A phenomenological study was carried out to find out from patients with a history of cannabis use. admitted at Bophelong Psychiatric Hospital, reasons or factors that caused them to use/abuse cannabis. An original sample of 30 male patients between the ages of 16-30 years was selected from chronic (rehabilitation) wards of mentally stable patients awaiting discharge. Out of the 30 subjects, 10 protocols were selected for phenomenological explication. An unstructured type of interview was conducted to aid data collection. According to the data obtained and analysed, youth drug taking is being influenced by peer pressure, the need to escape from reality problems, the need for cognitive enhancement, the desire for improved sell-confidence and modelling of parental drug behaviour. Other significant associated findings were that adolescents who come from single-parent families and low socio-economic status backgrounds are at a high risk of developing cannabis use problems. Male gender was also shown to be a predictive factor towards the abuse of cannabis. Finally. there is an on-going need to identify causative and curative factors of adolescent drug use in an effort to reduce this tremendous loss of our resources. particularly the youth. Therefore, in the development of suitable programmes for assessment, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention, it is Important riot to emphasise any one particular factor as the main and only cause of drug abuse, but to view the different reasons and factors as related to and interacting with one another and forming part of a bigger whole. / M.Soc.Sc. (CP) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005

Electronic nicotine delivery systems emerged during the 2010s as a novel way to consume (i.e., vape) nicotine. Public health authorities became concerned that vaping could cause nicotine-naïve youth to begin using tobacco products and that a new generation of youth could become tobacco-dependent. Though millions of youth have vaped, authorities' fears about a new generation of youth tobacco dependence has not materialized. A more recent concern is nicotine vaping’s potential effects on cannabis use and the use of other substances. An increase in cannabis use among some adolescent groups and young adults could be because of nicotine vaping’s rise. Additionally, cannabis can be vaped, so transitioning from nicotine vaping to cannabis vaping may be easier than transitioning from nicotine vaping to other forms of cannabis use. Furthermore, nicotine product use was historically associated with later use of cannabis and other substances; this trend may be renewed with the advent of nicotine vaping. To date, most studies on the associations between nicotine vaping and cannabis/other substance use are cross-sectional, so more longitudinal evidence is needed. If evidence suggests that nicotine vaping does affect the use of cannabis and other substances, specifying a mechanism would help with developing potential interventions and with testing the validity of total effects. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to advance evidence of nicotine vaping's potential harmful effects on youth and young adults, which could be used to support interventions aimed at reducing the burden of nicotine vaping's outcomes. First, I conducted a systematic review in which I examined the extent to which confounding, measurement errors, and loss to follow-up could alternatively explain reported longitudinal effects of nicotine vaping on cannabis use or other substance use. I also identified studies that tested effect modification and mediation. This systematic review revealed that nicotine vaping likely increases the risk of subsequent cannabis use and other substance use for up to 24 months. It also revealed that some studies evaluated effect measure modification, while no study assessed mechanisms. These observations suggest that future studies should assess long-term effects on initiation and evaluate potential mechanisms. Second, I evaluated whether nicotine vaping affected the initiation of cannabis and other substances over a six-year period among adolescents as they age into adulthood. Results suggested that nicotine vaping had harmful effects on both outcomes over the six-year period. I also found evidence that nicotine vaping's harmful effects in later years appeared stronger than in earlier years; the absence of age effects suggest the absence of cohort effects. Furthermore, I found that effects appeared stronger among individuals who had a history of non-vaping tobacco product use than among individuals without a history of non-vaping tobacco product use, suggesting that tobacco use is key to nicotine vaping's harms. Finally, I evaluated possible mechanisms of the effects based on a theory that I developed from prior empirical literature and behavioral theory. I posited that nicotine vaping caused deviant peer affiliation, which caused conduct problems and subsequently, the outcomes. I found no evidence that three conduct problems (considered together) were mechanisms of the effects. Future studies of mechanisms can reveal potential intervention targets, lead to studies of other potential mechanisms, and help test the validity of total effects. This dissertation achieved its goal of advancing evidence that nicotine vaping may harm youth and young adults. Public health bodies tasked with addressing potential public health concerns about nicotine vaping products should consider evidence from this dissertation.

Doctorat en Sciences de la santé publique / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Text in Afrikaans / Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Na meer as veertig jaar het Suid-Afrika 'n nuwe politieke bedeling wat veranderde wetgewing in die vooruitsig stel. 'n Oorweging van 'n dekriminaliseringsbeleid vir die gebruik van dagga, beskou teen die agtergrond van 'n toename in emstige misdaad soos moord, gewapende roof, taxigeweld en verkragting, weerspieel die realiteite van vandag se oorweldigende misdaadprobleem in Suid-Afrika. Een van die belangrikste take van die kriminoloog is om misdaad te omskryf sodat 'n beleid voorgeskryf kan word wat die strafregsplegingstelsel van hulp kan wees om uiteindelik misdaad te verminder of, meer realisties, meer doeltreffend te beheer. Die omskrywing daarvan is egter nie so eenvoudig nie vanwee die kompleksiteit van die mensdom. Inhierdie studie is 'n meningsopname gebruik van sowel jeugdiges, die toekomstige beleidmakers en algemene daggagebruikers, as kenners op die gebied van dwelmrehabilitasie en -beheer, ten einde die wenslikheid van 'n dekriminaliseringsbeleid te beoordeel. Empiriese data van beide groepe (die wetsgehoorsame en die wetsverbrekende) is vir die voorwaardelike steun vir die wetlike beheer van daggagebruik versamel, met die verskil dat eerste- en eksperimentele daggagebruikers wat geen antler misdaadrekord het of by enige misdaadbedrywighede betrokke is, nie 'n misdaadrekord moet kry nie. Die respondente het dus die behoud van strafmaatreels ondersteun, maar met 'n de facto-dekriminalisasie deur middel van nie-toepassing van die wet. Die respondente is van mening dat 'n verslapping van die huidige dwelmwetgewing tot 'n toename in misdaad aanleiding sal gee. Die respondente betwyfel egter die doeltreffendheid van die kriminele regstelsel. Hulle is selfs van mening dat die SAPD nie in staat is om die probleem te bekamp solank die middel in aanvraag is nie. Die studie beklemtoon verder die kompleksiteit en dikwels teenstrydige opvattings ten opsigte van dekriminalisasie ten einde te illustreer hoe moeilik dit is om 'n staatsbeleid daarop te skoei. / After more than forty years, South Africa has a new political dispensation with prospective new legislation. The consideration of a policy of decriminalization for the use of dagga, seen against the background of an increase in serious crimes such as murder, armed robbery, taxi violence and rape, reflects the realities of the current overwhelming crime problem in South Africa. One of the most important tasks of the criminologist is to describe crime in order to facilitate the system of administration of criminal justice in the diminishing of, or more realistically, better control of crime. The description thereof is, however, not simple due to the complexity of humanity. In this study an opinion survey of both youths as the future policy makers and most common users of dagga, and specialists in the field of drug rehabilitation and control was used, in order to determine the expedience of a policy of decriminalization. Empirical data was obtained from both groups (the law abiders and the law-breakers) for the conditional support of legislative control of dagga use, with the exception that first and experimental users with no criminal record or history of criminality should not be subjected to a criminal record. The respondents therefore supported the retention of punitive measures, but with a defacto-decriminalization by way of non­ enforcement of the law. The respondents were of the opinion that the relaxation of the present drug legislation would lead to an increase in crime. The respondents doubt the effectiveness of the criminal justice system, however, they are of the opinion that the SAPS would never be able to combat the problem as long as a demand for the drug continues to exist. The study further emphasizes the complexity and often diverse conceptions of decriminalization in order to illustrate how difficult it is to base a state policy on these conceptions. / Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Kriminologie)

Text in Afrikaans / Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Na meer as veertig jaar het Suid-Afrika 'n nuwe politieke bedeling wat veranderde wetgewing in die vooruitsig stel. 'n Oorweging van 'n dekriminaliseringsbeleid vir die gebruik van dagga, beskou teen die agtergrond van 'n toename in emstige misdaad soos moord, gewapende roof, taxigeweld en verkragting, weerspieel die realiteite van vandag se oorweldigende misdaadprobleem in Suid-Afrika. Een van die belangrikste take van die kriminoloog is om misdaad te omskryf sodat 'n beleid voorgeskryf kan word wat die strafregsplegingstelsel van hulp kan wees om uiteindelik misdaad te verminder of, meer realisties, meer doeltreffend te beheer. Die omskrywing daarvan is egter nie so eenvoudig nie vanwee die kompleksiteit van die mensdom. Inhierdie studie is 'n meningsopname gebruik van sowel jeugdiges, die toekomstige beleidmakers en algemene daggagebruikers, as kenners op die gebied van dwelmrehabilitasie en -beheer, ten einde die wenslikheid van 'n dekriminaliseringsbeleid te beoordeel. Empiriese data van beide groepe (die wetsgehoorsame en die wetsverbrekende) is vir die voorwaardelike steun vir die wetlike beheer van daggagebruik versamel, met die verskil dat eerste- en eksperimentele daggagebruikers wat geen antler misdaadrekord het of by enige misdaadbedrywighede betrokke is, nie 'n misdaadrekord moet kry nie. Die respondente het dus die behoud van strafmaatreels ondersteun, maar met 'n de facto-dekriminalisasie deur middel van nie-toepassing van die wet. Die respondente is van mening dat 'n verslapping van die huidige dwelmwetgewing tot 'n toename in misdaad aanleiding sal gee. Die respondente betwyfel egter die doeltreffendheid van die kriminele regstelsel. Hulle is selfs van mening dat die SAPD nie in staat is om die probleem te bekamp solank die middel in aanvraag is nie. Die studie beklemtoon verder die kompleksiteit en dikwels teenstrydige opvattings ten opsigte van dekriminalisasie ten einde te illustreer hoe moeilik dit is om 'n staatsbeleid daarop te skoei. / After more than forty years, South Africa has a new political dispensation with prospective new legislation. The consideration of a policy of decriminalization for the use of dagga, seen against the background of an increase in serious crimes such as murder, armed robbery, taxi violence and rape, reflects the realities of the current overwhelming crime problem in South Africa. One of the most important tasks of the criminologist is to describe crime in order to facilitate the system of administration of criminal justice in the diminishing of, or more realistically, better control of crime. The description thereof is, however, not simple due to the complexity of humanity. In this study an opinion survey of both youths as the future policy makers and most common users of dagga, and specialists in the field of drug rehabilitation and control was used, in order to determine the expedience of a policy of decriminalization. Empirical data was obtained from both groups (the law abiders and the law-breakers) for the conditional support of legislative control of dagga use, with the exception that first and experimental users with no criminal record or history of criminality should not be subjected to a criminal record. The respondents therefore supported the retention of punitive measures, but with a defacto-decriminalization by way of non­ enforcement of the law. The respondents were of the opinion that the relaxation of the present drug legislation would lead to an increase in crime. The respondents doubt the effectiveness of the criminal justice system, however, they are of the opinion that the SAPS would never be able to combat the problem as long as a demand for the drug continues to exist. The study further emphasizes the complexity and often diverse conceptions of decriminalization in order to illustrate how difficult it is to base a state policy on these conceptions. / Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Kriminologie)