Attributable fractions for substance use in relation to crime

AIMS

Building upon an existing methodology and conceptual framework for estimating the association between the use of substances and crime, we calculated attributable fractions that estimate the proportion of crimes explained by alcohol and six other categories of psychoactive substances.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional surveys.

SETTING

Canadian federal correctional institutions.

PARTICIPANTS

Canadian men (n = 27 803) and women (n = 1335) offenders who began serving a custodial sentence in a Canadian federal correctional institution between 2006 and 2016.

MEASUREMENTS

Offenders completed the computerized assessment of substance abuse, a self-report tool designed to assess (1) whether the offence for which they were convicted would have occurred had they not been intoxicated from alcohol or another substance, (2) whether they committed the offence to support their alcohol or other substance use and (3) whether they were dependent on alcohol (alcohol dependence scale) or another substance (drug abuse screening test). Offences were grouped into four mutually exclusive categories: violent crimes, non-violent crimes, impaired driving and substance-defined crimes. This study focused on violent and non-violent crime categories. Substances assessed were: alcohol, cannabis, opioids, other central nervous system (CNS) depressants, cocaine, other CNS stimulants and other substances.

FINDINGS

According to offender self-report, 42% of all violent and non-violent crime would probably not have occurred if the perpetrator had not been under the influence of, or seeking, alcohol or other substances. Between 2006 and 2016, 20% of violent crimes and 7% of non-violent crimes in Canada were considered attributable to alcohol. In contrast, all other psychoactive substance categories combined were associated with 26% of all violent crime and 25% of non-violent crime during the same time-frame.

CONCLUSIONS

Attributable fraction analyses show that more than 42% of Canadian crime resulting in a custodial sentence between 2006 and 2016 would probably not have occurred if the perpetrator had not been under the influence of or seeking alcohol or other drugs. Attributable fractions for alcohol and substance-related crime are a potentially useful resource for estimating the impact of alcohol and other substances on crime.

Substance use patterns and awareness of biomedical HIV prevention strategies among sexual and gender minority men in Canada

Sexual and gender minority men (SGMM) who use drugs are frequently cited as at-risk for HIV. Fortunately, biomedical prevention can greatly reduce transmission, provided individuals are aware of and interested in the uptake of these strategies. We examined associations between substance use patterns and biomedical prevention among SGMM in Canada. Latent class analysis identified patterns of substance use. Demographic-adjusted logistic regression models assessed the associations between latent classes and key biomedical prevention indicators. Among 669 participants living with HIV (PLWH) and 7,184 HIV-negative participants, six substance use classes characterized "limited" (46.0%; infrequent/low use of drugs), "common" (31.9%; alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco), "club" (5.2%; alcohol, cocaine, and psychedelics), "sex" (4.8%; alcohol, crystal methamphetamine, GHB, poppers, and erectile drugs), "prescription" (11.0%; alcohol and prescription drugs), and "polydrug" (1.1%; most drugs) use. HIV-negative men in the "prescription" and "sex" substance use classes were more likely to know about the preventive benefits of HIV treatment. All non-"limited use" HIV-negative men were more likely to report interest in taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). For PLWH, substance use patterns were not associated with detectable viral loads or treatment awareness. While PLWH exhibited high levels of undetectability and treatment awareness regardless of substance use class, a variety of substance use patterns were associated with increased awareness, interest, and uptake of risk management strategies among HIV-negative participants.

Estimation of the impacts of substance use on workplace productivity: a hybrid human capital and prevalence-based approach applied to Canada

OBJECTIVE

Policy makers require evidence-based estimates of the economic costs of substance use-attributable lost productivity to set strategies aimed at reducing substance use-related harms. Building on a study by Rehm et al. (2006), we provide estimates of workplace costs using updated methods and data sources.

METHODS

We estimated substance use-attributable productivity losses due to premature mortality, long-term disability, and presenteeism/absenteeism in Canada between 2007 and 2014. Lost productivity was estimated using a hybrid prevalence and incidence approach. Substance use prevalence data were drawn from three national self-report surveys. Premature mortality data were from the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database, and long-term disability and workplace interference data were from the Canadian Community Health Survey.

RESULTS

In 2014, the total cost of lost productivity due to substance use was $15.7 billion, or approximately $440 per Canadian, an increase of 8% from 2007. Substances responsible for the greatest economic costs were alcohol (38% of per capita costs), tobacco (37%), opioids (12%), other central nervous system (CNS) depressants (4%), other CNS stimulants (3%), cannabis (2%), cocaine (2%), and finally other psychoactive substances (2%).

CONCLUSION

In 2014, alcohol and tobacco represent three quarters of substance use-related lost productivity costs in Canada, followed by opioids. These costs provide a valuable baseline that can be used to assess the impact of future substance use policy, practice, and other interventions, especially important given Canada's opioid crisis and recent cannabis legalization.