Increasing Availability of Illicit Drugs Among People Who Inject Drugs in Bangkok, Thailand.
Increasing availability of illicit drugs among people who inject drugs in Bangkok, Thailand.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2013 Mar 11;
Hayashi K, Nosyk B, Ti L, Suwannawong P, Kaplan K, Wood E, Kerr T
BACKGROUND: In recent years, the Thai government has strengthened drug law enforcement as a strategy to address a continuing epidemic of illicit drug use. We sought to assess temporal trends in street-level availability of illicit drugs among injection drug users (IDUs) in Bangkok, Thailand. METHODS: Using univariate statistics and multivariate logistic regression, we assessed changes in the availability of five substances (heroin, methamphetamine, crystal methamphetamine, midazolam, and illicit methadone) between 2009 and 2011 and examined social, structural and individual factors influencing availability among community-recruited samples of IDUs in Bangkok. Availability was measured in three levels: immediate (available in ?10min); moderate (available in 10-90min); and delayed (available in >90min; our reference category). RESULTS: The analyses included 718 IDUs, including 165 (23.0%) women. Controlling for changes in participant characteristics between assessments, and in a period of constant nominal illicit drug prices, moderate availability of all substances increased significantly between 2009 and 2011, with adjusted odds ratios ranging between 2.36 (illicit methadone) and 4.61 (crystal methamphetamine) (all p<0.01). Immediate availability of all substances but heroin also increased (all p<0.01). More immediate availability of methamphetamine was also associated with a history of incarceration (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the Thai government's intensified drug suppression efforts, the availability of illicit drugs among IDUs in Bangkok increased significantly between 2009 and 2011. The findings raise concern about the overreliance on drug law enforcement-based approaches and point to the need for greater investment in evidence-based drug policies. HubMed – Methadone
Buprenorphine and buprenorphine/naloxone intoxication in children – how strong is the risk?
Curr Drug Abuse Rev. 2013 Mar 11;
Soyka M
Opioid maintenance therapy with methadone or buprenorphine is an established and first-line treatment for opioid dependence. Risk of diversion and toxicity of opioid prescription drugs, including buprenorphine, causes significant concerns. This is particular case mostly found in the United States, where the number of related emergency visits is increasing, especially in children. A systematic literature research (Medline, Pubmed) was performed to assess the risk associated with buprenorphine. The search, which was not limited to particular publication years, was performed with the key words buprenorphine AND toxicity (114 counts ) AND children (4 counts) and buprenorphine AND mortality AND children (5 counts). In addition, the author obtained information from relevant websites (NIDA, SAMSHA) and pharmacovigilance data from the manufacturer of buprenorphine. Clinical and toxicological data suggest a low risk for fatal intoxications associated with bupreorphine in adults. Data from emergency units indicate a dramatic, 20-fold increase in buprenorphine exposure in children over the past decade, mostly in those under 6. The US ‘Researched Abuse, Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance’ (RADARS) system indicates a lower risk of severe opioid intoxications with buprenorphine than with other opioids, with no fatal outcomes recorded. Correspondingly, data from spontaneous reports to the surveillance programme of the manufacturer of buprenorphine (13,600 buprenorphine exposures, 4879 of these in children under six) show a serious medical outcome in 34% of children under the age of six but only one fatal outcome. Although exposure to buprenorphine and other opioids remains a significant concern in children, the drug seems rather to be safe with respect to severe outcomes, in particular death.
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Opioid Agonist Treatments and Heroin Overdose Deaths in Baltimore, Maryland, 1995-2009.
Am J Public Health. 2013 Mar 14;
Schwartz RP, Gryczynski J, O’Grady KE, Sharfstein JM, Warren G, Olsen Y, Mitchell SG, Jaffe JH
Objectives. We examined the association between the expansion of methadone and buprenorphine treatment and the prevalence of heroin overdose deaths in Baltimore, Maryland from 1995 to 2009. Methods. We conducted a longitudinal time series analysis of archival data using linear regression with the Newey-West method to correct SEs for heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation, adjusting for average heroin purity. Results. Overdose deaths attributed to heroin ranged from a high of 312 in 1999 to a low of 106 in 2008. While mean heroin purity rose sharply (1995-1999), the increasing number of patients treated with methadone was not associated with a change in the number of overdose deaths, but starting in 2000 expansion of opioid agonist treatment was associated with a decline in overdose deaths. Adjusting for heroin purity and the number of methadone patients, there was a statistically significant inverse relationship between heroin overdose deaths and patients treated with buprenorphine (P?=?.002). Conclusions. Increased access to opioid agonist treatment was associated with a reduction in heroin overdose deaths. Implementing policies that support evidence-based medication treatment of opiate dependence may decrease heroin overdose deaths. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print March 14, 2013: e1-e6. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.301049).
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