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.

(Mis)understanding the intersection between development policies and data collection: Experiences in Afghanistan
There is a misalignment between a development community focused on improving the welfare of vulnerable populations and the challenges of addressing widespread illicit drug crop production in drug producing countries. Drawing on the example of Afghanistan, this paper argues that the reasons for the development communities failure to engage is in large part a function of the way that illicit opium poppy and the illicit economy is currently perceived and understood by policy makers, practitioners and scholars. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 14, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: David Mansfield Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

Stigma and the public health agenda for the opioid crisis in America
The current opioid crisis in the U.S. is unprecedented and calling for a nationwide reorganization of the public health prevention program. Stigma is a persistent barrier to this agenda, unfortunately with a limited body of research on substance use disorder (SUD) available to inform it. We review the broader research literature on the stigma of behavioral health (i.e., mental illness and SUD) to identify strategies to address the opioid crisis and harmful stigma. A major difference between mental illness and SUD stigma is that the latter is legally and socially sanctioned. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 6, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Patrick W. Corrigan, Katherine Nieweglowski Tags: Commentary Source Type: research

Treatment with direct-acting antivirals in a multicenter cohort of HCV-infected inmates in Italy
People who are incarcerated have a significantly higher prevalence of HCV infection than the general population. Given their high-risk behavior, they represent a reservoir of HCV infection for the whole community. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 6, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Emanuele Pontali, Vito Fiore, Anna Maria Ialungo, Roberto Ranieri, Oscar Mollaretti, Giorgio Barbarini, Daniele Marri, Tullio Prestileo, Serena Dell ’Isola, Elena Rastrelli, Guido Leo, Giulio Starnini, Sergio Babudieri, Giordano Madeddu, Gruppo Infettiv Tags: Short Report Source Type: research

Transitions in income generation among marginalized people who use drugs: A qualitative study on recycling and vulnerability to violence
This study examines how transitions in income-generating activities are shaped by and influence exposure to violence among marginalised PWUD, in Vancouver, Canada ’s, Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 4, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Jade Boyd, Lindsey Richardson, Solanna Anderson, Thomas Kerr, Will Small, Ryan McNeil Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

Integrating hepatitis C and addiction care for people who inject drugs in the era of direct-acting antiviral therapy
As new, more tolerable and effective hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatments are available, there is a global need to consider how to maximize treatment access for groups who are most affected by HCV. A substantial number of people who inject drugs (PWID) are living with HCV, yet only a minority have received treatment. HCV treatment programs that are integrated into community-based addiction care may be a successful way to overcome barriers and increase access and uptake of HCV treatment for this population. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 2, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Kathleen Bird, Mar ía Eugenia Socías, Lianping Ti Tags: Viewpoint Source Type: research

Developing a patient-reported experience questionnaire with and for people who use drugs: A community engagement process in Vancouver ’s Downtown Eastside
People who use drugs (PWUD) frequently have complex health care needs, yet face multiple barriers to accessing services. Involving PWUD in health service design and evaluation can enhance the quality of data collected and ensure policy and practice improvements reflect the expressed needs of the population. However, PWUD remain largely excluded from the evaluation of health services that directly affect their lives, including development of patient-reported experience measures (PREMS) that have gained prominence in health services research and clinical practice. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 2, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Michelle Olding, Kanna Hayashi, Lindsay Pearce, Brittany Bingham, Michelle Buchholz, Delilah Gregg, Dave Hamm, Laura Shaver, Rachael McKendry, Rolando Barrios, Bohdan Nosyk Tags: Research methods Source Type: research

Grievable lives? Death by opioid overdose in Australian newspaper coverage
Opioid overdose deaths are increasing in Australia and around the world. Despite this, measures aimed at reducing these deaths such as safe injecting facilities and take-home naloxone continue to face obstacles to uptake. The reasons for this are manifold, but a key contributor is public discourse on opioid consumption and overdose. In this article we explore this public discourse using Judith Butler ’s work on ‘grievable lives’. The article analyses mainstream newspaper coverage of opioid overdose in Australia to map key articulations of overdose and to consider how public understandings of overdose are shaped. (Sou...
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 2, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Suzanne Fraser, Adrian Farrugia, Robyn Dwyer Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

Compulsory treatment of drug use in Southeast Asian countries
Several Southeast Asian countries have implemented compulsory drug detention centres in which people who use or are suspected of using drugs, mainly amphetamine-type stimulants, are confined without their consent and in most cases without due process and clinical evaluation of their substance use disorder.Given these facilities ’ lack of access to evidence-based drug dependence treatment, and the human rights implications of peoples’ arbitrary detention under the pretext of “treatment”, international organizations have called for their closure. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 2, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Karsten Lunze, Olivier Lermet, Vladanka Andreeva, Fabienne Hariga Tags: Research paper Source Type: research

Tuberculosis infection among cocaine crack users in Brazil
WHO recommends treatment for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in the homeless and people who use drugs (PWUD). The optimal test for LTBI screening is uncertain. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 2, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Sandra Maria do Valle Leone de Oliveira, Elizeu Ferreira da Silva, Ana Rita Coimbra Motta-Castro, Vivianne de Oliveira Landgraf de Castro, Andr éa Cristina Stábile, Anamaria Mello Miranda Paniago, Anete Trajman Tags: Short Report Source Type: research

Profile, risk practices and needs of people who inject morphine sulfate: Results from the ANRS-AERLI study
In France, a non-negligible proportion of opioid-dependent individuals inject morphine sulfate. Although it has not yet been officially approved as an opioid substitution treatment (OST), some physicians can prescribe its use for people in methadone or buprenorphine treatment failure. Longitudinal data from the ANRS-AERLI study, which evaluated an educational intervention for safer injection called AERLI, provided us the opportunity to better characterize the profile, risk practices and needs of people who inject morphine sulfate (MSI), through comparison with other injectors, and to identify correlates of HIV/HCV risk pra...
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 2, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Perrine Roux, Salim Mezaache, La élia Briand-Madrid, Marie Debrus, Nicolas Khatmi, Gwenaelle Maradan, Camélia Protopopescu, Daniela Rojas-Castro, Patrizia Carrieri Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

Assessing the effectiveness of New York ’s 911 Good Samaritan Law—Evidence from a natural experiment
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Nationally, opioids are the primary drugs associated with accidental overdoses. In response to increasing overdose deaths, 40 states and the District of Columbia have enacted Good Samaritan Laws (GSLs). Generally, these policies attempt to encourage witnesses or those experiencing an overdose to call 911 by providing limited immunity from arrest, charge and/or prosecution of possession of narcotics. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of New York State ’s 911 GSL. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 2, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Holly Nguyen, Brandy R. Parker Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

Tensions and contradictions in family court innovation with high risk parents: The place of family drug treatment courts in contemporary family justice
Parental substance misuse is a leading factor in child abuse and neglect and frequently results in court-mandated permanent child removal. Family drug treatment courts, which originated in the USA and are only found in adversarial family justice systems, are a radical innovation to tackle this problem. Unlike ordinary court, they treat parents within the court arena as well as adjudicating, and in this way they seek to draw a new balance between parental needs and the child ’s right to timely permanency. (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - July 2, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Judith Harwin, Karen Broadhurst, Caroline Cooper, Stephanie Taplin Source Type: research

Going knock —Recurrent comatose GHB intoxication in the Netherlands & Flanders (Belgium)
Overdose is a principal cause of death among people who use illicit drugs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017; Davoli et al., 2007; Mathers et al., 2013), primarily affecting people who use opioids in their most productive years (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017; European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) (2017); Hedegaard, Warner,& Minino, 2017; Special Advisory Committee on the Epidemic of Opioid Overdoses, 2017). Most of these preventable deaths are attributed to opioids, illegal or prescribed, but a substantial part of reported overdose deaths concerns or includes benzodiazepine...
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - June 26, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Jean-Paul Grund, Dirk de Bruin, Sanne van Gaalen Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research

Aging, multimorbidity, and substance use disorders: The growing case for integrating the principles of geriatric care and harm reduction
Given the unprecedented aging of many populations throughout the world, coupled with high rates of unhealthy substance use among baby boomers, we are at the cusp of an epidemic of older adults with a substance use disorder (SUD) (Han& Moore, 2018). Indeed, in many areas of the world, including Australia, Western Europe, and North America, an increasing number of older adults find themselves in substance use treatment, particularly for opioid use disorder (Carew& Comiskey, 2018). SUD management in this population is uniquely complicated because aging is associated with chronic medical conditions, an increase in prescription...
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - June 25, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Benjamin H. Han Tags: Viewpoint Source Type: research

Development and validation of the scale to assess satisfaction with medications for addiction treatment – Buprenorphine-naloxone for heroin addiction (SASMAT-BUNHER)
Buprenorphine (alone or in combination with naloxone) maintenance treatment is a key intervention to treat heroin dependence. A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCT) concluded that buprenorphine, in comparison with placebo, is effective in retaining patients in treatment and in reducing heroin use (Mattick, Breen, Kimber,& Davoli, 2014). In regard to the use of non-opioid substances, two placebo-controlled RCTs did not find buprenorphine effective in reducing cocaine or benzodiazepine use in heroin-dependent patients (Fudala et al., 2003; Johnson et al., 1995). (Source: International Journal of Drug Policy)
Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - June 25, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Jos é Pérez de los Cobos, Joan Trujols, Saul Alcaraz, Núria Siñol, Óscar Lozano, Francisco González-Saiz, Buprenorphine Naloxone Survey Group Tags: Research Methods Source Type: research