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”
Category: Policy
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?
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?
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
Sentences to ponder
Nearly one-third of U.S. veterans who are given psychiatric medications by their doctors do not have a diagnosed mental health problem Many vets given psychiatric drugs without diagnosis | Reuters Related articles Many Vets Given Psychiatric Drugs without Diagnosis (nlm.nih.gov) 30% of Vets Given Psych Drugs Have no Diagnosis (madinamerica.com) When "Psychiatric Survivors" Think They … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
With Rise Of Painkiller Abuse, A Closer Look At Heroin
The number of people who had used heroin in the previous year increased between 2007 and 2012, from 373,000 to 669,000. Meanwhile, federal data from 2011 finds that nearly 80 percent of people who had used heroin in the past year had also previously abused prescription painkillers classified as opioids. via With Rise … Continue reading With Rise Of Painkiller Abuse, A Closer Look At Heroin
Sentences to ponder
Snorting chemicals has a bad rap. But as a method of drug delivery, it may be on the verge of a renaissance. Unlike medications taken orally, intravenously or otherwise, those sniffed up the nose gain direct access to the brain. --Scientific American Pair this with Bill White's comment, "I can't tell you what will become … Continue reading Sentences to ponder
“I’m a unicorn”
Jennifer Matesa writes about the seeming contradictions in some recent FDA decisions. First they tightened regulations on hydrocodone, the most-prescribed drug in the U.S. and the opioid painkiller in Vicodin. Then, against the recommendation of their own advisors, they approved Zohydro, a long-acting hydrocodone whose formulation includes no mechanism to prevent abuse. So on the … Continue reading “I’m a unicorn”
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