A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
<h4>Background and aims</h4> COVID-19 has infected more than 13 million people worldwide and impacted the lives of many more, with a particularly devastating impact on vulnerable populations, including people with substance use disorders (SUDs). Quarantines, travel bans, regulatory chang...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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2020
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88956 |
| _version_ | 1848765124035215360 |
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| author | Farhoudian, Ali Radfar, Seyed Ramin Ardabili, Hossein Mohaddes Rafei, Parnian Ebrahimi, Mohsen Zonoozi, Arash Khojasteh De Jong, Cornelis Vahidi, Mehrnoosh Yunesian, Masud Kouimtsidis, Christos Arunogiri, Shalini Hansen, Helena Brady, Kathleen Potenza, Marc Baldacchino, Alexander Mario Ekhtiari, Hamed ISAM-PPIG Global Survey Consortium |
| author_facet | Farhoudian, Ali Radfar, Seyed Ramin Ardabili, Hossein Mohaddes Rafei, Parnian Ebrahimi, Mohsen Zonoozi, Arash Khojasteh De Jong, Cornelis Vahidi, Mehrnoosh Yunesian, Masud Kouimtsidis, Christos Arunogiri, Shalini Hansen, Helena Brady, Kathleen Potenza, Marc Baldacchino, Alexander Mario Ekhtiari, Hamed ISAM-PPIG Global Survey Consortium |
| author_sort | Farhoudian, Ali |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | <h4>Background and aims</h4> COVID-19 has infected more than 13 million people worldwide and impacted the lives of many more, with a particularly devastating impact on vulnerable populations, including people with substance use disorders (SUDs). Quarantines, travel bans, regulatory changes, social distancing and ‘lockdown’ measures have affected drug and alcohol supply chains and subsequently their availability, price and use patterns, with possible downstream effects on presentations of SUDs and demand for treatment. Given the lack of multicentric epidemiologic studies, we conducted a rapid global survey within the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) network in order to understand the status of substance-use patterns during the current pandemic. <h4>Design</h4> Cross-sectional survey. <h4>Setting</h4> Worldwide. <h4>Participants</h4> Starting on April 4 th , 2020 during a 5-week period, the survey received 185 responses from 77 countries. <h4>Measurements</h4> To assess addiction medicine professionals’ perceived changes in drug and alcohol supply, price, use pattern and related complications during the COVID-19 pandemic. <h4>Findings</h4> Participants reported (among who answered “decreased” or “increased”, percentage of those who were in majority is reported in the parenthesis) a decrease in drug supply (69.0%), and at the same time an increase in price (95.3%) globally. With respect to changes in use patterns, an increase in alcohol (71.7%), cannabis (63.0%), prescription opioids (70.9%), and sedative/hypnotics (84.6%) use was reported while the use of amphetamines (59.7%), cocaine (67.5%), and opiates (58.2%) was reported to decrease overall. <h4>Conclusions</h4> The global report on changes in the availability, use patterns and complications of alcohol and drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic should be considered in making new policies and in developing mitigating measures and guidelines during the current pandemic (and probable future ones) in order to minimize risks to SUDs. <h4>Competing interest</h4> Authors claimed no competing interest |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:30:15Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-88956 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:30:15Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-889562022-08-29T06:53:09Z A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic Farhoudian, Ali Radfar, Seyed Ramin Ardabili, Hossein Mohaddes Rafei, Parnian Ebrahimi, Mohsen Zonoozi, Arash Khojasteh De Jong, Cornelis Vahidi, Mehrnoosh Yunesian, Masud Kouimtsidis, Christos Arunogiri, Shalini Hansen, Helena Brady, Kathleen Potenza, Marc Baldacchino, Alexander Mario Ekhtiari, Hamed ISAM-PPIG Global Survey Consortium ISAM-PPIG Global Survey Consortium <h4>Background and aims</h4> COVID-19 has infected more than 13 million people worldwide and impacted the lives of many more, with a particularly devastating impact on vulnerable populations, including people with substance use disorders (SUDs). Quarantines, travel bans, regulatory changes, social distancing and ‘lockdown’ measures have affected drug and alcohol supply chains and subsequently their availability, price and use patterns, with possible downstream effects on presentations of SUDs and demand for treatment. Given the lack of multicentric epidemiologic studies, we conducted a rapid global survey within the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) network in order to understand the status of substance-use patterns during the current pandemic. <h4>Design</h4> Cross-sectional survey. <h4>Setting</h4> Worldwide. <h4>Participants</h4> Starting on April 4 th , 2020 during a 5-week period, the survey received 185 responses from 77 countries. <h4>Measurements</h4> To assess addiction medicine professionals’ perceived changes in drug and alcohol supply, price, use pattern and related complications during the COVID-19 pandemic. <h4>Findings</h4> Participants reported (among who answered “decreased” or “increased”, percentage of those who were in majority is reported in the parenthesis) a decrease in drug supply (69.0%), and at the same time an increase in price (95.3%) globally. With respect to changes in use patterns, an increase in alcohol (71.7%), cannabis (63.0%), prescription opioids (70.9%), and sedative/hypnotics (84.6%) use was reported while the use of amphetamines (59.7%), cocaine (67.5%), and opiates (58.2%) was reported to decrease overall. <h4>Conclusions</h4> The global report on changes in the availability, use patterns and complications of alcohol and drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic should be considered in making new policies and in developing mitigating measures and guidelines during the current pandemic (and probable future ones) in order to minimize risks to SUDs. <h4>Competing interest</h4> Authors claimed no competing interest 2020 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88956 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.646206 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | ISAM-PPIG Global Survey Consortium Farhoudian, Ali Radfar, Seyed Ramin Ardabili, Hossein Mohaddes Rafei, Parnian Ebrahimi, Mohsen Zonoozi, Arash Khojasteh De Jong, Cornelis Vahidi, Mehrnoosh Yunesian, Masud Kouimtsidis, Christos Arunogiri, Shalini Hansen, Helena Brady, Kathleen Potenza, Marc Baldacchino, Alexander Mario Ekhtiari, Hamed ISAM-PPIG Global Survey Consortium A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic |
| title | A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 covid-19 pandemic |
| topic | ISAM-PPIG Global Survey Consortium |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88956 |