alcohol use Archives

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Heterogeneity of State Medical Marijuana Laws and Adolescent Recent Use of Alcohol and Marijuana: Analysis of 45 States, 1991-2011

Julie K. Johnson PhD; Renee M. Johnson PhD; Dominic Hodgkin PhD; Abenaa A. Jones PhD; Ann Marie Matteucci PhD; & Sion K. Harris PhD

Substance Abuse Vol. 39, Iss. 2, 2018

“This study examined whether Medical Marijuana Laws (MMLs) and their restrictiveness affect varying current adolescent alcohol and marijuana use behaviors using Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System data from 45 states between 1991-2011, including 12 of the 16 states that enacted MML on or previous to 2011, representing the most liberalized categorization of marijuana laws prior to the wave of recreational marijuana legalization laws that began in 2012. It is not well known how MMLs affect alcohol use behaviors, even less so for the adolescent cohort. This study found that states that enacted a MML, and having a less restrictive policy, were associated with lowered odds of current adolescent alcohol use. A unique feature of this study is the analysis of not only the effect of having any MML on these outcomes, but also the effect of state MML restrictiveness, using policy taxonomy scores. The alcohol findings are not as surprising given that Monitoring in the Future, a national surveillance of youth substance use, reports steadily annual declining alcohol use rates among youth from 1991 to 2011. By contrast, prevalence of marijuana use has remained steady from 1994 to 2014, despite a changing marijuana reform landscape.”

The Authors’ Own Words:

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Interest in using mobile technology to help self-manage alcohol use among persons living with HIV: A Florida Cohort cross-sectional study

J. Danielle Sharpe, MS; Zhi Zhou, DDS, MPH; César G. Escobar-Viera, MD, PhD; Jamie P. Morano, MD, MPH; Robert J. Lucero, PhD, MPH, RN; Gladys E. Ibañez, PhD; Mark Hart, EdD, MALS; Christa L. Cook, PhD, MSN, RN; & Robert L. Cook, MD, MPH

Substance Abuse Vol. 39, Iss. 1, 2018

“Our manuscript contributes to the literature in regards to informing the development of mobile technology-based interventions for persons living with HIV who have hazardous alcohol use issues. To the knowledge of my co-authors and I, no previous research has explored mobile technology usage and the interest of PLWH who drink to use mobile technology for alcohol-related health interventions, and our study is the first to explore this. Our study found that PLWH who drink demonstrated moderate mobile technology use and were fairly willing to use a cell phone app to manage alcohol use, indicating that a portion of PLWH who drink have the interest and technological capacity for a mobile technology-based intervention to reduce alcohol consumption. These findings will be useful to researchers who are designing mobile technology-based interventions aimed at helping PLWH self-manage their alcohol use behavior to improve their HIV health outcomes.”

The Authors’ Own Words: Heterogeneity of State Medical Marijuana Laws and Adolescent Recent Use of Alcohol and Marijuana: Analysis of 45 States, 1991-2011

The Authors’ Own Words: Interest in using mobile technology to help self-manage alcohol use among persons living with HIV: A Florida Cohort cross-sectional study