Alcoholism Risk Factors Identified in Children
We have evidence of the genetic influence on alcohol dependence, including familial risk factors. Scientists have long been actively seeking the specific genetic marker for substance abuse and addiction. A recent study, published in Biological Psychiatry, may help to move the search forward towards the ultimate discovery. Researchers led my Dr. Shirley Hill, have identified […]
Heroin Injections for Heroin Addicts in the UK
Recently, CNN reported on a new, relatively innovative and controversial, treatment program in the UK—treating heroin addicts with heroin. The program is being led by a research team at Britain’s National Addiction Centre, associated with King’s College in London. Government-funded heroin clinics dispense controlled, safe doses of heroin to addicts in a controlled, safe environment. […]
Prescription Painkillers Cause More Fatal Overdoses Than Other Drugs
Despite an earlier report from SAMHSA on the decline of prescription drug abuse in the US, from 2.7% to 2.5% of Americans, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prescription painkiller abuse remains an severely unrecognized and under served problem in the US. According to the report, released last Wednesday, […]
US Online Campaign Helps Military Parents Talk to Their Teens
Three national organizations, the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the National Military Family Association and the National Association of School Nurses, have teamed up to focus on America’s military teens with an online education campaign, launched yesterday. TimeToTalk.org/Military provides parents with guidance, tips, tools, and scripts to help and encourage parents to talk to […]
Recovery Month 2009 Comes To An End
Today is the last day of September, representing, among many things, the end of this year’s Recovery Month. Over the past month, we shared different personal stories of alcohol and drug addiction and recovery. Some were better-known stories than others, others simply from better-known storytellers; we had stories of long-lasting sobriety and others of multiple […]
New Poll Suggests Americans Willing to Include Addiction Treatment in Health Care Reform
A new poll released this month suggests that Americans on both sides of the aisle support including addiction treatment in health care reforms. Furthermore, a great majority of Americans polled are willing to pay to make treatment options more affordable and accessible. The poll, sponsored by the Open Society Institute for Closing the Addiction Treatment […]
Teen Substance Abuse: Family Dinners Are the Key
According to new report released Wednesday, September 23 2009, by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, teens who have infrequent family dinners are, overall, more likely to use drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. The Importance of Family Dinners V is part of the Center’s Back to School Survey. CASA reports […]
Family Members Suffer From Addiction Too
Addiction isn’t an individual problem. Addiction affects an entire community, both from a macro perspective and micro. As we have previously discussed on the Heritage Home Sobriety Blog, addiction affects every member of the addicts Unit–that inner sanctum populated by those who love you unconditionally. Brothers, sisters, parents, lovers, wives, husbands, friends, colleagues are all […]
Untreated Addiction Epidemic
Building on a SAMHSA’s earlier report, The National Survey on Drug Use and Health Data, the director of the Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap initiative reports that untreated addiction has reached pandemic levels in the United States. Although the SAMHSA survey found that both prescription drug and methamphetamine abuse declined in the US in 2008, […]