TY - JOUR
T1 - Multiple determinants of specific modes of prescription opioid diversion
AU - Cicero, Theodore J.
AU - Kurtz, Steven P.
AU - Surratt, Hilary L.
AU - Ibanez, Gladys E.
AU - Ellis, Matthew S.
AU - Levi-Minzi, Maria A.
AU - Inciardi, James A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements We are grateful to CNPQ, for providing financial support to this work CNPQ-FAPESP–465458/2014-9 and 2014/50891-1-INCT Translacional em Medicina (465458/2014-9).
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Numerous national surveys and surveillance programs have shown a substantial rise in the abuse of prescription opioids over the past 15 years. Accessibility of these drugs to non-patients is the result of their unlawful channeling from legal sources to the illicit marketplace (diversion). Empirical data on diversion remain absent from the literature. This paper examines abusers' sources of diverted drugs from two large studies: 1) a national sample of opioid treatment clients (N=1983), and 2) a South Florida study targeting diverse populations of opioid abusers (N=782). The most common sources of diverted medications were dealers, sharing/trading, legitimate medical practice (e.g., unknowing medical providers), illegitimate medical practice (e.g., pill mills), and theft, in that order. Sources varied by users'age, gender, ethnicity, risk-aversiveness, primary opioid of abuse, injection drug use, physical health, drug dependence, and either access to health insurance or relative financial wealth. Implications for prescription drug control policy are discussed.
AB - Numerous national surveys and surveillance programs have shown a substantial rise in the abuse of prescription opioids over the past 15 years. Accessibility of these drugs to non-patients is the result of their unlawful channeling from legal sources to the illicit marketplace (diversion). Empirical data on diversion remain absent from the literature. This paper examines abusers' sources of diverted drugs from two large studies: 1) a national sample of opioid treatment clients (N=1983), and 2) a South Florida study targeting diverse populations of opioid abusers (N=782). The most common sources of diverted medications were dealers, sharing/trading, legitimate medical practice (e.g., unknowing medical providers), illegitimate medical practice (e.g., pill mills), and theft, in that order. Sources varied by users'age, gender, ethnicity, risk-aversiveness, primary opioid of abuse, injection drug use, physical health, drug dependence, and either access to health insurance or relative financial wealth. Implications for prescription drug control policy are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80052848983&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/002204261104100207
DO - 10.1177/002204261104100207
M3 - Article
C2 - 22287798
AN - SCOPUS:80052848983
SN - 0022-0426
VL - 41
SP - 283
EP - 304
JO - Journal of Drug Issues
JF - Journal of Drug Issues
IS - 2
ER -