Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly articles from April 2005

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly archives from April 2005

Institute helps NYC providers work within child welfare system.(Focus: child welfare innovation)
April 4, 2005... An intensive-training initiative is helping New York City addiction treatment professionals enhance their knowledge of the city's child welfare system, seeking to yield better coordination of services between the two systems toward...

Model program in family treatment in running for innovations award.
April 4, 2005... A San Diego County-based multiagency case management and monitoring program that uses timely family treatment to reduce the amount of time children spend in foster care was selected last month as a semifinalist for an Innovations in American...

Public sector bears growing burden for SA treatment spending: managed care influence could be culprit.(substance abuse)
April 4, 2005... Public sources such as state funding, Medicaid and Medicare are covering the lion's share of substance abuse treatment spending in the United States, and the burden on the public sector is substantially greater for substance abuse services than...

Recovery schools support sobriety for young people.(From The Field ...)
April 4, 2005... People who are in recovery from addiction are often advised to avoid the "people, places and things" associated with their past drinking or other drug use. But adolescents who've been through treatment for drug dependence may find this...

How one agency benefited from training.(Samaritan Village, Inc.)
April 4, 2005... Samaritan Village, Inc., a Briarwood, N.Y.-based treatment organization, was one of several treatment agencies to participate in the first round of training at the Child Welfare Leadership Development Institute. Following the training,...

President Bush last month nominated U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R.-Ohio) to serve as United States trade representative, The New York Times reported.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... President Bush last month nominated U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R.-Ohio) to serve as United States trade representative, The New York Times reported. Portman instantly became one of the addiction field's closest friends on Capitol Hill when in 1997...

Caron Foundation.(Names in the News)(addiction treatment organization )(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Andrew J. Rothermel has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer at the Caron Foundation addiction treatment organization in eastern Pennsylvania. He will be responsible for Caron's fiscal planning and its legal and...

Seabrook House.(Names in the News)(private nonprofit addiction treatment facility )(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Deborah Keltz has been named director of business development at New Jersey-based Seabrook House, the largest private nonprofit addiction treatment facility in South Jersey. Keltz will oversee Seabrook House's admissions, marketing and clinical...

Kenneth S. Ramsey, Ph.D., president and chief executive of Gateway Rehabilitation Center in western Pennsylvania, last month received the 2005 Health Care Hero Executive Award from the publication Pittsburgh Business Times.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Kenneth S. Ramsey, Ph.D., president and chief executive of Gateway Rehabilitation Center in western Pennsylvania, last month received the 2005 Health Care Hero Executive Award from the publication Pittsburgh Business Times. Ramsey, who has led...

College prevention program releases new publications.(Resources)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... The Facts on Tap program, a college-based prevention effort administered by the American Council for Drug Education, last month announced the start of two new publications in the areas of prescription drugs and marijuana. The two new...

Oregon parity bill includes SA protection.(Briefly Noted)(substance abuse )(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... An insurance parity bill that passed last month by a wide margin in the Oregon State Senate includes a parity mandate for substance abuse coverage as well as for mental health coverage, unlike the case with several adopted state parity measures...

Children's OTC use sparks concern.(Briefly Noted)(over the counter)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... A sense among young people that experimenting with cold medicines is not dangerous because the products can be purchased over the counter is leading to a great deal of worry among parents and health officials, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
April 4, 2005... The Employee Assistance Society of North America (EASNA) will hold its 17th Annual EASNA Institute May 5-7 in Chicago. For more information, visit www.easna.org. The 21st Annual National Rural Institute on Alcohol and Drug Abuse will take...

In case you haven't heard ...(securities investments)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2005... Starbucks Corp. ended up in a "grande" heap of trouble with a mutual fund company that invests only in companies it considers socially responsible. The coffee giant's partnership with Jim Beam on a coffee liqueur that is sold in bars and retail...

State policymakers and providers struggle to fund and treat gambling addiction.
April 11, 2005... As states embrace legalized gambling and the money it brings in, those who work with the addicted wonder who will treat the problems of pathological gambling that is an industry byproduct--and who will pay for this treatment. The same...

Associations hold joint meetings to discuss co-occurring disorders.
April 11, 2005... With the introduction of a Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) earlier this year (see ADAW Feb. 7), co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders are getting...

Injectable naltrexone shown effective in reducing heavy drinking.
April 11, 2005... A new injectable form of naltrexone may offer a promising adjunct to the treatment of alcoholism, according to research results published in the April 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The injection, given...

Poll shows workplace impact of family addiction.
April 11, 2005... More than one-third (36 percent) of employees admitted that at least one of their coworkers had been distracted, less productive, or missed work because of alcohol/ drug abuse or addiction within their family, according to a national poll...

SAMHSA study links alcohol use, delinquent behavior.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration )(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Almost 8.6 million youths ages 12 to 17, over one-third of this age group, used alcohol in the past year, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The data, released last week as part of Alcohol...

AdCare Hospital.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Worcester, Mass.-based AdCare Hospital has announced that James F. McKenna has joined their marketing team as vice president of marketing and development. In addition, AdCare Hospital announced that Paul Doherty will be director of the Quincy...

Seabrook House.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... Seabrook, N.J.-based Seabrook House announced that Deborah Keltz has joined its management team as director of business development. Keltz is a 16-year veteran of the addiction field, including a stint with the Caron Foundation as director of...

Nicotine patch found effective for adolescents.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... One of the first studies on nicotine replacement therapy for teens found that the use of a nicotine patch is an effective way of helping adolescent smokers achieve longstanding abstinence. The study, which appears in the April issue of...

Coming up ...(Brief Article)(Calendar)
April 11, 2005... The American Society of Addiction Medicine's 36th annual conference will take place April 14-17 in Dallas. For more information, visit www.asam.org. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA)...

In case you haven't heard ...(driving while intoxicated)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2005... According to the Associated Press, a woman who drove to the police station to prove to her son that she was sober was charged with driving while intoxicated. Diana Viza of Altion, N.Y. got into an argument with her son, who suspected that she...

Baltimore officials credit saved lives to peer administration of Narcan.
April 18, 2005... Baltimore officials credit street administration of Narcan by peers with saving at least 52 lives in the past year. Officials believe that the controversial program of training heroin addicts to administer Narcan (as well as other life-saving...

GAO report says ONDCP anti-drug campaign didn't overpay consultants.(Government Accountability Office)(White House Office of National Drug Control Policy)
April 18, 2005... The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has given a clean bill of health to the Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign's use of funds to pay consultants. According to the report, released last month, 72 percent of the budget was used for the...

Cost calculator helps employers manage problem drinking.
April 18, 2005... On average, nine percent of American workers are problem drinkers. But in some industries, the rate is much higher--13.5 percent in the construction and mining industries. According to a ranking by Washington, D.C.-based Ensuring Solutions to...

Alcohol advertising in magazines continues to overexpose youth.
April 18, 2005... America's teens saw significantly more beer and distilled spirits advertising in magazines between 2001 and 2003 than adults, as measured on a per capita basis, according to a study released by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY)...

Data confirm SAMHSA's efforts toward young adolescents: 'Reach Out' campaign enters fourth year.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
April 18, 2005... According to a new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 88 percent of adults admitted to treatment for alcohol dependence or abuse in 2002 were first intoxicated before age 21. Of those in...

Sherri Knapp-Brown, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the Hamilton County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Sherri Knapp-Brown, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the Hamilton County Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, was recently honored by the Association of Behavioral Healthcare Management with the Harold C. Piepenbrink Award for her...

SAMHSA brochures address issues facing crime victims.(Resources)(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) last week announced the availability of Answers in the Aftermath and Supporting the Survivor, two brochures addressing mental health and substance abuse issues facing crime...

Alkermes' submits application for Vivitrex injectable.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... Alkermes Inc. has submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA for marketing approval of Vivitrex (naltrexone long-acting injection). Naltrexone is indicated for decreasing craving and overall general consumption of alcohol, and can potentially...

THC slows heart disease in mice.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... The main ingredient in marijuana has been found to slow the progression of heart disease in mice, according to the Associated Press. Experts stress that people should not feel that smoking marijuana will ward off heart disease. "To extrapolate...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
April 18, 2005... The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) presents "Missed Opportunity: Substance Abuse and Primary Care," April 21 in Washington, D.C. with keynote addresses by Nora D. Volkow, M.D. and Louis W....

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief Article)
April 18, 2005... The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Inc. (NCADD) are asking the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to pull the plug on an Anheuser-Busch beer ad that features men leaving...

From the Editor ...(Special Report on the Behavioral Healthcare Workforce)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2005... Special Report on the Behavioral Healthcare Workforce 2005 is our second special issue for 2005, following our Preview Issue at the beginning of the year. This is a combined issue for readers of Mental Health Weekly and Alcoholism & Drug Abuse...

Volunteers becoming an increasingly important segment of treatment workforce: SAMHSA guide emphasizes structure, planning when using volunteers.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
April 25, 2005... Volunteers can help facilities and patients by enhancing community support and expanding services, but first the facility needs to have a structure in place so that a benefit doesn't turn into a liability. A new guide from the Substance Abuse...

Bills address national shortage of children's mental health professionals: advocates hail bipartisan workforce legislation.
April 25, 2005... Both houses of Congress have recently filed legislation that addresses the critical national shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists. The legislation would increase the number of well-trained mental health service professionals,...

SAMHSA focuses on behavioral workforce development: plans include development of national action plan.
April 25, 2005... In a continuous move to support transformation of the mental health system, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA's) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) has targeted workforce development of the behavioral...

Proposal to unify counselor certification under review at ICRC and NAADAC/NCC: membership organizations also explore merger.(International Certification and Reciprocity Consortium)(National Certification Commission)
April 25, 2005... The plan to unify addiction counselor certification took another step forward April 12 with the release of a proposal for collaboration by the two main credentialing bodies --the National Certification Commission (NCC) of NAADAC, The...

High rate of gambling problems found in substance abuse counselors.
April 25, 2005... About 17-18 percent of substance abuse counselors have or have had a gambling problem, according to a study currently in press at the American Journal on Addictions. This rate is about three times higher than the rate found in the general...