This blog has a point of view. We're not fans of maintenance. (Though we still think Suboxone can be a very useful detox tool.) If you want to read defenses of Suboxone, you can find a couple here: The Media Needs to Stop Stigmatizing Our Best Weapon Against Heroin Addiction - "tainted, to bourgeois eyes" New York … Continue reading NYT Reax
Month: November 2013
“a hopeless disease”
The NY Times has another article in its series on Suboxone. Buprenorphine was developed as a safer alternative to methadone for treating heroin and painkiller addiction, a take-home medication that could be prescribed by doctors in offices rather than dispensed daily in clinics. But in some areas a de facto clinic scene, unregulated, … Continue reading “a hopeless disease”
Addiction Treatment With a Dark Side
The NY Times has a new piece on Suboxone. First, on its blockbuster status: Suboxone is the blockbuster drug most people have never heard of. Surpassing well-known medications like Viagra and Adderall, it generated $1.55 billion in United States sales last year, its success fueled by an exploding opioid abuse epidemic and the embrace of federal officials … Continue reading Addiction Treatment With a Dark Side
Who’s guarding the hen house?
From the NY Times: Addiction experts protested loudly when the Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful new opioid painkiller last month, saying that it would set off a wave of abuse much as OxyContin did when it first appeared. An F.D.A. panel had earlier voted, 11 to 2, against approval of the drug, Zohydro, … Continue reading Who’s guarding the hen house?
Tribes of the Recovering Community
The Daniel B. Sobel Friendship House is at the center of the Jewish recovering community in Oakland County, Michigan. It provides support and guidance to individuals and families struggling with addiction, isolation and other life crises through a welcoming Jewish recovery community that offers friendship, support, and a variety of programs that facilitate lasting success. They … Continue reading Tribes of the Recovering Community
Sentences to ponder
In 1999, only 3 percent of U.S. counties had an annual drug death rate of more than ten people per 100,000. By 2008, 54 percent of counties did. --Popular Science via Andrew Sullivan Related articles Overdosing In America (dish.andrewsullivan.com) Drug Overdoses Are Killing More Rural Americans Than Ever [MAPS] (businessinsider.com) Medical overdose epidemic takes deadly turn … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
a spectrum of apples, oranges, lemons, plums?
Howard Wetsman picks apart the spectrum approach of the DSM5 Making a spectrum out of the illnesses that have been put in the substance use category of DSM IV is like making a spectrum out of an apple, an orange, a lemon, a lime, a blue fruit (if there was one) and a plum. You’d … Continue reading a spectrum of apples, oranges, lemons, plums?
Living on the bottom
Debra Jay addresses the belief that families should let an addicted family member hit bottom: Hitting bottom is an old idea, still imposed upon families as if it were an absolute. Many families sadly believe that they must wait for alcoholics to hit bottom before there is any hope for recovery. They rarely stop to … Continue reading Living on the bottom
Sentences to ponder
After controlling for all factors, adults exposed to parental addiction had 69% higher odds of depression compared to their peers with non-addicted parents (OR=1.69; 95% CI, 1.25-2.28). The relationship between parental addictions and depression did not vary by gender. - The long arm of parental addictions - PubMed - NCBI
DSM 5 Substance Use Disorders: A Concise Summary
Terry Gorski has a nice summary of substance use disorders in the DSM-5. Here's his analysis at the end of the post: The DSM 5 is criticized for combining the the DSM IV categories of substance dependence (addiction marked by a pattern of compulsive use or loss of control) and substance abuse disorders (using in … Continue reading DSM 5 Substance Use Disorders: A Concise Summary
Recovery Review 