Have you ever intentionally used an alternate substance to control or reduce your use of illicit (non-prescribed) opioids?
Self-managed use is one way to reduce the psychological, social and physical harms related to substance use. While chronic addiction interferes with self-control, even people living with the most severe addictions can self-manage their use.
What is the study about?
We looked at how, how many, and what types of people in the Vancouver’s substance-use cohorts substitute one drug for another.
Between 2012 and 2016, we talked to 1,527 people who use drugs. We asked about their experiences of substituting one drug for another (to control or reduce illicit opioids).
What is intentional substance use?
Many people who use drugs manage their use by substituting one drug for another. This helps to control or reduce illicit opioid use.
What did the study find?
336 participants said they used other drugs to reduce illicit opioid use at least once.
27.6% illicit opioid-using participants said they substituted cannabis for illicit opioids.
Those who used cannabis daily were more likely to use another substance as a substitute for illicit opioids. Stimulants (50%) were the most commonly reported drug that people substituted opioids with, except for daily crack smokers.
Why is the study important?
People who use opioids may self-manage their consumption in ways that can lead to reduced or controlled use. Health care providers should be aware of and support self-management substance use strategies.
While daily cannabis use was associated with reporting opioid substitution attempts, additional study is needed to examine potential of cannabis/ cannabinoids to reduce illicit opioid use.
This blog was first published on LinkedIn.
To cite the original article: Jan Klimas, Wing Yin Mok, Stephanie Lake, M. Eugenia Socías, Kora DeBeck, Kanna Hayashi, Evan Wood & M-J Milloy (2021): Prevalence and correlates of intentional substance use to reduce illicit opioid use in a Canadian setting, Journal of Substance Use, DOI: 10.1080/14659891.2021.1941341
Link to the original article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2021.1941341
If you enjoyed reading this article, you might also like reading about polydrug use