substance use disorder is conceptualized as a chronic relapsing condition where relapse is usually defined as the return to problematic substance use following treatment. an issue of great importance is the identification of the predictors of relapse and the development of treatments that may help prevent relapse. one of the strongest predictors of relapse is craving. the purpose of the present...

background: drug users (opiate dependency) account for about 65% of all aids cases in iran. drug injection has been identified as the most common way of hiv transmission in these patients. this study aimed to determine self-efficacy, and perceived benefits / barriers of aids preventive behaviors in opiate dependency. methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009.the study population wa...

aims: drug users form the main hiv-affected group in iran. about two-third of all the individuals affected by hiv in iran are those who use drug through injection. the aim of this study is to determine the effect of health belief model (hbm) on prevention of hiv transmission among the opiate-dependent population in zarandieh. methods and materials: this is a quasi-experimental intervention stud...

Renal disease in cocaine and heroin users is associated with the nephrotic syndrome, acute glomerulonephritis, amyloidosis, interstitial nephritis, and rhabdomyolysis. The pathophysiologic basis of cocaine-related renal injury involves renal hemodynamic changes, glomerular matrix synthesis and degradation, and oxidative stress and induction of renal atherogenesis. Heroin is the most commonly ab...

BACKGROUND Heroin is a synthetic opioid with an extensive illicit market leading to large numbers of people becoming addicted. Heroin users often present to community treatment services requesting detoxification and in the UK various agents are used to control symptoms of withdrawal. Dissatisfaction with methadone detoxification 8 has lead to the use of clonidine, lofexidine, buprenorphine and ...

Naloxone, an opiate antagonist that can avert opiate overdose mortality, has only recently been prescribed to drug users in a few jurisdictions (Chicago, Baltimore, New Mexico, New York City, and San Francisco) in the United States. This report summarizes the first systematic evaluation of large-scale naloxone distribution among injection drug users (IDUs) in the United States. In 2005, we cond...

Information gleaned from several studies suggests that non-opiate drug users view heroin and heroin users in negative terms. The present study examines this issue in greater detail through analysis of Ecstasy users’ perceptions about heroin, heroin users and injectors. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with 98 current or former users of Ecstasy who were recruited through vario...