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Tag: opiate

  • Is opiate pain medication safe for addicts? Part II

    In our previous article on pain medication and addicts we looked at how common opiate prescriptions are among people who are, or ever have been, identified as having substance abuse issues. We saw that although clinicians are often aware of the problem of possible prescription addiction developing, the issue of managing pain often results in…

  • Naltrexone the addiction cure?

    CNN released a news article a little while back titled “With anti-addiction pill, ‘no urge, no craving‘” that seems to suggest that a cure for addiction has been found. As usual, news reporting on these sort of topics revolves around a kernel of truth, with nice window dressing an a serving of embellishment. While naltrexone,…

  • Saving lives made easy – Treating opiate overdose with intranasal naloxone

    Contributing co-author: Andrew Chen Imagine that you and your friend have been using heroin (or another opiate). A few hours go by and you notice your friend is progressively becoming more and more unresponsive. You check on him and find that his breathing is shallow, his skin is cold, and his pupils are constricted. You…

  • Opioid prescription overdose and abuse – Staying safe while reducing pain

    A new article just published in JAMA (see here) reports a strong relationship between high-dose opiate prescribing and accidental overdose deaths. The authors focused on a sample of Veterans and found that those prescribed more than 50mg of morphine per day, or the equivalent of other opiate drugs, we much more likely to die of…

  • Addiction Treatment Admissions in the United States: Everyone, meet TEDS

    Dirk Hanson What a difference a decade makes. Between 1998 and 2008, addiction treatment admissions in the U.S. increased markedly for methamphetamine (crystal meth), prescription opiates, and marijuana. Treatment admissions for alcohol and cocaine declined over the same period, while heroin admissions remained roughly the same. The Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), which the Substance…

  • About Addiction: Smoking, Drugs, Drinking and Cancer

    New links for interesting articles about addiction. Check them out! Tobacco, nicotine, and Smoking Medical News Today: According to a recent study in China there is a new effective strategy for treating tobacco addiction.  Researchers have developed a novel tea filter that seems to help with cigarette addiction. (Note: this link doesn’t give direct access…

  • Crystal meth withdrawal – It’s not like heroin, but don’t expect it to be easy

    Heroin, or opiate, withdrawal symptoms is the gold standard of addiction withdrawal. Imagine the worst flu of your life, multiply it by 1000, and then imagine knowing that taking a hit of this stuff will make it all better. Think sweats, fever, shaking, diarrhea, and vomiting. Think excruciating pain throughout as your pain sensors get…

  • A perfect little game that teaches all about drug use and addiction

    No matter how much work I put into it, I don’t think I’ll be able to come up with a cuter, more fun, or more educational way to teach you all about what drugs do in the brain than the game on this site (click the link). It’s like you get to do your own,…

  • Addiction stories: Alcohol, marijuana, crime, and John’s life

    The following story was shared by a young reader. I was first drawn to it because it mirrored mine to a large extent. Fortunately, John decided to pull out before he let his life go down as far as I allowed myself to go. For that, and for his courage in sharing his story, I applaud him. John’s…

  • Ancestry, Addiction, and trauma – Addiction research into genetic differences based on race

    We all know that drug use and drug related crimes are a big problem within African American communities. It’s not a secret, but it can be interpreted very differently by different people. Do the differences between African Americans and Americans from European descent mean that Black people are simply meant to have more problems? A…