Written by Zachary Siegel Published on WIRED l BackChannel l 04.01.18 My time in rehab for an opioid addiction left me humiliated and desperate to know why my friends were dying. Now a wave of app developers are trying to do things differently. MY DAD’S COMPANY had season tickets to the White Sox. On muggy Midwest summer days we’d go as a family—always sitting in the same seats, 25 rows above first base. I told this to a counselor I’ll call Bill, when he asked me to remember

Many have observed the power of a story of personal recovery from substance use disorder, but it can be difficult for organizations to justify funding and partnership opportunities without credible analytics and metrics. The Recovery Data Platform (RDP), a cloud-based software solution developed by Faces and Voices of Recovery and RecoveryTrek, accumulates, processes and generates useful reports that simplify the process for stakeholders. ---------------------- NORFOLK, VA. (

Written by Rich Lord Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 15, 2018 [ASAM: 49TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Innovations in Addiction Medicine & Science] SAN DIEGO — After years of surging overdoses, some of the officials and medical practitioners most deeply involved in the fight against opioids have hope that they finally have the tools, the funding and the public support needed to get the epidemic under control. “I have some cautious optimism,” Debbie Dowell, a senior medical adviser at the

By Zeke Spector, March 15, 2018 [Vice News] A year and half ago, Gabe Stewart stood in tribal court pleading guilty to felony charges because he stole money from his family to support his opioid addiction. In January, his community honored him for overcoming addiction and watched as his case was dismissed entirely. Stewart is a member of the Penobscot Nation in Maine, a state hit hard by the opioid crisis. American indigenous communities like his are also some of the hardest

Written by Victoria Kim, March 20, 2018 [The Fix] According to the CDC, Native Americans had the highest overdose death rate of any race in 2015. One U.S. senator is determined to get tribal communities in the United States their fair share of the billions of dollars in funding dedicated to fighting the national opioid crisis. Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota, spearheaded a letter sent to Senate leaders early March, urging them to allocate opioid crisis fund

By Dave Kovaleski, March 13, 2018 [Life Science Daily] New legislation recently introduced in the U.S. Senate seeks to bolster the number of health professionals to fight the opioid epidemic. The Substance Use Disorder Workforce Loan Repayment Act — sponsored by Sens. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) — would address the current shortage of professionals to provide opioid treatment and recovery services in communities across the United State

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vital Signs Report: 03/06/2018 Overview Emergency department (ED) visits for opioid* overdoses rose 30% in all parts of the US from July 2016 through September 2017. People who have had an overdose are more likely to have another, so being seen in the ED is an opportunity for action. Repeat overdoses may be prevented with medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD), which is defined as a problematic pattern of o

WRITTEN BY CHRISTOPHER GLAZEK, OCTOBER 16, 2017 [Esquire Magazine - esquire. com] You’re aware America is under siege, fighting an opioid crisis that has exploded into a public-health emergency. You’ve heard of OxyContin, the pain medication to which countless patients have become addicted. But do you know that the company that makes Oxy and reaps the billions of dollars in profits it generates is owned by one family? The newly installed Sackler Courtyard at London’s Victoria

By SHEILA KAPLAN, FEBRUARY 25, 2018 The New York Times In an effort to encourage new treatments for opioid addiction, the Food and Drug Administration plans to begin permitting pharmaceutical companies to sell medications that help temper cravings, even if they don’t fully stop addiction. The change is part of a wider effort to expand access to so-called medication-assisted treatment, or MAT. The agency will issue draft guidelines in the next few weeks. A senior agency offici

Written by Ed Cara, February 02, 2018 [Gizmodo] As doctors and scientists struggle to turn the tide of the opioid crisis, which killed more than 63,000 Americans in 2016, there are others looking further ahead, trying to create a world where addiction can’t take hold in the first place. One such approach, created by a team of scientists in the U.K., is a nasal spray that shoots a naturally produced opioid straight to the brain—seemingly without causing the euphoric high and t

Kristie Auman-Bauer January 23, 2018 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Opioid overdose deaths in Pennsylvania increased 37 percent in 2016, ranking the state fourth in the nation. Coming on the heels of Gov. Tom Wolf’s declaration of the opioid crisis as a disaster emergency, Penn State recently held its first University-wide summit on the opioid epidemic. The summit drew together almost 200 researchers, practitioners and educators from across the Penn State system with the goal of deve

By Laurie McGinley and Katie Zezima February 10, 2018 [Washington Post ] Andrew Turner’s years in the military left him suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, back pain and the effects of an injury that mangled his hand. “I was a broken toy,” he said. Tossed aside. Barely able to get off the couch. Then he started using an herbal supplement that he says saved his life: kratom. Nancy Knoebel’s 27-year-old son, Daniel Teichman, began using kratom after he stop

By Victoria Kim, 02/02/18 TheFix .com Once a participant completes their treatment program, their case is dismissed and sealed, according to the Law Journal. A new program run by the Bronx Criminal Court in New York City is hoping to prioritize recovery for people charged with low-level, non-violent offenses. The Bronx’s Overdose Avoidance and Recovery (OAR) program is just over two months old, but has so far helped 50 defendants access treatment in lieu of jail, according to

Chelsea Carter's path to recovery from addiction started and ended with her standing before the same West Virginia judge. But she traveled the distance between her first and last appearance in part because he got her the help she needed. Carter returned to court Wednesday where felony charges were expunged from her record, bringing her case to a close. A decade ago, the same judge ordered her to attend a drug court instead of sending her to prison. She underwent addiction cou

"In another private sector effort to limit the availability of prescription opioids in the U.S., Walmart is introducing a new, free program for people who fill opioid prescriptions to help them dispose of unused pills safely at home. At all of its pharmacies, Walmart announced it will give out packets of 'DisposeRx' that people can use to chemically treat unused pills so they can throw them away at home instead of taking them to a pill-takeback program. Anyone filling a new c