The General Well-Being of Recreational Drug Users: A Sub-Analysis of the Drugnet Survey

• Main Author: Reneau, Jennifer
• Format: Others
• Published: TopSCHOLAR® 1997
• Subjects: Public Health; Substance Abuse and Addiction
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/351; http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1354&context=theses

Issues related to substance use/abuse and mental health are significant public health concerns. Substance abuse is considered an individual and community mental health problem. The relationship between substance use and positive mental well-being, however, is less well understood. The purpose of this study was to describe the mental well-being of a sample of occasional, recreational drug users. Drugnet was an on-line survey of recreational drug use by non-deviant adults via the WWW. Volunteer subjects completed the survey over the internet between March and September 1997. Mental health was assessed utilizing the General Well-being Schedule (GWBS). A complete demographic profile of the sample was taken. The GWBS scores of the sample were similar to the national norms of American adults. GWBS scores were correlated with frequency of use, intoxication levels and types of drugs consumed. In this study, I demonstrate and profile the existence of healthy, normally functioning adults who occasionally use, not abuse, psychoactive drugs.