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There is growing evidence about illicit use of buprenorphine in the U.S. The study aims to: (1) identify prevalence and predictors of illicit buprenorphine use in a community sample of 396 young adult (18–23 years old) non-medical users of pharmaceutical opioids and (2) describe knowledge, attitudes and behaviors linked to illicit buprenorphine use as reported by a qualitative sub-sample (n=51).

Participants were recruited using respondent-driven sampling. Qualitative interview participants were selected from the larger sample. The sample (n=396) was 54% male and 50% white; 7.8% reported lifetime illicit use of buprenorphine.

Logistic regression analysis results indicate that white ethnicity, intranasal inhalation of pharmaceutical opioids, symptoms of opioid dependence, and a greater number of pharmaceutical opioids used in lifetime were statistically significant predictors …