UK: New Drug User Survey highlights facts about addiction

Added: (Thu Mar 04 2010)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Far more drugs users are still encountering Class A illicit drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, rather than the ‘legal highs’ recently receiving publicity, according to a survey conducted by Concateno, Europe’s most experienced drug and alcohol testing provider.

However, the survey findings revealed that some users are also coming across mephedrone and hosts of other drugs, cleaners and solvents – ranging from the muscle relaxant baclofen, used medically to treat the pain of multiple sclerosis, through to alloy wheel cleaners.

Concateno polled delegates at the Drink and Drug News/The Alliance National Service User Involvement (NSUI) conference, held on February 4 in Birmingham. Of some 500 drug users and drug workers who attended, nearly a quarter responded to the questionnaire. The results revealed that while 19 percent of drug users had come across the well-publicised legally available mephedrone, 63 percent of the user community had encountered cocaine, ecstasy or heroin in the last six months.

"There’s been so much publicity about 'legal highs' recently we wanted to find out what the real picture was amongst drug users," said Madeline Coleborn from Concateno’s Healthcare team. 'We discovered that most drug users were still experimenting with Class A drugs, and that many users had a good knowledge about some of the additional health risks of drug use other than the addiction – such as catching blood borne viruses (BBV) like hepatitis.

"85 percent said their drug workers gave adequate information on the risks of BBV, but the survey also revealed some gaps in their knowledge – two thirds did not know you could catch or transmit Hep-C by sharing a rolled-up note or straw for snorting cocaine. As cocaine came out as the highest 'new' drug that users had tried in recent months, the health risks could be significant."

The Hepatitis C Trust outlines on its website how cocaine corrodes the thin membranes in the nose, and small drops of blood, sometimes too small to see, can be transferred onto a note used for snorting the powder.

The NSUI conference comprised a broad mix of service users and people who work in treatment and counselling centres, and aimed to provide an opportunity for users of drug treatment services to become involved and voice their opinions about good and bad practice in treating drug addiction.

Madeline added: "We asked the delegates which new drugs they had come across over the last six months, and 25 drugs were listed in the answers that came back – ranging from the expected, such as heroin and cocaine, through to the downright weird, such as the alloy wheel cleaner and the baclofen."

“Most of the delegates were keen to find out more about blood borne virus testing using either oral fluid or dried blood spot, which is ideal where service providers do not have staff trained in whole blood sample collection. These are far less invasive methods that enable rapid screening without the need for needles. Because they're simple to use, regular testing is available for hepatitis C and B, and HIV and should be carried out to help improve our knowledge of the extent of BBV infections across the UK."

ENDS

For more information regarding Concateno, please contact:

Carrie Lowe or Matt Trace

Telephone: +44 (0)1962 893 893

Mobile: +44 (0)7554 014 188 / (0)7828 663 988

Email: carrie.lowe@concateno.com / matthew.trace@concateno.com

About Concateno

Concateno (www.concateno.com ) is built upon the consolidation of Europe’s strongest and most expert drug testing companies. Combined, the organisation’s services, products and facilities form a global first in the field: a service provider with the capability to deliver test programmes to meet any requirement – from point-of-care instant tests, through to state-of-the-art laboratory analysis for any biological specimen including urine, oral fluids, hair and sweat.

Concateno’s 370 employees perform and deliver more than 10 million tests annually. Additionally an integrated network of 600 sample collection officers, trained in-house in chain-of-custody procedures, supports approximately 8,500 clients around the world.

Committed to the highest levels of accreditation and quality assurance, Concateno works actively within the industry to improve existing best practice. This includes ISO 17025 (independently audited by UKAS), ISO9001:2000, Link-Up, and ISO13485:2003. In addition, the company is subject to a range of external and internal quality assurance programmes.

In August 2009, Concateno became a subsidiary of Inverness Medical Innovations Inc.

About Inverness Medical Innovations

By developing new capabilities in near-patient diagnosis, monitoring and health management, Inverness Medical Innovations enables individuals to take charge of improving their health and quality of life. Inverness’ global leading products and services, as well as its new product development efforts, focus on infectious disease, cardiology, oncology, drugs of abuse and women’s health. Inverness is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more information about Inverness Medical Innovations, please visit our website at www.invernessmedical.com.