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Effect of initiating drug treatment on the risk of drug-related poisoning death and acquisitive crime among offending heroin users.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:A recent Cochrane review of randomised trials identified a lack of evidence for interventions provided to drug-using offenders. We use routine data to address whether contact with treatment services reduces heroin users' likelihood of a future acquisitive offence or drug-related poisoning (DRP) death. METHODS:Heroin-users were identified from probation assessments and linked to drug-treatment, mortality and offending records. The study cohort was selected to ensure that the subject was not: in prison, in treatment or had recently left treatment. Subjects were classed as initiators if they attended a triage appointment within two weeks of their assessment; non-initiators otherwise. Initiator and non-initiators were compared over a maximum of one year, with respect to their risk of recorded acquisitive offence or DRP-death. Balance was sought using propensity score matching and missing data were accounted for using multiple imputation. RESULTS:Nine percent of assessments identified for analysis were classed as initiators. Accounting for observed confounding and missing data, there was a reduction in DRPs associated with initiator assessments, however there was uncertainty around this estimate such that a null-effect could not be ruled out (HR: 0.42, 95% CI 0.17-1.04). There was no evidence of a decrease in the recidivism risk, in fact the analysis showed a small increase (HR: 1.10, 95% CI 1.02-1.18). CONCLUSION:For heroin-using offenders, initial contact with treatment services does not appear to reduce the likelihood of a future acquisitive offence.

SUBMITTER: Pierce M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5788328 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effect of initiating drug treatment on the risk of drug-related poisoning death and acquisitive crime among offending heroin users.

Pierce Matthias M Bird Sheila M SM Hickman Matthew M Marsden John J Dunn Graham G Seddon Toby T Millar Tim T

The International journal on drug policy 20171120

<h4>Background</h4>A recent Cochrane review of randomised trials identified a lack of evidence for interventions provided to drug-using offenders. We use routine data to address whether contact with treatment services reduces heroin users' likelihood of a future acquisitive offence or drug-related poisoning (DRP) death.<h4>Methods</h4>Heroin-users were identified from probation assessments and linked to drug-treatment, mortality and offending records. The study cohort was selected to ensure that ...[more]

PMID: 29156402

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP), by reducing access to prescribed opioids (POs), may contribute to a policy environment in which some people with opioid dependence are at increased risk for transitioning from POs to heroin/other illegal opioids. This study examines how PDMP adoption and changes in the characteristics of PDMPs over time contribute to changes in fatal heroin poisoning in counties within states from 2002 to 2016. METHODS:Latent transition analysis to classify PDMPs into latent classes (Cooperative, Proactive, and Weak) for each state and year, across three intervals (1999-2004, 2005-2009, 2010-2016). We examined the association between probability of PDMP latent class membership and the rate of county-level heroin poisoning death. RESULTS:After adjustment for potential county-level confounders and co-occurring policy changes, adoption of a PDMP was significantly associated with increased heroin poisoning rates (22% increase by third year post-adoption). Findings varied by PDMP type. From 2010-2016, states with Cooperative PDMPs (those more likely to share data with other states, to require more frequent reporting, and include more drug schedules) had 19% higher heroin poisoning rates than states with Weak PDMPs (adjusted rate ratio [ARR] = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.14, 1.25). States with Proactive PDMPs (those more likely to report outlying prescribing and dispensing and provide broader access to law enforcement) had 6% lower heroin poisoning rates than states with No/Weak PDMPs (ARR = 0.94; 95% CI = 0.90, 0.98). CONCLUSION:There is a consistent, positive association between state PDMP adoption and heroin poisoning mortality. However, this varies by PDMP type, with Proactive PDMPs associated with a small reduction in heroin poisoning deaths. This raises questions about the potential for PDMPs to support efforts to decrease heroin overdose risk, particularly by using proactive alerts to identify patients in need of treatment for opioid use disorder. Future research on mechanisms explaining the reduction in heroin poisonings after enactment of Proactive PDMPs is merited.

Project description:BackgroundVarious psychotropic prescription drugs are known to have potential for misuse. Among teenagers, non-medical use of prescription drugs may predate illicit drug use or occur concomitantly.AimsOur aim was to examine prescriptions of psychotropic medications among drug crime offenders and non-criminal controls in a psychiatric inpatient cohort of 13-17-year-olds. Our research question was: were prescribed psychotropic and potentially addictive drugs associated with later drug crime offending.MethodsOur sample was of all 60 adolescents who had been convicted of a drug crime by young adulthood with a twice-sized control group, matched for gender, age and family-type, from a cohort of 508 adolescents consecutively admitted to a psychiatric inpatient care in Finland between April 2001 and March 2006. Adolescence-related information on substance use and psychiatric disorders was obtained by semi-structured interviews. Follow-up information on crimes and medication purchases was obtained from Finnish nationwide registers. The association of studied factors to drug crime offending was examined using stepwise binary logistic regression analysis.Results75% of drug crime offenders and 47% of non-criminal controls had used addictive psychotropic medications during the follow-up period (p < 0.001). 74% of all drug crime offenders' purchases of prescribed addictive drugs occurred within the year preceding drug crimes. Of addictive drugs, the use of clonazepam and gabapentinoids was most likely to associate with drug crime offending (AOR 7.77, p < 0.001). Conduct and substance use disorders diagnosed in adolescence (AOR 3.49, p = 0.010; AOR 2.34, p = 0.050) were predictors for drug crime offending.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that, when treating young adults with conduct disorder and a history of substance use, physicians should prescribe addictive medications with caution, favouring instead non-addictive medications complemented by psychosocial interventions.

Project description:BACKGROUND:The US is experiencing an unprecedented opioid overdose epidemic fostered in recent years by regional contamination of the heroin supply with the fentanyl family of synthetic opioids. Since 2011 opioid-related overdose deaths in the East Coast state of Massachusetts have more than tripled, with 75% of the 1374 deaths with an available toxicology positive for fentanyl. Fentanyl is 30-50X more potent than heroin and its presence makes heroin use more unpredictable. A rapid ethnographic assessment was undertaken to understand the perceptions and experiences of people who inject drugs sold as 'heroin' and to observe the drugs and their use. METHODS:A team of ethnographers conducted research in northeast Massachusetts and Nashua, New Hampshire in June 2016, performing (n=38) qualitative interviews with persons who use heroin. RESULTS:(1) The composition and appearance of heroin changed in the last four years; (2) heroin is cheaper and more widely available than before; and (3) heroin 'types' have proliferated with several products being sold as 'heroin'. These consisted of two types of heroin (alone), fentanyl (alone), and heroin-fentanyl combinations. In the absence of available toxicological information on retail-level heroin, our research noted a hierarchy of fentanyl discernment methods, with embodied effects considered most reliable in determining fentanyl's presence, followed by taste, solution appearance and powder color. This paper presents a new 'heroin' typology based on users' reports. CONCLUSION:Massachusetts' heroin has new appearances and is widely adulterated by fentanyl. Persons who use heroin are trying to discern the substances sold as heroin and their preferences for each form vary. The heroin typology presented is inexact but can be validated by correlating users' discernment with drug toxicological testing. If validated, this typology would be a valuable harm reduction tool. Further research on adaptations to heroin adulteration could reduce risks of using heroin and synthetic opioid combinations.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Polydrug use may challenge effective treatment for substance use disorders. We evaluate whether secondary substance use modifies the association between treatment and primary drug use among primary heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine (MA) users. METHODS:Data were obtained from prospective cohort studies on people who use illicit drugs (PWUD) in California, USA. Using repeated monthly data on self-reported secondary substance use (heroin, cocaine, MA, alcohol or marijuana; ?1day in a month), primary drug use (?1day in a month), and treatment participation, collected via timeline follow-back, we fitted generalized linear mixed multiple regression models controlling for potential confounders to examine the interactions between treatment and secondary substance use on the odds of primary heroin, cocaine and MA use, respectively. RESULTS:Included in our study were 587 primary heroin, 444 primary MA, and 501 primary cocaine users, with a median of 32.4, 13.3 and 18.9 years of follow-up, respectively. In the absence of secondary substance use, treatment was strongly associated with decreased odds of primary drug use (adjusted odds ratios (aORs): 0.25, 95% CI: 0.24, 0.27, 0.07 (0.06, 0.08), and 0.07 (0.07, 0.09)) for primary heroin, MA, and cocaine users, respectively. Secondary substance use of any kind moderated these associations (0.82 (0.78, 0.87), 0.25 (0.21, 0.30) and 0.53 (0.45, 0.61), respectively), and these findings were consistent for each type of secondary substance considered. Moreover, we observed different associations in terms of direction and magnitude between secondary substance use and primary drug use during off-treatment periods across substance types. CONCLUSION:This study demonstrates secondary substance use moderates the temporal associations between treatment and primary drug use among primary heroin, MA and cocaine users. Disparate patterns of polydrug use require careful measurement and analysis to inform targeted treatment for polydrug users.

Dataset Information

Effect of initiating drug treatment on the risk of drug-related poisoning death and acquisitive crime among offending heroin users.

Publications

Effect of initiating drug treatment on the risk of drug-related poisoning death and acquisitive crime among offending heroin users.

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