Illicit Drug Use

Justin

Throughout the years modern culture has glamourized drug usage through popular culture such as music artist, videos, and celebrities. The media usually targets teenage to young adult because they are yet at an impressionable age. According to US Health and Human Services Department studies show by the twelfth grade, about half of adolescents have abused an illicit drug at least once. The most commonly used drug is marijuana but adolescents can find many abused substances, such as prescription medications, glues, and aerosols, in the home. According to Erickson’s stages of life during this time is when the subject tries new things and new experiences so it’s only right that this is the age group that the media glamourizes illicit drug usage to. It’s not seen as a risk but more as a way of determining the subject’s popularity rank. As young teens fall deeper and deeper into the trap of using illicit drugs the least of their concerns is their health. The immediate health may not be in danger but the long term use of illicit drugs can potentially alter your body chemistry. The toll that illicit drugs take on your body is never seen right off hand, but may become visible by middle age adult years. To understand the severity of illicit drug usage one must know what illicit drugs are to get a full view. According to the US Health and Human Services department illicit drugs are the abuse of illegal drugs and/or the misuse of prescription medications or household substances. This being said these at first sight may not seem so harmful but by middle adult years the cognitive functioning may be altered by things that were done in your younger years. A Cohort- based Investigation shows that from March to July in 2011 authors investigated the potential correlation between illicit drug use and mid age cognitive functioning. There were 8,992 participants that were studied at age 42; they were once again surveyed at the age 50 on executive functioning, memory, and overall cognitive skills. For each of these categories there was a task placed for the observer to see the changes and to study the relationship between their subject’s illicit drug use and their functioning. For memory participants were asked to learn 10 unrelated words and perform 2 recall tasks, one immediate and one delayed. The delayed task was performed after the executive functioning tests were performed. The next task tested was executive functioning they performed verbal fluency tasks, which included animal-naming for 60 seconds. A letter cancellation test used to measure attention spans, speed and accuracy changes. Finally overall cognitive index was measured by combining the scores of all the tasks that they partook in during memory, and executive function trials. Although short-term usage, rather past or current, showed a positive correlation in cognitive functioning it showed a negative relationship from long-term usage. According to the study information on illicit drug use at 42 years of age was available for 99% of the participants. Observers collected question responses to see if the subject had ever used any of the 12 illicit drugs that were a part of their study. There were response options to choose from and they were never, yes (not in the last 12 months), and yes (in the last 12 months). They first grouped the participants into two different groups which were , who ever took at least one of the illicit drugs mentioned and those that have never., they also were questioned about current use as well , which is considered in the last 12 months. The potential for harm from current and ever usage was classified as high, intermediate, and lower. These categories were used to place the severity of drug that was used for example high-risk drugs include heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy, hallucinogenic mushrooms, methadone, and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). Intermediate-risk drugs include amphetamines and cannabis. Then Lower-risk drugs include ketamine, temazine, and amyl nitrates (poppers). One of the most apparent questions that were asked is if the participant had ever received help rather mentally from a psychologist or physically like rehabilitation for any of the illicit drugs. This allowed the observers to yet again narrow down the groups.
Along with these drugs come the studies of the participant’s everyday life. The observers felt that the use of these drugs could have a correlation to their social ranking and the level in which they completed education. Social class was measured by using the Registrar General’s scale. This measure classified participants into high (classes I and II of the Registrar’s scale), medium (class III of the Registrar’s scale), or low (classes IV and V of the Registrar’s scale) social class. Educational level was based on participants’ highest educational qualifications obtained the questions options were: no qualification, Certificate of Secondary Education, O-level certificate (ordinary), A-level certificate (advanced), and college degree or higher. This information helped the observers get a better idea of the participants’ background and the correlations with this information and the previous information given. Among these questions were more questions that were used to specify the participants’ into particular small groups. Popular questions that were asked to get a deeper level of understanding of the participants and yet again separate them into smaller groups was who was married or living with a partner and persons who were single. This was followed by questions on drinking and smoking habits.
Of the 11,419 persons who participated in the survey at 42 years of age, 11,253 (99%) of them reported information on illicit drug use in the survey. A total of 8,992 (80%) who reported information on illicit drug use at age 42 years took part in the survey at age 50 years. There were 8,871 (78%) participants who responded to the memory questions and 8,756 (77%) who answered the questions on executive functioning. As you can see the percentages got smaller and smaller and they kept decreasing In conclusions the illicit drug usage was greater in men and among single people. These associations were similar for current use and ever use. Among ever drug users, illicit drug use tended to be greater in from higher social classes and persons who reported higher educational qualifications. This might be because they were a little more able to afford the cost of the drug they were using or might have had it a little more readily available than someone of a lower class or with less education.
No association was observed between present illicit drug use at age 42 years and cognitive functioning at a 10-year follow-up. Although there was no association between present and a 10-year follow up there was with current or past illicit drug use was and slightly higher cognitive functioning scores than was no illicit drug use. Surprisingly similar results were obtained for all 3 cognitive function measures investigated and across different groups and types of illicit drugs. The positive association between ever use of illicit drugs and cognitive functioning suggests that any cognitive problems associated with immediate illicit drug use might dissolve with time.
Although the results scattered overall there were positive cognitive functioning for those mid aged adults. This is not to say that the accuracy of the observation was spot on because many variables had to come into play, but based on what they had to observe until the end there were not many bad results minor illicit drug usage. This is not to promote the use of illicit drugs because most of the positive results came from 42 year olds that were current users or past users and not long term users.

Works Cited
Dregan, Alex, and Martin C. Gulliford. "Is Illicit Drug use Harmful to Cognitive Functioning In The Mid Adult Age Years?" American Journal of Epidemiology (2011): n. pag. Web. Nov. 2013. .
Oxford Journals. "Is Illicit Drug Use Harmful to Cognitive Functioning in the Midadult Years? A Cohort-based Investigation." Oxford Journals | Medicine | American Journal of Epidemiology. N.p., 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
US Health and Human Services Department. "Illicit and Nonillicit Drug Use - The Office of Adolescent Health." Office of Adolescent Health. N.p., Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .

Cited: Dregan, Alex, and Martin C. Gulliford. "Is Illicit Drug use Harmful to Cognitive Functioning In The Mid Adult Age Years?" American Journal of Epidemiology (2011): n. pag. Web. Nov. 2013. . Oxford Journals. "Is Illicit Drug Use Harmful to Cognitive Functioning in the Midadult Years? A Cohort-based Investigation." Oxford Journals | Medicine | American Journal of Epidemiology. N.p., 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. US Health and Human Services Department. "Illicit and Nonillicit Drug Use - The Office of Adolescent Health." Office of Adolescent Health. N.p., Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .