Alcohol Taxes Can Reduce Young People’s Drinking
Raising alcohol excise taxes can help deter young people from drinking, according to a leading expert on preventing drinking in youth. …
Author Archives: Celia Vimont
Laws to Crack Down on Serving Intoxicated People in Bars Largely Ignored
Laws prohibiting bars and restaurants from serving intoxicated people can be an effective way to reduce alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes and violence, but the provisions in most states are poorly drafted and rarely enforced, according to two experts on alcohol policy. …
Ohio River Valley Communities Respond to Opiate Crisis
Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana are seeing an increase in heroin use as pain clinics known as “pill mills” have begun to shut down, making prescription opiates more difficult to obtain. Ann Barnum, Senior Program Officer, Substance Use Disorders at The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, says several communities in the Ohio River Valley are taking steps to fight opiate abuse. …
Internet Changing Addiction Treatment, Expert Says
Web-based programs are proving to be an innovative and powerful adjunct to addiction treatment, according to an expert on Internet treatment strategies. However, they are not meant to replace face-to-face addiction treatment, notes Paul Radkowski, CEO/Clinical Director at Life Recovery Program in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. …
Better Integration Needed for Treatment of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness
People who suffer from both mental illness and a substance use disorder often receive care from two very different types of systems, creating confusion for patients, their families and clinicians, says Ken Duckworth, MD, Medical Director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). …
Get Ready Now for Influx of Patients Under Affordable Care Act, Expert Urges
Substance abuse treatment providers must take steps now to get ready for the influx of new patients they will begin to see in January 2014 as a result of the Affordable Care Act, according to an expert speaking at the National Conference on Addiction Disorders. …
Nurses Face Challenges in Implementing Alcohol Screening, Intervention, and Referral
Nurses are key partners in implementing Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral for Treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol use disorders, but they face challenges in putting the program into practice, a new project suggests. …
Teens Fare Better at Substance Abuse Facilities With Comprehensive Mental Health Services
Teenagers who receive substance abuse treatment at facilities with comprehensive mental health services fare better one year later, compared with those treated at facilities with fewer such services, or none at all, a new study finds. …
Lessons From Maine’s Fight Against Limits on Addiction Treatment
Maine’s decision to retroactively limit Medicaid payments for buprenorphine to treat opiate addiction is likely to have disastrous consequences, warns the President of the Northern New England Society of Addiction Medicine. …
