OBJECTIVE To examine the association between HIV infection and psychiatric disorders among prisoners, where mental illness, substance abuse, and HIV are disproportionately represented. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. METHODS Using a sequential randomization scheme, 200 HIV-seropositive and 200 HIV-seronegative prisoners were selected for evaluation of psychiatric illnesses with the Structured...

Single morphine injections induce a state of acute opioid dependence measured by an increase in naloxone potency to precipitate withdrawal. Repeated morphine exposure (daily/weekly intervals) results in further potentiation of naloxone potency, perhaps due to conditioning mechanisms. The current study tested the hypothesis that previously neutral stimuli could elicit a conditioned potentiation ...

BACKGROUND Cognitive deficits and personality pathology are prevalent in opiate dependence, even during periods of remission, and likely contribute to relapse. Understanding the relationship between the two in vulnerable, opiate-addicted patients may contribute to the design of better treatment and relapse prevention strategies. METHODS The Millon Multiaxial Clinical Inventory (MCMI) and a se...

Zunyou Wu, the author of this round table,1 attempts to rebut the United Nation’s recent criticism of compulsory treatment centres for opioid dependence by arguing that: (i) illicit opioid dependence is not simply a health problem, since the dependent person’s behaviour can adversely affect other community members through drug-related crime, use of illicit opioids in public, and transmission of...

BACKGROUND Methadone is widely accepted as the most effective treatment of opioid dependence. However, clinical observations indicate that the medication is less effective in individuals abusing cocaine. Diminished therapeutic efficacy of methadone in cocaine users is intriguing, but its mechanism has not been studied. METHODS Here, the conditioned place preference (CPP) procedure was used to...

BACKGROUND Although diacetylmorphine has been proven to be more effective than methadone maintenance treatment for opioid dependence, its direct costs are higher. We compared the cost-effectiveness of diacetylmorphine and methadone maintenance treatment for chronic opioid dependence refractory to treatment. METHODS We constructed a semi-Markov cohort model using data from the North American O...

Using a food-reinforced two-lever operant procedure, rats were trained to discriminate 0.04 mg/kg fentanyl from saline. At different time intervals after the establishment of discriminative responding, stimulus generalization experiments were performed with equivalent dose ranges of fentanyl (0.0025 to 0.02 mg/kg) and morphine (2.5 to 20 mg/kg). It was found that the ED50 values of both compoun...

Sixty treatment-seeking individuals with methamphetamine (MA) dependence entered a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial of oral dextroamphetamine (d-AMP) as a replacement therapy for MA dependence. The subjects took 60 mg sustained-release d-AMP for 8 weeks, during which time they received eight 50-min sessions of individual psychotherapy. Adverse events and urine toxicol...

The contemporary history of drug abuse treatment service provision in the United Kingdom (UK) can be traced to the late 1960s when the first drug clinics were opened following the introduction of the Dangerous Drugs Act. Treatment services were established then to tackle the emerging problem of opiate dependence and associated morbidity and mortality. Since then, service provision has come a lo...

BACKGROUND In April 2014, a tamper-resistant controlled-release oxycodone formulation was introduced into the Australian market. This study aimed to identify the level and methods of tampering with reformulated oxycodone, demographic and clinical characteristics of those who reported tampering with reformulated oxycodone, and perceived attractiveness of original and reformulated oxycodone for m...