Yahoo News: Some groups more likely to abuse drugs, UC study says

UC experts look at data on drug abuse and who might be more at risk

Experts at the UC Center for Prevention Science looked at national data to determine who is more likely to abuse drugs; lending insight into how best to help those in need of drug intervention. 

Rebecca Vidourek standing in the hall in front of a human services sign

Professor Rebecca Vidourek, co-director of the UC Center for Prevention Science.

Some use marijuana because they're trying to "self-medicate" the stress away, either whether because of the discrimination or because they distrust doctors, said the study’s lead author Rebecca Vidourek, professor of Human Services in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services.

Vidourek and her team found that risk factors increase around sexual and racial minorities.

The article focused on how the study might benefit social service efforts in Ohio’s Butler County,  where the city of Hamilton’s Prevention Partners Coalition last year won a $625,000 drug abuse prevention grant.

Read more about the study and the Ohio program.

This story, picked up by Yahoo News, originally ran in the Journal-News.

Featured image at top/Elsa Olofssen/Unsplash 

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