Addiction Recovery Blog
President Donald Trump’s New Opioid Epidemic Plan: First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Dealers
According to historical legend, the Gordian knot was a knot so difficult that it was impossible to unravel. Alexander the Great solved the problem by cutting it with a sword. You could consider that as either cheating, taking the easy way out, or practical, creative....
Staying Safe on St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day Safety Tips While in the U.S. St. Patrick's Day is mostly a day to celebrate Irishness and drink green beer, and a great deal of drinking does take place, it doesn't make the top five the worst driving periods of the year (they are Memorial Day...
Death Penalty Won’t Stop Opioid Epidemic
To end substance use disorder, whether drugs or alcohol, you must stop the supply and/or the demand. Stopping demand means reducing the number of people who want the drugs, even if they are available, even if they are legal. This is accomplished through drug...
ACA Increased Opioid Treatment, Not Opioid Abuse
There was an odd theory floated last year by conservatives and others opposed to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or ObamaCare if you prefer): the expansion of Medicaid made the Opioid Epidemic worse, maybe even caused it. Citing cherry-picked...
Problems in Determining Drug Overdose Deaths
Overdose deaths due to legal and illicit drug use and abuse are on the rise. All the experts agree. Defining what is a drug overdose death or -- when more than one drug is found in the bloodstream -- which drug was responsible is less clear. ("No snowflake in an...
Reefer Madness Redux: FDA Overstates Claims of Kratom Abuse Deaths
In an episode from that font of wisdom and subtlety, the Comedy Central cartoon series South Park, series regular Stan Marsh becomes the victim of a well-meaning hoax by his parents to keep him from ever using drugs: They hire an actor to portray a future Stan who has...
Famous Law Firms Help Fight Opiate/Opioid Abuse
Recently, we discussed how state and county government agencies are using online databases to track how many drugs are prescribed and used. These efforts are part of government efforts to end addiction to drugs such as opiates/opioids. City governments are also taking...
Give Teens Facts, Not Fiction, about Dangers of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
This is (or was; the week's almost over) National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week. It continues through Jan. 28, with local events all over the country (check your community bulletin boards). NDAAW was designed by scientists with the National Institute on Drug Abuse...
Using Opiate/Opioid Databases to Fight Addiction
While it appears that we’re still in the midst of an epidemic of opiate/opioid addiction, it looks as if more and more people are becoming aware of this epidemic. More and more parties are joining the battle to fight it. Government is providing some of this help. For...
Maine Governor Blocks Valuable Tool for Preventing Drug Overdose Deaths
There's an old proverb that begins, "For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost." It describes a chain of causation that culminates in disaster, from the loss of a man's life to the fall of a kingdom. Paul LePage, the Governor of...