Harm reduction journal
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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.
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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.
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Harm reduction journal · May 2014
'South Asian cocktail'--the concurrent use of opioids, benzodiazepines and antihistamines among injecting drug users in Nepal and associations with HIV risk behaviour.
Data of the Central Bureau of Statistic of Nepal from 2008 show a total of more than 46,000 illegal drug users, out of which 61% are injecting drug users (IDU). An injecting mix of medicines like opioids, benzodiazepines and antihistamines (the so-called South Asian cocktail) was prevalent. Furthermore, it is estimated that about 70,000 people are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The government of Nepal has started realizing and recognizing drug use and HIV as significant health and social issues. Harm reduction programs such as needle syringe exchange and opioid substitution treatment are being implemented. ⋯ Currently, the mixture of medicines, opioids, benzodiazepines and antihistamines, is the predominant drug in Nepal; the pharmaceutical drugs needed to prepare the cocktail are less expensive than heroin and relatively easy to acquire. The cocktail users show a higher risk behaviour regarding the transmission of HIV than heroin drug users. It needs to be considered which HIV prevention measures are necessary to target the specific needs of drug users who inject a mixture of opioids, benzodiazepines and antihistamines, since the available services (such as needle syringe exchange) do not seem to cover their specific needs (high percentage of needle sharing).
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Harm reduction journal · Jan 2014
Multicenter StudyA drug use survey among clients of harm reduction sites across British Columbia, Canada, 2012.
In British Columbia (BC), understanding of high-risk drug use trends is largely based on survey and cohort study data from two major cities, which may not be representative of persons who use drugs in other regions. Harm reduction stakeholders, representing each of the five geographic health regions in BC, identified a need for data on drug use to inform local and regional harm reduction activities across the province. The aims of this project were to (1) develop a drug use survey that could be feasibly administered at harm reduction (HR) sites across all health regions and (2) assess the data for differences in reported drug use frequencies by region. ⋯ The survey was a feasible way for harm reduction sites across BC to obtain drug use data from clients who actively use drugs. Drug use frequencies differed substantially by region and community proximity to the regional centre, underlining the need for locally collected data to inform service planning.
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Harm reduction journal · Aug 2013
Availability of HIV prevention and treatment services for people who inject drugs: findings from 21 countries.
About a third of the global HIV infections outside sub-Saharan Africa are related to injecting drug use (IDU), and this accounts for a growing proportion of persons living with HIV. This paper is a response to the need to monitor the state of the HIV epidemic as it relates to IDU and the availability of HIV treatment and harm reduction services in 21 high epidemic countries. ⋯ In order to be able to monitor the impact of HIV treatment and harm reduction services for PWID on the epidemic, epidemiological data on IDU and harm reduction service provision to PWID needs to be regularly collected using standardised indicators.