From a recent study comparing various health and quality of life outcomes for methadone and buprenorphine patients with  addicts who are not in treatment [emphasis mine]: Polysubstance use profiles exhibiting a broad range of substance use were generally at increased risk of negative drug-related outcomes, whether or not participants were receiving opioid substitution therapies (OST), including … Continue reading Differences in outcomes between people receiving and not receiving opioid substitution therapies

Vox recently posted an article that frames patients as the health care system's unpaid workers: I'm not talking about the work of managing one's health, the work that diabetics do to monitor their blood sugar or the healthy eating choices a doctor might recommend for an overweight patient. This can be a significant burden in … Continue reading Health care’s most underpaid workers

Great news!! Both 911 Good Samaritan Bills sailed through the House and are now awaiting Senate action. I chatted with Rep. Sam Singh yesterday. He's optimistic about the bills making it through the Senate. HOWEVER, Rep. Singh said the only problem is the summer legislative schedule. They might only be in session for two more weeks … Continue reading Update 6/1/2016. FULL 911 Good Samaritan Legislation in Michigan

The NYT published an opinion piece that examines the disconnect between the recommendations (Recommendations that are rapidly becoming requirements.) of public health officials and the on-the-ground experience. MAT advocates are already criticizing the piece as biased, ignorant, anti-science, harmful and stigmatizing. However, I respect the way it avoids simple answers and grapples with real world decisions and … Continue reading Getting good treatment for opioid addiction is hard

The opioid crisis has generated extensive media coverage, attention from public health officials and new policy agendas. Bill White, Marc Galanter, Keith Humphreys and John Kelly have noticed some trends in the coverage and public health responses. Public health responses have focused primarily on 1) suppression of illicit opioid markets, 2) public education on opioid addiction risks, 3) … Continue reading NA and Recovery from Opioid Addiction

from: Restoring Sanctuary: A New Operating System for Trauma-Informed Systems of Care by Sandra L. Bloom, Brian Farragher on adaptive vs. technical problems in helping relationships. In human service delivery, we have a historical burden to carry in that there is a long-standing belief that in our line of work we are dealing with technical problems. A … Continue reading Sentences to ponder

This article, calling rehab "outdated, expensive and deadly" is wrong about some important things and right about some important things. What it gets wrong On medication assisted treatment (MAT): It overstates the effectiveness of buprenorphine. If the medication "eliminates" and is so "effective", you think they'd have better outcomes than this (Which is not an outlier … Continue reading Is rehab “outdated, expensive and deadly”?

Good news!!! There are 2 bills in the Michigan House of Representatives Criminal Justice Committee that would would provide immunity from criminal charges for people all ages who are seeking emergency medical assistance for themselves or friends as a result of a drug overdose from any illicit drug. Rep. Pscholka's bill, House Bill 5649, provides immunity from … Continue reading Update. FULL 911 Good Samaritan Legislation in Michigan

Yesterday, it was suggested that I post about the abuses in the residential treatment and sober housing industries, suggesting that readers might get the impression that drug-free treatment is good while medication-assisted treatment is bad. The reader had a point--there's no shortage of exploitative and shady behavior among these providers. In fact, at Dawn Farm, … Continue reading Bad behavior isn’t limited to Pharma

After yesterday's post, we need a little hope and a reminder that people with opioid addiction can achieve full recovery. Some local people in recovery from opioid addiction were growing frustrated with media representations of opioid addiction that suggest full abstinence-based recovery is not a realistic goal. They decided to start The Unicorn Project and … Continue reading Meet the unicorns