Tag Archives: Opiates

Do Young-Adult Prescription Opioid Abusers Understand Their Risks?

In the U.S., significant numbers of young adults are involved in the abuse a prescription opioid medication. An increase in this form of drug abuse largely helps explain the current increase in the frequency of opioid overdoses. In a study published in July 2014 in the International Journal of Drug Policy, a team of American […]

SAMHSA Encourages Medication-Assisted Addiction Treatment

It might seem like an odd concept: using drugs to gain control over drug use. But especially for people addicted to opioids such as heroin or prescription painkillers, medication-assisted treatment with drugs such as Suboxone (a mix of buprenorphine and naloxone) or methadone can save lives.

Illinois May Soon Put Overdose Antidote in Hands of School Nurses

Illinois lawmakers are working on a bill that would let school nurses give students overdosing on opioid prescriptions or heroin the drug that could save their lives. Naloxone (brand name Narcan) is known as the overdose antidote because it can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and prevent fatalities. This drug is most often […]

Which Drug Use Cues Play a Role in Prescription Opioid Dependence?

Researchers and addiction specialists are well aware that people affected by physical dependence and drug addiction commonly have a susceptibility to certain social and environmental cues that make ongoing substance use and relapses during substance treatment more likely. However, fairly little is known about the specific drug cues that motivate people physically dependent on prescription […]

Intranasal Naloxone on Fast Track for Opioid Overdose

Naloxone is a medication that temporarily stops heroin and other opioid substances from reaching the brain. When used promptly, it can help stop a person from dying from an opioid overdose. In recent years, public health officials and researchers have sought to increase the availability of naloxone and make the drug easier to administer in […]

Missouri Holds Out on Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs

A prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) is an official database of information on prescribers and recipients of controlled substances. The idea is that when doctors and pharmacists can see exactly who is obtaining prescription drugs, the public’s ability to abuse those drugs will be minimized. The database is also open to law enforcement. A recent […]

Naloxone Nasal Device New Way to Treat Heroin Overdose

The Food and Drug Administration has fast-tracked a nasal spray application of naloxone, a highly effective medicine that helps save the lives of addicts in the midst of a heroin overdose. Faced with an alarming rise in the abuse of opiates such as heroin and prescription painkillers, the FDA moved to accelerate the approval process of […]

Ex-Players Say NFL Handed Out Painkillers ‘Like Candy’

The National Football League has been sued by more than 600 retired players, who have charged that they were wrongfully doped with addictive painkillers to keep them on the field at the expense of their health. This marks the second time in a week that makers of opiate drugs have been pulled into lawsuits. On […]

Methadone and Benzodiazepines Deadly Combination

People affected by opioid addiction sometimes receive one of two opioid-based medications, called methadone and buprenorphine, as part of their treatment. Current evidence indicates that significant numbers of people who abuse these medications also get involved in the abuse of common prescription substances called benzodiazepines. In a study published in May 2014 in the journal […]

‘Every “Never” I Ever Said Came True’: Transitions From Opioid Pills to Heroin Injecting

Intravenous heroin users rely on a needle and syringe to inject the powerful opioid narcotic heroin directly into the bloodstream. In addition to the risks for drug addiction common to all people who take the drug, IV users have increased risks for serious or fatal bloodborne infections such as hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS. In a […]

Doctors Top Source of Abused Opioids, CDC Says

A new federal study has found that U.S. doctors are the leading source of prescription painkillers for hardcore addicts — those at highest risk for overdose. Amid epidemic abuse of prescription painkillers, which leads to more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention findings upend notions about where the […]

Drugs Can Become Part of Lifestyle, Promises’ Dr. David Sack Tells CNN

CNN reached out to Promises Treatment Centers’ CEO Dr. David Sack recently to discuss opiate addiction and to shed light on the incidence of relapse among addicts who have completed treatment. “Facilitators” who surround the highly affluent, those who travel in artistic circles, are the enemy of the addict, Dr. Sack told CNN’s “Erin Burnett […]

Treatment Wait List Deadly for Opiate Addicts

People addicted to the powerful drugs and medications called opioids typically need treatment in a program aimed at addressing and overcoming the effects of these narcotic substances. However, in some cases, addicts wishing to enter treatment for opioid addiction must wait until spaces in the appropriate programs open up.

Does Cannabis Use Change Outcome of Opioid Dependence Treatment?

Opioid dependence is the term used to describe a reliance on the effects of opioid drugs or medications. In some cases, dependent people go on to develop the drug cravings and dysfunctional behaviors associated with opioid addiction. Opioid-dependent people often use cannabis in the form of marijuana, hashish or hashish oil. In a study published […]

Center for Investigative Reporting: As VA Opiate Overdoses Skyrocket, Veterans’ New Enemy Is Addiction

The federal agency entrusted with the health and well-being of America’s military veterans has over-prescribed them with opiates, a pain-killer fix to more complex problems, according to a new report by the Center for Investigative Reporting. The national non-profit news organization found, based on records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and other data, […]

Supervision of Methadone Prescriptions Reduces Number of Related Deaths

Although the heroin substitute is known to effectively reduce heroin-related deaths among heroin addicts and facilitate better recovery during rehabilitation, use of methadone itself has raised concerns due to its potential for abuse, dependency, and overdose when misused by vulnerable patients. Because trends in heroin abuse and methadone prescribing among the UK population have continued […]

Promises Drug Treatment Centers See a Troubling Rise in Opiate Addiction

Addiction Psychiatrist Dr. David Sack recommends an integrated approach to opiate addiction treatment to reduce the risk of relapse. (Vocus) July 1, 2009 — Speculation around the cause of Michael Jackson’s death has brought to the public eye what Promises Treatment Centers has long recognized as a growing problem: opiate prescription drug addiction. Very few […]