We are witnessing, arguably, the greatest public health issue of our time. However, that is not to say the public health concerns that were present before the pandemic have disappeared.

Opioid addiction and opioid-related deaths continue to cause great harm to society.

This article discusses the way these two critical issues are interacting and causing damage to particularly vulnerable groups of people.

The author describes how social determinants- the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age- influence levels of risk and overall wellbeing.

He comments on the...

A recent study, published by the National Drug Research Institute (NDRI) at Curtin University in Perth, has estimated that the illegal use of heroin and the misuse of pharmaceutical opioids is costing Australia around $15.7 billion and causing more than 2200 deaths a year. 

This is a significant increase from the previous record that was collected in 2007.

Professor Steve Allsop commented:

“Extra-medical use of opioids is likely to result in adverse outcomes that require the use of health services, reduce work productivity, or result in contact with the criminal justice system,”.

La pandemia di coronavirus ha rappresentato una nuova sfida per i servizi sanitari pubblici di tutto il mondo.

Sebbene gli scienziati stiano lavorando instancabilmente per comprendere di più sul virus, ci sono ancora molte domande senza risposta.

In una recente intervista, la dottoressa Nora Volkow, che dirige il National Institute on Drug Abuse, descrive i fattori che possono aumentare il rischio che il coronavirus causi maggiori danni all'individuo infetto.

Leggi l'intervista completa qui.

What is Naloxone?

Naloxone is a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. It is an opioid antagonist—meaning that it binds to opioid receptors and can reverse and block the effects of other opioids. It can very quickly restore normal respiration to a person whose breathing has slowed or stopped as a result of overdosing with heroin or prescription opioid pain medications. 

Find out more here.

One area of substance misuse among adolescents that is currently a problem, and has not been fully understood in the Nigerian context is the attitudes of adolescents towards cough syrup abuse. Thus, to inform policy actions for reducing cough syrup abuse among Nigerian adolescents, this study explored the attitudes of adolescents towards cough syrup abuse in two Southwest states of Nigeria, where substance abuse is rampant.

By a stratified sampling method, 302 adolescents (152 males, 150 females; mean age = 13.61 years, SD = 2.09) were selected from secondary schools in Lagos and Oyo states...

Abstract

Importance: Nonmedical prescription opioid use is a pressing public health issue in the United States. Transgender youth, including adolescent girls and young women who were assigned male at birth and currently identify as women, female, transgender women, or another diverse gender identity along the transfeminine gender spectrum, are more likely than their cisgender peers to report illicit substance use and meet diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders. However, relatively little is known about the experiences of these populations in the current era of opioid addiction and...