Effectiveness Bank bulletin 24 July 2014

Confirmation that making drinkers pay more means they drink less and suffer less harm, then three treatment entries: UK guidance on treating under-18s and on using medications to treat dependence, and a comparison of the two best established medications for opiate dependence.

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Increase alcohol prices or taxes, decrease alcohol-related harm
Review confirms that alcohol-related harm and illness have been curbed by increasing alcohol prices or taxes, but what happens to overall mortality remains unclear – and there is more to why people do or do not drink than health and harm.

UK practice standards on treating under-18s
Standards developed by the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists on screening, assessment and treatment of young people aged 18 or under.

Authoritative review reveals limitations of medicating dependence
From the British Association for Psychopharmacology, evidence-based and practitioner-friendly review and guidelines on drug-based treatments. By comprehensively exploring what can be done with medications, they highlight their limitations and the primacy of psychosocial approaches.

Is buprenorphine more recovery-friendly than methadone?
In Scotland buprenorphine seemed far better than methadone at helping patients already six months in to their treatment cut back on continuing heroin use. Results bolster buprenorphine’s recovery credentials, but study constraints make practice implications unclear.
Sent by Drug and Alcohol Findings Effectiveness Bank to alert you to site updates and UK-relevant evaluations of drug/alcohol interventions. Managed by DrugScope, Alcohol Concern, the National Addiction Centre and Alcohol Research UK. Supported by Alcohol Research UK, Society for the Study of Addiction, and J. Paul Getty Jr. Charitable Trust.