Gabapentinoid use disorder. Update for clinicians

Gabapentinoids (gabapentin and pregabalin) are versatile drugs, indicated mainly for epilepsy and neuropathic pain, and have long been viewed as agents with little potential for abuse. Burgeoning prescribing patterns and studies indicate that these drugs are increasingly being abused, particularly by polydrug abusers who also abuse opioids. Gabapentinoid abuse is found in less 2% of the general population but may be as high as 15% to 22% among opioid abusers. Other risk factors for gabapentinoid abuse are less clear-cut but include mental health disorders. Gabapentinoids are relatively easy for drug abusers to obtain and many clinicians are not fully aware of their abuse potential. It is thought that gabapentinoids may offer psychoactive effects or enhance the effects of other drugs of abuse. Those who discontinue gabapentinoids abruptly may suffer withdrawal symptoms, but gabapentinoid overdose fatality is rare. Since gabapentinoids are often prescribed off-label to treat psychiatric disorders, these drugs may be dispensed to a particularly vulnerable population. Clinicians must be aware of the potential for Gabapentinoid Use Disorder: Update for Clinicians

Injecting equipment schemes for injecting drug users : qualitative evidence review

This review of the qualitative literature about needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) for injecting drug users (IDUs) complements the review of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. It aims to provide a more situated narrative perspective on the overall guidance questions

The complexity of neuroenhancement and the adoption of a social cognitive perspective

This contribution attempts to provide a broad perspective to the psychological study of neuroenhancement (NE). It departs from the assumption that, as the use of performance enhancing substances in sport, the use of substances with the aim of improving one’s cognitive, motivational and affective functioning in academic domains is a goal-directed behavior. As such, its scientific study may very well benefit from an analysis taking into account the psychological processes regulating people’s behavioral intentions and decisions. Within this broad framework, this contribution addresses several issues that currently seem to characterize the debate in the literature on neuroenhancement substances (NES) use. The first conceptual issue seeks to determine and define the “boundaries” of the phenomenon. The second issue concerns the empirical evidence on the prevalence of using certain substances for the purpose of NE. Finally, there is a debate around the ethical and moral implications of NE. Along these lines, the existing psychological research on NE has adopted mainly sociological and economic decision-making perspectives, greatly contributing to the psychological discourse about the phenomenon of NE. However, we argue that the existing psychological literature does not offer a common, explicit and integrated theoretical framework. Borrowing from the framework of doping research, we recommend the adoption of a social cognitive model for pursuing a systematic analysis of the psychological processes that dynamically regulate students’ use of NES over tim

The Danger to the Chemical Weapons Convention from Incapacitating Chemicals

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Hold on: physical restraint in residential child care

Guidance for developing best practice, policy and improved outcomes for children and young people in residential child care. Children in residential care can exhibit disturbed and violent behaviour which can result in them being aggressive to themselves and to others. Over many years practitioners, managers and policy-makers have tried to find ways of dealing with children whose behaviour is dangerous with a range of interventions such as crisis intervention and crisis de-escalation, as well as the use of sanctions such as restricting leisure activities and control of pocket money. There has also been some debate about the use of physical restraint by residential child care staff when the child or those around him or her need to be protected from the child's aggression without hurting or humiliating the child

More Harm than Good: Responding to States' Misguided Efforts to Regulate Immigration

This year's state legislative sessions have seen a large number of anti-immigrant worker legislative proposals, ranging from state-level employer sanctions bills, legislation requiring employers of immigrants to register and pay fees, taxes for employers of "aliens", proposals to deny workers' compensation to certain immigrants, and proposals requiring state agencies to act as arms of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).These proposals are misguided. They will result in increased discrimination against workers who are perceived to be "foreign", drive already vulnerable workers further underground and divert scarce state and local resources away from activities that benefit local communities.There is a better way: more effective enforcement of labor and employment rights to eliminate exploitation of immigrant workers and unfair competition against good employers. Shutting down the sweatshops will benefit all workers, whether US- or foreign-born, and create a climate of good jobs for all

Designer drugs on the Internet : a phenomenon out-of-control? : The emergence of hallucinogenic drug Bromo-Dragonfly

Copyright Bentham Science PublishersBased on the material available in both the scientific literature and on the web, the present paper provides an updated pharmacological, chemical, toxicological and behavioural overview of Bromo-Dragonfly (1-(8-bromobenzo[1,2- b;4,5-b']difuran-4-yl)-2-aminopropane; 'B-fly'). B-Fly is a powerful, long lasting, LSD-like, hallucinogenic drug, which has been associated with a number of acute intoxications and fatalities in a number of countries. A critical discussion of the potential of misuse of B-fly but also of the methodological limitations, which are intrinsically associated with the analysis of online, non-peer reviewed, material, is presented. It is concluded that the availability of online information on novel psychoactive drugs, such as B-fly, may constitute a public health challenge. Better international collaboration levels may be needed to tackle this novel and fast growing phenomenonPeer reviewe

Recent Changes in Drug Abuse Scenario: The Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) Phenomenon

copyright 2019 by the authors. Articles in this book are Open Access and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. The book as a whole is distributed by MDPI under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.Final Published versio