MEDLINE/PubMed Search Strategies: Illicit Drugs

The biomedical literature concerning alcohol is huge, but the National Library of Medicine's system of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a valuable tool for creating useful searches. Here are a few useful MeSH (there are many more; use PubMed's MeSH Database to find them):

heroin

heroin dependence

cocaine

crack cocaine

cocaine-related disorders

methamphetamine

substance-related disorders [Note: This is a broad heading that encompasses many specific substance-related disorders, such as alcohol-related disorders, cocaine-related disorders, etc. Look at the "tree-structure" on the bottom of the substance-related disorders page.]

social problems

Here is a pre-formulated search concerning methamphetamine [MeSH] AND San Francisco [MeSH].

Here is a preformulated search for "Substance-Related Disorders/prevention and control"[MeSH] AND "Cost-Benefit Analysis"[MeSH]

Illicit Drugs

Overview

Contribution to overall disease burden in SF

Downstream (health consequences)

Upstream causes

What can be done?

Web resources

MEDLINE strategies

Updated June 25, 2005 • Please send feedback: brian.s.katcher@sfdph.org

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