Basing drug scheduling decisions on scientific ranking of harmfulness: false promise from false premises

Caulkins, Jonathan P.; Reuter, Peter; Coulson, Carolyn C.

doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03461.x

Cited by 52 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…On the other hand, however, the comparison of unweightedoverall harm scores can be misleading and one should remain careful not to overinterpret the findings. Finally, we would like to mention that the applied MCDA approach has been criticised (Caulkins et al, 2011). Caulkins et al (2011 proposed an alternative approach that also included the benefits of the different substances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ranking the harm of non-medically used prescription opioids in the UK

Amsterdam

Phillips

Henderson

et al. 2015

Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology

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Running head: ranking prescription opioidsKey words: opioids, MCDA, risk assessment, ranking, prescription drugs, harm,street heroin Both forms of heroin scored very high: overall harm score of 99 for injected heroin and 72 for smoked heroin on a scale of 0-100. The main feature that distinguishes both forms of street heroin use is that their harm to others is more than five times that of the other eleven opioids. The overall harm score of fentanyl (including injection of fentanyl extracted from patches) and diamorphine (medically prescribed form of heroin) was 54 and 51, respectively, whereas that of orally used opioids ranged from 32 (pethidine) to 11 (codeine-containing pharmaceuticals).Injected street heroin, fentanyl and diamorphine emerged as most harmful to users, with the latter two very low in harm to others.Pethidine, methadone, morphine and oxycodone are also low in harm to others, while moderate in harm to users.We conclude that the overall harms of non-medically used prescription opioids are less than half that of injected street heroin.These data may give a basis for precautionary regulatory measures that should be considered if the rising trend in non-medical use of prescription opioids were to become evident in the UK.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ranking the harm of non-medically used prescription opioids in the UK

Amsterdam

Phillips

Henderson

et al. 2015

Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology

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“…RA is a structural evidence-based activity aiming to objectively collect relevant information about the potential risks posed by psychoactive substances and to assess risk quantitatively (Caulkins, Reuter, & Coulson, 2011), providing a background for informed decisions by policy makers, regulatory bodies, and stakeholders in drug services (Drapalova, Grund, & Belackova, 2016;Fitch et al, 2003;Mounteney, 2009;Rhodes, Stimson, Fitch, Ball, & Renton, 1999).…”

Section: Ra and The Availability Of Npsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the impact of laws controlling the online availability of 25I-NBOMe, AH-7921, MDPV and MXE – outcomes of a semi-automated e-shop monitoring

Běláčková

Pazitny

Drapalova

et al. 2017

Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy

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Assessing the impact of laws controlling the online availability of 25I-NBOMe, AH-7921, MDPV and MXE -outcomes of a semi-automated e-shop monitoring http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/5432/ Article LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LJMU Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain.The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of the record. Please see the repository URL above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. Aims: The indicator of availability has been used in the risk assessment (RA) of new psychoactive substances (NPS). This paper aims to examine the pre-and post-control availability of 25I-NBOMe, AH-7921, MDPV and MXE, which were assessed by the EMCDDA. Methods: Data were collected by a semi-automated software tool (I-TREND SASF) on e-shops in national languages (Czech, French, Dutch, Polish and English) that offered shipping of these compounds into the respective countries; frequency analysis was used. Findings: The number of e-shops selling these substances decreased between III/2014 and XII/2015 (except for AH-7921). Both increases and decreases were found on the country-level for all the compounds (except for an overall decrease for MXE). In one instance an NPS disappeared from this market in 2015 (25I-NBOMe in NL); 25I-NBOMe and AH-7921 in France and AH-7921 in Poland appeared for the first time in 2015. The shops listing AH-7921, 25I-NBOMe and MDPV in XII/2015 ranked higher in terms of ''popularity'' than in III/2014. The IP addresses were more likely to be outside the EU in 2015 than in 2014. Conclusions: We found no evidence that national-level compound bans contributed to the changes in online NPS markets. Indicators of the accessibility, availability, popularity, and IP origin should be considered in RA. Data triangulation with street markets and the darknet is needed as well as more research into the ''displacement'' and ''replacement'' effects of control laws.

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“…Captagon ® was first synthesized in 1961 for the treatment of hyperactivity, depression and narcolepsy [2]. It metabolizes to form two active stimulant drugs-amphetamine and theophylline [3,4]. Fenethylline was controlled in 1981 as a Schedule 1 substance and currently does not have an accepted medical use in the United States.…”

Section: Neil Mckeganey and Christopher Russellmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The method that Nutt and colleagues used in this study was a continuation of earlier work, in which they had used the approach of Multi-Criterion Decision Analysis (a form of Delphi technique in which the views of key experts on a given topic are collected and assessed) to rank the relative harm of a range of legal and illegal drugs [3]. This earlier work on legal and illegal drugs was published in the Lancet medical journal and drew both widespread attention and critical comment [4][5][6][7].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%