MHepPrEP: study protocol for a multi-site multi-setting randomized controlled trial of integrated HIV prevention and HCV care for PWID.

Background: Opioid use is escalating in North America and comes with a multitude of health consequences, including HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) outbreaks among persons who inject drugs (PWID). HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HCV treatment regimens have transformative potential to address these co-occurring epidemics. Evaluation of innovative multi-modal approaches, integrating harm reduction, opioid agonist therapy (OAT), PrEP, and HCV treatment is required.

Technology-Based Psychological Interventions for Young Adults With Early Psychosis and Cannabis Use Disorder: Qualitative Study of Patient and Clinician Perspectives.

Background: The persistence of cannabis use disorder (CUD) in young adults with first-episode psychosis (FEP) is associated with poor clinical and functional outcomes. Face-to-face psychological interventions are effective in treating CUD. However, their use in early intervention services (EISs) for psychosis is inconsistent because of barriers, including high workload and heterogeneity in training of clinicians and lack of motivation for treatment among patients.

Painful lives: Chronic pain experience among people who use illicit drugs in Montreal (Canada).

The current opioid crisis in North America has strengthened the boundary between "genuine chronic pain patients" and "drug addicts," though these categories are not mutually exclusive. Despite its high prevalence -more than double the general population rate- chronic pain among people who use illicit drugs (PWUD) remains an overlooked issue in both health and social sciences. Using the theoretical framework of sociology of illness experience, the aim of this qualitative study was to understand how the experience of illicit drug use shapes the chronic pain experience.

Chronic pain management among people who use drugs: A health policy challenge in the context of the opioid crisis.

Background: In Canada, the rise in prescription opioid (PO) overdoses and addiction is a major public health concern. Various health authorities have recently recommended that physicians use caution when prescribing opioids, especially to people with histories of substance use. As a result, fewer therapeutic options are available for people who use drugs (PWUD) and suffer from chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP).

The evolving drug epidemic of prescription opioid injection and its association with HCV transmission among people who inject drugs in Montréal, Canada.

Aims: To examine temporal trends in prescription opioid (PO) injection and to assess its association with hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroconversion among people who inject drugs (PWID).

Design: Prospective cohort study spanning 2004 to 2016.

Setting: Montréal, Canada.

Tranquilizer misuse among active cocaine users: Predictors of initiation.

Introduction And Aims: Tranquilizer use is associated with negative health outcomes among people who use drugs. This paper aims to estimate the incidence rate (initiation) and identify predictors of tranquilizer misuse (TM) among cocaine users.

Design And Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in Montreal, Canada.

Examining the Association Between Psychiatric Disorders and Cocaine Binges: Results From the COSMO Study.

Objectives: Although cocaine binges and mental health problems have both been identified as significant risk factors for different health hazards, little is known about the relationship between mental health and cocaine binging. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine the association between psychiatric disorders and cocaine binge.

Methods: Participants were part of a prospective cohort study of individuals who either smoke or inject cocaine.

"I love having benzos after my coke shot": The use of psychotropic medication among cocaine users in downtown Montreal.

Background: Cocaine abuse is a major public health issue due to its role in the HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemics in North America. A significant area of concern among people who use cocaine (PWUC), injected or smoked, is their frequent misuse of prescription drugs, particularly psychotropic medication (PM), such as tranquilizers, sedatives, stimulants, and antipsychotics. This paper aims to describe and understand practices of PM use among PWUC in downtown Montreal.

Drug use practices among people who inject drugs in a context of drug market changes: Challenges for optimal coverage of harm reduction programs.

Background: Until the early 2000s, people who inject drugs (PWID) in Québec had mainly been injecting powder cocaine and heroin. Since then, ethnographic studies have shown that the drug market has diversified, with crack and prescription opioids (PO) becoming increasingly available. This could have led to changes in drug use practices among PWID.

Examining the link between cocaine binging and individual, social and behavioral factors among street-based cocaine users.

Aims: To estimate the prevalence of cocaine binging and examine associated factors, to characterize binge episodes and to study the relationship between cocaine binging and HIV and HCV risk behaviors among street-based cocaine users.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in Montréal, Canada. Interviewer-administered questionnaire were carried out at 3-month intervals.

Prevalence and correlates of prescription opioid residue injection.

Background: There is growing evidence of intravenous administration of prescription opioids (POs) in several countries. Preparation of POs for injection may leave residues in containers and filters used by people who inject drugs and may lead to adverse health outcomes if they are injected.

Methods: This exploratory study used cross-sectional data from the COSMO study, a prospective cohort of out-of-treatment cocaine users carried out in Montréal (Canada) between October 2010 and August 2015.

Exploration of a crack use setting and its impact on drug users' risky drug use and sexual behaviors: the case of piaules in a Montréal neighborhood.

From July 2011, a one-year study based on ethnographic methodology was carried out in "crack houses" in the neighborhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in Montréal, Canada. The study aimed to explore the operational style of a specific indoor drug use setting and its impact on users' risky sexual and drug use behaviors in a context of drug market change. A thematic analysis of observational and interview notes was conducted.

Estimating the size of the population of persons who inject drugs in the island of Montréal, Canada, using a six-source capture-recapture model.

Background: To plan and implement services to persons who inject drugs (PWID), knowing their number is essential. For the island of Montréal, Canada, the only estimate, of 11,700 PWID, was obtained in 1996 through a capture-recapture method. Thirteen years later, this study was undertaken to produce a new estimate.

Prevalence and temporal trends of crack injection among injection drug users in eastern central Canada.

Background: Little is known about crack injection and its temporal trends in North America. This article describes the extent of crack injection and examines temporal trends among injection drug users (IDUs) recruited from 2003 to 2010 in the SurvUDI network.

Methods: IDUs who injected recently (past 6 months) were recruited in harm reduction and health programs in eastern central Canada.

Patterns of cocaine and opioid co-use and polyroutes of administration among street-based cocaine users in Montréal, Canada.

Background: Effective public health programs aimed at problematic cocaine users are challenged by the fact that they can have complex patterns of drug use with respect to polysubstance use and routes of drug administration. This study was carried out to explore the presence of subgroups of cocaine users on the basis of their concurrent use of opioids and their routes of cocaine and opioid administration, and to determine if subgroups could be differentiated in terms of sociodemographic factors and risk behaviours.

Methods: Regular cocaine users (≥1 per week) were recruited in low-threshold services located in the Montréal downtown area.

Injection of drug residue as a potential risk factor for HCV acquisition among Montréal young injection drug users.

Background: Preparing drugs or medications for injection may leave residues in containers and filters used by injection drug users (IDUs). Little is known about the specific practice of injecting someone else's drug residue as a possible route of HCV transmission.

Methods: A prospective cohort study of street youth aged 14-23 years old was carried out between July 2001 and December 2005.

The rising prevalence of prescription opioid injection and its association with hepatitis C incidence among street-drug users.

Aims:   To examine trends in prescription opioid (PO) injection and to assess its association with hepatitis C virus (HCV) seroconversion among injection drug users (IDUs).

Design:   Prospective cohort study.

Setting:   Montreal, Canada.

Drug use patterns in the presence of crack in downtown Montréal.

Introduction And Aims: A study was undertaken to verify reports of an increasing presence of crack in downtown Montréal, and to investigate the influence of crack availability on current drug use patterns among street-based cocaine users.

Design And Methods: The study combined both qualitative and quantitative methods. These included long-term intensive participant observation carried out by an ethnographer familiar with the field and a survey.

The growing popularity of prescription opioid injection in downtown Montréal: new challenges for harm reduction.

Starting in 2007, a 2-year study based on ethnographic methodology was carried out downtown Montréal, Canada. A thematic analysis of observational and interview-based notes was conducted. Illicit prescription opioid (PO) use was widespread among street-based participants.