Tag: Treatment

9/7/21--Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) legislation, Senate Bill 110, passed both the Assembly and the Senate on concurrence with bipartisan, unanimous votes. It will now head to the Senate for a concurrence vote, and then to the Governor’s desk, where it can be signed into law. Read

8/25/21--As part of the SDG3 good health and wellbeing initiative at Springer Nature, BioMed Central talks to Nora Volkow, research psychiatrist, scientist, and Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, on her views about the treatment of addictions. She argues that current laws and policies that criminalize and incarcerate people who use drugs are counter-productive, and exacerbate the current opioid overdose crisis and other addiction-related problems. Read

7/30/21--A Yale study entitled “Methadone Access for Opioid Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic Within the United States and Canada, that found Canadian clinics were faster than the U.S. to provide opioid treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the ethical tightrope researchers must walk when studying addiction while using deception in their research gathering. Read

7/8/21--In this article, the existing evidence as well as highlight opportunities for both clinicians and researchers to advance the integration of tailored approaches for postpartum women into personalized SUD medical and behavioral treatments are reviewed. Read

6/23/21--With less attention being paid to alcohol harm reduction for people experiencing severe alcohol use disorder (AUD), homelessness, and street-based illicit drinking, a pre-implementation mixed-methods study was conducted utilizing structured surveys and open-ended interviews to determine the feasibility of cannabis substitution. Data were collected from MAP organizational leaders, program participants, staff and managers across 6 MAPs in Canada. Results indicate that all three groups identified a need for additional supports for implementation including peer support, staff education, and counseling. Read

5/18/21--The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is distributing $3 billion in American Rescue Plan funding — the largest aggregate amount of funding to date for its mental health and substance use block grant programs. The Community Mental Health Services Block Grant (MHBG) Program and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant Program (SABG) will disperse $1.5 billion each to states and territories (with the latter also awarding money to a tribe). Read

5/10/21--A session at the recent Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit educated virtual attendees about the need for a “peace plan” between the different addiction treatment programs and the “many paths to recovery”. In this video, Robert Dupont, MD, Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc., Rockville, Maryland, discusses his recent session titled “Combining Medications With 12-Step Model Treatment” that he co-presented with Marvin D. Seppala, MD, of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Center City, Minnesota. Read

5/8/21--Over the past two decades, the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN), a program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), has expanded from the initial six Nodes to 16 Nodes, as a nationwide consortium of research scientists and treatment providers working together to improve care for substance use in the nation’s communities. Read

1/19/21--Oregon is embarking on a bold new direction in drug policy by decriminalizing low-level possession of illicit drugs and focusing instead on expanding drug treatment. Where drug use is rampant and adequate treatment services are rare. Yet, this program is deeply flawed. Although individuals will no longer face criminal charges and possible imprisonment for drug possession, they will also be given a pass to avoid entering treatment if they simply don’t want to. Read

12/31/20--The Linn County Attorney's Office is launching a marijuana diversion program starting January 1. First-time marijuana offenders will get the chance to walk away with a clean record. Offenders with a small amount of cannabis will get the opportunity to go through treatment and community service. When complete, their charge can be expunged. Read

12/21/20--According to a study examining the association of state implementation of medical and adult-use marijuana laws with opioid prescribing rates and spending among Medicaid enrollees, the potential of marijuana liberalization to reduce the use and consequences of prescription opioids among Medicaid enrollees deserves consideration during the policy discussions about marijuana reform and the opioid epidemic. Read

11/2/20--Despite three decades of intensive research, experts remain deeply divided over the efficacy — and ethics — of drug courts. Drug courts essentially offer a choice to defendants whose alleged crimes are deemed to have been the result of a substance use disorder. Proponents say these courts are both a compassionate alternative to incarceration and a more efficient form of justice, achieving lower crime and recidivism rates for less money than traditional criminal processes. Read

6/4/20--DBMR published a new research publication on “Global Legal Marijuana Market Size, Share, Growth, Industry Trends and Forecast to 2027" with 350+ pages and enriched with self-explained Tables and charts in presentable format. In the study, new evolving Market Size, Share, Statistics, Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities generated by targeting market associated stakeholders can be found. Read

5/1/20--There is concern that recreational marijuana legalization (RML) may lead to increased cannabis use disorder (CUD) among youth due to increased marijuana use. This study investigates whether adolescent substance use disorder treatment admissions for marijuana use increased in Colorado and Washington following RML. Read

3/15/18--Two landmark developments in medicine pave the way for quality medical care to address America's largest and most costly preventable health problem - unhealthy substance use and addiction involving all addictive substances. These changes are designed to increase the number of addiction medicine physician specialists who can provide direct patient care and consultation, teach other providers and thereby drive knowledge across health care, and help policymakers and the public understand and effectively respond to our current health crisis. Read

3/5/18--Individuals who report having resolved a problem with cannabis use appear to have done so at younger ages than those who resolved problems with alcohol or other drugs and were less likely to use any formal sources of assistance or support, report investigators from the Recovery Research Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Read

2/23/18--The Recover releases an all inclusive informational for those looking for drug treatment in Atlanta GA. According to the site, cocaine is the highest abused drug in the city, with marijuana being the next most abused substance. In a city with over 5 and a half million residents, the need for substance abuse treatments is necessary in curbing the epidemic of high school drop outs at 33% and 1,394 drug overdose deaths in Georgia in 2016, an alarming rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 residents. Read

1/31/18--Study drawing on data from the Netherlands is the first to show how admissions to treatment centres rise and fall in line with cannabis strength. Furthermore, it found that changes in demand for treatment typically lagged five to seven years behind changes to cannabis strength. Read

8/15/17--According to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York, while marijuana use amongst youth remains stable, youth admission to substance abuse treatment facilities has increased. As to why numbers are up, Miesha Marzell, assistant professor of social work at Binghamton University, says that it could be that people are seeing any kind of use as high-risk and want to make sure that, from a prevention standpoint, that they stay on top of it. Read

6/19/17--The first meeting of the Trump administration’s commission on opioids centered on a key topic: the American Health Care Act and proposed cuts to Medicaid within the bill. Though concerns about Medicaid cuts were at the forefront of discussions at the commission’s two-hour meeting, the nine-person panel also sounded off on evidence-based medicine, ways to increase first responders’ access to key drugs like naloxone, and how to make it easier for families to access resources if they’re coping with a relative’s addiction. Read

6/12/17--Evidence suggests that the number of people voluntarily seeking treatment for marijuana addiction is rising. The rise in voluntary admissions will likely surprise people who think marijuana is harmless and that, therefore, no one would seek treatment for it without legal pressure. But marijuana-addiction treatment will probably be more rather than less widely sought as legalization spreads. Read

5/8/17--More people are dying of drug oversees than any other non-natural cause. According to a Psychology Today article by New York Times best selling author Davis Sheff, currently most people who enter treatment are subjected to archaic care, some of which does more harm than good. Only about 10 percent of people who need treatment for drug-use disorders get any whatsoever. Of those who do, a majority enter programs with practices that would be considered barbaric if they were common in treatment systems for other diseases. Read

5/4/17--Scientific research since the mid-1970s shows that treatment can help many in the criminal justice system who use drugs change their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors toward drug use; avoid relapse; and successfully remove themselves from a life of substance use and crime. Treatment can be effective, whether voluntary or ordered by the court. Once in a treatment program, even those who are not motivated to change at first can eventually become engaged in a continuing treatment process. Read

3/27/17--The new clinic, High Society, is experimenting with a concept made possible by the growing legalization of marijuana: that pot, rather than being a gateway into drugs, could be a gateway out. A small but growing number of pain doctors and addiction specialists are overseeing the use of marijuana as a substitute for more potent and dangerous drugs. Read

10/23/16--It is important that publicly funded outpatient substance use disorder treatment facilities offer services free of charge; however, a substantial portion of US counties do not have any of these facilities. Furthermore, cross-sectional research has shown that such facilities are less likely to be located in counties with a greater percentage of Black residents. Read