Ethical Issues Surround Rise in Doctors’ Use of Urine Drug Testing to Prevent Abuse

By Join Together Staff | August 2, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Healthcare, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

As a growing number of doctors use urine drug tests in an effort to detect prescription drug abuse in their patients, they face ethical questions about the tests, according to The New York Times.
These questions include how accurate the tests are, what doctors should do with the results, and whether doctors are benefitting financially from the tests. This year, sales at diagnostic testing labs that offer urine drug tests are expected to reach $2 billion.
Urine tests indicate many pain patients are not taking their prescribed painkillers, or are taking substances not prescribed to them by a doctor. If patients are not taking a prescribed medication, it could mean they simply stopped using it, or it could mean they are selling it.
Dr. Roger Chou, who helped develop urine-screening guidelines for the American Pain Society, says that while he believes the tests are valuable, he is concerned doctors may use the results as an excuse to drop patients, instead of sending them to addiction treatment or other pain management programs.
There are two basic types of urine drug tests. A patient taking a qualitative test leaves a urine sample in a cup that is imbedded with strips designed to detect drugs such as opioids, cocaine, amphetamines and barbiturates. These tests have both high false-positive and false-negative rates, meaning they often indicate a drug is present when it is not, or they fail to detect a drug that is present in a person’s urine. The tests detect methadone but not oxycodone, the article notes.
Qualitative tests are being used in states that have passed laws requiring welfare recipients to undergo drug screening.
A more sophisticated and expensive urine drug test used in pain patients is called quantitative analysis. A patient can beat the test by taking their prescription medicine for a day or two, and selling the rest.

West Virginia County Creates Database to Track Children at Risk of Drug-Related Abuse

By Join Together Staff | August 1, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Community Related, Drugs & Legal

Law enforcement officers in one West Virginia county will start using a database this week to track children who may be at risk of drug-related abuse, according to the Associated Press.
Starting today, law enforcement officers in Putnam County can enter any drug-related cases in which a child’s safety could be compromised. The Drug Endangered Child Tracking System will allow officers to report cases in which they are suspicious of child endangerment, but do not have proof, such as when they find a pacifier or empty car seat in a vehicle that has been transformed into a mobile meth lab.
Until now, officers have had no formal way to share suspicions of child endangerment directly with child welfare workers in drug cases, the AP reports. “We just didn’t input the data to make a black-and-white document, and in law enforcement, if it’s not on paper, it didn’t happen,” said Putnam County Sheriff, Steve Deweese.
Child-welfare workers will be able to log into the system to search for cases. “Law enforcement does a great job of identifying kids — if they’re there. But sometimes, you may not know there are children involved,” Sara Whitney, an investigator in the Putnam County prosecutor’s office, told the AP. “A lot of these kids come and go from relatives or neighbors, and it may be that when law enforcement interacts with the parents, they are somewhere else.”
West Virginia State Police hope the tracking system eventually will be used throughout the state, the article notes.

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Product highlights: - Documentation venues and standard reports for all types of supervision - Be more productive with advanced sorting of group and individual supervision by type, date and time - Develop the supervisory requirements and framework for supervisors and supervisees - Easily attach supporting documents or outcome data to augment supervision sessions - Maintain supervision accountability and follow through with automated e-mails and alerts - Instant reports for clinical licensure requirements Eugene, OR - August 5, 2013 from 8am-4pm [ More Information ] Lynnwood, WA - August, 8, 2013 from 8am-4pm [ More Information ]  August 1, 2013 Understanding Ethics: It's More Than a Code NAADAC Annual Conference in Atlanta - October 11-15, 2013 The NAADAC Annual Conference, co-hosted by the Georgia Addiction Counselors Association and other partners, offers the education you need as professionals at the cutting-edge of prevention, treatment and recovery. One of the issues that faces professionals on a daily basis is the ethical challenge of being that part of such a life-changing vocation. The October 12th workshop session, The Ethical Self: Who Am I Now? will feature Anne Hatcher, EdD, CAC III, NCAC II, Professor Emeritus of Metropolitan State University Denver and Mita M Johnson, LPC, LMFT, ACS, AAMFT-approved Clinical Supervisor, LAC, MAC. This workshop will focus on understanding and evaluating the impact of life experience, personal growth and current circumstances on decisions related to ethical standards. Depending on the stage your career is at, ethical decisions or interpretations might differ. This session will help participants understanding of the intent of the code of ethics that guides our practice and the role experience and a greater understanding of the recovery process plays in decision-making. 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How Addiction Treatment Killed Cory Monteith | The Fix

How Addiction Treatment Killed Cory Monteith | The Fix

Methamphetamine Raises Risk of Death From Fungal Lung Infection: Mouse Study

By Join Together Staff | July 31, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Drugs & Research

Methamphetamine may raise the risk of dying from a fungal lung infection called cryptococcus, a new study in mice suggests.
The infection is caused by a fungus called Cryptococcus neoformans, which generally is harmless in healthy people, HealthDay reports. Methamphetamine can cause gaps in the blood-brain barrier, allowing the fungus to move from the lungs to the brain, where it can cause a deadly infection.
Researchers found injecting meth into mice that were infected with the fungus significantly increased the amount of the fungus in the lungs. Their disease progressed more quickly, and they died sooner, compared with mice infected with the fungus but not injected with meth. Nine days after they were infected with the fungus, all of the mice injected with meth had died, compared with half of the mice not given the drug.
The study is published in the journal mBio.

Investigation Uncovers Fraud by California Rehab Clinics

By Join Together Staff | July 31, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Alcohol, Community Related, Drugs, Government & Treatment

An investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and CNN has uncovered fraud by California rehab clinics that receive government funds to assist clients who are poor and addicted.
According to CNN, these clinics diagnose people with addictions they don’t have, so they can increase client rolls. The clinics recruit mentally ill residents from group homes to attend therapy sessions. They attract patients from the street through incentives of cash, food and cigarettes, and have them sign in for days they do not attend sessions. One clinic billed for clients who could not have attended sessions, either because they were in jail or dead.
The state’s Drug Medi-Cal program paid $94 million in the past two fiscal years to 56 Southern California clinics that CNN says showed signs of deceptive or questionable billing practices. This represents half of all public funding to the program. The findings come from a review of government records and interviews with counselors, patients and regulators.
Earlier this month, the California Department of Health Care Services announced an investigation of 16 substance abuse treatment centers for patients on Medi-Cal, the state’s insurance plan for people on welfare and other low-income residents. The centers are suspected of fraud and hiring providers who have felonies on their records.
According to the department, the clinics billed Medi-Cal for services that were not medically necessary, and charged for services they did not offer. The department is also investigating whether workers hired some employees who had been convicted of neglecting and abusing patients at other health centers. The centers will remain open, but will not be receiving funds from Medi-Cal during the investigation.