New!
I think you might like this book – "Healing the Brain, Second Edition: Pain and Chronic Pain" by David Balog.
Start reading it for free:
Sample pages;
Start reading it for free:
Start reading it for free:
Showing posts with label opioids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opioids. Show all posts
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Tyler Skagg's Death: Behind the Exploding Opioid Crisis
 |
| How drugs affect the brain in deadly ways. Click here. |
August 29, 2019
August 29, 2019
RAND Corporation
The sudden appearance of the drug fentanyl in the US has driven up overdose deaths dramatically, even as the abuse of heroin and other opioids has shown signs of stabilizing. In the most-comprehensive analysis yet of the crisis, researchers urge that innovative new strategies be pursued because the epidemic is unlike others that have struck the nation.
FULL STORY
The U.S. overdose crisis worsened dramatically with the arrival of synthetic opioids like fentanyl -- now responsible for tens of thousands of deaths annually -- and the problem requires innovative new strateges because the epidemic is unlike others that have struck the nation, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
"This crisis is different because the spread of synthetic opioids is largely driven by suppliers' decisions, not by user demand," said Bryce Pardo, lead author of the study and an associate policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "Most people who use opioids are not asking for fentanyl and would prefer to avoid exposure."
While fentanyl had appeared in U.S. illicit drug markets before, production was limited to one or a few capable chemists, and bottlenecks in production and distribution slowed the drug's diffusion. Law enforcement was able to detect and shut down illicit manufacture to contain these outbreaks.
RAND researchers found that today's synthetic opioid surge is fueled by multiple sources. Mexican drug trafficking organizations smuggle fentanyl into the U.S., and China's pharmaceutical and chemical industries are inadequately regulated, allowing producers to advertise and ship synthetic opioids to buyers anywhere in the world.
While traditional criminal organizations play a role in the spread of fentanyl, the internet also has made it easier to traffic these drugs and to share information about their synthesis.
Overdose deaths involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have increased from about 3,000 in 2013 to more than 30,000 in 2018. These deaths have remained concentrated in Appalachia, the mid-Atlantic and New England.
"While synthetic opioids have not yet become entrenched in illicit drug markets west of the Mississippi River, authorities must remain vigilant," said Jirka Taylor, study co-author and senior policy analyst at RAND. "Even delaying the onset in these markets by a few years could save thousands of lives."
For U.S. policymakers, nontraditional strategies may be required to address this new challenge. The researchers avoid making specific policy recommendations, but advocate consideration of a broad array of innovative approaches such as supervised consumption sites, creative supply disruption, drug content testing, and increasing access to novel treatments that are available in other countries, such as heroin-assisted treatment.
"Indeed, it might be that the synthetic opioid problem will eventually be resolved with approaches or technologies that do not currently exist or have yet to be tested," said Beau Kilmer, study co-author and director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. "Limiting policy responses to existing approaches will likely be insufficient and may condemn many people to early deaths."
RAND researchers say that since the diffusion of fentanyl is driven by suppliers' decisions, it makes sense to consider supply disruption as one piece of a comprehensive response, particularly where that supply is not yet firmly entrenched.
|
| How drugs affect the brain in deadly ways. Click here. |
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Expanding buprenorphine treatment could curb opioid overdoses
Expanding primary care buprenorphine treatment could curb opioid overdose crisis7
Expanding the availability of medication treatment for opioid use disorder in primary care settings would be a major step toward reducing overdose deaths, write two physicians specializing in addiction medicine and health care delivery in the July 5 issue of New England Journal of Medicine. In their Perspectives article entitled "Primary Care and the Opioid-Overdose Crisis - Buprenorphine Myths and Realities," Sarah Wakeman, MD, medical director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Substance Use Disorders Initiative and Michael Barnett, MD, of the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, describe current barriers to expanded delivery of buprenorphine treatment and outline possible solutions.
"One of the tragic ironies is that with well-established medical treatment, opioid use disorder can have an excellent prognosis," they write, noting that almost 80 percent of Americans with opioid use disorder are unable to receive treatment and that the growth in distribution of buprenorphine - one of three FDA-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder - has been slowing rather than increasing in recent years. "To have any hope of stemming the overdose tide, we have to make it easier to obtain buprenorphine than to get heroin and fentanyl."
The authors describe 5 persistent but inaccurate myths that they believe prevent buprenorphine from being more widely adopted:
O That is more dangerous that other common health care interventions,
O That buprenorphine treatment is just replacing one addition for another,
O That abstinence-based treatment - short-term detoxification and rehabilitation - is more effective than medication-based treatment,
O That providing buprenorphine treatment is particularly onerous and time consuming for primary care physicians (PCPs),
O That physicians should just reduce opioid prescriptions to address the overdose epidemic
 |
| Brain basics in jargon-free language. |
Expanding the availability of medication treatment for opioid use disorder in primary care settings would be a major step toward reducing overdose deaths, write two physicians specializing in addiction medicine and health care delivery in the July 5 issue of New England Journal of Medicine. In their Perspectives article entitled "Primary Care and the Opioid-Overdose Crisis - Buprenorphine Myths and Realities," Sarah Wakeman, MD, medical director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Substance Use Disorders Initiative and Michael Barnett, MD, of the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, describe current barriers to expanded delivery of buprenorphine treatment and outline possible solutions.
"One of the tragic ironies is that with well-established medical treatment, opioid use disorder can have an excellent prognosis," they write, noting that almost 80 percent of Americans with opioid use disorder are unable to receive treatment and that the growth in distribution of buprenorphine - one of three FDA-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder - has been slowing rather than increasing in recent years. "To have any hope of stemming the overdose tide, we have to make it easier to obtain buprenorphine than to get heroin and fentanyl."
The authors describe 5 persistent but inaccurate myths that they believe prevent buprenorphine from being more widely adopted:
O That is more dangerous that other common health care interventions,
O That buprenorphine treatment is just replacing one addition for another,
O That abstinence-based treatment - short-term detoxification and rehabilitation - is more effective than medication-based treatment,
O That providing buprenorphine treatment is particularly onerous and time consuming for primary care physicians (PCPs),
O That physicians should just reduce opioid prescriptions to address the overdose epidemic
Most outpatient buprenorphine treatment is already provided by PCPs, and expanding the availability of office-based buprenorphine treatment, as several other countries have done, presents a realistic solution to addressing the overdose crisis, the authors note. They write, "We are in the midst of a historic public health crisis that demands action from every physician. Without dramatic intervention, life expectancy in the United States will continue to decline. Mobilizing the PCP workforce to offer office-based buprenorphine treatment is a plausible, practical, and scalable intervention that could be implemented immediately."
###
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. EurekAlert
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Trump declares epidemic. Get the facts on opioids here.
Sample free e-pub. Click here.
Overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. Only 1 in 4 Americans with opioid addiction are getting the treatment they need. The national opioid addiction crisis is poised to get even worse as new synthetic drugs are introduced. The consequences affect the foster care system greatly, and in particular, gay youth in foster care.
Presented in clear, non-complicated language to help the lay reader
To empower participants, coverage in this book includes a basic coverage of how addiction works in the brain and body. Substance abuse topics include: How the brain works; Why is addiction a brain disease? Opioids/heroin; Methamphetamines, cocaine; and Alcohol and marijuana. A related podcast covers support topics for parents, educators, social workers and clergy: Positive parenting as a prevention tool for drug abuse; Communication, encouragement,and negotiations; Setting limits; supervision, and knowing your child's friends. This program is presented by Fred Elia, MS, president of A Thousand Moms, and David Balog, author, Dana Foundation’s Sourcebook of Brain Science and Healing the Brain: Stress, Trauma and Development.
Contributions are encouraged to support the ongoing work of A Thousand Moms. All contributions are tax deductible.
Supporters who can contribute $20 or more will receive a hardbound copy of the book. An e-pub version is available for $2.00.
Please make contributions at www.athousandmoms.org.
Click the donate bar.
Founded in 2009, A Thousand Moms builds community support for LGBT/Q youth in foster/adoptive care. It is a program of the National Association of Former Foster Children, a registered 501(c)3 organization.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
3. Opioids: From bathroom cabinet to epidemic. How everyday drugs affect our health.
What is prescription opioid misuse?
Also known as: Oxy, Percs, Happy Pills, Hillbilly Heroin, OC, or Vikes
Prescription opioids are medications that are chemically similar to endorphins – opioids that our body makes naturally to relieve pain – and also similar to the illegal drug heroin. In nature, opioids are found in the seed pod of the opium poppy plant. Opioid medications can be natural (made from the plant), semi-synthetic (modified in a lab from the plant), and fully synthetic (completely made by people).
Prescription opioids usually come in pill form and are given to treat severe pain—for example, pain from dental surgery, serious sports injuries, or cancer. Opioids are also commonly prescribed to treat other kinds of pain that lasts a long time (chronic pain), but it is unclear if they are effective for long term pain.
For most people, when opioids are taken as prescribed by a medical professional for a short time, they are relatively safe and can reduce pain effectively. However, dependence and addiction are still potential risks when taking prescription opioids. Dependence means you feel withdrawal symptoms when not taking the drug. Continued use can can lead to addiction, where you continue to use despite negative consequences. These risks increase when these medications are misused. Prescription medications are some of the most commonly misused drugs by teens, after tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana.
Common opioids and their medical uses are listed below.
| Opioid Types | Conditions They Treat |
|---|---|
|
|
Types of opioids:
Type of Opioid
|
How Are They Derived
|
Examples
|
|---|---|---|
| Natural opioids (sometimes called opiates) | nitrogen-containing base chemical compounds, called alkaloids, that occur in plants such as the opium poppy |
morphine, codeine, thebaine |
| Semi-synthetic/man-made opioids | created in labs from natural opioids | hydromorphone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone (the prescription drug OxyContin), heroin (which is made from morphine) |
| Fully synthetic/man-made opioids | completely man-made | fentanyl, pethidine, levorphanol, methadone, tramadol, dextropropoxyphene |
How Prescription Opioids Are Misused
People misuse prescription opioid medications by taking them in a way that is not intended, such as:
- Taking someone else’s prescription, even if it is for a legitimate medical purpose like relieving pain.
- Taking an opioid medication in a way other than prescribed—for instance, taking more than your prescribed dose or taking it more often, or crushing pills into powder to snort or inject the drug.
- Taking the opioid prescription to get high.
- Mixing them with alcohol or certain other drugs. Your pharmacist can tell you what other drugs are safe to use with prescription pain relievers.
Source: The National Institute on Drug Abuse Blog Team. ().
Prescription Pain Medications (Opioids). Retrieved from
https://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/prescription-pain-medications-opioids
on June 14, 2017.
Upcoming: Cocaine, Ecstasy.
Upcoming: Cocaine, Ecstasy.
Learn More About Your Brain
Blogger sale: Just $9.95. Order on Amazon by clicking below.
Learn more about your brain!
Learn more about your brain!
Praise for Healing the Brain
"A
book that can help medical professionals as well as the general public,
Mr. Balog has tackled a subject that is complex and he makes it quite
approachable. It has added and enriched my own practice of medicine by
making me more aware of issues not often discussed in medical circles."--Peter Paganussi, MD, Virginia
"Author
David Balog has done an excellent job of creating a book for educators
(or anyone working with youth) that explains the complicated workings of
the brain in an easy to understand manner. Balog goes on to discuss
various types of trauma and how the adolescent brain responds to trauma
such as depression, stress, addiction, risk taking, PTSD, etc. LGBT/Q
youth may experience trauma in ways majority youth often do not. The
author shares important coping strategies....I highly recommend this
book!"--Carol Dopp, M.Ed.
"David
Balog understands the strain of alienation, so he tackles this subject
with compassion and concern. Mr. Balog draws on his knowledge of brain
science to give readers insight into what happens to young people under
tremendous stress, and he offers practical advice on how to help and
cope."--Gary Cottle, author
"Provides
comfort and learning to the reader. Flows easily from one topic to the
next and knits tidbits of information together in a unifying mosaic.
Easy to read. Difficult to put down." --Michael J. Colucciello, Jr., New York State Dept. of Mental Health researcher, retired.
"Well
researched, fleshed out with relevant case histories, this book packs a
lot of solid information into its 152 pages. Written in an engaging
style for the layman, it covers a wide range of topics. One learns a
great deal about the biology of stress, particularly the vulnerability
of the brain in the pre-adult years. This book also provides a glossary
of key brain science terms and a listing of organizations serving the
LGBT /Q community and resources on the brain."--Gary Bordzuk, librarian
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)