OBJECTIVE To compare the rate of drug use prevalence and to investigate opinions regarding such use among undergraduate students at the University of São Paulo--São Paulo campus in 1996 and again in 2001. METHODS Both studies followed the same procedures of sampling and data collection. A random sample of undergraduate students, divided into the areas Humanities, Exact Sciences and Biologic S...

Parental awareness of adolescent substance use was investigated in a high school sample of 985 adolescents and their parents. Only 39% of parents were aware their adolescent used tobacco, only 34% were aware of alcohol use, and only 11% were aware of illicit drug use. There were no variables that differentiated aware from unaware parents for all substances. Greater parental awareness of alcohol...

OBJECTIVES Energy drink (ED) sales have increased greatly in recent years and ED is now a common topic in health behavior research. Most studies work with samples of college students and/or young adults and to a lesser degree with high school students. Research is lacking on ED consumption in younger users. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap and assess the prevalence of ED consumpti...

BACKGROUND Tobacco, alcohol and/or illicit drug use during pregnancy are risk factors for neonatal complications. In Puerto Rico, the Department of Health reports that 32% of pregnant women use alcohol and 3% use illicit drugs. Nineteen percent (19.1%) of newborns are born prematurely. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of illicit drug use during pregnancy in mothers of pr...

BACKGROUND Use of illicit drugs, particularly cannabis, by young people is widespread and is associated with several types of psychological and social harm. These relations might not be causal. Causal relations would suggest that recreational drug use is a substantial public health problem. Non-causal relations would suggest that harm-reduction policy based on prevention of drug use is unlikely...

It is known that individuals differ in their likelihood of becoming drug abusers. Many people never take any drugs at all, even on a single occasion. Of those who take drugs at least once, only a small number go on to use the drugs on a regular basis, and even fewer go on to use them in excessive quantities or abusive patterns. The differences in numbers of individuals who have ever tried drugs...

Markets for illicit drugs present an interesting case study for economics, combining non-standard characteristics such as addiction and product illegality. One response has been to argue the generality of economic principles by suggesting that they apply even in the extreme case of markets for addictive substances, e.g., by showing that demand for illicit goods is responsive to price [1] and ev...

The psychiatric care of opioid users receiving agonist therapies is often complicated by high rates of illicit drug use (Brooner et al., 2013). The present study evaluates if illicit drug use (i.e., opioids, cocaine, sedatives) detected at the start of psychiatric care affects treatment response. Methadone maintenance patients (n = 125) with at least one current psychiatric disorder completed a...

BACKGROUND little is known about illicit drug use in older people. Prevalences may rise as populations for whom illicit drug use has been more common and acceptable become older. OBJECTIVES to quantify illicit drug use in people aged 50 years and over in England and inner London and to compare this between 50 and 64 and 65+ age groups. METHODS primary analyses used data from the 2007 Adult ...

OBJECTIVES Consistent evidence has shown that young people are significantly overrepresented among victims of violence due to another person's drinking. Yet little research has examined factors that explain alcohol-related victimization among young adults, particularly in Canada. The present study examines the influence of hazardous drinking and illicit drug use on the likelihood of experiencin...