Addiction News & Policy Update for Week Ending April 2, 2021

Cannabis Almost as Addictive as Opioids Among Teens, Study Finds
Teenagers' addiction rates for cannabis are about the same as for prescription opioids, according to a new study of drugs and youth..

What to know about physical dependence
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) used to distinguish between physical dependence and substance abuse. However, with the release of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), the APA consolidated both terms with substance use disorder (SUD). However, the SUD community is trying to make a clear distinction between SUD and physical dependence to avoid confusion, mislabeling, and stigma.

The association between child alcohol sipping and alcohol expectancies in the ABCD study
Providing sips of alcohol to children is associated with them having more favorable expectations about drinking.

Treat drug use as a health issue, not a criminal one: decriminalize paraphernalia
As the COVID-19 pandemic devastates our communities, the country continues to grapple with another urgent epidemic that is killing people every day from coast to coast. Over the past decade, nearly half a million people in the United States have died from a preventable drug overdose. The pandemic has increased risk of overdose, as millions of people struggle with loneliness, isolation, anxiety, stress and loss of income.

Budgets for youth addiction services cut by over a third
The number of services that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and the cuts that have followed are almost immeasurable. New evidence from the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) suggests addiction services for young people have been some of the worst hit, more worrying however is the fact that these cuts seem to have been slowly getting more severe since 2013, leaving thousands of young people vulnerable.