The intersection of substance use with broader public health concerns.
Public Health
Overdose Deaths Related to Fentanyl and Its Analogs
Summary What is already known about this topic? Illicitly manufactured fentanyl has become a significant contributor to unintentional overdose deaths in the United States. What is added by this report? Approximately 90% of unintentional...
Trends in Deaths Involving Heroin and Synthetic Opioids Excluding Methadone, and Law Enforcement Drug Product Reports
Summary What is already known about this topic? Opioid overdose deaths in the United States have been increasing since 1999, initially driven by prescription opioid misuse and more recently by heroin and other illicit opioid use. What is...
A Serious Matter: Laughing Gas Prompts Review of UK’s Psychoactive Substances Act
Introduced in 2016, The Psychoactive Substances Act is designed to deal with the influx of new drugs often labelled ‘legal highs’. The Act bans any substance that "by stimulating or depressing the person’s central nervous system… affects...
Worrying Substance Use Trends among over 50s
In 2011, the Royal College of Psychiatrists advised that over 50s should not exceed more than 11 units of alcohol a week, compared with 14 for the rest of the adult population, due to age-related physiological and metabolic changes. Since...
Guidelines for the Evaluation of Drug Prevention: A Manual for Programme Planners and Evaluators
Guidelines for the Evaluation of Drug Prevention: A Manual for Programme Planners and Evaluators is a publication by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). It is the second edition of the 1998 EMCDDA...
Alcohol-Related Liver Disease: Guidance for Good Practice
The Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) is pleased to invite you to the national launch of SHAAP’s ‘Alcohol-related liver disease: Guidance for Good Practice’ and delighted that Dr Catherine Calderwood, the Chief Medical Officer, has agreed to speak.
Economic Hardships and Patterns of Drug Consumption in Europe
A new study recently published in the Journal of Health Economics considers the changes in patterns of drug consumption and attitudes towards substances among youth (15-24) across 28 European countries. Of particular interest for the...
Substance Use among Transgender Students in California Public Middle and High Schools
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Transgender adolescents face tremendous social stress in families and schools, which often leads to behavioral health disparities. This study assessed whether rates of substance use were higher among transgender...
Drugs, Brains and Behavior: The Science of Addiction
Since the 1930s, the response to drug addiction has moved from one that focuses on the need to punish users to another that recognises the importance of prevention and treatment approaches. In other words, thanks to scientific advances...
