The International journal on drug policy
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Dec 2008
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyPrevalence of diversion and injection of methadone and buprenorphine among clients receiving opioid treatment at community pharmacies in New South Wales, Australia.
This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of diversion and injection of methadone and buprenorphine among clients receiving opioid pharmacotherapy treatment at community pharmacies in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. ⋯ The higher prevalence of buprenorphine diversion compared to methadone diversion is likely to be due to its sublingual tablet formulation and difficulty associated with supervising its consumption compared to that of an oral liquid. Methadone diversion is also less prevalent likely due to the high levels of methadone take away provision, which also helps to explain the higher levels of recent methadone injecting compared to buprenorphine injecting. A clearer understanding of the motivations for diversion and injection of opioid pharmacotherapies, and the relationship between them is required.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Dec 2008
On the threshold: how relevant should quantity be in determining intent to supply?
In 2005, the English Government announced plans to introduce thresholds into drugs legislation with a view to simplifying proof of intent to supply. ⋯ While the use of thresholds to create a presumption that an individual has intent to supply is problematic, thresholds could usefully have been adopted to facilitate a policy of diversion for those who fell below them.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Oct 2008
ReviewThe use of pleasure in harm reduction: perspectives from the history of sexuality.
The absence of pleasure in harm reduction discourse is more and more frequently noted, but few have considered what, exactly, more attention to pleasure might do. What is the value of pleasure for harm reduction praxis? Central to such an inquiry is the question of how pleasure is grasped, conceptually and methodologically. In this paper I use Foucault's History of Sexuality to elaborate a perspective on the use of pleasure within harm reduction. ⋯ An appreciation of pleasure in terms of its social pragmatics helps to recognize practices of safety, care and risk that might otherwise go unregistered in the current punitive political environment. It provides a basis for conceiving practical measures that are in touch with given concerns and bodily practices, and thus have more chance of being taken up. It also enables a more dynamic and responsive approach to the practice of bodies and pleasures.
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Int. J. Drug Policy · Aug 2008
The epidemiology of GHB and ketamine use in an Australian household survey.
There have been apparent increases in recent years in the illicit use of ketamine and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), but to date there has been no examination of the epidemiology of use in the general population. This paper provides the first such Australian data on the patterns and correlates of GHB and ketamine use. ⋯ The prevalence of GHB and ketamine use in Australia appears to be quite low. The present study found high rates of polydrug use, as have been documented in convenience samples of GHB and ketamine users in previous work. As for other illegal drugs used by small proportions of the population, detailed data on patterns of use and associated risks of use are probably best derived from targeted samples of users; household survey data allow comparisons of the relative prevalence of use compared to other illicit drugs and future work will provide the opportunity to consider changes in the extent of use in the general population.