Addiction and Aging Baby-Boomers
An addiction “boom” is happening to people in 50s and 60s – too young to be old, often caring for parents, or under-employed adult children often with their own families, and still working to try to make ends meet – is causing many baby-boomers to have more issues with addiction and substance abuse then perhaps earlier in their life.
Addicts You May Know
The popular “Nurse Jackie” series on Showtime gives us the chance to explore the fact that people with addiction issues may be your neighbors, co-workers, friends and family, and how this understanding is important to finding ways of addressing this large public health issue.
More Training to Prescribe Opioids
The Obama administration recently proposed legislation which will require doctors to undergo training before being permitted to prescribe powerful painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin. The White House is absolutely committed to legislation that will make prescriber education mandatory, according to Gil Kerlikowske, the White Hojuse’s top drug policy adviser. The move would require Congress to […]
Survey shows drug use by young people increasing
A new survey shows a marked increase in Ecstasy ER reports as well as increases in use of all drugs except cigarettes. The annual Partnership for a Drug-Free America looks at drug use amongst adolescents and adults. The other two major surveys how the same trends in the US.
Trends in Drug Use, Harm Reductions & Psychiatry
NIDA’s Monitoring the Future study shows increases in use of marijuana, heroin and pharmaceuticals by adolescents; a study in Europe shows that programs like DARE are not effective; government regulators grapple to keep up with street chemists creating new designer drugs, and a discussion of psychiatry’s increasing dependence on drug therapy to the exclusion of talk therapy.
Alcoholism Genes? & the state of states monitoring of Rx
Children of alcoholics are four times more likely to become alcoholic; sons of alcoholics 9 times as likely … the list continues and is striking. At least 89 genes have been identified that affect the likelihood of alcohol abuse, and other compulsivity disorders. This is part of the research that has led to the new field of “pharmacogenomics”, the study of how an individual’s genetics affect the body’s response to drugs, which offer profound new treatment options, and open up huge privacy issues. Dr Inaba expands.