Logo image
Back
Types of criminal legal system exposure and polysubstance use: Prevalence and correlates among US adults in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2015-2019
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Types of criminal legal system exposure and polysubstance use: Prevalence and correlates among US adults in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2015-2019

Jason A. Ford, Kasim Ortiz, Ty S. Schepis and Sean Esteban McCabe
Drug and alcohol dependence, v 237, 109511
01 Aug 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109511
PMID: 35752022
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109511View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Restricted

Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine Science & Technology Psychiatry Substance Abuse
Introduction: Criminal legal system (CLS) exposed adults experience higher rates of substance use, substance use disorder (SUD), and overdose. As most CLS exposed adults are not incarcerated, it is important to focus on CLS exposure across the carceral continuum. Methods: This research used pooled data from adult respondents (N = 206,314) in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2015-2019). Survey weighted descriptive statistics and Poisson regression were used to estimate prevalence of polysubstance use (i.e., concurrent use) across CLS exposure types (i.e., arrest, probation, parole), identifying relevant correlates.Results: The prevalence of polysubstance use was higher among CLS exposed adults, and nearly two-thirds of CLS exposed adults who used multiple types of substances indicated having an SUD. Comparing CLS exposure types, polysubstance use was less likely among adults on probation (IRR=0.89, 95%CI=0.84,0.94) or parole (IRR=0.82, 95%CI=0.76,0.87) compared to those arrested. Polysubstance use was also more likely among adults on probation (IRR=1.09, 95%CI =1.01,1.17) compared to those on parole. While some characteristics (i.e., age, ethnicity, SUD) were consistently associated with polysubstance use across types of CLS exposure, other characteristics (i.e., sexual identity, marital status, suicidal ideation) were not.Conclusions: There is heterogeneity in health risks as a function of CLS exposure type. Further research is needed to identify causal mechanisms and differences based on demographic characteristics. Given high levels of polysubstance use across CLS exposure types, a shift towards a more comprehensive approach in substance use epidemiology may facilitate building an evidence-base to maximize treatment related interventions to reduce polysubstance-involved overdoses.

Metrics

9 Record Views
8 citations in Web of Science
7 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
#3 Good Health and Well-Being

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Psychiatry
Substance Abuse
Logo image