Presentations from the UKDPC’s conference on the future of drug policy "New generation, new problems, new drugs: time for a different approach?"

Interesting article on "Harm Reduction and Young Injecting Drug Users in Indonesia"

The IAS-NIDA Fellowship Programme aims at contributing to the scientific understanding of drug use and HIV while fostering international research collaborations. Applications for 2013 round will be open from 8 December 2012 - 10 February 2013.

EMCDDA's yearly overview of the state of drug problems in Europe. This is an essential reference book for policymakers, specialists and practitioners in the drugs field or indeed anyone seeking the latest findings on drugs in Europe.

During the last 5 years, there has been an important shift in the policy discourse around drugs issues. This article reviews the key changes and continuities in British drugs policy since the mid 1990s. It examines the crime reduction focus of the previous Labour government and the processes by which the recovery discourse came to dominate the current policy framework under the coalition government in 2010.

This paper reviews the published literature regarding outcomes following maternal treatment with buprenorphine in five areas: maternal efficacy, fetal effects, neonatal effects, effects on breast milk and longer-term developmental effects.

The Ethnic Minority Meta-Analysis (EMMA) aims to assess racial/ethnic disparities in HIV infection among people who inject drugs (PWID) across various countries.

EMCDDA reviews the available data on drug use among prison populations in Europe, focusing on injecting drug use and other health risk behaviours. Major health risks for drug-using prisoners, including blood-borne infections and infections that can affect all prisoners equally, such as tuberculosis, are discussed.

The report examines the plight of veterans struggling with incarceration and psychological wounds of war, such as addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, and suggests reforms that could improve the health and preserve the freedom of American soldiers transitioning back to civilian life.

This report describes time trends on the extent of infections among PWID in the UK to the end of 2011.

Substance Misuse Management in General Practice’s up to date resource on current clinical practice.

This issue highlights HCV discussion, upcoming conferences, new publications, and more.

Commentary by Alex Wodak published in the Lancet, “The need for reform of drug laws is now growing in many countries, but change is slow because bad policy is still good politics. Thus, many political systems are unable to move forward with reform of drug laws, and change seems most likely to happen through pressure from civil society.”

In recent years it has become increasingly clear that international human rights monitors and mechanisms view harm reduction services as components of the right to the highest attainable standard of health for people who use drugs.

This presentation slide is for IDHDP members to use at conferences if they wish to introduce IDHDP to fellow doctors.

This flyer is for IDHDP members to distribute at events to promote the aims of IDHDP.

This study examines hepatic enzyme test results throughout the course of pregnancy in women maintained on methadone or buprenorphine.

This document by The London Joint Working Group for Substance Misuse and Hepatitis C, “represents a call to action from experts in the fields of addiction and hepatitis in London. It provides a framework with which to address the epidemiological, clinical and financial challenges presented by current rates of hepatitis C among people who have injected drugs, and sets out solutions in the form of a blueprint for local commissioners”

This paper provides, “A systematic review to identify and synthesise prevalence estimates and risk factors for HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.”

IDPC provides an overview of the data and topics presented in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s World Drug Report, and where appropriate, within the broader context of the current state of the UN drug control framework, offers a critical analysis of both.

Injecting drug use (IDU) is a growing concern in Tanzania compounded by reports of high risk injecting and sexual risk behaviours among people who inject drugs (PWID).

This is an updated report for the EMCDDA on the recent outbreak of HIV infections among drug injectors in Greece

Myanmar opium poppy cultivation jumped 17 per cent in 2012 to 51,000 hectares (up from 43,000 ha in 2011) in spite of Government figures showing that 23,717 ha of opium poppy has been eradicated - more than three times the 7,058 ha it eradicated in 2011.

EMCDDA‘s overview on the extent of, and available responses to, the problems of pregnant drug users and families that are affected by drug use. In the first part of the report, a description of the available data on the extent of drug use during pregnancy and associated risks is followed by a review of responses to drug use among pregnant women across Europe. The second part of the publication focuses on children living in the care of drug users.

Latest mathematical model from Australia broadly applicable also to the UK suggests that offering injectors infection-free injecting equipment has cost-effectively saved/improved lives, and in the long run will save the health service money due to averted HIV and hepatitis C related illnesses. But in both countries adequately curbing hepatitis C requires much more.

The US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has released a new briefing on options for the treatment of opioid dependence including guidance on the use of methadone and buprenorphine.

UKDPC proposes a radical rethink of how we structure our response to drug problems. It provides an analysis of the evidence for how policies and interventions could be improved, with recommendations for policymakers and practitioners to address the new and established challenges associated with drug use

Editorial in the BMJ states what is well-known: that the risks for people who use drugs and the wider community are substantially reduced with opioid substitution treatment

A simulation model for the UK and other countries was used to estimate the impact on the spread of hepatitis C virus of scaling-up opiate substitution therapy and high coverage needle and syringe programmes.

Read presentations from the 2012 conference, including David Wilson from World Bank, who said “Urbanization is the biggest threat to humanity,” Dr Graham Foster on HCV, and Dr Owen Bowden-Jones on club drugs, and more.