responsible for rising HIV prevalence among female sex workers (FSW) in several northeastern states of India. But, little is know about the factors associated with the use of drugs among FSWs in this region. The objective of the paper was to describe the factors associa...

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 ...

STUDY DESIGN A population-based cross-sectional survey. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of illicit drug use among US adults with and without chronic low back pain (cLBP). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Although addictive medications, such as opioids and benzodiazepines, are frequently prescribed to patients with cLBP, little is known about illicit drug use among Am...