E-Cigarettes, Vaping, Hookahs and Patients Richard G. Soper, MD, JD, MS, FASAM, DABAM, Editor-in-Chief
Since the introduction of electronic cigarettes (dubbed “electronic nicotine delivery systems” or “ENDS” by the World Health Organization) in 2003 to the world marketplace, their use has exploded. Currently, ENDS have a significant portion of the market...
Powder and Crack Cocaine Use Among Opioid Users: Is All Cocaine the Same? Journal of Addiction Medicine (free ASAM member resource) Problematic cocaine use is highly prevalent and is a significant public health concern. However, few investigations have distinguished between the two formulations of cocaine (ie, powder and crack cocaine) when examining the characteristics of cocaine use. Moreover, research has yet to assess the patterns of powder and crack cocaine use among opioid users....
Graduate Medical Education That Meets the Nation's Health Needs Institute of Medicine The Institute of Medicine (IOM) formed an expert committee to conduct an independent review of the governance and financing of the graduate medical education (GME) system. The 21-member IOM committee concludes that there is an unquestionable imperative to assess and optimize the effectiveness of the public’s investment....
Advocates Claim HIV, Chronic Disease Patients Discriminated Against by Some Health Plans Businessweek Before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could refuse to cover people with HIV or other costly conditions. Obamacare was supposed to end that by making insurers sell policies to all comers, regardless of preexisting conditions. Now advocates for HIV patients and others with chronic diseases say some health plans are making them bear a huge cost for life-saving medications—and that the strategy’s a backdoor method of discriminating against sick people.
NAADAC Institute Call for Webinar Presentations NAADAC Development of the 2015 NAADAC Institute Webinar Series is underway and inviting collaborations! The Webinar Series is wildly successful, with over 45,000 professionals trained so far. Subject-matter experts on topics relevant to addiction professionals are encouraged to complete the online Call for Webinar Presentations for a chance to present on a nationally-broadcasted webinar.
Effects of Cannabis on Cognition in Patients with MS Neurology In a cross-sectional study, 20 subjects with MS who smoked cannabis and 19 noncannabis users with MS, matched on demographic and neurologic variables, underwent fMRI while completing a test of working memory, the N-Back. Resting-state fMRI and structural MRI data (lesion and normal-appearing brain tissue volumes, diffusion tensor imaging metrics) were also collected. The cannabis group performed more poorly on some of the more demanding tasks...
Little Filtered Cigar, Cigarillo, and Premium Cigar Smoking Among Adults — United States, 2012–2013 CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report In the United States, cigarette consumption declined during 2000–2011; however, consumption of cigars more than doubled during the same period. The cigar market includes diverse product types manufactured with a variety of shapes and sizes, filters, tips, flavors, and prices. Although national estimates of cigar consumption have been reported previously, data characterizing who smokes different cigar types are limited. A recent analysis from the 2012–2013 National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATS) found that more than one in 20 U.S. adults smoke cigars "every day," "someday," or "rarely.”
Neural Correlates of Sexual Cue Reactivity in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviors PLOS One Although compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) has been conceptualized as a “behavioral” addiction and common or overlapping neural circuits may govern the processing of natural and drug rewards, little is known regarding the responses to sexually explicit materials in individuals with and without CSB. Here, the processing of cues of varying sexual content was assessed in individuals with and without CSB, focusing on neural regions identified in prior studies of drug-cue reactivity.
Screening and Brief Intervention for Drug Use in Primary Care Journal of the American Medical Association The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of 2 brief counseling interventions for unhealthy drug use (any illicit drug use or prescription drug misuse)—a brief negotiated interview (BNI) and an adaptation of motivational interviewing (MOTIV)—compared with no brief intervention...
Ankle Tags to Monitor Offenders' Alcohol Consumption BBC Repeat offenders convicted of alcohol-related crimes will be forced to wear ankle tags that monitor their drinking, under a new pilot scheme. The mandatory tags record levels of alcohol in the sweat every 30 minutes. The 12-month trial in four London boroughs - Croydon, Lambeth, Southwark and Sutton - gives courts the ability to ban people from drinking alcohol.
Research on Psychiatric Disorders Targets Inflammation Journal of the American Medical Association “Psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders are being thought of more and more as systemic illnesses in which inflammation is involved...” The cause of increased inflammation in these conditions isn’t always clear, but it has become a hot topic of investigation.
Mothers Find a Helping Hand in Sobriety Coaches The New York Times Once consigned to Hollywood entourages to keep celebrities on the straight and narrow (and out of rehab), sobriety coaches, also known as sober companions and recovery therapists, are being hired by well‑heeled mothers from the Upper East Side to the beachfront homes of Boca Raton, Florida.
Senator Markey Introduces TREAT Act: Legislation Would Lift Buprenorphine Prescribing Cap ASAM On July 23, MA Senator Edward Markey introduced The Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act (TREAT Act). This bill, cosponsored by 4 other Senators, would lift the buprenorphine prescribing limit for addiction physician specialists and non-specialist providers that satisfy additional training requirements and practice in qualified treatment settings. ASAM is joined by a number of organizations, including the AMA, Trust for America’s Health and the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, in supporting this bill.
Richard G. Soper, MD, JD, MS, FASAM, Editor-in-Chief, ASAM Weekly
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The views and positions of any content published in ASAM Weekly are not necessarily endorsed by ASAM nor a reflection of ASAM's beliefs and policies. The features are presented as a summary of the contemporary issues being represented and expressed in scientific, governmental, commercial, and media sources across the specialty field of addiction medicine. Contact ASAM Weekly with any comments or feedback.