CBD may help prevent relapse in abstinent heroin addicts

Cannabidiol (CBD) has the potential to reduce craving and anxiety in people with opioid use disorder who have been opioid‐free for at least a week, a recent study using Epidiolex, the Food and Drug Administration–approved form of the marijuana‐derived drug, has found. The study compared CBD to placebo in subjects who were exposed to drug‐related and non‐drug‐related‐cues, and measured craving and anxiety. CBD administration was short‐term (three days), but beneficial effects lasted seven days afterward. There were no effects on cognition and no adverse effects.     

Differences between medical and recreational cannabis

Every state has its own process for regulating legal cannabis, but we have been particularly interested in Massachusetts, which has a carefully structured process for regulation of both medical (established in 2013) and the recently approved recreational dispensaries — we visited a medical dispensary recently (see ADAW, June 24).     

UN: Treatment not accessible,especially in prisons,globally

Last week, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report revealing that the adverse health consequences of drug use are more severe and widespread than previously thought. About 35 million people globally are estimated to need treatment for drug use disorders, according to the World Drug Report 2019, released June 26. The number of opioid users is now 53 million, up 56% from previous estimates. Opioids are responsible for two‐thirds of the 585,000 drug use deaths in 2017. Across the world, 11 million people injected drugs in 2017; 1.4 million of them have HIV and 5.6 million have hepatitis C.     

Forget “militarization”: race,disability and the “martial politics” of the police and of the university

This article investigates the limits of the concept of militarization and proposes an alternative concept: martial politics. It argues that the concept of militarization falsely presumes a peaceful liberal order that is encroached on by military values or institutions. Arguing instead that we must grapple with the ways in which war and politics are mutually shaped, the article proposes the concept of martial politics as a means for examining how politics is shot-through with war-like relations. It argues that stark distinctions cannot be made between war and peace, military and civilian or national and social security. This argument is made in relation to two empirical sites: the police and the university. Arguing against the notion that either the police or the university have been “militarized,” the article provides a historical analysis of the ways in which these institutions have always already been implicated in martial politics – that is, of producing White social and economic order through war-like relations with Indigenous, racialized, disabled, poor and other communities. It concludes by assessing the political and scholarly opportunities that are opened up for feminists through the rejection of the concept of militarization in favor of the concept of martial politics.     

Can Carbon Nanomaterials Improve CZTS Photovoltaic Devices? Evaluation of Performance and Impacts Using Integrated Life‐Cycle Assessment and Decision Analysis

In emergent photovoltaics, nanoscale materials hold promise for optimizing device characteristics; however, the related impacts remain uncertain, resulting in challenges to decisions on strategic investment in technology innovation. We integrate multi‐criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and life‐cycle assessment (LCA) results (LCA‐MCDA) as a method of incorporating values of a hypothetical federal acquisition manager into the assessment of risks and benefits of emerging photovoltaic materials. Specifically, we compare adoption of copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) devices with molybdenum back contacts to alternative devices employing graphite or graphene instead of molybdenum. LCA impact results are interpreted alongside benefits of substitution including cost reductions and performance improvements through application of multi‐attribute utility theory. To assess the role of uncertainty we apply Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis. We find that graphene or graphite back contacts outperform molybdenum under most scenarios and assumptions. The use of decision analysis clarifies potential advantages of adopting graphite as a back contact while emphasizing the importance of mitigating conventional impacts of graphene production processes if graphene is used in emerging CZTS devices. Our research further demonstrates that a combination of LCA and MCDA increases the usability of LCA in assessing product sustainability. In particular, this approach identifies the most influential assumptions and data gaps in the analysis and the areas in which either engineering controls or further data collection may be necessary.