Substance use & misuse
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Substance use & misuse · Jan 2012
Use and misuse of opioid replacement therapies: a Queensland study.
Buprenorphine/naloxone has recently been introduced in Australia and is available for unsupervised dosing within Queensland. A retrospective observational study of data collected during 2000-2007 for clients obtaining injecting equipment from the Brisbane Harm Reduction Centre in Queensland is presented. ⋯ Furthermore, the misuse of opioid replacement therapies represented less than 5% of all illicit opioid injections. Implications and study limitations are discussed.
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Substance use & misuse · Jan 2011
Petrol sniffing interventions among Australian indigenous communities through product substitution: from skunk juice to opal.
Inhalation of petrol (gasoline) fumes has been prevalent in some Australian Indigenous communities since World War II, and has led to a continuing quest for an effective method of preventing the practice either by modifying the substance or by substituting nonharmful alternatives. This article traces the results of this search, beginning with the addition of ethyl mercaptan, then describing the substitution of aviation fuel for conventional vehicle fuel, and concluding with the staged introduction of Opal--a vehicle fuel containing low levels of aromatic hydrocarbons--throughout many communities from 2005. The article assesses the benefits and limitations of supply reduction methods.
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Substance use & misuse · Jan 2011
Multicenter StudyDoes concurrent cocaine use compromise 1-year treatment outcomes for opiate users?
The current study aimed to determine whether cocaine use compromises treatment outcomes for opiate users. Data were collected from 404 opiate users at treatment intake and 1-year follow-up as part of a national treatment outcome study. ⋯ Regression analysis revealed that those who used cocaine at intake were more likely to use cocaine at 1-year follow-up, to commit crime, and to be homeless. It is concluded that treatment for opiate use "works" even in the presence of concurrent cocaine use.
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Substance use & misuse · Jan 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialSwitching from methadone to diamorphine: 2-year results of the german heroin-assisted treatment trial.
Several international clinical studies have found diamorphine treatment for opioid-dependent patients to show significantly better effects compared with methadone maintenance treatment. ⋯ The results of the course of methadone-diamorphine switchers are a methodologically independent contribution toward confirming the positive effects of diamorphine treatment for difficult-to-treat opioid-dependent patients. This study supports the hypothesis that changing from optimized methadone treatment under the conditions of the clinical trial to diamorphine treatment is associated with improvements in health and drug use behavior. The study's limitations are noted.
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Substance use & misuse · Jan 2011
Access to sterile syringes for injecting drug users in New York City: politics and perception (1984-2010).
In the United States, political and social environments have shaped public health response to injecting drug use, and New York City represents a salient example. The history of "harm reduction" in New York City is characterized within changing historical periods and in relation to the actions of stakeholders. The expansion is traced over four periods: (i) 1984-1989: emergence, activism, and science; (ii) 1990-1994 reckoning: syringe exchange legislation and consolidation; (iii) 1995-1999: bureaucratization, opposition, and challenges to institutional control; and (iv) 2000-2010 revitalization: expansion of syringe access and harm reduction. ⋯ Without this "push," it is unlikely that New York City would have experienced the dramatic decline in HIV infection among drug injectors in the 1990s. Second, successful arguments for expanding syringe access in New York City were based on the high HIV/AIDS infection rates. Thus, program developments were advocated as HIV prevention interventions, rather than as expanded services for addressing broader health and social issues of injecting drug use.