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Heroin

WHO Begins Developing Guidelines on Managing Opioid Overdose

NIDA International Program Director Steven W. Gust, Ph.D., was among the international drug abuse experts who met to discuss drafting World Health Organization (WHO) evidence-based guidelines for managing opioid overdose. The meeting was held February 19–20, 2014, in Geneva. According to WHO, between 70,000 and 100,000 people die annually from overdose, and opioid-related respiratory depression causes many of those deaths.

Fogarty, NIDA-Funded Research “Making a Difference” in Bulgaria

In research funded by NIDA and the Fogarty International Center (FIC), Jasmin Vassileva, Ph.D., University of Chicago, is investigating the impact of heroin on neurocognitive function and HIV transmission in Bulgaria. Why Bulgaria? In Chicago, up to 80% of heroin users also use cocaine, making it difficult to isolate the effects of a single drug. In contrast, Bulgarian heroin users are more likely to use only that drug. In addition, both heroin addiction and HIV are major public health problems and research is scarce in the country where Dr. Vassileva was born. Dr.