EMCDDA DOCUMENTATION CENTRE
INFORMATION BULLETIN
GENERAL INFORMATION BULLETIN
13 November 2015
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EVENT
HIT Hot Topics
Liverpool, UK
27 November 2015
Our main speaker is Ethan Nadelmann. Ethan was described by Rolling Stone as "the point man" for drug policy reform efforts. He is the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, the leading organisation in the United States promoting alternatives to the war on drugs. Ethan and his colleagues have played pivotal roles in most of the major drug policy reform ballot initiative campaigns in the United States on issues ranging from medical marijuana and marijuana legalisation to prison reform, drug treatment and reform of asset forfeiture laws. They also have reformed state and federal laws involving drug sentencing, access to sterile syringes to reduce HIV/AIDS, access to drug treatment, prevention of overdose fatalities, and all aspects of marijuana policy.
https://hit.org.uk/index.php/events/hot-topics-conference/conference
WEBSITE
Practitioner Resource
National Documentation Centre on Drug Use
This resource contains resources of interest to those working in the alcohol and other drug area. Our collection includes all Irish drug, alcohol and tobacco-related research, and this is supplemented by key international publications. Because these issues affect so many aspects of daily life, we also have publications on related subjects (such as poverty, homelessness, mental health, and social care).
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/practitioners
GREY LITERATURE
Drugs and illicit practices: assessing their impact on development and governance
Gutierrez, E
Christian Aid
London: October 2015
In-depth case studies from four of the countries at the heart of the illicit drugs trade – Afghanistan, Colombia, Mali and Tajikistan – show how the illicit drugs trade is shaping the economies, governance, and social fabric of entire nations. This synthesis report explains the urgent need for this analysis, sets out the case studies’ main findings, raises the questions we need to start grappling with, and begins the search for solutions | Christian Aid, UK (PDF)
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Drugs_and_illicit_practices-assessing_their_impact_on_development_and_governance.pdf
Step by Step: Preparing to work with children and young people who inject drugs
Iorpenda, K; Veronese, V; Burrows, D
International HIV/AIDS Alliance
London: October 2015
52p.
Globally, the protection and care of children and young people who inject drugs receiveslittle attention. It is a controversial and often misunderstood issue and one that is severelyunderfunded. Young people report experiencing significant barriers to accessingharm reduction services when they are under 18 due to a number of factors, including staffattitudes and organisational policies and practices.
This resource is intended for harm reduction service providers with limited experience ofworking with children and young people who inject drugs. It sets out a process that you cango through quickly, with little cost, to prepare for work with children and young people whoare under 18. It is designed to help your organisation and staff to feel safe in commencingthis work, and to support you in thinking through the challenging situations and decisionsthat you face. In some cases, it may lead you to decide that you are not yet ready to goahead with this work.
This tool is a product of a partnership between Harm Reduction International (HRI), YouthRise, International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Save the Children.
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Step_by_Step-Preparing_to_work_with_children_and_young_people_who_inject_drugs.pdf
Good practice guide for employing people who use drugs
Southwell, M; Lakhina, O; Andruschenko, M.
International HIV/AIDS Alliance
London: October 2015
60p.
This guide has practical tools and suggestions on how tomeaningfully involve peoplewho use drugs (PWUD) inpeer led interventions. PWUDhave the right to be employed.Policies that routinely exclude PWUD from the workplace arediscriminatory.
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Good_practice_guide_for_employing_people_who_use_drugs.pdf
A global review of the harm reduction response to amphetamines: a 2015 update
Pinkham, S; Stone, K
International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA)
London: October 2015
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/A_global_review_of_the_harm_reduction_response_to_ampthetamines-a_2015_update.pdf
What comes after the War on Drugs – flexibility, fragmentation or principled pluralism?
Cockayne, J and Walker, S
United Nations University
New York, NY: November 2015
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/What_comes_after_the_War_on_Drugs-flexibility_fragmentation_or_principled_pluralism.pdf
Drug policy reform in Latin America: discourse and reality
Corda, A
Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD)
Washington, DC: 2015
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Drug_policy_reform_in_Latin_America-discourse_and_reality.pdf
Safe partying for all ages
Factsheet (2p.) with alcohol and drug information | Australian Drug Foundation, Australia
http://www.adf.org.au/images/stories/CEAP/ADF_FactSheet_SafeParty.pdf
La lunga strada dell'oppio. Intorno all'uso di una sostanza antica: storia, commercio e guerre
Delaini, P
In: Analgesici oppioidi: Uso, abuso e addiction. Diagnosi e trattamento di un fenomeno sommerso
Lugoboni, F e Zamboni, L (eds.)
Edizioni Clad-Onlus
Verona: 2015
15p.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
Report of the Committee on a Harm Reducing and Rehabilitative approach to possession of small amounts of illegal drugs
Houses of the Oireachtas: Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality
Dublin: November 2015
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Report_of_the_Committee_on_a_Harm_Reducing_and_Rehabilitative_approach_to_possession_of_small_amounts_of_illegal_drugs.pdf
Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, financial year ending 2015
Home Office
London: November 2015
This release contains the number of drug seizures made and quantity of drugs seized | Home Office, UK
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/Seizures_of_drugs_in_England_and_Wales-2014-15.pdf
National Naloxone Programme Scotland - Monitoring Report 2014/15
National Health Service Scotland
Edinburgh: 27 October 2015
http://klmsvr.emcdda.org/vlib/National_Naloxone_Programme_Scotland_-_Monitoring_Report_2014-15.pdf
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Addiction in the making
Garriott, W and Raikhel, E
Annual Review of Anthropology
44: p.477-491, 2015
This review traces the literatures in cultural anthropology and neighboring disciplines that are focused on addiction as an object of knowledge and intervention, and as grounds for self-identification, sociality, and action. Highlighting the production of disease categories, the staging of therapeutic interventions, and the ongoing work of governance, this work examines addiction as a key site for the analysis of contemporary life. It likewise showcases a general movement toward accounts of addiction that foreground complexity, contingency, and multiplicity.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
Epigenetic effects of cannabis exposure
Szutorisz, H; Hurd, Y L
Biological Psychiatry
Available online 3 November 2015
doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.09.014
The past decade has witnessed a number of societal and political changes that have raised critical questions about the long-term impact of marijuana (Cannabis sativa) that are especially important given the prevalence of its abuse and that potential long-term effects still largely lack scientific data. Disturbances of the epigenome have generally been hypothesized as the molecular machinery underlying the persistent, often tissue-specific transcriptional and behavioral effects of cannabinoids that have been observed within one’s lifetime and even into the subsequent generation. Here, we provide an overview of the current published scientific literature that has examined epigenetic effects of cannabinoids. Though mechanistic insights about the epigenome remain sparse, accumulating data in humans and animal models have begun to reveal aberrant epigenetic modifications in brain and the periphery linked to cannabis exposure. Expansion of such knowledge and causal molecular relationships could help provide novel targets for future therapeutic interventions.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
Alcohol and drug use by Spanish drivers: Comparison of two cross-sectional road-side surveys (2008-9/2013).
Fierro, I, González-Luque, J C, Seguí-Gómez, M, Álvarez, F J
International Journal of Drug Policy;
26 (8) p.794-797, 2015
Journalists and substance use: a systematic literature review
MacDonald, J; Saliba, A J; Hodgins, G
Substance Abuse
DOI: 10.1080/08897077.2015.1101732
Background:
Journalists' exposure to PTEs, high levels of job stress, and anecdotal reports within the industry seem to suggest that journalists are at greater risk than the general population to experience substance use disorders. The present systematic literature review (SLR) aims to provide a concise, comprehensive, and systematic review of the quantitative literature relating to journalists' experience of substance use.
Methods:
The systematic review method adopted within the present study was based on that prescribed by Fink,1 which contains three main elements: sampling the literature, screening the literature, and extracting data.
Results:
Alcohol consumption is the most widely studied substance in journalist samples and is discussed in relation to quantity, level of risk, and potential alcoholism. The review also considers journalists use of substances including cigarettes, cannabis, and other illicit substances. In particular, comparisons are made between journalistic roles and gender.
Conclusions:
The research is piecemeal in nature, in that more recent research does not build upon the research that has come before it. Much of what has been reported does not reflect the progress that has taken place in recent years within the alcohol consumption and substance use field in terms of theory, assessment, scale development, practice, and interventions with those who use or are addicted to various substances. This SLR raises a number of methodological and theoretical issues to be explored and addressed in future research.
Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century
Case, A; Deaton, A
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
November 2015
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1518393112
This paper documents a marked increase in the all-cause mortality of middle-aged white non-Hispanic men and women in the United States between 1999 and 2013. This change reversed decades of progress in mortality and was unique to the United States; no other rich country saw a similar turnaround. The midlife mortality reversal was confined to white non-Hispanics; black non-Hispanics and Hispanics at midlife, and those aged 65 and above in every racial and ethnic group, continued to see mortality rates fall. This increase for whites was largely accounted for by increasing death rates from drug and alcohol poisonings, suicide, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis. Although all education groups saw increases in mortality from suicide and poisonings, and an overall increase in external cause mortality, those with less education saw the most marked increases. Rising midlife mortality rates of white non-Hispanics were paralleled by increases in midlife morbidity. Self-reported declines in health, mental health, and ability to conduct activities of daily living, and increases in chronic pain and inability to work, as well as clinically measured deteriorations in liver function, all point to growing distress in this population. We comment on potential economic causes and consequences of this deterioration.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
Drugs-related death soon after hospital-discharge among drug treatment clients in Scotland: record linkage, validation, and investigation of risk-factors
White SR, Bird SM, Merrall ELC, Hutchinson SJ
PLoS ONE, 2015, 10, 11, e0141073. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0141073
We validate that the 28 days after hospital-discharge are high-risk for drugs-related death (DRD) among drug users in Scotland and investigate key risk-factors for DRDs soon after hospital-discharge. Using data from an anonymous linkage of hospitalisation and death records to the Scottish Drugs Misuse Database (SDMD), including over 98,000 individuals registered for drug treatment during 1 April 1996 to 31 March 2010 with 705,538 person-years, 173,107 hospital-stays, and 2,523 DRDs. Time-at-risk of DRD was categorised as: during hospitalization, within 28 days, 29–90 days, 91 days–1 year, >1 year since most recent hospital discharge versus ‘never admitted’. Factors of interest were: having ever injected, misuse of alcohol, length of hospital-stay (0–1 versus 2+ days), and main discharge-diagnosis. We confirm SDMD clients’ high DRD-rate soon after hospital-discharge in 2006–2010. DRD-rate in the 28 days after hospital-discharge did not vary by length of hospital-stay but was significantly higher for clients who had ever-injected versus otherwise. Three leading discharge-diagnoses accounted for only 150/290 DRDs in the 28 days after hospital-discharge, but ever-injectors for 222/290. Hospital-discharge remains a period of increased DRD-vulnerability in 2006–2010, as in 1996–2006, especially for those with a history of injecting.
[FULL TEXT AVAILABLE]
Do consumers substitute opium for hashish? An economic analysis of simultaneous cannabinoid and opiate consumption in a legal regime
Chandra, S; Chandra, M
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
156, p.170-175, 2015
Aim
To analyze interrelationships in the consumption of opiates and cannabinoids in a legal regime and, specifically, whether consumers of opiates and cannabinoids treat them as substitutes for each other.
Method
Econometric dynamic panel data models for opium consumption are estimated using the generalized method of moments (GMM). A unique dataset containing information about opiate (opium) consumption from the Punjab province of British India for the years 1907–1918 is analyzed (n=252) as a function of its own price, the prices of two forms of cannabis (the leaf (bhang), and the resin (charas, or hashish)), and wage income. Cross-price elasticities are examined to reveal substitution or complementarity between opium and cannabis.
Results
Opium is a substitute for charas (or hashish), with a cross price elasticity (βˆ3) of 0.14 (p0.05), but not for bhang (cannabis leaves; cross price elasticity=0.00, p0.10). Opium consumption (βˆ1=0.47 to 0.49, p0.01) shows properties of habit persistence consistent with addiction. The consumption of opium is slightly responsive (inelastic) to changes in its own price (βˆ2=−0.34 to −0.35, p0.05 to 0.01) and consumer wages (βˆ1=0.15, p0.05).
Conclusion
Opium and hashish, a form of cannabis, are substitutes. In addition, opium consumption displays properties of habit persistence and slight price and wage income responsiveness (inelasticity) consistent with an addictive substance.
Effects of prenatal immune activation on amphetamine-induced addictive behaviors: Contributions from animal models
Borçoi AR, Patti CL, Zanin KA, Hollais AW, Santos-Baldaia R, Ceccon LM, Berro LF, Wuo-Silva R, Grapiglia SB, Ribeiro LT, Lopes-Silva LB, Frussa-Filho R
Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
63:63-69, 2015
Background:
Prenatal environmental adversities may affect brain development and are associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, an illness with 50% comorbidity with addiction. Maternal immune activation by poly-inosinic-citidilic acid (Poly(I:C)) exposure can promote behavioral alterations consistent with schizophrenia symptoms in rodents.
Objectives:
Considering the vulnerability to addiction in patients with schizophrenia, we evaluated the interactions between prenatal Poly(I:C) administration and addiction in two animal models (behavioral sensitization and conditioned place preference - CPP) in mice repeatedly treated with amphetamine (AMP). Additionally, stereotyped behavior and cross-sensitization with cocaine (COC) were also investigated.
Methods:
Swiss male mice offspring were submitted to prenatal administration of 5mg/kg Poly(I:C) in the 9(th) day of pregnancy. At the age of 90days, mice were treated with 2.5mg/kg AMP for 9days to evaluate behavioral sensitization or stereotyped behavior. Cross-sensitization with 10mg/kg COC was evaluated 24h after the last treatment day. For AMP-induced CPP evaluation, mice were treated during 8 consecutive days.
Results:
Prenatal Poly(I:C) administration potentiated both AMP-induced behavioral sensitization and CPP. Furthermore, Poly(I:C) increased cross-sensitization with COC.
Conclusions:
Prenatal administration of Poly(I:C) is able to potentiate vulnerability to addiction in two animal models, without however modulating stereotyped behavior.
NEWS STORIES
Everything we think we know about addiction is wrong
What causes addiction? Easy, right? Drugs cause addiction. But maybe it is not that simple | In a Nutshell – Kurzgesagt, USA