Search
Overdose Antidote Takes Harm-Reduction Centre Stage
One of our selection of hot topics, analyses of important issues which sometimes generate heated debate. Programmes distributing the opiate overdose antidote naloxone have become the great new hope for curbing the rise in drug-related...
Clinical Application of Cultural Elements for Hispanic and Latino Populations
This manual is designed to teach cultural competence concepts, values, and strategies for engagement and treatment with Hispanics and Latinos with substance use disorders (SUD). The manual introduces a basic understanding of cultural...
Quality of Behavioural Drug Treatment Implementation Dictates its Success
Contingency management (CM) is a widely used behavioural therapy for substance use disorders. It offers material rewards for attending sessions and adhering to prescribed medication courses, amongst other positive behaviours.
A study...
Mental Health and Synthetic Cannabinoid Use
Recently published in the journal Pediatrics, the first prospective study of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) – chemicals that mimic the effects of marijuana – links depressive symptoms and marijuana and alcohol consumption with an increased...
Highs and Lows: Substance Use and Academic Performance
According to a new study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, US college students who consume medium-to-high levels of alcohol and marijuana have a consistently lower grade point average (GPA).
The investigation compared...
A Scientific Development for the Treatment of Cocaine Addiction?
A new study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry claims that one’s desire for cocaine may be reduced by blocking signalling from a specific system in the brain primarily responsible for promoting wakefulness and appetite.
The...
Emotional Abuse during Childhood Linked to Future Opioid Use
Recently published in the journal Addictive Behaviors, a new study claims the existence of a link between childhood abuse and opioid use later in life.
According to the investigation, emotional abuse, specifically, more so than sexual or...
Reducing Opioid-Related Deaths in the UK
Robust messages for the government from the UK’s official drug policy advisers:
- Ageing profile of multiply-ill heroin users will continue to press up drug-related deaths.
- To counteract this pressure government must maintain investment...
Limited Opportunities? Caring for People with Substance Use Disorders
According to a new study, most health care professionals are given little opportunity to learn about substance abuse in pre-service educational programmes.
ISSUP at the 60th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Earlier this week ISSUP attended the 60th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) at the Vienna International Centre.
Understanding the Brain’s Role in Drug Addiction
Findings recently revealed in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews and the Journal of Neuroscience suggest the cerebellum is co-responsible for the alterations in the brain that are linked with excessive substance abuse.
This goes...
Sporting Activity and Substance Abuse among Teens: What’s the Link?
A recent survey which looked at the drug habits of over 20,000 US high-school athletes has found those who play high-contact sports, such as hockey, are more likely to use heroin and prescription opioids for non-medicinal purposes.
The...
Public Health Strategies to Prevent Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: CDC Grand Rounds
Public Health Burden of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a drug withdrawal syndrome that most commonly occurs in infants after in utero exposure to opioids, although other substances have also been...
Podcast: Do Tobacco Cessation Interventions Provided during Substance Abuse Treatment or Recovery Help Tobacco Users to Quit?
Smoking rates in people with alcohol and other drug dependencies are two to four times those of the general population. Concurrent treatment of tobacco dependence has been limited due to concern that these interventions are not successful...
Effectiveness Bank Matrix Bite: The Talker in the Talking Route to Recovery
In psychosocial therapies, the enactment of the client-worker relationship is the treatment. Structured around Carl Rogers’ classic formulation of the “necessary and sufficient conditions” for therapeutic progress, the cell in the Alcohol...
Can Drug Prevention Programmes Reduce Substance Use by Participants’ Friends?
Besides reducing substance use between its participants one prevention programme also reduced drug use among the friends of those who took part.
Opioids Linked to Increase in Cocaine-Related Overdose Deaths
Heroin and synthetic opioids are propelling an upsurge of late in cocaine-related overdose deaths. This is according to a national survey carried out by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) amongst other drug...
Alcohol Use Disorders Webinar
The Progress in Mind Resource Centre held a one-hour webinar on alcohol use disorders. The webinar was delivered by Wim van den Brink, Professor of Psychiatry and Addiction at the University of Amsterdam, and Steve Brinksman, GP and...
The Opiate Epidemic - Free Access Article Collection
Although the abuse of many substances has declined across the globe in recent years, the misuse of prescription and non-medical pharmaceutical opioids has significantly increased. The Taylor & Francis Group, which publishes peer-reviewed...
Synthetic Drugs on the Rise in Afghanistan
Seizures of methamphetamine have increased in Afghanistan, according to a new report from the United Nations drug and crime agency. It also suggests that the drug is being produced inside the country.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime...