Drink Driving in Hong Kong: The Competing Effects of Random Breath Testing and Alcohol Tax Reductions.
Drink driving in Hong Kong: The competing effects of random breath testing and alcohol tax reductions.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
Addiction. 2013 Jan 14;
Kim JH, Wong A, Goggins WB, Lau J, Griffiths SM
AIMS: To investigate the competing effects of increased anti-drink driving legislation and the recent elimination of excise taxes on wine and beer. DESIGN: Serial cross-sectional telephone surveys were conducted in 2006 (n=9860) and 2011 (n=4800). SETTING: Hong Kong, China. PARTICIPANTS: Chinese adults (>18 years of age). MEASUREMENTS: Respondents were asked about their drinking patterns, past-year experience of driving within 2 hours of drinking, drinking-related attitudes and reported deterrents to drink driving. FINDINGS: Following the legislative changes, the age-standardized past-year prevalence of drink driving significantly decreased from 5.2% to 2.8% (p<0.001) among all males, from 9.0% to 4.4% (p<0.001) among male past-year drinkers, and from 13.7% to 8.5% (p<0.01) among male weekly drinkers. The past-year prevalence of drink driving in 2011 among all females (0.08%), female past-year drinkers (1.6%), male binge drinkers (12.5%), female weekly drinkers (4.7%) and female binge drinkers (7.9%) were not significantly different from 2006. Drink driving was independently associated with business sector employment (OR=2.47), past-month binge drinking (OR=6.08), and beliefs in the benefits of drinking to one's well-being (OR=2.62) among males and past-month binge drinking (OR=5.57), belief in the social benefits of drinking (OR=5.66) and being unmarried (OR=3.00) in females (p<0.05). The most commonly reported drink driving deterrents were concerns about random breath tests (93%) and the potential legal consequences of conviction (93.2-98.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Despite greater alcohol consumption in Hong Kong, the current anti-drink driving strategy appears to reduce drink driving in males and prevent increased levels among females. Binge drinkers, however, remain a high-risk group that should be continually monitored. HubMed – addiction
Childhood Sexual Abuse and Early Substance Use in Adolescent Girls: The Role of Familial Influences.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
Addiction. 2013 Jan 14;
Sartor CE, Waldron M, Duncan AE, Grant JD, McCutcheon VV, Nelson EC, Madden PA, Bucholz KK, Heath AC
AIM: To assess the extent to which the association between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and early use of alcohol, cigarettes, and cannabis in adolescent girls is mediated by risk factors that tend to cluster in families where CSA occurs. DESIGN: An abridged version of the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (SSAGA) was administered by telephone. Participants: 3,761 female twins aged 18-29 (14.6% African American, 85.4% European American). MEASUREMENTS: CSA experiences and history of substance use were queried in the SSAGA-based interviews. FINDINGS: After controlling for familial influences on early substance use by including co-twin early use status in models, separate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses predicting onset of alcohol, cigarette, and cannabis use revealed a significant association with CSA. The effect was observed through age 19 for cigarettes and through age 21 for cannabis, but was limited to age 14 or younger for alcohol, with the most pronounced risk before age 10 (HR=4.59; CI: 1.96-10.74). CSA-associated risk for initiation of cigarette and cannabis use was also highest in the youngest age range, but the decline with age was much more gradual and the hazard ratios significantly lower (1.70; CI:1.13-2.56 for cigarettes and 2.34, CI:1.58-3.46 for cannabis). CONCLUSIONS: Childhood sexual abuse history is a distinct risk factor for use of cigarettes and cannabis, and a very strong predictor of early age at first drink.
HubMed – addiction
A comparison among tapentadol tamper-resistant formulations (TRF) and OxyContin® (non-TRF) in prescription opioid abusers.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
Addiction. 2013 Jan 14;
Vosburg SK, Jones JD, Manubay JM, Ashworth JB, Shapiro DY, Comer SD
AIMS: To examine whether tamper-resistant formulations (TRFs) of tapentadol hydrochloride ER 50 mg (TAP50) and tapentadol hydrochloride 250 mg (TAP250) could be converted into forms amenable to intranasal (Study 1) or intravenous abuse (Study 2). DESIGN: Randomized, repeated-measures study designs were employed. A non-TRF of OxyContin® 40 mg (OXY40) served as a positive control. No drug was taken in either study. SETTING: The studies took place in an outpatient setting in New York, NY. PARTICIPANTS: 25 experienced, healthy extended-release oxycodone abusers participated in each study. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome for Study 1 was percentage of participants who indicated they would snort the tampered tablets, while the primary outcome for Study 2 was percent yield of active drug in solution. Other descriptive variables such as time spent manipulating the tablets were also examined to better characterize tampering behaviors. FINDINGS: Tampered TRF tablets were less desirable than the tampered OXY40 tablets. Few individuals were willing to snort the TRF particles (TAP50: 24%, TAP250: 16%; OXY40: 100% p<.001). There was less drug extracted from the TAP50 tablet than from the OXY40 tablet (3.5% vs. 37.0%, p=.008), and no samples from the TAP250 tablets contained analyzable solutions of the drug. It took participants longer to tamper with the TAPs (Study 1: TAP50 vs. OXY40, p<.01; TAP250 vs. OXY40, p<.01; Study 2: TAP250 vs. OXY40, p<05). CONCLUSIONS: Tamper-resistant formulations of taptentadol (pain relief) tablets do not appear to be well-liked by individuals who regularly tamper with extended-release oxycodone tablets. Employing tamper resistant technology may be a promising approach towards reducing the abuse potential of tapentadol extended-release. HubMed – addiction
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