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College students and use of K2: an emerging drug of abuse in young persons
- Source :
- Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, Vol 6, Iss 1, p 16 (2011)
- Publisher :
- Springer Nature
-
Abstract
- Background K2 or "spice" has emerged as a popular legal alternative to marijuana among adolescents and young adults. However, no data has been published assessing prevalence of and associations with ever K2 use in any population. This study's aims were to examine prevalence of ever K2 use among a sample of college students, to determine characteristics of persons who use K2, and to access the association between K2 and other drug use. Findings Ever use of K2 was reported by 69 (8%) of the sample of 852 college students. Response rate was 36%. Bivariate and multivariate analyses assessed whether sociodemographic characteristics and other drug use were associated with ever use of K2. Ever use of K2 was reported by 69 (8%) of the sample. Among these 69 individuals, 61 (88%) had used a cigarette and 25 (36%) had used a hookah to smoke K2. In multivariate analyses, K2 use was more common in males (vs. females, adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) = 2.0, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.2-3.5, p = 0.01) and 1st or 2nd year college students (vs. 3rd year or above, aOR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.2-5.0, p = 0.02). Conclusions Ever use of K2 in this sample was higher than ever use of many other drugs of abuse that are commonly monitored in adolescents and young adults. Although DEA had banned five synthetic cannabinoids recently, clinicians and public health officials concerned with substance abuse in youth should be aware of and monitor the use of this drug in college students over time.
- Subjects :
- Male
medicine.medical_specialty
lcsh:Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Multivariate analysis
Adolescent
Universities
Substance-Related Disorders
Population
Short Report
lcsh:HV1-9960
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Prevalence
medicine
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Young adult
Students
education
Psychiatry
Response rate (survey)
Sex Characteristics
education.field_of_study
Cannabinoids
Illicit Drugs
business.industry
lcsh:Public aspects of medicine
Public health
Health Policy
Age Factors
lcsh:RA1-1270
Odds ratio
medicine.disease
Confidence interval
3. Good health
Substance abuse
Psychiatry and Mental health
Adolescent Behavior
Female
business
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Demography
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1747597X
- Volume :
- 6
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....df94044e942a37304a40fec1a9303c8b
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-597x-6-16