Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly最新文献

Last week we wrote about The New York Times Dec. 7 article unfairly lambasting Acadia's opioid treatment programs (see ADAW https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adaw.34349). On Dec. 13 the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) issued a statement (given below) responding to the story. The statement begins by noting that The Times article “failed to mention how every one of the nation's OTPs must meet detailed and rigorous standards for providing medications and comprehensive treatment services for patients.” It continues.

Faces & Voices of Recovery was riding high on various contracts and grants over the past few years. This important organization does much for people who may be seeking treatment, and traditionally for those who are in recovery. The organization, based in Washington, D.C., last week had to let many employees go.

Last week the U.S. Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) awarded $19,314,520 to 25 organizations to support low-barrier opioid treatment at syringe services programs (SSPs) from Sept. 30, 2024, through Sept. 29, 2027. Awardees include SSPs providing or supporting health care services in California, such as assessment, prescription and management of medication for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). “DHCS continues to increase early and focused interventions and treatment to address opioid and substance use disorders,” said California DHCS Director Michelle Baass. “This funding will help prevent opioid overuse and addiction, address opioid use disorders safely and effectively, and help reduce overdose deaths.” This funding opportunity, under the State Opioid Response (SOR) IV federal grant awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, provides resources to continue projects from the SOR III federal grant. SSP projects offer low-barrier access to treatment of OUD and related supportive services, such as case management and peer support.

A New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) task force would like state officials and legislators to avoid narrowly defined responses and take a much more comprehensive approach to combating the opioid crisis. Some task force members suggest New York has failed to keep pace with demand for services in areas such as workforce development, access to naloxone and initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in non-traditional settings.

CADCA's Annual National Leadership Forum will be held February 3-6 in National Harbor, Maryland. For more information, go to https://www.cadca.org/events/cadcas-35th-annual-national-leadership-forum/

Last week, Congress released its funding bill keeping the federal government going until March 2025. It's level-funding for the substance use disorder field. Notably, the Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act (MOTAA) bill is not included. If you want to read the 1,500-plus pages, here it is: https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20241216/CR.pdf. However, as of December 19, Congress had gone back to the drawing board, with Republicans ordered by President-Elect Trump and by his close associate Elon Musk to remove funding or to just allow the government to shut down.

When a public figure avows that he will stop drinking, as Pete Hegseth, nominated by President-Elect Trump to head the Department of Defense, reportedly said he will do if confirmed (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pete-hegseth-back-scrutiny-grows-misconduct-allegations/story?id=116444894), the recovery movement squirms. Another public figure, Aaron Peskin, supervisor of San Francisco, also has a history of drinking, says he will enter treatment and has been public about the entire problem, most recently suggesting that even Trump and Putin drink when they are together. It is well known that Trump does not drink and derides alcoholism; for this reason many thought he would withdraw Hegseth's nomination. But he hasn't, and both men indicate that they will move forward.

A recent study comparing the effectiveness of buprenorphine and methadone found that the risk of discontinuation was greater with buprenorphine than methadone. For the study, the researchers looked at a retrospective cohort of patients via databases in British Columbia, Canada. The study covered a total of 30,891 patients, who received treatment from 2010 to 2020.

Adolescent substance use remains low, according to the most recent Monitoring the Future (MTF) study. Results released last week by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) show the fourth year of continued lowered levels for this age group.

Most probably influenced by media images of smash-and-grab robberies, almost 10 million California voters (68.6%), by voting “Yes” for Proposition 36, decided that these crimes should be addressed. Unfortunately, once again drug use and users were joined to these crimes, and the result is a rollback of some of the progressive drug policies of recent years.