The International journal on drug policy
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Apr 2019
Youth perspectives on concurrent smoking and vaping: Implications for tobacco control.
Most people who smoke cigarettes begin young. Consequently, public health efforts directed at youth are a priority. The increasing popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) among youth in the United States has raised concerns in the public health community about the potential of ENDS to renormalize cigarette smoking and perpetuate nicotine addiction, creating dual users who both vape and smoke. ⋯ Results suggest that dual users of ENDS and cigarettes overwhelmingly perceive a utilitarian meaning of dual use and view vaping as a tool for reducing smoking-related harm in the near term and facilitating quitting smoking in the long term. Also, participants' narratives related to Tobacco 21 laws, which prohibit sales of both ENDS and cigarettes to individuals under 21 years of age, revealed concerns about restrictive policies that limit access to less harmful tobacco products. Results of this study raise important questions about whether we are working towards further reductions in the prevalence of smoking and tobacco-related diseases.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Apr 2019
The tripping point: The potential role of psychedelic-assisted therapy in the response to the opioid crisis.
The increasing contamination of the drug supply with illicitly manufactured fentanyl and related analogs in North America has resulted in the most severe drug-overdose crisis in history. Available pharmacotherapy options for the treatment of opioid use disorder have had limited success in curbing the current crisis, and a growing body of evidence highlights the need for innovative interventions that target underlying social-structural drivers of opioid use disorder. Re-emerging clinical research suggests that psychedelic-assisted therapy has potential as an alternative treatment for refractory substance use disorders and related comorbidities. Based on the available evidence, our viewpoint supports advancing research on the potential role of psychedelic-assisted therapy within a multifaceted response to the opioid crisis.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Apr 2019
Social network ties to nightlife and healthcare professionals and prescription drug misuse among young adults.
Nightlife scenes have been characterized as risk environments where social ecology and network ties facilitate substance use. In contrast to other substances, the prescription drug problem also has been shaped by the healthcare system. How network ties to professionals in these domains are associated with prescription drug misuse remains a key area of study. ⋯ Embeddedness in nightlife networks is related to patterns of prescription drug misuse, and some of this association can be explained by multiple mechanisms of social networks. By contrast, ties to healthcare professionals are not associated with patterns of misuse among such young adults.