Amidst news of the Trump administration transitioning into the White House and constant pundit chatter about a deeply divided country, President Obama signed The 21st Century Cures Act on December 13, 2016. The bipartisan effort is perhaps one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation aimed at finding solutions for addiction and mental health disorders. […]
Category: Drug Addiction
Black Box Warning and Prescription Drugs
For many people, the phrase “black box” conjures images of emergency officials searching for a downed airplane’s flight recorder in hopes of discovering just what exactly caused the accident. There is, however, another type of black box. The Federal Food and Drug Administration, the agency responsible for approving medications for the public at large, also […]
The Public Health Crisis of Addiction: Surgeon General’s Historic Step Forward
For the past 65 years, the American court and prison system is where the majority of people struggling with substance abuse and the addiction end up. Of the nation’s 2.3 million prison inmates, more than half – 65 percent or 1.5 million – meet the medical criteria for substance use disorder and addiction, reports the […]
The 27 Club – A Tragic Tour of Famous People That Died Too Young
It’s an eerie coincidence that so many talented musicians and artists lost their lives at the age of 27, a phenomenon dubbed The 27 Club. Set aside the various conspiracy theories about the unenviable club’s membership and the unfortunate realities, in some of the cases, are the treatable diseases of addiction and mental health conditions. […]
New Personality Test Identifies Children at Risk for Addiction
Most people of a certain age will remember First Lady Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug campaign “Just Say No.” Then came a Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s iconic ad “This is Your Brain on Drugs.” Following that was the Drug Abuse Resistance Education or DARE, founded by Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, launched in the Los […]
Study Shows Rise in Pediatric Opioid Poisonings and Deaths
As the nation’s battle with opioid addiction continues to ravage entire communities, there’s been scant reporting on how the epidemic’s touched the lives of children. In a recent study, however, researchers examined 15 years of data from children’s hospitals and found that children are suffering right alongside adults. “The opioid crisis affects everyone, and we […]
Tramadol is an Opiate Causing Issues on a Global Scale
Global consumption of the opioid Tramadol, a drug that in some parts of the world is unregulated, increased 186 percent between 2000 and 2012, reports the International Narcotics Control Board. In the United States, the synthetic opioid analgesic received government approval in 2010. By 2014, the Drug Enforcement Administration had placed it on the controlled […]
Marijuana Breathalyzer – When You’re Too High to Drive
California’s Proposition 64 – legalization of recreational marijuana – is on the ballot this November and the most recent polls reveal solid voter support for the measure. While law enforcement officials in the state have been outspoken in their stance against prop 64, some agencies appear to be preparing for the inevitable by testing a […]
Canada Legalizes Heroin and Extends Operation of Safe Injection Sites
Scott MacDonald is the lead physician at Crosstown Clinic, a Vancouver, British Columbia medical facility that opened in 2005 to conduct trials of prescription heroin. MacDonald has worked with 52 patients, though that number is expected to double now that the Canadian government, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has passed guidelines making it possible for […]
Deadly New Drug: U-47700 aka U4, Pink or Pinky
Another technically “legal” substance has been added to the wave of synthetic, or so called “research drugs,” that skirt state and federal law by slightly altering the molecular makeup. Known on the streets as U4, Pink or Pinky, U-47700 is a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than morphine. It’s been implicated in as many […]