Archive for the ‘News & Updates’ Category
Blog: Prescription Drug Addiction: A Medical Condition, Not a Moral Failure |
| May 2nd, 2012 |
Huffington Post (4/30/12): Prescription drug abuse and addiction is prevalent in America yet it lurks in the shadows. We don’t like to talk about it because of the stigma associated with it. But if you are still reading this, you probably know someone close to you it has affected. This is an issue that is near and dear to me and my family. Both of my parents own pharmacies (my father’s is in Attleboro, Mass., and mother’s is in Plainville, Mass.). Both have had their share of robberies from persons suffering from drug addiction. In September 2010, there was a well publicized case of a 17-year-old boy found nearly comatose in the ceiling of Plainville Prescription Center. That is my mother’s store, and it wasn’t the first break-in she or my father has experienced. A few weeks ago, an old friend recently succumbed to a long fight with mental illness and she intentionally overdosed on pain killers — mental illness is a serious risk factor for drug abuse. Another person close to my family, who has long suffered from back pain, also became a victim to pain killers, which many people fall victim to. He is currently in residential rehab with the full support of his family. Prescription drug addiction affects men and women, young and old, employed and unemployed, and those suffering from mental illness and those who don’t. In short, no group is immune.
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| Posted in News & Updates |
CESAR FAX Illicit Buprenorphine Use Young Adults |
| May 2nd, 2012 |
CESAR Fax (5/2/12): While buprenorphine misuse has been reported in many states, most studies have focused on opioid-dependent individuals, heroin users, and/or those in treatment. For example, an Ohio study of treatment providers, law enforcement officials, and drug users recruited through treatment programs found evidence of increasing buprenorphine misuse. New research in Ohio now provides evidence of illicit use of buprenorphine among a population not previously studied—young adults not involved with heroin or injection drug use nor dependent on pharmaceutical opioids. To read more, click here |
| Posted in News & Updates |
Number of US Newborns With Drug Withdrawal Triples |
| May 1st, 2012 |
Associated Press (4/30/12): Disturbing new research says the number of U.S. babies born with signs of opiate drug withdrawal has tripled in a decade because of a surge in pregnant women’s use of legal and illegal narcotics, including Vicodin, OxyContin and heroin, researchers say. It is the first national study of the problem. The number of newborns with withdrawal symptoms increased from a little more than 1 per 1,000 babies sent home from the hospital in 2000 to more than 3 per 1,000 in 2009, the study found. More than 13,000 U.S. infants were affected in 2009, the researchers estimated. To read more, click here. |
| Posted in News & Updates |
Use and Abuse of Alcohol and Illicit Drugs in US Adolescents |
| May 1st, 2012 |
Archives of General Psychiatry (April 2012): Alcohol and drug use is common in US adolescents, and the findings of this study indicate that most cases of abuse have their initial onset in this important period of development. Prevention and treatment efforts would benefit from careful attention to the correlates and risk factors that are specific to the stage of substance use in adolescents. The study found that by late adolescence, 78.2% of US adolescents had consumed alcohol, 47.1% had reached regular drinking levels defined by at least 12 drinks within a given year, and 15.1% met criteria for lifetime abuse. The opportunity to use illicit drugs was reported by 81.4% of the oldest adolescents, drug use by 42.5%, and drug abuse by 16.4%. The median age at onset was 14 years for alcohol abuse with or without dependence, 14 years for drug abuse with dependence, and 15 years for drug abuse without dependence. The associations observed by age, sex, and race/ethnicity often varied significantly by previous stage of use. To read more, click here. |
| Posted in News & Updates |
ASAM and ACOG Issue Joint Opinion on Opioids in Pregnancy |
| May 1st, 2012 |
ASAM (5/1/12): ASAM and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a joint opinion on opioid abuse, addiction and dependence during pregnancy. Developed by ACOG’s Committee on Underserved Women and ASAM’s Women’s Action Group, the joint opinion seeks to address the special treatment needs of pregnant women dependent on opioids. To read more, click here. |
| Posted in News & Updates |
ASAM Board Asks for Input on Membership Eligibility |
| May 1st, 2012 |
ASAM (5/1/12): Twice each year, the ASAM Board of Directors conducts business of the organization in person. This is in addition to several teleconferences each year. One of the live meetings takes place in the two days before our annual meeting. It opened the ASAM meeting two weeks ago with a strategic planning session focused on the potential directions ASAM can take in the coming years. One of the issues deals specifically with membership and the current eligibility requirements that only physicians can join. The Board discussed at great length the pros and cons of opening membership up to those other than physicians, and there are clearly arguments that can be made for both sides. Ultimately, the Board asked that ASAM staff prepare information that explores in greater depth the mechanisms that might be utilized to accomplish this task. The simplest approach, that of removing the eligibility criterion and changing nothing else, would leave ASAM a very different organization ultimately. To read more or learn how to give your input, click here. |
| Posted in News & Updates |
FDA Says Distributing Opioid Overdose Antidote Should be Considered to Curb Deaths |
| April 30th, 2012 |
Join Together (4/30/12): The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says distributing the opioid overdose antidote naloxone should be considered as a way to curb the increase in overdose deaths, Time reports. The FDA announced its position at a joint news conference with the National Office on Drug Control Policy and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week, to unveil the agencies’ plan to fight prescription drug misuse. To read more, click here. |
| Posted in News & Updates |
Funded wholly or in part by the federal Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant Fund (CFDA #93.959) as a project of the NC Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities & Substance Abuse Services.