Drug and alcohol review
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Drug and alcohol review · Nov 2008
Comparative StudyWhy are alcohol-related emergency department presentations under-detected? An exploratory study using nursing triage text.
This study examined two methods of detecting alcohol-related emergency department (ED) presentations, provisional medical diagnosis and nursing triage text, and compared patient and service delivery characteristics to determine which patients are being missed from formal diagnosis in order to explore why alcohol-related ED presentations are under-detected. ⋯ Alcohol-related presentations place a high demand on ED staff and less than one-quarter have an alcohol-related diagnosis recorded by their treating doctor. In order for routine ED data to be more effective for detecting alcohol-related ED presentations, it is recommended that additional resources such as an alcohol health worker be employed in Australian hospitals. These workers can educate and support ED staff to identify more clearly and record the clinical signs of alcohol and directly provide brief interventions.
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Drug and alcohol review · Nov 2008
Patterns of benzylpiperazine/trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine party pill use and adverse effects in a population sample in New Zealand.
A large legal market for party pills containing benzylpiperazine (BZP) and trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP) developed in New Zealand after 2004. The use of these party pills has been associated with adverse health effects. The purpose of this paper was to assess a general population sample of party pill users to investigate the relationship between (1) patterns of use of BZP/TFMPP party pills and concurrent use of other drug types, and (2) adverse side effects from BZP/TFMPP party pill use. ⋯ Females may be at greater risk of experiencing problems from BZP/TFMPP party pills due to their smaller physical size. Taking 5-HTP 'recovery' pills with party pills may increase the risk of adverse effects as both substances increase users' levels of serotonin.
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Drug and alcohol review · Sep 2008
Two ways of estimating the euro value of the illicit market for cannabis in France.
The most recent health surveys in general population are used in order to estimate the annual market size for cannabis in France in 2005. ⋯ According to these estimates, consumers' average annual expenditure on cannabis is around euro 202 in France, compared to estimates obtained for New Zealand and Holland (euro 124) and the United States (euro 362).
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Drug and alcohol review · Jul 2008
A cross-sectional survey of young people attending a music festival: associations between drug use and musical preference.
Drug use is becoming normalised among young Australian people involved in music sub-cultures. We aimed to determine prevalences of illicit drug use in this population and associations between preferences for different music genres and recent use of particular illicit drugs. ⋯ These data suggest that music festival attendees use illicit drugs more commonly than their age-matched cohort in the general community, and that music festivals venues (particularly those that cater for dance/house and rap) would be appropriate places for interventions to promote safer drug use.