Mentally Ill People with
Substance Use Disorders Not Most Likely to Use ER: Study
A new study dispels the myth that the most frequent users of
hospital emergency rooms are people with mental illness and substance use
disorders. This population accounts for only a small percentage of visits, the
researchers found. The study looked at emergency room visits made by more than
212,000 Medicaid patients in New York City since 2007, HealthDay reports. The
researchers found patients who frequently use the ER tend to have multiple
chronic health conditions and many hospitalizations.
There is evidence for
effective alcohol policy – why isn't it taken seriously?
100,000 years of working life in England and Wales are lost
because of alcohol. It doesn't have to be this way. Click
here to continue reading.
Why MDs Abuse Prescription
Drugs
Doctors who report they abuse prescription drugs cite
self-medication to help manage physical pain and emotional problems as the
number 1 reason for this habit, new research shows. In the study,
substance-impaired doctors participated anonymously in guided group discussions
as part of a monitored state physician health program (PHP). In addition to
helping manage physical and emotional pain, physicians also cited stress,
recreational use, and withdrawal prevention as the main reasons for abusing
prescription medications. Click
here to continue reading.
If You Haven't Heard Of
DMT Yet, You Might Soon
Drug researchers have found evidence that a hallucinogenic
compound used in shamanic rituals in the Amazon is growing in popularity.
Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), the active ingredient in ayahuasca, a plant-based
mixture, can also be used by itself, often by smoking it. Rest of
this story is here.
Physician Group Recommends
Steps to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse
The American College of Physicians (ACP), one of the
nation’s largest medical groups, has released a set of recommendations about
how doctors can help reduce prescription drug abuse. The group made 10
recommendations, including forming a national prescription drug monitoring
program so prescribers and pharmacists can check in their own and neighboring
states before writing and filling prescriptions for substances with high abuse
potential. Currently many states have drug monitoring programs. ACP also calls
for increasing education programs for doctors and patients about prescription
drug abuse, and promoting written agreements between doctors and patients being
treated for pain. These agreements often describe the treatment, prohibited
behaviors, responsibilities of the patient, and points when the treatment will
be terminated. CBS News reports the group recommends that doctors should
prescribe controlled substances electronically, instead of on paper, to
decrease the chance they will be diverted. Doctors should first consider
non-opioid treatment for pain, according to the ACP. The group does not
recommend a maximum dosage or treatment time limit. The recommendations are
published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Many PG-13 Movies Have
Violent Characters Who Drink, Smoke and Have Sex
An analysis of almost 400 top-grossing movies from 1985 to
2010 shows about 90 percent included at least one moment of violence involving
a main character. In 77 percent of those movies, the main character also smoked
tobacco or drank alcohol or engaged in sexual behavior, HealthDay reports. More
than half of the most popular movies rated PG-13 featured a main character who
acted violently and involved either drinking, smoking or sexual behavior within
a five-minute segment, the researchers found. The study found almost no
difference between the most popular PG-13 movies and R-rated movies in
depicting main characters who engaged in violent and alcohol use, or violence
and sexual behavior.
The study appears in the journal Pediatrics.
Why Are Millions Addicted
To A Drug That Eats The Flesh Off Their Bones?
Codeine, gasoline, paint thinner, hydrochloric acid, iodine
and red phosphorous from matchstick heads. Those are typical ingredients in the
street drug known as krokodil, a highly addictive toxic cocktail that’s three
times as cheap to produce as heroin and could be becoming an international
problem. Please
click here to read on.
Research: Individual
alcohol policies can reduce risky drinking
According to a new study, a novel composite measure
consisting of 29 alcohol policies demonstrates that a strong alcohol policy
environment is a protective factor against binge drinking in the U.S. The study
was led by researchers at the Boston University Schools of Medicine (BUSM) and
Public Health and Boston Medical Center (BMC), and is published in the current
issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. To
continue, please click here.
HHS Provides $50 Million to
Expand Treatment for Substance Use, Mental Health
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
announced its plans to provide $50 million to expand treatment for substance
use disorders and mental health. The funds will be used to hire staff, add
services and employ team-based models of care. The funds will go to
approximately 200 community health centers, UPI reports. The president’s fiscal
year 2014 budget also includes $130 million to help teachers recognize signs of
mental illness in students and refer them to services, and to support
innovative state-based programs to improve mental health outcomes for young
people. It also provides funds to train 5,000 more mental health professionals.
The number of people seeking addiction treatment could double under the
Affordable Care Act. Under the new law, four million people with drug and
alcohol problems will become eligible for insurance coverage. How many new
patients will seek addiction treatment will depend in part on how many states
decide to expand their Medicaid programs.
The financial realities of
living with an addict
For David Sheff, there is nothing worse than the sheer
terror of witnessing your own child slip away into a life of drug abuse. The
San Francisco writer felt helpless as his son Nic became addicted to substances
like methamphetamine and heroin over the course of a decade, beginning in 1997
when Nic was around 15. Nic eventually triumphed, and has now been clean for
more than five years, to his parents' great joy and relief. But his lengthy
struggles with addiction had another long-term victim: Their family budget.
"Credit cards would disappear, checks would disappear, stuff would go
missing," remembers Sheff, who wrote the 2008 book "Beautiful
Boy" about his family's experiences. "Eventually he even broke into
his little brother's piggy bank; that's how bad it got," he said in an
interview. "Then he would disappear, and we would be terrified for him,
and just send more money," he says. "I did that until someone told me
that sending money to a drug addict is like giving a loaded gun to someone who
is suicidal."
Rest of this story is here.
N.J. Assembly committee
votes to expand medical marijuana program again
A state Assembly committee today (12/12/13) voted to give
flexibility to New Jersey's registered medical marijuana patients by allowing
them to buy the drug in another state and use it here. The bill (A-4537)
received a brief hearing before it sailed through the Assembly Health Committee
at the Statehouse by a vote of 7-4. But its long-term prospects may be in
doubt. Gov. Chris Christie has stated he is "done expanding the medical
marijuana program under any circumstances" when asked what would happen if
the bill reached his desk. The bill would allow patients enrolled in the
state's program to possess medical marijuana legally obtained from another
state program. Patients registered with another state program also be allowed
to use their medicine here, according to the bill. New Jersey patients would
have to buy a form of marijuana that conforms to the state's parameters, and
would not be allowed to exceed the dose recommended by their doctor. Please
click here to continue reading.
Gov. Walker signs 'Brown
Jug Bill' into law
Getting busted for underage drinking in Wisconsin just got a
bit more expensive. A measure known as the Brown Jug Bill was signed into law
Thursday by Gov. Scott Walker, giving bar owners and other establishments that
sell alcoholic beverages the ability to report underage drinkers to the police
and then take them to court. The underage drinker would then be required to pay
the business owner $1,000 if found guilty. The fine would be in addition to the
$250 to $1,000 underage drinking fine an individual would receive from law
enforcement. Rest
of the story is here.
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