New Hydrocodone Pill a More Powerful Opiate

by Linda on February 16, 2012

OxyContin and oxycodone are now the most abused drugs on the streets and in the homes. Many of those suffering from the abuse of these opiates innocently began their addiction with a prescription for the drug. However, these patients soon began to seek the drug not for pain, but to feed their addiction. OxyContin has [...]

Reality TV: Moonshiners Exploits Alcoholism

by Robin on February 14, 2012

The Discovery Channel has produced a show called Moonshiners based in Virginia. The Virginia Department of Beverage and Alcohol control is outraged, as this is an illegal process. Moonshiners is about different groups of people making their own alcohol illegally. The show also depicts law enforcement that is always attempting to find the camouflaged distills [...]

Suboxone Treatment: A Miracle or a Curse?

February 13, 2012

In 2007, researchers from Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital began a long over due study about opiate addiction and physician treatment use of Suboxone in the doctor’s office. The researchers followed both patients who received Suboxone (as well as counseling) and those who were counseled on abstinence and self help groups. While Suboxone helped [...]

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Residential Treatment Programs at 89% Capacity

February 10, 2012

23 million people suffer from alcohol and/or drug addiction in this country. According to the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, a total of 110,795 beds in residential treatment programs were available in 2009. 76 percent of those beds are in private, non hospital, not for profit settings. The figure was 93-96% occupied for [...]

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Abuse of Carisoprodol and Emergency Room Visits Increase Drastically

February 8, 2012

Physicians are time pressed and everyone knows this. However, the statistics surrounding the abuse of prescription drugs mounts weekly. It is no longer tenable that physicians prescribe powerful drugs without using proper protocol and follow up evaluations. A new Drug Abuse Warning Network study revealed that from 2004 to 2009 there was a major increase [...]

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Self-Medicating and the Physician Patient Relationship

February 7, 2012

In a recent article published in “Psychiatric Times”, the author’s reviewed how a self-medication model can build trust and reveal the patient’s thinking about a drug(s), as well as expose abuse and the reasons why the abuse may be occurring. For example, the authors argue that much can be discovered by asking a question such [...]

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Prescription Abuse and the Value of Urine Testing Patients

December 28, 2011

Physicians are pressed for time as they have to cover many areas in a short period of time. This is the reality of the physician’s modern day practice. However, a new serious epidemic of prescription abuse is upon us and needs to be addressed at the physician’s level. The news about addiction to opiates, benzodiazepines, [...]

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The First Residency for Addiction Medicine

December 27, 2011

The need for physicians trained specifically in addiction medicine has been growing. The call has been getting louder and louder as more and more people grow addicted to prescription drugs, especially the youth and the elderly in the country. Up until now, the American Society of Addiction Medicine has provided certification for the specialty of [...]

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Five Risk Factors for Developing Alcoholism or Drug Addiction

December 21, 2011

Why is it that some people can drink a huge amount but never develop alcoholism? Why can some people use drugs and then just stop without going through withdrawal? There is no one answer to these questions other than there are several factors that combine make one more susceptible to addiction than another. Five Risk [...]

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Alcohol Abuse Comes with Serious Health Consequences and Risk

December 19, 2011

Throughout the world alcohol consumption is responsible for roughly four percent of all deaths. A new study done in Tuscany, Italy is showing that individuals who suffer from alcohol abuse run a higher risk of an early death. Domenico Palli, the head of the Nutritional and Molecular Epidemiology Unit at the Cancer and Prevention Institute [...]

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