Reducing sex under the influence of drugs or alcohol for patients in substance abuse treatment

In a previous report, the effectiveness of the Real Men Are Safe (REMAS) intervention in reducing the number of unprotected sexual occasions among male drug abuse treatment patients was demonstrated. A secondary aim of REMAS was to reduce the frequency with which men engage in sex under the influence (SUI) of drugs or alcohol. The study concludes. Overall, amotivational and skills training HIV prevention intervention designed for men was associated with greater reduction in SUI than standard HIV education at the 3-month follow-up.

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Enhancement drugs: are there limits to what we should enhance and why?

Substances, such as alcohol, opiates and cannabis, have been used by humans for millennia. Today, a much wider range of substances are used for a range of purposes, including the enhancement of performance during university studies, sexual experiences, sports, exercise, at celebrations, socializing and the experience of art and music.

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Factors to Improve the Management of Hepatitis C in Drug Users: An Observational Study in an Addiction Centre

Barriers to management of HCV in injection drug users are related to patients, health providers, and facilities. In a primary care drug user’s addiction centre we studied access to HCV standard of care before and after using an onsite total care concept provided by a multidisciplinary team and noninvasive liver fibrosis evaluation. A total of 586 patients were seen between 2002 and 2004.

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Are adolescents with high socioeconomic status more likely to engage in alcohol and illicit drug use in early adulthood?

Previous literature has shown a divergence by age in the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and substance use: adolescents with low SES are more likely to engage in substance use, as are adults with high SES. However, there is growing evidence that adolescents with high SES are also at high risk for substance abuse. The objective of this study is to examine this relationship longitudinally, that is, whether wealthier adolescents are more likely than those with lower SES to engage in substance use in early adulthood.

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Does heroin addiction makes temperamental changes?

Investigation of specific personality traits is still in focus of modern psychiatry for years. The target usually pursues identification of those personality traits, described as a predisposition of addiction. But the question of fowl and egg is still open: are these traits are predispositions or they are consequences of Heroin personality change. Based on “mathematical” admission that temperamental traits describe an unchangeable basic concept we verify our hypothesis over addicted population.

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Trends in Property and Illicit drug crime around the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kings Cross: An update

The Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) opened in Kings Cross in May 2001. This paper examines whether there have been(a) increases in the volume of robbery, property crime and drug offences in Kings Cross Local Area Command, or (b) increases in the proportion of Kings Cross drug offences occurring in the immediate vicinity of the MSIC, which could be attributed to the MSIC. The report concludes No evidence was found that the MSIC has had a negative impact on robbery, property crime or drug offences in Kings Cross LAC.

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The Law (and Politics) of Safe Injection Facilities in the United States

Safe injection facilities (SIFs) have shown promise in reducing harms and social costs associated with injection drug use. Favorable evaluations elsewhere have raised the issue of their implementation in the United States. Recognizing that laws shape health interventions targeting drug users, we analyzed the legal environment for publicly authorized SIFs in the United States. Although states and some municipalities have the power to authorize SIFs under state law, federal authorities could still interfere with these facilities under the Controlled Substances Act.

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Shooting Gallery Operation in the Context of Establishing a Medically Supervised Injecting Center: Sydney, Australia

Shooting galleries (SGs) are illicit off-street spaces close to drug markets used for drug injection. Supervised injecting facilities (SIFs) are low threshold health services where injecting drug users (IDUs) can inject pre-obtained drugs under supervision. This study describes SG use in Kings Cross, Sydney before and after the opening of the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC), Australia’s first SIF. Operational and environmental characteristics of SGs, reasons for SG use, and willingness to use MSIC were also examined.

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Social structural factors that shape assisted injecting practices among injection drug users in Vancouver, Canada: a qualitative study

Injection drug users (IDU) commonly seek manual assistance with illicit drug injections, a practice known to be associated with various health-related harms. We investigated the social structural factors that shape risks related to assisted injection and the harms that may result.

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A Grounded Theory of Detoxification-Seeking Among Heroin Users in South East Ireland

This study explores a central phenomenon of detoxification-seeking among heroin users in the South East of Ireland, through a grounded theory approach.

The study conceptualises detoxification-seeking as a help-seeking behaviour, experienced by heroin users, but not all, in response to and as a consequence of the complex experience of being heroin dependent, and wanting to become abstinent. The core category, ‘forging a pathway towards abstinence from heroin’, provides an insight into challenges and tasks that research participants undertook when their aim was abstinence.

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