Attorney General Calls Attention to Heroin Overdose Crisis

By Join Together Staff | March 11, 2014 | 3 Comments | Filed in Drugs, Government, Prevention & Treatment

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday called the increase in heroin overdoses “an urgent and growing public health crisis,” The Washington Post reports.

Holder, who spoke in a video message on the Justice Department’s website, said the government is encouraging emergency personnel to carry the overdose antidote naloxone. The government is also targeting violent drug traffickers who bring heroin into the United States, Holder stated. He noted the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has opened more than 4,500 heroin-related investigations since 2011.

“Confronting this crisis will require a combination of enforcement and treatment. The Justice Department is committed to both,” he said in the video.

Naloxone is becoming more widely available nationwide. California greatly expanded availability of the treatment as of January 1. Currently 17 states and the District of Columbia have adopted laws allowing family and friends of people who are addicted to heroin or prescription opioids to have the antidote.

The treatment, sold under the brand name Narcan, has been used for many years by paramedics and doctors in emergency rooms. It is administered by nasal spray. The medication blocks the ability of heroin or opioid painkillers to attach to brain cells. The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy says it is encouraging police departments to carry Narcan.

In his statement, Holder said the DEA is trying to reduce the supply of heroin “at all levels of the supply chain.” Officials are also working with law enforcement, physicians and others to increase prevention and treatment programs for heroin and prescription opioids. “It’s clear that opiate addiction is an urgent — and growing — public health crisis,” he said.

Substance Abuse Treatment Centers Report Problems With Insurance Coverage

By Join Together Staff | March 11, 2014 | Leave a comment | Filed in Addiction, Alcohol, Drugs, Government, Healthcare, Insurance, Legislation & Treatment

Substance abuse treatment providers say patients are having problems getting their care covered, even though such treatment is now considered an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act.

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act requires larger employer-based insurance plans to cover psychiatric illnesses and substance use disorders in the same way they do illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis. The law was passed in 2008 and went into effect for most plans in 2010.

USA Today reports as of January 1, the Affordable Care Act added mental health and substance abuse treatment to its list of essential health benefits that must be covered in individual and small business health insurance plans. Coverage of this treatment cannot be any more restrictive than medical coverage, the article notes.

“Many providers … report less days and more difficulty with reimbursement since the final rules were established,” Michael Walsh, CEO of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Professionals (NAATP), told the newspaper. He said many providers and insurers disagree “as to what the practical implementation of the rules should be and what should be covered.”

A survey by the NAATP shows 63 percent of denials for substance abuse treatment coverage since last July have involved disagreement over what qualifies as a medical necessity. “There’s a lot of confusion within the industry on how health care reform is going to be enforced,” said Nate Kasper, a Kansas treatment facility executive who heads the NAATP study.

Ben Brafman, CEO of Destination Hope treatment center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said that since the new essential benefits rule has been in effect, insurance companies have become more strict about what they will allow. In many cases where his center says patients need 30 days of in-patient treatment, insurance companies are only approving up to five days.

Americans’ Use of Cocaine Drops, While Marijuana Use Increases: Report

By Join Together Staff | March 11, 2014 | Leave a comment | Filed in Drugs

Americans’ cocaine use fell by about half from 2006 to 2010, while their use of marijuana jumped by more than 30 percent, a new report concludes.

The report, by the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, estimated Americans spent $100 billion annually on cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine between 2000 and 2010, according to HealthDay. During the decade studied, heroin use remained fairly stable. Use of methamphetamine increased sharply during the first half of the decade, and then decreased.

In 2000, Americans spent much more on cocaine than on marijuana, but that spending pattern had reversed by 2010, the article notes. The report does not cover the recent increases in heroin use, or the effects of laws in Colorado and Washington state that have legalized recreational use of marijuana.

“Our analysis shows that Americans likely spent more than one trillion dollars on cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine between 2000 and 2010,” lead researcher Beau Kilmer said in a news release. He noted the increase in marijuana use appears to be related to a rise in the number of people who said they use the drug every day or almost every day.

The figures for marijuana use come from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, while estimates for use of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine are largely based on information from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program (ADAM). The federal government recently stopped funding for ADAM, the researchers note. They say it will be much more difficult to track the abuse of these drugs in the future.

Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients Still Under Consideration in Some States

By Join Together Staff | March 11, 2014 | Leave a comment | Filed in Community Related, Drugs & Legislation

Legislators in a number of states are continuing to pursue measures that would deny welfare benefits to people who use illegal drugs, according to USA Today.

In December, a federal judge in Florida ruled the state’s drug-test requirement was unconstitutional. Florida’s law required welfare applicants to undergo mandatory drug testing. Judge Mary S. Scriven of the United States District Court in Orlando ruled the testing requirement violated the protection against unreasonable searches.

State legislators around the country are considering drug-testing bills they hope will withstand legal challenges, the article notes. Some measures would require written tests designed to spot people who abuse drugs, while others would deny benefits to people with recent drug convictions.

Alabama, Indiana and Mississippi are among the states where drug-testing measures have advanced in state legislatures with overwhelming majorities. Some legislators say they support drug testing to encourage people who use drugs, while on public assistance, to get help. Others say they want to save money, or to make sure tax dollars do not subsidize drug use.

“Some states have gotten smarter,” said Jason Williamson, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes drug-testing laws. “There are certainly ways that a state could formulate one of these programs that would make it very difficult to challenge.”

MARCH 11 v 2 TWELVE STEPPING WITH POWER IN THE PROVERB

Pride leads to disgrace,

but with humility comes wisdom.

STEP 1.  I admit that I am powerless over the effects of my separation or lack of fellowship with God, and that my life has become unmanageable.

Pride will never allow you to commit this step freely . It will be at the bottom of a dirty , smelly , awful pit where pride will loosen its grip and humility will begin to help you back up on your feet again . That is the way it was for me thirteen plus years ago . The Proverb is right , I was a disgrace to myself my family and the world. It does not matter who you are , we have to realize we don't know everything and NO we cannot control every situation and everyone in our lives to get what we want. Humility will find its way in even if it has to break you down to the point of desperation and losing it all ,that is where the real healing begins and that is when God can step in and take his rightful place in your life.

Jesus said I am , The truth ,The life , The way no one comes unto the Father except through me !

Daily Quote

"Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits." - Hannah More

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