NCADD's Weekly Addiction News & Policy Update - Week ending February 20, 2015

Addiction Campuses hits enabling behaviors head-on
The Addiction Campuses treatment organization has released a hard-hitting infographic that takes a direct attack on what it calls the number one cause of death in addiction: enabling.  Please click here to continue reading.

Counselor education embracing broader base of learning
The addiction treatment community increasingly acknowledges the many diverse paths to illness and recovery, but is the academic world keeping up in the way it educates and trains the clinicians of the future?   Please click here to continue reading.  Â

New York college students perceive minimal harms from marijuana
A survey of New York college students indicates that these young adults generally see marijuana as less harmful than alcohol, and that they overwhelmingly support its legalization. Please click here to continue reading.

Happy Hour Whenever You Want It
Like many New Yorkers, Jay Reno likes to meet up with friends after work for a few drinks. But Reno - like the 92 percent of U.S. full-time workers who put in 40-plus hours a week - found that his late work hours meant he was missing out on happy hour deals. So he helped create an app, Happy Any Hour, a sort of happy-hour-on-demand option for drinking in NYC. Click here for more. .

Addicts Quit with Paid Work and Near-Daily Drug Tests

Drug addicts often have trouble holding down a job. Yet many experts believe that having a steady income is key to helping addicts quit. To that end, psychiatrist Kenneth Silverman of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and his colleagues created "therapeutic workplaces." The technique features frequent drug tests, unlimited second chances and cash bonuses to addicts who keep clean. Research in recent years has suggested that Silverman has indeed homed in on a winning strategy. Click here to read more. .

Where Are the Mental-Health Providers? As more patients seek help, advocates scramble to expand providers' ranks
Millions of Americans with mental illness are hearing a loud and clear message: Get help. There's still one question: Who is going to treat them? Please click here to continue reading.

How pot gives people the munchies

Greasy burgers, oily pizza, raw cookie dough -- anything's fair game for someone with the munchies, the insatiable hunger that strikes marijuana users. Now scientists have identified a surprising new brain circuit behind those pot-fueled snack attacks.The munchies are triggered in part by brain cells that normally turn down appetite, according to a new study in this week's Nature. Under the influence of pot, these circuits switch from signaling "Don't eat" to "Eat!" even if the body doesn't need any food. Continue reading here.

The Sham Of Drug Testing For Benefits: Walker, Scott And Political Pandering

Faux tough guys Scott Walker and Rick Scott bluster with bravado about being tough on crime and on drugs. Who benefits from drug testing, besides them and their cronies? Walker, who can't decide his position on evolution, comes down strongly against the science on the issue of drug testing, having just proposed it as a condition for receiving public benefits, such as food stamps, and even unemployment benefits.T continue reading please click here.

Same-Day Delivery Resurges, Adding Alcohol
There are many bodies in the delivery graveyard. Webvan, Kozmo and Urbanfetch were all seen as the next big thing before crashing spectacularly. But same-day delivery is making a comeback, with large Internet players like Amazon and eBay entering the mix. And in that resurgence are small start-ups focused on a niche product: alcohol. Click here to continue reading.

The Terrifying Faces of Alcohol Inhalation

In a 2006 video demonstrating AWOL (Alcohol Without Liquid), a machine that mixes ethanol with oxygen and delivers the resulting mist through a tube, a British guy sucking on "The Ultimate Party Tool" exclaims, "In 10 years' time, I can see everybody doing this." Although AWOL still has another year to catch on, by now it is fair to say that prediction was overly optimistic. Click here to continue reading.

Methamphetamine May be More Harmful to Teen Brains
Long-term use of methamphetamine causes more brain damage in teens than adults, a new study finds. Researchers conducted MRI brain scans of 51 teen and 54 adult chronic methamphetamine abusers. They compared those scans to those of 60 teens and 60 adults who didn't use the drug. The study participants were all from South Korea. Click here to continue reading.

Should We Say Goodbye to Addiction Treatment Graduations - or Rebrand?

If they really told you what it was going to be like when you went in, you'd never go to rehab because ninety percent of what you drank over is still there with you when you get home - the issues that caused you to drink are still there. You go home, and your family is waiting for you to be fixed, and you have twenty more questions than you had." This is what one articulate woman told me of her first experience at a high-end residential rehab. Click here to continue reading.

Our latest weekly Addiction News & Policy Update is here! - Ending February 13, 2015

Does drinking alcohol-even heavily-protect against ALS?
Everyone knows that ALS is a very bad disease, an awareness underscored by the recent Ice Bucket Challenge. The death of neurons that results in paralysis can be caused by specific genetic mutations.  But in most cases, single genes are not the culprit. So researchers have looked for other risk factors that might play a role.  Please click here to continue reading.

Resveratrol Found In Red Wine May Help Prevent Memory Loss, Study Says
A compound found in foods including red wine, grapes, and peanuts may help prevent age-related memory loss, according to new research published by a faculty member in the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.   Please click here to continue reading.

Self-serve beer, wine on tap in Michigan?
Possibly coming soon to a bar or restaurant near you: tableside devices so customers can tap their own drinks such as wine, or a "wall of beer" where they can draw a favorite amber or stout from a row of self-serve spigots. Please click here to continue reading.

Medical Marijuana Use For Children With Developmental Disorders May Do More Harm Than Good

As medical marijuana becomes increasingly more accepted and researched, it is beginning to seem that there is no limit to what this miracle drug can be used for. But are we going too far when this use extends to our children and adolescents? Previously in late January, The American Academy of Pediatrics called for a rescheduling of the drug in order to research its possible benefits for children suffering from various types of cancer. Now, there is a movement to test the drug's possible use for children with developmental and behavioral problems, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Please click here to read more.

U.S. schools turn to new programs to warn teens of drug risks
The desperate cry of a mother finding her 17-year-old son dead from a painkiller and another prescription drug instantly silences hundreds of Pennsylvania high school students who listen to her 911 call played at an early morning assembly. Click here to continue reading.

Do Social Media Encourage Drinking?
New research suggests the more a Facebook user views shares or comments in alcohol-related pages, the more likely that person will consider drinking alcohol. The findings come from a Michigan State University study which asked more than 400 participants their feelings after they encountered and responded to alcohol-related Facebook items.   Please click here to continue reading.

Federal Government Set To Crack Down On Drug Courts That Fail Addicts

The federal government is cracking down on drug courts that refuse to let opioid addicts access medical treatments such as Suboxone, said Michael Botticelli, acting director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, on Thursday. Drug courts that receive federal dollars will no longer be allowed to ban the kinds of medication-assisted treatments that doctors and scientists view as the most effective care for opioid addicts, Botticelli announced in a conference call with reporters.   Please click here to continue reading.

Alcohol Health Benefits Are Exaggerated, As Positive Effects Apply Only To Narrow Range Of People

"Didn't you see the news? A little light drinking is the best thing for you, it even helps guard against heart disease," the loud woman sitting next to you at the bar says again. A study analyzing data from England's National Health System suggests the supposed health benefits of moderate drinking are wild exaggerations, most likely born in the backroom of a pub. Compared to people who are lifetime non-drinkers, women over the age of 65 reap some small protective reward from light drinking, the researchers say, but all other age-sex groups show no positive effects whatsoever.  Click here to continue reading.

For college students, being a 'good Samaritan' can be complicated
Emily Holland didn't expect she would have to make a lifesaving phone call her second weekend at George Washington University, but when her friend got alcohol poisoning, she was faced with a difficult decision. Please click here for more.

Drugs for Alcoholism Don't Have to Lead to Sobriety
Drugmakers aiming to tackle alcoholism, a condition that affects 17 million Americans, may have a smoother path to market under a U.S. proposal to guide development of treatments.Click here to read more. .

Recovery high schools help save young lives
It's hard enough to pull away from addiction when you're an adult. How do you do it as an adolescent - when you're not yet fully formed, and your friends are everything?  Click here to continue reading.

Mental health care uncoordinated, report says
Federal health officials need to do a better job coordinating help for people with serious mental illness, according to a new report by a government watchdog agency. Rest of this article is here.