Dartmouth to study opioid treatment for the pregnant

‘US must curb its opioids demand’

HANOVER, NH, June 25, (Agencies): A research team at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine is getting $5.3 million to study medication-assisted treatment for pregnant women with opioid use disorders.

Officials say combining medication with psychosocial services has been shown to significantly reduce poor outcomes for babies born to mothers with opioid use disorders, but it can be difficult for women to find providers. In northern New England, 5 to 8 percent of newborns have mothers with such disorders.

The team will compare whether integrated care models, where women receive both maternity care and addiction treatment in the same practice, are more effective than providing such treatment in different locations.

The five-year award comes from the Patient-Center Outcomes Research Institute.

Demand

Meanwhile, China said Monday the US should do more to stem its own demand for synthetic drugs but pledged despite tensions to boost cooperation to stop the flow of opioids made in the Asian country.

China is believed to be one of the main manufacturers of synthetic drugs — including opioids such as fentanyl — which have been blamed for public health crises around the world.

Ahead of his first state visit to Beijing last year, President Donald Trump declared the US opioid crisis a national public health emergency and called for a halt to “the flood of cheap and deadly fentanyl” that was “manufactured in China”.

China will seek greater cooperation with the US to stem the flow of fentanyl, and such efforts will not be contingent on “any political or economic issues,” Liu Yuejin, vice director of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, told a press briefing.

“But... what’s more important is for the US to do its best to reduce the huge demand and market” for the drug, he said.

“To resolve this issue you have to look outward, but more importantly, you have to look inward. If there are fewer US fentanyl users, then this (Chinese) fentanyl won’t have a market.”

China has stepped up efforts to stem the production of drug precursors and new psychoactive substances (NPS), chemicals which mimic the effects of illegal drugs while exploiting loopholes in antidrug laws, he said.

But “the situation remains grim,” concluded an annual report by the narcotics control commission released Monday.

Such substances are readily available for purchase online from Chinese manufacturers, who constantly tweak their formulas to keep them one step ahead of laws that ban the products based on their chemical composition.

Drug makers “increasingly turn to non-controlled chemicals to illegally produce precursors,” with the import of such compounds on the rise, the report said.

As a result, new synthetic drugs are rapidly emerging, with 34 new NPS discovered last year — accounting for 15 percent of NPS known in China.

Authorities cracked down on 388 criminal cases related to drug precursors and seized 2,384 tonnes of precursor chemicals, it said.

But “professional criminal gangs” dealing in such chemicals have emerged due to “robust demand”.

In a statement ahead of Tuesday’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, President Xi Jinping said China must “severely crack down on illegal drug crimes ... and resolutely destroy the network of drug trafficking gangs... to eradicate the spread of the drug problem.”

SYDNEY:

Also:

Australia’s biggest soft drink makers, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, pledged on Monday to cut industry-wide sugar use by a fifth over 7 years to curb obesity in a country where nearly a third of the population is dangerously fat.

Australia has the fifth-highest rate of obesity in the developed world, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a health condition that can exacerbate problems from diabetes to heart disease.

Beverage producers in Australia have already seen some consumers switch away from sugary drinks because of health concerns and they have pledged the reduction as authorities press for a sugar tax similar to one introduced in Britain in April.

“We think this is a step in the right direction,” said Geoff Parker, chief executive officer of the Australian Beverages Council, the main body representing non-alcoholic drink makers, an industry which generates A$5 billion ($3.7 billion) in annual revenue.