Narcotic abuse

BACKGROUND: Medical narcotics must be administered under medical supervision because of their potential for misuse and abuse, leading to more dangerous and addictive substances. The control of medical narcotics requires close monitoring to ensure that they remain safe and effective. This study proposes a methodology that can effectively identify the overprescription of medical narcotics in hospitals and patients. METHODS: Social network analysis (SNA) was applied to prescription networks for medical narcotics...

BACKGROUND: Substance abuse is prevalent among males, and mindfulness could serve as a means of helping individuals suffering from the adverse effects of substance abuse find relief. OBJECTIVE: This study employed a one-group repeated-measure design and aimed to evaluate the effects of the mindfulness program on stress, deliberate self-harm, and drug abstinence intention among male substance abusers. METHODS: The mindfulness program was implemented for Thai males with a history of narcotic drug use...

BACKGROUND: There is evidence linking use of controlled substances with perpetration of interpersonal violence. While the United States constitution protects the right to own a firearm, federal law prohibits firearm purchase and possession by persons believed to be at high risk for violence, including those who use controlled substances unlawfully. METHODS: We report here the results of a 13-year prospective observational study on the risk of violent crime associated with a history of criminal drug charges in a cohort of 79,678 legal purchasers of handguns in California in 2001...

Opioid Agonist Treatment is the cornerstone of minimising harms related to opioid use, however its uptake is limited by a tightly regulated and stigmatising treatment environment. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated relaxation of some treatment restrictions, with global evidence pointing to more patient-centred care in this time. In light of local evidence to support the safety of increased access to takeaway doses and a precedent set by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, we recommend adoption of the Australian Interim Medication Assisted Treatment of Opioid Dependence guidance in Australia...

INTRODUCTION: Optimizing perioperative analgesia in patients undergoing abdominal surgery remains a challenge given the side effects of narcotics and the potential for abuse. While transversus abdominis plane block has been shown to improve clinical outcomes, such as decreased opioid consumption and pain scores among adult patients, there is limited data regarding its efficacy for pediatric patients. This study evaluates efficacy amongst pediatric patients undergoing landmark-guided transversus abdominis plane (LTAP) during laparoscopic appendectomy...

Opioids such as heroin, fentanyl, raw opium, and morphine have become a serious threat to the world population in the recent past, due to their increasing use and abuse. The detection of these drugs in biological samples is usually carried out by spectroscopic and/or chromatographic techniques, but the need for quick, sensitive, selective, and low-cost new analytical tools has pushed the development of new methods based on selective nanosensors, able to meet these requirements. Modern sensors, which utilize "next-generation" technologies like nanotechnology, have revolutionized drug detection methods, due to easiness of use, their low cost, and their high sensitivity and reliability, allowing the detection of opioids at trace levels in raw, pharmaceutical, and biological samples (e...

Background: A Zoom-based website was developed in 2020 that offers continuous access to online Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings for the first time. This website provides immediate access for persons with substance use disorder to support abstinence from substance-related addictive disorders. Objectives: This study is designed to characterize attendees employing this online format; to evaluate their experiences for gaining support to maintain abstinence; and to compare the 24/7 experience to face-to-face (FF) meetings they attend...

Tianeptine, an antidepressant and full µ-opioid receptor agonist, has increased in popularity and has been used as an over-the-counter supplement over the past decade. Due to its well-documented euphoric effects, there exists elevated risk for potential abuse. Buprenorphine-naloxone has been successfully utilized to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) in patients concurrently using tianeptine, limiting withdrawal symptoms and abstinence. However, there is limited evidence on the management of tianeptine use disorder, specifically methadone or naltrexone...

INTRODUCTION: Pain is one of the most common complaints that brings a patient to a hospital. For this, usually, the patient might have already consumed various types of pain killer combinations, either prescribed or over-the-counter. In some of these cases, a patient consumes these medicines unmonitored for a long time and then comes with complications, among which gastrointestinal tract obstruction and perforation are the most life threatening. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Case files from the Department of Surgery were retrieved and studied...

Background: Psychoactive substance abuse can affect biological, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects, as well as the users' quality of life, and obliged to carry out medical and social rehabilitation. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify the effect of holistic rehabilitation programs on quality of life among drug abusers. Methods: Quasi-experimental with time series design. The sample of this study amounted to 54 people, taken by G-power, all participants who will take part in the rehabilitation program at the National Narcotics Board rehabilitation clinic...

BACKGROUND: Incarcerated people with HIV and opioid-dependence often experience poor post-release outcomes in the absence of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). In a prospective trial, we assessed the impact of methadone dose achieved within prison on linkage to MMT after release. METHODS: From 2010 to 2014, men with HIV (N = 212) and opioid dependence before incarceration were enrolled in MMT within 6 months of release from Malaysia's largest prison and followed for 12-months post-release...

BACKGROUND: Punitive legal responses to prenatal drug use may be associated with unintended adverse health consequences. However, in a rapidly shifting policy climate, current information has not been summarized. We conducted a survey of U.S. state policies that utilize criminal or civil legal system penalties to address prenatal drug use. We then systematically identified empirical studies evaluating these policies and summarized their potential public health impacts. METHODS: Using existing databases and original statutory research, we surveyed current U...

Narcotic drugs refer to drugs that have anesthetic effects on the central nervous system, and they easily produce physical dependence and mental dependence and can be addictive due to continuous use, abuse or unreasonable use. In this paper, bioinformatics and data analysis and mining techniques were used to analyze the methylation differences in transcriptional and clinical data of narcotic addiction in public databases, to explore the mechanism of narcotic addiction, and to mine some norepinephrine drugs...

PURPOSE: To determine whether access to a website with an educational video would decrease postoperative opioid use in patients undergoing arthroscopic partial meniscectomy. METHODS: Enrolled patients who underwent arthroscopic partial meniscectomy at a single center were randomized to either the intervention or control group prior to surgery. The intervention group received a card with access to an online educational video regarding opioids with their postoperative instructions; the control group did not...

DESIGN: Cooperative analysis of participants and controls. DATA SOURCE: Wiley Online Library, National Institute of Health, ResearchGate, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar. STUDY SELECTION: Human clinical trials age 18-30 years old, a case-control study included 291 individuals, 192 TMDs and 99 controls. All patients underwent assessment based on a questionnaire and a clinical examination according to Axis I of the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD)...

INTRODUCTION: In bipolar women who took lithium during pregnancy, several epidemiology studies have reported small increases in a rare fetal cardiac defect termed Ebstein's anomaly. METHODS: Behavioral, environmental, and lifestyle-associated risk factors associated with bipolar disorder and health insurance status were determined from an Internet search. The search was conducted from October 1, 2023, through October 14, 2023. The search terms employed included the following: bipolar, bipolar disorder, mood disorders, pregnancy, congenital heart defects, Ebstein's anomaly, diabetes, hypertension, Medicaid, Medicaid patients, alcohol use, cigarette smoking, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, narcotics, nutrition, diet, obesity, body mass index, environment, environmental exposures, poverty, socioeconomic status, divorce, unemployment, and income...

BACKGROUND: Opioids have traditionally been used to manage acute or terminal pain. However, their prolonged use has the potential for abuse, misuse, and addiction. South Korea introduced a new health care IT system named the Narcotics Information Management System (NIMS) with the objective of managing all aspects of opioid use, including manufacturing, distribution, sales, disposal, etc. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the impact of NIMS on opioid use. METHODS: We conducted an analysis using national claims data from 45,582 patients diagnosed with musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders between 2016 and 2020...

Introduction: Renal colic is frequently treated with opioids; however, narcotic analgesic use can lead to dependence and abuse. We evaluated use trends of opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain management of kidney stones in United States emergency departments (EDs) from 2015 to 2021. Methods: Kidney stone encounters were identified using National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data. We applied a multistage survey weighting procedure to account for selection probability, nonresponse, and population weights...

Globally, the number of drug users and the proportion of the drug using population has increased from 210 million in 2009 to 269 million in 2019. Several studies suggest that music festival attendees are more likely to abuse illicit substances and have a high-risk profile. Consequently, it is crucial to develop robust field drug analysis methods that facilitate harm reduction and drug monitoring. The work presented in this report aimed at developing and validating qualitative analytical methods for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B), ketamine and N-ethylpentylone on two portable gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) systems: Griffin G510 (Teledyne FLIR, West Lafayette, IN) and Torion T-9 (PerkinElmer, Shelton, CT)...

PURPOSE: Intravenous narcotic agents, such as etomidate and metomidate, has been widely spread and abused in the world, including in Korea and China; thus, it is important to establish validated and sensitive analytical method for these compounds. Human hair as a biological sample has various advantages, including a wide detection window of drugs, compared to other typical samples, such as urine and blood in investigation. The purpose of this communication is to develop a reliable and useful method for the simultaneous detection and quantification of etomidate and metomidate in human hair samples by ultraperformance liquid chromatography combined with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), and to apply it for authentic samples in abuse cases...