Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly articles from December 2010

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly archives from December 2010

Citing costs, N.J. freezes DUI admissions, launches Vivitrol pilot.(State Budget Watch)
December 20, 2010... Early this month New Jersey abruptly stopped allowing admissions to its $7.1-million DUI Initiative (DUI I), which treated 3,737 people in outpatient and 669 people in inpatient programs in 2009, ADAW has learned. At the same time, the state is...

Agency: expansion to sex addiction makes sense on multiple levels.(Treatment Program Profile)
December 20, 2010... The CEO of Promises Treatment Centers in southern California believes that regardless of whether a treatment program's staff is qualified to uncover compulsive sexual behaviors in clients--or wants to uncover them--these problems are widespread...

Rise in teen drug use highlights need for prevention funding.
December 20, 2010... There was bad news in the annual Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) last week: daily marijuana use is up across all grade levels. In addition, 16 percent of eighth-graders used an illicit...

Study: better outcomes for incarcerated women with AA.(Alcoholics Anonymous)
December 20, 2010... A study of brief intervention for incarcerated women with alcohol problems has found that Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) attendance improves outcomes. The study, published Dec. 16 in the online version of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental...

FDA warns against ingestion of Tessalon by children under 10.(Brief article)
December 20, 2010... Tessalon (benzonatate), liquid cough capsules that look like candy, may result in "serious side effects or death" when accidentally ingested by children under 10 years old, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned last week. Approved for...

Melted-down fentanyl patches causing fatal ODs in Canada.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(overdoses)(Brief article)
December 20, 2010... Skin patches containing fentanyl, used to relieve pain, are causing fatal overdoses among drug abusers in Ottawa, the CBC reported last month. According to public health officials, addicts cut the patches into four pieces, cook them, and inject...

Ohio may use corrections money for treatment.(IN THE STATES)(Brief article)
December 20, 2010... In the coming months, the intentions of Gov.-elect John Kasich of Ohio will become more clear, but a Republican commission looking at closing the state's budget gap is recommending lowering the costs of incarceration by providing treatment...

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.(RESOURCES)(Brief article)
December 20, 2010... NIATx has released a new toolkit called "Getting Started with Medication- assisted Treatment." The guide includes examples, business cases, and narrative showing how treatment providers' opinion about Vivitrol and Suboxone changed over the...

CRC Health Corporation.(NAMES IN THE NEWS)(appointment of R. Andrew Eckert )(Brief article)
December 20, 2010... Last week CRC Health Corporation announced the appointment of R. Andrew Eckert as CEO effective Jan. 3, 2011. Eckert replaces Barry Karlin who announced that he would step down earlier this year (see ADAW, July 19). Most recently, Eckert was CEO...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
December 20, 2010... NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) will hold its 2011 Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention and Intervention Conference January 13-15, 2011 in Miami, Fla. Go to www.naspa.org/programs/aapc/default.cfm for more...

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief article)
December 20, 2010... The new Speaker of the House was the subject of blogosphere speculation--not on his position on taxes, but on whether his emotions are guided by drinking. Rep. John Boehner cries in public--sometimes--and this led Politics Daily columnist Matt...

Buprenorphine produces less withdrawal in babies than methadone.(MOTHER Study)
December 13, 2010... Buprenorphine can be given safely to pregnant women, and their babies had less withdrawal as measured by neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) score, required less morphine, and had shorter hospital stays than babies born to pregnant women on...

Agency's reduction of wait times opens opportunity in court system.(Treatment Program Profile)
December 13, 2010... Like all treatment agencies participating in process improvement initiatives overseen by the organization NIATx, Spectrum Youth & Family Services in Vermont expected to become a more efficient and customer-friendly operation as a result....

Netsmart: HITECH funds are available, 42 CFR Part 2 still up in air.
December 13, 2010... Treatment providers who have physicians or nurse practitioners on staff may be able to benefit from HI-TECH funding starting next month, Netsmart Technologies executive vice president Kevin Scalia said last week in a webinar sponsored by the...

TRI and the Partnership: helping parents help their teenagers.(Treatment Research Institute)
December 13, 2010... Last week, the Treatment Research Institute (TRI) and the Partnership at Drugfree.org independently announced two new projects, which are somewhat connected by the two organizations' burgeoning working relationship. "We are in TRI's life as a...

McLellan to start new center at U. Penn.(ADAW Exclusive)(Brief article)
December 13, 2010... Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., is going to be starting a Center for Substance Abuse Solutions at the University of Pennsylvania, the former deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy told ADAW last week. "This has the full backing of...

Addiction increasing among Iraqi security forces.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
December 13, 2010... Drug addiction and alcoholism are on the rise among Iraqi security forces, raising questions about whether the country will be prepared for American troops to leave at the end of next year, the New York Times reported Oct. 25. In some areas, as...

Florida legislators inadvertently stop pill mill law.(IN THE STATES)(Brief article)
December 13, 2010... Regulations that would have taken effect last month to restrict pain clinics in Florida were inadvertently stalled by a new law that requires the legislature to approve any bill that will cost more than $1 million over five years. This leaves...

Police training center in Iowa fears loss of earmark funding.(IN THE STATES)
December 13, 2010... The Midwest Counterdrug Training Center at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa says it will suspend its classes because most of its $8 million annual budget comes from an earmark through the Department of Defense appropriations bill, the Associated...

John W. Welte.(NAMES IN THE NEWS)(Brief article)
December 13, 2010... John W. Welte, Ph.D., is retiring from the Research Institute on Addictions at the University of Buffalo in New York after 34 years. Welte, an expert on gambling and substance abuse, initiated a national gambling study that has become a public...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
December 13, 2010... NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) will hold its 2011 Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention and Intervention Conference January 13-15, 2011 in Miami. Go to www.naspa.org/programs/aapc/default.cfm for more information....

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief article)
December 13, 2010... Called "Operation Ivy League," police investigators worked for five months and last week arrested five Columbia University students. The students sold drugs to undercover officers. The investigation started after authorities were tipped off...

NIATx and SAAS to treatment providers: nothing's worse than doing nothing.(State Associations of Addiction Services)
December 6, 2010... Treatment providers got another prod from field leaders last week when NIATx and the State Associations of Addiction Services (SAAS) released a 42-page guide called "Implementing Healthcare Reform: First Steps to Transforming Your Organization."...

Rosecrance sees MH center deal as a plus in health reform era.(Treatment Program Profile)
December 6, 2010... In a deal that the major players expect to be replicated in other regions of the country before long, two prominent names in addiction treatment and community mental health have joined forces in the state of Illinois. Rosecrance Health Network...

Arapahoe House gets paid to transport intoxicated to social detox.(Treatment Program Profile)
December 6, 2010... To be part of healthcare reform, you have to be part of the healthcare system, and Denver-based Arapahoe House has found many ways to do that. One of the most innovative is its case-finding, hospital-friendly arrangement to pick up intoxicated...

OASAS gives five prisons certificates for treatment programs.(Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services)
December 6, 2010... Last month the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) presented the state's Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) with addiction services operating certificates for five state prisons. The move, made...

Single institute likely to replace NIDA and NIAAA.(National Institute on Drug Abuse)(National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)
December 6, 2010... The move to create a new institute that would replace the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) moved another step forward last month. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director...

TCA to change name, open membership to non-TC programs.(ADAW Exclusive)(Therapeutic Communities of America)(Treatment Communities of America)(Brief article)
December 6, 2010... Therapeutic Communities of America (TCA) is changing its name to Treatment Communities of America, and opening up its membership to other kinds of treatment programs, ADAW has learned. The change is in its early stages, TCA executive director...

OASAS medical director on 'MSR,' methadone, and buprenorphine.(Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services)(Interview)
December 6, 2010... In New York state, treatment of addiction with any medication--methadone, buprenorphine, nicotine replacement therapy, acamprosate, naltrexone, clonazepam, and so on--is now referred to as medication- supported recovery (MSR) instead of the more...

Alcohol energy drinks question to be added to MTF survey.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
December 6, 2010... The annual Monitoring the Future survey from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will include question in 2011 about alcohol energy drinks, ADAW has learned. The survey has not included a question about these drinks in the past, a NIDA...

Arizona schools mull impact of medical marijuana law.(IN THE STATES)(Brief article)
December 6, 2010... School districts in Arizona, the 15th state to approve medical marijuana, are considering ways to handle use and abuse of the drug. Some districts say medical marijuana will be in the same category as prescription drugs, and anyone using the...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
December 6, 2010... NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) will hold its 2011 Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention and Intervention Conference January 13-15 in Miami. For more information, go to www.naspa.org/programs/aapc/default.cfm. ...

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief article)
December 6, 2010... The marijuana lobby is now official: On November 25, the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) announced that it was the first national trade group representing "the interests of the cannabis industry and its consumers." Based in...