Journal of Drug Issues

This article argues that evaluation of drug courts will benefit not only from an organizing typology (Goldkamp, 1999a, 2000) that focuses research on the critical structural elements of the drug court model but also from an understanding of how drug courts are thought to deliver their impact. In developing a causal model of drug court impact, the analysis separates assessment of impact into two investigations: whether drug courts “work” and how they work. Data from the ongoing NIJ-supported evaluation of the Portland and Las Vegas drug courts are analyzed to answer the comparative question of whether there is an impact (and of what sort) and then to move consideration of the internal elements of the drug court (the black box of drug court treatment) through the development of successive theoretical models. The illustrative analyses guided by these models consider the relative contributions of instrumental drug court treatment functions and defendant risk attributes, which contribute importantly to drug court outcomes. The exploratory findings differ by site, but show some support for the importance of treatment, sanctions and appearances before the drug court judge—and their interaction—in lowering the prospects for subsequent rearrest and increasing likelihood of graduation.

Although recent increases in collegiate prescription drug misuse have generated a great deal of concern, there are few analyses available that examine the socio-cultural factors influencing these trends. This article attempts to address this gap in knowledge by providing an analysis of several socio-cultural factors influencing pharmaceutical misuse by college students. Prescription drugs are put to a number of different purposes in the collegiate setting, including self-medication, socio-recreation, and academic functioning. Such misuse is acceptable in a social context where individuals deliberately attempt to experiment with drugs. Widespread knowledge regarding effects, dosages, and compatibilities with other drugs, coupled with the extensive availability of pharmaceuticals in collegiate social circles, makes this class of drugs an attractive alternative to other psychoactive substances. These factors underscore several implications for substance abuse prevention efforts on college campuses and suggest a number of important issues for further research.

In this article, we present findings from a qualitative National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded study of nonmedical prescription drug users in the San Francisco Bay Area. We interviewed young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years, who used prescription drugs nonmedically at least 12 times in the 6 months prior to the interview. Employing Aker’s Social Learning Theory and Zinberg’s Drug, Set, and Setting, we explore the factors that contributed to participants’ choices to begin using prescription drugs nonmedically. Social Learning Theory provides the framework for understanding how deviant behaviors are learned and imitated, while set and setting emphasizes the psychological and social contexts of initiation and the ways in which the set and setting of the initiating user were influenced by exposure, motivation, access, and setting. Together, social learning, and set and setting allow us to understand the interaction of individual and social factors contributing to nonmedical prescription drug use initiation.

There is an abundance of research on the association between substance use and delinquency. However, an area yet to be examined is the association between nonmedical prescription drug use and delinquency. This is important given the substantial increase in nonmedical prescription drug use in recent years and the fact that recent national surveys of substance use show that the prevalence of nonmedical prescription drug use is now greater than that of illicit drugs other than marijuana. Using data from a national sample, this research examines the association between nonmedical prescription drug use and delinquency among adolescents. Findings indicate that nonmedical prescription drug use is significantly associated with self-reported delinquency and arrest. However, the use of other illicit drugs is more strongly associated with self-reported delinquency and arrest than nonmedical prescription drug use.

Nonmedical use of prescription drugs has become the fastest growing drug problem in the United States, particularly among young adults. This study examines the reasons young polydrug users misuse prescription drugs, and explores how young users employ risk reduction strategies to minimize adverse consequences. The sample was recruited during 2008 and 2009 in Los Angeles and New York, and comprised 45 nonmedical users of prescription drugs, aged 16 to 25. Data from a semistructured interview were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Participants reported nonmedical use of prescription drugs to change mood, to facilitate activity, and to monitor the intake of other substances. Commonly employed risk reduction strategies included calculating pill timing, dosage, and access, and monitoring frequency of use, particularly when combining different substances. Most study participants often planned drug use to occur within socially acceptable parameters, such that prescription drug misuse was a normalized feature of their everyday lives.

This paper presents results of a telephone survey of 400 Western Australians regarding attitudes to laws relating to possession of cannabis for personal use. Over a third of respondents believed cannabis should be made as legal as alcohol. Support for decriminalization increased from 64.0% to 71.5% when possible penalties associated with decriminalization were described. When penalties were described, more women than men favored decriminalization but age, political affiliation, and city or country residency no longer predicted attitudes to decriminalization. Almost two-thirds of respondents believed that many people used cannabis without experiencing serious problems and that the court system was overburdened by minor cannabis offenses. Half the sample believed it would not be a bad thing for the community if people were legally able to grow cannabis for their personal use. Results suggest there is considerable community support for removing criminal penalties for simple cannabis offenses.

The current study applied the first macro-level analysis of methamphetamine use. The extant literature on macro-level drug use has suggested that areas with high levels of social disorganization experience high rates of drug use. In this study it was expected that school districts with low SES and high rates of ethnic heterogeneity, residential instability and family disruption will experience high rates of methamphetamine use. In addition, it was expected that rural and suburban school districts would show higher rates than urban school districts. Social disorganization hypotheses were partially supported as low economic status and residential instability are associated with methamphetamine use. Interestingly, a high percentage of white population is positively associated with methamphetamine use. Further, school districts in the southwest region of Michigan were significantly more likely to have higher percentages of methamphetamine users.

Much empirical evidence indicates that the popularity of various drugs tends to increase and wane over time producing episodic epidemics of particular drugs. These epidemics mostly affect persons reaching their late teens at the time of the epidemic resulting in distinct drug generations. This article examines the drug generations present in the 2000s among arrestees in the 10 locations served by the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring–II program. At all 10 locations, our findings show that crack use is still common among older arrestees but not among arrestees born more recently. Marijuana is the drug most common among younger arrestees. The article also examines trends in heroin, methamphetamine, and powder cocaine use among arrestees at the few locations where their use was substantial.

This analysis examined the role of impactful life events/stressful contextual factors and cannabis use in the patterns of illicit drug use. It utilized semi-structured qualitative interviews with 40 young adult medical cannabis patients and 22 non-patient users collected in Los Angeles during 2014–2015. Three patterns of illicit drug use emerged based on participants’ narratives: regular/problematic, recreational/occasional, and never users. Among regular/problematic users, a common theme was the lasting impact of traumatic life events or stressful contextual factors on transition to and away from problematic drug use, and using cannabis to cope with negative after effects of drug use. In contrast, most recreational/occasional and never users, who reported impactful life events or stressful contextual factors, used cannabis to cope with those experiences. Family history of addiction and acceptance of cannabis use within a family as protective factors against illicit drug use among some recreational/occasional and never users was an unexpected finding.