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College students and use of K2: An emerging drug of abuse in young persons

Hu, X and Primack, BA and Barnett, TE and Cook, RL (2011) College students and use of K2: An emerging drug of abuse in young persons. Substance Abuse: Treatment, Prevention, and Policy, 6 (1).

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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. © 2011 Hu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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Details

Item Type: Article
Status: Published
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Hu, X
Primack, BAbprimack@pitt.eduBPRIMACK
Barnett, TE
Cook, RL
Centers: Other Centers, Institutes, Offices, or Units > Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health
Date: 11 July 2011
Date Type: Publication
Journal or Publication Title: Substance Abuse: Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
Volume: 6
Number: 1
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.1186/1747-597x-6-16
Schools and Programs: School of Medicine > Medicine
School of Medicine > Pediatrics
Refereed: Yes
MeSH Headings: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior--psychology; Age Factors; Cannabinoids--adverse effects; Female; Humans; Male; Prevalence; Sex Characteristics; Street Drugs--adverse effects; Students--psychology; Substance-Related Disorders--epidemiology; Universities; Young Adult
Other ID: NLM PMC3142218
PubMed Central ID: PMC3142218
PubMed ID: 21745369
Date Deposited: 28 Jul 2014 16:50
Last Modified: 22 Jun 2021 14:56
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22396

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