Tobacco and e-cigarette use amongst illicit drug users in Australia

To examine the rates and patterns of tobacco and e-cigarette use amongst two samples of illicit drug users in Australia.

Data were obtained from the 2015 Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the 2015 Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS). These studies comprised cross-sectional samples of 888 people who inject drugs (PWID) and 763 regular psychostimulant users (RPU).

Tobacco was consumed by the majority of both samples, however, use in the 6 months preceding interview was significantly higher amongst PWID (92.2%) than RPU (82.4% [OR 2.53 95% CI 1.86-3.44]). Inversely, PWID were less likely to have a history of e-cigarette use: 31.5% of PWID reported lifetime use of e-cigarettes (vs. 57.0% of RPU [OR 0.35 95% CI 0.28-0.42]) and 18.1% reported use in the 6 months preceding interview (vs. 33.7% of RPU [OR 0.44 95% CI 0.35-0.55]). PWID were more than three times as likely than RPU to report using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool (OR 3.09 95% CI 2.03-4.71), but were less likely to use e-liquids that contained nicotine (OR 0.52 95% CI 0.32-0.83). Higher levels of poly drug use, daily tobacco use, recent use of synthetic cannabinoids and employment status were found to be significantly associated with e-cigarette use.

The use of e-cigarettes was relatively common amongst Australian samples of PWID and RPU. Whilst the majority of PWID reported using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool, it appears that RPU are using them for experimental or recreational purposes.