Objective: The aim was to summarize the clinical literature on interactions between common illicit drugs and prescription therapies. Methods: Medline, Iowa Drug Information Service, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, EBSCO Academic Search Premier, and Google Scholar were searched from date of origin of database to March 2011. Search terms were cocaine, marijuana, cannabis, methamphetamine, amphetamine, ecstasy, N-methyl-3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, heroin, gamma-hydroxybutyrate, sodium oxybate, and combined with interactions, drug interactions, and drugdrug interactions. This review focuses on established clinical evidence. All applicable full-text English language articles and abstracts found were evaluated and included in the review as appropriate. Results: The interactions of illicit drugs with prescription therapies have the ability to potentiate or attenuate the effects of both the illicit agent and/or the prescription therapeutic agent, which can lead to toxic effects or a reduction in the prescription agent's therapeutic activity. Most texts and databases focus on theoretical or probable interactions due to the kinetic properties of the drugs and do not fully explore the pharmacodynamic and clinical implications of these interactions. Clinical trials with coadministration of illicit drugs and prescription drugs are discussed along with case reports that demonstrate a potential interaction between agents. The illicit drugs discussed are cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, heroin, and sodium oxybate. Conclusion: Although the use of illicit drugs is widespread, there are little experimental or clinical data regarding the effects of these agents on common prescription therapies. Scientific Significance: Potential drug interactions between illicit drugs and prescription drugs are described and evaluated on the Drug Interaction Probability Scale by Horn and Hansten.

Background Herbal marijuana alternatives (HMA), legal plant products adulterated with synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, represent a growing public health concern. Only a few case reports describe HMA and synthetic cannabinoid’s clinical toxicity. We describe an outbreak of HMA abuse primarily in the Midwest, the clinical presentation of HMA toxicity, and clinical and forensic testing. Methods During the course of ongoing surveillance for emerging drugs of abuse between November 2009 and August 2010, we retrospectively and prospectively identified a convenience sample comprising 81 cases of abuse of HMA products. Subject demographics, vital signs, lab results and urine were obtained (when available) and tested via gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis. Samples of HMAs and synthetic cannabinoids were also analyzed via GCMS. Results HMA users were predominantly young males who inhaled HMAs. Analysis of their urine detected synthetic cannabinoid parent compound in one subject. GCMS analysis of synthetic cannabinoids established a reference library that confirmed the presence of synthetic cannabinoids in sampled HMA products. Conclusion HMA products were available in head shops, gas stations, and via the Internet. We have confirmed the presence of synthetic cannabinoids in these HMA products. The tachycardia, hypertension, agitation, anxiety, vomiting and hallucinations observed in this convenience sample are not readily explained by the presence of synthetic cannabinoids acting on CB1 and CB2 receptors. Further research must be done on HMA products and their abusers.

Background: Cannabis drugs are the most used illicit drug in the Czech Republic. About 1,78 million people use cannabis, most of them are young people aged 15-34 years (Mravčík et al., 2020). Use in the young age, regular and intensive use of large amounts of cannabis is associated with the negative impact on health and life of users. Previous studies have described the harm redcution strategies, less is known about relative occurrence of the hram reduction stategies, especially in the czech environment. Aims: The aim of the study was to investigate what kind of harm reduction strategies are used by cannabis users. Methods: The research was conducted as a quantitative study. This mapping study was aimed to describe the behaviour of cannabis users in relation to use of the harm reduction strategies, and to explore the relative occurrence of these strategies. As a method of data collection was used a questionnaire survey. Results: Most frequently emerged harm reduction strategies among cannabis users are in relation to the effects of use on physical health. Most of these strategies focus on minimising the harms associated with smoking cannabis, particularly marijuana cigarettes. Mental health strategies are based on the concept of set, where users often do not use if they observe negative feelings...

This study uses a Comparative Policy Analysis (CPA) between Colombia and Uruguay using the common analytical framework created by Rogeberg, Bergsvik, Phillips, Amsterdam, Eastwood, Henderson and Nutt (2018) where it can be described, assessed and discussed policy regimes. First, it describes the development of the drug policy towards the marijuana use in Latin-American countries, and secondly, each country is classified according to the characteristics of the Policy Regimes: a) Absolute prohibition regime, b) decriminalization, c) State control, and d) free market. Besides, each country is evaluated according to the seven clusters designed in the common analytical framework. Keywords Legalization of Marijuana, Policy Cycle, Comparative Policy Analysis, Drug Policy

[pt] O objetivo desta dissertação é examinar a transformação da maconha em questão de polícia no Rio de Janeiro das décadas de 1940 e 1950. Nesse processo, a polícia carioca foi um ator fundamental, mas não foi o único. As intervenções policiais sobre a comercialização e consumo de maconha na cidade foram construídas, negociadas e disputadas através de relações que envolveram outros atores fundamentais: jornalistas, operadores judiciais, pequenos vendedores e consumidores de maconha. Para investigar essas tramas de ação e conflitos, a dissertação opta por uma estratégia narrativa que privilegia a abordagem integrada da interação entre todos esses protagonistas, a partir de três movimentos: começa pelas campanhas jornalísticas que, em diálogo com a polícia e a justiça, contribuíram para a formação de um problema de ordem pública; continua com os debates nos tribunais e a discussão judicial sobre os limites da intervenção dos poderes estatais; e conclui com uma análise da ação da polícia em diferentes circuitos urbanos de consumo. / [en] The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the transformation of marijuana into a police issue in Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s and 1950s. In this process, the police force of Rio de Janeiro was a key actor, but not the only one. Police interventions on the sale and consumption of marijuana in the city were object of a daily negotiation and disputes in social interactions that involved other key actors: journalists, judicial operators, small marijuana sellers and a diversity of consumers. In order to investigate these interaction realms, the dissertation opts for a narrative strategy that privileges an integrated approach, based on three movements: first of all, it focuses on a series of journalistic campaigns that, in dialogue with the police force and judicial actors, resulted in the outline of a public order problem regarding marijuana consumption; secondly, it analyzes judicial debates about the limits of police intervention in a diversity of social interactions that included marijuana; finally, it develops an analysis of daily police action in heterogeneous urban consumption circuits.

This study examines student's nonmedical prescription drug (NMPD) and marijuana use and whether anxiety, depression, ADD or ADHD symptoms are associated with their use and if students are self-medicating to alleviate symptoms. The method of obtaining this information was provided by a total of 278 college students who voluntarily and anonymously completed a Web-based survey. This study fills in the gaps of previous research and reveals the most frequent NMPD's used by students and their overall perceptions of their intended effects of the drug and answers why students do not seek professional help for their anxiety, depression and impulsivity symptoms. Results from the survey indicate that students who report NMPD use self- reported higher symptoms of anxiety, depression and impulsivity. NMPD users reported higher percentages of other substance abuse compared to nonusers. The most prominent NMPD's used by students are Adderall and Vicoden or Codeine. Data also indicates student's primary reasons for their NMPD use are related to academic purposes; as opposed to nonacademic. This analysis is further supported by the fact that the majority of NMPD users did not use before they began college and do not use while classes are not is session. Furthermore, students perceive their overall intended effects of their NMPD use to be beneficial, despite the known risks associated with their drug use. By examining college student's current NMPD use we can provide alternative solutions to students who are self-medicating as a coping mechanism for underlying issues or mental health disorders. Also, we can provide them with the necessary services in order to address their problems professionally.

INTRODUCTION: The legal and illicit use of cannabinoid-containing products is accelerating worldwide and is accompanied by increasing abuse problems. Due to legal issues, the USA will be entering a period of rapidly expanding recreational use of cannabinoids without the benefit of needed basic or clinical research. Most clinical cannabinoid research is focused on adults. However, the pediatric population is particularly vulnerable since the central nervous system is still undergoing developmental changes and is potentially susceptible to cannabinoid-induced alterations. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This review focuses on the systems medicine of cannabinoids with emphasis on the need for future studies to include pediatric populations and mother-infant dyads. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Systems medicine integrates omics-derived data with traditional clinical medicine with the long-term goal of optimizing individualized patient care and providing proactive medical advice. Omics refers to large-scale data sets primarily derived from genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics.

Substance abuse is the foremost health problem in the United States, with an estimated annual cost of over $400 billion and is linked to over 400,000 preventable deaths each year. Adolescents are among those abusing drugs and alcohol. Approximately one-half of high school students use alcohol and one-fourth smoke marijuana, and by their senior year of high school, over half will have used an illicit drug. Effective substance use interventions for young adults are important in preventing the progression toward other drug use disorders and harmful consequences of frequent drug use. Schools have been identified as a viable setting in which to conduct brief interventions to reduce adolescent substance use. However, a standard therapy for implementing motivational interventions in the school setting has not yet been established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a motivational intervention on substance use in a school-based adolescent population and to test the hypotheses that motivational interviewing, compared to assessment only, would result in a reduction of substance use and an increase in each participant's readiness to change. The proposed study utilized a randomized controlled design in which participants received one of two conditions, two 30-minute sessions of a motivational intervention or assessment only. Assessments were administered before and one month following the intervention. Results demonstrated that the intervention was effective in reducing daily cigarette use and symptoms of cigarette dependence for participants in the experimental group. These results are consistent with past research investigating the effectiveness of motivational interventions on reducing adolescent substance use, yet the current findings are unique because this is the first school-based motivational intervention delivered by school personnel to effectively reduce adolescent substance use. Results indicate that the current intervention could be implemented as a standard therapy for using motivational interventions to decrease adolescent substance use in the school setting.

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