The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids
Objectives: To describe benzodiazepine and prescription opioid use by clients of drug treatment services and the sources of pharmaceuticals they use. Design: Structured face-to-face interviews on unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids were conducted between January and July 200...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Australasian Medical Publishing Company Pty. Ltd.
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35021 |
| _version_ | 1848754382544306176 |
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| author | Nielsen, S. Bruno, R. Degenhardt, L. Stoove, M. Fischer, J. Carruthers, Susan Lintzeris, N. |
| author_facet | Nielsen, S. Bruno, R. Degenhardt, L. Stoove, M. Fischer, J. Carruthers, Susan Lintzeris, N. |
| author_sort | Nielsen, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Objectives: To describe benzodiazepine and prescription opioid use by clients of drug treatment services and the sources of pharmaceuticals they use. Design: Structured face-to-face interviews on unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids were conducted between January and July 2008.Participants: Convenience sample of treatment entrants who reported regular(an average of 4 days per week) and unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and/or prescription opioids over the 4 weeks before treatment entry. Setting: Drug treatment services in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. Main outcome measures: Participant demographics, characteristics of recent substance use, substance use trajectories, and sources of pharmaceuticals. Results: Two hundred and four treatment entrants were interviewed. Prescription opioids were predominantly obtained from non-prescribed sources (78%, 84/108). In contrast, medical practitioners were the main source for benzodiazepines (78%, 113/144). Forging of prescriptions was extremely uncommon. A mean duration of 6.3 years (SD, 6.6 years) for benzodiazepines and 4.4 years (SD, 5.7 years) for prescription opioids was reported between first use and problematic use — a substantial window for intervention. Conclusions: Medical practitioners are an important source of misused pharmaceuticals, but they are not the main source of prescription opioids. This has implications for prescription drug monitoring in Australia: current plans (to monitor only Schedule 8 benzodiazepines and prescription opioids) may have limited effects on prescription opioid users who use non-prescribed sources, and the omission of most benzodiazepines from monitoring programs may represent a lost opportunity for reducing unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and associated harm. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:39:31Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-35021 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T08:39:31Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Australasian Medical Publishing Company Pty. Ltd. |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-350212017-09-13T15:29:11Z The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids Nielsen, S. Bruno, R. Degenhardt, L. Stoove, M. Fischer, J. Carruthers, Susan Lintzeris, N. Objectives: To describe benzodiazepine and prescription opioid use by clients of drug treatment services and the sources of pharmaceuticals they use. Design: Structured face-to-face interviews on unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids were conducted between January and July 2008.Participants: Convenience sample of treatment entrants who reported regular(an average of 4 days per week) and unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and/or prescription opioids over the 4 weeks before treatment entry. Setting: Drug treatment services in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. Main outcome measures: Participant demographics, characteristics of recent substance use, substance use trajectories, and sources of pharmaceuticals. Results: Two hundred and four treatment entrants were interviewed. Prescription opioids were predominantly obtained from non-prescribed sources (78%, 84/108). In contrast, medical practitioners were the main source for benzodiazepines (78%, 113/144). Forging of prescriptions was extremely uncommon. A mean duration of 6.3 years (SD, 6.6 years) for benzodiazepines and 4.4 years (SD, 5.7 years) for prescription opioids was reported between first use and problematic use — a substantial window for intervention. Conclusions: Medical practitioners are an important source of misused pharmaceuticals, but they are not the main source of prescription opioids. This has implications for prescription drug monitoring in Australia: current plans (to monitor only Schedule 8 benzodiazepines and prescription opioids) may have limited effects on prescription opioid users who use non-prescribed sources, and the omission of most benzodiazepines from monitoring programs may represent a lost opportunity for reducing unsanctioned use of benzodiazepines and associated harm. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35021 10.5694/mja13.11331 Australasian Medical Publishing Company Pty. Ltd. restricted |
| spellingShingle | Nielsen, S. Bruno, R. Degenhardt, L. Stoove, M. Fischer, J. Carruthers, Susan Lintzeris, N. The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids |
| title | The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids |
| title_full | The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids |
| title_fullStr | The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids |
| title_full_unstemmed | The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids |
| title_short | The sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids |
| title_sort | sources of pharmaceuticals for problematic users of benzodiazepines and prescription opioids |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/35021 |