Key Findings
This is a quick summary of the main discovery for each research paper we have published, organized issue by issue. Each key finding is below the article title, with a link to the abstract.
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March 2017
Cigarette smoking and depression comorbidity: systematic review and proposed theoretical model
A new application of incentive learning theory posits that depressed smokers experience greater increases in the expected value of smoking in the face three motivational states: low positive affect, high negative affect and cognitive impairment.
Drinking with mixed-gender groups is associated with heavy weekend drinking among young adults
Young adults report consuming more drinks per hour when drinking with mixed-gender groups than with same-gender groups.
Tincture of opium for treating opioid dependence: a systematic review of safety and efficacy
Given the current evidence, it isn’t possible to make conclusive recommendations about the safety and efficacy of opium tincture for treating opioid dependence.
Patient-centered methadone treatment: a randomized clinical trial
Patient-centered methadone treatment (with optional counseling and with the counselor not serving as the treatment program disciplinarian) does not appear to be more effective than methadone treatment-as-usual.
Acute alcohol effects on set-shifting and its moderation by baseline individual differences: a latent variable analysis
Practising tasks before drinking moderates the acute effects of alcohol on the ability to switch between tasks.
Drug-caused deaths in Australian medical practitioners and health-care professionals
Between 2003 and 2013, Australian health-care professionals averaged 37 deaths per year attributed to drug toxicity, with a mortality rate of nearly five deaths per 1000 employed HCPs.
Assessment of rates of recanting and hair testing as a biological measure of drug use in a general population sample of young people
Hair analysis provides an unreliable marker of substance use in general population samples. People who report more frequent substance use before age 18 are less likely to later deny previous substance use at age 18 than people who report occasional use.
Pharmaceutical sales of pseudoephedrine: the impact of electronic tracking systems on methamphetamine crime incidents
Electronic tracking systems can reduce people’s capacity to produce methamphetamine domestically, but seem unlikely to affect methamphetamine possession, distribution and importation.
Randomized controlled pilot trial of naloxone-on-release to prevent post-prison opioid overdose deaths
Large randomized trials of naloxone to prevent opioid deaths are feasible with prison populations. Giving prisoners take-home emergency naloxone prior to release may prevent heroin overdose deaths among ex-prisoners and the wider population.
Child maltreatment and cannabis use in young adulthood: a birth cohort study
Children in Australia documented as having been maltreated are more likely to use cannabis 1) before 17, 2) as an adult, and 3) daily and meet DSM-IV criteria for cannabis dependence.
The effects of tobacco smoking on age of onset of psychosis and psychotic symptoms in a first-episode psychosis population
Smokers do not appear to have a significantly earlier age of psychosis onset than non-smokers after taking into account cannabis use and gender.
Demographic trends among older cannabis users in the United States, 2006–13
The prevalence of cannabis use has increased significantly in recent years among US adults aged ≥ 50 years.
A school-based programme for tobacco and alcohol prevention in special education: effectiveness of the modified ‘healthy school and drugs' intervention and moderation by school subtype
The Healthy School and Drugs programme adapted for secondary special education in the Netherlands lacked clear evidence for effects on all outcomes.