NT trends in ecstasy and related drug markets 2011 : findings from the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS)
NT trends in ecstasy and related drug markets; Reports; PublicationNT
2011
Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
Date:2011; Australian drug trends series No. 80
English
Drug abuse surveys -- Northern Territory -- Periodicals; Ecstasy (Drug) -- Northern Territory -- Periodicals; Drug abuse -- Northern Territory -- Periodicals
National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales
Sydney (N.S.W)
9780733430206
Check within Publication or with content Publisher.
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/242182
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/610318
90 8 SPECIAL TOPICS OF INTEREST 8.1 Heavy Smoking Index nicotine dependence In the 2011 IDRS survey participants who smoked tobacco on a daily basis were asked two questions from the Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence, the Heavy Smoking Index (HSI). These questions were: How soon after waking do you smoke your first cigarette? and How many cigarettes a day do you smoke?. Responses were scored between zero and six with a score of zero indicating no dependence, 1-2 indicating very low dependence, 3 indicating low to moderate dependence, 4 indicating moderate dependence and 5 or above indicating high dependence (Heatherton et al., 1989). Table 71 shows that of the 91 participants who reported daily tobacco use, the majority (59%) had their first cigarette within 5 minutes of waking and 34% had their first cigarette within 5 and 30 minutes of waking. Almost half the sample (46%) smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day. Based upon the HSI, 42% of daily smokers had high nicotine dependence, 27% had moderate dependence, 19% had low to moderate dependence, 11% had very low dependence and 1% had no dependence. The mean HSI score of 4.1 was indicative of moderate dependence. Table 71: Heavy Smoking Index for nicotine dependence. 2011 Time till first cigarette (%) n=91 Within 5 minutes 59 5-30 mins 34 31-60 mins 2 60 mins 4 Number of cigarettes smoked a day (%) n=90 10 or less cigarettes 11 11-20 cigarettes 42 21-30 cigarettes 24 31 or more cigarettes 22 Nicotine dependence (%) n=90 No dependence 1 Very low 11 Low to moderate 19 Moderate 27 High 42 Mean score 4.1 Source: IDRS participant interviews 8.2 Alcohol use disorders identification test-consumption People who regularly inject drugs are particularly at risk for alcohol-related harms due to a high prevalence of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Half of the participants interviewed in the Australian NSP Survey 2010 (N=2,396) were found to have HCV antibodies (The Kirby Institute, May 2011). Given that the consumption of alcohol has been found to exacerbate HCV infection and to increase the risk of both non-fatal and fatal opioid overdose and