EMCDDA DOCUMENTATION CENTRE
INFORMATION BULLETIN
GENERAL INFORMATION BULLETIN
15 July 2016
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WEBSITE
The gateway hypothesis of IPED use: current knowledge and future research
The gateway hypothesis was originally developed in the context of recreation drugs, suggesting that use of softer drugs such as marijuana could act as a “gateway” to eventual use of harder drugs such as heroin | Human Enhancement Blog, UK
https://humanenhancementdrugs.com/2016/07/04/blog-4-the-gateway-hypothesis-of-iped-use-current-knowledge-and-future-research/
GREY LITERATURE
Everyone’s *not* doing it message offers hope for prevention
Normative education (contrasting how common people think substance use is among their peers with the reality) retains some of its shine, but what seemed the great hope for school- and college-based prevention has become contested territory; part of the problem is that youngsters who drink heavily or use drugs often *do* have friends who do the same | Drug and Alcohol Findings, UK
http://findings.org.uk/PHP/dl.php?file=hot_normative.hot&s=dy
Toward the legalization, regulation and restriction of access to marijuana: discussion paper
Task Force on Marijuana Legalization and Regulation
Government of Canada
Ottawa: June 2016
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Toward_the_legalization,_regulation_and_restriction_of_access_to_marijuana-discussion_paper.pdf
The 2016 Commission on Narcotic Drugs and its special segment on preparations for the UNGASS on the world drug problem: report of proceedings
International Drug Policy Consortium
London: 2016
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/The_2016_Commission_on_Narcotic_Drugs_and_its_special_segment_on_preparations_for_the_UNGASS_on_the_world_drug_problem.pdf
Reflections on drug policy and its impact on human development: innovative approaches
United Nations Development Programme
United Nations
New York, NY: April 2016
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Reflections_on_drug_policy_and_its_impact_on_human_development-innovative_approaches.pdf
Public attitudes towards people with drug dependence and people in recovery
Bryan, R, McGregor, D, Belcher, A
Scottish Government
Edinburgh July 2016
The overall aim of the research was to provide data on the current extent and nature of stigma amongst the Scottish general public towards people with drug dependence and people who have recovered from drug dependence. Associated objectives were for the 2016 findings to be compared with those from the previous UKDPC study, and act as a baseline representative sample of Scottish public opinion in order to track changes in public attitudes over time.
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Public_attitudes_towards_people_with_drug_dependence_and_people_in_recovery.pdf
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Drug abuse monitoring: which pharmacoepidemiological resources at the European level?
Lapeyre-Mestre, M; Dupui, M
Thérapie
70 (2) p.157-165, 2015
Monitoring the potential for abuse and dependence of psychoactive substances falls within the scope of international conventions on narcotic drugs. At the European level, this monitoring is based on activities controlled by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) for substance abuse in general and by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for marketed drugs, in the context of pharmacovigilance. If France has set up in the early 1990s an original system to assess potential for abuse of psychoactive substances, with specific tools combining both the evaluation of the use of these substances (illicit substances or diverted drugs), and the consequences of that use in terms of morbidity and mortality, there is no equivalent in other European countries. Indeed, unlike the USA, who, for several decades, organized this type of surveillance, with a multisource approach (sentinel systems, databases, medical and administrative data, databases for seeking care in relation abuse), we have not found in other European countries integrated system for identifying a signal of drug abuse, or to assess the impact of measures for minimizing the risk of abuse. However, some recent examples show a growing concern about drug addiction, based on a pharmacoepidemiological approach using pharmacovigilance databases or medical administrative data. These examples illustrate the interest of these approaches in the field of drug of abuse.
Why it is probably too soon to assess the public health effects of legalisation of recreational cannabis use in the USA
Hall, W; Lynskey, M
The Lancet Psychiatry
28 June, 2016
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30071-2
The citizens of four US states—Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington—have voted to legalise the sale of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes, and more states look likely to follow. Experience with alcohol and tobacco suggests that a for-profit legal cannabis industry will increase use by making cannabis more socially acceptable to use, making it more readily available at a cheaper price, and increasing the number of users and frequency of their use. We argue that it is too early to see the full effects of legalised cannabis policies on use and harm because several factors could delay the full commercialisation of a legal cannabis industry. These factors include restrictions on various licensed producers and sellers, and legal conflicts between Federal and State laws that might provide a brake on the speed and scale of commercialisation in states that have legalised cannabis. Any increases in cannabis use and harm could be minimised if governments introduced public health policies that limited the promotional activities of a legal cannabis industry, restricted cannabis availability to adults, and maintained cannabis prices at a substantial fraction of the black market price. So far, no states have chosen to implement these policies.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
Amyloid proteotoxicity initiates an inflammatory response blocked by cannabinoids
Currais, A; Quehenberger, O; Armando, A M; Daugherty, D; Maher, P; Schubert, D
Aging and Mechanisms of Disease
23 June 2016
Article number: 16012 (2016)
doi:10.1038/npjamd.2016.12
The beta amyloid (Aβ) and other aggregating proteins in the brain increase with age and are frequently found within neurons. The mechanistic relationship between intracellular amyloid, aging and neurodegeneration is not, however, well understood. We use a proteotoxicity model based upon the inducible expression of Aβ in a human central nervous system nerve cell line to characterize a distinct form of nerve cell death caused by intracellular Aβ. It is shown that intracellular Aβ initiates a toxic inflammatory response leading to the cell's demise. Aβ induces the expression of multiple proinflammatory genes and an increase in both arachidonic acid and eicosanoids, including prostaglandins that are neuroprotective and leukotrienes that potentiate death. Cannabinoids such as tetrahydrocannabinol stimulate the removal of intraneuronal Aβ, block the inflammatory response, and are protective. Altogether these data show that there is a complex and likely autocatalytic inflammatory response within nerve cells caused by the accumulation of intracellular Aβ, and that this early form of proteotoxicity can be blocked by the activation of cannabinoid receptors.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
The dance of addiction: an exploration of systemic addiction interaction with food and sex in a couple dyad
Koerselman, J
Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity
22, 1, p.1-15, 2015
Addictions are commonly conceptualized and treated within the individual. Emerging evidence suggests that for the specific case of a male sex addict and female food addict couple, both conceptualization and treatment of addictions may be more effective if considered in the context of the couple dyad. Using a case example and literature review, this article suggests there are several common neurological, psychological, and behavioral characteristics of these couples that suggest the interaction between the two create a systemic addiction interaction that limits recovery for both. Future directions for research and possible treatment implications are briefly considered.
Tightrope or slackline? The neuroscience of psychoactive substances
Coulon, P; Gorji, A
Trends in Paharmacological Sciences
37, 7, p.511-512, 2016
Novel psychoactive substances flood worldwide markets faster than they can be banned. Legislators struggle to find a balance between free availability, prescription systems, and criminalisation, while physicians try to balance risks and benefits of drug treatment and identify drug abuse – a tightrope walk. Classification of psychoactive substances is central to these decision-making processes but existing classifications rely on unrelated, inconsistent, and shifting guidelines that categorise drugs by chemical structure, toxicity, or addictive potency. We propose that a new categorisation of drugs based on neurobiological mechanisms of action may help to simplify the regulation of drug use, delivers a neurobiological context, and streamlines classification and future regulatory directions. We provide guidelines to distinguish between drug abuse and treatment and to navigate the controversies over legalising or banning drugs. Finally, we comment on the role neuroscientific research can play in the future to solve imminent problems in this highly important field.
Risky substance use environments and addiction: a new frontier for environmental justice research
Mennis, J; Stahler, G J; Mason, M J
International Journal of Environmental Research And Public Health
13( 6) p.607 2016
Substance use disorders are widely recognized as one of the most pressing global public health problems, and recent research indicates that environmental factors, including access and exposure to substances of abuse, neighborhood disadvantage and disorder, and environmental barriers to treatment, influence substance use behaviors. Racial and socioeconomic inequities in the factors that create risky substance use environments may engender disparities in rates of substance use disorders and treatment outcomes. Environmental justice researchers, with substantial experience in addressing racial and ethnic inequities in environmental risk from technological and other hazards, should consider similar inequities in risky substance use environments as an environmental justice issue. Research should aim at illustrating where, why, and how such inequities in risky substance use environments occur, the implications of such inequities for disparities in substance use disorders and treatment outcomes, and the implications for tobacco, alcohol, and drug policies and prevention and treatment programs.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
Underlying substance abuse problems in drunk drivers
Snenghi R, Forza G, Favretto D, Sartore D, Rodinis S, Terranova C, Nalesso A, Montisci M, Ferrara SD
Traffic Injury Prevention
16 (5) p.435-9, 2015
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to investigate polydrug use in drunk drivers.
Methods:
The experimental study was conducted on 2,072 drunk drivers undergoing a driving license reissue protocol at the Department of Legal Medicine of Padova University Hospital in the period between January 2011 and December 2012. The study protocol involved anamnesis, clinical examination, toxicological history, and toxicological analyses on multiple biological samples.
Results:
One thousand eight hundred seventy-seven subjects (90.6%) were assessed as fit to drive, and 195 (9.5%) were declared unfit. Among those unfit, 32 subjects (1.6%) were declared unfit due to recent use of an illicit drug (time span < 6 months), 23 (1.1%) spontaneously interrupted the protocol before its end, and 140 (6.8%) completed the assessment. Ineligibility to drive after completeness of the protocol was established in 1.2% of cases for alcohol disorders and in 5.7% of cases for illicit drug abuse; only one subject was included in both subgroups. Cocaine was the most widely used substance, followed by cannabis, opiates, and psychotropic pharmaceutical drugs.
Conclusions:
The application of the protocol presented in this study allowed the identification of underlying polydrug use in drunk drivers. The study led to the identification of 6.8% unfit subjects on the basis of alcohol disorders and/or drug abuse, compared to 1.2% of identifiable unfitness if the protocol were limited to the mere assessment of alcohol consumption. The frequent association of alcohol and cocaine is different from other patterns of use in North Europe countries.
Moving beyond the other: a critique of the reductionist drugs discourse
Taylor, S
Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit
1, 2016
This paper uses the UK as a vehicle through which to argue that a dominant reductionist drugs discourse exists which simplifies understandings of drug use and drug users leading to socio-cultural misrepresentations of harm, risk and dangerousness. It contends that at the centre of this discourse lies the process of othering – the identification of specific substances and substance users as a threat to UK society. Interestingly, within the wider context of global drug policy reform this othering process appears to be expanding to target a wider variety of factors and actors – those policies, research findings and individuals which contest normative notions, resulting in the marginalisation of ‘alternative voices’ which question the entrenched assumptions associated with drug prohibition. The paper concludes that there is a need for collective action by critical scholars to move beyond the other, calling for academics to be innovative in their research agendas, creative in their dissemination of knowledge and resolute despite the threat of being othered themselves.
Three types of adverse childhood experiences, and alcohol and drug dependence among adults: an investigation using population-based data
Fuller-Thomson, E; Roane, J L; Brennenstuh, S
Substance Use and Misuse
21 June 2016
Background:
There are several gaps in the literature on the link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and substance use, including the impact of less direct forms of abuse, such as witnessing domestic violence, and the role of gender as a moderator of the relationship.
Objectives:
To estimate associations between three types of ACEs (sexual abuse, physical abuse, and exposure to parental domestic violence), when mutually adjusted, and two substance dependence outcomes (alcohol and drug dependence), while considering the potential moderating role of gender and the effects of a range of potential explanatory factors.
Methods:
Secondary analysis of the nationally representative Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (2012) using logistic regression (n = 21,554). A series of models were tested separately for each outcome, including ACEs, gender, race, and age. First, gender interactions were tested. Next, potential explanatory factors were entered into the models and the extent of attenuation was noted. These factors included: depression, anxiety, smoking, pain, insomnia, social support, and socioeconomic status
Results:
All three ACEs are associated with significantly higher odds of alcohol and drug dependence, even when controlling for all factors simultaneously; however, no strong evidence for gender interactions was found. In the fully adjusted model, odds ratios for drug dependence vary from 2.52 (sexual abuse) to 1.34 (exposure to domestic violence). The comparable range for alcohol dependence is 2.13 (physical abuse) to 1.49 (exposure to domestic violence).
Conclusions/Importance:
Three types of ACEs, including direct and indirect forms of violence, are independently related to lifetime drug and alcohol dependence among adult Canadians.
Childhood weight status and timing of first substance use in an ethnically diverse sample
Duckworth, J C; Doran, K A; Waldron, M
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
164, p.172-178, 2016
Background
We examined associations between weight status during childhood and timing of first cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use in an ethnically diverse sample.