NGA releases ‘road map’ to help states fight Rx opioid and heroin abuse
Nga.org
The National Governors Association has released a new tool for states to use in combatting the opioid epidemic, with comprehensive strategies to prevent and treat opioid use disorder and overdose while strengthening the law enforcement response. “Finding Solutions to the Prescription Opioid and Heroin Crisis: A Road Map for States” was developed through research and extensive consultation with state officials and other national experts as a guide for states in their efforts to address this public health crisis.
Co-existing mental health disorder and addiction must be treated together: expert says
Celia Vimont, Join Together
Research suggests 50 percent or more of patients with psychiatric disorders abuse some type of drugs, including alcohol. Yet there are relatively few treatment programs that address addiction and mental health disorders together, according to John Tsuang, MD, Director of the Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. “A lot of programs will try to treat either the mental health disorder first, or drug addiction first, but you can’t do that successfully – you have to treat both simultaneously,” said Dr. Tsuang.
Treating pain without feeding addiction at epicenter for opioids
Abby Goodnough, The New York Times
The doctors wanted to talk about illness, but the patients – often miners, waitresses, tree cutters and others whose jobs were punishingly physical – wanted to talk only about how much they hurt. They kept pleading for opioids like Vicodin and Percocet, the potent drugs that can help chronic pain, but that have fueled an epidemic of addiction and deadly overdoses. In response to some doctors prescribing too many opioids, Community Care of West Virginia tried a new approach: hiring an anesthesiologist to treat chronic pain, relieving its primary care doctors and nurse practitioners of their thorniest burden and letting them concentrate on conditions they feel more comfortable treating.
From behind bars to passing the bar: former addict turned lawyer on opioid crisis
Audrey Falk, WGHB, Boston Public Radio
Most lawyers can only imagine what it feels like to face a jail sentence. Rick Dyer, a Newton attorney who specializes in the intersection of law and addiction recovery, has lived it many times over. In an interview with Boston Public Radio, Dyer described his unlikely trajectory from drug abuse and crime to becoming a veteran lawyer living “a life of gratitude.” Dyer now practices in the same courtroom in which he was sentenced, using his experience with addiction and rehabilitation to help individuals who stand where he once stood.
