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This research attempts to determine whether consumer responses to an offer of an asthma care program can be relied upon. The study found that people answered 'yes,' when they didn't actually purchase the plan later. The higher the price of the program, the lower the correlation of survey responses to actual enrolment.

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to retrospectively review patient cases presenting to the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center (UKCMC) emergency department (ED) with symptoms of suspected synthetic cannabinomimetic (SC) intoxication. These drugs, currently undetected by standard urine drug screen tests, comprise a structurally diverse group of compounds designed to mimic the psychoactive effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), the primary psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana. Summary: Fourteen cases of suspected SC intoxication were identified between July 1, 2015, through September 30, 2015. The median patient age was 25.5 years (range: 13-45 years), and most (64%) patients were males. The most common psychoactive symptom was agitation (n = 6, 42.9%), while the most common physical symptoms were altered level of consciousness (n = 9, 64.3%) and mydriasis (n = 3, 21.4%). Most cases resolved without complication in 24 hours; 2 patients required hospitalization. Conclusion: Recent legislation has failed to curb the public health concerns emanating from SC misuse. Education about the risks of SC use along with additional regulation may be required to remove the false sense of safety that some individuals, especially adolescents and young adults, may associate with these compounds, which are often misconstrued as “herbal marijuana.” Clinicians need to be prepared to identify and treat symptoms of SC intoxication as incidents of toxicity continue to rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to address the problem of prescription drug abuse and diversion in the USA, States have implemented prescription drug monitoring programmes (PDMPs) to track the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances. For PDMPs to meet their objectives, law enforcement officials must be able to access the information contained within reports. This study provides a descriptive analysis of opinions held by Kentucky law enforcement officials regarding the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting (KASPER) system, the State's PDMP. Surveys designed to elicit perceptions regarding the effectiveness of KASPER were emailed to all 1,119 Kentucky law enforcement officials with a KASPER account; responses were received from 340 (response rate 30.4 per cent). Of these, 306 responses were included in the analysis. Most (65 per cent) respondents indicated that they had utilised a KASPER report in the month prior to survey participation with a median of three reports utilised (interquartile range (IQR): 2-5). Overall, law enforcement officials perceive KASPER to be an effective tool with which to reduce drug abuse and diversion (92 per cent; n = 280) and doctor shopping (89 per cent; n = 269) in Kentucky. Results indicate that Kentucky law enforcement officials utilise KASPER reports as part of their investigations and view KASPER as an effective tool to reduce drug abuse/diversion and doctor shopping within the State. Further studies exploring the characteristics of law enforcement users of PDMPs and key PDMP features that aid prescription drug diversion and doctor shopping investigations may assist in developing strategies to increase the effectiveness of PDMPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]