Prevalence and Health Characteristics of Prescription Opioid Use, Misuse, and Use Disorders Among U.S. Adolescents.

Purpose: The prevalence of past-year prescription opioid use (POU), nonmedical POU (NMPOU), and POU disorder (POUD) and their correlates were examined in a national sample of American adolescents (N = 41,579).

Methods: This study used data from the public-use files of the 2015, 2016, and 2017 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, which captured substance use and mental health problems among noninstitutionalized individuals. Prevalence and specific types of prescription opioids and other substances used and misused in the past year were examined among adolescents.

Is Cocaine Coming Back? A Commentary.

This commentary considers the potential return of cocaine and the need for intervention and treatment responses. To show historical and contemporaneous epidemiological data on indicators of the expected increase in cocaine use. Data on increases in acreage of cocaine cultivation are presented, along with increases in treatment admissions, toxicological laboratory identifications of cocaine, poison center episodes, and overdose deaths.

The Changing Face of Synthetic Cannabinoids in Texas.

This article describes the characteristics of individuals who used synthetic cannabinoids and the changes in the user population over time. Data sources include treatment admissions with a primary problem with synthetic cannabinoids reported to the Texas treatment dataset, synthetic cannabinoid exposures reported to the Texas Poison Center Network, and items identified in the National Forensic Laboratory Information System in 2009-2016. Statistically significant trends were identified for race/ethnicity, gender, age, education level, employment status, homelessness, criminal justice problems, use of other substances, lag time between first use and time to treatment, exposure site, chronicity, reason for exposure, and the most common types of cannabinoids.

Prevalence and correlates of arrests or stops for drunk driving on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Risk for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) may be higher in U.S. and Mexico border cities as compared to nonborder cities in each country.

Can progress in reducing alcohol-impaired driving fatalities be resumed? Results of a workshop sponsored by the Transportation Research Board, Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Transportation Committee (ANB50).

Objective: Despite successes in the 1980s and early 1990s, progress in reducing impaired driving fatalities in the United States has stagnated in recent years. Since 1997, the percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes with illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels has remained at approximately 20 to 22%. Many experts believe that public complacency, competing social and public health issues, and the lack of political fortitude have all contributed to this stagnation.

What Do We Know Now About the Impact of the Laws Related to Marijuana?

Objectives: This study presents information on the status and impact of medical and legalized marijuana, and the latest data on attitudes and prevalence of use since implementation of these laws. Recent reports from epidemiologists in Denver and Seattle are summarized to give the readers a sense of the changes as these laws have taken effect in their communities.

Methods: The status of these laws is reviewed and the results of surveys taken before and after the laws were enacted are presented, along with data on changing potency and driving under the influence of marijuana.

Co-occurrence of alcohol, drug use, DSM-5 alcohol use disorder, and symptoms of drug use disorder on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Background: The U.S.-Mexico border displays elevated rates of hazardous alcohol and drug use.

Paper-based potentiometric ion sensing.

This paper describes the design and fabrication of ion-sensing electrochemical paper-based analytical devices (EPADs) in which a miniaturized paper reference electrode is integrated with a small ion-selective paper electrode (ISPE) for potentiometric measurements. Ion-sensing EPADs use printed wax barriers to define electrochemical sample and reference zones. Single-layer EPADs for sensing of chloride ions include wax-defined sample and reference zones that each incorporate a Ag/AgCl electrode.

Characteristics of Mexican and Mexican American adolescents in treatment for "cheese" heroin use.

Clinical and cultural characteristics of Hispanic adolescent heroin users are not well described. The current exploratory study was conducted to describe a sample of in-treatment Hispanic adolescents with opioid dependence, specifically, cheese heroin. Mexican and Mexican American adolescents with heroin dependence (N = 72) in three treatment programs were interviewed and completed self-report measures.

Universal mobile electrochemical detector designed for use in resource-limited applications.

This paper describes an inexpensive, handheld device that couples the most common forms of electrochemical analysis directly to "the cloud" using any mobile phone, for use in resource-limited settings. The device is designed to operate with a wide range of electrode formats, performs on-board mixing of samples by vibration, and transmits data over voice using audio--an approach that guarantees broad compatibility with any available mobile phone (from low-end phones to smartphones) or cellular network (second, third, and fourth generation). The electrochemical methods that we demonstrate enable quantitative, broadly applicable, and inexpensive sensing with flexibility based on a wide variety of important electroanalytical techniques (chronoamperometry, cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, square wave voltammetry, and potentiometry), each with different uses.

Use of synthetic cathinones and cannabimimetics among injection drug users in San Diego, California.

Background: Use of synthetic cathinones (SC) and cannabimimetics (i.e., "THC homologues" [TH]) is associated with adverse health effects.

Psychoactive substances--some new, some old: a scan of the situation in the U.S.

New synthetic drugs are appearing as old hallucinogen psychedelic drugs are reappearing. This article combines the findings from a variety of datasets to characterize the users in terms of gender, age, drug use patterns, and adverse results, as well as provide an overview of the changes in formulations of these drugs and the impact of legal controls. Methods.

A new survey of methamphetamine users in treatment: who they are, why they like "meth," and why they need additional services.

The quality and quantity of illicit methamphetamine has recently increased due to introduction of a new precursor, 1-phenyl-2-propanone (P2P). This paper updates the problems associated with methamphetamine use. Methamphetamine-using clients (N = 222) entering a Texas program participated in computer-assisted interviews in 2010 and 2011 about routes of administration, other drugs used, severity of dependence, mental and physical health, perceived risks and benefits of use, family history, and abuse and neglect experienced as children and adults.

Uniform standards and case definitions for classifying opioid-related deaths: recommendations by a SAMHSA consensus panel.

Deaths involving prescription and illicit opioids are on the rise, which is an issue of increasing concern to health care professionals, policymakers, and the public. However, because medical examiners, coroners, and other practitioners do not use uniform standards and case definitions in classifying such drug-related deaths, the incidence and prevalence data are challenging to analyze and difficult to interpret, and thus form a poor basis for crafting effective responses. To address this situation, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration convened a Consensus Panel and charged it with devising uniform standards and case definitions that can assist medical examiners, coroners, public health officials, and others in consistently distinguishing between deaths that were caused by a certain opioids and deaths in which such a drug was detected but was not a major cause of or contributor to the death.

Paper-based electroanalytical devices with an integrated, stable reference electrode.

This paper describes the development of a referenced Electrochemical Paper-based Analytical Device (rEPAD) comprising a sample zone, a reference zone, and a connecting microfluidic channel that includes a central contact zone. We demonstrated that the rEPADs provide a simple system for direct and accurate voltammetric measurements that are referenced by an electrode with a constant, well-defined potential. The performance of the rEPADs is comparable to commercial electrochemical cells, and the layout can be easily integrated into systems that permit multiplexed analysis and pipette-free sampling.

Filter-based assay for Escherichia coli in aqueous samples using bacteriophage-based amplification.

This paper describes a method to detect the presence of bacteria in aqueous samples, based on the capture of bacteria on a syringe filter, and the infection of targeted bacterial species with a bacteriophage (phage). The use of phage as a reagent provides two opportunities for signal amplification: (i) the replication of phage inside a live bacterial host and (ii) the delivery and expression of the complementing gene that turns on enzymatic activity and produces a colored or fluorescent product. Here we demonstrate a phage-based amplification scheme with an M13KE phage that delivers a small peptide motif to an F(+), α-complementing strain of Escherichia coli K12, which expresses the ω-domain of β-galactosidase (β-gal).

Rapid fabrication of pressure-driven open-channel microfluidic devices in omniphobic R(F) paper.

This paper describes the fabrication of pressure-driven, open-channel microfluidic systems with lateral dimensions of 45-300 microns carved in omniphobic paper using a craft-cutting tool. Vapor phase silanization with a fluorinated alkyltrichlorosilane renders paper omniphobic, but preserves its high gas permeability and mechanical properties. When sealed with tape, the carved channels form conduits capable of guiding liquid transport in the low-Reynolds number regime (i.

Cheese: an old drug in a new wrapper.

Background: An unexpected outbreak of "cheese" heroin, which contained diphenhydramine and usually acetaminophen, began in Dallas around 2004. Onset occurred among youths living in neighborhoods populated by first-generation Hispanic immigrants. Little was known about the problem or the social strengths and deficits of these youth, who were primarily inhalers ("snorters") but at risk of transitioning to injection.

Flow-through microvial facilitating interface of capillary isoelectric focusing and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

A capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry (CE-MS) interface utilizing a flow-through microvial is used to ensure the electric continuity and supply the catholyte and mobilizer solutions during the capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF) and mobilization process. The flow-through microvial provides a stable chemical environment and helps to improve the ionization efficiency without significantly diluting the analyte. The CE-MS interface facilitates the transfer of the mobilized cIEF effluent to the site of electrospray ionization, and the gaseous ions can be detected directly by a mass spectrometer.

Drunk versus drugged: how different are the drivers?

Background: Driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs is increasing in the U.S., but little is known about the differences based on their patterns of use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs.

Potential of two-dimensional electro-fluid-dynamic devices for continuous purification of multiple components from complex samples.

Two-dimensional electro-fluid-dynamic (EFD) devices, in which both electric field and hydrodynamic pressure are used to drive the analyte and fluid migration, enable two-dimensional channel networks to be used for chemical separation instead of one-dimensional column separation systems. Investigation of the theory of mass transfer in symmetrical Y-shaped EFD devices shows that the magnitude of pressure-induced velocity in lateral channels at critical boundary conditions between different steady state migration paths is independent of the channel cross-sectional area ratio. Therefore, the analyte has four possible mass transfer pathways according to the electric field and pressure setup in all symmetrical Y-shaped 2-D EFD devices, and such devices with any cross-sectional area ratio have the capacity to continuously purify two analytes from a mixture simultaneously.

Methamphetamine: here we go again?

Following more than two decades of generally increasing trends in the use and abuse of methamphetamine in certain parts of the country, prevalence indicators for the drug began to decrease in the mid-2000's-but was this decrease signaling the end of the "meth problem"? This paper has compiled historical and recent data from supply and demand indicators to provide a broader context within which to consider the changes in trends over the past half decade. Data suggest supply-side accommodation to changes in precursor chemical restrictions, with prevalence indicators beginning to attenuate in the mid-2000's and then increasing again by 2009-2010. Results support the need for continuing attention to control and interdiction efforts appropriate to the changing supply context and to continuing prevention efforts and increased number of treatment programs.

A promising capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method for carbohydrate analysis.

A method for adapting widely used CE conditions for the separation of fluorescently labeled carbohydrates to permit online ESI-MS detection is presented. Reverse polarity separations were performed in bare fused-silica capillaries with an acidic BGE. Under these conditions, negatively charged 8-aminopyrene 1,3,6-trisulfonate-labeled carbohydrates migrate forward against the EOF, which is towards the capillary inlet.