Summary

The purpose of this report is to examine the current situation, risks and responses to the recreational use of nitrous oxide in Europe. To support this, the report also provides a state-of-the-art review of the chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology of the gas. It is intended for policymakers and practitioners.

The report is structured as follows:

• Section 1 provides a summary of the current situation, established risks and responses.
• Section 2 is a technical review of the chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, individual risks and legitimate uses.
• Section 3 provides an overview of...

Background

Novel public health interventions are needed to address the toxic drug supply and meet the needs of people who use drugs amidst the overdose crisis. Safer supply – low-barrier distribution of pharmaceutical grade substances – has been implemented in some jurisdictions to provide safer alternatives to the unregulated drug supply, yet no studies to date have explored professional stakeholder perspectives on this approach.

Methods

We used purposive sampling to recruit professional stakeholders (n = 17) from four locations in British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, including...

El OEDT y el Instituto Universitario de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) se complacen en abrir hoy las inscripciones para dos próximos eventos conjuntos en 2023: la Escuela Europea de Invierno sobre Drogas (EDWS) y la Escuela Europea de Verano sobre Drogas (EDSS) (1)(2).

EDWS: del 13 al 24 de febrero de 2023 (en línea): Este año, el tema será "Poblaciones desplazadas y cuestiones relacionadas con las drogas", con un día completo dedicado a este tema. El curso de dos semanas contará con conferencias en vivo a la hora del almuerzo con expertos y profesionales, seguidas de ejercicios por la tarde. También se...

BACKGROUND:

A close relationship between a parent and a child and parental acceptance can mediate the appropriate self-acceptance of an adolescent, which is an important variable related to personality and a pillar of emotional health. In the paper we present the conclusions of a research study about the quality of the attachment towards parents and self-acceptance of adolescents at Czech secondary schools.

AIMS:

The aim of the study was the exploration of the relation between the attachment style and self-acceptance.

SAMPLE:

The research sample consists of 3,239 adolescents aged 15–19 in...

Contingency management (CM) is a psychological treatment based on operant conditioning. It consists of providing incentives in exchange for achieving a target behaviour such as abstinence or other treatmentrelated variables (e.g. session attendance, adherence to medication). The objective of this article was to introduce the rationale of CM for substance use and, more specifically, for smoking cessation. A growing body of empirical literature supports CM as an effective treatment for quitting smoking both in the general population and among other hard-to-treat smokers (e.g. pregnant women or...

BACKGROUND:

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) generate an aerosol by vaporising e-liquids that usually consist of propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerine (VG), and other ingredients (water, nicotine, and flavours). The chemical and physical properties of these components have a significant effect on aerosol formation and must be identified in order to improve product attractiveness and assess the degree of health risks.

AIM:

The aim of this article is to provide a description of the composition of the e-liquid base and its impact on the physical properties of the liquid used...

BACKGROUND:

Leisure can be a context that can promote positive adolescent development, but it can also be a context that contributes to adolescents engaging in risk behaviours.

AIMS:

The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which sociodemographic characteristics, the frequency of adolescent participation in structured leisure activities (SLA), and the type of SLA contribute to adolescent alcohol use and to examine the moderating effects of gender, age, and type of SLA on the relationship between the frequency of adolescent participation in SLA and adolescent alcohol use.

METHODS

Las Pautas de Bajo Riesgo para el Consumo de Alcohol de Canadá fueron publicadas originalmente por la CCSA en noviembre de 2011 y fueron el resultado del trabajo de expertos en investigación sobre el alcohol en Canadá. Desde entonces, se han llevado a cabo nuevas investigaciones sustanciales sobre la asociación entre el consumo de alcohol y los daños físicos, mentales y sociales. Muchos países han actualizado sus directrices sobre el consumo de alcohol para reflejar estos avances en lo que se sabe sobre los riesgos y beneficios asociados con el consumo de alcohol.

El informe se compone de...

Background

Appointment no-show and early dropout from treatment represent major challenges in outpatient substance use disorder treatment, adversely affecting clinical outcomes and health care productivity. In this quasi-experimental study, we examined how a brief reminder intervention for new patients before their first appointment affected treatment participation and retention. No-shows (not attending any sessions) and dropouts (discontinuation of initiated treatment because of three consecutively missed appointments) were compared between a period with pre-admission telephone calls...

Fondo

En los entornos de atención médica somática, se considera que las colaboraciones interdisciplinarias (donde varias disciplinas trabajan de manera coordinada e interdependiente hacia objetivos compartidos) producen una mayor efectividad del equipo que los enfoques multidisciplinarios (donde varias disciplinas trabajan en paralelo dentro de sus límites profesionales). Sin embargo, la investigación sobre técnicas multidisciplinares para el tratamiento del trastorno por consumo de alcohol (TCA) en pacientes hospitalizados es limitada, ya que estos enfoques son relativamente poco comunes. El...

Objective: This webinar marks the official launch of the EMCDDA’s foresight toolkit for the drugs field entitled How to run a trends workshop in the drugs field. The event also aims to promote a foresight approach and increase foresight literacy among the EMCDDA’s stakeholders and to take stock of current initiatives in this area and reflect on possible ways forward. Background: We live in an era of fast and fundamental changes. The pace of social transformation and technological innovation is accelerating and can outpace existing policies and responses. In such an interdependent and complex...