The opioid epidemic is a serious public health crisis in the U.S., and new tools and treatments to deal with chronic pain are urgently needed. Unfortunately, where public health officials see a crisis, advocates of “integrating” quackery with science-based medicine see an opportunity. In this case, promoters of pseudomedicine are taking advantage of the opioid crisis to persuade state Medicaid systems to pay for quackery like acupuncture.
Opinion: Doctors and hospitals don't need to wait for large-scale state federal programs to fight inappropriate opioid use.
For many physicians, developing an ongoing relationship with patients is a rewarding part of the job. That’s not the case for emergency physicians like me — we’d rather not see the same patients over and over again, especially those with substance use disorders, who are some of the highest users of emergency care.
MT County May Jail Pregnant Women For Substance Abuse, Despite Doctors’ Advice
County Attorney Gerald “Jay” Harris said his office will seek civil restraining orders against those pregnant women. When there are “provable” violations of such orders, the county will ask for jail time in order to “incapacitate” the mothers, according to a Jan. 11 press release announcing the new policy.
Harris encouraged the public to report instances of mothers-to-be drinking or using drugs to the sheriff.
Marijuana is such a confounding drug that scientists and law enforcement are struggling to create an objective standard for marijuana intoxication.
IF YOU’VE SPENT time with marijuana—any time at all, really—you know that the high can be rather unpredictable. It depends on the strain, its level of THC and hundreds of other compounds, and the interaction between all these elements. Oh, and how much you ate that day. And how you took the cannabis. And the position of the North Star at the moment of ingestion.
A joint study by researchers at two U.S. universities and one in South America claims a reduction in the U.S.’s overall alcohol consumption appears directly related to the rise of medical marijuana laws recently enacted in a number of states. Presented by Michele Baggio, University of Connecticut, Storrs; Alberto Chong,Georgia State University, Atlanta and Universidad del Pacifico, Lima; and Sungoh Kwon, University of Connecticut, Storrs, the working paper may add to what many believe will prove definitive regarding the relationship between wine and marijuana consumption.
Objectives: Much is known about some healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward patients with substance use disorders, but few studies have specifically looked at emergency department (ED) physicians. Individuals with substance use disorders are more likely to be people who chronically, frequently use the ED, and thus ED physicians are in a unique position to provide early identification and intervention for people struggling with addiction. The purpose of this study was to understand ED physicians’ attitudes toward patients with substance use disorder with the aim of decreasing stigma and improving the care of ED patients with substance use disorder.
