Drug and alcohol dependence
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Nov 2020
Steep increases in fentanyl-related mortality west of the Mississippi River: Recent evidence from county and state surveillance.
Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids (e.g., fentanyl) increased 10-fold in the United States from 2013 to 2018, despite such opioids being rare in illicit drug markets west of the Mississippi River. Public health professionals have feared a "fentanyl breakthrough" in western U.S. drug markets could further accelerate overdose mortality. We evaluated the number and nature of western U.S. fentanyl deaths using the most recent data available. ⋯ Fentanyl has spread westward, increasing deaths in the short-term and threatening to dramatically worsen the nation's already severe opioid epidemic in the long-term. Increasing the standard dose of naloxone, expanding Medicaid, improving coverage of addiction treatment, and public health educational campaigns should be prioritized.
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Nov 2020
Prospective associations of e-cigarette use with cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and nonmedical prescription drug use among US adolescents.
As e-cigarette use continues to increase in the U.S., research is needed to understand its prospective risk for cigarette smoking and other substance use in young adulthood, including alcohol, marijuana, and nonmedical prescription drugs (NMPDs). ⋯ This study suggests that e-cigarette use may be an indicator of future substance use risk in young adulthood. Adolescent e-cigarette users may benefit from secondary prevention efforts to mitigate this risk.
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Nov 2020
Evaluating the impact of COVID-19: A cohort comparison study of drug use and risky sexual behavior among sexual minority men in the U.S.A.
Sexual minority men who use drugs have high sexual HIV transmission risk. Sexual interactions may also increase COVID-19 risk.This study compared marijuana use, other illegal drugs use (i.e. cocaine/crack, methamphetamine, MDMA/ecstasy, GHB, and ketamine) and sexual behavior with casual partners among sexual minority cismen active on social networking and dating applications before and during the COVID-19 epidemic. ⋯ While the proportion of participants reporting drug use and condomless anal sex with casual partners declined in the COVID cohort, the association between drug use and sexual behavior was magnified. Sexual minority men who use drugs are significantly more likely to engage in sexual behaviors that place them at risk for HIV and COVID-19 transmission.
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Nov 2020
State pain management clinic policies and county opioid prescribing: A fixed effects analysis.
The U.S. has seen an unprecedented rise in opioid-related morbidity and mortality, and states have passed numerous laws in response. Researchers have not comprehensively established the effectiveness of pain management clinic regulations to reduce opioid prescribing using national data. ⋯ Implementation of pain management clinic laws reduced county-level opioid prescribing. States should review specific components to determine which forms of law are most efficacious.
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Drug Alcohol Depend · Oct 2020
Trajectories of cannabis use and risk for opioid misuse in a young adult urban cohort.
Although much of the attention surrounding the opioid epidemic has focused on rural and suburban Whites and prescription opioids, heroin overdoses among urban Blacks are on the rise. While some argue that legalization of cannabis will combat the epidemic, there are concerns it ignores the shift in the epidemic and could increase vulnerability to opioid misuse. The goal of this study is to examine the association between cannabis use from adolescence to young adulthood with opioid misuse in a primarily urban Black cohort. ⋯ Adolescent onset cannabis use is associated with opioid misuse in young adulthood among urban Blacks even after adjustment for socioecological factors associated with opioid misuse.