ADDICTION
AS PHARMACISTS, YOU ARE FRONT-LINE HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS AND ARGUABLY THE MOST ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS. AS SUCH, YOU ARE BEST POSITIONED TO HELP PREVENT AND TREAT SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS…
ADDICTION AND THE PHARMACIST
By Kurtis Moffatt P
harmacists are front-line health care providers, and arguably the most accessible of all health
care professionals. As such we are best positioned to help prevent and treat substance use disorders. Therefore, in order to do so successfully, we should be equipped with the knowledge surrounding the pharmacological and behavioural risks of drug abuse, and have an awareness of the effective pharmacological treatments for certain kinds of drug dependencies.
Drug abuse and addiction are an ever growing issue not only in terms of their incidence, but also complexity. No longer can we think in terms of a person being addicted to one drug or another, however it is more commonly
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seen that an individual uses many different drugs in combination. The issue is complicated further by the co-occurrence of substance abuse and mental illness. Even specialists fi nd it diffi cult to differentiate the cause and effect when the two conditions co- exist within the same person. It is clear however that these are synergistic pathologies each exacerbating the symptoms of the other.
The pharmacy profession has evolved in recent years, with pharmacists becoming more heavily involved in newer practices, such as assistance with the clinical management of opioid and other drug dependencies. Pharmacists consequently need to be well informed in order to deliver these services. Accordingly, we need
to be educated about issues related to addiction, and prepared to not only screen, assess, refer, and collaborate with physicians in the care of these patients, but also to be the faces of change in community in combating drug abuse.
Numerous risk factors for addiction have been identifi ed. Genetic predisposition is commonly regarded as a strong predictor for eventual disease. Thus, while the general population risk for alcoholism stands at thirteen per cent, the risk is much larger for those whose father was alcoholic, with the statistic standing around 50 per cent. Additionally, there is a gender bias, in which males are more at risk than females. Of course, the risk of addiction is stronger for
some drugs than for others. One measure of addiction potential of certain drugs is demonstrated by the proportion of those who experiment with a drug who eventually become habitual users later. Using this measure, the most addictive behaviour is cigarette smoking that claims 40 per cent to 60 per cent of those who try cigarettes. Followed by cocaine abuse, as about 30 per cent to 50 per cent of experimenters become chemically dependent. Heroin addiction occurs in about 25-40 per cent of experimenters. Alcohol addiction occurs in about thirteen to 18 per cent of those who experiment with it, while marijuana addiction occurs in about six to nine per cent of users. The physical and mental health risks associated with illicit substance abuse
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