Alcohol Addiction and Balcofen
Time Magazine recently published ‘Treating Alcohol Addiction: A Pill Instead of Abstinence?‘, discussing the use of balcofen for treating alcohol and other substance addictions. Balcofen, although approved for relaxing muscle spasms, is being increasingly prescribed and used as an anti-craving medication. Although scientific evidence has yet to be conclusive, there is much anecdotal evidence floating […]
Carole Bennett's Road to Addiction
Carole Bennett, a rather new contributor to The Huffington Post, has been blogging about substance abuse issues over the last several weeks in a new column ‘The Road to Addiction’. Carole is the founder of a nation-wide US phone counseling service after having suffered the effects of substance abuse in her family for many years–from […]
The Reality of Interventions
Over the last few days, we’ve been discussing Interventions quite a bit. Truth be told, we are in the process of completely revamping the website; the results of which you should be seeing very soon. As part of this process, we’ve been going over all of our existing web pages, assessing and updating content, which […]
One Man's Story of Addiction and Recovery
Published in The New York Times yesterday, “Lost in an Abyss of Drugs, and Entangled by Poverty” follows a local Argentinian fighting for survival in the Buenos Aires shantytown Ciudad Oculta. Pablo Eche has returned home from yet another stint in drug rehab, battling his addiction to paco. Although rather uncommon and unknown in North […]
Portugal's Drug Laws: A Case Study in Decrimilization
Recently, we’ve been speaking a lot about the criminal justice system and drug use. With the Obama Administration’s new Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, change certainly seems to be in the air and the North American stance on illicit drugs is coming under scrutiny. After twenty-some-odd years, the ‘War on Drugs’ may finally be coming to […]
Shifting The Rhetoric from War to Treatment
Last month, the new so-called ‘drug czar’, Gil Kerlikowske, the White House Office’s Director of National Drug Control Policy, announced plans to move away from the ‘war on drugs’. The Obama Administration’s viewpoint, in contrast to Administration’s past, favors treatment over incarceration. For October 2009, the Obama Administration is increasing funding for substance abuse treatment […]
Addiction News Alert: 1 in 5 Young Americans Need Addicton Treatment
This is a staggering statistic. Released yesterday, The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported that in the last year, approximately 7 million young American adults, aged 18 to 25 years, were classified as ‘in need of treatment’ for substance abuse issues. This is the equivalent to 1 in 5 persons in that […]
Addiction News Alert: Alcohol-Attributable Deaths Worldwide On the Rise
Released today, a new study by Canada’s Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH) finds that a whopping 1 in 25 deaths worldwide are directly attributable to alcohol use, up from 2000. The study, among other factors, sites the increase in the number of female drinkers. The study looked at the average adult consumption rates, […]
Addiction Treatment News: Addiction & Nutrition Linked Once More
Recently, former head of the FDA, Dr. David A. Kessler, published The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatible American Appetite. As one who suffers from overeating personally, Dr. Kessler set out to explore the neuroscience behind the behavior–what drives us to unhealthy and unreasonable excess? Dr. Kessler discovers that overeating, much like any […]