Trends in primary methamphetamine-related admissions to youth residential substance abuse treatment facilities in Canada, 2005-2006 and 2009-2010

Jordanian University Students' Lived Experience of Misusing Amphetamine (Captagon): A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

Substance misuse is a growing problem among Jordanian university students.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of university students who misuse Captagon (amphetamines).

METHODS

The interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology was used. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 Jordanian university students, aged 17-22 years, who were using Captagon (amphetamines) for the last 6 months.

RESULTS

Three major themes detailed participants' experiences with Captagon: (a) causes for use, (b) effects of taking amphetamines, and (c) seeking help behaviors and support. Participants who experienced academic and personal stress sought help from friends, who provided them with Captagon pills as a way to overcome their life challenges. Initially, taking Captagon provided participants with a sense of control, but it did not solve their problems. Later or as the days passed by, they experienced increased level of stress, felt disorganized in a way that they missed classes, and were being socially isolated. Participants finally sought community help for their problem, but this was difficult because of stigmatizing attitudes in their community toward substance misuse.

CONCLUSIONS

Increasing university students' knowledge about the negative consequences of substance misuse and raising awareness of strategies to address the problem will help young people to make more informed choices, because today's young generation are tomorrow's citizens.

Exacerbation of Methamphetamine Neurotoxicity in Cold and Hot Environments: Neuroprotective Effects of an Antioxidant Compound H-290/51

In this study, we examined the influence of cold and hot environments on methamphetamine (METH) neurotoxicity in both drug-naive rats and animals previously exposed to different types of nanoparticles (NPs). Since METH induces oxidative stress, we also examined how a potential chain-breaking antioxidant H-290/51 (Astra-Zeneca, Mölndal, Sweden) affects METH-induced neurotoxicity. Exposure of drug-naive rats to METH (9 mg/kg, s.c.) at 4, 21, or 34 °C for 3 h resulted in breakdown of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), brain edema, and neuronal injuries, which all differed in severity depending upon ambient temperatures. The changes were moderate at 21 °C, 120-180 % larger at 34 °C, and almost absent at 4 °C. In rats chronically treated with NPs (SiO2, Cu, or Ag; 50-60 nm, 50 mg/kg, i.p. for 7 days), METH-induced brain alterations showed a two- to fourfold increase at 21 °C, a four- to sixfold increase at 34 °C, and three- to fourfold increase at 4 °C. SiO2 exposure showed the most pronounced METH-induced brain pathology at all temperatures followed by Ag and Cu NPs. Pretreatment with a potent antioxidant compound H-290/51 (50 mg/kg, p.o., 30 min before METH) significantly reduced brain pathology in naive animals exposed to METH at 21 and 34 °C. In NPs-treated animals, however, attenuation of METH-induced brain pathology occurred only after repeated exposure of H-290/51 (-30 min, 0 min, and +30 min). These observations are the first to show that NPs exacerbate METH-induced brain pathology in both cold and hot environments and demonstrate that timely intervention with antioxidant H-290/51 could have neuroprotective effects.

Illicit drug use and harms, and related interventions and policy in Canada: A narrative review of select key indicators and developments since 2000

BACKGROUND

By the year 2000, Canada faced high levels of illicit drug use and related harms. Simultaneously, a fundamental tension had raisen between continuing a mainly repression-based versus shifting to a more health-oriented drug policy approach. Despite a wealth of new data and numerous individual studies that have emerged since then, no comprehensive review of key indicators and developments of illicit drug use/harm epidemiology, interventions and law/policy exist; this paper seeks to fill this gap.

METHODS

We searched and reviewed journal publications, as well as key reports, government publications, surveys, etc. reporting on data and information since 2000. Relevant data were selected and extracted for review inclusion, and subsequently grouped and narratively summarized in major topical sub-theme categories.

RESULTS

Cannabis use has remained the principal form of illicit drug use; prescription opioid misuse has arisen as a new and extensive phenomenon. While new drug-related blood-borne-virus transmissions declined, overdose deaths increased in recent years. Acceptance and proliferation of - mainly local/community-based - health measures (e.g., needle exchange, crack paraphernalia or naloxone distribution) aiming at high-risk drug users has evolved, though reach and access limitations have persisted; Vancouver's 'supervised injection site' has attracted continued attention yet remains un-replicated elsewhere in Canada. While opioid maintenance treatment utilization increased, access to treatment for key (e.g., infectious disease, psychiatric) co-morbidities among drug users remained limited. Law enforcement continued to principally focus on cannabis and specifically cannabis users. 'Drug treatment courts' were introduced but have shown limited effectiveness; several attempts cannabis control law reform have failed, except for the recent establishment of 'medical cannabis' access provisions.

CONCLUSIONS

While recent federal governments introduced several law and policy measures reinforcing a repression approach to illicit drug use, lower-level jurisdictions (e.g., provincial/municipal levels) and non-governmental organizations increasingly promoted social- and health-oriented intervention frameworks and interventions, therefore creating an increasingly bifurcated - and inherently contradictory - drug policy landscape and reality in Canada.

Trends in psychotropic use in Saskatchewan from 1983 to 2007

OBJECTIVE

There has been little research reported on trends in the use of a full spectrum of psychotropics in a general population. We provide an overview of trends in psychotropic use over a 24-year period for Saskatchewan.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health administrative data files. It covers antidepressants (ADs), antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics, stimulants, and cholinesterase inhibitors in outpatient settings. We analyzed data from 9 triennial years from 1983 to 2007. Descriptive statistics were used.

RESULTS

Among the Saskatchewan population in our study, 8.38% were prescribed at least 1 psychotropic in 1983. The prevalence decreased to 7.44% in 1989, then gradually increased to 12.90% in 2007. We found a continuous increase in the number of psychotropic prescriptions for both males and females. The trend became more marked during the 1990s. Females used more psychotropics. Family physicians were the major prescribers, and their prescriptions dramatically increased over the period. There was an increase in the prescribing of all psychotropics except for anxiolytics. AD prescriptions dramatically increased, especially from 1995 onward. The proportion of patients with 8 to 11 and 12 or more prescriptions per year also gradually increased, whereas the proportion of patients with less than 3 prescriptions per year decreased.

CONCLUSIONS

AD prescriptions are the major reason for the increasing trend of psychotropic use. Given the major role of family physicians in the use of psychotropics, the need for appropriate training and continuing education is reinforced.