Pubdate: Fri, 20 Nov 2015
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Vancouver 24 hrs.
Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters
Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Michael Mui
Page: 5
Cited: B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS: http://www.cfenet.ubc.ca/

STUDY LOOKS TO HELP REDUCE OVERDOSES

Study finds those injecting only prescription medication least likely 
to overdose as opposed to heroin

A new study out of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS 
suggests it's actually safer to inject prescription opioid drugs 
often obtained illegally by users than the more commonly used heroin.

With prescription drugs, said Dr. Thomas Kerr, it's much easier for 
users to inject consistent amounts - as the original product was 
labelled and likely comes from a pharmacy - and this helps lower the 
risk of overdose.

The study has interesting implications as fentanyl - a prescription 
opioid - has been listed as a cause of numerous overdoses in the past 
several years. The drug, many times more powerful than morphine, can 
be mixed into batches of illicit heroin and made into new varieties 
of oxycodone pills that police and health officials have warned about.

While it's not unheard of that some users might prefer injecting 
fentanyl, this wasn't as much the case here in Vancouver, where 1,660 
injection drug users were examined by study authors from 2005 to 2014.

"When people are injecting prescription opioids, they're talking more 
about things like morphine and Dilaudid," Kerr said.

"Fentanyl is a very powerful opioid but it has applications and can 
be safely used in a prescribed manner. But now we not only have more 
illicit fentanyl in things like the patch, and we have illicit 
fentanyl that we haven't seen before." The study found that those who 
injected only prescription medication were least likely to overdose, 
followed by those who use heroin. The people most likely to overdose 
were those who abused both prescription opioids and illicit heroin.

"For some people injecting heroin, prescription opioids may actually 
be protective, which again I think really leads us to question how do 
we best deliver care and support for opioid addicts in a way that 
minimizes harm?" Kerr said.
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