Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly articles from March 2007

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly archives from March 2007

Full court press for addiction field on Capitol Hill.
March 5, 2007... If the top treatment advocates are successful, Capitol Hill will never look at addiction the same way after this week. "This is our moment," said William C. Moyers, vice president of the Hazelden Foundation, the keynote speaker for the March...

TC programs see benefits of offering dental services.(therapeutic community)
March 5, 2007... Informed by evidence that poor dental health affects both self-esteem and physical well-being, a growing number of therapeutic community (TC) programs have begun making it more convenient and less frightening for clients to receive professional...

Access to HBO's Addiction.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... The 14-part series, Addiction, will premiere on HBO the weekend of March 15-18. "It will be available on podcast, for free downloads or free streaming," said John Hoffman, HBO vice president of documentary progrmming. There will be a 4-DVD...

Tobacco up for FDA regulation; GAO on state use funds.(Government Accountability Office)
March 5, 2007... Once again, tobacco--or rather, the component nicotine--is up for regulation as a drug by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Under proposed legislation now under debate in Congress, the FDA would be able to regulate the levels of nicotine...

Final NJ OIG report blasts addiction treatment provider group.(Office of Inspector General)
March 5, 2007... An 81-page report scrutinizing every penny of funds awarded by the New Jersey Division of Addiction Services (DAS) between 2001 and 2006 to one grantee--Associated Treatment Providers--Management Services Network (ATPMSN)--continues to hold the...

Methadone catches on in Pennsylvania prisons.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... For years, correctional facilities offered methadone replacement only to pregnant women at risk, reported The Morning Call on January 23. Now prisons around the country are beginning to offer methadone to short-term inmates who were being...

Parental drinking further shrinks brain in alcoholics.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... While the link between alcoholism and reduced brain volume has been known for some time and is likely caused by the effects of ethanol, a new study has shown for the first time that alcoholic children of alcoholics have a smaller brain volume...

Killer had asked for treatment for alcoholism.(Joshua Mendel)(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Two weeks before he killed two young women and then killed himself, Joshua Mendel of Tempe, Arizona had called 911 saying he drank too much and needed help, and told police who responded to the call that he wanted to be taken to rehab,...

Researchers study marijuana-treatment pill.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... Addiction researcher Barbara Mason of Scripps Research Institute is studying gabapentin, an antiseizure medication, in the treatment of marijuana addiction. While there is little heard about this kind of addiction, Mason asserts that this is...

Physicians more likely to question minorities about substance abuse.(Brief article)
March 5, 2007... African Americans and Hispanics are twice as likely as whites to be asked about alcohol and drug use by physicians, according to a new study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. But since African-Americans...

SAMHSA updates outpatient treatment guidance in new TIPs.(RESOURCES)
March 5, 2007... Two new Treatment Improvement Protocols (TIPs) were released last month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Both are on outpatient treatment; one focuses on business concerns, the other on clinical issues....

NIAAA grants: alcoholism medication research.(CALL FOR APPLICATIONS)
March 5, 2007... The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is soliciting applications for funding of research on pharmacological agents to prevent or reduce alcohol intake. The NIAAA will commit up to $2 million to support between 3 and 6...

College prevention grants.
March 5, 2007... The U.S. Department of Education has announced it expects to award five grants to private and public institutions of higher education to support model on-campus programs for alcohol and drug prevention. Funds from the Safe and Drug-Free Schools...

Susan Wesley.(NAMES IN THE NEWS)
March 5, 2007... Susan Wesley, formerly a mental health administrator with the Florida Department of Children & Families, started a new job last week as CEO of Community Outreach Services Inc. (CORS), a nonprofit residential and outpatient substance abuse...

NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals.(Coming up)
March 5, 2007... NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals will hold a 20th Anniversary Advocacy Action Day on March 4-6 in Arlington, Va. For more information, visit http://naadac.org.

National Institutes of Health.(Coming up)
March 5, 2007... The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the American Medical Association will sponsor a joint meeting, "Pain, Opioids and Addiction: An Urgent Problem for Doctors and Patients" on March 5-6 at...

National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers.(Coming up)
March 5, 2007... The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) will hold its 2007 Addiction Treatment Leadership Conference on May 19-22 in San Diego. For more information, visit www.naatp.org/index.php.

White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
March 5, 2007... The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) will sponsor regional summits on random student drug testing. Dates are March 27 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and April 24 in Las Vegas. For more information, go to...

In case you haven't heard ...
March 5, 2007... That "date rape drug" may be plain old alcohol, according to a study done by doctors in England. In the study, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, the drinks of 75 patients--all of whom blamed a spiked drink for their reason for...

Call to action on underage drinking emphasizes coordinated response.
March 12, 2007... Referring to underage drinking as "a very significant public health and safety problem," the acting U.S. Surgeon General last week issued a national "call to action" grounded in developmental research and emphasizing shared responsibility among...

Addiction workforce report released without SAMHSA endorsement.
March 12, 2007... The long-awaited report on the addiction treatment workforce--Strengthening Professional Identity--is now on the website of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). However, it is not an official SAMHSA report,...

NIDA pain-addiction conference focuses on 'balance'.(National Institute on Drug Abuse)
March 12, 2007... The first national conference sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on addiction and pain relief was held last week in Washington, and provided a forum for the more than 500 attendees to examine issues related to opioid...

CTN to evaluate 1-month bupe treatment for rx opiates.(Clinical Trials Network)(buprenorphine)
March 12, 2007... Also last week, NIDA announced that its National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network would conduct research evaluating a treatment for addiction to prescription opioid analgesics. This marks a new arena for NIDA, since previously...

Study finds power of craving underestimated by opioid addicts.(Clinical report)
March 12, 2007... Despite first-hand knowledge that withdrawal symptoms would eventually set in, opioid-dependent subjects would prefer money to a future dose of buprenorphine, a recent study shows. According to the report, addicts who had just received...

NJ contracting system changes due to IG investigation.(New Jersey, Inspector General)
March 12, 2007... Jennifer Velez, acting commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services (DHS), responded to last month's Inspector General (IG) report on Division of Addiction Services (DAS) contracts with the Addiction Treatment Providers (ATP) and...

Recommendations from workforce report.(List)
March 12, 2007... The recommendations of the Strengthening Professional Identity report include: Infrastructure Development Priorities 1. Create career paths for the treatment and recovery workforce and adopt national core competency standards; 2....

Calgary schools forego drug use survey.(BRIEFLY NOTED)(Canada)(Survey)(Brief article)
March 12, 2007... The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission surveyed almost 4,000 Canadian teens in 2005 regarding their drug, alcohol and gambling habits and found that in the past year 63 percent had used alcohol, 25 percent illicit drugs and 2.4 percent...

SAMHSA's database of evidence-based practices.(RESOURCES)
March 12, 2007... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced on March 1 the launch of its new National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP). Officials say the database expands the efforts to support...

California Institute for Mental Health.(Coming up)(Brief article)
March 12, 2007... The California Institute for Mental Health (CIMH) will host the Seventh Annual California Information Management Conference: Addressing the Needs of Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drug Programs on April 11-12 in Manhattan Beach, Cal. Visit...

American Society on Addiction Medicine.(Coming up)
March 12, 2007... The American Society on Addiction Medicine (ASAM) will hold its 38th Annual Medical Scientific Conference in Miami on April 26-29. For more information, visit www.asam.org.

National Institute on Drug Abuse.(Coming up)
March 12, 2007... The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will sponsor a conference entitled Drug Abuse and Risky Behaviors: The Evolving Dynamics of HIV/AIDS on May 8-9 in Bethesda, Maryland. To register or for more information, visit...

In case you haven't heard ...
March 12, 2007... Vancouver, the harm reduction capital of Canada, is running into some problems with its proposed drug substitution program for stimulant addicts: it's not outright opposition, but wonderment at whether the project can really work. "We're...

House parity bill gives fairer treatment to addiction treatment: Senate version supported by managed care.
March 19, 2007... If addiction treatment providers feel confused about which version of the two parity bills in Congress to support--the Senate version (see ADAW Feb.19) or the one introduced earlier this month by Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.) and Rep. Patrick...

What makes for a good methadone program? SAMHSA looks at selecting 'exemplary' programs, requiring reporting of critical incidents.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
March 19, 2007... Methadone maintenance treatment, stigmatized even within the addiction treatment field, may be getting some help from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in elevating its status. In the early stages of a...

Report on college substance abuse attacks culture of acceptance.
March 19, 2007... A detailed analysis of substance abuse problems and their consequences on college campuses has found relatively little progress in combating these problems since similar analyses more than a decade ago. A resulting report from the National...

Teen use of inhalants rising: SAMHSA.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
March 19, 2007... Inhalants, mainly common household products like nail polish or pain solvents, were abused by almost 5 percent of girls between the ages of 12 and 17, and 4.2 percent of boys, in 2005, according to a report released March 15 by the Substance...

New compound shows promise for alcoholism.(Brief article)
March 19, 2007... Lead National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA) researcher Markus Heilig, M.D., Ph.D., believes that a new compound tested in rats showed such promise that "it should be developed for clinical use in alcoholism." A compound...

Workplace drug use down.(Brief article)
March 19, 2007... Workplace drug use reached an all-time low in 2006, according to the results of the annual "Drug Testing Index "by Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, a drug testing company. According to the data, released March 7, amphetamine use has declined 20...

NADCP calls for federal funding.(National Association of Drug Court Professionals)(Brief article)
March 19, 2007... The National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) is calling on the Administration to put drug court money back in the budget. President Bush's fiscal year 2008 budget plan would consolidate 70 independent programs at the Office of...

Drug-Free communities grants.(CALL FOR APPLICATIONS)
March 19, 2007... The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are accepting applications for the latest round of grants under the Drug-Free Communities Support Program, with plans...

Online CBT course for counselors.(cognitive-behavioral therapy)(Brief article)
March 19, 2007... Substance abuse counselors and supervisors can sign up for a free interactive web course teaching the skills of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), as part of an innovative research study by the New England Research Institutes (NERI), the...

Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment.
March 19, 2007... The Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx) will hold its first annual summit, "Improving Access and Engagement in Addiction and Behavioral Health Treatment," on April 23-25 in San Antonio, Texas. For more information and to...

National Institute on Drug Abuse.(Coming up)
March 19, 2007... The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will sponsor a conference entitled," Drug Abuse and Risky Behaviors: The Evolving Dynamics of HIV/AIDS," on May 8-9 in Bethesda, Maryland. To register, or for more information, visit...

In case you haven't heard ...
March 19, 2007... The Prometa Center for Addiction opened earlier this month in San Francisco, and treatment is $12,000 to $15,000. This is the third Prometa Center--the other two are in Woodbridge, N.J. and Santa Monica, Calif. Treatment is " performed in an...

Bills would increase funding for family-based methamphetamine treatment.
March 26, 2007... Establishing grants specifically for methamphetamine treatment, giving priority to rural areas and setting up special funding for nonviolent offenders, may not make sense in states where the biggest drug problem is prescription opioids. But it...

Breakthrough study links spiritual experiences, reduction in drinking.
March 26, 2007... Research that has sought to identify a connection between spirituality and addiction recovery generally has looked at basic dimensions of religion such as a person's religious affiliation. But a compelling new study from the University of...

System seeks to improve monitoring of prescription drug misuse.
March 26, 2007... As pharmaceutical manufacturers and government officials each have felt pressure to improve monitoring of drug use patterns that could signal a crisis in prescription opioid abuse, the marketplace has seen the introduction of more sophisticated...

Funding decisions underway in Congress now.(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... With large funding cuts slated for addiction treatment and prevention, decisions made by Congress this week are crucial. The deadline has been extended to March 27 for earmarks, and field groups urge immediate action to put money back in key...

Baltimore asks for cigarette tax hike to pay for buprenorphine.
March 26, 2007... Mayor Sheila Dixon of Baltimore is asking Maryland legislators to raise the Maryland cigarette tax by $1 a pack. This provision of Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed budget would pay for additional drug treatment in the city, including $5 million...

Cocaine positive rates among D.C. adult arrestees return to levels last seen in late 1990s.(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... Cocaine continues to be the drug that adult arrestees in the District of Columbia test positive for most often, and positive rates have been gradually increasing in recent years. According to data from the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency, the...

Massachusetts could cut gambling addiction assistance.(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... While the Massachusetts State Lottery Budget is slated for a nearly 20 percent increase under Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed budget, the proposal includes a one third cut in funding to the state's Council on Compulsive Gambling, reported the...

Needle exchange faces budget cuts.(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... A needle exchange program in New Haven, Connecticut faces setbacks in light of a proposed state budget that would cut about a fifth of the $500,000 the state currently spends the programs. The Associated Press reported on March 11 that cities...

AAP opposes student drug testing.(American Academy of Pediatrics)(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a statement on March 5 as an addendum to its 1996 Policy Statement, "Testing for Drugs of Abuse in Children and Adolescents," in which the group states its opposition to the involuntary drug...

FAR announces mission of alcohol education.(Foundation for Alcohol Responsibility)(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... A recently formed beverage-industry-sponsored non-profit organization, the Foundation for Alcohol Responsibility (FAR) (www.alcoholresponsibility.org) has set out to "make intoxication socially unacceptable and ensure responsible alcohol...

Few health plans offer online counseling.(Brief article)
March 26, 2007... A 2003 survey of 368 nationally representative health plans across 60 markets found that only two percent of plans offered online counseling. Constance Horgan, Sc.D., with the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis...

SAMHSA grants for ATTCs.(GRANTS AND FUNDING)
March 26, 2007... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will make 15 grants to support 14 regional Addiction Technology Transfer Centers (ATTCs) plus one National Coordinating Center. SAMHSA reported that $7.8 million in new...

Barbara Durkin.(NAMES IN THE NEWS)
March 26, 2007... Barbara Durkin has been named public policy associate with the National Association of State Alcohol/Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) in Washington, D.C. Durkin was hired as public policy intern in September 2006, and recently promoted to full...

National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers.(Coming up)
March 26, 2007... The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) will hold its 2007 Addiction Treatment Leadership Conference on May 19-22 in San Diego. For more information, visit www.naatp.org/index.php.

American Society on Addiction Medicine.(Coming up)
March 26, 2007... The American Society on Addiction Medicine (ASAM) will hold its 38th Annual Medical Scientific Conference in Miami on April 26-29. For more information, visit www.asam.org.

National Council on Problem Gambling.(Coming up)
March 26, 2007... The National Council on Problem Gambling will hold its national conference, "Gambling and Co-Occurrence: Improving Practice and Managing Consequences," June 9-11 in Kansas City, Missouri. For more information, visit www.ncpgambling.org.

In case you haven't heard ...
March 26, 2007... Anti-drug activist Milton Creagh tells his school-age audiences in Idaho that even pets who come from homes where methamphetamine is made have the drug in their systems when admitted to the animal shelter, according to a report in the March 21...