Drug info - Cocaine Use Related To Level Of Education Achieved

[enquirewithin]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/81021.php

The decreased use of cocaine in the United States over the last 20 years mostly occurred among the highly educated, while cocaine use among non-high school graduates remained constant, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study authors suspect that the inverse relationship between cocaine use and education is related to access to health warnings and resources. They also concluded that the emerging disparity highlights the need for improved interventions that target persistent cocaine users who are lower educated. The study is published in the October 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

"Much like smoking, people with a better understanding of the impact cocaine has on health are more likely to modify their behavior," said Valerie S. Harder, MHS, lead author of the study and a PhD-candidate in the Bloomberg School of Public Health's Department of Mental Health. "Better educated individuals also may have more resources and access to health care services, such as drug treatment programs."

The researchers used data from the 1979-2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to compare cocaine use and educational achievement for adults aged 19-50 years. Adults were categorized as non-high school graduate, high school graduate or college graduate and as either recent-onset or persistent cocaine users.

The proportion of non-high school graduates using cocaine has remained consistent from 1979-2002. Early data suggests that high school and college graduates were more likely to start and persist in their use of cocaine, as compared to non-high school graduates. During the late 1980s, the proportion of high school and college graduates classified as persistent users dropped dramatically and fell below that of non-high school graduates. During the same time period, first time cocaine use steadily decreased among all adults regardless of their level of educational achievement and remained low.

"It isn't enough to simply try to stop individuals from using cocaine the first time," said Harder. "More drug intervention programs that target non-high school graduates are necessary to reduce persistent cocaine use in that population."

Howard D. Chilcoat, ScD, an associate professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, co-authored the study.

"Cocaine Use and Educational Achievement: Understanding a Changing Association Over the Past Two Decades" was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

[dbjay417]

I hate when academics start their bullshit.

Just because people didn't buy into the bullshit they call public school in the US, doesn't mean they don't know drugs are bad for them. The fact is most uneducated people are poor, most poor people remain poor their entire life, because they are indifferent to their lifestyle or just plain lazy.

Rich people often become rich through ambition, that ambition tends to drive a wedge between them and shit that could ruin their lives, also, they can afford private rehabs aka functioning rehabs.

[enquirewithin]

Your comments are correct, except that I don't think people remain poor because they are lazy mostly. It's much easier to be rich if you come from the right background-- most rich people do start that way.

[dbjay417]

Ambition doesn't know race, level of education, or financial status.

The people willing to put in the work, will get the pay. The people who look for the easy way out will get the boot.

Kids I grew up with that were always ambitious, have decent jobs, and prospects and shit to show for their troubles.

The slackers, aside from a few lucky SOBs are living in Section 8 housing and surviving off of their girlfriends welfare checks along with her 3 kids from three other guys.

Its really not about background. Its all about the individual. Maybe in some extreme cases environment and social standing is an issue like if your homeless or have disabled parents or something, but most people have the same shot at sucess, its just a matter of drive.

ofcourse there are people from rich families that will get trust funds and inherit mansions and shit, but there isn't much old money in this world, but ambitious intelligent people are making fortunes every day. Wether its opening a car dealership, or selling a recipe.

[melpomene]

cocaine put swim through college and helped her write amazing papers.

[EyesOfTheWorld]

Originally Posted by melpomene

cocaine put swim through college and helped her write amazing papers.

Cocaine (and LSD) paid Monkey's way to travel the country for years and then go to college, where they served as inspiration for schoolwork. Drugs are tools. Just like tools can be used to build a beautiful house, they can also be torture devices.

[Nature Boy]

Peculiar finding. I would agree with it in a sense. Educated people tend to be aware of the risks involved with narcotic use, sometimes to an exaggerative degree. That's not to say that poor people are oblivious to the dangers of drugs, but perhaps they don't stand to lose as much. enquirewithin makes a very strong point however. Coming from a safe financial background gives one a massive advantage in life. Some of the hardest workers have very little ambition and vice-versa. SWIM sees lazy piece-of-shit department heads in his university of declining standards, those who are not scholarly, yet they rise to the top due to their "people skills" and their politicking. These people don't work very hard, they're just skillful at manipulating people and fitting in. And they earn a LOT of money.