Drug abuse

A potted history of cannabis in the United States

Marijuana: a short history by John Hudak.…

Methods patients use to purchase over-the-counter medicines for misuse

Duncan Hill, specialist pharmacist in substance misuse, explains the tricks misusers of over-the-counter medicines use to obtain their drug of choice from pharmacies.…

A new perspective on addiction

Unbroken brain: a revolutionary new way of understanding addiction, by Maia Szalavitz.…

Legalise cannabis for medical use, MPs say

An influential committee of MPs has called on the government to make cannabis legal for medical use.  The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Drug Policy Reform wants the drug reclassified from its Schedule 1 — which puts it in the same class as ecstasy and LSD — to Sched…

Anaesthesiologists call on UN to resist making ketamine a controlled substance

The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) has called for support to protect the status of the anaesthetic ketamine as an essential medicine.  The plea comes in response to repeated attempts by China and other south-east Asian countries that have problems with ketamine…

Community pharmacy helps diagnose people with hepatitis C infection, study shows

Community pharmacists have the potential to identify people with undiagnosed hepatitis C infection, according to research published in Clinical Pharmacist.…

Providing HIV care in community pharmacy

HIV is a long-term, chronic condition which is usually only managed by clinical teams in secondary care and antiretroviral (ARV) treatment is usually supplied by hospital pharmacies or homecare companies. Adherence to ARVs is critical to achieving and maintaining viral suppression, which is ac…

Raising awareness as new Psychoactive Substances Act about to come into force

When the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 comes into force on 6 April 2016 it will become an offence to produce or supply any psychoactive substance (excluding nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, medicines and controlled drugs). The main aim of the act is to prohibit and disrupt the production and sup…

Survey of UK public reveals extent of over-the-counter drug misuse and abuse

A fifth of the UK population may have misused non-prescription medicines in some way during their lifetime, either by taking a higher dose than recommended, using a product more often than recommended or by using a medicine beyond the recommended time limit, according to research published in the Jo…

Review of tramadol use within NHS Scotland following reclassification

After growing reports of misuse and harm, including increased implication in drug-related deaths, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended that tramadol should be reclassified as a class C, Schedule 3 drug. This was enacted in June 2014. In primary care, the main change required…