The opiates’ definition is any naturally occurring or lab-produced medication made from opium. Opiates can include both prescription medications, like oxycodone and OxyContin, and illicit narcotics, like heroin. The opiate epidemic has led to fatal heroin overdoses quadrupling since 2010, with two-thirds of all fatal overdoses in 2016 alone involving opiates. In 2017, a record-setting …
What are the presidential candidates revealing about how they’ll handle our nation’s drug policy issues? It’s a crucial question.
Delay discounting is a term psychologists and psychiatrists use to describe the human tendency to favor tangible short-term rewards over potentially greater long-term rewards. The same term applies to the human tendency to weigh obvious short-term losses against potential long-term losses. In a study slated for publication in 2014 in the journal Addictive Behaviors, researchers …
How Does Delay Discounting Affect the Behavior of Cocaine Addicts? Read More »
Carl Hart was starting his career as a neuroscientist and beginning a professorship at Columbia University when he first heard reports of the crack epidemic that was supposedly wreaking havoc across black America. Motivated by a desire to help the community he came from, Hart began researching drug addiction and ways to help people. But …
Neuroscientist Carl Hart Offers Radical Take on War on Drugs Read More »
When it comes to sentencing drug offenders, research indicates that addiction treatment is often a better option than jail time, both in effectiveness and cost. But is court-ordered treatment and forced rehab the answer?
By Edie Weinstein, MSW If you or someone you know is considering treatment for addiction, it may be because you or the person is faced with the undeniable evidence that, as a result of substance abuse or another behavioral addiction, your life or theirs has become unmanageable in one or more ways. Or you or …
For those struggling to recognize and understand drug addiction, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) provides a basic introduction. It explains what addiction is, the changes that occur in the brain that lead to addiction, and reasons why some people are particularly vulnerable to addiction. Drug addiction is like many other compulsive behaviors. For …
Questions About Drug Addiction? Government Website Has Answers Read More »
Over the years, researchers have identified many of the brain mechanisms that contribute to the onset and continuation of substance addiction. However, as investigations on this subject continue, more and more information comes to light and adds to basic understanding and the potential options for treatment. In a study published in June 2014 in the …
Newly Discovered Brain Mechanism Helps Explain Addiction Read More »
The nurse is the glue that holds most medical operations together. So you may be surprised to hear that an estimated 10 to 15 percent are abusing substances while on the job. And nurses aren’t the only ones. Drug and/or alcohol abuse can affect many healthcare workers over the course of their career. In this …
Do You Suspect a Nurse Has a Substance Abuse Problem? Read More »
The number of Americans addicted to either drugs or alcohol has reached roughly 130 million, according to a WorldNetDaily article. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in an average year 30 million Americans will drive while intoxicated and 10 million will drive while under the influence of illicit drugs. Even with …