Altered Gray Matter Volume and Disrupted Functional Connectivity of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Males with Heroin Dependence. Lin HC, Wang PW, Wu HC, Ko CH, Yang YH, Yen CF. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2018 Mar 27. doi: 10.1111/pcn.12655. Abs…

USA. Illinois and Maryland Departments of Public Health Issue Alerts on Synthetic Cannabinoid Products The Maryland Department of Health and Maryland Poison Center issued a memorandum yesterday to Emergency departments, emergency medical services…

USA. Synthetic Cannabis Laced With Poison Linked to Severe Bleeding, CDC Warns (...) From March 10 through April 5, 94 people have presented to emergency departments (89 in Illinois, two in Indiana, one in Maryland, one in Missouri, and one in Wisc…

Physical pain is common and associated with nonmedical prescription opioid use among people who inject drugs. Dahlman D, Kral AH, Wenger L, Hakansson A, Novak SP. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2017 May 30;12(1):29. doi: 10.1186/s13011-017-0112-7…

Lead poisoning outbreak among opium users in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2016-2017. Ghane T, Zamani N, Hassanian-Moghaddam H, Beyrami A, Noroozi A. Bull World Health Organ. 2018 Mar 1;96(3):165-172. doi: 10.2471/BLT.17.196287. https://www.ncbi…

Opium Consumption and the Incidence of Cancer: Does Opium Account as an Emerging Risk Factor for Gastrointestinal Cancer? Alzaidi MA, Arab HA, Amanpour S, Shirkoohi R, Muhammadnejad S, Sasani F. J Gastrointest Cancer. 2018 Jan 24. doi: 10.1007/s12…