National Documentation Centre on Drug Use
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Dáil Éireann Debate. Question 1093, 1094, 1095, 1096 - Health strategies [task forces] [9812/26] [9813/26] [9814/26] [9815/26].
No full textThe promotion of alcohol, cannabis, gambling, tobacco and vaping products: a comparative analysis of the potential of legal frameworks to limit exposure among minors.
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Optimal provision of opioid agonist therapy (OAT) and needle and syringe programmes (NSP): a realist evaluation.
No full textBACKGROUND: Understanding the factors that hinder or support engagement with Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) and Needle and Syringe Provision (NSP) is essential for increasing retention and reducing drug-related harm. This study comprised a multimethod realist evaluation to develop a theory of the factors influencing service provision, focusing on access, engagement, retention, and successful exit (clients outcome met) from services.
DESIGN: Phase 1 involved an online survey of UK drug and alcohol service commissioners, focus groups with interest holders, and a qualitative systematic review to build an initial programme theory of optimal service provision. Phase 2 tested and refined this theory through 86 in-depth interviews across three UK sites with commissioners, managers, staff, and people who use services (both regular attendees and those with limited contact).
RESULTS: The Realist Evaluation identified five interrelated contexts (Agency and Empowerment; Self-esteem and Respect; Knowledge and Communication; Goals, Needs and Preferences; and Resources and Demands), within which mechanisms can shape optimal service provision. Person-centred approaches, low-threshold access, and timely provider contact foster agency. Confidentiality, non-stigmatising care, and strengths-based support build self-esteem, while skilled staff, training, and peer networks enhance knowledge and communication. Flexible appointments, integrated services, and shared stakeholder responsibility align care with individual goals and needs. Adequate staffing, training, supervision, and sustainable funding enable responsive, resilient services.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings show how interacting relational and structural mechanisms generate optimal outcomes, guiding policy and service design. Implementing a multi-agency approach, integrating different mechanisms across the identified contexts, may be necessary to achieve optimal service delivery
Adolescent stimulant drug use in Ireland: the role of the home environment and extracurricular activities.
No full textOne in five vape shops selling addictive products to children, inspections reveal.
No full textProposed law to ban disposable vapes should go further, says Fianna Fáíl T
Adverse events associated with classic psychedelics and MDMA: a real-world population-based study using the WHO pharmacovigilance database (VigiBase).
No full textPsychedelic use has greatly increased within clinical and recreational settings over recent years. While demonstrating a favorable safety profile within certain clinical populations, little empirical research has explored safety of psychedelic use within real-world samples. Using the World Health Organization (WHO) VigiBase, a comprehensive global pharmacovigilance database with voluntary spontaneous reporting of adverse events (AEs) from real-world clinical and recreational populations, we examined reports for classic psychedelics and MDMA. Most reports were made for MDMA (n = 1573) and LSD (n = 394), while psilocybin (n = 56), DMT (n = 18), and mescaline (n = 15) had fewer reports. The most common AEs for all substances were psychiatric in nature, specifically surrounding substance or drug abuse and dependence. Reports of overdose constituted 1.1 to 1.7 % of total AEs. Pregnancy-related and congenital disorders were rare. Compared to the acetaminophen control, LSD and MDMA were associated with significantly greater odds for the reported AEs of alcohol abuse (LSD: ROR=45.7, 95 % CI: 27.2 - 76.9; MDMA: ROR=19.2, 95 % CI: 12.2 - 30.4), substance use disorder (LSD: ROR=71.1, 95 % CI: 36.3 - 139.2; MDMA: ROR=129.9, 95 % CI: 78.4 - 215.5) and substance dependence (LSD: ROR=215.1, 95 % CI: 69.0 - 670.3; MDMA: ROR=76.8, 95 % CI: 25.5 - 231.8). These reports were also greater than those associated with the external positive control, oxycodone. Taken together, this exploratory study provides the first analysis of AEs associated with psychedelics reported to a global pharmacovigilance database and can inform their real-world safety. Findings should be considered in light of limitations surrounding co-use of other substances and potential deterrence towards reporting use of illicit substances
Public health impacts of increasing the minimum unit price for alcohol in Scotland: a model-based appraisal.
No full textBACKGROUND: Governments in several countries have introduced a minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol. Evaluation studies suggest this has reduced alcohol-related harm, but MUPs must increase with inflation to remain effective. This paper estimates the impact of the impact of the Scottish Government's decision to increase its MUP from £0.50 to £0.65 in September 2024 and, alternative options where the MUP changes to between £0.40 and £0.80. It examines impacts on alcohol consumption, spending, and related health outcomes, how impacts vary across the population with regard to deprivation, and how drinkers move between lighter and heavier alcohol consumption groups.
METHODS AND FINDINGS: Policy appraisal using the Sheffield Tobacco and Alcohol Policy Model, a dynamic microsimulation model that combines data on alcohol purchasing and consumption for 10 beverage types and 800 subgroups comprising adults in the Scottish population with price elasticities and an epidemiological model. Deprivation is measured using quintiles of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Drinker group is categorised as moderate (14 to ≤35/ ≤50 units/week for women/men), and harmful (>35/50 units/week for women/men). The policy appraisal estimates that, compared to retaining Scotland's MUP at £0.50, increasing the MUP to £0.65 leads to an estimated 12.0% decrease in alcohol consumption, 2.1% decrease in alcohol spending, 3,385 fewer deaths overall, and 2,578 fewer deaths wholly attributable to alcohol over 20 years. Estimated effects are largest in the quintile of the population living in the most deprived areas. Increasing the MUP to £0.65 is also estimated to reduce the proportion of drinkers consuming at harmful levels by 29.4% and the proportion consuming at hazardous levels by 8.0%. Key limitations of the study include relying on data on alcohol consumption and spending collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, synthesising consumption and spending data from separate datasets, and assuming no supply-side responses (e.g., price changes above the MUP threshold).
CONCLUSIONS: Increasing the threshold of an established MUP can lead to additional reductions in alcohol consumption, related harm, and health inequalities. Benefits accrue particularly to the most deprived and heaviest drinkers
What we need, not what we're given: recommendations for action from young sex workers who use drugs.
No full textGlobally, young sex workers who use drugs (YSWUD) are at the intersection of laws and policies that criminalize and stigmatize both drug use and sex work which, when compounded by age, leads to increased state targeting and surveillance. Such punitive responses create significant barriers for YSWUD in accessing health, social, and harm reduction services, while also increasing exposure to structural and everyday violence (e.g., overdose risk, increased workplace violence, police targeting, etc.). In order to better highlight the global realities and priorities of YSWUD, this commentary brings together YSWUD from across the world to speak to their unique experiences and expertise with the aim of providing guidance around how service providers and policy makers can move beyond the logics of criminalization to best engage with YSWUD