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Naltrexone implant more effective in reducing relapses in HIV patients with opioid addiction

When patients with HIV who are also battling opioid dependence go without addiction treatment, they are more likely to stop taking their HIV medications than drug-free patients.

22 Mar 2019

$1.5 million grant to develop opioid treatment program for jail detainees

In what could serve as a model for tackling one of the nation's top public health crises, a University of Massachusetts Amherst epidemiology researcher is teaming up with two Western Massachusetts sheriff's offices to design, implement and study an opioid treatment program for jail detainees in Franklin and Hampshire counties.

22 Feb 2019

Discharged, dismissed: ERs often miss chance to set overdose survivors on ‘better path’

The last time heroin landed Marissa Angerer in a Midland, Texas, emergency room — naked and unconscious — was May 2016. But that wasn't her first drug-related interaction with the health system.

15 Feb 2019

What ‘dope sick’ really feels like

Detoxing off heroin or opioids without medication is sheer hell. I should know. For many users, full-blown withdrawal is often foreshadowed by a yawn, or perhaps a runny nose, a sore back, sensitive skin or a restless leg. For me, the telltale sign that the heroin was wearing off was a slight tingling sensation when I urinated.

8 Feb 2019

Are Electronic Cigarettes Facilitating Illicit Drug Use?

In this interview, Dr. Michelle Peace provides an introduction to her research into the use of e-cigarettes for the inhalation of illicit drugs.

From Pittcon 5 Feb 2019

Opioid overdose epidemic likely to increase in the U.S in coming years

A study from investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Technology Assessment projects that the opioid overdose epidemic in the U.S. is likely to increase in coming years, and that measures based on restricting access to prescription opioids will have a minimal impact in reducing overdose deaths.

3 Feb 2019

Study reveals cost-effectiveness of needle and syringe programs in preventing HCV transmission

Providing clean injecting equipment through needle and syringe programmes is a highly cost-effective way of preventing hepatitis C transmission among people who inject drugs and could save millions of pounds in infection treatment costs in the UK, according to research led by the University of Bristol and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

24 Jan 2019

Rapid-acting fentanyl test strips found to be effective at reducing overdose risk

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid so potent that a miniscule amount equivalent to several grains of salt can cause a fatal overdose. Yet it's difficult for people who use drugs to detect, which presents a major public health hazard given how commonly fentanyl is used to lace heroin or cocaine.

21 Jan 2019

Most substance use disorder treatment facilities do not offer medication treatment

Despite the mounting death toll of America's opioid crisis, only a minority of facilities that treat substance use disorders offer patients buprenorphine, naltrexone or methadone--the three FDA-approved medications for the long-term management of opioid use disorder, according to a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

16 Jan 2019

Opioids contribute to rise in suicides and overdoses in the U.S.

Suicides and drug overdoses kill American adults at twice the rate today as they did just 17 years ago, and opioids are a key contributor to that rise, according to a new review and analysis by a University of Michigan team.

7 Jan 2019

Hep C and drug abuse often go hand in hand, but screening for infection lags

When people seek help at a drug treatment center for an opioid addiction, concerns about having contracted hepatitis C are generally low on their list.

19 Dec 2018

Fentanyl surpasses heroin in cause of U.S. drug overdose deaths

According to a new report from health officials, Fentanyl – a synthetic opioid drug, is surpassing heroin as cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States. The report was released 12th of December 2018 in the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Report.

13 Dec 2018

Study quantifies links between alcohol, drug use and violent deaths

A group of researchers at the University of São Paulo's Medical School (FM-USP) in Brazil recently published the results of a study on the links between alcohol and drug use and the occurrence of violent deaths.

7 Dec 2018

VCU researchers test vaccine against opioid abuse

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers are testing a vaccine against opioid abuse developed by the Scripps Research Institute in California. The vaccine is meant to block the effects of heroin and fentanyl in patients with opioid use disorder.

7 Dec 2018

Heroin-assisted treatment can offer benefits, reduce harms

Providing supervised access to medical-grade heroin to people whose use continues after trying multiple traditional treatments has been successful in other countries, and should be piloted and studied in the United States, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

6 Dec 2018

Study investigates influence of different opioids on driving performance

Taking opioids for the treatment of pain has been associated with increased risks of crashing among drivers, but it is unknown whether this applies to all opioids or pertains to specific opioids only.

5 Dec 2018

Increasing mental health problems related to drug use in over 55's

Reports have shown that individuals aged over 45 years are increasingly being admitted to hospitals with mental health problems related to drug use. The number of admissions due to mental health problems and behavioural problems associated with drug use, were 638 in 2007/8 and have now come to 1,182 says the report.

3 Dec 2018

First-of-its-kind undertaking to study genetic, biological factors that contribute to development of opioid use disorder

The Coriell Institute for Medical Research, Cooper University Health Care and Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) are launching the Camden Opioid Research Initiative (CORI), a first-of-its-kind undertaking to investigate the genetic and biological factors that contribute to the development of opioid use disorder (also referred to as opioid dependence or addiction).

29 Nov 2018

Brigham investigators examine opioid use among Massachusetts adolescents, prescription trends

Opioid-related overdoses and deaths remain a major public health concern in Massachusetts, yet adolescents who experience opioid-related nonfatal overdose have been rarely studied.

13 Nov 2018

Food insecurity during pregnancy linked to severity of neonatal abstinence syndrome

A new study shows that food insecurity in pregnant women being treated for opioid use disorder may be associated with increased risk for their infants receiving pharmacologic treatment for neonatal abstinence syndrome.