Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly articles from July 2007

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly archives from July 2007

New York to ban tobacco in treatment facilities: medical directors support move for clinical reasons.
July 9, 2007... Sometime this summer, the 1,400 treatment providers licensed by the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) will face a new rule banning tobacco, ADAW has learned. The reason: concerns about the health of...

NAATP, NAADAC announce public policy collaboration.(National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers and)
July 9, 2007... Two national associations representing addiction treatment provider agencies and addiction counselors, respectively, have discovered in recent years a common advocacy agenda and a comfortable working relationship. The most formalized...

Senate appropriations committee says no to penalty.(NOMs Update)
July 9, 2007... The addiction treatment field got some good news last month when the Senate Appropriations Committee soundly rebuked the Administration's proposal to cut block grant funds from states that did not report National Outcome Measures (NOMs). The...

Correction.(Correction notice)
July 9, 2007... Correction: In the June 25 issue of ADAW, there was an incorrect date. The story on the appropriations subcommittee (page 6) said the full Senate committee would meet July 21. The date should have been June 21. We regret the error.

For-profit faith-based homes for offenders in recovery.(Program Profile)
July 9, 2007... A combination of savvy real estate investment and personal commitment has given rise to an unusual treatment modality in Idaho: a for-profit, faith-based organization that provides affordable housing to men--and, in the future, women--who are...

UN issues World Drug Report.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... In a statement marking the recent release of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's 2007 World Drug Report, Antonio Maria Costa claimed that "the run-away train of drug addiction has slowed down." According to a June 26 UNDOC release,...

NIAAA research identifies alcoholism subtypes.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... In findings that National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) researcher Howard B. Moss, M.D., hopes will "dispel the popular notion of the 'typical alcoholic'," NIAAA scientists have analyzed a national sample of individuals with...

Gene variant increases risk for alcoholism in abused girls.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Researchers with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) recently reported that girls with a particular gene variant could be more susceptible to later alcoholism if they've been sexually abused as children. These...

HBO honored for "Addiction" documentary.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... On June 17 the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD), in partnership with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), presented its 2007 Media Award to John Hoffman, Vice President of Home Box Office (HBO) Documentary. Hoffman was...

Pennsylvania methadone clinic proclaims success.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Authorities in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania estimate that approximately 800 residents are addicted to heroin, reported the Patriot News on June 24. While only a fraction of these addicts are currently on methadone maintenance at the Lebanon...

ValueOptions awarded Kansas SA-PIHP contract.(BUSINESS)(Substance Abuse Prepaid Inpatient Health Plan)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... ValueOptions, Inc. announced on June 13 it has been awarded the Substance Abuse Prepaid Inpatient Health Plan (SA-PIHP) contract by the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. The nation's largest independent behavioral health...

NIMH: Outreach Partnership Program grants.(GRANTS AND FUNDING)(National Institute of Mental Health)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... The National Institute of Mental Health has announced it is seeking proposals from potential "Outreach Partners" in New York City, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, Southern California, the Texas Border Region, and Virginia. The Outreach Partnership...

SAMHSA: updated directory of treatment programs.(RESOURCES)(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration )(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced on June 25 that its updated guide to local substance abuse treatment programs is now available, including information on licensed, certified or otherwise approved...

Gene Boyle.(NAMES IN THE NEWS)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Gene Boyle retired last month after 12 years ast director of the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs with the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Previously, Boyle was director of prevention services for the state, and before that was executive...

Alkermes starts research on new treatment medication as Vivitrol growth continues.
July 9, 2007... Alkermes, maker of Vivitrol, the injectable form of naltrexone used to treat alcoholism, is working on a new drug: ALKS 29. And according to preliminary results announced last week, the drug--actually a combination of two agents--increased the...

NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals.(Coming up)
July 9, 2007... NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, will hold its annual conference in affiliation with the Tennessee Association of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselors and the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Addiction Professionals in...

National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.(Coming up)
July 9, 2007... The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) will sponsor a conference, "Double Jeopardy: Substance Abuse and Co-Occuring Mental Health Disorders in Young People," on Oct. 18 in New York City. Keynote...

American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence.(Coming up)
July 9, 2007... The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) will hold its 2007 National Conference on Oct. 20-24 in San Diego. For more information and to register, visit www.aatod.org/aatodnational.html.

In case you haven't heard ...(National Institute on Drug Abuse to change name to National Institute on Diseases of Addiction)(Brief article)
July 9, 2007... Don't update your phone books yet, but... Last month the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee recommended changing the name of the National Institute on Drug Abuse to the National Institute on Diseases of Addiction....

NESARC finds time lag of 10 years between alcohol use disorder and treatment.('The Lost Decade')(National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions)
July 16, 2007... The average age of the onset of alcohol abuse is 21.9 years, but the average age at which these people get treatment is 32.1 years, according to themost recent data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions...

Dually diagnosed prove challenging to state service systems.
July 16, 2007... While state efforts to improve Medicaid behavioral health services tend to focus on expanding community-based care, newly released data suggest that this approach may leave behind an important population: beneficiaries with co-occurring...

Utah rolls out $8 million in new funds for treating drug offenders.
July 16, 2007... This month saw a large infusion of cash into Utah's treatment and corrections systems--more than $8 million. This represents an expansion for the DORA (Drug Offender Reform Act) program, which is in its third and last year as a pilot. "The...

House Committee says 'Yes' to block grant, 'No' to penalty.(Appropriations)
July 16, 2007... Last week, the full House Appropriations Committee brought good news: a $35 million increase for the block grant, and a refusal to penalize states that don't report National Outcome Measures (NOMs). This came on the heels of similar good news...

Chantix may work for alcoholism, too: animal study.
July 16, 2007... Varenicline (trade name Chantix) is well known to treatment providers as a drug that helps stop the craving for nicotine. But results of an animal study released last week indicate that Chantix may also quell alcohol craving. The study,...

Methadone maintenance low among Aboriginal drug users.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 16, 2007... Investigators led by Evan Wood with the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS write that previous studies have suggested that injection drug users of Aboriginal ethnic background are particularly susceptible to health-related...

First conviction under Combat Meth Act.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(William F. Fousse convicted under Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005)(Brief article)
July 16, 2007... A resident of Ontario, New York is the first in the nation to be convicted under the Combat Meth Act, a national law enacted in 2006 to deter the conversion of ephedrine-, pseudoephedrine-, and phenylpropanolamine-containing cold medicines into...

Iowa completes "tank lock" anti-meth project.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
July 16, 2007... In what Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) calls a "major milestone" in Iowa's war on methamphetamine, nearly 24,000 locks have been installed on anhydrous ammonia tanks across all 99 counties, completing a project that Senator Harkin began in 2002. The...

Nevada has elevated rates of death from substance abuse, suicide.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
July 16, 2007... The Las Vegas Sun reported on July 3 that Nevada has a significantly elevated rate of death from alcoholic liver disease compared to national rates, according to its analyses of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mortality data. In...

Peter F. McManus Charitable Trust grants.(GRANTS AND FUNDING)(Brief article)
July 16, 2007... The Peter F. McManus Charitable Trust has announced grants available to 501(c) nonprofits for basic, clinical and social-environment research into the causes of alcohol and other drug abuse. Individual grants will be no more than $50,000, with...

Toolkit to protect Native Americans communities from fetal alcohol syndrome.(RESOURCES)(Brief article)
July 16, 2007... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported on July 5 it has issued a "toolkit" designed to protect Native American communities from fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The American Indian/Alaska...

Laguna Beach Recovery to provide proprietary treatment protocols.(BUSINESS)(Brief article)
July 16, 2007... Let's Talk Recovery, Inc. (LTR) announced on June 14 that its branded boutique Laguna Beach Recovery Center has entered into an agreement to offer proprietary treatment protocols licensed from a "major health care services management company,"...

July 20, Seabrook House.(Coming up)
July 16, 2007... On July 20, Seabrook House will offer a seminar led by therapist Terra Holbrook, LCSW, CADC, titled "Breaking the Cycle: Sex, Love & Relationship Addiction." The seminar will take place from 8:30am to 1:00pm at The Manor Restaurant in West...

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.(Coming up)
July 16, 2007... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is sponsoring the 2nd annual Women's Alliance to Strengthen Access and Retention (WASTAR) Conference on September 17-18. The University of Nevada, Reno Center for the Application of...

International Association of Addiction Medicine.(Coming up)
July 16, 2007... The International Association of Addiction Medicine (ISAM) will hold its Annual Meeting and Scientific Conference on October 22-25 in Cairo, Egypt. More information will become available on ISAM's website at www.isamweb.com.

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief article)
July 16, 2007... The "nation's doctor" is not free to give public health advice, Congress was told last week. Three former surgeon generals testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the office was overly politicized. Richard H....

Reports highlight challenges of combating substance use in workplace.
July 23, 2007... The subject of substance use problems in the workplace and barriers to addressing them came into full view last week with the coincidental release of a data analysis from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)...

Top risk factor for post-treatment overdose is previous overdose: research points to need for asking tough questions.
July 23, 2007... A new study shows that the best predictor of whether patients will overdose after treatment is whether they have overdosed before, according to a new study published in the current issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, released July 12. ...

Odyssey House starts construction on housing project for SPMI.
July 23, 2007... Last week Odyssey House broke ground on a supportive housing project for people with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI). This project is notable because Odyssey House is a therapeutic community originally focused on treating substance...

We can't deliver a science without skilled workers ... Are we up to the challenge?(FROM THE FIELD)
July 23, 2007... Despite the longstanding classification of addiction as a major public health problem over time by leading clinicians and research institutes and the fact that our knowledge of prevention, detection of problematic use, dependence, and recovery...

Medicaid payments for treatment: TEDS.(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Medicaid pays for more substance abuse treatment (13 percent) than do private payers (6 percent), according to a July 12 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) analyzing some of the most recent...

Few health plans require behavioral health screening.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Despite several initiatives designed to encourage primary care physicians to screen for substance use disorders, the payers--insurance companies--are not interested. According to a study from the Institute for Behavioral Health at Brandeis...

Trial suggests efficacy for as-needed dosing of nalmefene.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... A team of Finnish researchers conducted an industry-funded study examining the opioid antagonist nalmefene (Revex), currently FDA-approved for the management of opioid overdose but not for treating alcoholism. Examining an alternative to daily...

School district sends parents anti-alcohol/drug "pledge".(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Enclosed with report cards mailed at the end of June, parents of school-age children in Westford, Massachusetts received a brochure promoting the SafeHomes program, reported the Boston Globe on July 5. Sponsored by Westford Against Substance...

Meth labs decline but use remains steady.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... New evidence that home-grown methamphetamine labs are on the decline have some experts hopeful that the popularity of the drug is waning, reported USA Today on July 2. Recently released data from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) indicate a 58...

Alabama treatment spending climbs, still falls short.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Although Alabama's spending for drug and alcohol treatment is poised to double this year, reaching an all-time high of $38.9 million, Kent Hunt, associate commissioner for substance abuse at the Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation,...

New Hampshire women's prison lacks space and programs.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... Commissioner of New Hampshire's Department of Corrections, William Wren, is hoping the state legislature will approve his request for funds for a new state women's prison, reported the Concord Monitor on July 9. Steady population growth at the...

Wisconsin makes impact with screening program.(STATE WATCH)(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... A four-question screen, an onsite consultation and three follow-up visits comprise the brief screening and intervention now conducted at 20 clinics statewide through the Wisconsin Initiative to Promote Healthy Lifestyles (WIPHL), a program...

House Committee approves parity bill.
July 23, 2007... The House Education and Labor Committee last week approved the parity bill (H.R. 1424), sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) and Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.). The proposed legislation, the Paul Well-stone Mental Health and Addiction Equity...

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief article)
July 23, 2007... The pharmaceutical industry has come in for some tough criticism lately in terms of prescription drug abuse, but it doesn't have anything to fear from law enforcement--at least, not from the police officers who go into classrooms as part of...

CSAT meeting calls for numbers on methadone deaths, media education.(Center for Substance Abuse Treatment)
July 30, 2007... Spurred by an increase in methadone overdose deaths, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently convened a meeting designed to address the problem so that methadone maintenance as an addiction treatment can...

Conn. program shows modest success in housing, supports for homeless.("Homelessness and Mental Illness: Perspectives on Prevention" in Connecticut)
July 30, 2007... While examples abound of initiatives offering safe housing and comprehensive treatment for homeless persons with a primary psychiatric diagnosis, few organizations have ventured toward reaching an even more marginalized population: homeless...

Oregon addictions treatment grows by $14 million.
July 30, 2007... After several years of devastating budget cuts, state-funded addiction treatment is getting an infusion of more than $14 million in new money over the next two years. In the recently adopted budget for 2007-2009, there will be $10.4 million for...

Addiction field: welcome patients with serious mental illness.
July 30, 2007... When large treatment systems need advice about co-occurring disorders, they often call Kenneth Minkoff, M.D., a Massachusetts-based psychiatrist who is one of the leading experts on treating "dual diagnosis" patients. Unlike some consultants,...

NY tobacco ban to take effect July 24, 2008.(New York)
July 30, 2007... Under a new initiative first reported in ADAW July 9, New York will ban tobacco in addiction treatment programs. The initiative was formally announced last week by the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). "For...

White House urges low-cost drug tests.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... Officials with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) see no reason why states should require school districts to conduct costly drug-use tests when low-cost alternatives work just fine. ONDCP deputy director Bertha...

Integrity House methadone program gets accreditation.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... Integrity House's adult residential opioid program, based in Secaucus, N.J., received a three-year CARF accreditation. The program received CARF's highest level of accreditation. It is the program's second consecutive accreditation. "We...

Inmate dies of ethanol withdrawal syndrome.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Moses McDowall)(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... A Sonoma County, Calif. jail inmate who was found dead in his cell last November died from ethanol withdrawal syndrome, according to Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua, the Bay City News Wire reported. Moses McDowall, 29,...

Prenatal alcohol exposure can lead to behavioral issues.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure can cause cognitive and behavioral problems even without the facial characteristics associated with fetal alcohol syndrome, according to a report published in the August 2007 Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental...

Phone counseling helps men reduce drinking days.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Brief article)(Clinical report)
July 30, 2007... Short-term telephone counseling can effectively help men with alcohol dependence or abuse reduce their drinking days, according to a study published in the August 2007 Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Researchers at the...

Report outlines efforts to integrate physical, behavioral health services.(RESOURCE)(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... A new report prepared by Health Management Associates on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation identifies and describes publicly funded integrated programs that deliver substance abuse, primary care, and mental health services. The...

NAADAC, the Association For Addiction Professionals.(Coming up)(National Association of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselors)(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, will hold its annual conference in affiliation with the Tennessee Association of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Counselors and the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Addiction Professionals in...

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.(Coming up)(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) will sponsor a conference, "Double Jeopardy: Substance Abuse and Co-Occuring Mental Health Disorders in Young People" on October 18 in New York City. Keynote...

The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence.(Coming up)(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) will hold its 2007 National Conference on October 20-24 in San Diego. For more information and to register, visit www.aatod.org/aatodnational.html.

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief article)
July 30, 2007... The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was used during last year's congressional campaigns by the White House to make appearances in districts where Republicans were faltering, according to Rep. Henry A.Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman...