AI Article Synopsis
- * Researchers used self-reported data from drug users and found that there was a significant decrease in the immediate availability of all examined drugs, with cocaine experiencing the largest drop, while the price of cocaine rose slightly.
- * The findings suggest that despite a general decrease in drug availability, cocaine prices rose, potentially indicating changes in drug quality due to the pandemic, which could influence future drug policy and practices.
Article Abstract
Background: Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on unregulated drug markets in North America have not been well characterized. We sought to estimate potential changes in the availability and retail price of unregulated drugs in Vancouver, Canada pre- vs. post-emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: We used self-report data from two prospective cohorts of people who use drugs in Vancouver. We employed interrupted time series analyses to identify changes in the monthly prevalence of immediate availability (i.e., within 10 minutes vs. any longer) and median retail price of crystal methamphetamine, powder cocaine, crack cocaine, and 'down' (the local term for unregulated opioids, e.g., heroin, fentanyl, etc), post-pandemic emergence (i.e. post-July 2020).
Results: Between 2018 and 2022 among 739 participants, the monthly prevalence of immediate availability significantly decreased for all drugs immediately post- emergence of the pandemic (all p<0.05). The monthly prevalence of immediate availability of cocaine declined most (-18.1%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -25.9, -10.4) and the immediate availability of 'down' declined least (-13.0%, 95% CI:-18.8, -7.3). In analyses of median price, the only significant change was in the price of cocaine, which increased by $3.46 per 0.5 grams (95% CI:1.0, 5.9) immediately post-emergence of the pandemic.
Conclusion: While more research is needed to investigate reasons for the observed trends, the stagnant price amidst decreased availability for all drugs examined in this study (save cocaine) may reflect decreased purity/increased contamination of unregulated drugs following the beginning of the pandemic in our study setting. These findings may have implications for drug policy and practice approaches, particularly in regions where synthetic psychoactive substances are increasingly dominating the unregulated drug supply.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104633 | DOI Listing |
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