Substance Dependence

This study is testing whether brain activity related to learning can help predict how well teens respond to a treatment program designed to reduce cannabis use. Teens ages 14-17 will complete a brain scan and then take part in 10 weekly virtual sessions where they report cannabis use and complete drug tests at home. Participants can earn prizes for staying cannabis-free.

In addition to the well-known toxicological harms of intravenous drug (IVD) use, there can also be local tissue complications, including infections, venous sclerosis, tissue necrosis, and drug needle fragment retentions. Drug needle fragments in subcutaneous tissue may cause local symptoms (usually pain and infections), but they have also been identified as causing emboli to organs. The literature has described numerous case reports of people who inject drugs (PWIDs) and have retained needle fragments. The prevalence of the condition is not known, and the researchers therefore aim to perform the first cross-sectional study of PWIDs to estimate how common needle fragment retentions are and what their risk factors are in this population.