Baweja Raman, Mills-Huffnagle Sara, Jernigan Amanda, Chongtham Nungshitombi, Waschbusch Daniel, Waxmonsky James G
Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
Gaudenzia, Inc., Harrisburg, PA, USA.
Subst Use. 2024 May 17;18:29768357241254258. doi: 10.1177/29768357241254258. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
Use of Synthetic and designer products, including synthetic marijuana (SM), among adolescents poses a major risk to public health. Little is known about the motivating factors of synthetic substance use in adolescents. This study examined the motivations, predictors, perceived risks and benefits, and differences with SM versus natural marijuana among adolescents.
Between April 2016 and May 2018, a convenience sample of adolescents receiving substance use treatment from a local counseling center completed an anonymous survey to assess the use of natural and synthetic marijuana use, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to assess levels of current psychiatric symptoms and the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences-Positive Scale to assess symptoms of psychosis.
A total of 80 adolescents (age range of 14-18 years; 71% male; 53% Caucasian) completed the study. Of these, 39 (49%) reported natural marijuana use (natural marijuana users) and 41 (51%) reported both synthetic and natural marijuana use (dual users). The most commonly reported reasons for using SM were its low cost and reduced risk of detection. Participants who were familiar with SM and reported a desire to avoid detection on drug tests were likelier to use SM (all < .05). Dual users reported more benefits and risks associated with SM use when compared to natural marijuana users ( ⩽ .05). The use of SM also heightened the perceived medical risks of natural marijuana, including seizures and respiratory issues ( < .05), compared with natural marijuana users. While dual users self-reported more conduct ( = .009) and externalizing problems ( = .024) when compared to natural marijuana users, there were no group differences in psychotic symptoms, nor correlations with the frequency of synthetic or natural marijuana use and psychotic symptoms except that persecutory ideation correlated with the frequency of natural marijuana use during the past 12 months ( = 0.28, = .04).
These results suggest that reports of cost savings, and lack of detection on urine drug screens are common reasons for SM use in adolescents despite being aware of the risks of using SM. Perceived benefits of using synthetics and other novel substances appear diverse, and merit further exploration as a better understanding of what motivates adolescents to use specific novel substances may guide prevention and treatment efforts.
青少年使用合成及新型毒品，包括合成大麻（SM），对公众健康构成重大风险。对于青少年使用合成毒品的驱动因素知之甚少。本研究调查了青少年使用合成毒品的动机、预测因素、感知到的风险和益处，以及SM与天然大麻之间的差异。
2016年4月至2018年5月期间，从当地咨询中心接受药物使用治疗的青少年中抽取便利样本，完成一项匿名调查，以评估天然和合成大麻的使用情况、长处与困难问卷以评估当前精神症状水平，以及精神体验社区评估-阳性量表以评估精神病症状。
共有80名青少年（年龄范围为14 - 18岁；71%为男性；53%为白种人）完成了研究。其中，39人（49%）报告使用天然大麻（天然大麻使用者），41人（51%）报告同时使用合成大麻和天然大麻（双重使用者）。使用SM最常报告的原因是其成本低和被发现的风险降低。熟悉SM且报告希望避免药物检测被发现的参与者更有可能使用SM（所有P值均<0.05）。与天然大麻使用者相比，双重使用者报告与使用SM相关的益处和风险更多（P值≤0.05）。与天然大麻使用者相比，使用SM还增加了对天然大麻的感知医疗风险，包括癫痫发作和呼吸问题（P值<0.05）。虽然与天然大麻使用者相比，双重使用者自我报告的品行问题更多（P值 = 0.009）和外化问题更多（P值 = 0.024），但在精神病症状方面没有组间差异，合成或天然大麻使用频率与精神病症状之间也没有相关性，除了被害妄想与过去12个月天然大麻使用频率相关（r = 0.28，P值 = 0.04）。
这些结果表明，尽管意识到使用SM的风险，但报告称成本节省以及尿液药物筛查未被发现是青少年使用SM的常见原因。使用合成毒品和其他新型物质的感知益处似乎多种多样，值得进一步探索，因为更好地理解促使青少年使用特定新型物质的因素可能会指导预防和治疗工作。
