Amphetamine

• Complemented by the detection of cocaine, opioids, PCP, and amphetamines, the advanced panel is a leap forward in drug screening technology.
• Traditional 5-panel drug tests, rooted in a four-decade-old paradigm, have failed to evolve in today’s drug market and are unable to detect the rising drug, fentanyl.
• The Advanced 5-Panel Drug Screen epitomizes this legacy, offering clients a cost-effective choice to adapt their testing protocols in sync with evolving priorities and employment policies.
• The Advanced 5-Panel Drug Screen is crafted to focus exclusively on these critical threats, ensuring the highest level of security for organizations.

• That’s been the holy grail of weight-loss ever since 19th century English undertaker and weight-loss celebrity William Banting’s 1863 Letter on Corpulence spruiked his “miraculous” method of slimming down.
• Since then, humans have tried many things – diet, exercise, psychotherapy, surgery – to lose weight.
• But time and again we return to the promise of a weight-loss drug, whether it’s a pill, injection, or tonic.

Ozempic is a recent arrival

• Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy, both manufactured by Novo Nordisk, are the latest offerings in a long history of drug treatments for people who are overweight.
• This has helped drive a shortage of Ozempic for diabetes treatment.

From ‘gland treatment’ to amphetamines

• For example, organotherapy (gland treatment) was hugely popular in the 1920s to 1940s.
• Doctors prescribed overweight people extracts of animal glands – either eaten raw or dried in pill form or injected – to treat their supposedly “sluggish glands”.
• Amphetamines were first used as a nasal decongestant in the 1930s, but quickly found a market for weight-loss.
• Amphetamines too, fell from treatment use in the 1970s with Nixon’s “war on drugs” and recognition they were addictive.

Another decade, another drug

• For example, the popular diet drug of the 1980s and 90s was fen-phen, which contained appetite suppressants fenfluramine and phentermine.
• And as history recognises, multiple complexities can combine to push a drug into popularity or damn it to history’s rubbish bin.
• One noticeable contrast with past diet drug experiences is that now, many people are happy to talk about using Ozempic.
• It seems to be increasingly socially acceptable to use a drug to achieve weight-loss for primarily aesthetic reasons.

Our enduring search for weight-loss drugs

• Ozempic is predicted to earn Novo Nordisk US$12.5 billion this year alone, but it’s not just industry interests stoking this enduring desire for weight-loss drugs.
• Patients on an endless cycle of dieting and exercise want something more convenient, with a more certain outcome.
• It is no wonder demand for weight-loss drugs continues to soar.

• Drug-related deaths associated with stimulants, such as cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamine and methylphenidate, doubled between 2011 and 2021.
• And deaths associated with using both stimulants and opioids, such as heroin, morphine, fentanyl and methadone, increased by about sevenfold over the same period.
• Cocaine and methamphetamine are stimulant drugs, whereas opioids, such as heroin and methadone, are depressants.
• Taken together, it can be seen that there may be a worldwide increase in polydrug-related deaths and in particular those involving both stimulants and opioids.

• "Our health system and social system have reached a breaking point," says Dr. David Gratzer, CAMH psychiatrist and co-chief of the General Adult Psychiatry and Health Systems Division.
• "A rise in methamphetamine and increased drug usage are further complicating the crisis," says Dr. Leslie Buckley, CAMH's Chief of Addictions.
• "We know that safe and affordable housing is crucial for mental wellness, as mental health, addiction, poverty and housing are inextricably linked to one another."
• CAMH is proposing Toronto mayoral candidates commit to supporting evidence-informed solutions that target serious mental illness and substance use disorders and can make an immediate impact.