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
Tag: crime
Non-Violent State Inmates Declining for 20 Years
From Keith Humphreys: Prison is the subject of many myths in the public policy world. For example, many people believe that the size of the prison population has continued to rise under President Obama, when in fact it has fallen. Other observers maintain that prison populations drop during economic downturns, when in fact the reverse has generally … Continue reading Non-Violent State Inmates Declining for 20 Years
no hint of opinion here
From an article about a new report on medications for opiate treatment: The report also examined studies that evaluated buprenorphine, methadone, injectable naltrexone, and oral naltrexone and concluded a benefit in patient outcomes as well as costs. "I can say with no hint of opinion here, it's simple fact, they are all effective," McLellan said. … Continue reading no hint of opinion here
Alcohol’s place in our culture
Following up on yesterday's post, a few articles jumped out at me. First, the Michigan legislature is considering lowering the blood alcohol level for boats and other recreational vehicles to 0.08, so that it matches the BAL for driving a car. Sorta makes sense, right? Look at the comments in the Detroit Free Press and the … Continue reading Alcohol’s place in our culture
Human rights and coerced treatment
A recent article looks at the ethics and effectiveness of coerced treatment: It has been argued that quasi-compulsory treatment (QCT) may be considered ethical (under some specific conditions) for drug dependent offenders who have committed criminal offences for whom the usual penal sanction would be more restrictive of liberty than the forms of treatment … Continue reading Human rights and coerced treatment
Criminal charges before and after initiation of buprenorphine maintenance
I would have thought this was a softball in support of buprenorphine. But, no: Among subjects with prior criminal charges, initiation of office-based buprenorphine treatment did not appear to have a significant impact on subsequent criminal charges. The paper gets a little says that this lack of effect includes drug charges. I'm no fan of … Continue reading Criminal charges before and after initiation of buprenorphine maintenance
Recovery Review 