Drug and alcohol review
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Drug and alcohol review · Jul 2019
Prescription drug monitoring programs and drug overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines and prescription opioids.
In the US, benzodiazepine overdose deaths increased at an alarming rate in the past two decades. Benzodiazepines were also the most common drugs involved in prescription opioid overdose deaths. Benzodiazepine prescribing has been monitored by Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), but little was known about whether PDMPs reduced drug overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines. ⋯ This study suggested no evidence that PDMP policies specific to benzodiazepines were associated with reduction in benzodiazepine overdose death rates. Future research is warranted to examine detailed features of PDMPs and continuously monitor the impacts of PDMP policies on benzodiazepine-related consequences.
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Alcohol use impacts workplace productivity in terms of absence and reduced performance by employees. This study's aims were to estimate the cost of lost productivity associated with alcohol use in New Zealand and to describe and quantify its impact on employers. ⋯ Considering absenteeism costs alone will substantially underestimate the total productivity loss associated with alcohol use. Designing and effectively targeting a set of multifaceted policies to engineer change at both the workplace and societal levels will assist in reducing the costs of lost productivity.