Wellspring Center for Prevention
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Addiction News & Policy Update for Week Ending October 27, 2017
The Terrifying New Trend in Heroin Addiction
Just like they did in the 80s, Americans are increasingly going straight to heroin, skipping prescription opioids. Too bad US policy doesn't reflect that.
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Steps the U.S. government should take right now against the opioid epidemic
The Food and Drug Administration should consider banning “ultra-high-dosage” painkillers from the market, and law enforcement must step up efforts to curb the flow of heroin and fentanyl into the United States if the nation hopes to come to grips with the opioid epidemic, two authorities on the crisis said Thursday.
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Opioid Addiction Is a Mental Health Crisis, Not a Crime Wave
Every opioid death is preventable, because addiction is treatable. But we need to shift from a culture of shame to one of treatment.
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Long-acting medications for opioid addiction help patients control their future, unreliable selves
When my patient, Marcus, wakes up shaky, exhausted, and ashamed each morning, he wants to quit using heroin more than anything else in the world. But that’s not the Marcus who is making decisions a few hours later.
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New Study Casts Doubt on Diagnosis of Adult-Onset A.D.H.D.
In just the past few years, researchers have identified what they believe is an adult version of attention deficit disorder: a restless inability to concentrate that develops spontaneously after high school, years after the syndrome typically shows itself, and without any early signs.
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Alcoholism In Parents Triggers Violence In Teen Relationships: Study
A study has revealed that a parent with an alcohol use disorder increases the risk for dating violence among their children when they are teenagers.
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Can Science Make Alcohol Safer?
The scion of an Indian pharmaceutical giant spent $35 million to make your martini more liver-friendly. But regulators aren’t raising their glasses just yet.
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U.S. to promote use of opioid alternatives to treat addiction
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to encourage widespread use among opioid addicts of less harmful opioid drugs such as methadone and buprenorphine, a radical shift in policy that could draw opposition from those in the addiction field who believe abstinence is the only effective treatment.
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High school synthetic cannabis users more likely to take other drugs
A recent study found that high school seniors who use synthetic cannabinoids are more likely to use other drugs when compared with students who only use cannabis.
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Overlapping Alcohol Dependence, Major Depression Risk Locus Detected
A variant in a neuronal patterning-related gene called SEMA3A, which codes for semaphorin 3A, appears to influence susceptibility to both alcohol dependence and major depression in individuals of African American descent, according to new research from a Yale University- and University of Pennsylvania-led team.
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