We curate a digest of the latest news in our field for advocates, policymakers, community coalitions and all who work toward shaping policies and practices to effectively prevent substance use and treat addiction.
Live by the sword, die by the sword: Afghanistan, long the world’s leading exporter of opium poppy, is facing a growing domestic heroin addiction problem ... The U.S. Navy has torpedoed smoking on submarines ... A drink claiming to speed up alcohol metabolism is bogus, critics say ... The tobacco tax in New York City may soon rise to $5.85 per pack ...
Faces and Voices of Recovery has published a new guide to "mutual-aid" resources that can help support addiction-recovery organizations.
"This one-stop resource is for people in or seeking recovery from addiction, their families and friends and for addiction treatment service providers and other allied service professionals," according to the group.
It’s easy to blame doctors for overdoses, but even toxicologists have a hard time determining when a particular drug causes death ... Proving that even dumb ideas can be evergreen, Sen. Orrin Hatch is calling for drug testing of welfare recipients ... Drug traffickers are using Indian lands on both U.S. borders to smuggle drugs ... Secondhand smoke contaminates entire housing complexes, researchers say ...
Would you ask an adult in recovery to hang around with his or her drinking buddies every day? Certainly not, yet we ask teens to go back to school after treatment and avoid all their friends who use drugs or alcohol. Recovery Schools are one solution, and are the focus of a national conference next month.
Emergency rooms are seeing more overdoses from prescription pain medications than illicit drugs, the CDC reports ... North Carolina officials have canned a plan to name a new arena for Bud Light ... The FDA has the power to regulate nicotine -- and should use it -- a former head of the agency says ... Another addition to the regulatory plate: FDA should classify e-cigarettes as drug-delivery devices, according to the American Medical Association ...
This month’s "Cannabis Cup" in San Francisco featured the unveiling of a product sure to take the debate over e-cigarettes to a new level. Vapor Rush delivers a dose of THC from vaporized marijuana "kief," or powdered resin. Three varieties are offered by the company, based in southern California. "Smoke your green without a lighter, smell, even weed!" the Vapor Rush website boasts.
Golden age vs. the Age of Aquarius: Baby Boomers are increasingly showing up in addiction treatment programs ... Costco is funding a campaign to rewrite the liquor-control laws in the state of Washington ... New FDA rules going into effect this week ban "light" and "mild" branding, impose new warning-label requirements ... Wink, wink, nudge, nudge: Philip Morris tells customers that Marlboro Gold is the same as Marlboro Lights; FDA not amused ...
Pain doctors have long clashed with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) over opiate-based pain medications, and now Angela Gardner, the head of the American College of Emergency Physicians is warning against making doctors "pain police."
Gardner objected to proposals that would require physicans -- including ER docs -- to search a database for patients’ drug-use history before prescribing drugs. Requiring that prescription information be recorded to the database also could discourage some patients from getting proper care, Gardner said.
"As an emergency physician, I can assure you that the drug abusers who use the emergency room simply to get a prescription-drug fix represent a micropopulation of the 120-million patients who seek emergency care every year in the USA" ...
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