The Changing Face of Heroin Use in the United States JAMA Psychiatry Over the past several years, there have been a number of mainstream media reports that the abuse of heroin has migrated from low-income urban areas with large minority populations to more affluent suburban and rural areas with primarily white populations. This retrospective analysis examines the veracity of these anecdotal reports...
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Problems with the Medicalization of Marijuana Journal of the American Medical Association Both the number of states and the number of approved indications for medical marijuana are expected to increase. Physicians will bear the responsibility of prescribing marijuana and thus have an obligation to understand the issues involved in its “medicalization.”
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The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequence Community Oriented Correctional Health Services This report looks at the costs and benefits of the nation’s current sentencing and incarceration policies and how alternatives may achieve similar public safety benefits at lower financial and social costs.
Addiction Science & Clinical Practice provides a forum for clinically relevant research and perspectives that contribute to improving the quality of care for people with unhealthy alcohol, tobacco, or other drug use and addictive behaviours across a spectrum of clinical settings. Visit www.ascpjournal.org.
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ABHW Launches ‘Stamp Out Stigma’ Initiative Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness Stamp Out Stigma is a campaign spearheaded by ABHW and some of its member companies to reduce the stigma surrounding substance use disorders and mental illness. It is the goal of Stamp Out Stigma to reach more than 1,000,000 people in 2014 to change perceptions and reduce the stigma of substance use disorders and mental illness by encouraging people to talk about them. Through the website and active social media platforms, people will be encouraged to take the pledge and share their own personal stories.
What Every Woman Needs to Know About Hepatitis B and C Womenshealth.gov As we observe Hepatitis Awareness Month, it is the opportune time to raise awareness about hepatitis B and hepatitis C among women. Chronic viral hepatitis affects 3.5–5.3 million Americans — including millions of women...
The Baby Boomers and Substance Use: Are We Prepared? Journal of Addiction Nursing In 2012, current illicit drug use (use in the past 30 days) increased in the 50- to 64-year age group. The biggest increase from 2002 to 2012 was among those aged 50 to 54 years (from 3.4% to 7.2%; SAMHSA, 2013). The most frequently used illicit substance was marijuana (4.6%) followed by prescription psychoactive therapeutics (2.9%; SAMHSA, 2013). There is a similar upward trend in at-risk alcohol use in the 50- to 64-year age group...
A New Target for Alcoholism Treatment: Kappa Opioid Receptors Elsevier A growing body of research in animals implicates the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) in alcoholism. Stimulation of the KOR, which occurs with alcohol intake, is thought to produce unpleasant and aversive effects. This receptor is hypothesized to play a role in alcohol dependence, at least in part, by promoting negative reinforcement processes...
Pharmacological Interventions to Modulate Attentional Bias in Addiction CNS Spectrums This review describes pharmacological mechanisms underlying attentional bias in humans and reviews empirical studies that aim to modulate attentional bias in substance-dependent patients by using pharmacological agents. The findings of the reviewed studies suggest that attentional bias and related brain activation may be modulated by dopamine.
Ohio’s New Rules for Opioid Maintenance Treatment Lexology Under the State Medical Board of Ohio’s proposed administrative rules, before a physician can provide office based opioid maintenance treatment to a patient, the physician must complete and document a history and physical; perform a mental status exam; document a substance use history; and conduct appropriate lab tests, including but not limited to a pregnancy test for women of childbearing years, toxicology tests for drugs and alcohol, and screens for Hepatitis B and C. Thereafter, the physician must adhere to further requirements...
Smoking Cessation and Alcohol Abstinence: What Do the Data Tell Us? NIAAA Despite the fact that 60 to 75 percent of patients in alcoholism treatment are tobacco dependent and about 40 to 50 percent are heavy smokers (Hughes 1995), treatment for tobacco dependence is not routinely included in alcohol treatment programs. Smoking cessation treatment (as well as bans on smoking) during the course of treatment for alcohol dependence has been avoided largely out of concern that concurrently addressing both addictions (or restricting smoking during treatment for alcoholism) poses too great a difficulty for the patient and would adversely affect recovery from alcoholism.
California Counties Sue Five Drug Manufacturers L.A. Times Two California counties (Orange and Santa Clara) filed lawsuits against “five of the world’s largest opiate medication manufacturers,” alleging the companies were behind “the nation’s prescription drug epidemic by waging a ‘campaign of deception,’” with the aim of expanding “sales of potent painkillers such as OxyContin.” The lawsuit claims the makers of the medications “violated California laws against false advertising, unfair business practices and creating a public nuisance.” The companies named in the lawsuit include Actavis, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ Cephalon Inc.
In Vivo Imaging of Cerebral Dopamine D3 Receptors in Alcoholism Neuropsychopharmacology Animal studies support the role of the dopamine D3 receptor (DRD3) in alcohol reinforcement or liking. Sustained voluntary alcohol drinking in rats has been associated with an upregulation of striatal DRD3 gene expression and selective blockade of DRD3 reduces ethanol preference, consumption, and cue-induced reinstatement. In this study, DRD3 status was assessed for the first time in human alcohol addiction...
Zohydro, Pain Management and Addiction ASAM In the May 29 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, ASAM member Yngvild Olsen, MD, MPH penned an article on the challenges surrounding the FDA’s contentious approval of Zohydro. Dr. Olsen remarks on the backlash to the FDA’s decision, from state to grassroots levels. She explains how the response to the Zohydro approval has highlighted the complex intersection between pain and addiction and how they will “remain significant and interconnected clinical and public health challenges for the foreseeable future.”
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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.