Psychomodulatory substances: New legislative framework for control of psychoactive substances in Czechia.

This article challenges drug prohibition advocated by UN conventions as the prevailing regulatory model for psychoactive substances, highlighting its ineffectiveness, harmfulness and outdated nature. At the same time, the conventions exclude some psychoactive substances from international regulation, leaving control to individual countries. Presenting an innovative approach, this article outlines an approach to the legal regulation of psychomodulatory substances (psychoactive substances with low health and societal risk) in non-medical contexts.

Exploring dual diagnosis in opioid agonist treatment patients: a registry-linkage study in Czechia and Norway.

Background: Knowledge of co-occurring mental disorders (termed 'dual diagnosis') among patients receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is scarce. This study aimed (1) to estimate the prevalence and structure of dual diagnoses in two national cohorts of OAT patients and (2) to compare mental disorders between OAT patients and the general populations stratified on sex and standardized by age.

Methods: A registry-linkage study of OAT patients from Czechia (N = 4,280) and Norway (N = 11,389) during 2010-2019 was conducted.

Incarceration history is associated with HIV infection among community-recruited people who inject drugs in Europe: A propensity-score matched analysis of cross-sectional studies.

Aims: We measured the association between a history of incarceration and HIV positivity among people who inject drugs (PWID) across Europe.

Design, Setting And Participants: This was a cross-sectional, multi-site, multi-year propensity-score matched analysis conducted in Europe. Participants comprised community-recruited PWID who reported a recent injection (within the last 12 months).

Large variations in all-cause and overdose mortality among >13,000 patients in and out of opioid maintenance treatment in different settings: a comparative registry linkage study.

Background: Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) has the potential to reduce mortality rates substantially. We aimed to compare all-cause and overdose mortality among OMT patients while in or out of OMT in two different countries with different approaches to OMT.

Methods: Two nation-wide, registry-based cohorts were linked by using similar analytical strategies.

Cause-Specific Mortality among Patients in Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Multiple Settings: A Prospective Comparative Cohort Study.

Introduction: Among people receiving current or previous opioid maintenance treatment (OMT), the leading cause of premature death is an opioid overdose. However, other causes of mortality remain high in this group. An understanding of causes of deaths across multiple settings can be useful in informing more comprehensive prevention responses.

Prevalence of drug use before and during imprisonment in seven European countries (2014-2018).

Substance use is a global phenomenon that is particularly affecting the prison population. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of drug use among people in prison before and during incarceration in seven European countries and to compare it with the prevalence in the general population. Individual data collection was carried out between 2014 and 2018 with a model European Questionnaire on Drug Use among people in prison.

Typology of Users of Psychedelics and Alike Psychoactive Substances in Czechia: Results of the National Online Survey.

The aim of this study was to define the typical groups of users of psychedelics and alike psychoactive substances in Czechia regarding various variables such as demographics, their patterns of use, or motivation for use. Data from 890 Czech respondents were collected through an online questionnaire as a part of The National Psychedelic Research Project. Subjects reported experience with the use of 29 selected substances by answering 133 questions of the questionnaire.

Decriminalisation and smart regulation of psychoactive substances: a modern alternative to prohibition.

Prohibition has been the globally dominant concept for the regulation and control of psychoactive substances for nearly 70 years. Its effectiveness and legitimacy as a sustainable solution to the problems associated with the existence of psychoactive substances in society has been repeatedly questioned. It is based on the normative assumption that the use of psychoactive substances for other than therapeutic purposes is not allowed, and non-medical supply should be severely punished.

Morbidity through 3 Years of Age in Children of Women Using Methamphetamine during Pregnancy: A National Registry Study.

Background: There is a lack of studies on methamphetamine (MA) exposure and morbidity in children beyond the perinatal period.

Objectives: We compared morbidity in children (0-3 years) with prenatal MA exposure to opioid-exposed and to non-exposed children.

Methods: We used data from a Czech nationwide, registry-based cohort study (2000-2014).

Use of psychedelics in the Czech Republic: results of recent population surveys.

Objectives: Different psychoactive substances are widely used in today's society. So far limited data are available on the use of psychedelics in the general population. The main aim of this study is to estimate the numbers of users of substances with psychedelic properties (classical psychedelics, cannabis, ecstasy, and ketamine) in the Czech Republic.

Declining neutralizing antibody levels after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination: observational data from community point-of-care testing service in Brno, Czechia.

Objectives: Understanding immune response is critical for control of COVID-19 pandemic. However, recent studies show that vaccine-induced humoral immunity may not be long-lasting and weaker in SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

Methods: In May 2021, 253 self-nominated persons were tested for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in 1 to 104 days (mean 41, median 28) after two doses of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines in the city of Brno, Czechia.

Opioid maintenance treatment in the Czech Republic, Norway and Denmark: a study protocol of a comparative registry linkage study.

Introduction: Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) varies across settings and between countries. We plan to use data from several nationwide health and population registers to further improve the knowledge base established from earlier studies. Our aim is to study OMT adherence trajectories and to identify factors associated with improved outcomes for OMT patients across the Czech Republic, Norway and Denmark, in order to further improve OMT and our understanding of the key elements of treatment success.

The identification of artefacts in reporting of drug-induced deaths using structural breaks analysis of time series statistics.

Introduction: Drug-related mortality is a key epidemiological indicator that is collected nationally and internationally. Significant efforts were made in 2006-2007 to improve the quality of data concerning drug-related mortality in the Czech Republic. The aim of this article is to identify the effect of a quality improvement project on the drug-induced mortality data reported in the General Mortality Registry (GMR), and to demonstrate how to identify, quantify and interpret changes in drug-induced mortality based on the example of the Czech Republic.

Prevalence of high-risk drug use and coverage of opioid substitution treatment and needle and syringe programs in Lithuania in 2015-2016: A multi-method estimation study.

Background And Objectives: In Lithuania, injecting heroin and other illicit opioids has dominated high-risk drug use since about 2000. More recently, patients have reported a high-risk use of amphetamines. Newly diagnosed HIV cases among people who inject drugs peaked in 2002 and 2009 and drug-related deaths have been on the increase.

Understanding the crisis in harm reduction funding in Central and Eastern Europe.

Background: The harm reduction (HR) approach to injecting drug use was rapidly adopted in Central Europe following the fall of the Iron Curtain. The associated social and economic transformation had significant consequences for drug policies in the region. A large number of emerging services have been dependent on funding from a wide range of national and/or local funding programmes, which continue to be unstable, and closely associated with political decisions and insufficient institution building.

Prenatal Methamphetamine Exposure and Adverse Neonatal Outcomes: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Background: There is limited knowledge on the adverse outcomes in newborns after maternal methamphetamine (MA) use during pregnancy.

Objectives: To compare neonatal outcomes in newborns exposed to MA with the newborns of opioid-exposed mothers and of mothers from the general population (GP).

Method: A cohort study using nationwide registries in Czechia (2000-2014).

Early intervention and identification of gambling disorder: a systematic literature review of strategies implemented by gambling operators.

Objective: Recent developments in online lotteries and betting and in digitalization of land-based gambling devices bring new opportunities to track behaviour of individual players and to identify and address developing problem in its initial stages. Early identification of gambling disorder allows for timely intervention and increases the likelihood of successful recovery and minimises harms. Our review aims to examine what on-site strategies are available in both online and offline gambling venues to early identify and address the developing gambling problem while also assessing their effectiveness and strength of the evidence.

Socioeconomic characteristics of women with substance use disorder during pregnancy and neonatal outcomes in their newborns: A national registry study from the Czech Republic.

Background: Maternal substance use can pose a risk to the fetal health. We studied the background characteristics of women with substance use disorders (SUDs) and selected neonatal outcomes in their children.

Material And Methods: A database-linkage study was performed.

Substance use in Roma population in contact with social workers in the Czech Republic: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

An increasing number of studies have focused on the topic of Roma communities and social exclusion in the Czech Republic, however, substance use has been surveyed only marginally. This paper brings new data on the patterns of substance use among Roma population in contact with social workers (546 respondents). Substance use, including daily smoking and regular excessive alcohol drinking, has been 2-6 times higher among Roma compared to the general population.

Alcohol use and its consequences in the Czech Republic.

Objective: Alcohol consumption is associated with substantial public health burden. This article summarises available information on the patterns and prevalence of alcohol use in the Czech Republic with a focus on the heavy alcohol use and its health and social consequences.

Methods: A non-systematic literature review was conducted.

Prenatal exposure to opioid maintenance treatment and neonatal outcomes: Nationwide registry studies from the Czech Republic and Norway.

There is lack of knowledge about the safety of treatment with methadone and buprenorphine as part of opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) during pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to examine neonatal outcomes concerning the use of OMT during pregnancy. We used nationwide registry linkages from the Czech Republic (2000-2014) and Norway (2004-2013).

Surveying drug consumption: Assessing reliability and validity of the European Web Survey on Drugs questionnaire.

Background: The European Web Survey on Drugs aimed to obtain in-depth data on consumption of cannabis, ecstasy/MDMA, cocaine, and amphetamines in different populations of drug users in 16 European countries. This paper examines test-retest reliability, the consistency and the comprehensibility of the prevalence and frequency of use questions in the Czech part of the survey.

Methods: A baseline web survey was performed (N = 610) with follow-up data collection in a sub-sample of volunteers providing email addresses (N = 158).

Hospitalization of children after prenatal exposure to opioid maintenance therapy during pregnancy: a national registry study from the Czech Republic.

Background And Aims: Our understanding of the long-term safety of prenatal exposure to opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is insufficient. We compared childhood morbidity (0-3 years) between OMT-exposed and relevant comparison groups.

Design: Nation-wide, registry-based cohort study.

Problem gambling among Czech adolescents: An exploration of its relationship to early initiation of tobacco smoking.

Background And Aims: Gambling in adolescence is often related to licit and illicit substance use. Some evidence shows that teenage smokers gamble more than non-smokers. The aim of the study is to analyze the relationship between problem gambling and smoking among Czech adolescents.