Epidemiology of Drug Abuse | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Epidemiology of Drug Abuse

One of the best ways to introduce an article on the epidemiology of drug use and drug dependence is to ask some basic questions that epidemiologic studies can answer but laboratory and clinical studies cannot. Here are some examples:

In the late 1990s in the United States, about how many ages 12 to 17 had used cocaine at least once?

In the late 1990s, within which U.S. population subgroups were active cocaine users most likely to be found?

Within the United States in the early 1990s, among those aged 15 to 24 who had used cocaine, what proportion had become dependent on it?

In the early 1990s, which age group within the U.S. population was most likely to have experimented with cocaine, and which age group was most likely to have developed cocaine dependence?

For a young adult living in the United States, what is the risk of developing the problem of alcohol abuse or dependence between one year and the next?

Is the risk for alcohol dependence greater for some young adults than for others?

Which subgroups of young adults are at especially high risk for alcohol dependence?

Are these same subgroups of young adults at especially high risk of becoming dependent on psychoactive drugs such as marijuana or cocaine?

To answer questions of this type, it is necessary to step outside the laboratory and clinical settings where drug users receive treatment.

Epidemiology of Drug Abuse article

Read the rest of this article.
This article contains 4,885 words (approx. 16 pages at 300 words per page).