Posts Tagged ‘Treatment’
It’s either the drink or the dole: Go into rehab or lose benefits, alcoholics and drug addicts told
Thursday, May 24th, 2012
Drug users and alcoholics are to be forced to enter treatment or face losing out-of-work benefits, Iain Duncan Smith will announce today.
The Work and Pensions Secretary will reveal that 160,000 dependent drinkers are in receipt of one or more of the main welfare handouts, with large numbers having been claiming for a decade or more.
Shock figures: The Work and Pensions Secretary will reveal that 160,000 dependent drinkers are in receipt of one or more of the main welfare handouts
Around 80 per cent of Britain’s estimated 400,000 ‘problem’ drug users are also claiming.
Sources said that the new universal credit, which is replacing all existing out-of-work benefits from next year, will be used to introduce contracts with addicts that would require them to seek treatment or see their payments halted.
In a speech tonight to an Alcoholics Anonymous event in Parliament, Mr Duncan Smith will say the change to universal credit will be used to dramatically switch the support that is currently on offer from ‘passive’ to ‘active’ intervention.
‘The outdated benefits system fails to get people off drugs and put their lives on track,’ he will say.
‘We have started changing how addicts are supported, but we must go further to actively take on the devastation that drugs and alcohol can cause.
‘Under universal credit we want to do more to encourage and support claimants into rehabilitation for addiction and start them on the road to recovery and, eventually, work.
Getting people into work and encouraging independence is our ultimate goal.
‘Universal credit will put people on a journey towards a sustainable recovery so they are better placed to look for work in future, and we will be outlining our plans shortly.’
An analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions illustrates the scale of Britain’s drug and alcohol problem.
Almost 40,000 people who claim incapacity benefits have alcoholism as their primary diagnosis.
Of these, 13,300 have been claiming for a decade or more. Each year, there are one million alcohol-related violent crimes and 1.2million alcohol-related hospital admissions.
A DWP source said universal credit would make it far simpler to monitor a claimant’s history and identify danger signs of alcohol or drug addiction.
‘Universal credit will flag up key things addicts do – like applying repeatedly for crisis loans, for example,’ the source said.
Clampdown: Drink and drug addicts will soon have to attend rehab if they are to continue claiming benefits
‘We will be making people sign a claimant contract which will require them to do everything they need to do to get a job.
‘Nine times out of ten, a job centre adviser will know or suspect when addiction is a problem.
‘People will then be told they need to go to Alcoholics Anonymous or another treatment programme, and shown the evidence that those who do engage can get better.
‘It’s about trying to break a cycle that means people simply aren’t going to get into work without the right support.’
Local authorities have been invited to pilot key elements of universal credit.
It will replace means-tested benefits paid to people of working age, all tax credits and housing benefit, consolidating about 11million claims into eight million.
The credit is designed to end perverse incentives not to work or take on more hours because benefits are withdrawn as incomes increase.
By JAMES CHAPMAN, POLITICAL EDITOR
Tags: alcoholics, benefits, drug, Treatment, users
Posted in News | No Comments »
Data suggests drug treatment can lower US crime
Friday, May 18th, 2012
Reuters
U.S. crime statistics show illegal drugs play a central role in criminal acts, providing new evidence that tackling drugs as a public health issue could offer a powerful tool for lowering national crime rates, officials said on Thursday.
An annual drug monitoring report, released by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, also showed a decline in the use of cocaine since 2003, a sign that drug-interdiction efforts and public education campaigns may be curtailing the use of the drug’s powder and crack forms.
The rate of overall illegal drug use in the United States has declined by roughly 30 percent since 1979.
But Thursday’s report, based on thousands of arrestee interviews and drug tests, showed that on average 71 percent of men arrested in 10 U.S. metropolitan areas last year tested positive for an illegal substance at the time they were taken into custody.
The figures ranged from 64 percent of arrests in Atlanta to 81 percent in Sacramento, California, and were higher for nearly half of the collection sites since 2007.
U.S. officials held up the data as evidence to support President Barack Obama’s strategy aimed at breaking the cycle of drugs and crime by attacking substance abuse with treatment rather than jail for nonviolent offenders.
“Tackling the drug issue could go a long way in reducing our crime issues,” Gil Kerlikowske, head of the office that issued the report, told Reuters in an interview.
“These data confirm that we must address our drug problem as a public health issue, not just a criminal justice issue.”
The arrest figures included men taken into custody on more than one charge as well as those arrested in drug busts.
The data showed that on average about 23 percent of violent crimes and property crimes, including home burglaries, were committed by people who tested positive for at least one of 10 illegal drugs including marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines.
Charlotte, North Carolina, had the highest proportion of drug-related violent crime offenses at 29 percent, while New York City had the highest for drug-related property crimes at 32 percent.
DECLINE IN COCAINE USE
Cocaine was the second-most common drug found among arrestees after marijuana. But the report said cocaine use, with crack the most popular form, has declined significantly since a decade ago, dropping by half in major cities like New York and Chicago between 2000 and 2011.
The report said methamphetamine use was strongest in the West Coast cities of Sacramento and Portland, Oregon, with no evidence that its use has grown appreciably in areas east of the Mississippi River.
U.S. health officials says the link between drugs and crime is socially complex. But the effect drugs have on human behavior can seem more straightforward.
“Drugs impact things like inhibitory control. And our ability to weigh risks and consequences of certain behaviors is severely effected by drug abuse,” said Dr. Redonna Chandler of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Drug enforcement experts say the evidence strongly supports wider use of drug courts, which seek to impose treatment regimens instead of prison sentences on repeat criminals that are dependent on illegal drugs.
West Huddleston, of the Alexandria, Virginia-based National Association of Drug Court Professionals, said a convicted criminal who successfully completes a court-imposed treatment regimen is nearly 60 percent less likely to return to crime than those who go untreated.
There are more than 2,600 drug courts operating in the United States. But they reach only a fraction of drug-addicted offenders.
According to Chandler, 5 million of an estimated 7 million Americans who live under criminal justice supervision would benefit from drug treatment intervention. But only 7.6 percent actually receive treatment.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/05/17/data-suggests-drug-treatment-can-lower-us-crime/#ixzz1vEAxVqNU
Tags: addiction, crime, drug, Treatment
Posted in News | No Comments »
Binge eating may lead to addiction-like behaviors
Saturday, May 5th, 2012
HERSHEY, Pa. — A history of binge eating — consuming large amounts of food in a short period of time — may make an individual more likely to show other addiction-like behaviors, including substance abuse, according to Penn StateCollege of Medicine researchers. In the short term, this finding may shed light on the factors that promote substance abuse, addiction and relapse. In the long term, may help clinicians treat individuals suffering from this devastating binge eating disorder.
“Drug addiction persists as a major problem in the United States,” said Patricia Sue Grigson, professor in Penn State’s Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences. “Likewise, excessive food intake, like binge eating, has become problematic. Substance-abuse and binge eating are both characterized by a loss of control over consumption. Given the common characteristics of these two types of disorders, it is not surprising that the co-occurrence of eating disorders and substance abuse disorders is high. It is unknown, however, whether loss of control in one disorder predisposes an individual to loss of control in another.”
Grigson and her colleagues found a link between bingeing on fat and the development of cocaine-seeking and -taking behaviors in rats, suggesting that conditions promoting excessive behavior toward one substance can increase the probability of excessive behavior toward another. They report their results in Behavioral Neuroscience.
The researchers used rats to test whether a history of binge eating on fat would augment addiction-like behavior toward cocaine by giving four groups of rats four different diets: normal rat chow; continuous ad lib access to an optional source of dietary fat; one hour of access to optional dietary fat daily; and one hour of access to dietary fat on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. All four groups also had unrestricted access to nutritionally complete chow and water. The researchers then assessed the cocaine-seeking and -taking behaviors.
“Fat bingeing behaviors developed in the rats with access to dietary fat on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays — the group with the most restricted access to the optional fat,” Grigson said.
This group tended to take more cocaine late in training, continued to try to get cocaine when signaled it was not available, and worked harder for cocaine as work requirements increased.
“While the underlying mechanisms are not known, one point is clear from behavioral data: A history of bingeing on fat changed the brain, physiology, or both in a manner that made these rats more likely to seek and take a drug when tested more than a month later,” Grigson said. “We must identify these predisposing neurophysiological changes.”
While the consumption of fat in and of itself did not increase the likelihood of subsequent addiction-like behavior for cocaine, the irregular binge-type manner in which the fat was eaten proved critical. Rats that had continuous access to fat consumed more fat than any other group, but were three times less likely to exhibit addiction-like behavior for cocaine than the group with access only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“Indeed, while about 20 percent of those rats and humans exposed to cocaine will develop addiction-like behavior for the drug under normal circumstances, in our study, the probability of addiction to cocaine increased to approximately 50 (percent) for subjects with a history of having binged on fat,” Grigson said.
Future studies will look more closely at how bingeing can lead to addiction-like behaviors — whether bingeing on sugar or a mixture of sugar and fat also promotes cocaine or heroin addiction, for example, and whether bingeing on a drug, in turn, increases the likelihood of bingeing on fat.
Other participating researchers were Matthew D. Puhl and Angie M. Cason of the Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences in the Penn State College of Medicine; and Rebecca L. Corwin and Francis H.E. Wojnicki of the Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse funded this research.
Tags: addiction, binge eating, college, disorder, eating, penn, state, Treatment
Posted in News | No Comments »
Addiction and Mental Health Parity explained
Monday, February 1st, 2010
With the mental health parity laws going into effect in October of 2009, the levels of health care available to those struggling from addiction or mental health issues have increased. Under the new Wellstone Parity Act, group health policies and employers must provide equal or higher coverage to addiction and mental illness as they would a physical illness, such as cancer. These new rules will make access to treatment much more available to the general public, as insurance companies have often set limits on days for addiction or mental health treatment, but put no limits on other types of hospital care. A government spokesperson said, “…the rules would benefit 111 million people in 446,400 group health plans offered by private employers, and 29 million people in 20,000 plans sponsored by state and local governments.”
The American Psychiatric Association had this to say: “Mental health parity was a major advance for the APA and for our patients living with mental illnesses,” said APA President Alan F. Schatzberg, M.D. “The APA will continue to work hard and submit the important feedback to the Administration that is necessary to make sure our patients receive the care they need.”
So what does that mean for us? Obviously, more access to addiction services bodes well for the general public. With more people gaining access to the resources to get help, one would think more people would get help. But is that the case? Will we see an uptick in treatment admissions? Our bet- probably not. Those who are unable to ask for help for themselves won’t magically be able to get help even when it’s available. That’s why we encourage families to break free from the traps of secrets, and get help for their loved ones. Reaching out and asking for help can provide access to those much-needed treatment options that may not have been available before this act was passed.
If you or someone you love need help with an addiction, call us at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.
You can also follow us on Twitter at @airecovery.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, addiction parity, AiR Assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, eating disorders, gentetics of addiction, intervention, mental health, mental health parity, mental illness, parity, recovery, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment, wellstone
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Innovative College Recovery Programs
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
With more and more adolescents and young adults seeking drug and alcohol treatment, there have been some distinct innovations in the recovery sector of colleges. According to research done at Yale University, adolescents and young adults are more prone to addiction due to their still-developing brains. There are nearly 50,000 college-age kids in America who are abusing alcohol or other drugs to the extent that they are unable to make it successfully through college. As a result, the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse are more and more prevalent in the world today; however, with additional resources available for young adults and more awareness allowing for earlier intervention, a good number of those young people are entering the journey of recovery at earlier ages. These earlier ages present new and different challenges in the recovery world, and college tends to be a place full of rampant triggers and challenges for a newly-recovering person. As a result, more colleges around the country are starting to develop programs specifically for people in recovery (for a complete list, check out the Recovery Schools website here).
A couple of programs stand out- in our backyard, Minneapolis, Augsburg College has their innovative StepUp program to meet the needs of the recovering community. With support groups and sobriety-specific dorms, Augsburg has some great wrap-around services for those young adults going to college for the first time, or heading back into an environment where they’ve struggled.
Texas Tech, in Lubbock, TX also has their own recovery program for students. Dr. Kitty Harris, director of Texas Tech’s Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery, had this to say about the program: “I want our students to have a true college experience. I don’t want them to feel separate. I don’t want them to feel apart from. I don’t want them to feel different. And I especially don’t want them to drink or do drugs.” This program, integrating students into the college milieu, provides new hope for students that have struggled in the past. Here’s a video about Texas Tech’s program.
However, there are some barriers before college. Should your adolescent or young adult need treatment, please contact us at 877-320-0247 or www.a-i-r.com. We also would highly recommend, for any person in recovery entering a college environment, our Recovery Assistance Program, which will provide additional accountability. When heading off to college, especially those without a recovery program for students, having the Recovery Assistance Program in place can provide a safety net for your loved one.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, adolescent addiction, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, augsburg stepup program, college, college recovery, drug addiction, intervention, recovery, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, sober college, sober in college, stepup program, substance abuse, texas tech, Treatment, young adult addiction
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Suboxone- the pluses and minuses
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
Suboxone (or buprenorphin) seems to be all the rage these days. With the power of the multi-lateral corporation Reckitt Benckiser (whose exclusive license on Suboxone brought in fifteen percent of their overall revenue in 2009), a huge push is being made to medical doctors to prescribe Suboxone as a way to combat heroin use. Since Suboxone is a semi-synthetic opiate, many dangers arise from the over-prescription of this drug. While we at AiR have seen many benefits to Suboxone during the initial detoxification process, we worry about the addicts who get saddled in trading one maintenance drug for another. Now the website for Suboxone does suggest that “more than medication alone” makes for successful treatment; however- we’d like to see some facts and research behind the amount of people who seek outside therapy along with their medication management.
Here’s the main problem, directly from the Suboxone website:
“All opioids can cause physical dependence. SUBOXONE belongs to a class of opioids called “partial opioid agonists.” As a partial agonist, buprenorphine appears to produce less physical dependence, limited euphoria, and less potential for abuse compared with a full agonist, eg, heroin, oxycodone, and hydrocodone. SUBOXONE has potential for abuse and produces dependence of the opioid type with a milder withdrawal syndrome than full agonists.
When patients are ready to stop taking SUBOXONE, the dose is slowly and gradually tapered. The withdrawal symptoms of SUBOXONE are milder than those seen with a full opioid agonist and can be managed with your doctor’s supervision.”
So, basically, are we dealing with the new methadone here? It sure looks like it. We need physicians to be responsible and educated around addiction before they reach for that prescription pad. If a doc wants to use suboxone to assist in the detoxification process, then please do- just be sure to remove a patient from this opioid. Creating additional dependence, albeit on a lower-level substance, still encourages a dependence instead of a solution. Hazelden had this to say (from a CNN article earlier this year): “At Hazelden, a small proportion of patients receive anti-addiction drugs, but medical director Dr. Kevin Clark says the traditional model — based on intensive therapy and the 12 steps — is still best. ‘It is a disease of the brain, but it’s a multifaceted disease. It has a spiritual component, a behavioral component to it,’ says Clark. ‘Our experience tells us that having the network of support and recovery is what really makes the difference.’”
With the help of residential treatment, twelve-step programs, and support from a family, the chances of an addict getting into recovery skyrocket. Medication alone will never be the solution, because, at the end of the day, the drugs are only a symptom. An addict needs help outside of a pill.
For help for yourself or a loved one, please call us at 877-320-0247 or visit our main page at www.a-i-r.com.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, buprenorphin, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drug deaths, methadone, prescription drug abuse, Recovery Assistance Program, suboxone, substance abuse, Treatment
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Increasing Substance Abuse levels in older adults
Friday, January 15th, 2010
According to a press release by SAMHSA, treatment providers and families should be expecting a “dramatic increase” in substance abuse among adults 50 and older.The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the US government agency faced with the goal of improving the quality and availability of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitative services for in the substance abuse and mental health fields. SAMSHA’s latest report, published on January 8th, states that services for those of the aging baby boomer generation should be expected to double by the year 2020.
“This new data has profound implications for the health and well-being of older adults who continue to abuse substances,” said Pamela S. Hyde, J.D, the SAMHSA Administrator. “These findings highlight the need for prevention programs for all ages as well as to establish improved screening and appropriate referral to treatment as part of routine health care services.”
The stats point to a rising trend in marijuana use, with 8.5% of men between 50 and 54 reporting having used marijuana in the past year. And with a rise in prescription drug abuse (up from 1% to 5% of treatment admissions from 1997 to 2009), one can only expect that drug abuse will increase. The National Institute of Health reports that nearly 20% of adults have used prescription drugs for non medical reasons. Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of Geriatric Psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center, stated: “We need much better support services for the number of older adults who are going to have substance abuse problems.” The New York Daily News even picked up on the story, stating that the Woodstock generation still has a tendency to get high.
So what do we do? Become better educated for prevention and awareness. Talk to your loved ones if you’re concerned about their use. Learn about the signs and symptoms of drug abuse. And when you need it, ask for help. Addiction is a disease of silence; keeping secrets keeps loved ones sick, and the only way to get better is through outside help.
If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, please call us at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.
Also, for those in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, we will be presenting a family education series in conjunction with Hazelden on February 8th.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, intervention, older adult substance abuse, pain addiction, pain medication, prescription drug abuse, SAMHSA, substance abuse, Treatment
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Mental Health Issues on the Rise
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
A new study from San Diego State University found that FIVE TIMES as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues as youth of the same age who were studied in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, anxiety, assistance in recovery, depression, drug addiction, intervention, recovery, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
A new year, a new start.
Friday, January 8th, 2010
With a new year (and a new decade as well, depending on who you ask) upon us, we in the addiction world often see many people come to us with New Years resolutions, things such as:
“2010 will be the year I get sober.”
“Maybe I should cut down on my drinking.”
“This is the year I talk to my son about his drug use.”
“This is the year of big changes in my family.”
We at AiR encourage these resolutions- they can be a big catalyst for change, and help people get on the path to recovery. However, what’s important to remember here is how many times one has made these said resolutions. If you find yourself saying for the fifth year in a row that it’s time to quit drinking, it’s probably time to seek outside help. If you’re a family member and you’re hearing the same resolution year after year- we can help with that too.
Since the holiday season seems so volatile (as we’ve covered here), now is the time to act. A new year can bring about new changes. If you’re a family member and your loved one is hurting from a compulsive behavior, reach out. Ask for help. If you can’t make the phone call yet, then check out our book, It’s Not Okay To Be A Cannibal (available here); some good advice is available there, but be sure to get outside assistance when you decide to move forward.
If you or a loved one are in crisis, please call us at 877-320-0247 for immediate assistance, or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.
Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drugs, eating disorders, gentetics of addiction, heroin addiction, intervention, mental health, methamphetamine, pain addiction, pain medication, prescription drug abuse, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Addiction at Home and in the Workplace
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Dr. A. Thomas McLellan, one of the leading researchers on addiction and a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, recently shared his story with the New York Times. Dr. McLellan recently accepted a position with the U.S. government, at the invitation of Vice President Joe Biden, to be the nation’s number two drug control officer. This gave him an interesting choice- to stay a professor, or to go work for the new administration. However, some experiences in his home life led him to move to work with the administration.
Last year, Dr. McLellan’s 30-year-old son passed away from an overdose of anti-anxiety medication and alcohol, at the same time as his other, older son was in residential treatment working on his own addiction issues. This, McLellan said, is what led directly to him making the post. With the help of Gil Kerlikowski, the nation’s drug czar, he hopes to turn addiction from a punitive crime into one where we can see more people get help instead of jail time. From the article: “Dr. McLellan said that of the 25 million substance abusers he estimated were in this country, only about 2 million were receiving treatment. He and Mr. Kerlikowske want to triple that number, partly by spending more money and partly through other tactics, like integrating addiction treatment into the primary health care system.”
An interesting quote from Dr. McLellan: “If it has to happen, better it happens to me, I’m an expert, right? I didn’t know what to do and none of my buddies knew what to do, and let me tell you they were experts. So I said, “˜What the hell are we doing?’ ”
So what happens when the experts don’t know what to do? Well, that’s why we’re here. At Assistance in Recovery, we’re available to coach you through all those difficult questions, whether you’ve been researching addiction for 30 years or you know absolutely nothing about it, and everywhere in between. In the struggle with chemical dependency, it can happen to ANYONE- and is always better having an outside perspective on what to do.We can assist on all of those difficult questions and help put a solution in place.
Call us at 877-320-0247 or visit us on the web at www.a-i-r.com.
Tags: addiction, addiction genes, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, anti-anxiety, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drug addiction, drug deaths, methamphetamine, overdose, pain addiction, pain killers, pain medication, prescription drug abuse, substance abuse, Treatment
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Make the Call
24 hours a day, 7 daysa week at:
800-561-8158
