Changing patterns of drug use among US military recruits before and after enlistment.
(17/7951)
OBJECTIVES: The US armed forces adopted "zero tolerance" policies concerning illicit drug use in 1980 and later developed policies to discourage tobacco and alcohol abuse. This article examines drug use among young active-duty recruits both before and after enlistment, compared with nonmilitary age-mates, and documents historical shifts in such drug use across 2 decades. METHODS: Analyses employed longitudinal panel data from 20 nationally representative samples of high school seniors (cohorts of 1976-1995), each surveyed just before graduation and again within 2 years. Separate analyses for men (n = 12,082) and women (n = 15,345) contrasted those who entered military service, college, and civilian employment. RESULTS: Illicit drug use declined more among young military recruits than among their civilian counterparts. Analyses of male recruits at multiple time periods showed (1) declines in the prevalence of marijuana use and cocaine use after the initiation of routine military drug testing and (2) lower proportions of smokers of half a pack or more of cigarettes per day who entered service after the initiation of tobacco bans during basic training. CONCLUSIONS: Recent military drug policies appear to deter illicit drug use among enlistees and discourage some smokers from enlisting. (+info)
Weekly patterns of drug treatment attendance.
(18/7951)
OBJECTIVES: This study examined weekly patterns of drug treatment attendance in relation to date of welfare payment receipt and reason for treatment absence. METHODS: Treatment attendance by Medicaid-eligible pregnant women who were drug dependent was examined by calendar week over a 29-month period. RESULTS: Time series analyses showed that attendance was lower during week 1 than week 4. Drug use was the most frequently reported reason for treatment absence during week 1 (25%) but was not reported as a reason during week 3. CONCLUSIONS: Drug-dependent outpatients had increased absences associated with illicit drug use during the first week of the month when welfare payments were received. The generalizability of the findings is unknown. (+info)
A review of shared care protocols for the treatment of problem drug use in England, Scotland, and Wales.
(19/7951)
In 1995, the Department of Health instructed health authorities to establish protocols for the shared care of problem drug users. Response to this has been disappointing: 26 out of 120 health authorities have shared care arrangements in place, with the content of these differing widely. (+info)
Tremor induced by toluene misuse successfully treated by a Vim thalamotomy.
(20/7951)
A 22 year old man developed a vigorous tremor of 5 Hz in his right hand, after a 7 year history of toluene misuse. T2 Weighted MRI depicted marked decreases in the signal intensity of the basal ganglia, red nucleus, and thalamus on both sides. The stereotactic coagulation of the left nucleus ventrointermedius (Vim) of the thalamus abolished the tremors in his right hand. This patient clearly exhibited the pathological involvement of rubral lesions in generation of a toluene induced tremor on MRI. Toluene induced tremor is an irreversible symptom which persists even after stopping toluene misuse, therefore in medically intractable cases, it should be positively treated by a Vim thalamotomy. (+info)
Trend of HIV incidence rates among drug users in an HIV epicenter in northern Thailand (1989-1997).
(21/7951)
OBJECTIVES: To determine trends and associated risk factors of HIV incidence (1989-1997) in a drug abuse treatment clinic in northern Thailand where HIV is epidemic. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: Nine-years (1989-1997) of data (excluding names) from the logbook of drug abusers seeking treatments in Mae Chan Hospital in Chiangrai Thailand, were transcribed and double-entered into separate computer files which were later validated against each other. For each patient, the dates of the first HIV negative, the last HIV negative, and the first HIV positive were determined. A retrospective cohort of drug users who were initially HIV-negative and treated for more than once was constructed. HIV seroconversion was assumed to follow a uniform distribution between the last negative and the first positive HIV tests. The incidence rates and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. RESULTS: Of the 378 repeat patients, 16 (4.2%) HIV seroconverted. This is equivalent to 5.11 per 100 person-years of observation (PYO) (95% CI = 3.13-8.35). The incidence remained relatively stable over the study period while the prevalence was on the decline. The younger, Thai lowlanders, drug injectors had higher incidence rates than the older, ethnic minorities and drug smokers, respectively. CONCLUSION: Prevalence can give illusional results. It is necessary to know baseline HIV incidence to monitor and evaluate an HIV intervention program. (+info)
Behavioural risk factors for HIV/AIDS in a low-HIV prevalence Muslim nation: Bangladesh.
(22/7951)
A review of published and unpublished data indicates the prevalence of high-risk behaviours for HIV transmission in segments of the Bangladeshi population. These include casual unprotected sex, heterosexual as well as between males, prior to and after marriage. Intravenous drug use (IVDU) exists though illicit drugs are more commonly inhaled. There is a fear, however, that inhalers may turn to injecting drugs, as is common in neighbouring countries. The lack of public awareness of HIV/AIDS, and misconceptions about the disease, may contribute to continued high-risk behaviours by segments of the population and, thus, to the spread of HIV. Bangladesh's proximity to India and Myanmar (countries with high HIV endemicity and a rapidly growing number of cases) increases fears of an epidemic in Bangladesh. This proximity will only be a risk factor, however, if high-risk contacts occur between nationals of these countries. (+info)
Prevalence of drugs used in cases of alleged sexual assault.
(23/7951)
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of reports in the U.S. of the use of drugs, often in conjunction with alcohol, to commit sexual assault. A study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of drug use in sexual assault cases in which substances are suspected of being involved. Law enforcement agencies, emergency rooms, and rape crisis centers across the U.S. were offered the opportunity to submit urine samples collected from victims of alleged sexual assault, where drug use was suspected, for analysis of alcohol and drugs which may be associated with sexual assault. Each sample was tested by immunoassay for amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine metabolite (benzoylecgonine), cannabinoids, methaqualone, opiates, phencyclidine and propoxyphene. The positive screen results were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). In addition, each sample was tested for flunitrazepam metabolites and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) by GC-MS and for ethanol by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID). Over a 26-month period, 1179 samples were collected and analyzed from 49 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. The states sending the most samples were California (183), Texas (119), Florida (61), Pennsylvania (61), New York (61), Minnesota (50), Illinois (47), Indiana (44), Michigan (40), Maryland (37), Virginia (32), and Massachusetts (31). Four-hundred sixty eight of the samples were found negative for all the substances tested; 451 were positive for ethanol, 218 for cannabinoids, 97 for benzoylecgonine, 97 for benzodiazepines, 51 for amphetamines, 48 for GHB, 25 for opiates, 17 for propoxyphene, and 12 for barbiturates. There were no samples identified as positive for phencyclidine or methaqualone. In addition, 35% of the drug-positive samples contained multiple drugs. This study indicates that, with respect to alleged sexual assault cases, the prevalence of ethanol is very high, followed by cannabinoids, cocaine, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, and GHB. Although only a couple of substances have been implicated with sexual assault, this study has shown that almost 20 different substances have been associated with this crime. This study also raises the concern of illicit and licit drug use in sexual assault cases and suggests the need to test for a range of drugs in these cases. It also highlights the need to test for GHB, which is not generally tested for in a normal toxicology screen. (+info)
Immunosuppressive effects of intravenous self administration of dihydroetorphine on lymphocyte functions in rats.
(24/7951)
AIM: To study the effects of dihydroetorphine (DHE) on lymphocyte functions in rats and to further assess the abuse potential of DHE. METHODS: An intravenous self administration (SA) procedure in rats was used to determine the SA liability of DHE. Concanavalin A (Con A)-stimulated lymphocyte proliferation and lymphokine production of rat splenocytes were measured. RESULTS: DHE 178 +/- 13 micrograms established a stable and typical rat model of psychological dependence, suppressed lymphocyte proliferation (129 +/- 11 Bq) compared with control group (620 +/- 36 Bq), and inhibited the activity of interleukin-2 (IL-2) (A570 = 0.28 +/- 0.06) compared with control group (A570 = 0.51 +/- 0.03). CONCLUSION: DHE had a high abuse potential and inhibited the Con A-induced lymphocyte proliferation and interleukin-2 production in rats. (+info)