Publications - Substance Abuse and Addictions

Antidepressants Can Interfere With Pain Relief Of Common Opioids, by Jonathan Lambert, NPR, Feb 6 2019.

“Antidepressants may dampen the effects of some common opioids, resulting in less effective pain management according to research findings published Wednesday. The researchers suggest physicians should consider alternative pain management strategies for patients on antidepressants. ”

Chronic pain most common reason U.S. patients get medical marijuana, by Lisa Rapaport , Reuters, Feb 6 2019.

“Almost two-thirds of patients in the U.S. who get medical marijuana are using it as a treatment for chronic pain, a new study suggests. That’s in line with the large number of Americans who suffer chronic pain and the strong scientific evidence that marijuana is an effective pain treatment, the authors report in Health Affairs. ”

The digital drug: Internet addiction spawns U.S. treatment programs, by Gabriella Borter, Reuters, Jan 27 2019.

“Psychiatrists say internet addiction, characterized by a loss of control over internet use and disregard for the consequences of it, affects up to 8 percent of Americans and is becoming more common around the world. “We’re all mildly addicted. I think that’s obvious to see in our behavior,” said psychiatrist Kimberly Young, who has led the field of research since founding the Center for Internet Addiction in 1995. “It becomes a public health concern obviously as health is influenced by the behavior.” ”

Steep Climb In Benzodiazepine Prescribing By Primary Care Doctors, by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Jan 25 2019.

“The percentage of outpatient medical visits that led to a benzodiazepine prescription doubled from 2003 to 2015, according to a study published Friday. And about half those prescriptions came from primary care physicians. This class of drugs includes the commonly used medications Valium, Ativan and Xanax. While benzodiazepines are mostly prescribed for anxiety, insomnia and seizures, the study found that the biggest rise in prescriptions during this time period was for back pain and other types of chronic pain. ”

U.S. substance abuse helpline largely unknown, by Linda Carroll, Reuters, Jan 14 2019.

“The U.S. government’s toll-free substance abuse helpline, which provides free referral services to those looking for treatment, gets little publicity, a new study finds. By contrast, suicide helplines are regularly publicized, the research team points out. When the researchers compared how often the addiction helpline was mentioned in news stories and social media after Demi Lovato’s overdose to how often the suicide helpline was noted after Anthony Bourdain killed himself, they found a huge disparity. They hope their study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, will help change that. ”

Report: Americans Are Now More Likely To Die Of An Opioid Overdose Than On The Road, by Ian Stewart, NPR, Jan 14 2019.

“For the first time in U.S. history, a leading cause of deaths — vehicle crashes — has been surpassed in likelihood by opioid overdoses, according to a new report on preventable deaths from the National Safety Council. Americans now have a 1 in 96 chance of dying from an opioid overdose, according to the council's analysis of 2017 data on accidental death. The probability of dying in a motor vehicle crash is 1 in 103. ”

When your child vapes, what's a parent to do?, by Michael Nedelman, CNN, Jan 11 2019.

“Health experts say parents whose kids are vaping often don't know what to do or where to turn for help. While federal authorities grapple with how to regulate e-cigarettes on a broad scale and while leading tobacco company Altria invests billions in e-cigarette maker Juul, parents are scrambling at home to deal with nicotine dependence -- or to prevent their kids from getting hooked on something that's ubiquitous at many schools. Some are even approaching addiction rehab programs in hopes of weaning their kids off these products. ”

Even with insurance, getting mental health treatment is a struggle in Mass., study says, by Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, Dec 11 2018.

“Massachusetts residents who need health care are colliding with a hard reality: Having medical insurance doesn’t guarantee you can get treatment, particularly for psychiatric problems. More than half of adults who sought mental health or addiction treatment in recent months had difficulty getting that care, according to a survey of 2,201 residents by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in Boston...The obstacle wasn’t a lack of insurance; the vast majority of patients were insured. Rather, the problem was that providers either did not accept their insurance or their practices were closed to new patients. ”

Infections May Raise The Risk Of Mental Illness In Children, by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Dec 5 2018.

“Researchers have traced a connection between some infections and mental illnesses like schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. New research from Denmark bolsters that connection. The study, published Thursday in JAMA Psychiatry, shows that a wide variety of infections, even common ones like bronchitis, are linked to a higher risk of many mental illnesses in children and adolescents...For all mental illnesses — excluding depression and bipolar disorder — the team found that being hospitalized for an infection was associated with a 84 percent higher risk of subsequently being diagnosed with a mental health disorder at a hospital and a 42 percent increased risk of being prescribed a medication for mental illness. ”

Suicide, at 50-year peak, pushes down US life expectancy, by Mike Stobbe, AP, Nov 29 2018.

“Suicides and drug overdoses pushed up U.S. deaths last year, and drove a continuing decline in how long Americans are expected to live. Overall, there were more than 2.8 million U.S. deaths in 2017, or nearly 70,000 more than the previous year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. It was the most deaths in a single year since the government began counting more than a century ago. ”

States may now broaden mental health treatment under Medicaid, by Michael Nedelman, CNN, Nov 13 2018.

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may now allow for states to pursue Medicaid reimbursements for short-term inpatient treatment in mental health facilities despite a decades-old exclusion, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Tuesday. In a letter to state Medicaid directors, CMS detailed a new Medicaid waiver opportunity through which states may bypass longstanding reimbursement restrictions on inpatient psychiatric treatment, which apply to mental health facilities with more than 16 beds. Azar said the original policy has posed a "significant barrier" to people getting the treatments they need. ”

When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves, by Rachel D. Cohen, NPR, Oct 30 2018.

“A study published Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry finds that when adolescents stop using marijuana – even for just one week – their verbal learning and memory improves. The study contributes to growing evidence that marijuana use in adolescents is associated with reduced neurocognitive functioning...Researchers are particularly concerned with use of marijuana among the young because THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, most sharply affects the parts of the brain that develop during adolescence...The researchers found that after four weeks, there was no noticeable difference in attention scores between the marijuana users and the non-users. But, the memory scores of the non-users improved, whereas the users' memories mostly stayed the same. ”

Teen Cannabis Use Linked to Impaired Cognitive Development, by Janice Wood, Psych Central, Oct 7 2018.

“A new study shows that the lasting effects of adolescent cannabis use can be observed on important cognitive functions and appear to be more pronounced than those observed for alcohol...'While many studies have reported group differences in cognitive performance between young users and non-users, what had yet to be established was the causal and lasting effects of teen substance use on cognitive development,' said Jean-François G. Morin, co-author and a Ph.D. student at the Université de Montréal. ”

Teens are smoking, vaping and eating cannabis, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Oct 3 2018.

“Adolescents who try marijuana are not just smoking it. Many are also vaping or eating cannabis, a U.S. study suggests. Almost one in three teens have smoked cannabis at least once, the survey of 3,177 Los Angeles high school students found. More than one in five adolescents have consumed edible cannabis, and more than one in 10 have vaped it. In the study of 10th-graders, two-thirds of teen cannabis users had tried at least two forms of the drug, and about 8 percent had tried all three methods of consuming cannabis. 'This raises the question whether teens who have traditionally been at lower risk for use of cannabis and other drugs in traditional smoked forms may be drawn into cannabis in alternative forms that may lack some of the deterrents . . . like the smell, taste, and harshness of inhaling cannabis smoke and difficulty concealing use of smoked cannabis to authority figures,' said senior study author Adam Leventhal, director of the University of Southern California’s Health, Emotion, and Addiction Laboratory in Los Angeles. ”

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Youth at Increased Risk of Using Multiple Substances, by Janice Wood, Psych Central, Sep 16 2018.

“Young people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual are at increased risk of using substances such as alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana, according to a new study. The study from researchers at Oregon State University also found that these teens are at a higher risk of using more than one substance, known as polysubstance use...Among youth, alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine are the three most commonly used drugs. That is a concern because kids who use those substances are at risk of negative health and social outcomes, including addiction and poor cognitive, social and academic function, the researcher noted. ”