In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Richard Bade from Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Queensland about his and his co-authors research report on the identification of nitazenes through wastewater analysis, using two-years of data from 22 countries. Richard discusses why a study detecting nitazenes in wastewater was needed and what the future for detecting nitazenes in wastewater looks like, including implications for policy and practice. · What is wastewater analysis and how we use it in the field of drugs [01:21] · What are nitazenes and why they are a problem [02:28] · Why a study detecting nitazenes in wastewater was needed [03:31] · Whether there is a demand for nitazenes [04:08] · How Richard and his team chose the eight nitazenes to study [05:05] · The headline findings of the paper [05:55] · Whether a lack of nitazenes in wastewater means that they aren’t there or they are in too low concentration to be found [08:16] · The benefits of wastewater analysis to detect nitazenes [09:37] · The surprisingly high level of nitazenes in Australia [10:37] · What we can learn for policy and practice [11:47] · The joy and difficulties working with many co-authors! [14:11] About Elle Wadsworth: Elle is an academic fellow with the Society for the Study of Addiction. She is based at the University of Bath with the Addiction and Mental Health Group and her research interests include drug policy, cannabis legalisation, and public health. Elle is also a senior analyst at RAND Europe, working on projects focusing on national and international drug policies. About Richard Bade: Dr Richard Bade is a Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) within The University of Queensland. He completed his PhD at the University Jaume I, Castellon, Spain in 2016 before moving to the University of South Australia in 2017 and QAEHS in 2021. He is interested in understanding links between environmental and community health using wastewater analysis. His particular research interests are associated with the surveillance, detection and identification of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in wastewater and other matrices as well as exploring the impact of chemical and pathogen exposure during mass gatherings. Dr Bade currently leads an expanding international consortium exploring the prevalence of NPS worldwide. These data can help provide insights into the emergence of new, potent NPS, and ensure that public harm from their exposure is minimized. Original article: Early identification of the use of potent benzylbenzimidazoles (nitazenes) through wastewater analysis: two-years of data from 22 countries. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70027 The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to three generations of tobacco/nicotine researchers: Dr Sarah Jackson and Emeritus Professors Martin Jarvis and Robert West, all from the Department of Behavioural Science and Health at University College London. They discuss a recent editorial, ‘The price of a cigarette: 20 minutes of life?’ – why the message resonated, what was and is difficult to convey in tobacco research, and how the media coverage has changed for tobacco research over the years. · What the editorial is about [00:56] · Why the editorial resonated with the public and the media [01:40] · What messages were difficult to convey to the public [03:05] · Why the number of ‘20 minutes of life’ has increased since the last estimate and why it is longer for women [07:43] · Choosing persuasive pieces and soundbites to communicate to the public [12:13] · The misinterpretation of research in the media and the difficulty in delivering nuance [14:08] · How the media coverage on tobacco and smoking has changed over the years [16:23] Dr Sarah Jackson is a Principal Research Fellow within UCL’s Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group. She has authored >100 peer-reviewed articles on nicotine and tobacco. Her research activity focuses primarily on modelling population trends in smoking, evaluating smoking cessation interventions and policies, and advancing the evidence base on vaping. She is President of SRNT Europe, Senior Editor for Addiction , and Social Media Editor for Nicotine & Tobacco Research . Martin Jarvis is Professor Emeritus of Health Psychology at the Department of Behavioural Science and Health, UCL, having for many years worked with Michael Russell’s smoking research group at the Institute of Psychiatry and then Cancer Research UK’s Health Behaviour Unit. He has researched and published widely on tobacco smoking, with special interests in the role of nicotine, social and family influences on smoking, smoking cessation methods and passive smoking. He was awarded an OBE in 2002. Robert West is Professor Emeritus of Health Psychology at UCL. He specialises in behaviour change and addiction. He is former Editor-in-Chief of Addiction, and has acted as an advisor to the English Department of Health on tobacco control and currently advises the Public Health Wales Behavioural Science Unit. He helped write the blueprint for the UK’s national network of stop-smoking clinics and is co-founder of the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation, Behaviour (COM-B) model of behaviour, the Behaviour Change Wheel framework for intervention development, and the PRIME Theory of motivation. Original article: The price of a cigarette: 20 minutes of life? https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16757 Authors praised the seminal work of the late Professor Michael Anthony Hamilton Russell (1932–2009). For further reading on the legacy of his landmark research, see here: https://doi.org/10.1111/add.14043 The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr Noa Krawczyk from the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine about her and her co-authors research report on self-reported experiences and perspectives on using psychedelics to manage opioid use among participants of two Reddit communities. Noa discusses the current treatments available for opioid use disorder and why psychedelics are having their moment as an alternative medicine, and what people who use opioids found when taking psychedelics with the intention of reducing or stopping their opioid use. · What is Reddit and why is Noa using it to answer her research questions [01:24] · The headline findings of the study [02:17] · The comparison of demographics of Reddit and the wider population of people who use opioids [03:46] · What the current treatments are for opioid use disorder in the US and why people are seeking alternatives [05:22] · Why Ibogaine stands out as a prominent psychedelic in the discussion [08:12] · The mechanisms of action found in the analysis [09:45] · The benefits and drawbacks of using psychedelics [13:26] · What we can take from the paper for policy and practice [15:28] About Elle Wadsworth: Elle is an academic fellow with the Society for the Study of Addiction. She is based at the University of Bath and her research interests include drug policy, cannabis legalisation, and public health. Elle is also a senior analyst at RAND Europe, working on projects focusing on national and international drug policies. About Noa Krawczyk: Noa Krawczyk, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Associate Director of the NYU Langone Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy. Her research focuses on studying ways to address barriers to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder at the individual, program, and policy levels. Her work centers on bridging research and practice by collaborating with drug user organizations, health system leaders, public health and government agencies, and advancing science that can help inform evidence-based policies and practices that reduce harm and promote well being. About co-author Megan Miller: Megan Miller, MPH, is a Research Coordinator in the Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and served as the primary data analyst for the Reddit study. She holds an MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. NK receives fees as an expert witness in ongoing opioid litigation. MM has no conflicts of interest to declare. Original article: Self-reported experiences and perspectives on using psychedelics to manage opioid use among participants of two Reddit communities https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16767 The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Dr James Nicholls from the University of Stirling about an opinion paper he co-authored with Professor Geoffrey Hunt on whether pleasure should receive more attention in public health-oriented alcohol research. They discuss what alcohol researchers and public health professionals can learn about ‘intoxication and pleasure’ from drug research, the different ways that the pleasure of drinking is made more socially acceptable, and what more research on pleasure could do for policy and practice. · Why public health research has historically not explored the pleasure of alcohol intoxication [01:04] · Why this is an important topic to raise with the public health research community now [02:58] · Clarifying what type of pleasure is most neglected [04:55] · Measuring intoxication as pleasure and recognising the limitations of our methodologies [06:50] · Three broad reasons why additional attention should be paid to intoxication as pleasure [08:46] · What learning more about the pleasure of intoxication means for policy and practice [12:06] · The anticipation of publishing an opinion piece for debate [14:28] About Elle Wadsworth: Elle is an academic fellow with the Society for the Study of Addiction. She is based at the University of Bath with the Addiction and Mental Health Group and her research interests include drug policy, cannabis legalisation, and public health. Elle is also a senior analyst at RAND Europe, working on projects focusing on national and international drug policies. She holds a PhD in public health and health systems from the University of Waterloo (Canada), an MSc in addiction studies from King's College London (UK), and a BSc in chemistry from the University of Bristol (UK). About James Nicholls: James is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University of Stirling, specialising in alcohol and drug policy research. Recent projects include leading a needs assessment for a safer drug consumption facility in Edinburgh, and a statutory review of the alcohol licensing system in Northern Ireland. He has also published recently on moral philosophy and drug policy advocacy. James was previously Director of Research and Policy at Alcohol Change UK, and Chief Executive Officer of Transform Drug Policy Foundation. James has no conflicts of interest to declare. Original article: Taking pleasure seriously: Should alcohol research say more about fun? https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16747 The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Professor David Hammond about vaping. They discuss policy differences between the Canada, the UK and the US as well as changes relating to disposable vapes and the use of nicotine salts. They cover the environmental impact of some of these products before talking about the different choices available to policymakers when developing regulations. “What the change has meant in England is that there’s probably more room for regulating some of these [vaping] products without undermining their use as a cessation aid” Original article: Use of disposable e-cigarettes among youth who vape in Canada, England, and the United States: repeat cross-sectional surveys, 2017-2023 by David Hammond and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024). The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode Ben Scher talks to Dr Aleksi Hamina from the Norwegian centre for addiction research at the University of Oslo and the Niuvanniemi Hospital in Finland. They discuss a recent paper co-authored by Dr Hamina in which the team matched large national datasets to identify excess mortality among people who use drugs that can be attributed to cancers. They found increases in incidences and mortality according to liver, lung, larynx and pancreas cancers. They highlight the impact of smoking, alcohol use and hepatitis, and discuss the policy implications of knowing the impact that these issues have on the mortality of people who use drugs. These include ensuring good access to healthcare and reviewing the thresholds for onwards referral when symptoms of cancer are identified. “There is a more than twofold relative increase in cancer mortality in this population” Original article: Increased cancer incidence and mortality among people with opioid use-related disorders: A nation-wide cohort study by Emil Kostovski and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024). The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode, Dr Rob Calder talks to Dr Lindsey Hines about her study using longitudinal data to examine links between cannabis use, cannabis potency and psychotic experiences. Dr Hines talks about using Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children ( ALSPAC ) data - also known as 'Children of the Nineties' and discusses why psychosis and cannabis potency are important to measure and some of the challenges of doing so with both. "In unregulated markets like the UK where it's illegal to use cannabis....better health messaging and better awareness among those using cannabis of those potential outcomes is the way that we can go". Original article: Incident psychotic experiences following self-reported use of high-potency cannabis: Results from a longitudinal cohort study by Lindsey A. Hines and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024) Also in this podcast: Testing the validity of national drug surveys: comparison between a general population cohort and household surveys by Hannah Charles and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2021) The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Professor Jonathan Caulkins about self-reported cannabis use in the US between 1979 and 2022 and how those trends compare with alcohol use over the same period. The research focused on four specific time points, measuring cannabis prevalence against US policy changes. Dr Wadsworth and Professor Caulkins then talk about differences between cannabis and alcohol as intoxicants and the impact that cannabis regulations have on cannabis use and the intensity of cannabis use. Professor Caulkins also discusses the limitations of self-report when it comes to substance use, and how this is amplified when asking people about the impact that substance use is having on them and their families. He suggests instead asking people how other people’s substance use is affecting them in order to estimate harms from cannabis use. “Back in 1992 it [cannabis] was essentially a recreational or party drug, sort of a weekend activity and now it has morphed into something that is part of the daily routine for about 40% of its current users.” Original article: Changes in self-reported cannabis use in the United States from 1979 to 2022 by Jonathan Caulkins and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024) The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode, Ben Scher talks to Dr Kathleen Page about her evaluation of an integrated care van that ran in Baltimore offering healthcare interventions and buprenorphine prescribing. Dr Page discusses using a cluster randomised trial to compare outcomes in different neighbourhoods (those where the van did and didn't go) and to explore whether the van was effective at improving health outcomes for people who inject drugs. Dr Page also talks about the impact of COVID-19 on the research as well as the specific needs of people who accessed the van. "When you go out on the van you really are serving a different group, a much more under-served group of people who generally mistrust or don't access the health system unless it's an emergency." Original article: Integrated care van delivery of evidence-based services for people who inject drugs: A cluster-randomized trial by Kathleen Page and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024) The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode Rob Calder talks to Dr Germán Carrasquilla about his study assessing whether smoking cased increases in abdominal obesity or belly fat. They discuss the implications of this kind of fat and note the importance of the findings for people who struggle to quit smoking. Germán talks about using Mendelian randomisation to identify a causal association between smoking and abdominal obesity. The findings, that 'smoking initiation and higher lifetime smoking may lead to increased abdominal fat', add evidence and important detail to the known health benefits of quitting smoking. "People who might be afraid of quitting smoking due to putting on weight find these findings motivating to quit smoking because smoking increases this problematic internal fat which is a risk factor for many other diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease." Original article: Estimating causality between smoking and abdominal obesity by Mendelian randomization by Germán Carrasquilla and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024) The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode Ben Scher talks to Dr Adam Bakker, Professor Michael Liebrenz and Dr Alexander Smith about their commentary in response to a previous paper by Domzaridou and colleages ( 2023 ). They discuss the complexities of providing treatment for people who use, and are prescribed, opiates, opiate agonist medications and benzodiazepines. They talk about using a combination of medical and non-medical treatments when working with people who use benzodiazepines as well as the research needed to bring clarity to this pressing clinical issue. "This population is notoriously difficult to engage, but we should go the extra mile to retain them in treatment because of this high mortality." Original Article: Comment on Domzaridou et al.: Recognising the complexities of co-prescriptions and lifestyle factors in opioid agonist treatment by Adam Bakker and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024). The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode, Ben Scher talks to Dr Gabriela Khazanov, Professor James McKay and Professor Richard Rawson. They discuss what contingency management is and how effective it can be in treatment settings. They also talk about how contingency management can be used for stimulant use disorders; an area where there are relatively few evidence-based treatments. the team goes on to discuss implementation of contingency management in the US and the barriers faced by practitioners such as predominant ethical concerns. They also cover how attitudes towards contingency management have changed over the past decade. The paper that was published in Addiction looked at ways to improve dissemination and implementation of contingency management. Often patients are not able to re-engage in contingency management if they drop out or they’re not allowed to repeat contingency management. And all of that was done to prevent fraud and waste and those kinds of concerns. But we don’t limit other kinds of treatment. We don’t limit behavioural therapy, typically we don’t limit the ability to take medications that could potentially be effective. Original article: Should contingency management protocols and dissemination practices be modified to accommodate rising stimulant use and harm reduction frameworks? by Gabriele Khazanov and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024). The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode Ben Scher talks to Dr Caroline Copeland about her work analysing drug death data to identify drug use trends, harms and to inform policy. Caroline talks about how xylazine first entered the US drug market but has been increasingly identified in Europe and the UK, even being identified in vapes sold as containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Caroline covers the harms from xylazine and the implications for public health practitioners before relating the UK issues to wider global drug markets. "The other really nasty thing that xylazine does is that it can cause blood vessels to contract, and our tissues need blood.....to survive, and if we're closing off those blood vessels, that tissue is going to die and it's going to turn into sores on your skin. And if they get infected it can lead to amputation" Dr Caroline Copeland is a senior lecturer in pharmacology and toxicology at King’s College London and the director of the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality. Original article: Broad evidence of xylazine in the UK illicit drug market beyond heroin supplies, triangulating from toxicology, drug testing and law enforcement by Caroline Copeland and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024) The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode, Dr Elle Wadsworth talks to Paul Griffiths about synthetic drug production in Europe including the differences between lab-made substances and diverted medical drugs. They discuss organised crime and its impact on cocaine production, drug availability and the potential for drug contamination. They also cover fentanyl and the potential for a heroin drought resulting from changes in opium production in Afghanistan. Paul talks about the complexities of European drug markets explaining how they commonly respond to changes in both supply and demand. Elle and Paul then discuss how researchers can monitor drug trends through wastewater analysis and other methods. “These are often very small labs, but because of the potency of these drugs, it means very small production runs can have quite a big impact on local drug consumption patterns and mortality and morbidity. So we saw a few years ago, ten or fifteen years, one lab in central Europe we had a very brief outbreak of deaths in about three countries all related to a very very small, a kitchen lab it was actually in someone’s kitchen but it had an impact.” Paul Griffiths is the scientific director for the EMCDDA – the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Original article: Opioid problems are changing in Europe with worrying signals that synthetic opioids may play a more significant role in the future by Paul Griffiths and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024) The opinions expressed in this post reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

In this episode Dr Merve Mollaahmetoglu talks to Dr Molly Bowdring about her recent article on the impact of alcohol-free drinks such as zero-percent beers, wines and mocktails. Molly talks about using survey data to explore different patterns, such as using non-alcoholic drinks to slow alcohol consumption, to alternate days or as part of someones recovery. Merve and Molly discuss the occasional differences between how people think non-alcoholic drinks change their alcohol consumption and what actually happens to their overall use. If you're somebody who already uses them, be reflective about how is this impacting your desire for alcohol and your consumption in that same night or across the week and just be curious about the relation between your non-alcoholic beverage use and your alcohol use. Original article: Non-alcoholic beverage consumption among US adults who consume alcohol by Molly Bowdring and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2024) The opinions expressed in this post reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal. The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…