A new article discussing the expanding use of medications in addiction treatment has the following sub heading: Experts are pushing for a truly medical approach to treating addiction as a disease rather than relying solely on longtime unproven therapies like 12-step programs. Unproven? Twelve Step Facilitation (TSF) is the treatment of choice for addicted physicians and they … Continue reading Beware of misleading headlines
Category: Policy
They’ve got hope for something. But, what?
Stimulant maintenance therapy did not work 😦 This study did not find a significant main effect of modafinil on the rate or duration of cocaine use among cocaine-dependent patients. Now they decide to polish the turd: Although these results are disappointing, we did find that modafinil-treated patients had nonsignificantly higher odds of attaining abstinence across … Continue reading They’ve got hope for something. But, what?
Methadone and employment
These findings were characterized as "counterintuitive". Findings from multivariate analyses initially showed no association between treatment enrollment and employment transitions. However, when a distinction was made between MMT and other addiction treatment modalities, it became clear that the relationship between addiction treatment and employment outcomes for IDU in this setting was contingent upon the type … Continue reading Methadone and employment
A brain disease AND (fill in the blank)
Not addiction related, but a very interesting look at new directions for treating and understanding schizophrenia. The article opens by reflecting on where we stand with our attempts to understand the causes: ...the outcome of two decades of serious psychiatric science is that schizophrenia now appears to be a complex outcome … Continue reading A brain disease AND (fill in the blank)
Prohibition strikes back
InSite, Vancouver's safe injection center has formed an alliance with residents in a retirement home to lobby for exemptions from the non-smoking policy of a shared funding source. Ironies abound.
This is your culture on pot
Keith Humphreys and Mark Kleiman offer some great commentary on marijuana legalization and what a legal marijuana market might look like. First, Humphreys: About eighty percent of the market is “commercial grade” cannabis, which has a THC content of about 5% and sells for $70 to $230 per ounce, depending on how far a buyer … Continue reading This is your culture on pot
Gateway Theory Revisited
Keith Humphreys on findings that link marijuana, tobacco and alcohol use with opiate use: The researchers used data from 2006 to 2008 from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual study representative of the U.S. population, to study 18- to 25-year-olds’ drug use behavior. They found that 12 percent … Continue reading Gateway Theory Revisited
Non-medical treatments are essential
Love First linked to this article on the role of non-medical interventions in treating addiction. I'm more and more convinced that the key to managing costs and improving outcomes for all chronic diseases are behavioral or lifestyle strategies. We've got a lot to learn about helping people make important changes in their lives that … Continue reading Non-medical treatments are essential
More on methadone
Points is publishing a series on methadone and offers a case for methadone without resorting to describing it as "the most effective treatment for opiate addiction." It's a pretty fair piece. I had only one quibble with the facts of the story. This is unusual and very welcome. However, the author and I disagree starkly … Continue reading More on methadone
Two stories on methadone
First, DEATHS among drug users have hit a record high in Scotland, increasing by a fifth in 2011, the latest government figures reveal. Last year 584 people died from drug use, which means that drugs now account for one in every 100 deaths in Scotland. The heroin substitute, methadone, was at the heart of the … Continue reading Two stories on methadone
Recovery Review 