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Cocaine, the glamor drug of the 70s, is making a comeback

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Cocaine is extracted from the leaves of coca plant native to South America. The leaves were used for millennia by natives such as the Incas, who chewed or made tea for their vigilance and energy. The German chemist Albert Niemann finally isolated the drug in 1859 and was named cocaine. This was the beginning of drug use as a drug and recreational substance in Western culture. How many people use it? Cocaine is the second most used illegal substance in Australia after marijuana. Reports of cocaine use in the 12 months to June 2017 have more than doubled since 2004 - from 1% to 2.5% (or around 170,000 to 500,000 people). The number of people who have ever used cocaine has increased by a similar percentage - from 4.7% in 2004 to 9% in 2016. Cocaine use has reached a 15-year high. History and usage over time Cocaine gained importance in the 1880s. Sigmund Freud widely praised its use, including to overcome the morphine addiction and for the treatment of depression. The Viennese
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Pay pharmacists to improve our health and not just deliver medicines

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If you have a drug dispensed at your local pharmacy under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), two things happen. The federal government determines how much the pharmacy receives for the delivery of your medicine. It also decides what you have to pay. Through this so-called service charge, pharmacies maximize their revenue when they deliver many recipes quickly. Instead of giving up quickly, it would be better for the patients and the healthcare system if the funding model pays pharmacists to improve the use of medicines rather than just their delivery. This is possible according to our recent study published in the Australian Health Review. And it should be seen as part of the next Community Pharmacy Agreement, which describes how Community Pharmacy will be delivered over the next five years. The delivery of drugs is more complex than it looks Medication may seem simple, but it can be misleading: it includes both commercial and professional functions. As part of
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Pharmacists can vaccinate adults for whooping cough, measles and the flu, which may cost you more

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Vaccines have long been available from family doctors and nurses. In recent years, laws have changed to include pharmacists in the list of health professionals who can administer selected vaccine prescriptions. This can improve the vaccination coverage against flu, whooping cough and measles. But there is a possibility that it costs you more than if you have seen your family doctor for the same shot. Overcome resistance Before 2014, pharmacists were unable to vaccinate in Australia. Subsequently, a pilot study of a select group of pharmacies in Queensland made it possible to offer the flu vaccine. At that time, pharmacists had been giving up certain vaccines in Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom for several years. In Australia, however, pharmacists did not have the required knowledge and the law did not allow this. Another obstacle was the hiring of other health professionals, such as doctors, that pharmacists could not or should not give vaccinations.
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Ranitidine, the heartburn medication that is discontinued due to carcinogenic contamination

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Ranitidine is a medicine for short-term treatment of heartburn. Available in supermarkets and pharmacies, a prescription is only required if a longer dose of the medicine is required over a longer period of time. Ranitidine (sold under the brand names Zantac, Rani 2 and Ausran) is currently on the news as regulators have found that most formulations are contaminated with a chemical called NDMA, which is probably a carcinogen. The drug was recalled by manufacturers in some countries. Two generic brands - Apotex Ranitidine and Sandoz Ranitidine - have been recalled in Australia so far, with further recalls likely. When was it developed? Ranitidine was first described in the scientific literature in 1976 and was available in 1981. Peptic ulcer disease was a significant health problem affecting millions of people around the world, and at the time of marketing ranitidine, approximately four million people in the United States had active peptic ulcer disease, resulting in 6,000 death
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Quetiapine, the overdose-associated antipsychotic "sleeping pill"

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Quetiapine is a medication used to reduce hallucinations and delusions in people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The most common brand name of Quetiapin is Seroquel, but it is also known by the colloquial names Quell, Suzi-Q, Baby Heroin and Q-Ball. Q-Ball refers to a combination of quetiapine and cocaine or sometimes heroin. Quetiapine was developed by the chemical company ICI in England and patented in 1987. Scientists were trying to find a drug that would alleviate the symptoms of mental illness without the damaging side effects of antipsychotic drugs developed in the 1950s. How does it work? Quetiapine binds to the dopamine receptors of the brain and changes serotonin levels. Short-term effects include drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness and low blood pressure when getting up. These effects take about six hours. The product information for quetiapine contains a warning that grapefruit juice must not be consumed while taking the medicine as this may inhibit the metabo
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Methylprednisolone, a drug used to treat inflammation but not rare kidney disease

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Methylprednisolone is a prescription medicine for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as asthma, arthritis, gout, tendinitis, rejection of transplants, allergic reactions, eczema and psoriasis. It's in the news because doctors have been testing the drug to find out if it helps treat a rare kidney disease called IgA nephropathy, also known as Berger's disease. A study published this week reported that an international study with oral methylprednisolone, involving 262 patients (including Australians), was prematurely discontinued for safety reasons. Although the drug was almost threefold lower in risk of kidney failure, there was an almost five-fold higher risk of serious infection. The researchers reported that two patients had died from these study-related infections. Other clinical studies have also reported higher rates of adverse effects, such as serious infections, with oral methylprednisolone in the treatment of IgA nephropathy. However, side effects
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The following happened when only codeine was prescribed. No, the sky has not collapsed

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Fears of converting the analgesic codeine to a prescription drug would make more people abusing stronger pain killers unfounded, according to research published today. Our research in the Addiction journal revealed that the change from 2018 resulted in a 50% reduction in code overdoses and sales. There was also no increase in overdose with stronger opioids or high-concentration codeine, as some had feared. Remember, how did we get here? Australia has a love affair with codeine. It was our most widely used opioid in the past, and data from 2013 showed that we had more codeine than the US, even though we had about 7% of the population. As of February 2018, however, you could only buy codeine in Australia with a prescription. Previously you could buy low-grade codeine (up to 15 mg per tablet) in pharmacies in combination with paracetamol, ibuprofen and over-the-counter aspirin (OTC). Codeine of higher strength has always required a recipe. The change of 2018 was not an ov
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