Tobacco and e-Cigarette Use amongst Illicit Drug Users in Australia

HIGHLIGHTS

• Tobacco was consumed by 92% of people who inject drugs (PWID) and 82% of regular psychostimulant users (RPU) in the preceding 6 months.
• One-third (34%) of RPU and 18% of PWID had used e-cigarettes in the past 6 months.
• Higher levels of polydrug use were associated with e-cigarette use among both samples.
• The majority (54%) of PWID reported using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.
• RPU appear to being using e-cigarettes for experimental or recreational purposes.

OBJECTIVE:

To examine the rates and patterns of tobacco and e-cigarette use amongst two samples of illicit drug users in Australia.

METHOD:

Data were obtained from the 2015 Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the 2015 Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS). These studies comprised cross-sectional samples of 888 people who inject drugs (PWID) and 763 regular psychostimulant users (RPU).

RESULTS:

Tobacco was consumed by the majority of both samples, however, use in the 6 months preceding interview was significantly higher amongst PWID (92.2%) than RPU (82.4% [OR 2.53 95% CI 1.86-3.44]). Inversely, PWID were less likely to have a history of e-cigarette use: 31.5% of PWID reported lifetime use of e-cigarettes (vs. 57.0% of RPU [OR 0.35 95% CI 0.28-0.42]) and 18.1% reported use in the 6 months preceding interview (vs. 33.7% of RPU [OR 0.44 95% CI 0.35-0.55]). PWID were more than three times as likely than RPU to report using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool (OR 3.09 95% CI 2.03-4.71), but were less likely to use e-liquids that contained nicotine (OR 0.52 95% CI 0.32-0.83). Higher levels of poly drug use, daily tobacco use, recent use of synthetic cannabinoids and employment status were found to be significantly associated with e-cigarette use.

CONCLUSION:

The use of e-cigarettes was relatively common amongst Australian samples of PWID and RPU. Whilst the majority of PWID reported using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool, it appears that RPU are using them for experimental or recreational purposes.

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By:   Sutherland R1, Sindicich N2, Entwistle G2, Whittaker E2, Peacock A3, Matthews A3, Bruno R3, Alati R4, Burns L2.

• 2National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW, Australia.
• 3School of Medicine (Psychology), University of Tasmania, Australia.
• 4School of Public Health and the Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research, University of Queensland, Australia. 

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