| We’re Failing in the Opioid Crisis. A New Study Shows a More Serious Approach Would Save Lives. |
VOX (08/23) - The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history — on track to kill more people over the next decade than currently live in entire American cities like Miami or Baltimore. A new study, published in the American Journal of Public Health on Thursday by Stanford researchers Allison Pitt, Keith Humphreys, and Margaret Brandeau, tries to parse out how America can reduce the death toll. Using a mathematical model, the study brings together research and expert opinions to calculate the epidemic’s death toll and how different policy ideas can stem the toll. Read more
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| Gaps in the Substance Use Disorder Treatment Referral Process: Provider Perceptions (Abstract) |
| JOURNAL OF ADDICTION MEDICINE (July/August 2018) - The demand for substance use disorder treatment is increasing, fueled by the opioid epidemic and the Affordable Care Act mandate to treat substance use disorders. The increased demand for treatment, however, is not being met by a corresponding increase in access to or availability of treatment. This report focuses specifically on the treatment referral process, which we have identified as 1 of the key barriers to timely and effective treatment. Read more |
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| Opioid Addiction Is a Full-on Public Health Crisis But the Senate Isn't Acting That Way (Opinion) |
| USA TODAY (08/30) - If this were any other public health crisis, decisive action would have been taken long ago. Three hundred and fifty of our sons, daughters, brothers, daughters, husbands, and wives are lost every day to alcohol and other drugs, including opioids. Read more |
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 | Why use SASSI screening questionnaires: |
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- Identifies SUD – even when someone is reluctant to self-disclose.
- Accurately identifies individuals likely to be abusing prescription medications.
- Screens for multiple levels of severity.
- Distinguishes likely SUD from other psychological disorders.
- Useful in developing treatment plans and goals.
- Available for adults, adolescents, and special populations.
TRAINING AVAILABLE - NAADAC CEUs |
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| Why You Shouldn’t Dismiss the Risk of Marijuana Addiction |
| VOX (08/20) - It is now widely accepted that marijuana is, at the very least, less dangerous than other recreational drugs. The typical line you’ll hear — I certainly do in my email inbox — is that “marijuana is harmless,” often meant as a justification for legalizing cannabis. Read more |
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| FDA Approved Psychedelic Magic Mushrooms Ingredient Psilocybin for Depression Trial |
| NEWSWEEK (08/23) - The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms for a drug trial for treatment-resistant depression. The agency gave the green light to Compass Pathways, a life sciences firm, to perform clinical trials using psilocybin. Occurring naturally in magic mushrooms, psilocybin is a hallucinogenic which can cause feelings of euphoria. Read more |
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| More Opioid Users Getting Treatment Since Medicaid Expansion |
| MEDICAL XPRESS (08/17) - The expansion of Medicaid that came along with the Affordable Care Act has made it easier for some opioid users to get treatment, new research suggests. In a study of nearly 12 million Medicaid patients, researchers found that while the number of prescriptions for opioid painkillers decreased slightly, prescriptions for buprenorphine (Buprenex), a drug to treat addiction, and naloxone (Narcan), which is used to reverse an opioid overdose, rose significantly. Read more |
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| Almost One in 20 U.S. Adults Now Use E-cigarettes |
REUTERS (08/27) - Roughly 10.8 million American adults are currently using e-cigarettes, and more than half of them are under 35 years old, a U.S. study suggests. One in three e-cigarette users are vaping daily, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Read more
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| Pregnant and Addicted to Heroin |
| THE ATLANTIC (08/24) - ...In California, from 2008 to 2015, the number of infants exposed to drugs via the placenta or through breast milk almost doubled, according to California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. But in the state, Child Protective Services, or CPS, can’t get involved when a woman is pregnant, even if she’s actively using drugs. Read more |
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| New Research: Ketamine Activates Opioid System to Treat Depression |
| EUREKALERT! (08/29) - A new study appearing online today from the American Journal of Psychiatry finds that ketamine's acute antidepressant effect requires opioid system activation, the first time that a receptor site has been shown in humans to be necessary for any antidepressant's mechanism of action. Read more |
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| Researchers Develop Potential Drugs to Help Curb Smoking |
| MEDICAL XPRESS (08/28) - Washington State University researchers have created more than a dozen candidate drugs with the potential to curb smokers' desire for nicotine by slowing how it is broken down in the body. The researchers hope the substances can help people reduce their consumption of tobacco, if not quit altogether. Read more |
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| Single-Step Nasal Spray Naloxone Easiest to Deliver According to New Research |
| EUREKALERT! (08/29) - Single-step nasal spray naloxone is the easiest to deliver, according to new research led by faculty at Binghamton University, State University at New York. Expanded access to naloxone, also known as Narcan®, has been identified as a key intervention for reducing opioid-related deaths. However, there is more than one way to administer it and it is unknown which method is most successful when administered by community members. Read more |
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| Marijuana Found in Breast Milk Up to Six Days After Use |
| MEDICAL XPRESS (08/27) - With the legalization of marijuana in several states, increased use for both medicinal and recreational purposes has been documented in pregnant and breastfeeding women. Although national organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that breastfeeding mothers do not use marijuana, there has been a lack of specific data to support health or neurodevelopmental concerns in infants as a result of exposure to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or other components of marijuana via breast milk. Read more |
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| Friends Who Are Former Smokers Are Key to Helping People with Serious Mental Illness Quit |
| PSYCHCENTRAL (08/24) - An estimated 53 percent of adults with serious mental illness (SMI) — including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder and major depression — smoke cigarettes, compared to only 18 percent of the general population. In fact, smoking is one of the primary reasons those with serious mental illness have a decreased life expectancy of up to 25 years. Read more |
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