Drug use among Texas alternative school students: findings from Houston's Safer Choices 2 Program

J Psychoactive Drugs. 2003 Jul-Sep;35(3):383-7. doi: 10.1080/02791072.2003.10400022.

Abstract

Self-report drug use data were collected from 494 alternative school students, grades seven through 12, surveyed through the Safer Choices 2 study in Houston, Texas. Data were collected between October 2000 and March 2001 via audio-enabled laptop computers equipped with headphones. Twenty-eight percent of the sample reported past-month marijuana use, and 10% reported past-month opiate/codeine use. Males were almost twice as likely as females to have used cocaine during the past month, and over four times as likely to have used opiates/codeine during the past month. Students 16 years and older and were twice as likely to have ever used cocaine and opiates/codeine than students under 16 years. Latinos were 10 times more likely than Blacks to have ever used cocaine; Blacks were twice as likely as Latinos to have used opiates/codeine during the past month. Males were twice as likely as females to have tried "fry," a new street drug made of tobacco or marijuana mixed with embalming fluid and PCP. These new drug trends are startling because they indicate a potential for long-term treatment services for abusers.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Psychotropic Drugs / administration & dosage
  • Students / statistics & numerical data*
  • Substance-Related Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Substance-Related Disorders / ethnology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Texas / epidemiology

Substances

  • Psychotropic Drugs