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ED clinicians do not show readiness to offer opioid use disorder therapy

A new study by Yale researchers looking at nearly 400 clinicians at four urban academic emergency departments found that, despite scientific evidence supporting the benefits of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, just 21% of emergency department clinicians indicated readiness to offer it to patients in need.

11 May 2020

New study to explore the health impacts of COVID-19 on people who use drugs

Understanding the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use drugs in Scotland is the focus of a new University of Stirling study.

8 May 2020

Study: Scant proportion of hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder receive treatment

Despite a national opioid-related overdose epidemic that continues to claim tens of thousands of lives annually, a new nationwide study shows that a scant proportion of hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder receive proven life-saving medications both during and after they're discharged.

8 May 2020

Study: Financial incentive can dramatically increase physicians’ training in opioid treatment medication

A new study shows that a financial incentive can dramatically increase the number of emergency department physicians trained to prescribe a potentially life-saving medication that prevents patients from fatal opioid overdose.

6 May 2020

Long-term buprenorphine treatment can improve health care outcomes

A study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that long-term buprenorphine treatment is associated with improvements in health care outcomes.

6 May 2020

Almost one-third of primary care physicians view medications as ineffective for treating opioid use disorder

A new survey of U.S. primary care physicians from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that nearly one-third, 32.9 percent, do not think treating opioid use disorder with medication is any more effective than treatment without medication.

30 Apr 2020

C2C receives competitive grant to help address opioid crisis

Keep people alive. Refer them to those who save lives. Finally, connect them to effective, peer-based treatment.

27 Apr 2020

Vaping, opioid addiction accelerate coronavirus risks, says NIDA director

In 2018, opioid overdoses claimed about 47,000 American lives. Last year, federal authorities reported that 5.4 million middle and high school students vaped. And just two months ago, about 2,800 cases of vaping-associated lung injuries resulted in hospitalizations; 68 people died.

24 Apr 2020

Is the confidence in hydroxychloroquine for the management of COVID-19 justified?

A new review paper published in the preprint open-access journal medRxiv in April 2020 reports that there is not enough evidence to justify the widespread use of the drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in the treatment or prophylaxis of the current COVID-19 illness.

23 Apr 2020

Mason receives $500,000 USDA grant to implement Rural Opioid Telehealth Project

The George Mason University College of Health and Human Services has received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement the Rural Opioid Telehealth Project, which will serve an estimated 177,000 rural, low-income residents of Virginia and West Virginia.

21 Apr 2020

Research Suggests Widespread Opioid Overprescribing has Lead to Opioid Epidemic

Research indicates that widespread opioid overprescribing contributed to the opioid epidemic.

15 Apr 2020

Tarantula venom could be used as a potent pain reliever

Pain relief has come a long way, with many medicines developed to ease pain and promote comfort. Previous research has shown that venom can be a potent pain reliever. Snake venom has been widely studied as a potential source of pain relievers, especially for chronic and debilitating pain. Now, a team of scientists has found that spider venom, particularly from Tarantulas, could be used as a potent pain reliever for various conditions.

14 Apr 2020

Many of Washington State’s illicit drug users want to reduce use

A new survey of people who inject illicit drugs in the state of Washington yields positive and important findings for policy makers as the world struggles to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, said authors of the survey by the University of Washington and Public Health-Seattle & King County.

11 Apr 2020

Potential harms associated with some drugs used for treating COVID-19 patients

Chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin are being used to treat and prevent COVID-19 despite weak evidence for effectiveness, and physicians and patients should be aware of the drugs' potentially serious adverse events, states a review in CMAJ.

8 Apr 2020

California’s new attack on opioid addiction hits old roadblocks

Jennifer Stilwell, a 30-year-old mother of two young children, kicked heroin cold turkey five years ago, but she got hooked again last fall.

1 Apr 2020

Addiction is ‘a disease of isolation’ — so pandemic puts recovery at risk

Before the coronavirus became a pandemic, Emma went to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting every week in the Boston area and to another support group at her methadone clinic. She said she felt safe, secure and never judged.

30 Mar 2020

UC researchers identify populations most at risk of overdosing on opiates

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are helping to identify those most at risk in Ohio of overdosing on opiates.

19 Mar 2020

UT Extension leads new effort to combat opioid crisis in rural Tennessee

University of Tennessee Extension will lead a new effort to combat the opioid crisis in rural Tennessee. PROMPT TN (Preventing Rural Opioid Misuse Through Partnerships and Training) will combine the expertise of multiple institutions to develop opioid-specific resources designed to increase understanding of underlying causes of opioid misuse with the goal of preventing addiction.

3 Mar 2020

Medications meant for opioid use disorder improve outcomes after endocarditis hospitalization

Boston-Starting medication to treat opioid use disorder within 30 days of being discharged from the hospital due to injection drug use-related endocarditis - a type of serious heart infection - improves health outcomes

28 Feb 2020