Bibliography: Prevalence

HIV is spreading at a dangerous rate in nations around the Black Sea, passing a record 100,000 new cases yearly (euobserver)

Before health professionals can communicate effectively with these clients about the potentially stigma-laden issue of HCV they need to develop an awareness of the various elements of risk in the ChemSex environment (BMJ)

The number of police incidents involving ‘legal highs’ has almost trebled across England in a year )Centre for Social Justice)

This bulletin presents alcohol-related death figures for the UK, its constituent countries and regions of England for 2013 (Office of National Statistics)

This paper examines the overall number of lives lost due to drug use. All-cause mortality among problem drug users is investigated by means of cohort studies, which link data from death registries to drug treatment records (EMCDDA)

Since laws were passed in Romania in 2010 and 2011, prohibiting the trade in previously legal highs and any other commercial products with psychoactive effects, the sale and use of these substances has gone down significantly. Nevertheless, amphetamine-like stimulants and other previously legal highs are still readily available, via a number of different routes, to users who are in the know (Drug Reporter)

One in six people using prescribed opioids for chronic pain also use cannabis, a study of 1,500 Australians led by researchers at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre

The speed with which the Internet is transforming drug markets poses a major challenge to law enforcement, public health, research and monitoring agencies. This is according to Internet and drug markets (EMCDDA)

HIV is spreading at a dangerous rate in nations around the Black Sea, passing a record 100,000 new cases yearly (EU Observer)

Monthly update of class A, B and C drug seizure incidents and arrests by (Police Service of Northern Ireland)

Postmarketing surveillance indicates that the diversion and abuse of prescription opioid medications increased between 2002 and 2010 and plateaued or decreased between 2011 and 2013. These findings suggest that the United States may be making progress in controlling the abuse of opioid analgesics (NEJM)

Most of us understand that people who are homeless, or offenders or drug misusers must also face a wider set of challenges. It is hard to imagine a person who has fallen into a hard drug problem, for example, who isn’t dealing with early problems stemming from childhood or who isn’t facing a new set of problems as a result of their drug taking (LankellyChase Foundation)

The latest Street Drug Survey reveals the ever more diverse range of illegal and legal drugs being used by vulnerable groups in society, with pregabalin, gabapentin and synthetic cannabinoid use of particular concern. Interviews with frontline workers also highlighted fears that drug-related deaths may continue to rise as street drug purities increase (DrugScope)

This policy brief examines the expansion of drug markets on the Dark Net or ‘hidden web’ and the challenges they pose for both law enforcement agencies and the international legal framework within which those agencies ultimately operate (GDPO)

This study provides support for the ecological relationship between alcohol-related mortality and alcohol consumption (BMC Public Health)

(Centre for Public Health)