Opioid use and sexual violence among drug-using young adults in NYC
The nonmedical use of prescription opioids (POs) has become an area of increasing public health concern in the United States and rates of use are particularly high among young adults. In the past...
View ArticleHepatitis increasingly goes hand in hand with heroin abuse
Public health agencies and drug treatment centers nationwide are scrambling to battle an explosive increase in cases of hepatitis C, a scourge they believe stems at least in part from a surge in...
View ArticleWhite House launches initiative to combat heroin use
The White House is launching a new $5 million initiative to combat heroin use and trafficking of the drug, particularly in states along the East Coast.
View ArticleLong-term brain changes persist years after drug abuse and recovery
It's known that brain changes are present in drug addicts even when they have been abstinent for a short period of time. Now new research shows that alterations persist in long-term abstinent...
View ArticleDC needle exchange program prevented 120 new cases of HIV in two years
The District of Columbia's needle exchange program prevented 120 new cases of HIV infection and saved an estimated $44 million over just a two-year period, according to a first-of-a-kind study...
View ArticleThe stigma against people who use heroin makes it harder for them to get help
Heroin use and dependence have grown dramatically in the US over the last decade. Between 2002-2004 and 2011-2013, past-year use increased by 62.5% and abuse/dependence by 90%. And the demographics of...
View ArticleInjection drug use limits benefits of surgery for treatment of heart lining...
Injection drug users who undergo surgery for infective endocarditis (IE) have a significantly higher risk of reoperation or death between 3 and 6 months after surgery compared to patients who develop...
View ArticleHeavy drinkers and drugs users underestimate their levels of consumption...
Heavy drinkers and users of illegal drugs downplay their relative levels of consumption, when comparing themselves to others, reveals research by the London School of Economics and Political Science...
View ArticleOn the rise: Painkiller abusers who also use heroin
New research shows that drug abusers are not completely abandoning prescription opioids for heroin. Instead, many use the two concurrently based on their availability, according to a survey of 15,000...
View ArticleStudy to explore cocaine's impact on liver disease progression in people with...
Given the advances of the last two decades, HIV is no longer a death sentence for most patients. However, for drug users and hepatitis C- (HCV) infected patients—especially cocaine users—HIV is still...
View ArticleHow the explosion in prescription painkillers has created more heroin users
In the early years of my clinical practice as a psychologist treating heroin users, I commonly saw adolescents and young adults using heroin as their first drug. A typical client was a male in his...
View ArticleHIV rates fall, but not all groups benefit, US study finds
(HealthDay)—The number of Americans diagnosed with HIV each year declined by about one-fifth during the past decade, but not all groups saw drops in prevalence, a federal government study shows.
View ArticleHepatitis C prevention, control efforts should focus on incarcerated individuals
More than one in nine people with hepatitis C in Canada spend time in a correctional facility each year and researchers said this presents a unique opportunity to focus hepatitis C prevention and...
View ArticleRisk of premature death nine-fold among illicit drug users
Premature deaths are almost nine times more common among illicit drug users than among the general Finnish population, shows a new study from the University of Eastern Finland. The excess mortality is...
View ArticleStudy sheds light on source of drug addicts risk-taking behavior
A study out today provides new insight into how the brains of drug addicts may be wired differently. The findings, which appear in the journal Psychopharmacology, show that while drug users have very...
View ArticleA window to prevent HIV/AIDS epidemic in Colombia
In the early 1990s, drug production in Colombia diversified to include heroin as well as cocaine, and since then the country's role in the heroin trade has substantially increased. According to the...
View ArticleAre safe injection facilities for heroin users a step in the right direction?
he opioid crisis continues to grow year after year, with heroin-related deaths jumping 39 percent from 2012 to 2013. Now one U.S. community has proposed an innovative strategy to help combat the...
View ArticleRoots of opioid epidemic can be traced back to two key changes in pain...
Abuse of opium products obtained from poppy plants dates back centuries, but today we are witnessing the first instance of widespread abuse of legal, prescribed drugs that, while structurally similar...
View ArticleHeroin overdose antidote offers hope for vulnerable inmates
When he was a teenager, Lee Gonzales could not save his uncle from a heroin overdose. Now he worries that the same drug could kill him after he gets out of jail.
View ArticleExperts call for global drug policy reform as evidence shows 'war on drugs'...
Fifty years of drug policies aimed at restricting and criminalizing drug use and minor possession have had serious detrimental effects on the health, wellbeing and human rights of drug users and the...
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