Crack cocaine, alcohol, and other drug use patterns among homeless personswith other mental disorders

Citation
Sl. Usdan et al., Crack cocaine, alcohol, and other drug use patterns among homeless personswith other mental disorders, AM J DRUG A, 27(1), 2001, pp. 107-120
Citations number
23
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Public Health & Health Care Science
Journal title
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE
ISSN journal
0095-2990 → ACNP
Volume
27
Issue
1
Year of publication
2001
Pages
107 - 120
Database
ISI
SICI code
0095-2990(2001)27:1<107:CCAAOD>2.0.ZU;2-6
Abstract
This study examined the co-occurrence of cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, and o ther drug use among treatment seeking homeless persons to determine whether alcohol use predicted cocaine use differently than marijuana and other dru gs predicted cocaine use. Participants were 141 homeless persons with subst ance use and other nonpsychotic mental disorders seeking drug treatment at a metropolitan health care agency for homeless persons. They were 72.3% mal e, 27.7% female, 82.7% African American, 17.3% Caucasian, with an average a ge of 37.7 (SD 7.1) years and had 13.1 (SD 2.4) average years of education. Results supported the assertion that cocaine use was strongly associated w ith extent of alcohol use and that the association between cocaine and alco hol was stronger than the association between cocaine and other drug use, i ncluding marijuana. Participants with cocaine plus alcohol disorders were r etained longer in treatment than disorders of cocaine only with no differen ces in abstinence outcome. The findings should drive further research into the use of alcohol as a trigger or predictor of cocaine use, the deleteriou s effects of the combined use of cocaine and alcohol, and specialized treat ments for polysubstance users.