The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in conjunction with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), is issuing this Health Advisory to notify public health professionals, clinicians, laboratorians, and people at risk for overdose about increasing reports from U.S. jurisdictions detecting medetomidine in the illegal drug supply and a severe withdrawal syndrome due to medetomidine exposure. Medetomidine (also known as 'rhino tranq,' 'mede,' or 'dex') is not approved for human use but is approved for sedation and analgesia in dogs. Its dextro-isomer...

Drug addiction and its associated consequences, such as long-term dependence, bloodborne illnesses, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, social isolation, and criminal activity, are gradually being recognised as serious issues that need to be addressed, especially among displaced populations. Due to disputes and conflict in their country, around 1.44 million Afghan refugees (both registered and unregistered) are currently residing in Pakistan in a situation of protracted displacement and significant uncertainty, even though around 4 million Afghan refugees have been repatriated back to...

Background
A non-medicalized safer supply model called a “Compassion Club” has recently been evaluated. The model involved providing rigorously tested and accurately labeled illicit substances to members at cost. Operating for 14 months in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, the initiative aimed to explore the effects and feasibility of this approach among individuals at risk of fatal overdose.

Methods
At the one-year mark, 43 club members completed a survey for this cross-sectional analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the perceived impact of membership on factors like drug use...

This webinar hosted by the Penington Institute to Mark International Overdose Awareness Day 2024 brings together a panel with diverse perspectives, insights, experiences, research, and solutions to the overdose crisis.

Overdose Resource Exchange (ORE) is a central collection of CDC-reviewed communication materials and educational resources about opioid misuse, addiction, treatment, and overdose prevention for state, territorial, and local health departments, tribal organizations, nonprofit and community-based organizations, healthcare providers, and public health professionals.

Check out the Overdose Resource Exchange (ORE) website. It offers a range of communication materials and educational resources that you can search by audience, topic, material format, campaign, and language.

This guide was drawn from HEALing Communities Study (HCS) learnings to-date and expert insights to provide guidance regarding implementation of ORCCA menu strategies.

SAMHSA’s updated Overdose Prevention and Response Toolkit provides guidance to a wide range of individuals on preventing and responding to an overdose. The toolkit also emphasizes that harm reduction and access to treatment are essential aspects of overdose prevention.

The toolkit, designed to augment overdose prevention and reversal training, provides guidance on the role of opioid overdose reversal medications, including naloxone and nalmefene, and how to respond to an overdose. It also contains appendices for specific audiences, including people who use drugs (PWUD), people who take...

 

Over the last 3 decades, there have been several fluctuations in opioid use patterns and prevalence estimates in the United States. The predominant opioid involved in overdose deaths shifted from prescription opioids in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, to heroin in 2010, and to synthetic opioids like fentanyl in 2013. Recent estimates suggest that about 70% of drug overdose deaths involve synthetic opioids other than methadone, with fentanyl accounting for the majority of these deaths. Since 2015, there has also been a steady increase in deaths involving both fentanyl and stimulants.

This...

Do you work in, use or design overdose prevention centres (OPCs)? 

Do you work in a position directly related to the outcomes of OPCs (emergency service personnel, public health practitioner or policymaker?)?

Researchers at Queen's University Belfast invite people to give their views on what outcomes we should use to evaluate overdose prevention centres. Participants are sought for an e-Delphi study to shape the global standard for evaluating OPCs, by answering two short surveys.

Can you help? For more info on how to participate in the study, please click the links below:

Study Information...

In North America, there's a serious problem with drug overdose deaths, mainly due to users encountering very strong and dangerous illegal opioids like fentanyl. Although various efforts have been made in Canada to address this issue, the death toll remains high. Since existing measures don't directly tackle the problem of toxic drug exposure, some places in Canada are trying a different approach called "safer drug supply." This involves providing users with prescribed, high-quality drugs to reduce the risk of overdose and death. While these measures have faced criticism and misconceptions...

From 6th to 8th June 2023, the UNODC Programme Office for Ukraine (POUKR) and the UNODC Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section (PTRS), jointly with Ukrainian NGOs, “Club Eney” and “Conviktus”, organized an in-person “Stop Overdose Safely (S-O-S)” training in Khmelnitskyi, Ukraine. The training is a follow-up to the UNODC-WHO S-O-S initiative that was introduced in Ukraine in 2018, with the aim to prevent, identify and manage opioid overdose, including the provision of take-home naloxone.  

The S-O-S Initiative is in line with the WHO guidelines on community management of opioid...