Study focuses on mephedrone use in Northern Ireland post-ban
Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have completed one of the first studies of mephedrone use in Northern Ireland since the drug was outlawed earlier this year
2010-10-04
(Press-News.org) Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have completed one of the first studies of mephedrone use in Northern Ireland since the drug was outlawed earlier this year. They found that the ban did not deter those mephedrone users surveyed from taking the substance.
Interviews with 23 mephedrone users were completed during a two-month period (May and June 2010) following the legislation that made the drug illegal in the UK. Study participants were aged 19 to 51 years, around half of whom (12) were female. 19 of the 23 people who took part in the study were employed, and most occupations were affiliated with business, trades, the service industry or the public sector.
The research was led by Dr Karen McElrath at Queen's School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work.
The key findings from the study were:
21 of the 23 study participants had used mephedrone after the ban.
Only one person was very much opposed to using the substance again.
Approximately half the sample preferred mephedrone to cocaine or ecstasy. Some had experienced negative effects, for example, sleeplessness, difficult comedowns and next-day depression, but these factors generally did not deter them from using the substance again.
None of those who took part in the research felt that 'legal highs' were safe simply because they were legal.
None of the study participants recalled an initial interest in using mephedrone because it had been legal. Rather, its legality before April 2010 meant that it was easier to access and cheaper than many illegal substances.
Prior to the ban, only three interviewees had purchased mephedrone from 'head shops' and four interviewees had purchased mephedrone from online suppliers. The majority tended to access mephedrone through friends or dealers.
The majority of interviewees had prior experience of taking ecstasy, amphetamine or cocaine.
During their most recent use of mephedrone, all the study participants had also consumed alcohol, although the timing and amount of alcohol varied.
During their most recent use of mephedrone, six of the 23 participants had used another psychoactive substance, other than alcohol.
During their most recent use of mephedrone, most participants had consumed between one-two grams of the drug, although half recalled bingeing on mephedrone, sharing upward of seven-eight grams with two to three other people.
Dr McElrath said: "This is one of the first studies into mephedrone use in Northern Ireland since it was made illegal earlier this year. The findings suggest that the ban did not have a significant impact on those who already used mephedrone, at least during the two-month period that followed the ban. We are keen to develop this research further and to compare our results with a similar study conducted in Waterford prior to the ban on mephedrone in the Republic of Ireland in May 2010."
The study was part of a cross-border research partnership with Marie Clare Van Hout at the Waterford Institute of Technology.
INFORMATION:
Media inquiries to Anne-Marie Clarke at Queen's Press and PR Unit on +44 (0)28 9097 5320 or +44 (0)7814415451 or anne-marie.clarke@qub.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
1. Dr Karen McElrath is available for interview.
2. Mephedrone was made illegal in the UK in April 2010, and in the Republic of Ireland in May 2010.
3. For more information about Marie Clare Van Hout's research in the Republic of Ireland, contact 00353 872375979.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2010-10-04
A new study estimates that 2.5 percent of the United States population, or about 7.6 million Americans, have food allergies. Food allergy rates were found to be higher for children, non-Hispanic blacks, and males, according to the researchers. The odds of male black children having food allergies were 4.4 times higher than others in the general population.
The research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health and appears in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, is the first to use a nationally representative sample, as well as specific immunoglobulin ...
2010-10-04
A diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may prepare the body to deal better with stress, according to a team of Penn State researchers who looked at how these foods, which contain polyunsaturated fats, influence blood pressure at rest and under stress.
Previous studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids -- like the alpha linolenic acid found in walnuts and flax seeds -- can reduce low density lipoproteins (LDL) -- bad cholesterol. These foods may also reduce c-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation.
"People who show an exaggerated biological response to stress ...
2010-10-04
People match each other's language styles more during happier periods of their relationship than at other times, according to new research from psychologists at The University of Texas at Austin.
"When two people start a conversation, they usually begin talking alike within a matter of seconds," says James Pennebaker, psychology professor and co-author of the study. "This also happens when people read a book or watch a movie. As soon as the credits roll, they find themselves talking like the author or the central characters."
This tendency is called language style matching ...
2010-10-03
MIAMI — Lack of private health insurance and its consequent lack of access to care appears to affect mortality among patients with uterine cancer and may partly explain the mortality disparity between African-Americans and other racial groups, according to data presented at the Third AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities.
"African-Americans were twice as likely to die within four years compared to white patients after adjusting for age, facility and education level. However, when insurance, treatment and clinical factors were accounted for, this ...
2010-10-03
MIAMI — Nonwhite women reported receiving less social support than white women after cancer treatment, according to data presented at the Third AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2010.
"This is an important finding when designing and promoting social support resources for female cancer survivors to better include cancer survivors of color," said study author Jennifer M. Jabson, M.P.H., Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of community health sciences at Boston University. "This might be useful when interventionists ...
2010-10-03
MIAMI — Puerto Rican women who had breast cancer that lacked estrogen and progesterone receptors and did not overexpress the HER2neu protein (triple-negative) had worse survival than those with other types of invasive breast cancer, according to a study presented at the Third AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held Sept. 30 – Oct. 3, 2010.
"As the incidence of breast cancer rises in Puerto Rico, following U.S. trends, it is important to understand the association of disease subtypes with survival," said Ana P. Ortiz Martinez, M.P.H., Ph.D., associate ...
2010-10-03
MIAMI — Race itself was not a prognostic factor of overall survival among black patients with lung cancer, according to data from a retrospective study presented at the Third AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities.
"In simple terms, if 100 patients who are Caucasian and 100 patients who are African-American have the same age, stage of cancer, type of lung cancer and are treated the same way, there should not be differences in their survival just because they are of different races," said Rajesh Sehgal, M.D., a medical oncologist at the Edwards Comprehensive ...
2010-10-03
MIAMI — African-American women with breast cancer living in Washington, D.C., are more likely to experience delays in treatment regardless of insurance type, socioeconomic status and cancer characteristics such as stage and grade.
Heather A. Young, Ph.D., an associate professor of epidemiology at The George Washington University, said these findings underscore the difficulties in measuring the impact of race and socioeconomic status on health outcomes.
"There is likely something about race that we are still not capturing, whether it is different patterns of social ...
2010-10-03
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2010 — Scientists have identified a way that the United States could immediately save the energy equivalent of about 350 million barrels of oil a year — without spending a penny or putting a ding in the quality of life: Just stop wasting food. Their study, reported in ACS' semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology, found that it takes the equivalent of about 1.4 billion barrels of oil to produce, package, prepare, preserve and distribute a year's worth of food in the United States.
Michael Webber and Amanda Cuéllar note that food contains ...
2010-10-03
SAN FRANCISCO – A pediatric medical response to a major disaster should focus on three consecutive missions: protection of life and limb, continuing care, and finally, humanitarian aid, according to research presented Sunday, Oct. 3, at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in San Francisco.
In January, within 24 hours of the worst earthquake in more than 200 years, the United States Naval Ship (USNS) Comfort was deployed to Haiti. With a staff of more than 800 physicians, nurses and ancillary staff, the ship was transformed into ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Study focuses on mephedrone use in Northern Ireland post-ban
Researchers at Queen's University Belfast have completed one of the first studies of mephedrone use in Northern Ireland since the drug was outlawed earlier this year
