Background

Several reports have described a growing prevalence of illicit drug use in Afghanistan, with recognition of a recent shift from traditional modes of consumption involving inhalation and oral ingestion to injecting drug use.

Objective

Conduct a comprehensive review of existing literature to map the injecting drug use situation in Afghanistan. The review intends to describe risk factors and impacts of injecting drug use, drug use characteristics and risk behaviours among people who inject drugs (PWID), and access to harm reduction and treatment.

Methods

We searched Embase, Global...

Introduction and aims

There is increasing interest and evidence for the use of cannabinoid medications in the treatment of cannabis use disorder, but little examination of the correlates of successful treatment. This paper is a secondary analysis of a randomised placebo-controlled trial of nabiximols for the treatment of cannabis use disorder (CUD), aiming to identify which client and treatment characteristics impact treatment engagement and outcomes.

Method

Bayesian multiple regression models were used to examine the impact of age, gender, duration of regular cannabis use, daily quantity...

Background

Novel public health interventions are needed to address the toxic drug supply and meet the needs of people who use drugs amidst the overdose crisis. Safer supply – low-barrier distribution of pharmaceutical grade substances – has been implemented in some jurisdictions to provide safer alternatives to the unregulated drug supply, yet no studies to date have explored professional stakeholder perspectives on this approach.

Methods

We used purposive sampling to recruit professional stakeholders (n = 17) from four locations in British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, including...

Background

The COVID-19 emergency has tested the public health, medical, and public safety infrastructure of the United States (U.S.) in unprecedented ways. As the focal point for public health in their communities, local health departments (LHDs) were particularly impacted by the pandemic’s onset. The pandemic limited the scale and scope of local health department (LHD) work, redirecting resources to the response. However, the need for essential public health services—including substance use prevention—was not reduced.

Methods

Six quantitative data sources were examined, collected between...

Contingency management (CM) is a psychological treatment based on operant conditioning. It consists of providing incentives in exchange for achieving a target behaviour such as abstinence or other treatmentrelated variables (e.g. session attendance, adherence to medication). The objective of this article was to introduce the rationale of CM for substance use and, more specifically, for smoking cessation. A growing body of empirical literature supports CM as an effective treatment for quitting smoking both in the general population and among other hard-to-treat smokers (e.g. pregnant women or...

BACKGROUND:

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) generate an aerosol by vaporising e-liquids that usually consist of propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerine (VG), and other ingredients (water, nicotine, and flavours). The chemical and physical properties of these components have a significant effect on aerosol formation and must be identified in order to improve product attractiveness and assess the degree of health risks.

AIM:

The aim of this article is to provide a description of the composition of the e-liquid base and its impact on the physical properties of the liquid used...

BACKGROUND:

Leisure can be a context that can promote positive adolescent development, but it can also be a context that contributes to adolescents engaging in risk behaviours.

AIMS:

The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which sociodemographic characteristics, the frequency of adolescent participation in structured leisure activities (SLA), and the type of SLA contribute to adolescent alcohol use and to examine the moderating effects of gender, age, and type of SLA on the relationship between the frequency of adolescent participation in SLA and adolescent alcohol use.

METHODS

The European Web Survey on Drugs1 collected data during March and May 2021 from people who use drugs, are aged 18 or older, and live in 21 EU and 9 non-EU countries including Lebanon. In this period, the populations in many European and neighbouring countries were experiencing COVID-19-related lockdown or restrictions. Unless otherwise indicated, the data presented here refer to the 274 respondents who reported having used at least one illicit drug in the 12 months prior to the survey (last 12 months of use) and live in Lebanon.

In summary

• Most survey respondents (93 %) reported using...

Background

Although several studies have found a high incidence of coexisting mental health problems among adolescents with substance use problems, follow-up studies addressing how these conditions change over time are rare. The study will describe and analyse indications of mental health problems and how various risk factors predict outcomes 1 year after initial treatment contact. In addition, gender-specific risk factors are explored.

Methods

A clinical sample of 455 adolescents (29% girls, median age 17 years) answered a structural interview at baseline and were followed up using...

Background

Opioid overdose remains a public health crisis in diverse communities. Between 2019 and 2020, there was an almost 40% increase in drug fatalities primarily due to opioid analogues of both stimulants and opioids. Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD; e.g., buprenorphine) are effective, evidence-based treatments that can be delivered in office-based primary care settings. We investigated disparities in the proportion of national prescribers who have obtained a waiver issued to prescribe MOUD by demographic characteristics.

Methods

Data for the secondary data analyses were...