Will Congress Finally X-Out the " X " Waiver?
Members of Congress are growing more appreciative of the benefits of Medication Assisted Treatment in addressing the overdose crisis. Two bills presently under consideration —one in the Senate and one in the House—are the latest evidence of that awareness. Medication Assisted Treatment for opioid use disorder is one of the most widely-accepted and least controversial of the tools in the harm reduction tool box. The strategy involves placing the patient on an orally-administered opioid that binds with enough opioid receptors to prevent painful withdrawal symptoms while, at the same time, not producing cognitive impa...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 16, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
New Evidence From British Columbia Provides a Strong Case for Harm Reduction Strategies
A study published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Addiction by researchers at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use found that harm reduction strategies were responsible for the province ’s opioid-related overdose death rate being less than half of what it otherwise would have been between April 2016 and December 2017.The researchers noted that 77 percent of opioid-related overdose deaths during that time frame involved illicit fentanyl. Vancouver has long been a major port of entry for fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, produced in China and other parts o...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 8, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
CDC Provisional Drug Death Numbers Show Slight Improvement. Credit Harm Reduction.
Provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest the annual overdose death rate may be levelling off or even slightly declining. The data predict a drop in the death rate to 69,096 for the 12-month period ending November 2018, down from 72,300 predicted deaths for the 12-month period that ended November 2017. These provisional findings represent a 4.4 percent drop in the national overdose rate. The drug overdose death numbers include deaths due to natural and semi-synthetic opioids, synthetic opioids other than methadone (fentanyl and its analogs), methadone, methamphetamines and ot...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 26, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
What are the Different Drugs Used for Heroin and Opioid Detox?
Understanding Heroin and Opioid Detox
When someone is struggling with addiction to heroin or opioids, it can be almost impossible to quit cold turkey. This is due to unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, as well as intense drug cravings. When someone quits cold turkey, they will have to experience all these debilitating withdrawal symptoms and manage strong cravings on their own. This is extremely hard to do without the assistance of medication during heroin and opioid detox.
According to Medline, about 948,000 people used heroin during the past year. In the same year, about 11.5 million people were nonmedical users of narcotic ...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - May 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Addiction Addiction Recovery Addiction Treatment and Program Resources Detox Resources for Alcohol and Drugs/Opiates Painkiller Substance Abuse drug detox heroin heroin addiction heroin users luxury heroin rehab medical medical det Source Type: blogs
Libertarians and Harm Reduction
Last week we held a day-long conference at the Cato Institute devoted to exploring the strategy known as “harm reduction” to address the rising rate of drug overdose deaths and the spread of infectious diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV. In my remarks at the beginning and at the conclusion of the conference, I pointed out that the harms afflicting the drug-using community and their intimate contacts are the direct result of drug prohibition. Cato ’s Jeffrey Miron emphasized that point in a key presentation and discussed the success Portugal has had in reducing overdose deaths, HIV, hepatitis, and the heroin add...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 26, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
For Those Who Are Serious About Increasing Access to MAT for Opioid Use Disorder …
The synthetic opioid methadone, developed in Germany in the 1930s for the treatment of severe pain, has been employed for the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) of heroin addiction and opioid use disorder since the 1960s. In the US, methadone clinics are tightly regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Patients receiving methadone to treat their addiction must ingest it under the observation and supervision of clinic staff, who keep it in a lock box. Eventually, patients are permitted to take a few doses home with them for use over the weekend, a...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 25, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Sometimes, the biggest challenge to eliminate health disparities is geography
Driving north in a snowstorm Tuesday of Thanksgiving week I certainly took my time. I left after our Suboxone clinic wrap-up conference, around 7:30 p.m., and arrived at my unplowed driveway in Caribou about 1 a.m. On the way up, I saw two ambulances, one from Caribou and one from Presque Isle, on their way […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 29, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/a-country-doctor" rel="tag" > Hans Duvefelt, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician Primary Care Source Type: blogs
Can exercise help conquer addiction?
As an athlete, I think regularly about the potential health benefits of exercise for my patients. Every week, I treat patients hospitalized at Brigham and Women’s Hospital with significant medical problems that are a direct result of severe addiction, ranging from seizures and strokes to heart valve and joint infections. I also care for outpatients at the Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital Addiction Recovery Program. In both settings, I provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) such as buprenorphine-naloxone for opioid use disorder, and extended-release naltrexone for both alcohol use disorder and opioid use disor...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - December 26, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire Twark, MD Tags: Addiction Exercise and Fitness Health Source Type: blogs
Creating recovery-friendly workplaces
People who work in manual labor have higher rates of injury and overdose
Our country’s ongoing opioid crisis has many faces, from teenagers on Cape Cod to middle-aged parents in West Virginia. A recent report from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health provides another demographic affected by opioids: people who work in the trade industries, namely construction. The report broke down overdose deaths by industry, and construction workers were involved in almost a quarter of overdose deaths recorded in the state over five years. Farming, forestry, and hunting, along with fishing, are the next most dangerous industri...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - December 6, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Zev Schuman-Olivier, MD Tags: Addiction Source Type: blogs
No Let Up On The Bad News About Overdose Deaths
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) just issued Data Brief Number 329, entitled “Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 1999-2017.” Drug overdose deaths reached a new record high, exceeding 70,000 deaths in 2017, a 9.6 percent increase over 2016. That figure includes all drug overdoses, including those due to cocaine, methamphetamines, and benzodiazepines. The actual breakdown according to drug category will be reported in mid-December. However, estimates are opioid-related deaths will account for roughly 49,000 of the total overdose deaths. The big takeaways, quoting the report:- The rate of ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 29, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Suboxone for pain makes sense. Why don ’t more doctors prescribe it?
Many patients who end up in Suboxone treatment have chronic pain. They were originally prescribed other opiates and ended up addicted to them. Skeptics argue that is just substituting one opiate for another. But that isn ’t quite accurate. More on that in a bit. In my seven years of prescribing Suboxone for opiate addiction, I […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 19, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/a-country-doctor" rel="tag" > A Country Doctor, MD < /a > Tags: Meds Pain Management Primary Care Source Type: blogs
What is Detox and How Long Should It Take?
What is detox?
Detox is the very first step of recovery once someone enters treatment. When you have been abusing a substance for a period of time, your brain becomes chemically re-wired to depend on this substance. When the substance is no longer in your body, withdrawal symptoms begin. This is also known as being “dope sick” or “hungover”, and a quick way to get rid of those withdrawal symptoms is to provide the body with the substance again. However, instead of providing the body with the substance, detox works to comfortably wean the client from the substance and essentially rewire the brain back to not longer ...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - October 29, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Addiction Addiction Recovery Addiction Stories Detox Resources for Alcohol and Drugs/Opiates Drinking Drug Rehab Information Drug Treatment Medical Substance Abuse anxiety in withdrawal medicated-assisted detox Source Type: blogs
Does addiction last a lifetime?
I am now 11 years into recovery from my battle with opiate addiction, and I have always been fascinated with two related questions: is there truly such a thing as an “addictive personality,” and do people substitute addictions?
The myth of the addictive personality
The recently deceased writer and television personality Anthony Bourdain was criticized by some for recreationally using alcohol and cannabis, in what was seemingly a very controlled and responsible manner, decades after he quit heroin and cocaine. Was this a valid criticism? Can a person who was addicted to drugs or alcohol in their teens safely have a glas...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 8, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Peter Grinspoon, MD Tags: Addiction Alcohol Medical Research Source Type: blogs
Opioid cheating is a billion-dollar industry
If you search for “how to pass a urine drug test” on the internet, you will get several million results. As physicians, we see and manage the national opioid crisis every day. We see the impacts of this in our practices and our lives. The crisis frankly shows no signs of abating or becoming a less critical issue. Unfortunately, one major reason for our inability to control this issue might be in the testing. Most patients in the throes of addiction or recovery require regular urine testing as part of their treatment (which is much more common than blood, hair or saliva) and that has unfortunately led to widespread chea...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 20, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/giri-venkatraman" rel="tag" > Giri Venkatraman, MD, MBA < /a > Tags: Conditions Medications Nephrology Source Type: blogs
What Makes Cliffside Better
Our Approach
Cliffside Malibu is a world class luxury drug and alcohol treatment center. We want you to recover for good, and we do that with seven major factors.
1. We Stand By Our Commitment To Your Success.
Our main goal is: We only want you to come to treatment once.
2. We Recognize The Root Cause Of Addiction As Pain/Trauma.
Most treatment programs are based on the 12 Step Model. While 12 Step programs have largely been the go-to way to recover from addiction for over 75 years, the model does not address the underlying causes of addiction. While we use 12 Steps as an adjunct to other forms of therapy, we work to help ...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - August 24, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Addiction Addiction Recovery Addiction Treatment and Program Resources Alcohol Rehab Information Complementary Therapies Detox Resources for Alcohol and Drugs/Opiates Drug Rehab Information Drug Treatment Holistic Treatment Protocols Sob Source Type: blogs
