Objective: This study assessed undergraduate unhealthy substance use, levels of knowledge about opioid pharmacology, unhealthy use and safety, and students' perceptions about their level of knowledge. Participants: Participants were undergraduate students at a large, private university in the Northeast. Methods: This study employed a…

Similar to national trends, in Illinois, fatal opioid overdoses have risen. Black men (35+) outrank all other racial subgroups for the highest rate of fatal opioid overdoses in the state. To address this, Prevention First and the Illinois Department of Human Services developed a public health education campaign to support increasing enrollment in…

Introduction: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a critical health issue in the USA. Pennsylvania has the third highest number of drug overdose deaths per year, with the COVID-19 pandemic worsening these trends. Stigmatising beliefs towards OUD are associated with negative health outcomes, and there is a need for a larger evidence base on OUD stigma…

Drug Outreach, Promoting Awareness (DOPA) is an undergraduate outreach program for local high school students designed to convey the neurobiological basis, risks, and addictive potential of commonly abused drugs. Here we describe DOPA and evaluate the program, including its impact on high school student attitudes about drug harm risk and…

The urgency of this study has become vivid in the light of the growing problem of prevalence and use of new synthetic drug types. Lately there has been a tendency of expanding the range of psychologically active substances (PAS) used by addicts with the purpose of their illegal taking. The aim of this research is an attempt of systematizing and…

The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for managing the care and custody of approximately 175,000 federal inmates--an estimated 20 percent of whom have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review BOP's efforts to provide drug treatment to federal inmates. This report (1)…

Objective: To describe the characteristics and health effects of adolescent (age 13-19 years) prescription drug abuse and misuse using the Researched Abuse Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS[R])) System. Method: Secondary analysis of data collected from RADARS System participating poison centers was performed. Data for all…

Purpose: This study examined the impact of medical education on students' views of substance abuse treatment, public policy options and training. Method: A longitudinal survey was conducted on a single-class cohort of 101 students in a major American, urban medical school. The survey was administered in the Spring semesters of the first to third…

This first national estimate suggests that the economic cost of methamphetamine (meth) use in the United States reached $23.4 billion in 2005. Given the uncertainty in estimating the costs of meth use, this book provides a lower-bound estimate of $16.2 billion and an upper-bound estimate of $48.3 billion. The analysis considers a wide range of…

Randomly assigned 30 prisoners undergoing treatment for heroin addiction to either standard Drug Unit treatment program or to standard program plus single exposure to computerized relapse prevention package. Found immediate improvement in self-efficacy of computer group relative to standard group. Three months later, both groups displayed similar…

Examined effectiveness of relapse prevention training (RPT), part of outpatient-drug education program for 83 drug addicted probationers, with special attention to knowledge maps as supplemental instructional materials. Found that program participation improved during use of RPT. Participants who successfully completed RPT sessions had lower rates…

This volume of the final report on HEW Drug Education Programs describes the overall objectives of the study procedures used in carrying it out, and current issues and recommendations made by the investigators. Appendix A of this volume presents definitions of terms used in the entire report. (Author)

In this study both college students and degreed nurses were asked to estimate the abuse potential and lethality of recreational drugs, both licit and illicit. Findings indicate that the illicit drugs under consideration were perceived as presenting the greatest danger to the user. Dangers attributed to the use of licit recreational drugs were…

This investigation was designed to examine prescription drug-related content and learning objectives in Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) for upper elementary and middle schools. Specific prescription-drug topics and context associated with content and objectives were coded. The coding system for topics included 126 topics organized…

A study was conducted of phencyclidine use by a national sample of 2,750 youthful drug abuse clients representing 97 drug abuse treatment programs. Data from this 1976-1977 client survey indicated that phencyclidine use is widespread. More than 31% of the subjects reported current or past use of phencyclidine, with males and females having similar…