Articles

Third party drug checking: accessing harm reduction services on the behalf of others

Drug checking uses chemical analytical technologies to analyze drugs from the unregulated market to reduce substance use-related risks. We aim to examine the frequency of third party use of a community drug ch...

Authors: Ashley Larnder, Piotr Burek, Bruce Wallace and Dennis K. Hore

“It is the One Thing that has Worked”: facilitators and barriers to switching to nicotine salt pod system e-cigarettes among African American and Latinx people who smoke: a content analysis

Electronic cigarettes are a harm reduction strategy for individuals who smoke cigarettes who cannot or do not want to quit using FDA-approved cessation methods. Identifying perceived facilitators and barriers ...

Authors: Kim Pulvers, Myra Rice, Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, Michael J. Arnold, Crystal Marez and Nicole L. Nollen

Investigation on heroin and cocaine quality in Luxembourg

Heroin and cocaine are among the most dangerous illicit drugs available and their presence on the market is increasing. These facts have led to the investigation of the quality of heroin and cocaine samples se...

Authors: Adèle Bourmaud, Georges Dahm, François Meys, Nicolas Gengler, Alain Origer and Serge Schneider

Development and testing of relative risk-based health messages for electronic cigarette products

Health messages on e-cigarette packs emphasise nicotine addiction or harms using similar wording to warnings on cigarette packs. These may not be appropriate for e-cigarettes which constitute a reduced risk al...

Authors: Catherine Kimber, Sharon Cox, Daniel Frings, Ian P. Albery and Lynne Dawkins

How a sample of English stop smoking services and vape shops adapted during the early COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods cross-sectional survey

The COVID-19 pandemic in England led to major changes in the delivery of support via stop smoking services (SSS) and to the widespread temporary closure of bricks and mortar e-cigarette retailers (vape shops h...

Authors: Sharon Cox, Emma Ward, Louise Ross and Caitlin Notley

Correction to: Hostility, compassion and role reversal in West Virginia’s long opioid overdose emergency

Authors: Jeff Ondocsin, Sarah G. Mars, Mary Howe and Daniel Ciccarone

Prevalence and correlates of non-fatal overdose among people who use drugs: findings from rapid assessments in Massachusetts, 2017–2019

People who experience non-fatal overdose (NFOD) are at high risk of subsequent overdose. With unprecedented increases in fentanyl in the US drug supply, many Massachusetts (MA) communities have seen a surge in...

Authors: Shikhar Shrestha, Thomas J. Stopka, Jaclyn M. W. Hughto, Patricia Case, Wilson R. Palacios, Brittni Reilly and Traci C. Green

Drug use, homelessness and health: responding to the opioid overdose crisis with housing and harm reduction services

Canada is in the midst of an opioid overdose crisis and Alberta has one of the highest opioid use rates across the country. Populations made vulnerable through structural inequities who also use opioids, such ...

Authors: Katrina Milaney, Jenna Passi, Lisa Zaretsky, Tong Liu, Claire M. O’Gorman, Leslie Hill and Daniel Dutton

A drug-related Good Samaritan Law and calling emergency medical services for drug overdoses in a Canadian setting

People who use drugs (PWUD) are known to fear calling emergency medical services (EMS) for drug overdoses. In response, drug-related Good Samaritan Laws (GSLs) have been widely adopted in the USA and Canada to...

Authors: Soroush Moallef, JinCheol Choi, M.-J. Milloy, Kora DeBeck, Thomas Kerr and Kanna Hayashi

Food access among people who inject drugs in West Virginia

The substance use epidemic in the United States continues to drive high levels of morbidity and mortality, particularly among people who inject drugs (PWID). Poor access to food often co-occurs with drug use a...

Authors: Saba Rouhani, Sean T. Allen, Sara Whaley, Rebecca Hamilton White, Allison O’Rourke, Kristin E. Schneider, Michael E. Kilkenny, Brian W. Weir and Susan G. Sherman

Opioid overdose crises during the COVID-19 pandemic: implication of health disparities

Recent data suggest a disproportionate impact of opioid overdoses on Black Americans. The study aims to describe emergency department (ED) visits at a Southern, urban ED pertaining to opioid overdose and assoc...

Authors: Ishika Patel, Lauren A. Walter and Li Li

“It’s like ‘liquid handcuffs”: The effects of take-home dosing policies on Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) patients’ lives

Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways of reducing risk of overdose, arrest, and transmission of blood-borne viruses like HIV and HCV among people that use...

Authors: David Frank, Pedro Mateu-Gelabert, David C. Perlman, Suzan M. Walters, Laura Curran and Honoria Guarino

High-dose intravenous hydromorphone for patients who use opioids in the hospital setting: time to reduce the barriers

Individuals who use opioids have higher rates of hospitalization compared to the general population. Insufficiently treated withdrawal and pain are major factors contributing to high rates of self-initiated ho...

Authors: Laura E. Labonté and Samantha Young

Sexualized drug injection among men who have sex with men in Madrid and Barcelona as the first episode of drug injecting

We estimate the prevalence of drug injection, the variables associated with having ever injected and the proportion of ever injectors whose first drug injection was for having sex; we describe the first drug i...

Authors: Juan-Miguel Guerras, Patricia García de Olalla, María José Belza, Luis de la Fuente, David Palma, Jorge del Romero, Jorge-Néstor García-Pérez and Juan Hoyos

A qualitative study on overdose response in the era of COVID-19 and beyond: how to spot someone so they never have to use alone

Spotting is an informal practice among people who use drugs (PWUD) where they witness other people using drugs and respond if an overdose occurs. During COVID-19 restrictions, remote spotting (e.g., using a te...

Authors: Melissa Perri, Natalie Kaminski, Matthew Bonn, Gillian Kolla, Adrian Guta, Ahmed M. Bayoumi, Laurel Challacombe, Marilou Gagnon, Natasha Touesnard, Patrick McDougall and Carol Strike

Factors affecting addiction severity index (ASI) among clients enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) program in Myanmar

Opioid substitution with methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is shown to reduce illicit opioid use and renew social functioning. Understanding factors that undermine clients’ social functioning during MMT tr...

Authors: Sun Tun, B. Vicknasingam and Darshan Singh

Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) as harm reduction: a qualitative study exploring views of women with histories of opioid misuse

The sharp rise in opioid use disorder (OUD) among women coupled with disproportionally high rates of unintended pregnancy have led to a four-fold increase in the number of pregnant women with OUD in the United...

Authors: Stephani L. Stancil, Melissa K. Miller, Alex Duello, Sarah Finocchario-Kessler, Kathy Goggin, Rachel P. Winograd and Emily A. Hurley

What are the ethical implications of using prize-based contingency management in substance use? A scoping review

The area of substance use is notable for its early uptake of incentives and wealth of research on the topic. This is particularly true for prize-based contingency management (PB-CM), a particular type of incen...

Authors: Marilou Gagnon, Alayna Payne and Adrian Guta

“We're actually more of a likely ally than an unlikely ally”: relationships between syringe services programs and law enforcement

Syringe services programs provide sterile injection supplies and a range of health services (e.g., HIV and HEP-C testing, overdose prevention education, provision of naloxone) to a hard-to-reach population, in...

Authors: Carol Y. Franco, Angela E. Lee-Winn, Sara Brandspigel, Musheng L. Alishahi and Ashley Brooks-Russell

Treatment experiences for skin and soft tissue infections among participants of syringe service programs in North Carolina

Bacterial and fungal infections, such as skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) and infective endocarditis (IE), are increasing among people who use drugs in the United States. Traditional healthcare settings...

Authors: Mary C. Figgatt, Zach R. Salazar, Louise Vincent, Diannee Carden-Glenn, Kelly Link, Lauren Kestner, Tyler Yates, Asher Schranz, Elizabeth Joniak-Grant and Nabarun Dasgupta

Impact of tobacco and/or nicotine products on health and functioning: a scoping review and findings from the preparatory phase of the development of a new self-report measure

Measuring self-reported experience of health and functioning is important for understanding the changes in the health status of individuals switching from cigarettes to less harmful tobacco and/or nicotine pro...

Authors: Esther F. Afolalu, Erica Spies, Agnes Bacso, Emilie Clerc, Linda Abetz-Webb, Sophie Gallot and Christelle Chrea

Hidden populations: risk behaviours in drug-using populations in the Republic of Georgia through subsequent peer-driven interventions

Georgia has a significant risk of ongoing HIV and HCV outbreak. Within this context, harm reduction aims to reduce risk associated with drug use through community activities, such as peer recruitment and invol...

Authors: Cale Lawlor, Marine Gogia, Irma Kirtadze, Keti Stvilia, Guranda Jikia and Tamar Zurashvili

Substance use and overdose risk: documenting the perspectives of formerly incarcerated persons in the Fraser East region of BC

The relationship between incarceration and risk of overdose has been well-documented in the literature, but few studies document the perspectives of persons at risk of overdose who were incarcerated. This sub-...

Authors: Celine McCaughran-Contreras, Saranee Fernando, Mike Sikora, Jennifer Hawkins, Marinel Kniseley, Daniel Snyder, Connie Long, James Robson, Amanda Slaunwhite and Amy Salmon

Municipal police support for harm reduction services in officer-led referrals of people who inject drugs in Tijuana, Mexico

Police constitute a structural determinant of health and HIV risk of people who inject drugs (PWID), and negative encounters with law enforcement present significant barriers to PWID access to harm reduction s...

Authors: Pieter Baker, Jaime Arredondo, Annick Borquez, Erika Clairgue, Maria L. Mittal, Mario Morales, Teresita Rocha-Jimenez, Richard Garfein, Eyal Oren, Eileen Pitpitan, Steffanie A. Strathdee, Leo Beletsky and Javier A. Cepeda

Willingness to use a wearable device capable of detecting and reversing overdose among people who use opioids in Philadelphia

The incidence of opioid-related overdose deaths has been rising for 30 years and has been further exacerbated amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Naloxone can reverse opioid overdose, lower death rates, and enable a...

Authors: Katie Kanter, Ryan Gallagher, Feyisope Eweje, Alexander Lee, David Gordon, Stephen Landy, Julia Gasior, Haideliza Soto-Calderon, Peter F. Cronholm, Ben Cocchiaro, James Weimer, Alexis Roth, Stephen Lankenau and Jacob Brenner

Injections and infections: understanding syringe service program utilization in a rural state

Increasing rates of injection drug use (IDU) associated-infections suggest significant syringe service program (SSP) underutilization. Our study objective was to assess practices of safe injection techniques a...

Authors: Kinna Thakarar, Nitysari Sankar, Kimberly Murray, Frances L. Lucas, Debra Burris and Robert P. Smith

Perceived physical health outcomes of direct-acting antiviral treatment for hepatitis C: a qualitative study

Novel health promotion and treatment uptake initiatives will be necessary to ensure Australia meets 2030 hepatitis C elimination targets. Increasing treatment uptake will be assisted by a better understanding ...

Authors: Stelliana Goutzamanis, Danielle Horyniak, Joseph S. Doyle, Margaret Hellard and Peter Higgs

Exploring the use of cannabis as a substitute for prescription drugs in a convenience sample

The use of cannabis as medicine (CaM) both prescribed and non-prescribed has increased markedly in the last decade, mirrored in a global shift in cannabis policy towards a more permissive stance. There is some...

Authors: Sinikka L. Kvamme, Michael M. Pedersen, Kristine Rømer Thomsen and Birgitte Thylstrup

Factors associated with opioid overdose during medication-assisted treatment: How can we identify individuals at risk?

Due to the loss of tolerance to opioids during medication-assisted treatment (MAT), this period may represent a time of heightened risk for overdose. Identifying factors associated with increased risk of overd...

Authors: Vivian Y. O. Au, Tea Rosic, Nitika Sanger, Alannah Hillmer, Caroul Chawar, Andrew Worster, David C. Marsh, Lehana Thabane and Zainab Samaan

Pharmacist attitudes and provision of harm reduction services in North Carolina: an exploratory study

Pharmacists are among the most accessible healthcare providers in the United States and uniquely positioned to provide harm reduction services. The availability of pharmacy-based harm reduction services and ph...

Authors: Rachel A. Parry, William A. Zule, Christopher B. Hurt, Donna M. Evon, Sarah K. Rhea and Delesha M. Carpenter

Therapy of chronic hepatitis C in people who inject drugs: focus on adherence

Intravenous drug use (IVDU) represents the major factor of HCV transmission, but the treatment uptake among people who inject drugs (PWID) remains low owing to a false presumption of low efficacy. The aim of o...

Authors: Sona Frankova, Zuzana Jandova, Gabriela Jinochova, Miluse Kreidlova, Dusan Merta and Jan Sperl

Factors that influence enrollment in syringe services programs in rural areas: a qualitative study among program clients in Appalachian Kentucky

Enrolling sufficient number of people who inject drugs (PWID) into syringe services programs (SSP) is important to curtail outbreaks of drug-related harms. Still, little is known about barriers and facilitator...

Authors: Umedjon Ibragimov, Katherine E. Cooper, Evan Batty, April M. Ballard, Monica Fadanelli, Skylar B. Gross, Emma M. Klein, Scott Lockard, April M. Young and Hannah L. F. Cooper

The state of harm reduction in prisons in 30 European countries with a focus on people who inject drugs and infectious diseases

People who inject drugs are often imprisoned, which is associated with increased levels of health risks including overdose and infectious diseases transmission, affecting not only people in prison but also the...

Authors: Heino Stöver, Anna Tarján, Gergely Horváth and Linda Montanari

Is expected substance type associated with timing of drug checking service utilization?: A cross-sectional study

Drug checking is a harm reduction intervention aiming to reduce substance use-related risks by improving drug user knowledge of the composition of unregulated drugs. With increasing fears of fentanyl adulterat...

Authors: Tara Beaulieu, Evan Wood, Samuel Tobias, Mark Lysyshyn, Priya Patel, Jennifer Matthews and Lianping Ti

“If I knew I could get that every hour instead of alcohol, I would take the cannabis”: need and feasibility of cannabis substitution implementation in Canadian managed alcohol programs

While there is robust evidence for strategies to reduce harms of illicit drug use, less attention has been paid to alcohol harm reduction for people experiencing severe alcohol use disorder (AUD), homelessness...

Authors: Bernie Pauly, Meaghan Brown, Clifton Chow, Ashley Wettlaufer, Brittany Graham, Karen Urbanoski, Russell Callaghan, Cindy Rose, Michelle Jordan, Tim Stockwell, Gerald Thomas and Christy Sutherland

“You know, we can change the services to suit the circumstances of what is happening in the world”: a rapid case study of the COVID-19 response across city centre homelessness and health services in Edinburgh, Scotland

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated unprecedented changes in the way that health, social, and housing services are delivered to individuals experiencing homelessness and problem substance use. Protecting th...

Authors: Tessa Parkes, Hannah Carver, Wendy Masterton, Danilo Falzon, Joshua Dumbrell, Susan Grant and Iain Wilson

Epidemic of HIV infection among persons who inject drugs in mainland China: a series, cross-sectional study

Studies have suggested that the injection drug use (IDU) was no longer the main transmission route of HIV/AIDS in China. However, there has never been a study to assess the national HIV epidemic among persons ...

Authors: Bo Zhang, Xiangyu Yan, Yongjie Li, He Zhu, Zhimin Liu, Zuhong Lu and Zhongwei Jia

High levels of used syringe use and unsafe sex among people who inject drugs in Kumasi, Ghana: an urgent call for a comprehensive harm reduction approach

Drug use is a growing concern in Ghana. People who inject drugs (PWID) are highly vulnerable to HIV and other infectious diseases. Ghana’s National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS 2016–2020 identifies PWID as a ke...

Authors: Lisa J. Messersmith, Rose Adjei, Jennifer Beard, Angela R. Bazzi, Joel J. Earlywine, Edwin Darko, Thomas Agyarko-Poku, Mabel Kissiwah Asafo, Sherry Adoma Bempah and Yaw Adu-Sarkodie

Gaps in evidence for the use of medically authorized cannabis: Ontario and Alberta, Canada

With legal access to medical cannabis in Canada since 2001, there is a need to fully characterize its use at both the individual and population levels. We draw on data from Canada’s largest cohort study of med...

Authors: Cerina Lee, Jessica M. Round, Scott Klarenbach, John G. Hanlon, Elaine Hyshka, Jason R. B. Dyck and Dean T. Eurich

Organizational support for frontline harm reduction and systems navigation work among workers with living and lived experience: qualitative findings from British Columbia, Canada

The inclusion of people with lived and living experience of substance use is essential to effective and client-centered harm reduction services and strategies. The aim of this study is to critically examine an...

Authors: A. Greer, J. A. Buxton, B. Pauly and V. Bungay

Prevalence of HIV and HCV among injecting drug users in three selected WHO-EMRO countries: a meta-analysis

HIV and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections are responsible for a significant burden of mortality and morbidity, particularly in developing countries. This study sought to determine the prevalence of HIV and He...

Authors: Shah Jahan Shayan, Rajab Nazari and Frank Kiwanuka

Relationship between benzodiazepine prescription, aggressive behavior, and behavioral disinhibition: a retrospective study in a Swiss prison

Benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed in prisons amidst the controversies surrounding their potential role in causing behavioral disinhibition and aggressive behavior and their association with use and traff...

Authors: Stéphanie Baggio, Vladan Starcevic, Patrick Heller, Karen Brändle, Irina Franke, Andreas Schneeberger, Anna Buadze, Alex Gamma, Roman Schleifer, Laurent Gétaz, Hans Wolff and Michael Liebrenz

Use of sustained release dextroamphetamine for the treatment of stimulant use disorder in the setting of injectable opioid agonist treatment in Canada: a case report

For people with opioid use disorder who are not responding to oral opioid agonist treatment, evidence supports the effectiveness of injectable opioid agonist treatment with injectable hydromorphone (an opioid ...

Authors: Heather Palis, Scott MacDonald, Jennifer Jun and Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes

Reducing drug-use harms among higher education students: MyUSE contextual-behaviour change digital intervention development using the Behaviour Change Wheel

Digital harm-reduction interventions typically focus on people with severe drug-use problems, yet these interventions have moderate effectiveness on drug-users with lower levels of risk of harm. The difference...

Authors: Vasilis S. Vasiliou, Samantha Dockray, Samantha Dick, Martin P. Davoren, Ciara Heavin, Conor Linehan and Michael Byrne

Alcohol use and its determinants among adults living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Alcohol use is a common practice of almost all communities worldwide and it is more common among persons with HIV infection. Alcohol consumption among people with HIV/AIDS may result in poor treatment adherenc...

Authors: Birhanie Mekuriaw, Zelalem Belayneh, Alemayehu Molla and Tsegaye Mehare

Identification and treatment of viral hepatitis C in persons who use drugs: a prospective, multicenter outreach study in Flanders, Belgium

Targeted screening for hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection is not yet widely executed in Belgium. When performed in people who use drugs (PWUD), it is mainly focused on those receiving opiate agonist therapy (OA...

Authors: Dana Busschots, Cécile Kremer, Rob Bielen, Özgür Muhammet Koc, Leen Heyens, Eefje Dercon, Rita Verrando, Tessa Windelinckx, Griet Maertens, Stefan Bourgeois, Niel Hens, Catharina Matheï and Geert Robaeys

High-intensity cannabis use and hospitalization: a prospective cohort study of street-involved youth in Vancouver, Canada

There is concern that cannabis use negatively affects vulnerable groups such as youth; however, the relationship between cannabis use and health care utilization has not been well characterized in this populat...

Authors: Hudson Reddon, M.-J. Milloy, Evan Wood, Ekaterina Nosova, Thomas Kerr and Kora DeBeck

Health literacy and changes in pattern of drug use among participants at the Stockholm Needle Exchange Program during the COVID-19 pandemic

People who inject drugs may be particularly vulnerable to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) due to underlying health problems, stigma and social vulnerabilities. Harm reduction s...

Authors: K. Lindqvist, C. Wallmofeldt, E. Holmén, A. Hammarberg and M. Kåberg

HIV incidence and associated risk factors in female spouses of men who inject drugs in Pakistan

Female sexual partners of men who inject drugs (MWID) living with HIV are at risk of HIV transmission. HIV prevalence estimates among non-drug using female sex partners of MWID are scarce, with no studies docu...

Authors: Jenny Iversen, Salman ul H Qureshi, Malika Zafar, Machteld Busz and Lisa Maher

Effect of Massachusetts House Bill No. 4196 on electronic cigarette use: a mixed-methods study

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, are devices that deliver nicotine-containing aerosol and were used by 2.8% of American adults in 2017. Many people who smoke cigarettes have used e-cigarettes for smokin...

Authors: Amanda Katchmar, Adrian Gunawan and Michael Siegel