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Cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in South Africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research

BACKGROUND: Accurate prevalence data on cocaine use, that points to where problems exist and the extent of these problems, is necessary to guide the formulation of effective substance abuse policy and practice. The purpose of this study was to provide surveillance information about the nature and ex...

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Autores principales: Parry, Charles DH, Plüddemann, Andreas, Myers, Bronwyn J
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2266915/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18163901
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-2-37
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author Parry, Charles DH
Plüddemann, Andreas
Myers, Bronwyn J
author_facet Parry, Charles DH
Plüddemann, Andreas
Myers, Bronwyn J
author_sort Parry, Charles DH
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Accurate prevalence data on cocaine use, that points to where problems exist and the extent of these problems, is necessary to guide the formulation of effective substance abuse policy and practice. The purpose of this study was to provide surveillance information about the nature and extent of problematic cocaine use in South Africa. METHODS: Data were collected between January 1997 and December 2006 on admissions for drug abuse treatment through a regular monitoring system involving 56 drug treatment centres and programmes in Cape Town, Gauteng Province (Johannesburg and Pretoria) and the Eastern Cape every six months as part of the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU). A one-page form was completed by treatment centre personnel to obtain demographic data, the patients' primary and secondary substances of abuse, the mode, frequency and age of first use of substance, and information on prior treatment. RESULTS: Treatment indicators point to a significant increase in cocaine related admissions over time in all sites, but with substantial inter-site variation, particularly in recent years. The data indicate high levels of crack cocaine use and high levels of daily usage among patients, most of whom were first time admissions. Patients with cocaine related problems continue to be predominantly male, with a mean age of around 30 years. Substantial changes in the racial profile of patients have occurred over time. Poly drug use is high with cocaine often used with alcohol, cannabis and other drugs. CONCLUSION: These trends point to the possibility of cocaine use becoming a serious health and social issue in South Africa and demonstrate the utility of continued monitoring of cocaine treatment admissions in the future. They also highlight the need to address cocaine use in national and provincial policy planning and intervention efforts. In terms of treatment, the findings highlight the need to ensure that treatment practitioners are adequately trained to address stimulant problems, poly drug use, and HIV and other risk behaviour related to crack cocaine use. Possible gaps in access to treatment by certain sectors of the population should be addessed as a matter of urgency.
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spelling pubmed-22669152008-03-12 Cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in South Africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research Parry, Charles DH Plüddemann, Andreas Myers, Bronwyn J Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy Research BACKGROUND: Accurate prevalence data on cocaine use, that points to where problems exist and the extent of these problems, is necessary to guide the formulation of effective substance abuse policy and practice. The purpose of this study was to provide surveillance information about the nature and extent of problematic cocaine use in South Africa. METHODS: Data were collected between January 1997 and December 2006 on admissions for drug abuse treatment through a regular monitoring system involving 56 drug treatment centres and programmes in Cape Town, Gauteng Province (Johannesburg and Pretoria) and the Eastern Cape every six months as part of the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU). A one-page form was completed by treatment centre personnel to obtain demographic data, the patients' primary and secondary substances of abuse, the mode, frequency and age of first use of substance, and information on prior treatment. RESULTS: Treatment indicators point to a significant increase in cocaine related admissions over time in all sites, but with substantial inter-site variation, particularly in recent years. The data indicate high levels of crack cocaine use and high levels of daily usage among patients, most of whom were first time admissions. Patients with cocaine related problems continue to be predominantly male, with a mean age of around 30 years. Substantial changes in the racial profile of patients have occurred over time. Poly drug use is high with cocaine often used with alcohol, cannabis and other drugs. CONCLUSION: These trends point to the possibility of cocaine use becoming a serious health and social issue in South Africa and demonstrate the utility of continued monitoring of cocaine treatment admissions in the future. They also highlight the need to address cocaine use in national and provincial policy planning and intervention efforts. In terms of treatment, the findings highlight the need to ensure that treatment practitioners are adequately trained to address stimulant problems, poly drug use, and HIV and other risk behaviour related to crack cocaine use. Possible gaps in access to treatment by certain sectors of the population should be addessed as a matter of urgency. BioMed Central 2007-12-28 /pmc/articles/PMC2266915/ /pubmed/18163901 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-2-37 Text en Copyright © 2007 Parry et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Parry, Charles DH
Plüddemann, Andreas
Myers, Bronwyn J
Cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in South Africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research
title Cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in South Africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research
title_full Cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in South Africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research
title_fullStr Cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in South Africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research
title_full_unstemmed Cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in South Africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research
title_short Cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in South Africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research
title_sort cocaine treatment admissions at three sentinel sites in south africa (1997–2006): findings and implications for policy, practice and research
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2266915/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18163901
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-597X-2-37
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