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Sud A, Chiu K, Friedman J, Dupouy J. Buprenorphine deregulation as an opioid crisis policy response - A comparative analysis between France and the United States. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2023; 120:104161. [PMID: 37619440 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Revised: 07/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND In passing the Maintstreaming Addiction Treatment Act, the United States has abolished its federal X waiver, considered a major barrier to the wider buprenorphine prescribing needed to respond to opioid-related harms. Advocates for this policy have drawn on the French response of deregulating buprenorphine prescribing to address increasing overdose mortality around the turn of the millennium. So far, such policy advocacy has incompletely accounted for contextual and health system differences between the two countries. METHODS Using the health system dynamics framework, this analysis compares France from 1995 to 2003 (the relevant period of buprenorphine reform) to the US from 2018 until today (the comparison period to explore potential impacts of reform). We used it to guide examination of a) contextual issues relating to opioid use epidemiology and b) health system factors including prescriber supply, sector organization, and insurance coverage for primary care to draw relevant policy learning for the contemporary US. RESULTS We identified that the US had a 22.5-fold higher mortality rate and a 2.3-fold higher opioid use disorder (OUD) rate compared to France, despite having rates of prescribed buprenorphine per-capita higher than, and per-person with OUD comparable to, than that of France. These wide gulfs between the scales and nature of the problems between France and the US suggest that relaxing restrictions on buprenorphine prescribing through abolishing the X waiver will be insufficient for achieving hoped-for reductions in overdose mortality. CONCLUSION Health system strengthening with a focus on improvements in primary care prescriber supply, coverage, and coordination are likely higher yield policy complements to relaxing buprenorphine regulation. Such an approach would better prepare the US to adapt to ongoing dynamics and uncertainties in the opioid crisis and to optimize the already relatively high levels of buprenorphine prescribing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhimanyu Sud
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Humber River Hospital, Toronto, Canada; Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Kellia Chiu
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Joseph Friedman
- Center for Social Medicine and Humanities, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Julie Dupouy
- University Department of General Medicine, University of Toulouse, Faculty of Medicine, Toulouse, France; Inserm UMR1295, University of Toulouse III, Faculty of Medicine, Toulouse, France
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Owczarzak J, Nguyen TQ, Mazhnaya A, Phillips SD, Filippova O, Alpatova P, Zub T, Aleksanyan R. Outcome evaluation of a "common factors" approach to develop culturally tailored HIV prevention interventions for people who inject drugs. Drug Alcohol Depend 2019; 199:18-26. [PMID: 30981045 PMCID: PMC6537906 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.02.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2018] [Revised: 02/05/2019] [Accepted: 02/07/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Current models of HIV prevention intervention dissemination involve packaging interventions developed in one context and training providers to implement that specific intervention with fidelity. Providers rarely implement these programs with fidelity due to perceived incompatibility, resource constraints, and preference for locally-generated solutions. Moreover, such interventions may not reflect local drug markets and drug use practices that contribute to HIV risk. PURPOSE This paper examines whether provider-developed interventions based on common factors of effective, evidence-based behavioral interventions led to reduction in drug-related HIV risk behaviors at four study sites in Ukraine. METHODS We trained staff from eight nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to develop HIV prevention interventions based on a common factors approach. We then selected four NGOs to participate in an outcome evaluation. Each NGO conducted its intervention for at least N = 130 participants, with baseline and 3-month follow-up assessments. RESULTS At three sites, we observed reductions in the prevalence of both any risk in drug acquisition and any risk in drug injection. At the fourth site, prevalence of any risk in drug injection decreased substantially, but the prevalence of any risk in drug acquisition essentially stayed unchanged. CONCLUSIONS The common factors approach has some evidence of efficacy in implementation, but further research is needed to assess its effectiveness in reducing HIV risk behaviors and transmission. Behavioral interventions to reduce HIV risk developed using the common factors approach could become an important part of the HIV response in low resource settings where capacity building remains a high priority.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Owczarzak
- Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Hampton House Room 739, Baltimore, MD, 21205-1996, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2071 North Summit Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53202, USA
| | - TQ Nguyen
- Departments of Mental Health and Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Hampton House 800, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2071 North Summit Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53202, USA
| | - A Mazhnaya
- Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, 21205-1996, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2071 North Summit Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53202, USA
| | - SD Phillips
- Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Student Building 130, 701 E. Kirkwood Ave, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA
| | - O Filippova
- Department of Sociology, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 6 Svobody Sq, Office 351, Kharkiv, Ukraine
| | - P Alpatova
- Institute of Social-Humanitarian Research, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 6 Svobody Sq, Office 351, Kharkiv, Ukraine
| | - T Zub
- Department of Sociology, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 6 Svobody Sq, Office 351, Kharkiv, Ukraine
| | - R Aleksanyan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, 2071 North Summit Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53202, USA
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Zoorob M. Fentanyl shock: The changing geography of overdose in the United States. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2019; 70:40-46. [PMID: 31079029 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2018] [Revised: 03/15/2019] [Accepted: 04/24/2019] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Rapid increases in drug overdose deaths in the United States since 2014 have been highly regionally stratified, with the largest increases occurring in the eastern and northeastern states. By contrast, many western states saw overdose deaths plateau. This paper shows how the differential influx of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues in the drug supply has reshaped the geography and demography of the overdose crisis in the United States. METHODS Using all state lab drug seizures obtained by Freedom of Information Act request, I analyze the regionally distinctive presence of fentanyl in the US drug supply with descriptive plots and statistical models. Main analyses explore state-year overdose trends using two-way fixed effects ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and two-stage least squares regression (2SLS) instrumenting for fentanyl exposure with state-longitude times a linear trend. RESULTS First, fentanyl exposure is highly correlated with geography and only weakly explained by overdose rates prior to 2014. States in the east (higher degrees longitude) are much more heavily affected. Second, fentanyl exposure exhibits a statistically significant and important effect on overdose mortality, with model-predicted deaths broadly consistent with official death statistics. Third, fentanyl exposure explains most of the variation in increased overdose mortality between 2011 and 2017. Consequently, the epicenter of the overdose crisis shifted towards the eastern United States over these years. CONCLUSION These findings shed light on the "third-wave" of the overdose epidemic, characterized by rapid and geographically disparate changes in drug supply that heighten the risk of overdose. Above all, they underscore the urgency of adopting evidence-based policies to combat addiction in light of the rapidly changing drug environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Zoorob
- Harvard University, Department of Government, 1737 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States.
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Mars SG, Rosenblum D, Ciccarone D. Illicit fentanyls in the opioid street market: desired or imposed? Addiction 2019; 114:774-780. [PMID: 30512204 PMCID: PMC6548693 DOI: 10.1111/add.14474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2018] [Revised: 07/25/2018] [Accepted: 10/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Illicitly manufactured fentanyl and its analogues are appearing in countries throughout the world, often disguised as heroin or counterfeit prescription pills, with resulting high overdose mortality. Possible explanations for this phenomenon include reduced costs and risks to heroin suppliers, heroin shortages, user preferences for a strong, fast-acting opioid and the emergence of Dark Web cryptomarkets. This paper addresses these potential causes and asks three questions: (1) can users identify fentanyl; (2) do users desire fentanyl; and (3) if users want fentanyl, can they express this demand in a way that influences the supply? ARGUMENT/ANALYSIS Existing evidence, while limited, suggests that some users can identify fentanyl, although not reliably, and some desire it, but because fentanyl is frequently marketed deceptively as other drugs, users lack information and choice to express demand effectively. Even when aware of fentanyl's presence, drug users may lack fentanyl-free alternatives. Cryptomarkets, while difficult to quantify, appear to offer buyers greater information and competition than offline markets. However, access barriers and patterns of fentanyl-related health consequences make cryptomarkets unlikely sources of user influence on the fentanyl supply. Market condition data indicate heroin supply shocks and shortages prior to the introduction of fentanyl in the United States and parts of Europe, but the much lower production cost of fentanyl compared with heroin may be a more significant factor CONCLUSION: Current evidence points to a supply-led addition of fentanyl to the drug market in response to heroin supply shocks and shortages, changing prescription opioid availability and/or reduced costs and risks to suppliers. Current drug users in affected regions of the United States, Canada and Europe appear largely to lack both concrete knowledge of fentanyl's presence in the drugs they buy and access to fentanyl-free alternatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah G. Mars
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Daniel Rosenblum
- Department of Economics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
| | - Daniel Ciccarone
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA
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Ciccarone D. Fentanyl in the US heroin supply: A rapidly changing risk environment. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2017; 46:107-111. [PMID: 28735776 PMCID: PMC5742018 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 286] [Impact Index Per Article: 40.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Ciccarone
- University of California, San Francisco, Department of Family and Community Medicine, MU-3E, Box 900, 500 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, CA 94143, United States.
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Ciccarone D, Ondocsin J, Mars SG. Heroin uncertainties: Exploring users' perceptions of fentanyl-adulterated and -substituted 'heroin'. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2017; 46:146-155. [PMID: 28735775 PMCID: PMC5577861 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 188] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2017] [Revised: 06/01/2017] [Accepted: 06/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The US is experiencing an unprecedented opioid overdose epidemic fostered in recent years by regional contamination of the heroin supply with the fentanyl family of synthetic opioids. Since 2011 opioid-related overdose deaths in the East Coast state of Massachusetts have more than tripled, with 75% of the 1374 deaths with an available toxicology positive for fentanyl. Fentanyl is 30-50X more potent than heroin and its presence makes heroin use more unpredictable. A rapid ethnographic assessment was undertaken to understand the perceptions and experiences of people who inject drugs sold as 'heroin' and to observe the drugs and their use. METHODS A team of ethnographers conducted research in northeast Massachusetts and Nashua, New Hampshire in June 2016, performing (n=38) qualitative interviews with persons who use heroin. RESULTS (1) The composition and appearance of heroin changed in the last four years; (2) heroin is cheaper and more widely available than before; and (3) heroin 'types' have proliferated with several products being sold as 'heroin'. These consisted of two types of heroin (alone), fentanyl (alone), and heroin-fentanyl combinations. In the absence of available toxicological information on retail-level heroin, our research noted a hierarchy of fentanyl discernment methods, with embodied effects considered most reliable in determining fentanyl's presence, followed by taste, solution appearance and powder color. This paper presents a new 'heroin' typology based on users' reports. CONCLUSION Massachusetts' heroin has new appearances and is widely adulterated by fentanyl. Persons who use heroin are trying to discern the substances sold as heroin and their preferences for each form vary. The heroin typology presented is inexact but can be validated by correlating users' discernment with drug toxicological testing. If validated, this typology would be a valuable harm reduction tool. Further research on adaptations to heroin adulteration could reduce risks of using heroin and synthetic opioid combinations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Ciccarone
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Ave., MU-3E, Box 900, San Francisco, CA 94143-0900, United States.
| | - Jeff Ondocsin
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Ave., MU-3E, Box 900, San Francisco, CA 94143-0900, United States
| | - Sarah G Mars
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Ave., MU-3E, Box 900, San Francisco, CA 94143-0900, United States
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Mars SG, Bourgois P, Karandinos G, Montero F, Ciccarone D. The Textures of Heroin: User Perspectives on "Black Tar" and Powder Heroin in Two U.S. Cities. J Psychoactive Drugs 2016; 48:270-8. [PMID: 27440088 DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2016.1207826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Since the 1990s, U.S. heroin consumers have been divided from the full range of available products: east of the Mississippi River, Colombian-sourced powder heroin (PH) dominates the market while, to the west, Mexican-sourced "black tar" (BTH) is the main heroin available. By conducting qualitative research in two exemplar cities, Philadelphia (PH) and San Francisco (BTH), we compare users' experiences of heroin source-types, markets, health consequences, and consumption preferences. The strict division of heroin markets may be changing with novel forms of powder heroin appearing in San Francisco. Our researchers and interviewees perceived vein loss stemming from the injection of heroin alone to be a particular problem of BTH while, among the Philadelphia sample, those who avoided the temptations of nearby cocaine sales displayed healthier injecting sites and reported few vein problems. Abscesses were common across both sites, the Philadelphia sample generally blaming missing a vein when injecting cocaine and the San Francisco group finding several explanations, including the properties of BTH. Consumption preferences revealed a "connoisseurship of potency," with knowledge amassed and deployed to obtain the strongest heroin available. We discuss the reasons that their tastes take this narrow form and its relationship to the structural constraints of the heroin market.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah G Mars
- a Qualitative Project Director, Heroin in Transition, Department of Family and Community Medicine , University of California San Francisco , San Francisco , CA , USA
| | - Philippe Bourgois
- b Visiting Professor of Anthropology and Social Medicine, Director , Center for Social Medicine and Humanities and Semel Institute of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA
| | - George Karandinos
- c Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellow , Harvard University , Boston , MA , USA
| | - Fernando Montero
- d Department of Anthropology , Columbia University , New York , NY , USA
| | - Daniel Ciccarone
- e Professor of Family and Community Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine , University of California San Francisco , San Francisco , CA , USA
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8
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Ciccarone D, Bourgois P. Injecting drugs in tight spaces: HIV, cocaine and collinearity in the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, Canada. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2016; 33:36-43. [PMID: 27117187 PMCID: PMC4947565 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.02.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2015] [Revised: 02/16/2016] [Accepted: 02/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
This commentary revisits the political turmoil and scientific controversy over epidemiological study findings linking high HIV seroincidence to syringe exchange attendance in Vancouver in the mid-1990s. The association was mobilized polemically by US politicians and hard-line drug warriors to attack needle exchange policies and funding. In turn, program restrictions limiting access to syringes at the Vancouver exchange may have interfaced with a complex conjunction of historical, geographic, political economic and cultural forces and physiological vulnerabilities to create an extraordinary HIV risk environment: (1) ghettoization of services for indigent populations in a rapidly gentrifying, post-industrial city; (2) rural-urban migration of vulnerable populations subject to historical colonization and current patterns of racism; and (3) the flooding of North America with inexpensive powder cocaine and heroin, and the popularity of crack. In fact, we will never know with certainty the precise cause for the extreme seroincidence rates in Vancouver in the early to mid-1990s. The tendency for modern social epidemiology to decontextualize research subjects and assign excessive importance to discrete, "magic bullet" variables resulted in a counterproductive scientific and political debate in the late 1990s that has obfuscated potentially useful practical lessons for organizing the logistics of harm reduction services - especially syringe exchange - to better serve the needs of vulnerable populations and to mitigate the effects of political-economically imposed HIV risk environments. We would benefit from humbly acknowledging the limits of public health science and learn to recognize the unintended consequences of well-intentioned interventions rather than sweep embarrassing histories under the rug.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Ciccarone
- Family and Community Medicine, UCSF 500 Parnassus Avenue, MU-3E, Box 0900, San Francisco, CA 94143-0900, United States.
| | - Philippe Bourgois
- Psychiatry, Center for Social Medicine, UCLA, 760 Westwood Plaza, B7-435, Los Angeles, CA 90025, United States
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Syvertsen JL, Ohaga S, Agot K, Dimova M, Guise A, Rhodes T, Wagner KD. An ethnographic exploration of drug markets in Kisumu, Kenya. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2016; 30:82-90. [PMID: 26838470 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2015] [Revised: 12/15/2015] [Accepted: 01/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Illegal drug markets are shaped by multiple forces, including local actors and broader economic, political, social, and criminal justice systems that intertwine to impact health and social wellbeing. Ethnographic analyses that interrogate multiple dimensions of drug markets may offer both applied and theoretical insights into drug use, particularly in developing nations where new markets and local patterns of use traditionally have not been well understood. This paper explores the emergent drug market in Kisumu, western Kenya, where our research team recently documented evidence of injection drug use. METHODS Our exploratory study of injection drug use was conducted in Kisumu from 2013 to 2014. We draw on 151 surveys, 29 in-depth interviews, and 8 months of ethnographic fieldwork to describe the drug market from the perspective of injectors, focusing on their perceptions of the market and reports of drug use therein. RESULTS Injectors described a dynamic market in which the availability of drugs and proliferation of injection drug use have taken on growing importance in Kisumu. In addition to reports of white and brown forms of heroin and concerns about drug adulteration in the market, we unexpectedly documented widespread perceptions of cocaine availability and injection in Kisumu. Examining price data and socio-pharmacological experiences of cocaine injection left us with unconfirmed evidence of its existence, but opened further possibilities about how the chaos of new drug markets and diffusion of injection-related beliefs and practices may lend insight into the sociopolitical context of western Kenya. CONCLUSIONS We suggest a need for expanded drug surveillance, education and programming responsive to local conditions, and further ethnographic inquiry into the social meanings of emergent drug markets in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer L Syvertsen
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 4046 Smith Laboratory, 174 W. 18th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210-1106, USA.
| | - Spala Ohaga
- Impact Research and Development Organization, P.O. Box 9171-40141, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Kawango Agot
- Impact Research and Development Organization, P.O. Box 9171-40141, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Margarita Dimova
- Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, England WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom
| | - Andy Guise
- Division of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, Central Research Services Facility (CRSF), La Jolla, CA 92093-0507, USA; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, England WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom
| | - Tim Rhodes
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, England WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom
| | - Karla D Wagner
- School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St. MS 0274, Reno, NV 89557, USA
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Ciccarone D, Harris M. Fire in the vein: Heroin acidity and its proximal effect on users' health. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2015; 26:1103-10. [PMID: 26077143 PMCID: PMC5152678 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2014] [Revised: 04/09/2015] [Accepted: 04/09/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The loss of functioning veins (venous sclerosis) is a root cause of suffering for long-term heroin injectors. In addition to perpetual frustration and loss of pleasure/esteem, venous sclerosis leads to myriad medical consequences including skin infections, for example, abscess, and possibly elevated HIV/HCV risks due to injection into larger jugular and femoral veins. The etiology of venous sclerosis is unknown and users' perceptions of cause/meaning unexplored. This commentary stems from our hypothesis that venous sclerosis is causally related to heroin acidity, which varies by heroin source-form and preparation. We report pilot study data on first ever in vivo measurements of heroin pH and as well as qualitative data on users' concerns and perceptions regarding the caustic nature of heroin and its effects. Heroin pH testing in natural settings is feasible and a useful tool for further research. Our preliminary findings, for example, that different heroin source-forms and preparations have a two log difference in acidity, have potentially broad, vital and readily implementable harm reduction implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Ciccarone
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
| | - Magdalena Harris
- Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
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Syvertsen JL, Agot K, Ohaga S, Strathdee SA, Camlin CS, Omanga E, Odonde P, Rota G, Akoth K, Peng J, Wagner KD. Evidence of injection drug use in Kisumu, Kenya: Implications for HIV prevention. Drug Alcohol Depend 2015; 151:262-6. [PMID: 25861945 PMCID: PMC4447587 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.02.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2014] [Revised: 02/26/2015] [Accepted: 02/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Injection drug use is increasingly contributing to the HIV epidemic across sub-Saharan Africa. This paper provides the first descriptive analysis of injection drug use in western Kenya, where HIV prevalence is already highest in the nation at 15.1%. METHODS We draw on quantitative data from a study of injection drug use in Kisumu, Kenya. We generated descriptive statistics on socio-demographics, sexual characteristics, and drug-related behaviors. Logistic regression models were adjusted for sex to identify correlates of self-reported HIV positive status. RESULTS Of 151 participants, mean age was 28.8 years, 84% (n = 127) were male, and overall self-reported HIV prevalence reached 19.4%. Women had greater than four times the odds of being HIV positive relative to men (Odds Ratio [OR] 4.5, CI: 1.7, 11.8, p = .003). Controlling for sex, ever experiencing STI symptoms (Adjusted Odds ratio [AOR] 4.6, 95% CI 1.7, 12.0, p = .002) and sharing needles or syringes due to lack of access (AOR 3.6, 95% CI 1.2, 10.5, p = .02) were significantly associated with HIV positive status. Lower education (AOR 2.3, 95% CI 0.9, 5.6, p=.08), trading sex for drugs (AOR 2.8, 95% CI 0.9, 8.8, p = .08), being injected by a peddler (AOR 2.9, 95% CI 1.0, 8.5, p = .05), and injecting heroin (AOR 2.3, 95% CI 1.0, 5.7, p = .06), were marginally associated with HIV. CONCLUSIONS This exploratory study identified patterns of unsafe drug injection and concurrent sexual risk in western Kenya, yet few resources are currently available to address addiction or injection-related harm. Expanded research, surveillance, and gender sensitive programming are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer L. Syvertsen
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 4046 Smith Laboratory, 174 W. 18th Ave. Columbus, OH 43210-1106 USA, phone: +1 614-247-6815, fax: +1 614-292-4155
| | - Kawango Agot
- Impact Research and Development Organization, P.O. Box 9171-40141, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Spala Ohaga
- Impact Research and Development Organization, P.O. Box 9171-40141, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Steffanie A. Strathdee
- Division of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, Central Research Services Facility (CRSF), La Jolla, CA, 92093-0507, USA
| | - Carol S. Camlin
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California at San Francisco, 550 16th St., 3rd Floor [UCSF Mailcode 1224], San Francisco, CA 94158-2549 USA
| | - Eunice Omanga
- Impact Research and Development Organization, P.O. Box 9171-40141, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Petronilla Odonde
- Impact Research and Development Organization, P.O. Box 9171-40141, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Grace Rota
- Kenya Medical Research Institute, P.O. Box 614-40100, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Kelvin Akoth
- Kenya Medical Research Institute, P.O. Box 614-40100, Kisumu, Kenya
| | - Juan Peng
- Center for Biostatistics, The Ohio State University, 2012 Kenny Road, Columbus, Ohio, 43221 USA
| | - Karla D. Wagner
- School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St. MS 0274, Reno, NV 89557 USA
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Rosenblum D, Unick GJ, Ciccarone D. The entry of Colombian-sourced heroin into the US market: the relationship between competition, price, and purity. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2013; 25:88-95. [PMID: 24211155 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2012] [Revised: 07/23/2013] [Accepted: 10/02/2013] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
There have been large structural changes in the US heroin market over the past 20 years. Colombian-sourced heroin entered the market in the mid-1990s, followed by a large fall in the price per pure gram and the exit of Asian heroin. By the 2000s, Colombian-sourced heroin had become a monopoly on the east coast and Mexican-sourced heroin a monopoly on the west coast with competition between the two in the middle. We estimate the relationship between these changes in competitive market structure on retail-level heroin price and purity. We find that the entry of Colombian-sourced heroin is associated with less competition and a lower price per pure gram of heroin at the national level. However, there is wide variation in changes in market concentration across the US. Controlling for the national fall in the heroin price, more competition in a region or city is associated with a lower price per pure gram.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Rosenblum
- Dalhousie University, Departement of Economics Halifax, NS B3H4R2, Canada.
| | - George Jay Unick
- School of Social Work, University of Maryland at Baltimore, 525 West Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Daniel Ciccarone
- Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Parnassus Heights, Box 0900, MU-3E, 500 Parnassus Avenue, MU3E San Francisco, CA 94143-0900, USA
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Rosenblum D, Jones M. Did the Taliban's opium eradication campaign cause a decline in HIV infections in Russia? Subst Use Misuse 2013; 48:470-6. [PMID: 23528145 DOI: 10.3109/10826084.2013.778282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
We offer a new hypothesis for why HIV infections fell rapidly after 2001 in Russia: the Taliban's opium eradication campaign in Afghanistan reduced the supply of heroin, causing use to fall and, thus, transmission of HIV to fall. We present evidence of the impact of the eradication campaign on the heroin market and show that the fall in HIV infections happened simultaneously in Russia and surrounding countries soon after the eradication campaign. We also show that the decline in HIV infections only occurred in injecting drug users, while other risk groups were unaffected. Limitations to our analysis are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Rosenblum
- Department of Economics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Ciccarone D, Unick GJ, Kraus A. Impact of South American heroin on the US heroin market 1993-2004. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2009; 20:392-401. [PMID: 19201184 PMCID: PMC2719678 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2008.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2008] [Revised: 11/19/2008] [Accepted: 12/04/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The past two decades have seen an increase in heroin-related morbidity and mortality in the United States. We report on trends in US heroin retail price and purity, including the effect of entry of Colombian-sourced heroin on the US heroin market. METHODS The average standardized price ($/mg-pure) and purity (% by weight) of heroin from 1993 to 2004 was from obtained from US Drug Enforcement Agency retail purchase data for 20 metropolitan statistical areas. Univariate statistics, robust Ordinary Least Squares regression and mixed fixed and random effect growth curve models were used to predict the price and purity data in each metropolitan statistical area over time. RESULTS Over the 12 study years, heroin price decreased 62%. The median percentage of all heroin samples that are of South American origin increased an absolute 7% per year. Multivariate models suggest percent South American heroin is a significant predictor of lower heroin price and higher purity adjusting for time and demographics. CONCLUSION These analyses reveal trends to historically low-cost heroin in many US cities. These changes correspond to the entrance into and rapid domination of the US heroin market by Colombian-sourced heroin. The implications of these changes are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Ciccarone
- University of California San Francisco, Department of Family and Community Medicine, San Francisco, CA 94143-0900, USA.
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Ciccarone D. Heroin in brown, black and white: structural factors and medical consequences in the US heroin market. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2009; 20:277-82. [PMID: 18945606 PMCID: PMC2704563 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2008.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2008] [Revised: 08/12/2008] [Accepted: 08/14/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Heroin coming into the United States historically comes from three widely dispersed geographical regions: Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia and Mexico. A fourth source of US-bound heroin, from Colombia, originated in the early 1990s. The fact that the four heroin sources produce differing morphologies and qualities of heroin has not been critically examined. In addition, it is not well established how the contemporary competing dynamics of interdiction, or restriction of heroin flows across international boundaries, and neoliberal, e.g., global expansion of free trade, policies are affecting heroin markets. This paper will highlight changes in the US heroin market, including source trends, the political economy of the now dominant source and the resultant effects on the heroin risk environment by US region. METHODS Using a structural and historical framework this paper examines two decades of secondary data sources, including government and drug control agency documents, on heroin flows together with published work on the political and economic dynamics in Latin America. RESULTS Co-occurring neoliberal economic reforms may have contributed to paradoxical effects of US/Colombian interdiction efforts. Since entering the US market, heroin from Colombia has been distributed at a much higher quality and lower retail price. An increasingly exclusive market has developed with Mexican and Colombian heroin gaining market share and displacing Asian heroin. These trends have had dramatic effects on the risk environment for heroin consumers. An intriguing factor is that different global sources of heroin produce substantially different products. Plausible associations exist between heroin source/form and drug use behaviours and harms. For example, cold water-soluble powdered heroin (sources: Asia, Colombia) may be associated with higher HIV prevalence in the US, while low-solubility "black tar" heroin (BTH; source: Mexico) is historically used in areas with reduced HIV prevalence. BTH is associated with soft tissue infections caused by Clostridium bacteria. CONCLUSION Source and type of heroin are structural factors in the risk environment of heroin users: source dictates distribution and type predicts practice. How specific types of heroin are used and with what risk is therefore distributed geographically. Continued flux in the heroin market and its effects on the risk environment for drug users deserves further attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Ciccarone
- Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Avenue, MU-3E Box 0900, San Francisco, CA 94143-0900, USA.
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Rhodes T. Risk environments and drug harms: a social science for harm reduction approach. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2009; 20:193-201. [PMID: 19147339 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2008.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 578] [Impact Index Per Article: 38.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2008] [Accepted: 10/20/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
A 'risk environment' framework promotes an understanding of harm, and harm reduction, as a matter of 'contingent causation'. Harm is contingent upon social context, comprising interactions between individuals and environments. There is a momentum of interest in understanding how the relations between individuals and environments impact on the production and reduction of drug harms, and this is reflected by broader debates in the social epidemiology, political economy, and sociology of health. This essay maps some of these developments, and a number of challenges. These include: social epidemiological approaches seeking to capture the socially constructed and dynamic nature of individual-environment interactions; political-economic approaches giving sufficient attention to how risk is situated differentially in local contexts, and to the role of agency and experience; understanding how public health as well as harm reduction discourses act as sites of 'governmentality' in risk subjectivity; and focusing on the logics of everyday habits and practices as a means to understanding how structural risk environments are incorporated into experience. Overall, the challenge is to generate empirical and theoretical work which encompasses both 'determined' and 'productive' relations of risk across social structures and everyday practices. A risk environment approach brings together multiple resources and methods in social science, and helps frame a 'social science for harm reduction'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Rhodes
- Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, UK.
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Science, action and the International Journal of Drug Policy. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2006. [DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2006.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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