Age and Ageing：违禁药物在英国的使用量将持续增加

A chilled old age (Image: Mark Gibson/Getty Images)

目前，英国新生儿使用违禁药物的量相比父母辈们少的多了，尤其是印度大麻的使用量；在美国也是如此。近日，来自伦敦国王学院的研究者Robert Stewart和他的研究团队研究发现在英国50岁至65岁的老年人中，有11.4%的人曾经使用过印度大麻，而其后代使用印度大麻的比例仅仅为1.7%。

研究者Stewart表示，我们的研究成功至少可以给出一些建议，很多人都会以自己认为的健康方式去生活，然后慢慢走入老年人行列；而且研究结果也可以为使用违禁药物的老年人提供一些健康指导和药物健康服务。印度大麻在年轻人中可引起年轻人患精神疾病以及其它的健康疾病等。

研究者David Nutt表示，他们的研究结果非常有意义，因为生育高峰期的问题，将会有更多的人使用违禁药物，因此必须给出一定的建议和限制。Stewart还补充到，新的婴儿生育高峰将会使得更多人去使用一些违禁药物，研究者不认为将来的人们会减少违禁药物的使用，反之，会继续增加药物的使用。研究者的想干研究成果刊登在了近日的国际杂志Age and Ageing上。

doi:10.1093/ageing/afs020
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Prevalences of illicit drug use in people aged 50 years and over from two surveys

Viola Fahmy1, Stephani L. Hatch2, Matthew Hotopf2 and Robert Stewart3⇓

Background: little is known about illicit drug use in older people. Prevalences may rise as populations for whom illicit drug use has been more common and acceptable become older. Objectives: to quantify illicit drug use in people aged 50 years and over in England and inner London and to compare this between 50 and 64 and 65+ age groups. Methods: primary analyses used data from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) and the 2008–10 South East London Community Health (SELCoH) Survey. Secondary analyses included additional data on 50–64 year olds from the 1993, 2000 and 2007 APMS, and on 65–74 year olds from the 2000 and 2007 APMS. Results: cannabis was the drug most commonly used in all samples. Prevalences of use within the last 12 months in 50–64 and 65+ age groups were 1.8 and 0.4%, respectively, in England and 9.0 and 1.1%, respectively, in inner London. Prevalences of use at any time previously were 11.4, 1.7, 42.8 and 9.4%, respectively. Lifetime cannabis, amphetamine, cocaine and LSD use in 50–64 year olds had increased approximately tenfold in England from 1993. Lifetime and 12-month trends in tranquilisers were relatively stable. Conclusions: use of some illicit drugs, particularly cannabis, has increased rapidly in mid- and late-life.