PubMed Update July 2016

11 papers this month, including an announcement that naloxone is now over-the-counter in Australia.

1) Factors associated with knowledge of a Good Samaritan Law among young adults who use prescription opioids non-medically.

Evans TI, Hadland SE, Clark MA, Green TC, Marshall BD.

Harm Reduct J. 2016 Jul 26;13(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s12954-016-0113-2.

Comments: Less than half knew about it.

2) Reasons for Benzodiazepine Use Among Persons Seeking Opioid Detoxification.

Stein MD, Kanabar M, Anderson BJ, Lembke A, Bailey GL.

J Subst Abuse Treat. 2016 Sep;68:57-61. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2016.06.008. Epub 2016 Jun 16.

Comments: Important work, as there’s an effort to also reduce benzodiazepine prescribing among people who are on opioids. Understanding the drivers of BDZ use should be helpful in structuring interventions. Anxiety and managing opioid withdrawal were two main reasons.

3) Trends in Methadone Distribution for Pain Treatment, Methadone Diversion, and Overdose Deaths - United States, 2002-2014.

Jones CM, Baldwin GT, Manocchio T, White JO, Mack KA.

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016 Jul 8;65(26):667-71. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6526a2.

Comments: Interesting analysis of methadone prescribing, overdose, and diversion. It seems that efforts to reduce methadone, beginning in 2006, corresponded with reduced diversion and overdose; unfortunate that opioid overdose death overall continued to escalate.

4) Determinants of willingness to enroll in opioid agonist treatment among opioid dependent people who inject drugs in Ukraine.

Makarenko I, Mazhnaya A, Polonsky M, Marcus R, Bojko MJ, Filippovych S, Springer S, Dvoriak S, Altice FL.

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016 Aug 1;165:213-20. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.06.011. Epub 2016 Jun 17.

Comments: Barriers to enrolling in agonist treatment in Ukraine.