Diplomas and advanced degrees have long been associated with higher incomes, but a new study suggests a link between education and lower cocaine use.
“Over the last 20 years, we found that the number of new users of cocaine has been steadily decreasing,” said Valerie S. Harder, a Ph.D. candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “And when we split it up by education, we found that individuals who don?t ever graduate from high school seem to have had a constant level of cocaine usage” during the same period.
Harder?s research team concluded the disparity highlights the need for improved intervention targeting the lower-educated. The study is published in the October 2007 American Journal of Public Health.
“They?re not getting the message,” Harder said. “They might not have access to health care services or other educational services to get the message that cocaine use is a bad thing.”
In the early 1980s, cocaine users were largely upper-class and wealthy, she said. But she speculated that wealthy, educated users are the most likely to learn of the dangers and change their behavior
Cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant that interferes with the reabsorption process of dopamine, a chemical messenger associated with pleasure and movement. Side effects of use include constricted blood vessels; dilated pupils; and increased temperature, heart rate and blood pressure. Overdosing can cause stroke, heart attack and respiratory arrest.
The researchers used data from the 1979-2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to compare cocaine use and educational achievement for adults ages 19 to 50. Adults were categorized as non-high school graduates, high school graduates or college graduates and as either recent-onset or persistent cocaine users.
“It isn?t enough to simply try to stop individuals from using cocaine the first time,” Harder said. “More drug-intervention programs that target non-high school graduates are necessary to reduce persistent cocaine use in that population.”
The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
