دانلود رایگان مقاله استفاده کانابینوئید مصنوعی در بین نوجوانان مصرف کننده شاهدانه

Abstract

Little is known regarding the use of synthetic cannabinoids (SC), particularly use among adolescent substance users who may be at higher risk. The present exploratory study seeks to describe SC use and subjective effects among cannabis-using adolescents as well as compare the characteristics of cannabis users who do and do not use SC. Exploratory analyses evaluated cannabis treatment outcomes among SC users and non-users. Participants enrolled in a randomized, controlled intervention for cannabis-using high school students aged 14–19 (N = 252) completed questionnaires regarding their use of SC and other substances. Those who used SC in the past 60 days reported subjective effects of SC, consequences, and SC use disorder symptoms. Baseline characteristics, alcohol and other drug use, and treatment outcomes of SC users were compared to participants who never tried SC. Within this sample 29% had tried SC, and 6% used SC recently. Although most reported use at a relatively low rate, 43% of recent SC users reported SC use-disorder symptoms. Positive and negative subjective effects of SC were endorsed, with positive subjective effects reported more often. SC use was associated with more cannabis use, but not more alcohol or other (non-SC and non-cannabis) drug use. SC users did not differ from non-users on cannabis treatment outcomes. This exploratory study described SC use, and compared characteristics and treatment outcomes among SC users and non-users. Negative subjective effects of SC were reported as occurring less often, but SC use was associated with use disorder psychopathology. SC use was associated with more problematic cannabis use at baseline, but was not associated with use of other substances or differences in treatment outcome.

3. Discussion and conclusions

The present paper provides an examination of SC use, subjective effects, and relationship to cannabis use and related constructs among a sample of adolescent cannabis-users. Lifetime rates of use were substantially higher within this at-risk sample than in larger studies of adolescents (Johnston et al., 2015), college students (Stogner and Miller, 2014) and more diverse adult users (Vandrey et al., 2012). However, use within the past 60 days was relatively uncommon. Furthermore, days of use was low among recent users, with the most days of use reported by SC user on only 15 of the past 60 days. Despite the relative infrequency of use, a subset of the sample reported symptoms consistent with either SC abuse or dependence. This finding is notable in that adolescents may experience use disorder symptoms even as a result of relatively low rates of SC use. It is difficult to ascertain how the rates of use reported in the present paper compare to adolescents within the general population, as the only known epidemiological studies of adolescent use reported only annual rates of use (Johnston et al., 2015). However, it is possible that the results may be explained by cannabis use, given the similarity of the substances. Additionally, it was expected that rates of use among this cannabis-using sample would be higher than the general public, given the relationship between SC use and cannabis use (Vandrey et al., 2012; Winstock and Barratt, 2013).