Drug and alcohol review
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Drug and alcohol review · Jan 2012
Case ReportsMarijuana-induced recurrent acute coronary syndrome with normal coronary angiograms.
We report a case of a man in his 40s presented to the emergency department twice, 1 month apart, with severe ischaemic sounding chest pain within 1 h of smoking marijuana on both occasions. He had elevated serial biomarkers and ischaemic electrocardiogram changes. ⋯ This potentially suggests a coronary vasospasm as an underlying mechanism for these non-ST elevation myocardial infarctions. This should alert clinicians and the public alike to this potential risk of cannabis use.
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Drug and alcohol review · Nov 2011
The Cedar Project: methadone maintenance treatment among young Aboriginal people who use opioids in two Canadian cities.
The Cedar Project is a community-based study aiming to identify variables associated with ever being on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) among young Aboriginal people using drugs and to discuss possible barriers to MMT in this population. ⋯ MMT access by young Aboriginal people is low. The associations between MMT use and other variables need further study to steer efforts directed at recruitment into MMT. The removal of barriers to MMT and inclusion of young Aboriginal people in the development of treatment programs based on Indigenous values are urgently required to help Aboriginal people who use drugs.
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Drug and alcohol review · Nov 2011
Smoking in migrants in New South Wales, Australia: report on data from over 100 000 participants in The 45 and Up Study.
Approximately 25% of the Australian population was born abroad, yet there has been very little tobacco control aimed at culturally and linguistically diverse communities and limited data exist on smoking among Australian migrants. The aim of this study was to compare smoking characteristics of Australian migrants (in terms of place of birth and age migrated) to those of Australian-born residents. ⋯ Smoking prevalence varies substantially across cultural subgroups. Understanding smoking dynamics across diverse cultural groups will assist in better targeting of tobacco control programs.
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Drug and alcohol review · Nov 2011
Using taxes to curb drinking: a report card on the Australian government's alcopops tax.
In 2008, the Australian government introduced an 'alcopops tax' on spirit-based ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages to reduce alcohol consumption and particularly binge drinking by young people. ⋯ Consumption of spirit-based RTDs dropped and consumption of other alcoholic beverages increased following the introduction of the tax. The increased consumption of other alcoholic beverages could be interpreted as indicating that RTD drinkers switched to purchasing spirits or wine-based RTDs or cider. However, those increases could also be interpreted as a continuation of long-term trends rather than a 'substitution effect'. It is impossible to know how much of the changes were due to the tax, to the 'global financial crisis', to adaptive marketing by the alcohol industry, to the Government's national binge drinking strategy, to mass media coverage of these issues or to other factors.