Citation

Martin CS. Alcohol Res. Health 2008; 31(2): 96-99.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Many Americans who drink alcohol are poly- drug users -- that is, they also use other psychoactive drugs, such as nicotine, pharma­ ceuticals, cannabis, and other illicit substances. Polydrug use is a general term that describes a wide variety of substance use behaviors. Different types of polydrug use can be described with regard to the timing of the ingestion of multiple substances. Concurrent polydrug use (CPU) is the use of two or more substances within a given time period, such as a month or a year. Simultaneous polydrug use (SPU) is the use of two or more substances in combination (i.e., at the same time or in temporal proximity) (Grant and Harford 1990a). Thus, although all simultaneous polydrug users are, by definition, concurrent users, concurrent users may or may not be simultaneous users. This article describes the func­ tions of SPU for substance users, as well as the measure­ ment, prevalence, patterns, and consequences of SPU.