Drug abuse

How to help OTC drug abusers

The two articles in the most recent issue of The Pharmaceutical Journal about prescription drug abuse (2015;294:624 and 2015;294:627) missed an opportunity to provide pharmacists with practical tips in tackling prescription drug abuse. Community pharmacists face the prescription and over-the-counter…

UK bill to ban all new psychoactive substances

New psychoactive substances are emerging more quickly than they can be outlawed, but a new UK bill is proposing a blanket solution.…

Tackling prescription drug abuse

There are signs that strategies to address prescription drug abuse are starting to work but will an increase in illegal drug use be the payoff?…

The prescription opioid addiction and abuse epidemic: how it happened and what we can do about it

Opioid painkillers are supposed to provide pain relief, but there is now a plethora of injuries and deaths because they have been heavily marketed and inappropriately prescribed.…

FDA fights opioid abuse with industry guidance

Measures to limit the abuse of opioid drugs have been issued by the US Food and Drug Administration in guidance for the pharmaceutical industry.…

The secret life of ketamine

Ketamine is being used to treat depression in clinics that are springing up across the United States, but uncertainty remains over its long-term use.…

Reformulated OxyContin reduces abuse but many addicts have switched to heroin

Reformulation of OxyContin into an abuse-deterrent formula has reduced its illicit use but has caused people to switch to other opioid drugs, a US study finds.…

Scientists use crowdfunding to boost LSD research

Scientists have turned to crowdfunding to support an imaging study showing the effects of LSD on the brain, the first to be conducted in the UK.…

Narcotics monitoring board reports 66% increase in global consumption of methylphenidate

The global consumption of methylphenidate, a central nervous system stimulant primarily used for the treatment of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, has increased by 66%, a report finds.…

Learn about doping in sports

‘Drugs in sport’, edited by David R Mottram and Neil Chester.…