 A newly published study in the journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence looks at 10 years of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health comparing the rates and risks for construction trade and extraction workers (CTE) and non-CTE employees. The study found that overall rates of cocaine, marijuana and non-prescription opioids were high among CTE workers than non-CTE workers. Precarious employment, specifically working for three or more employers in a given week, and absenteeism, missing one or two days in the past month, increased the risks for misuse. Some of these effects were lessened in workplaces with written drug policies or workplaces that endorsed random drug testing.
Although discouraged by evidence-based clinical guidelines, a new study revealed a significant number of patients who had a prescription for both opioids and benzodiazepines, a class of drugs commonly used as an anti-seizure, anti-anxiety, or muscle relaxant medication. According to data collected from nine states’ Prescription Behavior Surveillance Systems, 21.6 percent of patients reviewed who had received an opioid prescription also had received a benzodiazepine prescription. Of that 21 percent, 54 percent of those prescriptions were concurrent, meaning the patients may have been taking both medications at the same time, against clinical guidelines. A majority of the patients who had concurrent opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions received the prescriptions from different providers.
Many people working on the frontlines of the drug crisis have realized the importance of making connections and working across disciplines to best help the individuals and communities heal. This new resource is provided by the Prevention Technology Transfer Center, which is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and outlines the key stakeholders to connect for opioid overdose prevention efforts at the community or state level. Use this document to ensure your community response has the buy-in from the right community, state and national supporters.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance's Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program (COAP) will hold its annual national forum in the Washington, D.C., area on March 10-12 and has issued an open call for proposals. They are looking for individuals to share their experiences and successes in the areas of promoting public safety and working with the criminal justice system, impacting the opioid epidemic through data, leveraging resources and funding across systems, and prevention for misuse and addiction. For more information and to apply, review the guidelines here.
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