Harm reduction journal
-
Harm reduction journal · Jan 2015
Orienting patients to greater opioid safety: models of community pharmacy-based naloxone.
The leading cause of adult injury death in the U. S. A. is drug overdose, the majority of which involves prescription opioid medications. ⋯ S. and globally. Pharmacies provide a high-yield setting where patient and caregiver customers can access naloxone-an opioid antagonist that reverses opioid overdose-and overdose prevention counseling. This case study briefly describes and provides two US state-specific examples of innovative policy models of pharmacy-based naloxone, implemented to reduce overdose events and improve opioid safety: Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreements and Pharmacy Standing Orders.
-
Harm reduction journal · Jan 2015
Public opinion and medical cannabis policies: examining the role of underlying beliefs and national medical cannabis policies.
Debate about medical cannabis legalization are typically informed by three beliefs: (1) cannabis has medical effects, (2) medical cannabis is addictive and (3) medical cannabis legalization leads to increased used of cannabis for recreational purposes (spillover effects). We examined how strongly these beliefs are associated with public support for medical cannabis legalization and whether this association differs across divergent medical cannabis policy regimes. ⋯ The belief that cannabis has medical benefits is particularly salient for support for medical cannabis legalization. It is possible that the recent surge in evidence supporting the medical benefits of cannabis will increase the belief about medical benefits of cannabis in the general population which may in turn increase public support for medical cannabis legalization. Results also suggest that once medical cannabis is legalized, factors beyond cannabis-specific beliefs will increasingly influence medical cannabis legalization support. These conclusions are, however, only suggestive as the current study is based on cross-sectional data. Hopefully, future research will be able to capitalize on changes in medical cannabis policies and conduct longitudinal studies that enable an examination of the causal relation between public opinion and medical cannabis policy changes.