Smokers Addicted to Stimulants Can Quit Smoking Without Impacting Treatment

By Join Together Staff | December 11, 2013 | 1 Comment | Filed in Drugs, Research, Tobacco & Treatment

A new study finds smokers who are addicted to methamphetamine or cocaine can stop smoking while they are being treated for their addiction to stimulants, without adversely impacting their addiction treatment.
A previous government study found 63 percent of people with a substance use disorder in the past year also reported current tobacco use. While tobacco use causes more deaths among patients in substance abuse treatment than the substance that brought them to treatment, most substance treatment programs do not address smoking cessation, according to the National Institutes of Health.
“Substance abuse treatment programs have historically been hesitant to incorporate concurrent smoking cessation therapies with standard drug addiction treatment because of the concern that patients would drop out of treatment entirely,” Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a news release. “However, treating their tobacco addiction may not only reduce the negative health consequences associated with smoking, but could also potentially improve substance use disorder treatment outcomes.”
The study included patients dependent on cocaine and/or methamphetamine who were in substance abuse treatment, ScienceBlog reports. Some patients were randomly assigned to also receive smoking cessation treatment, which included weekly counseling sessions and extended-release bupropion. Patients also received a nicotine inhaler and prizes meant to encourage smoking cessation.
The study found smoking cessation therapy significantly increased smoking quit rates, both during treatment and afterwards, without negatively impacting participation in treatment for stimulant addiction.
The results are published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
“These findings, coupled with past research, should reassure clinicians that providing smoking-cessation treatment in conjunction with treatment for other substance use disorders will be beneficial to their patients,” said study author Dr. Theresa Winhusen of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

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States With Stronger Alcohol Policies Have Lower Rates of Binge Drinking

By Join Together Staff | December 11, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Alcohol, Community Related, Legislation & Prevention

States with stronger alcohol control policies have lower rates of binge drinking than states with weaker policies, a new study concludes.
Researchers gave scores to states based on how they implemented 29 alcohol control policies, HealthDay reports. States that had higher policy scores were one-fourth as likely to have a binge drinking rate in the top 25 percent of states, compared with states with lower scores. Binge drinking rates were 33 percent higher in states in the bottom quarter than those in the top quarter of policy scores.
States with larger increases in policies had larger decreases in binge drinking over time, the study found. Binge drinking is responsible for more than half of the 80,000 alcohol-related deaths in the United States annually, the article notes. It is generally defined as having more than four to five alcoholic drinks in a two-hour period.
“If alcohol policies were a newly discovered gene, pill or vaccine, we’d be investing billions of dollars to bring them to market,” study senior author Dr. Tim Naimi, Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University Schools of Medicine and attending physician at Boston Medical Center, said in a news release.
The researchers report in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that alcohol policy scores varied by as much as threefold between states. “Unfortunately, most states have not taken advantage of these policies to help drinkers consume responsibly, and to protect innocent citizens from the devastating secondhand effects and economic costs from excessive drinking,” Naimi said.
While previous studies have investigated the effect of individual alcohol policies, the researchers said this is the first study to look at the effect of the overall alcohol policy environment.

Exposure to Alcohol Before Birth Linked to Social Skills Problems in Childhood
 

By Join Together Staff | December 12, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Alcohol, Mental Health, Parenting, Research & Youth

Children whose mothers drank during pregnancy are more likely to have problems with social skills, compared with their peers whose mothers did not drink while pregnant, according to a new study.

A mother’s drinking during pregnancy was also found to be associated with significant emotional and behavioral issues in their children, according to HealthDay.

The study, published in Child Neuropsychology, included 153 children ages 6 to 12. Of these children, 97 had a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The researchers evaluated the children’s thinking, as well as their emotional, social and behavioral development. They found children whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy had more social problems, even after their IQ was taken into account. They were less able to connect past experience with present actions, or understand why people do what they do. They received lower scores on tests of planning and organizational skills, attention and working memory.

Parents of children with prenatal alcohol exposure said the children showed more inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior. These children were more likely to have symptoms of depression.

The researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, said their findings indicate a great need for early detection and treatment of social problems in children that result from prenatal alcohol exposure. Intervening early is important, they said, because children’s developing brains have an ability to change and adapt as they learn.

HHS Provides $50 Million to Expand Treatment for Substance Use, Mental Health
 
By Join Together Staff | December 12, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Alcohol, Community Related, Drugs, Funding, Government, Mental Health & Treatment

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its plans to provide $50 million to expand treatment for substance use disorders and mental health. The funds will be used to hire staff, add services and employ team-based models of care.

The funds will go to approximately 200 community health centers, UPI reports.

“Most behavioral health conditions are treatable, yet too many Americans are not able to get needed treatment,” Health Resources and Services Administration Administrator Mary K. Wakefield said in a news release. “These new Affordable Care Act funds will expand the capacity of our network of community health centers to respond to the mental health needs in their communities.”

The president’s fiscal year 2014 budget also includes $130 million to help teachers recognize signs of mental illness in students and refer them to services, and to support innovative state-based programs to improve mental health outcomes for young people. It also provides funds to train 5,000 more mental health professionals.

The number of people seeking addiction treatment could double under the Affordable Care Act. Under the new law, four million people with drug and alcohol problems will become eligible for insurance coverage. How many new patients will seek addiction treatment will depend in part on how many states decide to expand their Medicaid programs.

Attorneys General of 28 States Urge FDA to Reassess Zohydro Approval
 
By Join Together Staff | December 12, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Advocacy, Government, Prescription Drugs & Prevention


The attorneys general from 28 states are asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reassess its decision to approve Zohydro ER (extended release), a pure form of the painkiller hydrocodone. Earlier this month, four U.S. senators told the FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg they disagree with the agency’s decision to approve the drug.

In a letter to Commissioner Hamburg, the attorneys general said they believe the approval of Zohydro ER “has the potential to exacerbate our nation’s prescription drug abuse epidemic because this drug will be the first hydrocodone-only opioid narcotic that is reportedly five to ten times more potent than traditional hydrocodone products, and it has no abuse-deterrent properties.”

The attorneys general said they hope the FDA either reconsiders its approval of the drug, or sets a rigorous timeline for Zohydro ER to be reformulated to be abuse-deterrent while working with other federal agencies to impose restrictions on how the drug can be marketed and prescribed.

The FDA approved Zohydro ER in October for patients with pain that requires daily, around-the-clock, long-term treatment that cannot be treated with other drugs. Drugs such as Vicodin contain a combination of hydrocodone and other painkillers such as acetaminophen, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

In December 2012, a panel of experts assembled by the FDA voted against recommending approval of Zohydro ER. The panel cited concerns over the potential for addiction.

Zohydro is designed to be released over time, and can be crushed and snorted by people seeking a strong, quick high. The opioid drug OxyContin has been reformulated to make it harder to crush or dissolve, but Zohydro does not include similar tamper-resistant features.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said in a news release, “Zohydro ER has the potential to exacerbate the prescription pill epidemic and given that abuse-deterrent properties are capable of being developed and required, the FDA’s decision to approve the drug doesn’t make sense.”

An Addict In Our Son’s Bedroom: Talking to Students

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