1) As opioid overdose deaths reach record highs, call for systematic changes grows louder.

ED Manag. 2016 Feb;28(2):13-9.

Comments: Review of the new CDC opioid prescribing guidelines.

2) Australia reschedules naloxone for opioid overdose.

Lenton SR, Dietze PM, Jauncey M.

Med J Aust. 2016 Mar 7;204(4):146-7. No abstract available.

Comments: Naloxone can now be over the counter in Australia, but there’s some work to be done in product design.

3) Science Over Stigma: Saving Lives-Implementation of Naloxone Use in the School Setting.

King R.

NASN Sch Nurse. 2016 Mar;31(2):96-101. doi: 10.1177/1942602X16628890.

Comments: Naloxone for school nurses in Delaware.

4) Electrocardiogram Abnormality Associated with Methadone Overdose.

Agahi M, Shakoori V, Marashi SM.

Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2016 Feb;16(1):e113-4. doi: 10.18295/squmj.2016.16.01.022. Epub 2016 Feb 2. No abstract available.

Comments: Long QT interval is a side effect of high methadone doses.

5) Demographics and post-mortem toxicology findings in deaths among people arrested multiple times for use of illicit drugs and/or impaired driving.

Ahlner J, Holmgren A, Jones AW.

Forensic Sci Int. 2016 Feb 3;265:138-143. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.01.036. [Epub ahead of print]

Comments: Yet another population that may benefit from overdose prevention programming – persons arrested for impaired driving.

6) Increase in Naloxone Prescriptions Dispensed in US Retail Pharmacies Since 2013.

Jones CM, Lurie PG, Compton WM.

Am J Public Health. 2016 Apr;106(4):689-90. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303062. Epub 2016 Feb 18.

Comments: Some increase in sales; much of this increase may be accounted for by a selected number of programs. These data were also presented at the FDA meeting on naloxone in July 2015.

7) Emergency Department Prescription Opioids as an Initial Exposure Preceding Addiction.

Butler MM, Ancona RM, Beauchamp GA, Yamin CK, Winstanley EL, Hart KW, Ruffner AH, Ryan SW, Ryan RJ, Lindsell CJ, Lyons MS.

Ann Emerg Med. 2016 Feb 10. pii: S0196-0644(15)01567-X. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2015.11.033. [Epub ahead of print]

Comments: 59% of opioid dependent participants were initially exposed via a medical prescription to them and 29% of those prescriptions came from emergency departments.

8) “There’s nothing here”: Deindustrialization as risk environment for overdose.

McLean K.

Int J Drug Policy. 2016 Mar;29:19-26. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.01.009. Epub 2016 Jan 18.

Comments: This is fascinating. Poverty and social isolation.

9) Changes in the medical management of patients on opioid analgesics following a diagnosis of substance abuse.

Paulozzi LJ, Zhou C, Jones CM, Xu L, Florence CS.

Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2016 Feb 10. doi: 10.1002/pds.3980. [Epub ahead of print]

Comments: Studying opioid prescribing is really complicated, because it involves making sense of – and trying to quantify – very complex and confusing medical decisions. This is an interesting analysis attempting to determine how much documentation of concerning opioid use behaviors results in changes in opioid prescribing.

10) Assessment of provider attitudes toward #naloxone on Twitter.

Haug NA, Bielenberg J, Linder SH, Lembke A.

Subst Abus. 2016 Jan-Mar;37(1):35-41. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2015.1129390.

Comments: Naloxone-trained individuals on Twitter “had the highest optimism and the lowest amount of burnout and stigma.”