There’s so much to learn about addiction nowadays – Psychological theories, new stories, neuroscience research, and more. At All About Addiction we try to make the information easy to digest, so when you need to sort of the latest information about addiction, come see us, we’ll help.
Harm reduction – Heroin and Injecting Drugs
Irish Examiner-After four individuals died from heroin overdoses in Ireland drug workers are issuing warnings to heroin users. The heroin that is being used is of better quality so it elevates the risk for overdose. Heroin has been off of the streets of Ireland for the past couple of months due to supplying issues but now heroin is back, and it is so pure that it is killing people. Another issue could be that the short absence of the drug has left people with less tolerance then before.
The Body– The International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) and HIV rights groups are urging the UN’s to legalize methadone in order to fight HIV/AIDS and heroin addiction In Russia. Russia is home to 1 million HIV-positive people (for comparison, the U.S> has about 500,000) and has one of the fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world. In addition to this Russia has 3 million heroin addicts. Russia is refusing to employ harm reduction programs such as needle exchanges, or to legalize methadone to treat heroin addicts. Many Russian officials such as Gennady Onishchenko feel that legalizing methadone will not help as it is “just another narcotic.” We’ve hear the same argument here, but perhaps the IHRA can convince Russia to use harm reduction problems in order to help individuals.
Harm Reduction Coalition– This “webinar” allow its viewers to gain cultural competency when it comes to learning about the injecting drug user. It asks questions like: “Why is there a need for IDU cultural competency?” and “What is IDU Cultural Competency?”. Check out the webinar and see what it has to offer!
Mental Health and Prescription Drug Withdrawal in Newborns
Orlando Sentinel– Prescription drug abuse is already a problem in our society; in Florida alone prescription abuse is responsible for at least seven deaths a day. Prescription drug abuse is becoming even more problematic as it is now affecting newborns. In 2009 alone 1,000 babies were born and treated for drug-withdrawal syndrome. In the past babies that were going through drug-withdrawal symptoms were most likely to suffer from crack cocaine addiction but now the babies are more likely to be addicted to prescription drugs.
Science Daily– A study was conducted and found that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two to three times more likely than children without the disorder to develop serious substance abuse problems in adolescence and adulthood. Kate Humphreys, a colleague of Dr. Jaffe’s and a graduate student at UCLA was a coauthor of the research.
Addiction Recovery- Peer support
Stop Medicine Abuse-Often times it is best for teens to get information from their peers in order for something to have an effect in their lives. This website approaches substance abuse prevention with that specific mentality. Check out the testimony on this website as well as other resources that can be used by teens to learn about drug abuse.