There are still physicians willing to push the old narrative on drugs like OxyContin, and we all pay the price. By The Editorial Board Today’s nationwide epidemic of opiate addiction was given birth in part by doctors who with the best of intentions wanted to help patients in pain, and by drug companies who said they had just the remedy — long-lasting, effective painkillers with none of the addictive qualities of their predecessors. Hundreds of millions of prescriptions later, we know all ... Read More ›
News
BDN – Mainers are among the heaviest-drinking Americans
New England is home to the nation’s heaviest drinkers, where Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut also come in at drinking rates above 60 percent. By Christopher Ingraham, The Washington Post Posted Dec. 25, 2016, at 12:02 p.m. “Mission Accomplished. Got everything done. Now I get to binge drink through New Year’s.” Twitter user “Comfortably Smug” tidily sums up the holiday sentiments of many of us as we wrap up 2016’s loose ends before checking out until the new year. While we don’t ... Read More ›
PPH – Our Opinion: State opioid plan welcome, but more is needed
Expanding medication-assisted treatment is a positive move forward, but thousands of Mainers will still need care before the crisis subsides. By The PPH Editorial Board 12.22.16 For years now, Maine’s response to a mounting drug crisis has missed one key component. Medication-assisted treatment with Suboxone or methadone is the gold standard for opiate addiction, yet its availability in Maine, particularly to the uninsured, pales in comparison to the need. But with an average of one ... Read More ›
Sentinel – Addict amnesty program in Gloucester, Massachusetts, shows promising results
A report on the program begun by the town's police department shows addicts who sought assistance got placed into treatment 95 percent of the time. By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press BOSTON — A novel drug addiction program developed in a small Massachusetts fishing town and since replicated in dozens of cities nationwide was able to place almost 400 addicts into treatment nearly each time they sought it during the first year of operation, researchers say in a report being published ... Read More ›
PPH – In shift, state to dedicate $2.4 million to medication-assisted treatment for addiction
The funding, a combination of state and federal dollars, will go primarily to methadone clinics that also offer behavioral health counseling. By Eric Russell Portland Press Herald Staff Writer AUGUSTA — The state’s Department of Health and Human Services will direct $2.4 million in existing funds to support the expansion of medication-assisted treatment for opiate addiction – an apparent policy shift for an administration that has been slow to embrace that option. The creation of 359 new ... Read More ›
PPH – Our View: Maine’s opioid crisis too big for small programs to handle alone
The Scarborough Police Department can't fill a leadership role better suited to the state. It was one of the rare good news stories of the opiate overdose crisis: Members of one police department decided to do something to stop the spread of what looked to be more of a sickness than a crime. Scarborough cops offered addicts a deal. If you want to get clean, come into the station and we won’t arrest you. Instead, the local PD would do what it could to find you a bed in a residential treatment ... Read More ›
KJ – Shuttered Hallowell addiction treatment agency under investigation for fraud allegations
The agency reportedly owes more than $300,000 to MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program. From the Kennebec Journal- A Hallowell mental health and addiction treatment agency that closed suddenly in September — leaving a few hundred clients without services — was under investigation for fraud and owed more than $300,000 to the state, according to emails exchanged among state health officials, agency staff members and others in the weeks that followed. The privately owned agency, Protea ... Read More ›
Doctors fear opioid crisis will get worse in 2017
BRIDGTON, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — There is more troubling news about the ongoing opioid crisis. According to the CDC, more people nationwide died from heroin-related causes than from gun homicides last year. Here in Maine in 2015, drug overdose deaths from heroin, fentanyl and other opioids surpassed the number of fatalities from car accidents for the very first time. Two-hundred and eighty-six people have died from drug overdoses in Maine this year. Just five years ago, motor vehicle ... Read More ›
Maine experts hail U.S. surgeon general’s report on addiction crisis
Public health officials and treatment specialists say "Facing Addiction in America" could change the public's perception that drug abuse is a moral failing rather than a disease. Excerpts ~~~ Malory Shaughnessy, executive director of the Maine Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services, said the surgeon general's report is a good step, but she doesn’t know what the Trump administration will do with it. “For all this talk about building a wall and keeping the heroin out, the problem ... Read More ›
Opioid Overdose Toolkit released by SAMHS
SAMHSA has released a revised version of the Opioid Overdose Toolkit. This toolkit is designed to educate first responders, physicians, patients, family members, and community members on ways to prevent opioid overdose. Opioid use disorder has become a major health problem that accounts for a growing number of overdoses each year. In 2014, opioid overdose deaths reached alarming levels: More than 28,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdose, mainly opioid pain relievers and ... Read More ›