Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly articles from April 2008

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly archives from April 2008

Congress heads into home stretch for parity legislation.
April 7, 2008... Congress returned from a two-week recess last week to begin what will be a behind-closed-doors negotiation for a compromise bill on parity for addiction and mental health treatment, ADAW has learned. On April 1-2, Senators Pete Domenici...

Oxford Houses thrive under radar of addiction community.(Report)
April 7, 2008... In the addiction and recovery communities, one might assume that any entity with more than 1,200 sites, 10,000 recovering addicts under its watch and a battery of favorable research findings would widely be considered a field juggernaut. Yet...

Budget battle: SAMHSA speaks out--will Congress listen?(Report)
April 7, 2008... Federal officials are in the process of defending the White House budget, and for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), this has been an exercise in diplomacy and even, at times, eloquence. Terry Cline,...

Alcohol/drug screening by computer helpful: psychiatric study.(Clinical report)
April 7, 2008... Screening for alcohol and drug problems, when done by a computer-based questionnaire, can help mental health practices detect co-occurring problems, according to a study in the April issue of Psychiatric Services. The study, by Derek...

Idaho governor backs off on treatment cuts.(Follow-up on the news ...)(Report)(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... Last week in a almost complete reversal of his previous veto, Gov. C.L."Butch" Otter of Idaho agreed to put 90 percent of the treatment money back in the budget. The Senate overrode the veto, as we reported in last week's issue (ADAW, March...

Michigan residents highlight parents' role in underage drinking.(STATE WATCH)(Report)(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... As part of a nationwide program of community meetings to encourage awareness of underage drinking, over 50 Michigan communities are slated to gather through April. The parental role in underage drinking was central to the discussion when over...

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA).(CALL FOR APPLICATIONS)
April 7, 2008... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) has issued a call for applications for the Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral and Treatment (SBIRT) Medical Residency Program. "The programs will train general medical...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
April 7, 2008... The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) will hold its 39th Annual Medical-Scientific Conference on April 10-13 in Toronto, Ontario.For more information, visit www.asam.org/CMS/images/asamconference2.pdf. The National Association...

In case you haven't heard ...
April 7, 2008... Celebrities are less likely to admit that they have an addition because they are shielded by their success, said William Moyers, a recovering alcoholic and spokesman for the nonprofit Hazelden. Moyers told Reuters that celebrities have "a...

New York SA, child welfare offices partner to improve family outcomes.(Report)
April 14, 2008... It has long been known that substance use problems pose a significant barrier to family reunification for many children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Yet the addiction treatment and child protective services infrastructures...

States on the brink of using outcome data to improve provider performance.(Report)
April 14, 2008... As states continue amassing data to submit to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on NOMs (National Outcome Measures), measurements required by the block grant, policy-makers are recognizing that they can use...

Tailor underage drinking programs to age-related issues: NIAAA.(National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)(Report)
April 14, 2008... Prevention and treatment of underage drinking must take developmental concerns into consideration, according to a set of seven papers published as a supplement to the April issue of Pediatrics and sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol...

House committee approves FDA-tobacco bill.
April 14, 2008... Earlier this month, the full House Energy and Commerce Committee approved proposed legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products and advertising. The bill, H.R. 1108 (the Family Smoking...

Mass. considers protective custody for victims of overdose.(STATE WATCH)(Report)(Brief article)
April 14, 2008... Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow law enforcement or emergency medical technicians to place an individual suspected of a drug overdose in protective custody until they are evaluated by a medical professional or...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
April 14, 2008... The National Council for Community Behavioral HealthCare (NCCBH) is hosting its annual conference, "Simply the best, better than all the rest," on May 1-3 in Boston.For more information, visit www.nccbh.org. The National Association of...

In case you haven't heard ...
April 14, 2008... Driving students not sufficiently convinced by mere descriptions of the danger of driving under the influence can experience simulated intoxication behind the wheel. Donning "Fatal Vision Goggles," (Innocorp, Ltd.), the student driver can get a...

SBI plus referral to treatment has potential to positively impact addiction workforce: new codes create opportunity for providers to partner with physicians.(Report)
April 21, 2008... Screening and brief intervention (SBI) took another giant step earlier this month when the federal government announced that most federal employees now have coverage for the service (see box, page 3). The move means that 70 percent of the...

Peer-based workforce continues to grow, linking to treatment.(Report)
April 21, 2008... Earlier this decade, members of the Northern Ohio Recovery Association were constantly hearing stories of people who had experienced recovery and now wanted to help others. Yet there was no mechanism in the region for leveraging this spirit of...

BLS data: counselor workforce will grow 34 percent by 2016.
April 21, 2008... The most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that the addiction counselor workforce will grow by 34 percent between 2006 and 2016. At the same time, however, the number of addiction counselors who are employed by...

Training requirements to expand treatment capacity.(FROM THE FIELD ...)(Report)
April 21, 2008... Below is an excerpt from The Clinical Workforce in the Substance Abuse Treatment System,prepared by the Lewin Group for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This is...

'Welcoming' may not create unsafe work environment.(Report)
April 21, 2008... "Welcoming," in which all patients including those with co-occurring disorders are encouraged to become engaged in treatment from the minute they walk in the door, can be done while keeping safety issues in mind, according to Kenneth Minkoff,...

Correction.(Correction notice)
April 21, 2008... In the April 14 issue, in an article on outcomes and performance, we incorrectly listed John Bartlett, M.D., co-author of a study with A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., and Mady Chalk, Ph.D., as being affiliated with the Treatment Research Institute...

NIAAA study finds drinking patterns affect mortality risk.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Report)(Brief article)
April 21, 2008... While previous studies have examined the effects of alcohol on mortality risk by looking at individuals' average alcohol intake, a recently published NIAAA study is the first to study the effects of quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption...

Seven states consider lowering drinking age.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
April 21, 2008... While Kentucky, Wisconsin and South Carolina are considering laws that would lower the legal drinking age for members of the military only, Missouri, South Dakota, Vermont and Minnesota are each debating some variation on a law that would lower...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
April 21, 2008... The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) will hold its 2008 Annual Addiction Treatment Leadership Conference on May 18-21 in Indian Wells, California.For more information, visit...

In case you haven't heard ...
April 21, 2008... A National Institutes of Health press release suggests that the agency will crack down on scientists using performance-enhancing drugs such as Provigil and Ritalin. However, while the survey was a real effort to investigate this apparently...

Calif. ballot measure would attack prison crisis with permanent treatment funds.(Report)
April 28, 2008... Eight years after California voters broke new ground by authorizing a comprehensive initiative offering substance use treatment to nonviolent offenders, it appears virtually certain that they will be asked at the polls this fall to consider a...

New York to stop revolving detox door, shift funds to non-hospital beds.(Report)
April 28, 2008... New York has a plan to stop the revolving door of detoxification, by diverting more patients to non-hospital beds and making sure that those who are discharged get linked up to treatment. In 2006, there were about 43,000 admissions to...

SAMHSA releases analysis of DUI rates state by state.(Report)
April 28, 2008... A state-by-state analysis of driving under the influence (DUI) has shown that on average, 15.1 percent of drivers age 18 and older drove under the influence of alcohol in the past year. According to the report, from the Substance Abuse and...

New prescription drug prevention program for school nurses.(Report)
April 28, 2008... Teaching school-age children about the risks of prescription drug abuse, and the difference between the beneficial use of prescription drugs and their abuse, is the topic of a new program from The National Association of School Nurses (NASN)....

Catalina Island takes community-based approach to prevention.(FROM THE FIELD ...)(Report)
April 28, 2008... Avalon, California is the only city on the picturesque island of Santa Catalina, about 22 miles across the sea from Los Angeles. Some 3,700 residents and one million tourists each year find paradise here, where flora and fauna are protected and...

College takes moderate approach to curbing substance use.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Bowdoin College counselor Geno Ring, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, believes the college has a "pretty healthy, balanced view" of the impact of alcohol use on campus," and he is "impressed" that his employer allows him to work with...

Adolescent program includes wraparound services.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... The Mt. Kisco, N.Y.-based Lexington Center for Recovery (LCR) has established a new program for adolescents focused on a sober lifestyle. Established with $308,000 from the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services...

Stop underage drinking portal of federal resources.(RESOURCES)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... In March the Acting U.S. Surgeon General Steven K. Galson kicked off a program of over 1,600 town hall-style meetings to take place nationwide through April to raise awareness of the prevalence of underage drinking and encourage local solutions...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
April 28, 2008... The National Council for Community Behavioral HealthCare (NCCBH) is hosting its annual conference,"Simply the best, better than all the rest," on May 1-3 in Boston. For more information, visit www.nccbh.org. On May 1-2 Faces and Voices of...

In case you haven't heard ...
April 28, 2008... Despite their political differences, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) expects that the political skills and clout of his father Sen. Edward Kennedy (R-MA) can help bolster GOP support for whatever compromise is reached regarding mental health and...