Recreational drug use on weekends often morphs into daily use, BU study finds

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-05/bumc-rdu051315.php

Public Release: 13-May-2015
Boston University Medical Center

More than half of patients who report "weekend-only" drug use end up expanding their drug use to weekdays, too -- suggesting that primary care clinicians should monitor patients who acknowledge "recreational" drug use, says a new study by Boston University public health and medicine researchers.

The study, published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine and led by Judith Bernstein, professor of community health sciences at the BU School of Public Health (BUSPH), recommends that clinicians use "caution in accepting recreational drug use as reassuring," and that they conduct "continued episodic monitoring" of patients who report weekend-only drug use.

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The study notes that weekend-only users had lower odds of increasing drug-use frequency and severity than people whose drug use was not limited to weekends. Also, the study participants were inner-city residents with recent drug use, meaning the findings might not be generalizable to the population as a whole, the authors noted.

Illegal drug use among primary care patients is estimated at five to eight percent, but often goes undetected. Any drug use, even occasional, may have an impact on disease processes and the effectiveness of prescribed medication, the authors said.