Drug and alcohol review
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Drug and alcohol review · Nov 2009
Comparative StudyFive-year longitudinal study of cannabis users in three remote Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.
To examine predictors of cannabis use at 5 year follow up in an Australian Aboriginal cohort. ⋯ Ongoing heavy cannabis use is commonplace in this Aboriginal cohort and raises concerns for the physical, social and psychiatric burden on these already vulnerable communities. Prevention, treatment and intervention programs developed with communities are badly needed.
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Drug and alcohol review · Sep 2009
ReviewPromoting tobacco dependence treatment in nursing education.
There are 17.3 million nurses worldwide, the largest group of health-care professionals, and they have great potential to address the epidemic of tobacco use and its related morbidity and mortality. However, the evidence indicates that the educational preparation of nurses for tobacco control remains inadequate. ⋯ Nurses can be effective in delivering tobacco cessation interventions. Efforts are needed to promote curriculum that ensures that all nursing students and practicing nurses receive tobacco control content and are competent in the delivery of interventions; and to disseminate resources to nursing educators
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Drug and alcohol review · Sep 2009
Review Case ReportsPreparing pharmacy students and pharmacists to provide tobacco cessation counselling.
Tobacco use and abuse is a major health risk for people across the world and is responsible for nearly 500 000 deaths in the USA annually. Currently, the accepted role of pharmacists is the provision of pharmaceutical care, which includes health promotion and prevention of disease. Pharmacists should work collaboratively with other health-care professionals to provide tobacco-cessation counselling to smokers. ⋯ The consequences of tobacco use are well known. Pharmacists should enhance their involvement in health promotion and disease prevention and actively develop tobacco cessation counselling programs using available resources for the benefit of their patients.
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Drug and alcohol review · Jul 2009
Overdose deaths following previous non-fatal heroin overdose: record linkage of ambulance attendance and death registry data.
Experiencing previous non-fatal overdoses have been identified as a predictor of subsequent non-fatal overdoses; however, few studies have investigated the association between previous non-fatal overdose experiences and overdose mortality. We examined overdose mortality among injecting drug users who had previously been attended by an ambulance for a non-fatal heroin overdose. ⋯ As the first to show a direct association between non-fatal overdose and subsequent overdose mortality, this study has important implications for the prevention of overdose mortality. This study also shows the profound effect of macro-level heroin market dynamics on overdose mortality.