nam/aidsmap, 21 March 2017
The sharing of drug injecting equipment most often occurs between sexual partners, but the ways in which couples manage risks and care for each other have been largely ignored by harm reduction services, say Australian researchers.
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Naloxone: Victoria’s rising death rate prompts calls to relax restrictions on overdose ‘antidote’
ABC news, Posted 13.12.16 at 5:11pm The high rate of overdose deaths in Victoria has prompted calls for a change in regulations around overdose ‘antidote’ Naloxone. Naloxone is used to reverse the effects of opioids like heroin and oxycodone but under Australian law it can only be dispensed over the counter by a doctor or pharmacist. The stigma can mean some users avoid asking for the...
Key findings from the 2016 IDRS: A survey of people who inject drugs
NDARC/UNSW, 10/10/2016 The Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) monitors emerging trends in the use, price, purity and availability of heroin, methamphetamine (speed powder, base and crystal), cocaine and cannabis. In addition to a survey of people who inject drugs (PWID), the annual data collection also includes a survey of key experts (KE) who are professionals in the field of illicit drugs and...
Heroin deaths spike as investigations begin into ‘strong batch’ in SA
ABC News, 23rd August 2016
Toxicologists have begun investigating a spike in heroin-related deaths as emergency and health services are put on high alert in South Australia.
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Opiate use quadruples in Australia, while 85 per cent of the world has zero access: study
ABC, 4/2/2016 Key points: Study reveals opiate use doubled in developed countries, quadrupled in Australia 85 per cent of world’s population have no access to opioids Uganda plans to grow its own opium crops to overcome the issue of affordability Professor Richard Mattick, senior author of the paper, published in The Lancet, said researchers found 95 per cent of all opioids were used in...
Age concern in largest ever study of heroin user deaths
University of Manchester, for public release 27-Jan-2015 In the largest study of opioids users ever undertaken, the researchers used records of 198,247 people in England. Opioid users were six times more likely to die prematurely than people in the general population. Almost one in ten of these deaths were due to suicide, more than four times the rate in the general population. Read more here...