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Abstract Introduction Varying public views on cannabis use across countries may explain the variation in the prevalence of use, policies, and research in individual countries, and global regulation of cannabis. This paper aims to describe the current state of cannabis use, policies, and research across sixteen countries. Methods PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for studies published from 2010 to 2020. Searches were conducted using the relevant country of interest as a search term (e.g., “Iran”), as well as relevant predefined keywords such as “cannabis,” “marijuana,” “hashish,” “bhang “dual diagnosis,” “use,” “addiction,” “prevalence,” “co-morbidity,” “substance use disorder,” “legalization” or “policy” (in English and non-English languages). These keywords were used in multiple combinations to create the search string for studies’ titles and abstracts. Official websites of respective governments and international organizations were also searched in English and non-English languages (using countries national languages) to identify the current state of cannabis use, policies, and research in each of those countries. Results The main findings were inconsistent and heterogeneous reporting of cannabis use, variation in policies (e.g., legalization), and variation in intervention strategies across the countries reviewed. European countries dominate the cannabis research output indexed on PubMed, in contrast to Asian countries (Thailand, Malaysia, India, Iran, and Nepal). Conclusions Although global cannabis regulation is ongoing, the existing heterogeneities across countries in terms of policies and epidemiology can increase the burden of cannabis use disorders disproportionately and unpredictably. There is an urgent need to develop global strategies to address these cross-country barriers to improve early detection, prevention, and interventions for cannabis use and related disorders.

Service lines are increasingly common for organizing multidisciplinary patient care. Concerns regarding impacts of neuroscience service lines were voiced at several national neurology department chair summits, prompting the American Academy of Neurology to convene a Service Lines Workgroup. Neurology department leaders nationally at institutions that had created or considered a neuroscience service line were interviewed to elicit their experiences and lessons learned. Potential benefits identified stemmed from additional resources that the service line structure yielded (patient navigators, quality improvement staff, technicians) and strengthening of cross-department collaboration. Potential pitfalls included top-down institutional decision-making regarding service line creation, lack of explicit goals, late involvement of neurology, imbalances in neurology representation in leadership, unclear impacts on department finances, and lack of education and research mission integration into service lines. Establishing a satisfactory decision-making structure in a matrixed arrangement and ensuring that funds flow allocations acknowledged neurology's "upstream" contributions were also challenges., Competing Interests: B.G. Vickrey received funding for travel to an AAN Department Chair and Business Administrator Summit from the American Academy of Neurology, and T. Ostendorf is a past employee of the American Academy of Neurology. Full disclosure form information provided by the authors is available with the full text of this article at Neurology.org/cp., (© 2024 American Academy of Neurology.)

This commentary draws on our experience organising a targeted networking event at the 10th International Conference on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users, in Glasgow, Scotland in October 2022. The event, held the day before the conference, brought together people with lived and living experiences of drug use and early- and mid-career researchers on an equitable basis. We offer reflections, focussing on how the event promoted community-academic engagement from members of the respective groups. We provide recommendations for how conferences can organise to engage with people who use drugs-both those with lived and living experience and foster greater inclusion for all attendees., (© 2024 The Author(s). Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

Background: In the context of drug prohibition, potential adulteration and variable purity pose additional health risks for people who use drugs, with these risks often compounded by the outdoor music festival environment. Ahead of the imminent implementation of drug checking services in Queensland, Australia, this study aims to characterise this problem using triangulated survey and wastewater data to understand self-reported and detected drug use among attendees of a multi-day Queensland-based music festival in 2021 and 2022., Methods: We administered an in-situ survey focusing on drug use at the festival to two convenience samples of 136 and 140 festival attendees in 2021 and 2022 respectively. We compared survey findings to wastewater collected concurrently from the festival's site-specific wastewater treatment plant, which was analysed using Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry., Results: Most survey respondents (82 % in 2021, 92 % in 2022) reported using or intending to use an illicit drug at the festival. Some respondents reported potentially risky drug use practices such as using drugs found on the ground (2 % in 2021, 4 % in 2022). Substances detected in wastewater but not surveys include MDEA, mephedrone, methylone, 3-MMC, alpha-D2PV, etizolam, eutylone, and N,N-dimethylpentylone., Conclusion: Many substances detected in wastewater but not self-reported in surveys likely represent substitutions or adulterants. These findings highlight the benefits of drug checking services to prevent harms from adulterants and provide education on safer drug use practices. These findings also provide useful information on socio-demographic characteristics and drug use patterns of potential users of Queensland's future drug checking service., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The Loop Australia is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to develop the sustainable provision of drug checking services in Australia. Cameron Francis is the paid CEO of The Loop Australia. Fiona Measham is an unpaid board member of The Loop Australia and the unpaid director of The Loop UK (a non-profit non-government organisation that delivers drug checking services). All other authors affiliated with The Loop Australia are unpaid volunteers., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

In the Global South, young people who use drugs (YPWUD) are exposed to multiple interconnected social and health harms, with many low- and middle-income countries enforcing racist, prohibitionist-based drug policies that generate physical and structural violence. While harm reduction coverage for YPWUD is suboptimal globally, in low- and middle-income countries youth-focused harm reduction programs are particularly lacking. Those that do exist are often powerfully shaped by global health funding regimes that restrict progressive approaches and reach. In this commentary we highlight the efforts of young people, activists, allies, and organisations across some Global South settings to enact programs such as those focused on peer-to-peer information sharing and advocacy, overdose monitoring and response, and drug checking. We draw on our experiential knowledge and expertise to identify and discuss key challenges, opportunities, and recommendations for youth harm reduction movements, programs and practices in low- to middle-income countries and beyond, focusing on the need for youth-driven interventions. We conclude this commentary with several calls to action to advance harm reduction for YPWUD within and across Global South settings., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The meaningful inclusion of young people who use or have used drugs is a fundamental aspect of harm reduction, including in program design, research, service provision, and advocacy efforts. However, there are very few examples of meaningful and equitable engagement of young people who use drugs in harm reduction, globally. Youth continue to be excluded from harm reduction programming and policymaking; when they are included, they often face tokenistic efforts that lack clear expectations, equitable work conditions, and are rarely afforded agency and autonomy over decision-making. In this commentary, we identify and discuss issues in youth engagement, and offer recommendations for the future of harm reduction., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Drug overdoses occur when the amount of drug or combination of drugs consumed is toxic and negatively affects physiological functioning. Opioid overdoses are responsible for the majority of overdose deaths worldwide. Naloxone is a safe, fast-acting opioid antagonist that can reverse an opioid overdose, and as such, it should be a critical component of community-based responses to opioid overdose. However, the burden of drug overdose deaths remains unquantified in South Africa, and both knowledge about and access to naloxone is generally poor. The objective of this study was to describe the experiences of overdose, knowledge of responses to overdose events, and willingness to call emergency medical services in response to overdose among people who use drugs in Cape Town, Durban, and Pretoria (South Africa)., Methods: We used convenience sampling to select people who use drugs accessing harm reduction services for this cross-sectional survey from March to July 2019. Participants completed an interviewer-administered survey, assessing selected socio-demographic characteristics, experiences of overdose among respondents and their peers, knowledge about naloxone and comfort in different overdose responses. Data, collected on paper-based tools, were analysed using descriptive statistics and categorised by city., Results: Sixty-six participants participated in the study. The median age was 31, and most (77%) of the respondents were male. Forty-one per cent of the respondents were homeless. Heroin was the most commonly used drug (79%), and 82% of participants used drugs daily. Overall, 38% (25/66) reported overdosing in the past year. Most (76%, 50/66) knew at least one person who had ever experienced an overdose, and a total of 106 overdose events in peers were reported. Most participants (64%, 42/66) had not heard of naloxone, but once described to them, 73% (48/66) felt comfortable to carry it. More than two-thirds (68%, 45/66) felt they would phone for medical assistance if they witnessed an overdose., Conclusion: Drug overdose was common among participants in these cities. Without interventions, high overdose-related morbidity and mortality is likely to occur in these contexts. Increased awareness of actions to undertake in response to an overdose (calling for medical assistance, using naloxone) and access to naloxone are urgently required in these cities. Additional data are needed to better understand the nature of overdose in South Africa to inform policy and responses., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

: Alcohol use is a major risk factor for infectious disease and reduction of harms associated with alcohol consumption are essential during times of humanitarian crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. As a network of early career professionals working in the area of addiction medicine, we provide our views with regards to national actions related to reducing alcohol-related harm and providing care for people with alcohol use disorder during COVID-19. We believe that COVID-19 related measures have affected alcohol consumption in the majority of countries represented in this commentary. Examples of these changes include changes in alcohol consumption patterns, increases in cases of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, disruptions in access to medical care for alcohol use disorder and increases in illegal production of alcohol. Our members urge that treatment for acute and severe conditions due to substance use should be considered as essential services in times of humanitarian crises like COVID-19.

: Globally, there are concerns about access to healthcare and harm reduction services for people who use drugs (PWUD) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Members from the Network of Early Career Professionals working in Addiction Medicine shared their experiences of providing treatment to PWUD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on these qualitative reports, we highlight the similarities and discrepancies in access to services for PWUD in 16 countries under COVID-10 restrictions. In most countries reported here, efforts have been made to ensure continued access to services, such as mobilising opioid agonist maintenance treatment and other essential medicines to patients. However, due to travel restrictions and limited telemedicine services, several Network of Early Career Professionals working in Addiction Medicine members from lower-resourced countries experienced challenges with providing care to their patients during periods of COVID-19 lock-down. The insights provided in this commentary illustrate how the COVID-19 lock-down restrictions have impacted access to services for PWUD.

This article describes a 12-step model that can be used for policy analysis. The model encompasses policy development, implementation, and evaluation; takes into account structural foundations of policy; addresses both legal formalism and legal realism; demonstrates contextual sensitivity; and addresses application issues and different conceptualizations of IDD.

The AAIDD's 11th edition of Intellectual Disability: Definition, Classification, and Systems of Support describes a framework for understanding the relationship between public policy and practice. The framework incorporates three inputs into public policy and practice affecting quality-of-life outcomes for individuals and families, society, and systems. The inputs are social factors, the core concepts of disability policy, and changing conceptualizations of disability. We accept the framework's basic premises, but we propose amendments to make the framework more useful for its stated purposes of elaborating on the "context" ( Schalock et al., 2010 , p. 17) that affects people with intellectual disability and "promot[ing] changes in public policy that will lead to the achievement of desired policy outcomes" ( Schalock et al., 2010 , p. 171).

The article reviews the federal statutes and relevant decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that constitute the core concepts of disability policy and their application to persons with disabilities (especially developmental disabilities) and their families., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

In this discussion of recent key disability-related decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court (1995- 2004), we (a) assess whether the Court has supported or undermined certain core concepts of disability policy and (b) examine how the Court balances the comparative rights of those with and those without disabilities. In cases involving employment discrimination, family law, and access to courts and other public decision-making entities, the Court adopts an idealized version of a previous America. We explain the Court's "reverie" for that version, resorting to the constructs known as (a) compelled confrontation and remission to majoritarian processes and (b) advancement of personal relationships.

This article reviews the provisions of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as they apply particularly to students with autism. It also refers to the antidiscrimination provisions of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments (Sec. 504) and to their relevance to students with autism. It attempts to answer specific questions posed by the National Academy of Science.