Bryan Lee Miller

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Verified

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• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor and Associate Dean of Research at Clemson University

Research indicates that youths are particularly susceptible to peer influence and that identifying with substance using peer groups predicts substance use. Today, youth spend more time interacting with distal peer groups via the Internet and have increased access to online drug cultures. Theoretically, this should have important implications for su...

The COVID-19 pandemic created social upheaval and altered norms for all members of society, but its effects on first responders have been particularly profound. Law enforcement officers have been expected to coordinate local shutdowns, encourage social distancing, and enforce stay-at-home mandates all while completing the responsibilities for which...

Illicit drugs are sold online. Besides cryptomarkets, young people today are also using social media to buy and sell different drugs. The aim of this nationwide study was to investigate the phenomenon of buying drugs from social media among American young people. Relatively few studies have investigated young people buying drugs online and, therefo...

Nordic countries incarcerate offenders at much lower rates in comparison with incarceration rates in the United States, and reincarcerate fewer people per capita. Non-custodial alternatives to sanctions, including fines and community service, are used extensively in Finland to reduce negative effects of institutionalization and subsequent disadvant...

Background: From the anti-tobacco and anti-marijuana campaigns of the twentieth century to the current controversies surrounding vaporizer use and the opioid epidemic, substances and substance use have been at the forefront of cultural, public health, and legal debates for decades. This work explores treatment outcomes among those with substance u...

Recent debates over policing have centered on the proper role of policing in society. Using the lenses of democratic policing and police legitimacy, we suggest that individuals’ willingness to call the police is one method for understanding the public’s consent to be policed and their view of the appropriate role of policing. This simple relationsh...

Marijuana enforcement remains a major point of entry to the criminal justice system despite broad state level reforms. The knowledge base on marijuana enforcement, however, is small and predates the current national decriminalization-legalization movement and is comprised almost entirely of survey data on officer attitudes regarding drug law, polic...

Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other gender and sexual minority (LGBTQ+) community are disproportionately affected by illicit substance use, yet sexual orientation and gender identity are largely omitted from criminology frameworks. LGBTQ+ identity is incorporated into Akers’ Social Structure-Social Learning (SSSL) m...

Marijuana in America is an accessible and comprehensive exploration of the many changes in medical, legal, and cultural issues surrounding cannabis in the United States. This multidisciplinary volume features contributions from several different fields to explain all facets of marijuana, including its chemical composition, evolving depictions in po...

Introduction The aim was to analyse whether age at first drug offense predicts premature mortality and morbidity due to substance use and violence among adolescents and young adults. Methods A prospective longitudinal register-linkage study based on a total population sample from Finland including individuals born between 1987 and 1992 and aged 15...

Bullying is a common experience among youths with many adverse consequences. Research indicates that those who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual experience bullying at greater levels than heterosexuals. Studies also indicate that sexual minorities are more likely to use alcohol and other drugs, including synthetic cannabinoids (SCs). This pape...

Objective To provide an updated profile of school-aged synthetic cannabinoid users in the U.S. by examining the factors associated with synthetic cannabinoid (SC) use. Methods Data from the 2015 and 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YBRS)—a nationally-representative survey of high school youths in the U.S.—is analyzed using bivariate analyses and l...

Drugs are sold on both dark web services and on social media, but research investigating these drug purchases online is still emerging. The aim of this study is to analyze risk factors associated with buying drugs online. Utilizing theories of criminology and addiction research, it was hypothesized that social bonds, low levels of self-control, and...

Purpose: Existing studies have identified sexual minorities as being at enhanced risk for reporting synthetic cannabinoid (SC) use. It is unclear whether this association is the result of those that identify as a minority due to sexual orientation being more likely to use SCs, due to those that identify as transgender using SCs more, or both. Decon...

Routine Activity Theory (RAT) and the general theory of crime have been widely employed to understand cybercrime victimization. However, there is a need to integrate these theoretical frameworks to better understand victimization from a cross-national perspective. A web-based survey was conducted among participants aged 15 to 25 years from the U.S....

Research has identified several predictors of violence; however, few studies have examined the role of revenge as a motivating factor of violent delinquency. In this study, we use multilevel logistic regression models to examine the relationship between beliefs favorable to revenge and violent behavior among a random sample of 6061 adolescents in F...

Studies have found a positive linear relationship between health strain and substance use; however, they often omit potential confounders such as self-control, social bonds, and peer use. Furthermore, there are several reasons to believe the relationship is curvilinear according to Agnew’s general strain theory. Using data from the National Longitu...

The article elaborates on central interpretations of the general theory of crime regarding parental control, self-control, and delinquency by analyzing the effect of parental control on the association between low self-control and adolescents' offline and online delinquency. Analyses employ mediation and moderation models via structural equation mo...

There is a need for research to understand veteran’s mental health and how they use resources, like the Veteran’s Affairs and non-profit organizations. This study serves to further our understanding about veterans’ knowledge on this subject. This study adds to the literature by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 veterans who had deployed...

Aims: To examine the continuing role of daily popular social media use in youth hazardous alcohol consumption in four countries across continents. Methods: A web-based survey was given to youths aged 15-25 in the USA (n = 1212), South Korea (n = 1192), Finland (n = 1200) and Spain (n = 1212). Hazardous alcohol use (alcohol use disorders identifi...

VALUE STATEMENT This commentary suggests how current and emergent treatment court issues can be better addressed through a national or theoretical research program. Encouraging the field to think in this direction, we provide an overview of the functions of a theoretical research program and identify three interrelated areas of inquiry including ev...

An increase in correctional treatment programming options coupled with prison population reduction legislation has driven a widespread transfer of supervision from prisons to community corrections. As a result, medium-to-high risk offenders with substance use needs are increasingly managed through community-based supervision programs such as intens...

Cybercrime involves offending act directed at individuals using computers and computer networks as mediating tools. Offending acts may range from cyberstalking and cyber harassment to hate crimes, identity theft, fraud, sexual and violent threats. Previous work on cybercrime victimization has been done predominantly from the perspective of Routine...

Although the literature presents many studies generally relating gun ownership and the use of intoxicants to unfavorable outcomes, few studies have explored deviance in the form of negligent firearm use. This study explores firearm usage while under the influence of alcohol and/or marijuana utilizing self-report data from a random sample of 2,349 s...

Background: Youth are known to be susceptible to peer influence and behavior models set by others. Since the emergence of social media, young individuals have adapted and been active users of many of its platforms. Correspondingly, social influence and behavioral diffusion are now taking place through the virtual world. This has been connected to t...

Utilizing frameworks of social control and differential association theories, this study addresses the extent to which deviance (a predictor) is related to friendship quality (the outcome). Using dyadic data, results demonstrate that the highest estimates of friendship quality come from actors who have non-deviant friends and who also refrain from...

The use of marijuana concentrates has escalated in recent years with butane extracts appearing particularly popular. The administration of butane hash oil, colloquially referred to as “dabbing,” is distinct from traditional flower cannabis usage due to the THC content of samples and the presence of impurities such as unpurged butane. While this may...

The current study focuses on predominant predictors associated with men’s and women’s engagement in driving under the influence (DUI) in an attempt to determine whether gender-specific interventions would be more affective at reducing impaired vehicle operation. A male-only subsample (n = 863) and a female-only subsample (n = 975) from a survey adm...

Introduction and aims: Acetyl fentanyl, a fentanyl analogue emerging onto the recreational drug scene, has been responsible for numerous recent fatal overdoses in the USA, Europe and Russia. Studies reporting acetyl fentanyl use are presently limited to case studies and mortality reports. This study explores the nature of acetyl fentanyl use throu...

Novel psychoactive drugs (NPDs), an emerging class of dangerous substances, generally mimic the actions of commonly abused substances such as marijuana, stimulants, hallucinogens, and opiates, but are formulated, marketed, and used either to sidestep legal restrictions or to avoid positive drug screens. Synthetic cannabinoids such as Spice and K2 a...

While it is not uncommon for instructors to lament the negative impact of University athletics on classroom attendance, student focus, and even parking (e.g., Baucum & Lantz, 2001), many would argue that the benefit of a successful NCAA program far outweighs these drawbacks (Tucker, 1992). Indeed athletics connect alumni and donors to the universit...

Background: Underage college students who obtain and use false identification (fake ID) are at risk for negative outcomes. However, it is currently unclear how uniquely the fake ID itself serves as a vehicle to subsequent harm (i.e., the "fake ID effect") over and above general and trait-related risk factors (e.g., deviant peers, low self-control)...

Objective We examine novel drug use in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the context of social learning, self‐control, and strain theories. Methods Based on a sample of 2,349 college students, we examine novel drug use rates of LGBT participants. We then perform a series of logistic regression models to examine factor...

Purpose: Most research examining patient-based drug diversion neglects to assess physician deception directly. We attempt to determine if motives for deception are linked to success, and, similarly, if any health, demographic, or substance use history characteristics of the patients are predictive of being able to successfully deceive a physician....

The practice of "dabbing" has seen an apparent upswing in popularity in recent months within American drug subcultures. "Dabbing" refers to the use of butane-extracted marijuana products that offer users much higher tetrahydrocannabinol content than flower cannabis through a single dosage process. Though considerably more potent than most marijuana...

Novel psychoactive drugs (NPDs) such as synthetic marijuana, bath salts, and salvia have increasingly entered into the American drug landscape. As law enforcement, researchers, and policy makers attempt to better understand, regulate, and detect these novel substances, other practitioners invested in drug abuse prevention and treatment may lack the...

Social class and crime are connected in a magnitude of ways. Those from lower economic strata are more likely to be arrested, convicted, and incarcerated for crimes than are more affluent individuals. Prisoners in the United States are more likely to be unemployed and earn less than the general population. Although criminal activity by the wealthy...

The Supreme Court has asserted that ex-felon disenfranchisement is not a punishment. Regardless of the Court’s interpretation, however, many ex-felons perceive restrictions on voting rights as punitive. Therefore, felony disenfranchisement should be examined in terms of criminological theories of sanctions. In Florida, ex-felons are prevented from...

In the United States, the practice referred to as “dabbing” has seen an apparent upswing in popularity in the last eighteen months. “Dabbing” refers to the use of butane extracted marijuana products that typically offer users a much higher THC content than flower cannabis. Users place a small amount of product on the exposed surface of a “nail” tha...

Research on lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) students has been gaining traction in the fields of criminology, victimology, and education, but available data lag behind the demand for studies on this underserved population. While LGBT students are often perceived to face greater risk of victimization and subsequent health problems th...

The use of psychoactive drugs appears to have a clear influence on both friendship formation and friendship quality. Differences in the frequency of substance use are particularly likely to influence each friend’s perceptions of their relationship with the other. However, the impact of divergent substance use patterns within a friendship dyad on ov...

The practice now known as "dabbing" appears to be quickly proliferating as a fashionable way to use marijuana in the United States. 1 Dabbing is the inhalation of a concentrated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) product created through butane extraction. The use of butane hash oil (BHO) products and the modification of cannabis more generally are not new...

Boating Under the Influence (BUI) has recently become a topic of significant concern. Employing a sample of 1,082 young adult boaters, we explore demographic characteristics of those who seek various levels of intoxication while boating and apply several of the leading criminological theories to the study of BUI. We evaluate self-report measures of...

In order to offer more insight into the novel and emerging drug phenomenon, a series of case studies are presented in the following pages that intricately explore the recreational use, media coverage, and regulation of three emerging psychoactive substances with diverse effects and unique histories. First, a short-acting dissociative plant in the m...

Since the 1800s, increasing numbers of new substances have hit the drug scene. Over time, the official responses to these substances have become increasingly more sophisticated. Yet, there still is much to learn from how societies have dealt and continue to deal with the next “scary drug of the year” as there appears to be more similarities than di...

One of the more difficult issues facing decision makers in regard to recent emerging drug threats is the novel nature of their manufacturing process, marketing tactics, distribution schemes, and even the large range and diverse nature of the players in each of these arenas. That is, at every stage of traditional drug control and interdiction modifi...

Over the past two decades in particular, there has been increasing concern over a subset of psychoactive substances new on the drug scene. While some have received a substantial amount of media coverage in recent years, many of these substances are unheard of by the vast populous; in fact, only a niche group of drug users may know of their existenc...

An increasing problem of great concern for academic institutions around the world is the pervasiveness of academic cheating among students. However, there is a dearth of prior research on cheating in cross-national contexts. The present study examines the relationships between structural measures of strain and principals’ reports of problematic che...

Background: Pharmaceutical abuse is a burgeoning problem, and various forms of drug diversion are becoming more common. At present, little is known about those who attempt to deceive physicians to receive medications, and even less is known about those who successfully avoid detection and abuse-related repercussions. The goal of this study is to a...

Recent social and legal responses to novel psychoactive drugs (NPDs) have been attributed to media panics rather than these substance’s actual harms. NPDs, including botanical substances new to Western markets such as Salvia divinorum, newly synthesized analogues such as synthetic cannabinoids and “bath salts,” and new ways of administering drugs,...

This study aims to understand which young adults' drinking behaviors change in the presence of happy hour specials, the ways in which they change, and whether a link exists between happy hour drinking behavior and negative outcomes. Using data collected from bar-going respondents (n = 1,423) within a print survey administered to a general college s...

Abstract This research examines the characteristics of users of synthetic stimulants marketed as "bath salts." Synthetic stimulants such as MDPV (3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone), Mephedrone (4-Methylmethcathinone), and Methylone (3,4-Methylenedioxymethcathinone) are often contained in products sold at convenience stores and over the Internet in the...

“Purple drank” is a label typically applied to mixtures of codeine cough syrup with soda, although it has also been applied to mixtures of over-the-counter cough syrups and alcohol. This novel drug formulation was first popularized in the Houston, Texas rap music scene in the 1990’s, and since then references to purple drank have become common in r...

Aims: Over the last 6 years, numerous products have been made available and marketed as “legal highs.” Many of these products contain compounds similar to those within cannabis and function to create a high comparable to that of smoking marijuana. Though governments have regulated these psychoactive compounds, variants are still sold. At this point...

Peer behaviors may significantly influence personal behavior yet individuals may not accurately estimate their peers' actions. Overestimations of peer substance use may encourage initiation or exacerbate extant problems. The present study examines misperceptions of peer pharmaceutical misuse and explores the relationship between reported misuse and...

In recent years, at both the state and federal level (even a few rare local ordinances) have addressed a perceived threat in several American communities in the past decade. However, there does not appear to be any consistency on how these substances are regulated nor on who should be primarily responsible for their oversight. The divergence betwee...

In recent years, use of substances commonly referred to as ‘legal highs’ has become a significant concern to policy makers and public health officials. Though legislation banning the use and possession of these novel and synthetic drugs often follows the initial media attention and public outcry, potential users may often be unaware of the legislat...

While it is commonly understood that the substance use of peers influences an individual's substance use, much less is understood about the interplay between substance use and friendship quality. Using a sample of 2,148 emerging adults nested within 1,074 dyadic friendships, this study separately investigates how concordance and discordance in bing...

Misperceptions of peer substance use have previously been implicated as significant influences on individual use of both alcohol and illicit drugs. However, research on perceived social norms and related interventions are typically limited to binge drinking and marijuana and no empirical studies have explored misperceptions related to "novel drugs....

Introduction and AimsUntil recently, synthetic cathinones marketed as bath salts' were legally sold at convenience stores and online in the USA. Media reports initiated concerns of a growing bath salt' epidemic. Despite media attention and the recent legal action banning synthetic cathinones, little is known about its prevalence or users. Design an...

Peer delinquency is nearly always operationalized with an individual's perceptions of his/her peers' behavior rather than the peers' actual behavior. A criticism of these measures is that there is often a discrepancy between the perception of peer behavior and actual peer behavior. The mechanism that is most often discussed regarding the reason und...

This research addresses two separate but related questions. First, to what extent are sociological theories proposed to explain legal behavior in Western societies applicable to non‐Western contexts? And second, to what degree is Black's theory of law generalizable, as he contends, “across time and space?” Our research merges these questions by exp...

In Florida, when someone is adjudicated guilty of a felony crime, they lose the right to vote. The only way to regain these rights is to go through the process of rights restoration. The civil rights restoration hearings in Florida have the potential to serve as a formal ceremony in which individuals are acknowledged for their recovery from crime a...

Objectives The authors examine perceptions of a peer’s substance use to determine whether and to what degree individuals project their own behavior onto their perceptions of peer’s delinquency, and to determine whether the constructs of self-control and peer attachment are related to perceptions. Methods Using a sample of 2,154 young adult respond...

Researchers commonly use a person's perception of the drug use of friends to determine the impact that peers exert on one's own behavior. Recently, there has been concern over this measure's validity. Novel drugs, which are either newly discovered drugs or existing substances only recently used for recreational purposes, may be used so infrequently...

Scholars have recently reformulated the moral panic framework (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 199414. Goode , Erich and Nachman Ben-Yehuda . 1994 . Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance . Oxford : Blackwell Publishing Ltd . View all references, 200915. ——— . 2009 . Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance , 2nd ed . Oxford : Blackwell...

In the state of Florida, when someone is found guilty of a felony crime they forfeit the right to vote, serve on a jury, and run for elected office. These civil rights are lost regardless of whether they are sentenced to incarceration, probation, or released into the community. The process to regain these civil rights can be difficult, time consumi...

Boating Under the Influence (BUI) has recently become a topic of significant concern. Employing a sample of 1,082 young adult boaters, we explore demographic characteristics of those who seek various levels of intoxication while boating and apply several of the leading criminological theories to the study of BUI. We evaluate self-report measures of...

The behaviors of adolescents and young adults are frequently influenced by their perceptions of the normative behaviors of their peers. Research suggests that individuals generally misperceive whether and at what frequency their peers engage in certain deviant behaviors. The majority of research in this area focuses on alcohol consumption and marij...

Background: A plant with dissociative and psychoactive properties began to attract the attention of the media and United States policymakers following a well-publicized suicide in 2006 and reports that the plant served as a 'legal high' and substitute for cannabis. As a result, Salvia divinorum and its active ingredient, salvinorin A, were classif...

An increasing problem of great concern for academic institutions is the pervasiveness of cheating among students. Further compounding this problem is advancements in technology that have created new ways for students to engage in cheating. Despite a growing interest in technology facilitated cheating, little is known about why students may employ e...

On May 10, 2007, three executives of the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma pled guilty in federal court to misleading doctors and patients about the risk of addiction and potential for abuse of OxyContin. Additionally, Purdue Pharma paid over $600 million in fines and other payments to the United States government and the Commonwealth of Virgini...

As new drugs are introduced into the market, it becomes the role of policy makers to assess the dangers associated with each drug and its potential to be misused by the populace. The focus of this research is to better understand how young adults learn about a new drug and subsequently engage in its use. Salvia divinorum is a plant species whose le...

In the state of Florida, when someone is adjudicated guilty of a felony crime they forfeit the right to vote, serve on a jury, and run for elected office. These civil rights are lost regardless of whether they are sentenced to incarceration, probation, or released into the community. The process to regain these civil rights can be difficult, time c...

Salvia divinorum is a new recreational drug where few studies have been conducted on its prevalence and predictors of use. Using a sample of undergraduate students, this study investigated these issues. While a small number reported experimenting with salvia, logistic regression models showed that demographics, marijuana use, and self-control are s...

The legal status of the hallucinogenic plant Salvia divinorum has been rapidly changing. Legal prohibitions on this plant native to Oaxaca, Mexico have emerged at the state level, a phenomenon that has not occurred since the passage of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Included will be a brief description of the plant that has only recently crep...

The recreational use of Salvia divinorum has received increased attention by media outlets and policy-makers in recent years. The vast absence of research to guide the dissemination of information has prompted this research note describing the use of this substance in a large public institution of higher education. The prevalence of Salvia divinoru...