High prevalence of substance use disorders among adolescents who use marijuana and inhalants.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: We examined the association between the use of inhalants, marijuana, and
other drugs and recent DSM-IV substance use disorders among adolescents aged 12-17
years. METHODS: Data were drawn from 2000 to 2001 National Household Surveys on Drug
Abuse. Adolescents aged 12-17 years who reported having ever used an illicit drug
in their lifetime were categorized into four mutually exclusive groups: inhalant users
(16%), marijuana users (53%), inhalant and marijuana users (16%), and other drug users
(15%). Logistic regression models were used to estimate associations with recent substance
use diagnoses among lifetime adolescent drug users (N=10,180). RESULTS: We found that
31% of lifetime drug users reported having never used marijuana. One half of these
atypical drug users were predominantly nonmedical users of pain relievers. Adolescents
who used inhalants or other drugs but not marijuana were least likely to report multidrug
use. Adolescents who reported using both inhalants and marijuana were most likely
to use three or more classes of drugs (73%) and to receive a diagnosis of past year
alcohol (35%) and drug (39%) abuse or dependence. CONCLUSIONS: Our study findings
suggest that among lifetime adolescent drug users, those who use both inhalants and
marijuana are at very high risk for alcohol and drug use disorders.
Type
Journal articleSubject
HumansSubstance-Related Disorders
Alcoholism
Marijuana Abuse
Street Drugs
Administration, Inhalation
Data Collection
Prevalence
Adolescent
Child
Female
Male
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/20036Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.08.025Publication Info
Wu, Li-Tzy; Pilowsky, Daniel J; & Schlenger, William E (2005). High prevalence of substance use disorders among adolescents who use marijuana and
inhalants. Drug and alcohol dependence, 78(1). pp. 23-32. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.08.025. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/20036.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Li-Tzy Wu
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Education/Training: Pre- and post-doctoral training in mental health service research,
psychiatric epidemiology (NIMH T32), and addiction epidemiology (NIDA T32) from Johns
Hopkins University School of Public Health (Maryland); Fellow of the NIH Summer Institute
on the Design and Conduct of Randomized Clinical Trials.Director: Duke Community Based
Substance Use Disorder Research Program.Research interests: COVID-19, Opioid misuse,
Opioid overdose, Opioid use disorder

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