Millions of Americans hurt by others’ drinking, drug use: study
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
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Harms from alcohol and other drugs
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by Amy Norton
PISCATAWAY, NJ – The risks of alcohol and other drug consumption to the user are well known, but many Americans--nearly 160 million--say they’ve been harmed by someone else’s substance use, according to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
In a national survey of U.S. adults, researchers found that 34% said they’d ever suffered “secondhand harm” from someone else’s alcohol use--ranging from marriage and family problems to financial fall-out to being assaulted or injured in a drunk-driving accident. Meanwhile, 14% said they’d been harmed by someone else’s use of marijuana, opioids or other drugs.
In sheer numbers, that amounts to 113 million Americans who’ve suffered consequences from another person’s drinking, and 46 million who’ve been hurt by others’ drug use. What’s more, there was plenty of “overlap” between those two groups: Of survey respondents reporting secondhand harms from alcohol, 30% said they’d also been impacted by other people’s drug use.
“There are more harms than people think,” said study co-author William Kerr, Ph.D., of the Alcohol Research Group at the Public Health Institute, in Emeryville, Calif. “They affect families, relationships and communities.”
It makes sense that risky drinking and drug use have far-reaching consequences, but it’s only in recent years that research has delved into the secondhand harms of alcohol, Kerr said. And little has been known about the secondhand effects of drug use.
The new findings are based on responses from 7,800 U.S. adults who were surveyed between September 2019 and April 2020--before, Kerr noted, the effects of the pandemic on Americans’ substance use.
The survey asked people if they’d ever experienced a set of specific harms due to someone else’s alcohol or drug use: physical harm, vandalized property, family problems, financial difficulties or involvement in a traffic accident. Far fewer people said they’d been harmed by others’ drug use compared with alcohol use--which is likely because both drinking and alcohol use disorders are much more common than drug use and drug use disorders, Kerr said.
But, he added, there could also be additional reasons, including the limits of the survey (which asked about secondhand harms from drug use with a single question). The researchers are now conducting a new survey with more detailed questions on harms related to individual drugs.
In the meantime, the current findings highlight a major public health issue: For every person with a substance use disorder, Kerr said, many more may be harmed in some way, to some degree. That, he added, underscores the need to improve people’s access to substance abuse treatment, and the importance of harm reduction efforts--such as preventing people from driving under the influence.
Journal
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
Method of Research
Survey
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Prevalence and correlates of alcohol and drug harms to others: Findings from the 2020 U.S. National Alcohol Survey
Article Publication Date
21-Nov-2024
Alcohol use identified by UTHealth Houston researchers as most common predictor of escalated cannabis vaping among youths in Texas
Alcohol use was the most common predictor of escalating cannabis vaping among youth and young adults, independent of demographic factors, according to research by UTHealth Houston published this month in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
Cannabis vaping is the use of electronic cigarette delivery of liquid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a concentrated form of cannabis that has been extracted and diluted into a liquid solution.Vaping cannabis has grown in popularity among young people in the U.S., according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
“A decade ago, 10% of cannabis users vaped it. Now, the number is about 75%, at least for youth and young adults,” said Dale Mantey, PhD, assistant professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. “That is a major public health concern for many reasons.”
Cannabis vaping in youth and early adulthood can affect cognitive development and performance, including learning, memory, and attention; lead to the onset of chronic pulmonary damage from black market liquid THC products, as well as an increase in dependence on the drug; and result in incarceration due to federal prohibitions, which list cannabis as a Schedule I drug.
In this study, researchers focused on identifying the predictors of behavior of cannabis users and nonusers. The data included middle to high school students in Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, and Houston. The students were surveyed from 2019 to 2021 and asked two questions: “Have you ever smoked marijuana or liquid THC from an electronic cigarette?” And “During the past 30 days, how many days did you smoke marijuana from an electronic cigarette?” The students were also asked to self-report their racial and ethnic identity, gender, nicotine usage, and alcohol consumption. Researchers also investigated two indicators of mental health among the student population: anxiety and depression.
“If we know what predicts that behavior, those are the things we can try to target for addressing and preventing cannabis vaping among youth,” Mantey said.
At the beginning of the study , 72.7% reported never cannabis vaping, 12.7% reported ever cannabis vaping, and 14.5% reported current cannabis vaping. Through the three-year duration of the study, the risk for cannabis vaping experimentation (never to current) was significantly higher among non-Hispanic Blacks relative to non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic other groups.
Alcohol proved to be a consistent factor in those who had never vaped cannabis to begin or experiment. Researchers referred to alcohol as a “gateway” to cannabis vaping, “The ultimate goal is to delay initiation of substances in youth because the later someone initiates a substance, the less likely they are to become addicted to it,” Mantey said. “Since alcohol was shown to be a strong predictor, we need more comprehensive interventions. When we go into schools and talk about nicotine, vaping, or tobacco prevention, we need to make sure we are incorporating cannabis prevention and alcohol prevention, not just one substance.”
Depression predicted cannabis vaping initiation among Hispanics and non-Hispanic Blacks groups. The authors said more research is needed to understand the impact depression and other mental health problems may have on cannabis vaping among various demographics so public health intervention can target the most at-risk groups.
Additional UTHealth Houston authors included Stephanie L. Clendennen, DrPH, MPH; Baojiang Chen, PhD; Sana Amin, MPH; and Melissa B. Harrell, PhD, MPH.
Media inquiries: 713-500-3030
Journal
Social Science & Medicine
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