These images speak for themselves. Here are a couple of important sentences: Between 1999 and 2009, drug poisoning deaths grew by 394 percent in rural areas and 279 percent for large metropolitan areas, according to the CDC’s county-level look at the data. According to the CDC, roughly 60 percent of all OD deaths in 2010 … Continue reading Drug Overdose Deaths Are Increasing Pretty Much Everywhere
Category: Research
Could ADHD Meds Promote Future Cocaine Use?
Boston University recently posted a series on their own addiction research. One examined whether there is a relationship between taking ADHD meds and future cocaine use. The results of Kantak’s research could present a dual cautionary tale for adolescents diagnosed with ADHD. “If they’re an adolescent getting a stimulant medication, and they’re properly … Continue reading Could ADHD Meds Promote Future Cocaine Use?
Recovery capital and capital
From the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs second report of the recovery committee [emphasis mine]: ...our optimism about recovery should be tempered. Evidence suggests that different groups are more or less likely to achieve recovery outcomes. For some people, with high levels of recovery capital (e.g. good education, secure positive relationships, a job), recovery … Continue reading Recovery capital and capital
…let us work together
"If you have come here to help me, then you are wasting your time… But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." - Lila Watson Obviously, I've been thinking a lot about the buprenorphine maintenance, the NY Times series and the reactions since it was published. … Continue reading …let us work together
Want to be grateful? Remember to remember.
“Choose [your memories] carefully. Memories are all we end up with … You’ll have a thousand pasts and no future.” –The Secret Behind Their Eyes (film) Robert Emmons summarizes research on gratitude and reviews the impact of it at a social level. He closes with thoughts on cultivating it at an individual level. Gratitude, at least … Continue reading Want to be grateful? Remember to remember.
Make a Gratitude Adjustment
A good article on the relationship between gratitude and happiness. A psychology professor at the University of Michigan, Peterson regularly gave his students an unusual homework assignment. He asked them to write a "gratitude letter," a kind of belated thank-you note to someone in their lives. Studies show such letters provide long-lasting mood boosts to … Continue reading Make a Gratitude Adjustment
What makes treatment effective?
This will be my post in response to the NY Times' series on Suboxone. This post originally ran on 7/19/13 and addressed a lot of our concerns. * * * I've been catching a lot of heat recently for posts about Suboxone and methadone. (For the sake of this post, lets refer to … Continue reading What makes treatment effective?
no hint of opinion here
To me, the most important line in the NY Times Suboxone series was this one, "[Dr. Sullivan] considered opioid addiction "a hopeless disease'". We believe that maintenance approaches are rooted in the belief that most opiate addicts are not capable of recovering in the same manner that doctors recover. Most of the arguments for maintenance treatments … Continue reading no hint of opinion here
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
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