The burden of illicit drug use and terrorism has become a significant health and social problem in many developing countries. Illicit drug use and terrorism have negatively affected the economy and ...development of some nations because the death rate due to these two phenomena is increasing daily, particularly among the young generation. Implementing preventive and control measures for illicit drug use and terrorism requires considerable government spending. This study aims to formulate and critically examine a non-linear optimal control problem based on an existing non-linear compartmental model of illicit drug use and terrorism dynamics. The existing seven-dimensional deterministic model is modified to capture four time-dependent control variables denoting public awareness, empowerment rate, detention rate of illicit drug users, and rehabilitation rate of illicit drug users. The non-linear optimal control model is rigorously analyzed to explicitly prove its existence and characterize the optimal control quadruple using optimal control theory. Effects of different combinations of at least two control variables in minimizing illicit drug use and terrorism are evaluated through simulations. Moreover, a cost-effectiveness analysis is conducted to ascertain the most effective and least expensive strategy required for preventing and controlling the burden of illicit drug use and terrorism with limited resources in the population.
•Study a non-autonomous model of illicit drug use and terrorism dynamic in developing countries.•Use four control variables of public awareness, empowerment rate, detention rate, and rehabilitation rate.•Use cost-effectiveness analysis to find the most cost-effective strategies.•Consider average cost-effectiveness ratio and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.•The qualitative analysis conducted is supported by numerical simulations.
Objective: High neuroticism, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness are consistent correlates of drug use, though such patterns may be due to common familial influences rather than effects of ...personality per se. The present study aimed to explore associations of Big Five traits with various forms of drug use independent of confounding familial influences by leveraging differences within twin pairs to identify potentially causal (i.e., within-pair) effects of personality on use. Method: 980 same-sex twin pairs from the Australian Twin Registry Cohort III (Mage = 31.70, 71% female) were interviewed regarding lifetime (mis)use of cannabis, cocaine/crack, prescription and illicit stimulants, prescription and illicit opioids, sedatives, hallucinogens, dissociatives, inhalants, and solvents, and completed a Big Five inventory. Co-twin control analyses predicted the use of each drug from all traits simultaneously. Results: Individual-level analyses generally showed the expected associations of neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness with drug use. Familial effects were also somewhat generalized: high neuroticism, high openness to experience, and low agreeableness were associated with the use of several drug types. More specificity emerged for within-pair effects. High neuroticism was associated with prescription drug misuse; high extraversion was associated with cocaine/crack and stimulant use; high openness to experience was associated with cannabis use; low agreeableness was associated with cocaine/crack use and illicit opioid use; and no within-pair effects emerged for conscientiousness. Conclusions: Trait associations common across drugs may be primarily attributable to familial effects. There appears to be more drug-specific influence of personality on use with respect to potentially causal within-pair effects.
Public Health Significance Statement
This study indicates that certain personality traits may causally confer risk for the use of specific illicit drugs. Commonly identified associations of high neuroticism, low agreeableness, and low conscientiousness with drug use in general may be attributable to familial influences, such as genes and rearing environment, rather than personality per se. Such insight can inform more precise prediction of risk for illicit drug use and targeted prevention efforts.
Background
Establishing and maintaining healthy social connections and relationships are important in encouraging a sense of belonging that can help mid-life and older aged women in recovery from ...illicit drug use. This paper contributes to an under-researched area of substance use recovery among women in mid-life and older age by asking what influence social relationships have on their sense of self as they age into recovery from illicit drugs.
Methods
In-depth qualitative interviews were undertaken with 19 women in the United Kingdom who self-identified as ‘in recovery’ from illicit drug use. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis techniques. The study received ethical approval from the University of Glasgow.
Results
As their drug use progressed, the women experienced feelings of estrangement and separation from others. Entering and maintaining a healthy recovery from drug use required the women to break their connections to people considered disruptive or challenging. Creating and setting boundaries enabled some of the women to gain a sense of control over their relationships and recovery. Positive reinforcement from others was pivotal to the process of the women’s self-acceptance, contributing to better self-concepts that helped them maintain their recovery.
Discussion
This investigation into substance use recovery among women in mid-life and older age offers new insights into the relationship challenges they face. It offers suggestions for further research that could support the development of family support programs for mid-life and older age women in active drug use or recovery.
•We analysed data from multiple nationally representative surveys in South Africa.•We aimed to investigate trends in and factors associated with illicit drug use among adults.•Illicit drug use has ...increased substantially in South Africa over the last 15 years.•It is associated with poorer demographic characteristics and poorer health outcomes.•Urgent strategies required to tackle increase in drug use and associated effects.
Illicit drug use results in considerable global morbidity, but there is little data on its trends and factors associated with it in sub-Saharan Africa. We consider these questions using national data from South Africa for 2002–2017.
We analysed data among individuals aged 15 years or older from five national population-based household surveys in South Africa (2002–2017; n = 89,113). Recent drug use was defined as the last three-months use of illicit drugs, i.e., any use of cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, inhalants, sedatives, hallucinogens, opioids, and/or other illicit drugs. Time trends in recent drug use were assessed using logistic regression. Multivariable logistic regression assessed the association between recent drug use and socio-demographic factors and between drug use and sexual risk behaviours, HIV-related and other well-being variables.
The prevalence of recent drug use increased from 1·5% to 10·0% from 2002 to 2017, driven by increases in cannabis use (1·5% to 7·8%) and use of opioids (0·01% to 1·6%), cocaine (0·02% to 1·8%), or amphetamines (0·1% to 1·5%). In adjusted analyses, male gender, younger age, living in urban areas, mixed-ancestry or white ethnicity (compared to black-African), and unemployment were positively associated with recent drug use. Recent drug use was associated with: multiple sexual partners (adjusted odds ratio aOR 2·13, 95% confidence interval CI: 1·80–2·51); sexual debut before 15 years old (aOR 1·70, 95%CI: 1·29–2·23); hazardous/harmful alcohol use (aOR 2·50, 95%CI: 2·14–2·93) or alcohol dependence (aOR 3·33, 95%CI 2·92–3·80); ever experiencing intimate partner violence (aOR 1·56, 95%CI 1·12–2·17); psychological distress (aOR 1·53, 95%CI: 1·28–1·82); and lower chance of ever testing for HIV (aOR 0·89, 95%CI 0·80–1·00). Recent drug use was not associated with HIV positivity, condom use or being on antiretroviral therapy.
Illicit drug use has increased substantially in South Africa and is associated with numerous socio-demographic characteristics, higher sexual risk behaviours and other well-being variables.
There is ongoing debate about what policy approaches to cannabis use might best address health and social related harm. Profit-driven, adult-use cannabis markets have been introduced in the United ...States and Canada, where legalization reform has had mixed effects to date in terms of public health and has made limited progress in achieving social justice aims. Meanwhile, several jurisdictions have seen an organic evolution of alternative cannabis-supply regimes. Cannabis social clubs (CSCs), the focus of this commentary, are nonprofit cooperatives that supply cannabis to consumers with the goal of harm reduction. The peer and participatory aspects of CSCs may have positive effects on health-related outcomes of cannabis use, such as through encouraging the use of safer products and responsible use practices. The nonprofit objectives of CSCs may diminish the risk for increasing cannabis consumption in wider society. CSCs have recently made an important transition from grassroots organizations in Spain and elsewhere. In particular, they have become key players in top-down cannabis legalization reform in Uruguay and, most recently, Malta. The history of CSCs in reducing harm from cannabis use is an important advantage, but there might be concerns around the grassroots origins, low taxation opportunities, and capacity to sustain social objectives. Also, the CSC model might not seem unique, as contemporary cannabis entrepreneurs have absorbed some features of their community-based predecessors. CSCs can play an important role in future cannabis legalization reform due to their unique strengths as cannabis-consumption sites and can be effective in advancing social justice by giving people affected by cannabis prohibition agency and direct access to resources.
Past research on illicit drug use and desistance has primarily been conducted in western countries, relied on quantitative data, and given little attention to potential gender differentiation. ...Utilizing qualitative data, we explore gender differences in how illicit drug users perceive the onset of use, whether or not they connect this to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and why they quit. The work is based on a sample of 24 informants from Yunnan. Women link onset of use to adverse childhood experiences (ACE) and report quitting primarily for their children. Men found support from their families helpful in ending illicit drug use. This adds qualitative support to theoretical work done by Wu and colleagues, Zhang, and Zhang and Demant who argue that familial attachment is critical in desistance. Utilizing a gendered lens, we gain and nuanced understanding of illicit drug use and links to ACEs which may better inform intervention programs.
Abstract
Background
Although evidence suggests that ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption may trigger addictive behaviors, the association between UPF intake and psychoactive substances remains ...unclear among adolescents, a group especially vulnerable to addiction and its potentially harmful effects on health.
Objective
To analyze the association between the consumption of UPF and alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs in adolescent students.
Method
This cross-sectional study analyzed data from the National School-Based Health Survey (PeNSE 2019), which collected information from a representative population-based sample of students aged 13–17 years in Brazil. UPF consumption was self-reported in a 24-h recall. Lifetime and use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs in the last month were also reported. Multinomial logistic regression models estimated the relative risk ratios (RRR) (95% confidence intervals – CI) because the outcome variables comprised four categories representing varying frequencies of use of psychoactive substances.
Results
The mean ± standard error number of different UPF consumed among the 95,074 adolescents included (52.3% girls) was 4.37 ± 0.02. The results from adjusted models revealed that, compared to those who reported low UPF consumption (1
st
tertile), those who consumed more UPF (3
rd
tertile) were more likely to report frequent (≥ 3 days in the last month) drinking of alcoholic beverages (RRR = 2.19; 95% CI: 1.87, 2.56), illicit drugs (RRR = 2.22; 95% CI: 1.87, 2.85) and occasional (one or two days in the last month) smoking (RRR = 1.30; 95% CI: 1.05, 1.60).
Conclusions
UPF consumption was associated with alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use in a national sample of Brazilian adolescents.
Substance use during adolescence might cause substantial health burden. Little is known regarding profiles of multiple illicit substance users compared to single illicit substance users in adolescent ...population in Taiwan.
We enrolled 106 adolescent illicit drug users who received addiction treatment referred by juvenile courts in Taiwan between September, 2016 and September, 2021. We divided them into two groups: single versus multiple illicit drug users, and further compared their socio-demographic characteristics, psychiatric and substance comorbidities. The independent t test or Mann–Whitney U test was used for continuous variables and Pearson's chi-square test for nominal variables. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the suicide and violence risk among adolescents.
71.7% of participants were multiple illicit drug users while 28.3% of them were single drug users. Multiple illicit substance users were more likely to use methamphetamine (p = 0.005), ketamine (p < 0.001), new psychoactive substance (NPS) (p < 0.001), MDMA (p = 0.003), and nitrous oxide (p < 0.001) compared to single illicit substance users. In addition, multiple illicit drug users were more likely to have ADHD (p = 0.030), major depressive disorder (p = 0.050), and lifetime suicidal attempts (p = 0.048) compared to single illicit drug users. In further analysis (NPS vs. traditional drugs), we found NPS users tended to use larger numbers of illicit drugs (p < 0.001) and were more likely to have substance-induced psychotic disorder (p = 0.008), ADHD (p = 0.011), suicidal attempts (p = 0.020).
Our findings highlight the distinct profiles of multiple illicit drug users compared to single illicit drug users among adolescent population. High suicidality and high psychiatric comorbidities in multiple illicit drug users call for special need for suicide screening and a more integrated care incorporating psychiatric and substance treatment.
The 'Satellite Sites' are a harm reduction intervention in which people who use illicit drugs are employed by a community health centre to run satellite harm reduction programs within their homes. ...Satellite Sites straddle two worlds, at once sites of illicit and stigmatized activities, while also being sites of public health intervention. They offer a unique opportunity to examine the challenges of medicalizing a place that is still criminalized. Using data collected during 7 months of ethnographic observation and 20 interviews with key members of the program, we explore the tactics of medicalization that are deployed to legitimize the Satellite Sites. Medicalization provides legitimacy to Satellite Sites, and provides people who use drugs who run the Satellite Sites with some protection from the criminal justice system. Our results explore the friction between processes of medicalization and criminalization, with continued criminalization of drug possession and distribution negatively impacting the uptake and effectiveness of public health recommendations. Study findings highlight how the ability of public health authorities to develop safer environment interventions to improve the health of people who use drugs-including measures to address the current overdose crisis - may be severely limited by the continued criminalization of drug use.
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