Popular Science has a chart with US overdose deaths by drug: ...the rate of reported overdoses the U.S. more than doubled between 1999 and 2010. About half of those additional deaths are in the pharmaceuticals category, which the CDC has written about before. Nearly three-quarters of the pharmaceuticals deaths are opioid analgesics—prescription painkillers like OxyContin and … Continue reading Prescription drug overdose statistics visually
Category: Harm Reduction
In the doctor’s office
Anna David shares her personal experience with an all-too-common problem. Doctors who don't understand addiction and do more harm than good: I continued to see my pinkie-ring psychiatrist for the next year or so, because he told me I had to if he was to keep prescribing me Paxil and Ambien—drugs I was convinced I … Continue reading In the doctor’s office
Venture capital and methadone
There must be a lot of money available if private equity firms are willing to expose themselves to this much risk: At least five state legislatures are considering bills to tighten oversight of methadone clinics after allegations that take-home doses of the drug are contributing to illegal street sales, misuse and deaths. Measures in West … Continue reading Venture capital and methadone
The benefits of harm reduction are not as obvious as they seem
Theodore Dalrymple points out the inconsistency in the British Medical Journal's vigorous advocacy for harm reduction where heroin is concerned and its squeamishness with harm reduction for nicotine. He pulls a passage from BMJ and inserts comments: What, then, does the BMJ, so much in favour of harm reduction for heroin addicts, say about harm reduction … Continue reading The benefits of harm reduction are not as obvious as they seem
Methadonia
When Methadonia was first released, there was quite a bit of hand wringing over whether the film inaccurately presented methadone maintenance treatment in a negative light. Cassie Rodenberg, at The White Noise, who has been spending time with and blogging about homeless addicts in the Bronx says [emphasis mine]: Some on the streets find methadone worse than an original heroin addiction, while … Continue reading Methadonia
Dead addicts don’t recover, but…
This has gotten a lot of press. There's naloxone distribution doubt this will reduce overdose deaths. However, some pretty important questions remain: What happens after the overdose? What services/interventions might have prevented the overdose in the first place? The article references placing defibrillators in public places. What happens after someone is saved by one of those defibrillators? … Continue reading Dead addicts don’t recover, but…
Recovery advocates argue…
The NY Times has a story on a jail terminating methadone maintenance for inmates. There have been a lot of stories like this over the years. Nothing new. What grated me about the article was this line: Recovery advocates and community members argue that cutting people off from methadone is too dangerous, akin to taking … Continue reading Recovery advocates argue…
Scotland’s ORT Outcomes
Scotland invests a very large portion of their treatment resources into ORT and recently released a report on their outcomes. Pretty underwhelming. ... the Report on People in Treatment study reveals that more than two out of every three users who go into treatment admit continuing to use illegal drugs after three months. ... Where … Continue reading Scotland’s ORT Outcomes
Lines are being drawn
A major treatment provider, Caron, weighs in on Hazelden's adoption of buprenorphine maintenance treatment: We use buprenorphine (Suboxone) to assist with the detoxification process from opioids and the length of time can vary depending on the patient’s progress and additional medical issues, such as chronic pain. However, unlike Hazelden’s goal as stated in … Continue reading Lines are being drawn
Another Reaction to Hazelden’s Adoption of Suboxone
Mark Willenbring, a former Director of the Treatment and Recovery Research Division of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism/National Institutes of Health weighs in on Hazelden's embrace of Suboxone Hazelden's new approach is a seismic shift that is likely to move the entire industry in this direction. I told Marv that it was like … Continue reading Another Reaction to Hazelden’s Adoption of Suboxone
Recovery Review 