Research involving Dr Jack Cunliffe has found that tighter prescription regulations on certain opioid medications led to a significant increase in illicit online drug trading for these painkillers.<\/p>\n
The study,\u00a0the result of an international collaboration<\/strong>\u00a0also involving Swinburne University in Australia, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al and the University of Manchester, analysed the effects of a move by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2014\u00a0to restrict in how hydrocodone combination products (HCP)<\/strong>\u00a0were prescribed by doctors.<\/p>\n Specifically, the DEA\u00a0moved painkillers containing hydrocodone from Schedule III to the more restrictive Schedule II category<\/strong>, making the drug significantly harder to obtain from\u00a0medical<\/strong>\u00a0professionals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n To measure the effect\u00a0this had on the illegal trade of these items<\/strong>\u00a0the researchers analysed\u00a031 of the<\/strong>\u00a0world\u2019s largest darknet drug marketplaces<\/strong>. The data gathered showed that after the introduction of the DEA\u2019s regulations illicit trading of these substances increased by\u00a0around four percentage points a year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This equated to the illegal online trade of prescription opioids in the US\u00a0doubling over the study period<\/strong>, with no significant changes to\u00a0other categories of pharmaceutical drugs<\/strong>, including stimulants such as modafinil, or sedatives such as Diazepam and Xanax.<\/p>\n Dr Cunliffe, from the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR) at Kent, was\u00a0responsible primarily for the development of the methodology<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0analytical output<\/strong>, as well as playing\u00a0an active role with the team in framing the work<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The researchers say the data shows that attempting to tackle the US\u2019s opioid crisis\u00a0through supply reduction alone is ineffective<\/strong>\u00a0and that other measures such as\u00a0demand and harm reduction<\/strong>\u00a0are necessary.<\/p>\n They argue too that the data gathered\u00a0shows the move to the darknet for the opioids is \u2018demand\u2019 driven<\/strong>\u00a0in response to the government\u2019s attempt to clamp down on the prescription of such drugs,\u00a0and not a result specifically of darknet sites offering such drugs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The paper<\/strong>\u00a0has been published by\u00a0The British Medical Journal<\/em>\u00a0entitled\u00a0Effect of restricting the legal supply of prescription opioids on buying through online illicit marketplaces: interrupted time series analysis<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n For further information see:<\/p>\n\n