The Latest News from Our Field

A North Carolina opioid overdose prevention program has succeeded in dramatically cutting overdose deaths in one county, according to Medscape. The program is now being rolled out statewide.

State governors, legislatures and law enforcement across the country are scrambling to respond to the resurgence of heroin, USA Today reports.

A small but growing number of police officers are using the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, as they respond to more cases of heroin and opioid pill overdoses, according to The New York Times.

Some people struggling to overcome an addiction to heroin are getting help from recovery coaches. The use of coaches is based on the idea that addiction is a lifetime disease.

Organizers of summer music festivals are increasing drug screening, after four people died at festivals last year. The deaths were linked to the club drug Molly.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will develop e-cigarette policies that will protect public health, the head of the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products said Wednesday. The FDA is considering product standards in the areas of addiction, toxicity and product appeal.

Not all parts of the federal government agree on how to approach the issue of prescription painkiller abuse, according to the Associated Press.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday the state will add 100 State Police investigators to drug units in order to fight the growing heroin problem. “In the ’70s we had a heroin epidemic. This is worse than what we went through before,” he said.

Researchers at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute are looking for participants for a new study on alcoholism and text messaging.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, June 6- Thursday, June 12, 2014.

The online tool Google Trends may be able to help track the public’s use of marijuana, a new study suggests. The researchers say the tool can also be used to gauge growing interest in other drugs.

Use of narcotic painkillers and anti-anxiety medications among elderly patients is rising sharply, according to an examination of Medicare data by USA Today. The newspaper found older patients are using the medications for longer periods than in the past.

Treatment options are lacking for teens with substance use disorders, experts say. Addiction treatment resources are expensive, hard to find, and often not effective, they tell U.S. News & World Report.

Colleges are increasing the number of disciplinary actions against students for alcohol and drug offenses, according to The New York Times. The change reflects an increase in enforcement, not a rise in the number of offenses, experts say.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission held a hearing Tuesday on whether to make new guidelines on reducing prison sentences for low-level drug offenders retroactive for current inmates. The guidelines would shorten sentences for some nonviolent, low-level drug offenders.

As marijuana becomes more readily available, a growing number of researchers are studying the possible link between marijuana and fatal car crashes, USA Today reports.

CVS Caremark Corp., which announced earlier this year it will remove all tobacco products from store shelves by October 1, said it is on track to be tobacco-free by that date.

The use of smokeless tobacco among American workers has held steady since 2005, as cigarette smoking has declined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some Massachusetts physicians have resigned from marijuana companies after being told by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigators they must do so or be faced with relinquishing federal licenses to prescribe certain medications, The Boston Globe reports.

Federal officials want to ease restrictions on sharing substance abuse treatment records among healthcare providers, The Wall Street Journal reports. The move concerns some privacy advocates.

Marijuana is linked to several significant adverse health effects, and can be addictive, National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Nora Volkow writes in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Federal officials announced this week that Georgia cannot implement a new law that would require some food stamp applicants and recipients to undergo drug testing.

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam this week announced a plan designed to stop prescription drug abuse in the state.

Top headlines of the week from Friday, May 30- Thursday, June 5, 2014.

Substance use remains highly prevalent on college campuses, which may lead young people in recovery to either defer or postpone college, or increase the risk of relapse if they do attend. But as substance use on college campuses became increasingly recognized as a public health issue, experts have called for campus-based services for recovering students.