Yet another study confirms that cannabis is not an effective treatment for opioid addiction, this time from Brazil’s University of Ribeirão Preto, Yale University et al. Their meta review covered 8,367 people given drugs to treat opioid addiction.

Conclusion: There was no significant association between cannabis use and non-medical opioid use among patients receiving pharmacotherapies for OUD

See also 

• Marijuana Cannabis Use and Risk of Prescription Opioid Use
• Weeding out the truth: a systematic review and meta-analysis on the transition from cannabis use to opioid use and opioid use disorders, abuse or dependence
• Cannabis use appears to encourage, not replace, non-medical opioid use
• Cannabis use does not reduce long-term heroin use, study finds

Behind every alcoholic parent, there is a child of an alcoholic and, with over 7.5 million people in the UK showing signs of alcohol dependence, that’s an awful lot of children who will be affected by their parents drinking (one in five children, to be exact.)

When you grow up in the house of an addict, forced to take on the role of adult as you ‘parent the parent’, your childhood is characterised by chaos, unpredictability, and (lack of) control.

When you know that what is happening at home is wrong, that a child should not be in that environment (when your mother herself has told you so, yet continues to do it anyway), somewhere along the way you have to pretend that you don’t care, pushing the emotions away as far down as they will go. Because, as hard as home life is, you’re told that being in care will be harder, ‘and if social services get involved, that’s exactly what will happen…’, as she would remind you every time you’d shout, in between cries, that ‘it’s not fair.’

Having essentially been forced to remain silent for 18 years, left with no choice but to make numbness my default so as not to ‘slip up’, and the years after that forgetting that there was an alternative, it is only now, aged 22, that I am, slowly, opening myself up to emotion and it is interesting, in a word.

To be able to feel things that I have spent a lifetime not feeling.
To be able to feel something other than…nothing.

For complete story

What is one of the key drivers of addiction? Engagement with substances and permission to do so. Now we have some bad actors in the political space promoting greater and greater permission models to engage in and promote drug use - Thus, adding to the burden of this non-communicable disease by increasing suicide risk. In what #publichealth metric is this good practice? #addiction is just one Unnecessary Harm, and promoting drug use is culpable. #preventiondontpromote

(for complete article  WebMD Health Services)

Also see

• Cannabis & Suicide – Causal and Correlate?
• A Lifecourse Perspective on Self-Harm, Suicide and Alcohol Use Among Men
• Study of Cannabis Use Impact on Mental Health, Depression & Suicide:
• Alcohol and deaths of despair
• Does Substance Use Disorder Cause Suicidality? Or, does Suicidality Cause Substance Use Disorder?
• Marijuana Related Suicide of Young People in Colorado

‘Let me try it,’ I said. A friend was smoking it in the bathroom of a Berlin club. My cares and denials were too heavy. My friend looked at me, and I will never forget those eyes. They were begging. ‘You don’t want this. You really don’t. This is not what you need.’

I am the sheep, and the smack is the shepherd. I’ve been following the shepherd for fifteen years…. I made a choice, and the consequence of that choice was relinquishing control.

It is a miracle potion, a magical compound that makes the world disappear. Troubles evaporate. Failures are forever hidden.

It was heaven. A false paradise. I was riding the wave of peace that I had always desired. I inhaled, and I laughed. I laughed at the absurdity of the situation I was in. I was smoking heroin in the toilet of a Berlin club, and it was the best feeling I have ever had. It coursed through my body, replacing every toxin with a new one.

There is a romanticisation of heroin, a mythology. The tale omits the truth. They don’t tell you about the exit, only the entrance.

The world will come back with a vengeance. This miracle compound was not efficacious in every case. I was, and to a degree, still am currently in a state of acute denial. I can handle this.

This is costing me my world, but more, it’s costing me my very existence. Weight is falling off me. I am becoming a ghost. My skin feels waxy. I am becoming a finished candle. My eyes are heavy. I am blind to the truth.

There is little more to do than accept that I need help.

For complete article 

Key Points

Question: Which pharmacotherapies are associated with improved outcomes for people with alcohol use disorder?

Findings: In this systematic review and meta-analysis that included 118 clinical trials and 20 976 participants, 50 mg/d of oral naltrexone and acamprosate were each associated with significantly improved alcohol consumption-related outcomes compared with placebo.

Meaning:  These findings support oral naltrexone at 50 mg/d and acamprosate as first-line therapies for alcohol use disorder.

Abstract

Objective: To compare efficacy and comparative efficacy of therapies for alcohol use disorder.

Study Selection: For efficacy outcomes, randomized clinical trials of at least 12 weeks’ duration were included. For adverse effects, randomized clinical trials and prospective cohort studies that compared drug therapies and reported health outcomes or harms were included.

Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was alcohol consumption. Secondary outcomes were motor vehicle crashes, injuries, quality of life, function, mortality, and harms.

Conclusions and Relevance:  In conjunction with psychosocial interventions, these findings support the use of oral naltrexone at 50 mg/d and acamprosate as first-line pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder.

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