Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly articles from July 2006

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly archives from July 2006

Calif. legislators expand judges' discretion in Prop. 36 program: measure appears certain to yield court challenge.(California landmark Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 )
July 10, 2006... In response to concerns that not enough drug offenders have been completing treatment under California's landmark Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 (SACPA), state legislators last month adopted a series of amendments designed to...

Oklahoma launches system to trap prescription drug addicts: but no room in treatment system.
July 10, 2006... "Doctor shoppers," primarily Vicodin addicts who go from emergency room to physician to obtain prescriptions, are the main target of a new Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs Control (OBN) electronic monitoring program. The program,...

Recovery inside San Quentin Prison, Jorge's story.(From The Field ...)
July 10, 2006... Jorge (not his real name) has been incarcerated in San Quentin Prison for 27 years. He is enrolled in a series of courses designed to train inmates in recovery to become certified alcohol and drug counselors. The courses have been developed by...

Lawmakers hear more about treatment effectiveness, rural focus, for methamphetamine.
July 10, 2006... Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) chaired his 19th methamphetamine hearing since 2000 last month (a 20th was scheduled for July 7 in Colorado), and continued his questions aimed at finding out whether methamphetamine addiction is a problem that is...

SAMHSA: no targets or penalties planned for NOMs.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)(National Outcome Measures)
July 10, 2006... As the deadline for implementation of the National Outcome Measures (NOMs) gradually nears--all states must be reporting to the federal government on how well patients are doing in substance abuse treatment by the end of 2007--there's some...

CHPA works for parental awareness.(Consumer Healthcare Products Association)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) has launched a campaign aimed at raising parental awareness about the increasing adolescent abuse of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and prescription drugs, reported the Community Anti-Drug...

Treatment advocate clarifies message.(methamphetamine problem study report)(Brief article)
July 10, 2006... Ryan King, whose nonprofit group the Sentencing Project released a study in June which claimed that the government and media have exaggerated the country's methamphetamine problem (see ADAW, June 26), issued a follow-up statement in an effort...

NIH grants for drug abuse dissertation research.(CALL FOR APPLICATIONS)
July 10, 2006... The National Institutes of Health is seeking applicants for its Drug Abuse Dissertaion Research grants, which support doctoral work in prevention, treatment, services, epidemiology, and sex/gender differences. The grants comprise up to $50,000...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
July 10, 2006... The International AIDS Society (IAS) and the AIDS 2006 Toronto local host will sponsor the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada on August 13-18. The Conference theme "Time to Deliver" will focus on the promises and progress made...

In case you haven't heard ...(obese people and substance abuse research study report)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
July 10, 2006... Obese people are 25 percent less likely to develop substance abuse, but 25 percent more likely to have mod and anxiety disorders, according to the current issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. Obesity is also associated with other...

Field cautious about Prometa; clinical trial results awaited.
July 17, 2006... Treatment providers are the number-one marketing target for this new treatment protocol, but it's more than a year too early tell whether it's an evidence-based practice. Prometa, the outpatient treatment for methamphetamine, cocaine, or...

Ill. providers, political leaders coalesce as heroin overdose deaths rise.(heroin-fentanyl combination to blame)
July 17, 2006... The data don't tell a promising story for Illinois' heroin-using community right now. While the number of confirmed overdose deaths attributable to use of heroin mixed with the potent painkiller fentanyl has passed the 100 mark since the start...

State Associations of Addictions Services holds first annual conference.(history of Seabrook House treatment center in New Jersey)(training of substance abuse counsellors)(Addiction Technology Transfer Centers)
July 17, 2006... This year the State Associations of Addictions Services (SAAS), based in Washington D.C. and headed by executive director Howard Shapiro, held its first conference. The event, which ran from July 10-13 and was held in Chicago, had about 400...

Suicide top liability in addiction treatment.(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... The biggest risk for substance abuse treatment programs is suicide, according to Sean Gerow, who is chairman of the board of SPAN (Suicide Prevention Action Network) of Washington, D.C. Gerow, who is also assistant vice president for risk...

Prop. 36 amendments blocked by court.(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... A court has stopped controversial changes to Proposition 36 which were slated to take effect. The changes would have made it harder for people to go to treatment instead of being incarcerated in California (see ADAW, July 10). Instead,...

Study reconsiders role of personality in addiction.(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Washington University School of Medicine reported on June 25 the results of a study suggesting that "an individual's personality influences how he or she responds to familial liability to...

SAMHSA announces 2007 review priorities.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... On June 30 the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced its Fiscal Year 2007 review priorities for mental health and substance use prevention and treatment programs and practices. The priorities were...

Valera submits IND for naltrexone implant.(Investigational New Drug Application)(Valera Pharmaceuticals)(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... Valera Pharmaceuticals submitted an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) to the Food and Drug Administration for its product VP0004, a subdermal implant delivering naltrexone over an extended period for the treatment of opioid addiction,...

Women climb Mt. Rainier in the name of recovery.(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... The Power of Recovery Climb team, comprised of women ages 21 through 59, will attempt to summit Washington's Mount Rainier on July 21 and 22, "illustrating the similarities between the journey of recovery and the journey of summiting a...

Fraser Lang has been awarded the 7th Annual RSA Journalism Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism.(Research Society on Alcoholism)(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... Fraser Lang has been awarded the 7th Annual RSA Journalism Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism. Lang, owner of Manisses Communications Group, the former publisher of ADAW, DATA: The Brown University Digest of Addiction Theory and...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
July 17, 2006... The 23rd World Federation of Therapeutic Communities Conference will take place September 1-5 in New York City. The scientific program will be designed with the goal to foster Therapeutic Community (TC) appropriateness and effectiveness in...

In case you haven't heard ...(National Outcome Measures for drug treatment centers)(Brief article)
July 17, 2006... David Mactas, when heading CSAT, laid the foundation for the Performance Partnership Grants--now called NOMs (National Outcome Measures). Mactas, now executive director of Straight & Narrow in Paterson, N.J., says of course treatment providers...

Only half of adolescent facilities conduct mental health assessments.
July 24, 2006... A recent report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) says 50 percent of the programs treating adolescents for substance abuse problems are not conducting "comprehensive" mental health assessments. With...

New NIDA report hoped to educate judges, criminal justice.(Treatment instead of incarceration)(National Institute on Drug Abuse)
July 24, 2006... Supporters of treatment instead of incarceration can take heart from a landmark scientific report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) that shows drug abusers in the criminal justice system can be treated successfully. The report,...

Grant will allow New Hope Foundation to implement retention tool.
July 24, 2006... Officials at one of the largest addiction treatment organizations in New Jersey say their treatment retention rates already outpace industry norms, but they hope a newly awarded grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will help them limit...

Firm extends professional recovery model to broader population.
July 24, 2006... Addiction Intervention Resources (A.I.R.), a St. Paul, Minn.-based addiction consulting practice, attributes high relapse rates for chemical dependency to aftercare plans that at the outset place too much responsibility on the recovering...

McLean opens high-end treatment program.(McLean Hospital substance abuse treatment program)
July 24, 2006... Editor's note: Each week, look for an article in ADAW on the latest business moves in the substance abuse treatment world. This article debuts this new feature. Luxury treatment programs aren't just for the West Coast any...

Youth recovery program emphasizes volunteerism.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
July 24, 2006... The community services volunteer program at the Gray Wolf Ranch, an intermediate care residential recovery program for young men aged 14 to 25, has grown into one of the most important aspects of the 12-step treatment, reported the Port...

Addiction consultant says stick with the basics.(addiction treatment)(Brief article)
July 24, 2006... Delbert Boone, a recovering addict and a New-York based addiction consultant, last week told a gathering of over 900 counselors that the approach to addiction treatment has become over-complicated, reported the Daily Press on July 18. Speaking...

Europe's first online gaming treatment clinic.(Brief article)
July 24, 2006... Located in a 16th century townhouse in Amsterdam, a program run by the addiction consultants Smith & Jones is Europe's first clinic to treat online gaming addiction, reported Reuters on July 17. Although addiction experts are still in debate as...

Extra GP training improves abstinence.(General Practitioners)(Brief article)
July 24, 2006... New research suggests that just a few extra hours of training for general practitioners (GPs) can impact their ability to treat their alcohol-dependent patients. The study, published July 14 in the journal Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention...

Research grants: rural mental health and drug abuse disorders.(Resources)
July 24, 2006... The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a grant program to encourage research on mental health and/or drug abuse problems in rural and frontier communities, with stated goals including enhancing the "understanding of structural,...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
July 24, 2006... The International AIDS Society (IAS) and the AIDS 2006 Toronto local host will sponsor the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada on August 13-18. The Conference theme "Time to Deliver" will focus on the promises and progress made...

In case you haven't heard ...(Murdoch's News. Corp website MySpace.com)(Website overview)(Brief article)
July 24, 2006... MySpace.com, a web site owned by Rupert Murdoch's News. Corp., is hugely popular among adolescents. It's a place to find out where to get the best drugs and how to ingest them, rules aside, according to The Washington Post. Teens give false...

Studies of 12-step approach scrutinized for evidence.(Cochrane Review)(Clinical report)
July 31, 2006... Treatment providers are increasingly being asked to prove that what they do works. However, when it comes to 12-Step Facilitation (TSF), which is the AA-model incorporated into formal treatment, the evidence is that it works just as well as,...

Annapolis Coalition report anticipated to provide guidance on workforce shortage.
July 31, 2006... Low salaries and high turnover are not new in the addiction counseling field, but now the workforce is vulnerable on two additional fronts: many counselors and supervisors are "aging out" of the field, and new state licensing rules are keeping...

'Let's Talk Recovery' goes public.(Initial public offerings)(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... If recovery sells on Wall Street, treatment providers should perk up their ears. A company called Let's Talk Recovery is going public--which means it's raising investment money. The company issued its initial public offering (IPO) July 24, and...

New money awarded in multi-agency initiative for safe schools.
July 31, 2006... Fewer than 5 percent of school districts that applied for grants in the latest funding cycle for the federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative are receiving funding, indicating the widespread interest in a program that encourages...

Meth treatment needs become topic in Wyoming governor's race.
July 31, 2006... Methamphetamine addiction and its treatment have become important policy issues in a number of states, but it is unlikely that the topics have been discussed too often in gubernatorial election campaigns, as has been the case of late in...

Indiana launches model re-entry program.(Re-Entry Educational Facility correctional program )(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... The Plainfield Re-Entry Educational Facility in Indiana may be the nation's first prison facility dedicated exclusively to re-entry, reported the South Bend Tribune on July 20. While re-entry programs are popping up around the country, one...

Alcohol tops substance problems in rural America.(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... According to a new report from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), alcohol abuse is the number one substance abuse problem in rural America, particularly among youth and young adults. According to Carsey, 22 percent...

"Tackling Meth" tool kit.(Resources)
July 31, 2006... The Oregon Partnership, a prevention and treatment non-profit, has issued a 'Tackling Meth' "tool kit" designed for communities dealing with a methamphetamine problem. The tool kit is available on the organization's website--www.orpartnership....

"Blueprint" for states to tackle substance abuse.(Resources)(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... Following a national policy panel, the Join Together Foundation published the report "Blue Print for the States: Policies to Improve the Ways States Organize and Deliver Alcohol and Drug Prevention and Treatment." The authors write that...

Hythiam.(Chris Hassan appointed as executive vice president)(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... Hythiam, the company that licenses Prometa, the investigational treatment protocol, has hired Chris Hassan, formerly with Reckitt Benckiser pharmaceuticals, as senior executive vice president. Hassan will oversee all of Hythiam's licensing and...

Coming up ...(Calendar)
July 31, 2006... The International AIDS Society (IAS) and the AIDS 2006 Toronto local host will sponsor the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada on August 13-18. The Conference theme "Time to Deliver" will focus on the promises and progress made...

In case you haven't heard ...(behavioral study analysis)(Brief article)
July 31, 2006... Mark Willenbring, M.D., NIAAA's treatment research director, believes that what goes on in treatment itself may not have much to do with outcome at all--rather, it's the person's desire to change. "In study after study, whether a drug or...