Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry Updates

To protect people with addiction from discrimination, the Justice Dept. turns to a long-overlooked tool: the ADA .   "Increasingly, Justice Department attorneys are leveraging the law to try to overcome some of the rampant discrimination that people with substance use disorders face. The cases typically center on people who are penalized because they take medication for opioid addiction — treatments that are considered the gold-standard — and on people who are denied those medications, particularly in the criminal justice system. The underlying argument rests on the idea that imposing barriers on treatment for a disability is tantamount to doing so on the basis of the disability itself."   STAT.

Self-Help Group Attendance-Associated Treatment Outcomes Among Individuals With Substance Use Disorder in Short-Term Residential Facilities Objective: This study examined whether self-help group (SHG) attendance during treatment episodes in short-term residential programs increases treatment commitment among adults with substance use disorders (SUDs) in the United States. Conclusions: Our results suggest a strong association between frequent SHG attendance of 8–30 times and improvement in treatment completion and retention, as well as a reduction in early dropout within short-term residential facilities for adults with SUDs. Expanding self-help options in short-term residential settings is warranted. See full article for more details.

NIH scientists identify new brain mechanism involved in impulsive cocaine-seeking in rats Discovery may represent a future target for treating substance use disorders Researchers have found that blocking certain acetylcholine receptors in the lateral habenula (LHb), an area of the brain that balances reward and aversion, made it harder to resist seeking cocaine in a rat model of impulsive behavior. These findings identify a new role for these receptors that may represent a future target for the development of treatments for cocaine use disorder. There are currently no approved medications to treat cocaine use disorder. Published in the  Journal of Neuroscience , the study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. In 2020, over 41,000 people died from drug overdoses involving stimulants, including cocaine and methamphetamine. Developing safe and effective medications that help treat addictions to cocaine and other stimulants

Do you know what "benzo-dope" is?  See this public alert for more information on Bromazolam and Fentanyl.   The objective of this announcement is to notify public health and safety, law enforcement, first responders, clinicians, medical examiners and coroners, forensic and clinical laboratory personnel, and all other related communities about new information surrounding the emergent benzodiazepine bromazolam.  https://www.npsdiscovery.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Public-Alert_Bromazolam_NPS-Discovery_061522.pdf

The NADA Protocol is a non-verbal approach to healing. Benefits of NADA Reduced cravings for alcohol and drugs, including nicotine Minimized withdrawal symptoms Increased calmness, better sleep, and less agitation Relief from stress and emotional trauma An easier connection with counseling A discovery of inner quiet and strength Every state in the U.S. has its own licensure and scope of practice laws for acupuncture.  Initially, only licensed acupuncturists, physicians, and chiropractors licensed in Utah were eligible to train in the NADA Acudetox protocol. As of   2022, nurses, physician assistants, psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists,   substance use disorder counselors, and clinical mental health counselors are also eligible to provide   NADA 5-point ear acupuncture under Utah law.   NADA is also used internationally in a variety of settings. NADA involves gently placing up to five tiny, sterilized disposable needles into specific sites on each ear.  The re

In the United States, substance use disorders are a leading cause of death among young people. Treatments such as deep brain stimulation hold promise for helping people overcome addiction, but many questions remain about what brain areas should be targeted. Researchers are gaining new insights from patients who are no longer addicted to nicotine after experiencing a brain lesion, such as a stroke. Using a new technique known as lesion network mapping, researchers at  Brigham and Women’s Hospital  have mapped addiction remission to entire brain circuits rather than specific brain regions, pointing to new targets for treatment. Their results are published in  Nature Medicine . June 13, 2022 Press Release from Brigham and Women's Hospital

The only Utah podcast combining evidence-based health practices with storytelling to debunk myths about harm reduction, opioids and substance use disorders.   https://extension.usu.edu/healthwellness/healthequity/debunked

Alert from the NDEWS Web Monitoring Team: Online mentions of pregabalin via the @NDEWSnews Weekly Briefing https://bit.ly/3xCKhhC

Journal of Addiction Medicine:  June 09, 2022 Objective:  To measure trends for the emergence of  opioid withdrawal  (OW) and leaving against medical advice (AMA) among hospitalized patients. Method:  Retrospective time-series of hospitalized patients with OW, defined by a Clinical  Opioid Withdrawal  score ≥8, using electronic health record data at a tertiary health system and of patients with a discharge status of AMA from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2020. Results:  The average number of monthly hospitalizations with OW showed a year-to-year increment of 15% in 2018, 21% in 2019, and 34% from 2019 to 2020, whereas the total monthly hospitalizations remained stable. The segmented regression analysis showed that the upward trend in hospitalizations with OW became significant after January 2019 (slope: 1.14, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.70, 1.57). After August 2019, Fentanyl was added to the hospital urine drug testing panel and was identified in most OW patients. The monthly pro

The Opioid Response Network Stand Against Stigma challenge asks you to:   Commit  to 21 days of daily activity to educate yourself, your organization and your community, and Stand Against Stigma.   People are dying because we misunderstand how those with addiction think

PCSS-X is a six-session course, live via Zoom webinar, focused on implementing prescribing medications for treating opioid use disorder in a variety of healthcare settings. The course content will be built around the EPIS (Explore, Prepare, Implement, Sustain) Framework of implementation. Funding for this initiative was made possible (in part) by grant no. 1H79TI081968 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

From SAMHSA:  An analysis of 2021 preliminary data presents (1) nationally representative weighted estimates for the top five drugs in drug-related ED visits, (2) the assessment of monthly trends and drugs involved in polysubstance ED visits in a subset of sentinel hospitals, and (3) the identification of drugs new to DAWN’s Drug Reference Vocabulary.