A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic

dc.contributor.authorFarhoudian, Ali
dc.contributor.authorRadfar, Seyed Ramin
dc.contributor.authorArdabili, Hossein Mohaddes
dc.contributor.authorRafei, Parnian
dc.contributor.authorEbrahimy, Mohsen
dc.contributor.authorZonoozi, Arash Khojasteh
dc.contributor.authorJong, Cornelis A. J. De
dc.contributor.authorVahidi, Mehrnoosh
dc.contributor.authorYunesian, Masud
dc.contributor.authorKouimtsidis, Christos
dc.contributor.authorArunogiri, Shalini
dc.contributor.authorHansen, Helena
dc.contributor.authorBrady, Kathleen T.
dc.contributor.authorPotenza, Marc N.
dc.contributor.authorISAM-PPIG Global Survey Consortium
dc.contributor.authorBaldacchino, Alexander Mario
dc.contributor.authorEkhtiari, Hamed
dc.contributor.departmentPsychology, School of Scienceen_US
dc.date.accessioned2020-08-05T14:10:46Z
dc.date.available2020-08-05T14:10:46Z
dc.date.issued2020-07-24
dc.description.abstractBackground and aims: COVID-19 has infected more than 13 million people worldwide and impacted the lives of many more, with a particularly devastating impact on vulnerable populations, including people with substance use disorders (SUDs). Quarantines, travel bans, regulatory changes, social distancing and ′lockdown′ measures have affected drug and alcohol supply chains and subsequently their availability, price and use patterns, with possible downstream effects on presentations of SUDs and demand for treatment. Given the lack of multicentric epidemiologic studies, we conducted a rapid global survey within the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) network in order to understand the status of substance-use patterns during the current pandemic. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Worldwide. Participants: Starting on April 4th, 2020 during a 5-week period, the survey received 185 responses from 77 countries. Measurements: To assess addiction medicine professionals′ perceived changes in drug and alcohol supply, price, use pattern and related complications during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: Participants reported (among who answered ″decreased″ or ″increased″, percentage of those who were in majority is reported in the parenthesis) a decrease in drug supply (69.0%), and at the same time an increase in price (95.3%) globally. With respect to changes in use patterns, an increase in alcohol (71.7%), cannabis (63.0%), prescription opioids (70.9%), and sedative/hypnotics (84.6%) use was reported while the use of amphetamines (59.7%), cocaine (67.5%), and opiates (58.2%) was reported to decrease overall. Conclusions: The global report on changes in the availability, use patterns and complications of alcohol and drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic should be considered in making new policies and in developing mitigating measures and guidelines during the current pandemic (and probable future ones) in order to minimize risks to SUDs. Key words: COVID-19, pandemic, alcohol, drug, substance use disorder, supply, price.en_US
dc.identifier.citationFarhoudian, A., Radfar, S. R., Ardabili, H. M., Rafei, P., Ebrahimy, M., Zonoozi, A. K., Jong, C. A. J. D., Vahidi, M., Yunesian, M., Kouimtsidis, C., Arunogiri, S., Hansen, H., Brady, K. T., Potenza, M. N., Consortium, I.-P. G. S., Baldacchino, A. M., & Ekhtiari, H. (2020). A global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. MedRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.16.20155341en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1805/23528
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherCold Spring Harbor Laboratory Pressen_US
dc.relation.isversionof10.1101/2020.07.16.20155341en_US
dc.relation.journalmedRxiven_US
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.sourcemedRxiven_US
dc.subjectCOVID-19en_US
dc.subjectDrugsen_US
dc.subjectAlcoholen_US
dc.subjectSubstance Use Disorder (SUD)en_US
dc.subjectAddiction Professionalsen_US
dc.subjectSurveyen_US
dc.subjectGlobalen_US
dc.titleA global survey on changes in the supply, price and use of illicit drugs and alcohol, and related complications during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemicen_US
dc.typePreprinten_US
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