Useful AOD Reports & Resources

The Science of Getting Drunk infographic on how #alcohol affects body and brain...

For the future of alcohol screening and brief intervention in Britain, studies do not get more important than those highlighted in the first three entries in this bulletin. Awaited by government before extending the national primary care framework, this suite of three studies under the SIPS umbrella delivered remarkably consistent findings.

Estimating the extent to which criminal activity can be attributed to substance use is a challenging but important task. Quantifying the nexus between drugs and crime contributes to a robust assessment of the cost and burden of alcohol and drug abuse to the Australian community. For the criminal justice system in particular, drug crime estimates, such as those presented in this paper, help to direct more effective targeting of diversion and treatment policies.

WA study suggests improved benzo withdrawal with subcutaneous flumzenil.

This study seeks to establish the prevalence alcohol-related harms to children (ARHC) that occur because of others' drinking in the general population and examine how this varies by who was reported to have harmed the child and socio-demographic factors.

At this stage, the Government does not intend to pursue the Review’s recommendation that it should mandate for the inclusion of generic health warning messages on alcohol labels. Instead, state and territory Health Ministers are to seek advice from the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) on ‘the efficacy of generic alcohol warnings in relation to a comprehensive national campaign on the public health problems of alcohol’.

Every £100 invested in drug treatment services prevents a crime being committed, according to a study released today. A report published by the NTA estimates that current drug treatment provision prevents 4.9 million crimes in England a year, with an estimated saving to society of £960 million in costs to the public, business, the criminal justice system and the NHS.

Denial of human rights, gender disparities, and living in a war zone can be associated with severe depression and poor social functioning, especially for female drug abusers.

Treatment providers should be aware that a large proportion of those they treat have experienced TBI. TBI should be considered as one of the harms likely to accompany the transition into heroin use.

The idea is to bring relief to tourists with stomach-churning wooziness, headaches and body pains - symptoms that could ruin an entire day in Sin City

The impact of depression on the Australian community is well established. A number of approaches have been proposed to address this problem, including targeted programs to promote mental health literacy.

UK government-funded pilot schemes found no crime reduction benefits from brief alcohol counselling for arrestees under the influence of drink, contradicting hopes that arrest referral would help quell late-night alcohol-related disorder. The schemes did however uncover many dependent drinkers.

A 39 year old woman started injecting heroin when she was 18 but soon found she could not control her drug intake or her life in general. At age 30, she sought help and did well with methadone treatment, taking no illicit drugs for three years.

Background Although numerous studies have examined the latent structure of major depression, less attention has focused on mania. This paper presents the first investigation outside the USA to evaluate the psychometric properties of the DSM-IV criterion B mania symptoms using item response theory (IRT).

Wesley Mission on May 14 released an eight-point plan to help support people caring for relatives with mental health issues after its study of more than 1,000 Australians revealed that caring comes at a profound personal cost.

Results: Heroin users were significantly more likely (Prevalence ratio (PR): 1.52 (95% Confidence interval (CI): 1.15-2.07)) to report discrimination due to drug use compared to cocaine users.

From the Netherlands, the first randomised controlled trial to evaluate internet-based therapy for problem drinking via text-chat conversations with a real therapist finds this works better than an automated self-help option; on average alcohol intake was cut by nearly two-thirds.

This synthesis of nine relevant studies of non-student adult samples confirmed that computer-delivered self-help interventions offer a low-cost way to extend the public health impact of interventions for risky drinkers. Yet to be shown is that they can replace therapists for severely dependent individuals seeking treatment.