Drug and alcohol dependence
-
Drug Alcohol Depend · Sep 2006
Adolescent alcohol and cannabis use in relation to peer and school factors. Results of multilevel analyses.
The present study used a multilevel approach with multiple informants to determine whether, at individual level, association with substance-using peer groups, and, at class level, incidences of intoxicated students in school premises, are related to students' own substance use. Additionally, it tested the hypothesis that such school incidences affect the closeness of the relation between association with substance-using peers and students' own substance use. Multilevel regression models were estimated separately for drunkenness and cannabis use on the basis of cross-sectional data from 3,925 students of eighth and ninth grades in Switzerland (mean age 15.3, S. ⋯ Such relations were not found for alcohol. It appears that cannabis use at school or shortly before arriving at school creates an atmosphere that favors cannabis use whether or not students are associated with cannabis-using peers. Establishing an overarching environment of disapproval appears to be an effective means of preventing cannabis use by adolescents.
-
Drug Alcohol Depend · Sep 2006
The effect of FDA approval of a generic competitor to OxyContin (oxycodone HCl controlled-release) tablets on the abuse of oxycodone.
Controversy exists concerning whether abuse of oxycodone will increase after the introduction of generic controlled-release (CR) oxycodone. We evaluated the effect of FDA approval of generic CR oxycodone on the misuse/abuse of oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone and morphine utilizing data from eight poison control centers (PCC). PCC intentional exposure (IE) reason codes were used as measures of abuse. ⋯ When changes in oxycodone's IE rates were compared to the other opioids, no statistically significant differences were found, indicating a lack of time-opioid interaction. These results did not vary when population rates or patient rates were used. PCC data indicate that approval of generic CR oxycodone was not followed by an immediate unfavorable effect on the misuse/abuse of oxycodone.