Abstract
In “Drug Use,” Peter Reuter, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs and Department of Criminology, examines substance abuse and addiction among welfare and low-income mothers. He describes the changing patterns of drug use in the general population. Reuter explains that drug use increased rapidly in the late 1970s, declined in the 1980s, and remained relatively flat in the 1990s. The patterns, however, are driven largely by changes in marijuana use. The pattern of frequent use of more dangerous drugs, such as cocaine, is somewhat different. The heavy use of cocaine—especially crack cocaine—peaked during the late 1980s. By the early 1990s, the number of new addicts had fallen dramatically, although not many heavy users discontinued their use. As a result, the stock of frequent users held constant through much of the 1990s and only recently began to decline as more users discontinued their use or died. His main data sources are the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program, the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), Monitoring the Future (MTF), and the National Household Survey of Drug Abuse (NHSDA).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Behrens, Doris, Jonathan Caulkins, Gemot Tragler, Josef Haunschmied, and Gustav Feichtinger. 1999. “A Dynamic Model of Drug Initiation: Implications for Treatment and Control.”Mathematical Biosciences 159: 1–20.
Califano, Joseph. 2002. “To Reform Welfare, Treat Drug Abuse.”Washington Post. September 18.
Danziger, Sandra K., Mary Corcoran, Sheldon Danziger, Colleen Heflin, Ariel Kalil, Judith Levine, Daniel Rosen, Kristin Seefeldt, Kristine Siefert, and Richard Tolman. 2000. “Barriers to the Employment of Welfare Recipients.” InThe Impact of Tight Labor Markets on Black Employment. Edited by R. Cherry and W. Rodgers. New York: Russell Sage Foundation: 239–269.
Dash, Leon. 1996.Rosa Lee: A Mother and Her Family in Urban America. New York: Basic Books.
Delva, J., Y. Neumark, C. Furr, and J. Anthony. 2000. ”Drug Use among Welfare Recipients in the United States.“American Journal of Alcohol and Drug Abuse 26 (2): 335–342.
District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency. Monthly.Drug Test Statistics for D.C. Arrestees. Washington, D.C.: D.C. Pretrial Services Agency.
Gerstein, Dean, Janet Greenblatt, Tara N. Townsend, Julie D. Lane, Carolyn S. Dewa, Angela M. Britting-ham, and Michael Pergamit. 1999.Substance Use and Mental Health Characteristics by Employment Status. Rockville, Md.: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. June.
Gôlub, Andrew, and Bruce Johnson. 2001. “Variation in Youthful Risks of Progression From Alcohol and Tobacco to Marijuana and to Hard Drugs Across Generations.”American Journal of Public Health 91(2): 225–232.
Grant, Bridget F., and Deborah A. Dawson. 1996. “Alcohol and Drug Use, Abuse and Dependence among Welfare Recipients.”American Journal of Public Health 86: 1450–1454.
Green, Rex S., Lynn Fujiwara, Jean Norris, Shanthi Kappagoda, Anne Driscoll, and Richard Speiglman. 2000.Alameda County CalWORKs Needs Assessment: Barriers to Working and Summaries of Baseline Status, Report no. 2. Berkeley, Calif.: Public Health Institute. March.
Jayakody, Rukmalie, Sheldon Danziger, and Harold Pollack. 2000. “Welfare Reform, Substance Use, and Mental Health.”Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law 25: 623–651.
Johnson, Lloyd, Patrick M. O'Malley, and Jerald G. Bachman. 2000.Monitoring the Future: National Results on Adolescnet Drug Abuse, Overview of Key Findings. Bethesda, Md.: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
MacCoun, Robert, and Peter Reuter. 2001. “Evaluating Alternative Cannabis Policies.”British Journal of Psychiatry 178: 123–128.
Merrill, Jeffrey, Kimberly S. Fox, Jennifer C. Friedman, and Gerald E. Pulver. 1994.Substance Abuse and Women on Welfare. New York: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.
Merrill, Jeffrey, Sara Ring-Kurtz, Delia Olufokunbi, Sherri Aversa, and Jennifer Sherker. 1999.Women on Welfare: A Study ⤨ the Florida WAGES Population. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Treatment Research Institute.
Pollack, Harold, Sheldon Danziger, Kristin Seefeldt, and Rukmalie Jayakody. 2002. “Substance Use Among Welfare Recipients: Trends and Policy Responses.”Social Service Review 76 (2) (June): 256.
Pollack, Harold, and Peter Reuter. 2002. “Welfare Enrollment and Substance Abuse Treatment.” Unpublished manuscript. School of Public Health, University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Mich.
Rhodes, William, Mary Layne, Anne-Marie Bruen, Patrick Johnston, and Lisa Becchetti. 2001.What America's Users Spend on Illicit Drugs, 1988–2000. Washington, D.C.: Office of National Drug Control Policy. December.
Satel, Sally. 2002. “Welfare-to-Work for People with Drug and Alcohol Problems: A Review of New York City's Human Resources Administration Program.” Unpublished manuscript. American Enterprise Institute. Washington, D.C.
Schmidt, Laura, Constance Weisner, and James A. Wiley. 1998. “Substance Abuse and the Course of Welfare Dependency.”American Journal of Public Health 88: 11.
Sisco, Carol B., and Carol L. Pearson. 1994. “Prevalence of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse among Female AFDC Recipients.”Health and Social Work 19: 75–77.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency. Annual.Drug Abuse Warning Network Emergency Department and Medical Examiner Data. Rockville, Md.: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency. Annual.National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Rockville, Md.: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Additional information
Peter Reuter is a professor at the School of Public Affairs and the Department of Criminology at the University of Maryland. Since 1999 he has been editor of theJournal of Policy Analysis and Management. He is also senior fellow at RAND. Among his publications areDrug War Heresies: Learning from Other Vices, Times, and Places (with Robert MacCoun, 2001) andDisorganized Crime: Illegal Markets and the Mafia (1985).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reuter, P. Drug use. Gender Issues 23, 65–79 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03186778
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03186778