NCJ Number
216885
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse: An International Interdisciplinary Forum Volume: 41 Issue: 13 Dated: 2006 Pages: 1817-1835
Date Published
2006
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study examined polydrug abuse and drug misuse patterns among men and women in Sweden.
Abstract
Findings indicated that a greater percentage of women used and injected amphetamines, injected opiates, and used tranquilizers/sedatives, while a greater percentage of men smoked cannabis, smoked heroin, and misused alcohol. The most common polydrug combination for both men and women was amphetamines combined with cannabis, followed by amphetamines combined with heroin and cannabis. Narcotics users also frequently used alcohol. The prevalence of heroin as a primary drug increased among those less than 35 years of age and the use of ecstasy and chemical CNS-stimulating/hallucinogenic drugs increased in general. Polydrug use also increased compared to previous surveys and the methods of drug ingestion changed. The findings suggest that single drug users are no longer the norm and it is more accurate to identify different types of polydrug users. Data were drawn from 14,249 reporting forms representing 11,029 drug misusers, which were submitted by reporting public agencies, mainly social services and health services agencies. Participating agencies completed a reporting form for each drug misuser who had agency contact and had misused drugs during the previous 12 months. Some data was collected from other drug surveys in progress. Data were analyzed with the SPSS statistics program and included the use of chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests. Tables, figures, glossary, references