The range of medical, psychological, and social services designed to help individuals reduce or stop substance use and manage substance use disorders. Treatment may include assessment, counselling and behavioural therapies, medication-assisted treatment, withdrawal management, and support for co-occurring mental or physical health conditions. Effective treatment is typically person-centred and evidence-informed, and may be provided in outpatient, community, or residential settings. Treatment aims to improve health and functioning, reduce substance-related harms, and support individuals in moving toward recovery and long-term wellbeing.
Treatment
HIV and people who use drugs: Factsheet
The 2021-2026 Global AIDS Strategy has bold and critical new targets on realizing human rights, reducing stigma, discrimination and violence and removing harmful punitive laws as a pathway to ending inequalities and ultimately ending AIDS...
Key considerations to integrate HIV and mental health interventions
A new publication by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes the importance of integrating HIV and mental health services and other interventions, including linkages to social protection services, for people living with...
Responding to drug-related infectious diseases: EMCDDA mini guide
Sharing drug injecting equipment increases the risk of transmitting and acquiring blood-borne infections, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C. While hepatitis C is the most prevalent blood-borne viral infection among people who inject drugs...
HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support for People Who Use Stimulant Drugs
Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, the focus on HIV prevention, treatment and care among people who use drugs has concentrated on the needs of people who inject drugs, and mainly on those who inject opioids. However, data show that...
Correlates of treatment engagement and client outcomes: results of a randomised controlled trial of nabiximols for the treatment of cannabis use disorder
Introduction 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...
Black girls and referrals: racial and gender disparities in self-reported referral to substance use disorder assessment among justice-involved children
Background There is a higher prevalence of substance use disorder (SUD) among justice-involved children (JIC). It is critical to ensure that JIC who report current use are referred for SUD assessment and potentially life-saving treatment...
Disruptions to U.S. local public health’s role in population-based substance use prevention and response during COVID-19
Background COVID-19 dramatically 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...
The Canadian Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (CCENDU) Bulletin: An Update on Stimulant Use and Related Harms in Canada and the United States
The Canadian Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (CCENDU) is a pan-Canadian network of community partners co-ordinated by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA). The network has sites in British Columbia, Manitoba...
World Drug Report at a glance
In the framework of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, several activities took place, including the publication of the World Drug Report elaborated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This...
Brief counselling by a doctor can reduce drinking
A new systematic review and meta-analysis has found that alcohol-targeted brief interventions (short, structured, one-to-one conversations about drinking designed to motivate changes in risky behaviour) delivered in doctors’ offices and...