Background Studies have shown that Iran has a high rate of opiate abuse and the most prevalently used is opium. This study was aimed to evaluate risk factors in patients with acute opium intoxication who referred to Loghman Hakim Hospital, Tehran, Iran, in 2011. Methods A total number of 383 patients with acute opium overdose, who were referred to the Emergency Department of Loghman Hakim Hos...

BACKGROUND This study aimed at determining the drug abuse pattern and the frequency of high-risk behaviors among the clients of Methadone Maintenance Treatment Centers and Drop-in Centers in Shahroud County of Semnan Province. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, the data collection tool was a questionnaire including 10 general and 32 specific items about drug abuse pattern and high-risk be...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES In addition to their major influence on human behavior, opium and opioids have been used for a long time as sedative and analgesic drugs. As from the 19th century, with the isolation of opium alkaloids and easy parenteral administration of these substances, there has been increased interest in the judicious medical use of opioids and in the analysis of social consequen...

Throughout history, opium has been used as a base for the opioid class of drugs used to suppress the central nervous system. Opium is a substance extracted from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.). Its consumption and medicinal application date back to antiquity. In the medieval period, Avicenna, a famous Persian scholar (980-1037 AD) described poppy under the entry Afion of his medical enc...

Opium has been cultivated in Afghanistan since 1100 A.D., although production has steadily increased since 1979. Currently, Afghanistan produces three-quarters of the global opium supply, with injection drug use and HIV currently following the opium trade route through Central Asia. Although systematic studies are lacking, heroin use appears to be on the rise in Afghanistan. The purpose of this...

Studies showed that one of the oldest and prevalent drugs used by Iranians is opium. Due to reduction in the age of myocardial infarction and overall mortality by using opium and potentially dangerous side effects, prevention programs are necessary, especially in patients admitted to the wards, orthopedics, and internal surgery to reduce the incidence of DVT complications. By taking into accoun...

One of the highest areas of esophageal cancer incidence in the world is in northeastern Iran where up to 180 new cases/ 100,000 have been recorded per annum among Turkaman and Mazandarani villagers (10, 12). Although its use has been illegal in Iran since 1955, opium and its recycled pyrolytic product shireh are commonly smoked socially or are eaten for various bodily aches, diarrhea, and insom...

VIRGINIA BERRIDGE and GRIFFITH EDWARDS, Opium and the people: Opiate use in nineteenth-century England, London, Allen Lane; New York, St. Martin's Press, 1981, 8vo, pp. xxx, 369, £20.00. After reading Opium and the people, one is tempted to believe that opium was the religion of the masses. The drug was omnipresent in Victorian society. It was sold, without restriction, not only by chemists, bu...

Background: Buprenorphine dependence is a new issue and to our knowledge no scientific papers have been published on treatment of buprenorphine dependency. The goal of this research was to characterize intravenous buprenorphine-dependent individuals with respect to socio-demographic and other background features, and to investigate the effect of methadone in the maintenance treatment of intrave...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To develop and validate a risk score (acute ischemic stroke-associated pneumonia score [AIS-APS]) for predicting in-hospital stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) after AIS. METHODS The AIS-APS was developed based on the China National Stroke Registry, in which eligible patients were randomly classified into derivation (60%) and internal validation cohort (40%). External va...