BACKGROUND Multiple studies have documented the incidence of illicit drug use and abuse of opioids. Over the years, several hypotheses have been proposed. Short-acting opioids such as hydrocodone are generally considered to predispose patients to poor pain management, dependency, misuse, or abuse; whereas long-acting opioids such as methadone are thought to provide sustained pain management wit...

The size of the illicit drug market is an important indicator to assess the impact on society of an important part of the illegal economy and to evaluate drug policy and law enforcement interventions. The extent of illicit drug use and of the drug market can essentially only be estimated by indirect methods based on indirect measures and on data from various sources, as administrative data sets...

Illicit drug use is the practice of consuming a legally restricted substance in a manner contrary to the moral or traditional practices of a particular culture. In 2005/2006, over 10% of adults between 16 and 59 years of age had used illicit drugs in the previous year (Home Office 2006). The use of ‘Class A drugs’ (usually heroin or cocaine) was over 3%, mainly because of the rise in cocaine us...

BACKGROUND DSM-IV criteria for illicit drug abuse and dependence are largely based on criteria developed for alcohol use disorders and there is a lack of research evidence on the psychometric properties of these symptoms when applied to illicit drugs. METHOD This study utilizes data on abuse/dependence criteria for cannabis, cocaine, stimulants, sedatives, tranquilizers, opiates, hallucinogen...

Problem gambling, substance use disorders, and their cooccurrence are serious public health concerns. We conducted a comprehensive review of the literature to understand the present state of the evidence on these coaddictions. Our main focus was illicit drug use rather than misuse of legal substances. The review covers issues related to gambling as a hidden problem in the illicit drug use commu...

Through both scientific evaluation (1), and the wisdom of experience (2), Western nations have learned that illicit drug markets are notoriously difficult to control from the supply side. A recent World Customs Organization report found that even post-September 11 security measures have had a ‘‘negligible’’ impact on the influx of illicit drugs into the United States (3). In Canada, we recently...

This cross-sectional multi-centre study explored how family members and friends of illicit drug users perceived protective and risk factors, treatment facilities and policies and laws regarding illicit drug use. Family members and friends of illicit drug users were recruited in 10 urban health care outpatient units in 7 Latin American countries (Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala,...