International Journal of Drug Policy This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Effects of naloxone distribution to likely bystanders: Results of an agent-based model
Opioid overdose deaths in the US rose dramatically in the past 16 years, creating an urgent national health crisis with no signs of immediate relief. In 2017, the President of the US officially declared the opioid epidemic to be a national emergency and called for additional resources to respond to the crisis. Distributing naloxone to community laypersons and people at high risk for opioid overdose can prevent overdose death, but optimal distribution methods have not yet been pinpointed. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 7, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Christopher Keane, James E. Egan, Mary Hawk Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

A fragmented code: The moral and structural context for providing assistance with injection drug use initiation in San Diego, USA
Injection drug use initiation is shaped by social networks and structural contexts, with people who inject drugs often assisting in this process. We sought to explore the norms and contexts linked to assisting others to initiate injection drug use in San Diego, USA, to inform the development of structural interventions to prevent this phenomenon. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 7, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Andy Guise, Jason Melo, Maria Luisa Mittal, Claudia Rafful, Jazmine Cuevas-Mota, Peter Davidson, Richard S. Garfein, Dan Werb Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

A qualitative examination of the effects of international counter-drug interdictions
The purpose of this study is to utilize unique qualitative data to determine the effects of sporadic international drug interdictions on drug trafficking, and to assess whether the responses of drug traffickers align with rational choice theory. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 7, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Alexander G. Toth, Ojmarrh Mitchell Source Type: research

Harnessing the language of overdose prevention to advance evidence-based responses to the opioid crisis
Language has significant implications for how we view and respond to public health issues. Conventional moralistic messaging around drug use stigmatizes people who use drugs and inhibits the implementation of evidence-based harm reduction interventions that do not condemn drug use. However, within the context of the unprecedented North American opioid overdose crisis, we argue that shifting conventional moral messaging around overdose prevention and response strategies is key to supporting the rapid roll-out of evidence-based harm reduction interventions. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 7, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Alexandra B. Collins, Ricky N. Bluthenthal, Jade Boyd, Ryan McNeil Tags: Commentary Source Type: research

A critical analysis of the implementation of a legal regulated market for new psychoactive substances ( “legal highs”) in New Zealand
In July 2013 New Zealand passed the Psychoactive Substances Act (PSA) to establish the world ’s first regulated legal market for new psychoactive substances (NPS) (“legal highs”). (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 7, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Marta Rychert, Chris Wilkins Tags: Policy Analysis Source Type: research

Heroic journeys through sobriety: How temporary alcohol abstinence campaigns portray participant experiences
In Australia, recent years have seen a rise in the popularity of temporary abstinence campaigns, in which people pledge to abstain from alcohol for a month while raising funds for charity. In addition to their fundraising aims, such initiatives have been viewed as tools for broader behavioural and cultural change around alcohol, encouraging participants to reflect on their drinking and make longer-term changes to their behaviour. The extent to which these initiatives promote enduring change may depend on how they portray the experience of temporarily abstaining from alcohol, and how they position participants. (Source: Int...
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 7, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Ashlea Bartram, Scott Hanson-Easey, Jaklin Eliott Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

Patterns of injecting and non-injecting drug use by sexual behaviour in people who inject drugs attending services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2013 –2016
Higher levels of drug use have been reported in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities, some of which can be explained by sexualised drug use, including ‘chemsex’; the use of drugs before or during planned sexual activity to sustain, enhance, disinhibit or facilitate sex. We explored injecting and non-injecting drug use by sexual behaviour among people who inject drugs (PWID) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 6, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Ellen Heinsbroek, Rachel Glass, Claire Edmundson, Vivian Hope, Monica Desai Source Type: research

“Blood letting”—Self-phlebotomy in injecting anabolic-androgenic steroids within performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) culture
New evidence with regard to a previously undocumented practice – self phlebotomy, known as ‘bloodletting’ – incontemporary injecting performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) culture is the subject of this paper. While self phlebotomy has been evidenced in psychiatric patients previously, it was performed here in people who inject AAS as a self direct ed health care procedure. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 5, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Rebekah Brennan, John Wells, Marie Claire Van Hout Tags: Short Report Source Type: research

Drug supply indicators: Pitfalls and possibilities for improvements to assist comparative analysis
Interventions to tackle the supply of drugs are seen as standard components of illicit drug policies. Therefore drug market-related administrative data, such as seizures, price, purity and drug-related offending, are used in most countries for policy monitoring and assessment of the drug situation. International agencies, such as the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, also monitor and report on the drug situation cross-nationally and therefore seek to collect and make available key data in a uniform manner from the countries they cover. (Source: Internatio...
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 3, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Nicola Singleton, Andrew Cunningham, Teodora Groshkova, Luis Royuela, Roumen Sedefov Source Type: research

Editorial Board
(Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - March 1, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: research

Demand for and availability of specialist chemsex services in the UK: A cross-sectional survey of sexual health clinics
Chemsex amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) is well documented in major cities within the United Kingdom (UK), but few data from less urban areas exist. We undertook a survey of sexual health clinic (SHC) healthcare workers (HCWs) to explore demand for and availability of chemsex services to understand training needs and inform service planning. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - February 26, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: H. Wiggins, D. Ogaz, H. Mebrahtu, A. Sullivan, O. Bowden-Jones, N. Field, G. Hughes Source Type: research

Identifying injection drug use and estimating population size of people who inject drugs using healthcare administrative datasets
Large linked healthcare administrative datasets could be used to monitor programs providing prevention and treatment services to people who inject drugs (PWID). However, diagnostic codes in administrative datasets do not differentiate non-injection from injection drug use (IDU). We validated algorithms based on diagnostic codes and prescription records representing IDU in administrative datasets against interview-based IDU data. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - February 23, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Naveed Zafar Janjua, Nazrul Islam, Margot Kuo, Amanda Yu, Stanley Wong, Zahid A. Butt, Mark Gilbert, Jane Buxton, Nuria Chapinal, Hasina Samji, Mei Chong, Maria Alvarez, Jason Wong, Mark W. Tyndall, Mel Krajden, for the BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort Team Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research