scholarly journals An overview of the opioid crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-24
Author(s):  
Tiago Ribeiro ◽  
Sasha Ayoubzadeh

The objective of this paper is to highlight the current state of the opioid crisis in Canada, framing it in the context of the global drug problem. The effects of the Opioid Crisis seen in London are part of a larger crisis occurring in North America. The USA has declared the opioid crisis a national emergency and we can expect a similar statement here in Canada as opioid related hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise. Although media attention continues to increase, we continue to see worsening statistics highlighting a flaw in how this complex issue is currently being addressed. Much like how attempts to prevent worsening of the opioid crisis have failed, globally, attempts to reduce the use and misuse of all illicit drugs have failed. Two key documents written by The Global Commission on Drug Policy will be reviewed to provide further insight while highlighting the need to challenge how we currently approach not just the opioid crisis but also the “war on drugs”.

1991 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 42-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
David T. Courtwright

One thing that all parties in the American drug-policy debate agree upon is the desirability of eliminating the traffic in illicit drugs and the esurient criminal syndicates that control it. There are two divergent strategies for achieving this end. The first is the war on drugs. The second, which emerged in the late 1980s as a highly controversial alternative to the drug war, is controlled legalization. What follows is a historically informed critique of both approaches.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 237-255
Author(s):  
Alberto Omar Luna-Monsivais ◽  
Marcelo del Castillo-Mussot ◽  
Alfredo de la Lama García ◽  
Jorge Antonio Montemayor Aldrete

Abstract Globalization of drug consumption has generated a highly lucrative market for illegal traffickers. The US launched a worldwide campaign against illicit drug use, forcing many countries to comply with the ‘War on Drugs.’ We describe this historical process as a perpetual war resulting in violence, criminality, forced displacement, and disappearances in Mexico and other countries. For instance, despite economic, political, and military coercion in Mexico, the “drug problem” shows little sign of going away, unless a new approach regarding drug production and trade is adopted.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Windle

AbstractThe suppression of drug consumption and trade is high on the Government of Vietnam’s agenda. To accomplish this goal, Vietnam employs repressive policies that often contravene international human rights law. Among the most detrimental and problematic policies are the incarceration of drug users in compulsory treatment centers, and the stigmatization and abuse of consumers by the police. Vietnamese drug policy is, however, slowly changing in the face of one of Asia’s worst ongoing HIV epidemics. While the Communist Government of the early-1990s designated illicit drugs as a “social evil” to be eradicated through punitive and often repressive means, the recent implementation of harm reduction approaches have reduced the level of needle sharing, and thus HIV transmission. This briefing will explore the current trends in drug consumption, production, and trafficking before looking at the key harms and threats associated with drugs in Vietnam. This will be followed by a summary of Vietnam’s drug policies, including the country’s approach to drug treatment, harm reduction, and illicit opium suppression: Vietnam is one of a small number of states to have suppressed illicit opium production, an intervention that centred upon coercive negotiations with limited alternative development. The briefing will conclude with some tentative recommendations for reform and thoughts on what could be expected from Vietnam during the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016).


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-182
Author(s):  
WILL COOLEY

AbstractThe rise of crack cocaine in the late 1980s propelled the war on drugs. The experience of Canton, Ohio, shows how the response to crack solidified mass incarceration. A declining industrial city of 84,000 people in northeast Ohio with deep-seated racial divides, it was overwhelmed by aggressive, enterprising crack dealers from outside the city. In response, politicians and residents united behind the strategy of incessant arrests and drastic prison sentences. The law-enforcement offensive worsened conditions while pursuing African Americans at blatantly disproportionate rates, but few people engaged in reframing the drug problem. Instead, a punitive citizenry positioned punishment as the principal remedy. The emergency foreclosed on more comprehensive assessments of the city’s tribulations, while the criminal justice system emerged as the paramount institution.


Author(s):  
Salvador Santino F Regilme

Abstract Peace is one of most widely used yet highly contested concepts in contemporary politics. What constitutes peace? That broad analytic inquiry motivates this article, which focuses on the contentious discourses of peace within a society besieged by widespread trafficking and use of illegal drugs. Focusing on the illegal drug problem in Colombia and the Philippines, the central puzzle of this paper constitutes two fundamental questions: How do state leaders justify their respective “war on drugs”? How do they construct and discursively articulate ideals of peace in the context of the illegal drug problem? This paper compares the post-9/11 Colombian war on drugs (2002–2010) vis-à-vis the Philippine war on drugs under the Duterte administration (2016–2019), particularly in terms of how their presidential administrations articulate “peace” in the context of resolving the drug problem. The paper examines the varying discourses of peace, investigates how those local discourses relate to global discourses on peace and illegal drugs, and underscores how and under which conditions those peace discourses portray the material distributive conflicts in those societies. The core argument states that the Uribe and Duterte administrations primarily deployed the notion of peace as a justificatory discourse for increased state repression, intensified criminalization of the drug problem, and the reluctance of the state in embracing a public health approach to the proliferation of illegal drugs.


2020 ◽  
pp. sextrans-2020-054642
Author(s):  
Casey E Copen ◽  
Patricia J Dittus ◽  
Jami S Leichliter ◽  
Sagar Kumar ◽  
Sevgi O Aral

ObjectiveCondom use behaviours are proximal to recent STI increases in the USA, yet it remains unclear whether the use of condoms has changed over time among unmarried, non-cohabiting young men who have sex with women (MSW) and how this variability is influenced by STI risk factors.MethodsTo examine condom use over time among MSW aged 15–29, we used three cross-sectional surveys from the 2002, 2006–2010 and 2011–2017 National Survey of Family Growth. We estimated weighted percentages, adjusted prevalence ratios (APRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to assess changes in condom use, stratified by whether MSW reported any STI risk factors in the past 12 months (ie, perceived partner non-monogamy, male-to-male sex, sex in exchange for money or drugs, sex partner who injects illicit drugs, or an HIV-positive sex partner).ResultsWe observed a divergence in trends in condom use at last sex between men aged 15 –29 with STI risk factors in the past 12 months and those without such history. We saw significant declines in condom use from 2002 to 2011–2017 among men with STI risk factors (APR=0.80, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.95), specifically among those aged 15–19 (APR=0.73, 95% CI 0.57 to 0.94) or non-Hispanic white (APR=0.71, 95% CI 0.54 to 0.93). In contrast, trends in condom use among men with no STI factors remained stable or increased. Across all time periods, the most prevalent STI risk factor reported was perception of a non-monogamous female partner (23.0%–26.9%). Post-hoc analyses examined whether condom use trends changed once this variable was removed from analyses, but no different patterns were observed.ConclusionsWhile STIs have been increasing, men aged 15–29 with STI risk factors reported a decline in condom use. Rising STI rates may be sensitive to behavioural shifts in condom use among young MSW with STI risk factors.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Christine Babyar

Purpose Physician stress and burnout is a serious and common concern in healthcare, with over half of physicians in the USA meeting at least one criterion for burnout. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach A review on current state of physician stress and burnout research, from 2008 to 2016, was undertaken. A subsequent perspective paper was shaped around these reviews. Findings Findings reveal research strength in prevalence and incidence with opportunities for stronger intervention studies. While descriptive studies on causes and consequences of physician burnout are available, studies on interventions and prevention of physician burnout are lacking. Future research on physician stress and burnout should incorporate intervention studies and take care to avoid limitations found in current research. Accountability and prevention of physician burnout is the responsibility of the healthcare industry as a whole, and organizational strategies must be emphasized in future research. Originality/value The value of this research comes in the original comprehensive review, international inclusion and succinct summary of physician burnout research and strategies.


Author(s):  
V. Sautkina

The following article is devoted to the study of current state of national education and healthcare systems. The cost of services in these areas constantly increases, there for even developed countries are forced to make significant efforts in order to maintain earlier achieved results. Due to this reason countries entered into the period of constant reforms with the purpose of maintaining that high level of health and educational services for all segments of population with a constant reduction of its volume of financing. The legal aspects of these changes are requiring manifestation of the will of politicians in order to overcome the opposition of parties which are defending their interests. As an example, the main opponents of the healthcare reforms proposed by Barak Obama in the USA are Republicans who are concerned about a significant increase of a state control over the entire national insurance system. The author comes to the conclusion that only joint actions of the government and every segment of population might actually improve the quality of medical and educational services.


2022 ◽  
pp. 089692052110702
Author(s):  
Filomin C. Gutierrez

The article problematizes state penality as a mechanism of repression of precarious workers through a war on drugs in the Philippines. The narratives of 27 arrested ‘drug personalities’ in Metro Manila tell of how methamphetamine energizes bodies and motivates minds for productive work. Bidding to be classified as willing and able workers and family men, the study’s participants orient to a moral stratification that pits the ‘moral versus immoral’ and the ‘hardworking versus lazy’. Qualifying their drug use as strategic and calculated, they uphold the neoliberal values of individual choice and accountability. Their support for the anti-drug campaign stems from their recognition of a drug problem and the socioemotional toll of the dysfunctions of living in the slums. While trade liberalization facilitates methamphetamine inflow, a war on drugs fuels an authoritarian populism. As the state reaffirms symbolic mission to protect its citizens, it blames precarity to a problem population.


2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 230-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Mark Russakoff

SummaryThe US healthcare system is in the midst of major changes driven by four forces: the growing consensus in the country that the current system is financially unsustainable; managed care and parity legislation; the Affordable Care Act 2010; and the ageing of the ‘baby boomer’ generation. How these forces will combine and interact is unclear. The current state of in-patient psychiatric care and trends affecting the private practice of in-patient psychiatry over the next few years will be described.


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