Monitoring the Future Data Indicates Increase in Drug Impaired Driving

While alcohol impaired driving rates among youth have declined in the United States, drug impaired driving appears to be on the rise. Research indicates illicit or prescribed drugs are associated with an increased rate of motor vehicle crashes, making current excessively high rates of drug impaired driving a significant public health concern. A recent study examining data from the Monitoring the Future survey found that just over one out of every four (28 percent) high school seniors either drove under the influence or drove with someone under the influence of alcohol or other illicit drugs, with the percentage of seniors driving after smoking marijuana was almost three times more than alcohol impaired drivers.

The March/April 2014 issue of Research Into Action breaks down the findings and highlights the need for coalitions to assess local impaired driving data in their communities and increase partnerships to create solutions to this public health issue.

More on the study and how local anti-drug coalitions can use the data to inform their efforts appears in the March/April 2014 issue of Research into Action. Download the PDF version of this publication or view this issue and previous issues on the CADCA website. 

Research into Action is a free publication, which reports on research findings that impact the work of coalitions. Published six times a year by CADCA’s National Coalition Institute, each issue examines what coalitions can do to implement knowledge they gain in their communities. Sign up for your free e-mail subscription on CADCA’s website by providing your e-mail address in the “Get Online News Updates” box located on the bottom right hand side of the CADCA homepage.

New Report Details America’s Billion Dollar Drug Problem

From 2000-2010, U.S. drug users spent $100 billion annually on cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine. That’s according to a new report, “What America’s Users Spend on Illegal Drugs: 2000-2010”, from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, conducted by the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. The report also found that while more money was spent on cocaine than marijuana in 2000, the opposite was true in 2010.

“Our analysis shows that Americans likely spent more than $1 trillion on cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine between 2000 and 2010,” said Beau Kilmer, the study’s lead author and co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.

Data further show that from 2002-2010, marijuana consumption likely increased by about 40 percent while cocaine consumption decreased by approximately 50 percent. Heroin consumption remained fairly stable from 2000-2010. Methamphetamine consumption dramatically increased during the first half of the decade and then declined, but researchers lacked the information to make a credible estimate of its use from 2008-2010.

“Having credible estimates of the number of heavy drug users and how much they spend is critical for evaluating policies, making decisions about treatment funding and understanding the drug revenues going to criminal organizations,” Kilmer said. “This work synthesizes information from many sources to present the best estimates to date for illicit drug consumption and spending in the United States.”

The estimates for marijuana are rooted in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which surveys nearly 70,000 individuals each year. Estimates for cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine are largely based on information from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program (ADAM). The final estimates also incorporated information from other data sources.

However, since the federal government recently halted funding for ADAM, researchers say it will be considerably harder to track the abuse of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in the future.
To improve future estimates, the report recommends investments in programs like ADAM that collect detailed data from heavy users. It also recommends that federal agencies revise some of the questions on existing self-report surveys.

Click here to read more about the report.

First National Analysis Strongly Associates E-Cigarettes with Smoking for Many Adolescents

E-cigarettes, promoted as a way to “quit” regular cigarettes, may actually be a new route to conventional smoking and nicotine addiction for teenagers, according to a new University of California at San Francisco study published online today in JAMA Pediatrics.

In the first analysis of the relationship between e-cigarette use and smoking among adolescents in the United States, U.C.S.F. researchers found that adolescents who used the devices were more likely to smoke cigarettes and less likely to quit smoking. The study of nearly 40,000 youth around the country also found that e-cigarette use among middle and high school students doubled between 2011 and 2012, from 3.1 percent to 6.5 percent.

“Despite claims that e-cigarettes are helping people quit smoking, we found that e-cigarettes were associated with more, not less, cigarette smoking among adolescents,” said lead author Lauren Dutra, a postdoctoral fellow at the U.C.S.F. Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, in a news release.

“E-cigarettes are likely to be gateway devices for nicotine addiction among youth, opening up a whole new market for tobacco,” she added.

In the new UCSF study, the researchers examined survey data from middle and high school students who completed the National Youth Tobacco Survey in 2011 and 2012.

The authors found that the devices were associated with higher odds of progression from experimenting with cigarettes to becoming established cigarette smokers. Additionally, adolescents who smoked both conventional cigarettes and e-cigarettes smoked more cigarettes per day than non-e-cigarette users.

Contrary to advertiser claims that e-cigarettes can help consumers stop smoking conventional cigarettes, teenagers who used e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes were much less likely to have abstained from cigarettes in the past 30 days, 6 months, or year. At the same time, they were more likely to be planning to quit smoking in the next year than smokers who did not use e-cigarettes.

The study’s cross-sectional nature didn’t allow the researchers to identify whether most youths initiated with conventional cigarettes or e-cigarettes. But the authors noted that about 20 percent of middle school students and about 7 percent of high school students who had ever used e-cigarettes had never smoked regular cigarettes – meaning that some kids are introduced to the addictive drug nicotine through e-cigarettes, the authors said.  

“It looks to me like the wild west marketing of e-cigarettes is not only encouraging youth to smoke them, but also it is promoting regular cigarette smoking among youth,” said senior author Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, U.C.S.F. professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last year that the majority of adolescents who have ever smoked e-cigarettes also have smoked regular cigarettes. An estimated 1.78 million U.S. students have used the devices as of 2012, the CDC reported.

Survey Finds More Teens Would Use Marijuana if Legal

Feb 27, 2014

Drug type: Marijuana

A new study published in the International Journal of Drug Policy by researchers affiliated with New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (CDUHR), finds large proportions of high school students normally at low risk for marijuana use (e.g., non-cigarette-smokers, religious students, those with friends who disapprove of use) reported intention to use marijuana if it were legal. 

The study, "Correlates of Intentions to Use Cannabis among US High School Seniors in the Case of Cannabis Legalization," used data from Monitoring the Future (MTF). The researchers found that 10 percent of non-lifetime marijuana users surveyed by MTF reported that they would try marijuana if legal. 

"Our study focused on intention to use and it was the first to find that groups generally not "at risk" become more "at risk" when legalized," said Joseph J. Palamar, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor at the Department of Population Health, NYU Langone Medical Center. 

The researchers examined the most current attitudes, focusing on cohorts from 2007-2011. The data were collected prior to the legalization of recreational marijuana use in Colorado and Washington, but after legalization of medical marijuana was pending or enacted in up to 16 states.

Data were analyzed separately for the 6,116 seniors who reported no lifetime use of marijuana and the 3,829 seniors who reported lifetime use (weighted samples). The researchers looked at whether demographic characteristics, substance use and perceived friend disapproval towards marijuana use were associated with 1) intention to try marijuana among non-lifetime users, and 2) intention to use marijuana as often or more often among lifetime users, if marijuana was legal to use.

"Assuming that onset use would occur before or during the senior year, the study's results suggest that this would constitute a 5.6 percent absolute increase in lifetime prevalence in this age group, rising from 45.6 percent to 51.2 percent," Dr. Palamar said. 

Not surprisingly, odds for intention to use outcomes increased among groups already at high risk for use (e.g., males, whites, cigarette smokers) and odds were reduced when friends disapproved of use. However, large proportions of subgroups of students normally at low risk for use (e.g., non-cigarette-smokers, religious students, those with friends who disapprove of use) reported intention to try marijuana if legal. Recent use was also a risk factor for reporting intention to use as often or more often among lifetime users. 

"What I personally find interesting is the reasonably high percentage of students who are very religious, non-cigarette smokers, non-drinkers, and those who have friends who disapprove of marijuana use—who said they intended to try marijuana if it was legal," Dr. Palamar said. "This suggests that many people may be solely avoiding use because it is illegal, not because it is "bad" for you, or "wrong" to use."

The researchers caution that as marijuana use increases, regardless of legal status, it will become increasingly important to prevent adverse consequences that may be associated with use. Public health practitioners must continue to educate marijuana users and those at risk for initiation and/or continued use about the potential harms associated with use.

Join CADCA in Urging Major Chain Drug Stores to Stop Selling Tobacco

Last week, CVS announced that they would stop selling tobacco products in their stores by Oct. 1st. Now, CADCA is asking coalitions to join us in asking other major drug store chains to follow CVS’ lead. 

CADCA has developed a template letter that coalitions can use to write to major drug store chains like Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Rite Aid and Kroger requesting that they, too, stop selling tobacco products. All of these stores operate pharmacies so selling tobacco products contradicts their efforts to help customers achieve good health. We encourage you to write these companies, as well as the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. Here is their contact information:

National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS)
Steven C. Anderson, President and CEO
1776 Wilson Blvd.,
Suite 200
Arlington, VA 22209
contactus@nacds.org

Walgreens
Gregory D. Wasson, President and CEO 
Walgreen Co.
200 Wilmot Road
Deerfield, IL 60015

Wal-Mart
Doug McMillon, President and CEO 
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716-8611

Rite Aid
John T. Standley, Chairman and CEO
30 Hunter Lane
Camp Hill, PA 17011

Kroger
Michael L. Ellis, President and COO
1014 Vine Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-1100 

We also encourage you to sign a petition started by the American Public Health Association (APHA) asking retailers that operate pharmacies to stop selling tobacco products: http://action.apha.org/site/PageServer?pagename=tobacco_petition.  

CADCA issued a statement thanking CVS for taking this bold move, which will go a long way toward creating a tobacco-free generation and will potentially save lives. Join us in thanking CVS by using this template thank you letter so that CVS knows that the coalition field supports this important move.