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Opioids were implicated in approximately 88,000 fatal overdoses (OD) globally. However, in principle all opioid OD are reversible with the timely administration of naloxone hydrochloride. Despite the widesprea...
Drug checking is increasingly being explored outside of festivals and events to be an ongoing service within communities, frequently integrated within responses to illicit drug overdose. The choice of instrume...
Since the emergence of fentanyl in the drug market, syringe services programs (SSPs) have been at the forefront of providing life-saving tools such as naloxone and fentanyl test strips to people who use drugs ...
Distribution of naloxone and training on its proper use are evidence-based strategies for preventing opioid overdose deaths. In-person naloxone training was conducted in major metropolitan areas and urban cent...
Persons who inject drugs (PWID) commonly experience venous degradation as a complication of prolonged injection, which makes routine phlebotomy difficult. Clients may decline care due to the perceived lack of ...
The majority of Norwegians who use e-cigarettes are adults who have smoked. Little is known about vaping reasons and -patterns in this group. The aim of this paper was to study vaping prevalence, patterns, and...
The objective of this study was to examine international literature to identify best practices for treatment of opioid dependence in Indigenous contexts.
Community-based harm reduction vending machines (HRVM) are not new to the field of public health; numerous countries have implemented them in response to the needs of people who use drugs over the last three d...
The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the ongoing overdose crisis in the United States (US) and caused significant mental health strain and burnout among health care workers (HCW). Harm reduction, overdose prevention...
During COVID-19, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) allowed Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) programs to relax in-person MMT requirements to reduce COVID-19 exposure. T...
Alerts about changes in unregulated drug markets may be useful for supporting health and community workers to anticipate, prevent, and respond to unexpected adverse drug events. This study aimed to establish f...
Although naloxone is widely acknowledged as a life-saving intervention and a critical tool for first responders, there remains a need to explore how law enforcement officers have adapted to a shifting scope of...
Individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) have disproportionately high rates of unintended pregnancy. Reducing harm associated with this risk and its biopsychosocial consequences requires evidence-based, ...
Globally, 9% of people who inject drugs (PWID), a key hepatitis C-infected population, reside in sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa, hepatitis C seroprevalence in PWID is high. It is almost 84% in Pretoria an...
Naloxone is a medication that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose. Syringe service programs (SSPs) are community-based prevention programs that provide a range of evidence-based interventions in the USA, in...
Vending machines for harm reduction (VMHR) are an innovative approach to deliver life-saving materials, information, and treatment for hard-to-reach populations, particularly for persons who inject drugs. The ...
Drug overdose mortality is rising precipitously among Black people who use drugs. In NYC, the overdose mortality rate is now highest in Black (38.2 per 100,000) followed by the Latinx (33.6 per 100,000) and wh...
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, cannabis use social practices often involved sharing prepared cannabis (joints/blunts/cigarettes) and cannabis-related paraphernalia. Previous studies have demonstrated that sha...
People experiencing homelessness are disproportionately affected by harms related to alcohol use. Indeed, their alcohol dependence is associated with numerous physical and mental health problems along with str...
In sub-Saharan Africa many people who inject drugs (PWID) are living with undiagnosed or untreated HIV and experience high levels of poverty and conditions that can contribute to worse outcomes from SARS-CoV-2...
Scotland has one of the highest rates of drug-related deaths (DRDs) per capita in Europe, the majority of which involve opioids. Naloxone is a medication used to reverse opioid-related overdoses. In efforts to...
One of the objectives of cannabis legalization in Canada is to transition consumers from the illegal to the legal market. Little is known about how legal sourcing varies across different cannabis product types...
Receptive injection equipment sharing (i.e., injecting with syringes, cookers, rinse water previously used by another person) plays a central role in the transmission of infectious diseases (e.g., HIV, viral h...
Despite the widespread availability of naloxone, US opioid overdose rates continue to rise. The “Cascade of Care” (CoC) is a public health approach that identifies steps in achieving specific outcomes and has ...
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for all people at substantial risk of HIV as part of combination prevention. The extent to which this recommendation has been...
To inform the development of updated World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on simplified service delivery for HCV infection, a global survey was undertaken among people affected or infected by HCV. The ob...
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected structurally vulnerable populations including people who use drugs (PWUD). Increased overdose risk behaviors among PWUD during the pandemic have be...
Fragmented state laws have impacted cannabis uptake and perceptions in the USA. Little research has explored the attitudes, beliefs, and social network influences of young Black men who have sex with men (BMSM...
Syringe service programs (SSPs) deliver critical harm reduction services to people who inject drugs (PWID). Some SSPs in New York State received enhanced funding to provide additional services to combat opioid...
The criminalization of sex work and drug use creates unequal power dynamics easily exploited by police. Women who exchange sex (WES) in settings around the globe have reported coerced sex and sexual assault by...
Although fentanyl test strips (FTS) can accurately determine the presence of fentanyl in unregulated substances, access to FTS remains limited. This study aimed to examine North Carolina community pharmacists’...
Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) are overrepresented in cohorts of people who inject drugs. GBMSM’s substance use is usually explored in the context of its contribution to sexual risk....
Drug use is a critical behavioral disorder or a delinquency behavior (in the judiciary system's words) that comes with a burden at multiple levels: individual, community, public, and global. These social struc...
Stigma and other barriers limit harm reduction practice integration by clinicians within acute psychiatric settings. The objective of our study was to explore mental health clinician attitudes towards substanc...
The original article was published in Harm Reduction Journal 2022 19:15
Black individuals in the USA face disproportionate increases in rates of fatal opioid overdose despite federal efforts to mitigate the opioid crisis. The aim of this study was to examine what drives increases ...
Adherence to daily oral antiretroviral therapy (ART) and regular clinic appointments can be challenging for individuals who experience adverse social determinants of health. Long-acting injectable ART administ...
Drug alerts designed for health and community workforces have potential to avert acute harms associated with unpredictable illicit drug markets, by preparing workers to respond to unusual drug-related events, ...
Heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) is effective for individuals with severe opioid use disorder (OUD) who do not respond sufficiently to other opioid agonist treatments. It is mostly offered with injectable diace...
Harm Reduction (HR) policies for People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) have a significant positive impact on their health. Such approaches limit the spread of infections and reduce opioid overdose mortality. These polic...
Needle Exchange Programme (NEP) mobile outreach services in Aotearoa New Zealand distribute injecting equipment to people who inject drugs (PWID) living in remote regions. In disasters, continued access to suc...
Australian needle and syringe distribution occurs via a mix of modalities, including syringe dispensing machines (SDMs). SDMs are electronic vending machines providing (often) 24-h access to needles/syringes a...
Illicit drug overdoses have reached unprecedented levels, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Responses are needed that address the increasingly potent and unpredictable drug supply with better reach to a wi...
Fentanyl adulteration of illicit drugs is a major driver of opioid-involved overdose in the USA. Fentanyl test strips are increasingly used by people who use drugs to check for fentanyl. However, little is kno...
The opioid epidemic has had a devastating impact on youth from American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Tribes and Villages, which also experience disparate suicide rates. The use of publicly available social...
The measures implemented to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus disrupted the provision of substance misuse treatment and support. However, little is known about the impact of this disruption on individua...
Female sex workers (FSW) have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. Data show increases of police violence toward key populations (KP), likely a consequence of their role in enforcing health...
Cannabis is used by millions of people for both medical and recreational purposes, and this use is even greater in jurisdictions where it is legalized, such as Canada. Online cannabis vendors have gained popul...
The original article was published in Harm Reduction Journal 2022 19:129
A growing body of research has focused on contextual factors that shape health and well-being of people who use drugs (PWUD). However, most of this research focuses on large cities and less is known about the ...
Harm Reduction Journal