This article analyzes data derived from the first detailed long‐term follow‐up of a sample of serious adolescent female delinquents and similarly situated males. Neither marital attachment nor job stability, factors frequently associated with male desistance from crime, were strongly related to female or male desistance. A symbolic‐interactionist perspective on desistance is developed as a counterpoint to Sampson and Laub’s theory of informal social control, and life history narratives are used to illustrate the perspective. This cognitive theory is generally compatible with a control approach but (a) adds specificity regarding underlying change mechanisms, (b) explains some negative cases, and (c) fits well with life course challenges facing contemporary serious female (and more provisionally male) offenders.

/pdf/gender-crime-and-desistance-toward-a-theory-of-cognitive-4gncgys1w2.pdf

Gender, Crime, and Desistance: Toward a Theory of Cognitive Transformation

A conceptual framework for drug treatment process and outcomes.

This article discusses the life course perspective on drug use, including conceptual and analytic issues involved in developing the life course framework to explain how drug use trajectories develop during an individual's lifetime and how this knowledge can guide new research and approaches to management of drug dependence. Central concepts include trajectories marked by transitions and social capital and turning points influencing changes. The life course perspective offers an organizing framework for classifying varying drug use trajectories, identifying critical events and factors contributing to the persistence or change in drug use, analytically ordering events that occur during the life span, and determining contributory relationships.

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0193841X07307316

The Life Course Perspective on Drug Use: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Drug Use Trajectories

Background: Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug worldwide. Long term use of cannabis is known to cause chronic bronchitis and airflow obstruction, however the frequency of macroscopic emphysema, the dose-response relationship and the dose equivalence of cannabis with tobacco has not been determined.
 Methods: A convenience sample of adults from the Greater Wellington Region was recruited into four smoking groups; cannabis only, tobacco only, combined cannabis and tobacco and non-smokers of either substance. Their respiratory status was assessed using high resolution CT scanning, pulmonary function tests and a respiratory and smoking questionnaire. Associations between respiratory status and cannabis use were examined by analysis of covariance and logistic regression.
 Results: A total of 339 subjects were recruited into the four groups. A dose-response relationship was found between cannabis smoking and reduced FEV1/FVC and sGaw, and increased TLC. For measures of airflow obstruction, one cannabis joint had a similar effect to between 2.5 and 6 tobacco cigarettes. Cannabis smoking was associated with decreased lung density on HRCT scans. Macroscopic emphysema was detected in 1/75 (1.3%), 15/92 (16.3%), 17/91 (18.9%) and 0/81 subjects in the cannabis only, combined cannabis and tobacco, tobacco alone and non-smoking groups respectively.
 Conclusions: Smoking cannabis was associated with a dose-related impairment of large airways function resulting in airflow obstruction and hyperinflation. In contrast, cannabis smoking was seldom associated with macroscopic emphysema. The 1:2.5 to 6 dose equivalence between cannabis joints and tobacco cigarettes for adverse effects on lung function is of major public health significance.

https://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/62/12/1058.full.pdf

Effects of cannabis on pulmonary structure, function and symptoms

/pdf/prevention-and-control-of-infections-with-hepatitis-viruses-37lxx0odn9.pdf

Prevention and control of infections with hepatitis viruses in correctional settings

This paper examines the validity of self-report of drug use in several important high-risk samples by comparing survey answers with urinalysis results. The analyses include data obtained from face-to-face interviews with 1536 patients in sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics, 1564 patients in hospital emergency rooms (ERs), and 2034 recent arrestees in jails. Using urinalysis as the criterion measure, considerable underreporting was observed, particularly among STD and ER subjects using cocaine and opiates. A logistic regression analysis on factors related to the underreporting was conducted for both cocaine and opiates. The results showed that a lower degree of underreporting was associated with subjects at jail sites (compared to STD subjects) and those who self-reported lifetime drug dependence.

Validity of self-report of drug use among STD patients, ER patients, and arrestees.

Many drug abusers do not seek help in formal treatment settings, and little is known about their resistance to treatment. In this study, we offered a treatment referral assessment to a sample of 28...

Resistance to Drug Abuse Treatment: A Comparison of Drug Users Who Accept or Decline Treatment Referral Assessment

This paper reports the results of a study on the use of illicit drugs and related problems in groups that are often considered hidden populations at high risk for drug abuse. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in 1992–94 with 5,168 subjects from sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics, hospital emergency rooms (ER), and jails in Los Angeles County, California. Extensive drug involvement and other HIV-risk behaviors were reported by all three samples. Excluding marijuana, crack and cocaine were the most prevalent drugs used; the rate of positive cocaine urinalysis was 8.5% for STD subjects, 18.1% for ER subjects, and 52.8% for the arrestees. About 40% of the subjects from both STDs and jails and 27% from ERs reported three or more sex partners in the past year. About 41% of STD and 49% of ER samples also reported having arrest records. Current use of heroin and cocaine was highly associated with multiple sex partners and an arrest record. The study confirmed the high prevalence of drug abuse and oth...

Drug Use and Correlates among Sexually Transmitted Disease Patients, Emergency Room Patients, and Arrestees

The epidemic of cocaine abuse has led to numerous studies on the substance. While extent of use, characteristics of users, patterns of use, and consequences of dependence are well documented for both powder cocaine and crack, few studies have dealt with the sequence or progression of use between the two forms of cocaine. This paper draws on arrestee data collected from county jails in Los Angeles, California. It identifies four sequences of powder cocaine and crack use and examines each sequence in terms of user characteristics, history of use, dependence, contact with the criminal justice system, and concomitant use of other drugs. Findings not only confirm some already established observations, but also offer new knowledge on powder cocaine and crack abuse. For instance, (a) whereas powder cocaine–initiated users are more likely to progress to crack than to restrict their use to powder cocaine only, crack-initiated users tend more often to use crack only than to progress to powder cocaine; and (b) powde...

Sequences of powder cocaine and crack use among arrestees in Los Angeles County.

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/pdf/interventions-to-promote-smoking-cessation-in-the-medicare-2vojanjhla.pdf

Kathleen Boyle

Papers

Validity of self-report of drug use among STD patients, ER patients, and arrestees.

Resistance to Drug Abuse Treatment: A Comparison of Drug Users Who Accept or Decline Treatment Referral Assessment

Drug Use and Correlates among Sexually Transmitted Disease Patients, Emergency Room Patients, and Arrestees

Sequences of powder cocaine and crack use among arrestees in Los Angeles County.

Interventions to Promote Smoking Cessation in the Medicare Population