Students Who Use Energy Drinks More Likely to Initiate Nonmedical Use of Prescription Drugs
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December 3, 2010
As published in the Center for Substance Abuse Research’s Weekly CESAR Fax, researchers analyzing data from the College Life Study have found that students who used energy drinks were significantly more likely to subsequently initiate nonmedical use of prescription stimulants and analgesics. Nonmedical use was defined as any use of “medications that were not prescribed for you or that you took only for the experience or feeling they caused.”
Nearly 20 percent of energy drink users who reported no prior prescription stimulant use subsequently started using these substances nonmedically the following year, compared with only 8.2 percent of students who did not consume energy drinks. Similar results were found for nonmedical initiation of prescription analgesics (8.5 percent vs. 4.0 percent). Similar findings were not found for subsequent use of other drugs, including tobacco, marijuana, hallucinogens, cocaine, ecstasy, or prescription tranquilizers.
The full article is published in the journal Addiction Medicine.
Arria, A. M. et al. “Increased Alcohol Consumption, Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use, and Illicit Drug Use Are Associated with Energy Drink Consumption Among College Students.” Addiction Medicine 4(2): 74–80, 2010.
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