Search results

The purpose of this study is to examine the politics, political economy, and fallout of hawkish regulatory policy on prescription drugs in Nigeria. Hawkish regulatory policy on prescription drug in Nigeria, such as opioid analgesics, is a very complex and multifaceted one, which usually involves the interplay of many factors and parties.

Policy manuals, official government gazettes (legislations, regulations, Acts and decrees), academic literature and a direct ethnographic observation of events surrounding the regulation of prescription drugs were reviewed and engaged.

The results revealed that Nigerian and global political economy and politics interface to define the direction of the new restrictive opioid policy, with resultant friction between prohibition and consumption. The reviews showed that the overarching “get-tough” and “repressive” policy are not necessarily founded on empirical evidence of an increase in prescription drug sales or use, but more as a product of the interplay of both internal and external politics and the prevailing socioeconomic order.

Instead of borrowing extensively from or being influenced by repressive Western drug laws and perspectives, Nigerian policymakers on prescription opioids should take control of the process by drawing up a home-grown policy that is less intrusive and punitive in nature for better outcomes. A mental sea change is required to understand the intrigues of Western power in Nigeria’s politics and political economy to avoid the continuous symptomatic failure of drug policy.

The politics and economic influence of the United Nations, USA and Western powers, as well as the axiom of moral panic of prescription drugs scares within the Nigerian environment, are particularly significant in the making of the emerging hawkish policy on prescription drugs in Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to interrogate if the legal status of a cannabis affects money laundering activity. The legal status of cannabis continues to evolve globally; at the same time, its market remains enormous. Much of this market represents dirty money from criminal acts, which often requires laundering. In the context of changing cannabis regulations, legislation, and policies, the authors propose the possible implications such changes may have on the extent of money laundering.

This paper proposes the implications of the evolution of cannabis regulations on money laundering activities, using the theoretical underpinning of rational choice. Using Australia as a replicable critical case study, the paper, using the Walker gravity model and using United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime-reported prices of cannabis from 2003 to 2017 and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission reports empirically validates the effects of cannabis regulations on the proceeds available for laundering.

This study finds support for the argument that prohibitive measures toward cannabis use contribute to increases in the need to launder generated proceeds.

The findings can be replicated in other countries and may contribute to novel propositions within the debate on the legalization of cannabis use, which has, thus, far primarily focused on the areas of health, crime, taxation and education.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has yet attempted to provide an economic analysis of the effects of cannabis policy changes on money laundering.

Drug use in prisons remains a public health concern because it is often the place of drug initiation. The purpose of this study was to analyze the drug use in prison in Burkina Faso.

We conducted cross-sectional study in the prison of Ouagadougou. The adult prisoners (male and female) incarcerated for more than one month at the largest prison of Burkina Faso were included in the study. Participants were selected using a systematic random sampling. Data were collected from October 28 to November 26, 2018. The face-to-face interviews were conducted in the prison grounds. Logistic multivariate regression was used to identify factors associated with in prison drug use. All analysis was done using Stata.

A total of 379 prisoners were included in this study. Approximately one-third inmates (32.71%; n = 124) experienced illicit drug in lifetime. Nearly one-third (28.76%; n = 109) of the prisoners were drug users before incarceration and 11.87% (n = 45) used drug inside the prison, of which 33.33% (n = 15) initiated drug use in the prison. Cannabis was the first drug used by the prisoners (71.11%) followed by tramadol (62.22%), diazepam (13.33%) and cocaine (2.22%). Four prisoners (3.63%) had reported Heroin use before incarceration. Cannabis was mainly smoked. Tramadol, diazepam and amphetamines were swallowed or mixed with food. Cocaine is smoked and snorted. Case of injection of cocaine and heroin was reported before incarceration. Main factors independently associated with drug use in prison is drug use before prison and young age of inmates. Indeed, inmates who had reported drug use before prison had 4.01 time {adjusted odd ratio (AOR: 4.01 [95% CI: 1.91–8.41])} higher odds to use drug in prison.

To conduct the interviews in the prison grounds could be a limitation due to social desirability bias. Indeed, the prisoners may understate drug use in prison for the fear of likely additional sentence. Availability of biological tests for drug markers might help addressed this bias. Nevertheless, the findings of this study should help to plan effective drug use prevention and care programs for prisoners.

The actions must include the implementation of a medical and psychological care in continuum of healthcare system in Burkina Faso. This system should include screening at entry and adequate health and psychological care in prison for drug users for an effective control of drugs use in prison.

Most of these drug users in prison have a low level of education and are unemployed. Education activities and training on occupational activities to prepare drug users for a successful social reintegration less dependent on drugs is essential. This study can be a basis to explore more possibilities and find out what is available to help those with substance use disorder, manage these cases in prison and prevent relapse on release.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study on drug use in prison in Burkina Faso. It indicates that the repressive strategy against drug use seems ineffective because former users continue their consumption inside and also new users are initiated to use drugs in prison.

Disruptions and shortages of drugs have become severe problems in recent years, which has triggered strong media and public interest in the topic. However, little is known about the factors that can be associated with the increased frequency of shortages. In this paper, the authors analyze the drivers of drug shortages using empirical data for Germany, the fourth largest pharmaceutical market.

The authors use a dataset provided by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte [BfArM]) with 425 reported shortages for drug substances (DSs) in the 24-month period between May 2017 and April 2019 and enrich the data with information from additional sources. Using logistic and negative binomial regression models, the authors analyze the impact of (1) market characteristics, (2) drug substance characteristics and (3) regulatory characteristics on the likelihood of a shortage.

The authors find that factors like market concentration, patent situation, manufacturing processes or dosage form are significantly associated with the odds of a shortage. The authors discuss the implications of these findings to reduce the frequency and severity of shortages.

The authors contribute to the empirical research on drug shortages by analyzing the impact of market characteristics, DS characteristics and regulatory characteristics on the reported shortages. The authors’ analysis provides a starting point for better prioritizing efforts to strengthen drug supply as it is currently intensely discussed healthcare authorities.

To address safety risks, worker well-being concerns and productivity losses in construction due to substance misuse, this study aims to explore awareness and usage levels of various substances among Nigerian construction professionals. The findings aim to inform targeted interventions and policy development to tackle these industry-specific challenges.

A comprehensive literature review identified several substances and intoxicants commonly used in construction, which informed the development of a well-structured questionnaire. This questionnaire was distributed to both construction professionals and nonprofessionals. The Shapiro-Wilk test assessed the normality of awareness and utilization scores for each substance, while the Kruskal-Wallis H-test explored significant differences in awareness and usage scores among different respondent groups.

Despite reporting low awareness of substances commonly used in construction, a significant proportion (over 60%) of respondents admitted to using several of these substances in their construction activities. This highlights a concerning disconnect, with more than half (62.5%) exceeding a predefined threshold (3.5) for significant substance use. Ten out of the 16 substances surveyed fell into this category, indicating a widespread issue within the industry.

The findings of this study highlight the need for increased education and awareness programs about the dangers of substance misuse in the construction industry. Construction companies should implement regular training sessions and workshops to educate workers on the risks associated with substance use. Additionally, there should be stricter enforcement of substance use policies and routine substance testing to deter misuse. These measures can enhance safety, improve worker well-being and boost overall productivity in the construction industry.

The insights from this study can inform the development of international policies and best practices for substance use prevention and worker well-being in the construction industry. Sharing these findings with international organizations, policymakers and industry stakeholders can help create broader guidelines and frameworks adaptable for implementation in various countries.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry currently faces multiple challenges, including rising costs and slowing export growth, which in turn have limited its ability to expand presence in global canvas. Given the nature of sectoral dynamics, a pharmaceutical firm must undertake huge investments in R&D to introduce product innovation, in turn enhancing market share and sustaining profit streams. The development of novel medicines, confirmed by the granting of patent rights, provides a pharma company edge over its competitors. In addition, presence of innovator firms within the industry invigorates the sectoral value chain and raises efficiency. Hence, it is important to analyze whether granting patent rights enhances the exports of pharmaceutical products in the Indian context.

The current study explored this question using a simultaneous-equation framework. Specifically, the authors use the methods developed by Davidson and MacKinnon (1993) and Greene (2003) to obtain heteroscedasticity-consistent estimates. The time-series properties of the data were further probed, and robust estimates were used to test the theory. Methods developed by Baltagi (1981) have been used further to refine the authors’ estimations.

After controlling for relevant variables, it is observed that granting of patents caused a significantly positive impact on pharmaceutical exports. Furthermore, the change in the patent administration regime had a significant impact on patent fillings, which further impacted their exportability. Compared to patents granted patents filed had a higher impact on pharmaceutical exports.

This study attempts to apply the framework developed by Goldstein and Khan (1978) with necessary modifications to suit the context of a developing country. The application of the 3SLS method to estimate the export supply equation for pharmaceutical products is a novel approach to the research question in general and to the Indian context in particular. System autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity tests were performed to refine the results further.

This study is a radical interactionist analysis of family conflict. Drawing on both a negotiated order perspective and Athen's theory of complex dominative encounters, this study analyzes the role that domination plays in conflicts among intimates. As the family engages in repeated conflicts over roles, the family also engages in negotiations over the family order, what role each party should play, interpretations of past events, and plans for the future. These conflicts take place against a backdrop of patriarchy that asymmetrically distributes power in the family to determine the family order. The data from this study come from a content analysis of mothers with substance use problems as depicted in the reality television show Intervention. The conflicts in these families reveal that these families develop a grinding family order in which families engaged in repeated conflict but also continued to operate as and identify as a family. These conflicts are shaped by and reinforce patriarchal expectations that mothers are central to family operation. The intervention at the end of each episode offered an opportunity for the family to engage in a concerted campaign to try to force the mother into treatment and reestablish the family order.

Despite technological advancements to enhance patient health, the risks of not discovering the correct interactions and trends in digital health are high. Hence, a careful policy is required for health coverage tailored to needs and capacity. Therefore, this study aims to explore the adoption of a cognitive computing decision support system (CCDSS) in the assessment of health-care policymaking and validates it by extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model.

A survey was conducted to collect data from different stakeholders, referred to as the 4Ps, namely, patients, providers, payors and policymakers. Structural equation modelling and one-way ANOVA were used to analyse the data.

The result reveals that the behavioural insight of policymakers towards the assessment of health-care policymaking is based on automatic and reflective systems. Investments in CCDSS for policymaking assessment have the potential to produce rational outcomes. CCDSS, built with quality procedures, can validate whether breastfeeding-supporting policies are mother-friendly.

Health-care policies are used by lawmakers to safeguard and improve public health, but it has always been a challenge. With the adoption of CCDSS, the overall goal of health-care policymaking can achieve better quality standards and improve the design of policymaking.

This study drew attention to how CCDSS as a technology enabler can drive health-care policymaking assessment for each stage and how the technology enabler can help the 4Ps of health-care gain insight into the benefits and potential value of CCDSS by demonstrating the breastfeeding supporting policy.