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[Display omitted] • Hydrogel containing viologen-based hyperbranched polyamide amines with dual drug loading capacity. • Wearable Patch (Patch-DT) uses hydrogel as the drug-carrying cathode and magnesium flakes as the anode. • Patch-DT enables release of two drugs simultaneously, overcoming the limitations of monotherapy. • Visible drug monitoring through wearable Patch's electrochromic properties. Wearable drug delivery systems (DDS) have made significant advancements in the field of precision medicine, offering precise regulation of drug dosage, location, and timing. The performance qualities that wearable DDS has always strived for are simplicity, efficiency, and intelligence. This paper proposes a wearable dual-drug synergistic release patch. The patch is powered by a built-in magnesium battery and utilizes a hydrogel containing viologen-based hyperbranched polyamidoamine as both a cathode material and an integrated drug reservoir. This design allows for the simultaneous release of both dexamethasone and tannic acid, overcoming the limitations of monotherapy and ensuring effective synergy for on-demand therapy. In a mouse model with praziquimod-induced psoriasis, the patch demonstrated therapeutic efficacy at a low voltage. The inflammatory skin returned to normal after 5 days with the on-demand release of dual drugs. This work provides a promising treatment option considering its straightforward construction and the therapeutic advantages of dual-drug synergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology plays a pivotal role in the biomedical field, especially in the synthesis and regulation of drug particle size. Reducing drug particles to the micron or nanometer scale can enhance bioavailability. Supercritical fluid technology, as a green drug development strategy, is expected to resolve the challenges of thermal degradation, uneven particle size, and organic solvent residue faced by traditional methods such as milling and crystallization. This paper provides an insight into the application of super-stable homogeneous intermix formulating technology (SHIFT) and super-table pure-nanomedicine formulation technology (SPFT) developed based on supercritical fluids for drug dispersion and micronization. These technologies significantly enhance the solubility and permeability of hydrophobic drugs by controlling the particle size and morphology, and the modified drugs show excellent therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma, pathological scarring, and corneal neovascularization, and their performance and efficacy are highlighted when administered through multiple routes of administration. Overall, supercritical fluids have opened a green and efficient pathway for clinical drug development, which is expected to reduce side effects and enhance therapeutic efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pharmaceutical sector corruption undermines patient access to medicines by diverting public funds for private gain and exacerbating health inequities. This paper presents an analysis of UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) compliance in seven countries and examines how full UNCAC adoption may reduce corruption risks within four key pharmaceutical decision-making points: product approval, formulary selection, procurement, and dispensing. Countries were selected based on their participation in the Medicines Transparency Alliance and the WHO Good Governance for Medicines Programme. Each country’s domestic anti-corruption laws and policies were catalogued and analysed to evaluate their implementation of select UNCAC Articles relevant to the pharmaceutical sector. Countries displayed high compliance with UNCAC provisions on procurement and the recognition of most public sector corruption offences. However, several countries do not penalise private sector bribery or provide statutory protection to whistleblowers or witnesses in corruption proceedings, suggesting that private sector pharmaceutical dispensing may be a decision-making point particularly vulnerable to corruption. Fully implementing the UNCAC is a meaningful first step that countries can take reduce pharmaceutical sector corruption. However, without broader commitment to cultures of transparency and institutional integrity, corruption legislation alone is likely insufficient to ensure long-term, sustainable pharmaceutical sector good governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many nations and jurisdictions have legalized non-medical adult use of cannabis, or are considering doing so. This paper contributes to knowledge of adult use legalization's associations with cannabis use disorder (CUD) treatment utilization. This study collected data from a dataset of all publicly funded substance use disorder treatment delivered in California from 2010 to 2021 (1,460,066 episodes). A logistic regression model estimates adult use legalization's impacts on CUD treatment utilization using an individual-level pre-post time series model, including individual and county-level characteristics and county and year-fixed effects. Adult use legalization was associated with a significant decrease in the probability of admission to CUD treatment (average marginal effect (AME): −0.005, 95 % CI: −0.009, 0.000). Adult use legalization was also associated with a decrease in the probability of admission to CUD treatment for males (AME: −0.025, 95 % CI: −0.027, −0.023) Medi-Cal beneficiaries (AME: −0.025, 95 % CI: −0.027, −0.023) adults ages 21+ (AME: −0.011, 95 % CI: −0.014, −0.009) and Whites (AME: −0.012, 95 % CI: −0.015, −0.010), and an increase in the probability of admission to CUD treatment for patients referred from the criminal justice system (AME: 0.017, 95 % CI: 0.015, 0.020) and Blacks (AME: 0.004, 95 % CI: 0.000, 0.007) and Hispanics (AME: 0.009, 95 % CI: 0.006, 0.011). Adult use legalization is associated with declining CUD treatment admissions, even though cannabis-related problems are becoming more prevalent. Policies and practices that protect public health, and engage people with CUD in treatment are needed. • Pre-legalization, 19 % of SUD admissions were CUD, compared to 9 % post-legalization. • Adult use legalization was associated with a decrease in CUD treatment admissions. • Differences existed in legalization's associations on different demographic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First trends analysis of data from the national Canadian Cannabis Survey. • Past-year cannabis use increased since non-medical cannabis legalization in Canada. • The proportion of past-year consumers using cannabis frequently is unchanged. • Past-year use of edibles, drinks and vape pens/cartridges has increased. • Legal purchasing is displacing the illicit cannabis market in Canada. Cannabis use for non-medical purposes was legalized and regulated in Canada through the Cannabis Act in October 2018. This paper examined trends in use of cannabis for non-medical purposes and related indicators from pre- to post-legalization in Canada (2018–2022). Data from 5 years of the Canadian Cannabis Survey, an annual web-based survey administered to Canadians 16 years of age or older, were used in the analysis (n 2018 =12,952; n 2019 =11,922; n 2020 =10,821; n 2021 =10,733; n 2022 =10,048). Cannabis measures include questions about use, types of products, sources, risk perceptions and beliefs, and exposure to public education campaigns and health warnings. Adjusted logistic regression models tested differences in outcomes over time. Past 12-month cannabis consumption increased among Canadians from 22 % in 2018 to 27 % in 2022 (AOR=1.41;99 % CI:1.28–1.54). Similarly, daily/almost daily (DAD) consumption increased from 5 % in 2018 to 7 % in 2022 (AOR=1.36;99 % CI:1.16–1.59). Consumption of dried flower, hash/kief, and concentrates/extracts (e.g., wax, shatter, budder) decreased since 2018, whereas consumption of edibles, beverages and vape pens/cartridges increased (p < 0.001). Legal purchasing increased from 4 % in 2018 to 69 % in 2022, while accessing cannabis through social and illegal sources decreased over time (p < 0.001). More Canadians are reporting cannabis consumption since legalization and regulation of cannabis for non-medical purposes, continuing a pre-existing trend despite an increase in awareness of the risks of consuming cannabis. Trends in product use indicate a transition from dried flower and concentrates/extracts towards consumption of cannabis foods, drinks and vape pens/cartridges. The legal market is increasingly displacing the illicit cannabis market in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been several recent commentaries which have highlighted the relevance of the postcolonial perspective to drug prohibition and called for the decolonisation of drug policy (Daniels et al., 2021 ; Hillier, Winkler & Lavallée, 2020 ; Lasco, 2022 ; Mills, 2019). While these are significant interventions in the field, sparse drugs scholarship has engaged more directly with well-developed literature and concepts from Critical Indigenous Studies (Moreton-Robinson, 2016) and Indigenous Standpoint Theory (Moreton-Robinson, 2013 ; Nakata, 2007) and reflected on its applicability to the drug and alcohol field. In contrast to the postcolonial perspective, which understands colonisation as a historical event with contemporary impacts, Indigenous scholarship conceptualises colonisation as an active and ongoing part of how the settler-state continues to impose itself. From this vantage point I explore coloniality as a system of power and reflect on the way prohibition acts as a key arm of the settler-colonial state. The paper explores the way concepts like vulnerability, marginality, overrepresentation, disproportionality and addiction involve colonial violence, knowledge practices and narratives which are central to the way coloniality is maintained and continues to assert itself in contemporary settler societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cannabis legalization in some U.S.A. states has catapulted the mass production of concentrates, with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations ranging from 50-90%. A major public health concern is that these products will increase cannabis-related harms such as use disorders, psychotic symptoms, and accidental poisonings. This paper describes and contextualizes the results of a study requested by the WA State Legislature to understand perspectives of WA stakeholders on the topic. Concept Mapping (CM), a mixed-methods research approach that supports people-centered policy decisions was utilized. The goal of the study was to explore stakeholders' concern levels and support of policies to address the availability of high THC cannabis products. For analysis purposes, stakeholders were categorized into three groups: community, professionals, and cannabis advocates. CM generated an inventory of policy ideas for regulating high-potency cannabis from a variety of stakeholders. Notably, stakeholders from community and professional groups supported environmental policy changes such as such as taxation, increasing minimum age for high concentration cannabis products, and advertising prohibition. Meanwhile, cannabis advocates (mostly industry actors) opposed taxation per THC content, proposed lowering taxes, and supported policies with low population impact such as educating parents, teachers, and youth. Support for regulating high concentration THC products varied by stakeholder group. Consistent with how other health compromising industries have historically acted, cannabis industry stakeholders rejected regulation of their products. Future studies should explore non-cannabis industry stakeholders' willingness to work towards minimizing the influence of the cannabis industry in policy development processes to assure public health regulations prevail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]