The added risk of opioid problem use among treatment‐seeking youth with marijuana and/or alcohol problem use

Abstract

Objectives-To determine the added risk of opioid problem use (OPU) in youth with marijuana/ alcohol problem use (MAPU).Method-475 youth (ages 14-21 years) with OPU+MAPU were compared to a weighted sample of 475 youth with MAPU only (i.e., no OPU) before and after propensity score matching on gender, age, race, level of care, and weekly use of marijuana/alcohol. Youth were recruited from 88 drug treatment sites participating in eight Center for Substance Abuse Treatment funded grants. At treatment intake, participants were administered the Global Appraisal of Individual Need to elicit information on demographic, social, substance, mental health, HIV, physical and legal characteristics. Odds ratios with confidence intervals were calculated.Results-The added risk of OPU among MAPU youth was associated with greater comorbidity: higher rates of psychiatric symptoms and trauma/victimization; greater needle-use and sex-related HIV-risk behaviors and greater physical distress. The OPU+MAPU group was less likely to be African American or other race and more likely to be age 15-17 years, Caucasian; report weekly drug use at home and among peers; engage in illegal behaviors and be confined longer; have greater substance abuse severity and poly drug use; and use mental health and substance abuse treatment services.Conclusions-These findings expand on the existing literature and highlight the substantial incremental risk of OPU on multiple comorbid areas, among treatment-seeking youth. Further evaluation is needed to assess their outcomes following standard drug treatment and to evaluate specialized interventions for this subgroup of severely impaired youth.

Emerging adult age status predicts poor buprenorphine treatment retention

“…For instance, emerging adults with opioid dependence have been found to have high rates of conduct disorder (Subramaniam, Ives, Stitzer, & Dennis, 2010), which has been shown to contribute to difficulties remaining in buprenorphine treatment (Ohlin et al, 2011), and may be especially high among transition-age youth growing out of juvenile legal services and social services (Heflinger & Hoffman, 2008). Given the common reliance of drug dependence treatment models on concomitant involvement in self-help programs, low levels of sustained involvement in twelve-step programs during emerging adulthood (Kelly, Brown, Abrantes, Kahler, & Myers, 2008) may eliminate a recovery synergy from which older adults often benefit.…”

Polydrug use among college students in Brazil: a nationwide survey

“…39 Polydrug use also affects health in other ways because it leads to greater levels of psycho-behavioral problems, mental health problems and cognitive impairment. 17,[39][40][41][42] Polydrug use increases the chance of unsafe sex episodes and, therefore, leads to an increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. For instance, adolescents and young adults who use multiple illicit drugs are less concerned about the risks associated with sexual intercourse without a condom than their non-using peers, which leads to unsafe sexual practices.…”

Marijuana and Other Substance Use Among Motor Vehicle Operators: A Latent Class Analysis

“…This phenomenon has been studied in terms of marijuana and the concurrent use of other substances such as alcohol (Blows et al, 2005;Penning et al, 2010;Scherer et al, 2013b), cocaine (Higgins et al, 2007;Lindsay et al, 2009;Scherer et al, 2013a), and opioids (Subramaniam et al, 2010), which could potentially compound detrimental effects (Midanik et al, 2007). This is of particular concern when examining everyday activities such as driving.…”