The Wednesday Weekly Addiction + Recovery News Clips - January 11, 2022
The Wednesday Weekly is a collaboration of Sober Linings Playbook and Recovery in the Middle Ages Podcast.
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Highlights
National
Dry January | Does ketamine treatment work | Teva ready to move forward with opioid settlement in U.S.
Fentanyl
Biden to meet with Mexican officials to discuss fentanyl | Animal sedative mixed with fentanyl creates new concern
State and Local
Pennsylvania, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas and Minnesota consider how to use opioid settlement funds | NY safe injection sites save lives
Studies/Research in the News
Study finds alcohol-related liver disease rising among young people | Univ. of Wisconsin to begin trials to study use of psychedelics to treat opioid and methamphetamine use disorders | New medications studied for nicotine cessation
Opinion
Reconsidering NJ’s strict liability for drug induced death law | Maia Szalavitz examines plight of chronic pain sufferers caught in crossfire of opioid drug war | SLP’s take 3 considers passage of MAT Act, Medicare gaps in addiction coverage, the case for safe supply
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National
Teva says opioids settlement to move forward in U.S.
Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.TA) said there was sufficient participation from U.S. states and local authorities to move forward with its nationwide settlement agreement to resolve opioid-related claims and litigation. Teva said on Monday it has either already settled with or confirmed participation from 48 of the 50 states and will continue to pursue participation by the states that are yet to join. The sign-on process for states' subdivisions will now begin, it said.
Reuters - Jan. 9, 2023
Alcohol use is widely accepted in the US, but even moderate consumption is associated with many harmful effects
This month, millions of Americans are taking part in “Dry January” in an effort to forgo alcohol for a month and cleanse themselves of the excesses of the holiday season. Partially because alcohol is such a commonly used substance, heavily marketed and glamorized in pop culture, Americans’ comfort with and acceptance of its use in everyday life is remarkably high. But should it be? Thanks to lobbying by the powerful alcohol industry, alcohol’s dangers may be underplayed and its benefits exaggerated. There are many well-established problems with drinking even at moderate levels that likely outweigh any potential benefits.
Yahoo! - Jan. 6, 2023
Navigating romance during Dry January? Here are tips for sober dating.
An alcohol-free date need not be complicated. There are ways to effectively communicate your choice and enjoy the experience. Dry dating — getting to know someone in a setting without alcohol — can make first meetings less stressful and more fun, experts say. And with a clear head, you also may be able to better gauge whether you and your date mesh well. And if you want to try sober dating, you’re likely to find a potential partner open to the idea. A January 2021 YouGov poll found that among adults who drink alcohol, 23 percent planned to participate in Dry January, a month of voluntary sobriety, including 27 percent of millennials. A July 2022 Gallup poll found that 71 percent of U.S. adults said alcohol has a negative effect on most drinkers.
Washington Post - Jan. 6, 2023
Royals will be horrified at Harry's cocaine confession as it drags up addiction in the family
Royals will be mortified as Harry's cocaine confession revives memories of Freddie Windsor and Camilla's son's drug use - with Kate at the helm of anti-abuse charity. The Duke of Sussex, 38 sensationally admitted to taking cocaine 'a few times'. Prince Harry also confessed to smoking cannabis and taking magic mushrooms. Like Harry's drug habits the Royal Family has a history of taking and using drugs
Daily Mail - Jan. 6, 2023
The DEA Shut Down a Pain Doctor. Now 3 People Are Dead.
After a California doctor was labeled an "imminent danger" to the public, the consequences were devastating for his patients and their families. First, there was the double suicide—a husband and wife from Georgia who took their lives one week after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) suspended the license of their doctor, David Bockoff, a pain specialist in Beverly Hills. After Bockoff lost his ability to prescribe fentanyl and other powerful painkillers on Nov. 1, dozens of his patients became “opioid refugees” with nowhere to turn. The third death came barely a month later. Exclusive interviews with Bockoff patients and court documents reviewed by VICE News make it appear as though the devastation came only after the DEA intervened against Bockoff, sending his patients into desperate spirals to stave off withdrawals and manage their pain.
Vice - Jan. 5, 2023
Take Dry January To the Next Level With Hydration Multiplier Mocktails From Liquid I.V.
Alcohol is notoriously dehydrating, but what if you could sip on a mocktail and stay hydrated at the same time? This year, Liquid I.V is helping you take your abstinence from alcohol one step further by launching two new mocktail flavors of their popular hydration multiplier powder.
Spy - Jan. 5, 2023
Ketamine clinics for mental health are popping up across the U.S. Does the treatment work?
Ketamine is a hallucinogen that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an anesthetic for decades, but it is also used illegally as a party drug. But in recent years a new industry has emerged: ketamine clinics, which offer the drug off-label as either an infusion or an injection for a wide variety of mental health problems.
CBS - Jan. 4, 2023
People Are Already Tweeting About The Trials And Tribulations Of Dry January, And It's So Funny I Almost Spit Out My Mocktail
What is Dry January? It basically means you go the entire first month of the year (31 days) without drinking any alcohol, and it can be kind of a challenge because, well...Luckily, we have Twitter to help make it a little less painful. Whether you're participating in Dry January or not, please enjoy these tweets:
BuzzFeed - Jan. 4, 2023
Dry January: 'I'm a Doctor—Here's How Your Body Changes After a Month Without Alcohol'
Often, people drink because they're stressed or anxious, and they think alcohol provides an instant cure. Of course, not everyone who drinks has a problem, but a break from alcohol can allow people to consider how much they're drinking and why. It usually takes a month to see the benefits of stopping, but in my experience they become apparent relatively quickly.
Newsweek - January 3, 2023
Alcohol abuse spiked during the pandemic. Treatment hasn’t kept up.
As states locked down in 2020, many of them moved to help restaurants and small businesses by making it easier to sell booze. The public policy shift in the states coincided with an alarming increase in alcohol consumption during the pandemic and a 26 percent increase in alcohol-induced deaths from 2019 to 2020. Public health experts warn that the relaxed rules are eroding progress combating substance abuse, especially since resources for treatment for alcoholism have failed to keep pace.
POLITICO - Dec. 30, 2022
National State and Local Studies in the News Opinion Comments
Fentanyl
New Jersey art teacher overdoses on fentanyl in front of middle school students, police say
A New Jersey art teacher was arrested after he overdosed on fentanyl in front of students at a Westfield school, police said. Frank Thompson, 57, was charged Thursday with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and endangering the welfare of children in connection with an incident in November.
NBC - Jan. 8, 2023
Biden talks fentanyl crisis in Mexico: What experts say should be done to stop overdose deaths
President Joe Biden will meet with Mexican officials Monday to discuss how to stop illicit drugs from coming through the southern border, a problem that continues to fuel a new wave of the deadly fentanyl crisis across the United States.
USA Today - Jan. 7, 2023
Tranq Dope: Animal Sedative Mixed with Fentanyl Brings Fresh Horror to U.S. Drug Zones
In her shattered Philadelphia neighborhood, and increasingly in drug hot zones around the country, an animal tranquilizer called xylazine — known by street names like “tranq,” “tranq dope” and “zombie drug” — is being used to bulk up illicit fentanyl, making its impact even more devastating.
New York Times - Jan. 7, 2023
State / Local
Georgia Council for Recovery expects more legislation concerning sober living housing
Legislative work done during the last session paved the way for establishing standards around sober living houses. A 2021 law, Senate Bill 4, now makes kickbacks for referrals illegal. Because transitional housing arrangements are not treatment facilities, they are not regulated, and they are typically not covered by insurance, state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick said last year.
Georgia Public Broadcasting - Jan. 9, 2023
Maine: Daughter’s overdose death sends Maine lawmaker into battle against opioids
Addiction affects nearly all Mainers, regardless of wealth, education or location. That’s something state Sen. Brad Farrin knows all too well. Farrin’s 26-year-old daughter, Haley, was working at her accounting job one day in July. The next day, she died of a fentanyl overdose. It devastated her family and made her one of 565 Mainers to lose their life to a fatal overdose between last January and October, a stark figure that put Maine on pace to have its deadliest year in history for drug overdoses.|
Bangor Daily News - Jan. 8, 2023
Addiction treatment center employees arrested for allegedly using drugs in front of clients
New York State Police said they were informed that employees at Citizens Advocates Inc. introduced crack cocaine into a household on Oct. 13. Investigators said some employees were found to be using drugs within the residence in front of clients.
MyNBC5 - Jan. 6, 2023
Pennsylvania: Philly plans to fight opioid epidemic with settlement funds
On Thursday, the city released details on its Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund. The $200 million fund comes from a settlement with opioid manufacturers. The initial focus will be on Kensington, which has become ground zero for the open-air drug market. The $200 million will be paid out over 18 years. This year's initial investment of $20 million will go to community groups, treatment services, housing and overdose response.
CBS - Jan. 5, 2023
Philly to use opioid settlement funds to battle addiction
First year of Philly’s opioid settlement funds to be spent on overdose prevention, wrap-around services in hard-hit areas. Millions of dollars in opioid settlement funding have reached Philadelphia, and city officials unveiled a plan to spend the money in several key areas to combat the ongoing addiction and overdose crisis. During Thursday’s announcement at McPherson Square Library in Kensington, officials said their main goal will be to work closely with community organizations, grassroots initiatives, and local leaders to make sure $20 million is used and distributed effectively. “The overdose crisis has wrought incalculable harm on communities across the United States,” Mayor Jim Kenney said. “The grief and community trauma have compounded for years in Philadelphia as well, especially here in Kensington and the surrounding neighborhoods.” The money is the first installment of payouts from a historic national settlement with pharmaceutical drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.
WHYY - Jan. 5, 2023
Oregon: What's next for Oregon's opioid settlement funds?
Opioid settlement money is slowly starting to trickle into the state of Oregon. Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Captain Lee Eby will help facilitate the funds. He's the co-chair of Oregon's Opioid Settlement Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Board. The board members met Wednesday, January 4, for their first session of the new year. "I'm very encouraged," Eby told KATU. They're looking at the state of Oregon receiving about $325 million over the next 18 years as part of a nationwide lawsuit settlement, reached in 2021, against four companies for their role in the nation's opioid crisis that's killed more than 564,000 people since the year 2000, according to CDC data. The opioid settlement funds will be divided between the State of Oregon (45%) and local jurisdictions (55%), the Oregon Health Authority explained. Eby and the OSPTR advisory board are facilitating the 45%, or approximately $147 million over 18 years.
NBC 16 - Jan. 5, 2023
Oklahoma Att. Gen. O’Connor speaks on how opioid settlement funds from pharmacy giants will be used
Three retailers, Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, and manufacturer Allergan are paying up to the state of Oklahoma. “Combined, that will bring in $258 million to Oklahoma,” said Attorney General John O’Connor. So, where does it all go? “There is an initial division. The money is going to the state of Oklahoma and that money will be partly for the cities and counties that did not hire lawyers, and then the rest of it will be distributed by the state legislation,” O’Connor said. Wednesday, FOX23 spoke with Grace Ballard who owns Foundations Behavioral Health. Ballard, who works with addicts every day, feels the money should be used to help treat addiction. “The best way to use money like this is after care and treatment facilities,” she said.
Fox23 - Jan. 5, 2023
Minnesota: Thoughts on treating the rise of substance use disorders, addiction in Minnesota
Yesterday, MPR News shared “Substance Use & New Paths to Recovery,” a special broadcast from Call to Mind, American Public Media’s initiative to foster conversations about mental health. In today’s follow-up episode, MPR News host Angela Davis talks with members of a Minnesota peer support network specifically for nurses struggling with substance use. And we’ll also hear from a group that is working to expand access to treatment using telehealth.
Minnesota Public Radio - Jan. 5, 2023
Kansas will get $45.3 million in opioid addiction settlement
On Friday, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced that his office has secured at least $28.4 million in a legal settlement with Teva and at least $16.9 in a legal settlement with Allergan over opioid epidemic allegations. Schmidt says the settlements resolve allegations that the companies contributed to the opioid addiction epidemic. The more than $45 million for Kansas is part of the $6.6 billion the two settlements will provide nationally. The settlements will go to the participating states to review, allowing for certain additional parties to join during the first quarter of the year.
MSN - Jan. 5, 2023
New York doctors now required to prescribe naloxone to some patients on opioid painkillers
A recently enacted New York law aims to ensure that naloxone is available if needed by people who take prescription opioids. Under the law, which took effect this summer, doctors must co-prescribe naloxone to certain patients who are at risk of an overdose when writing the patients' first opioid prescription each year. Risk factors that would trigger the requirement include taking a high daily dose of an opioid (at least 90 morphine milligram equivalents, or MME); taking certain other drugs, like sedative hypnotics; or having a history of substance use disorder. At least 10 other states have similar laws, according to research by the Network for Public Health Law.
CBS - Jan. 4, 2023
Washington: ‘Something has to change': Marysville cracks down on public drug use
Marysville has enacted a law that allows officers to arrest someone for a first offense of using drugs in a public place. The move is in reaction to more lenient laws put in place by the state legislature. "The one thing that drives crime is drug addiction," says Marysville Police Sgt. Derek Carlile. "Everybody thinks drugs are legal now so they can do drugs wherever they want."
King5.com - Jan. 3, 2023
New York: New York’s supervised injection sites have halted nearly 700 overdoses in just over a year
Since November 2021, New York’s sites together have served more than 2,100 people using drugs more than 50,000 times. No one has died there. The concept of supervised drug consumption is on shaky legal terrain in the United States. Federal courts so far have blocked a years-long effort to open such a facility in Philadelphia, which has some of the nation’s highest urban overdose death rates. But just 90 miles north, New York City — in a different federal judicial district where the recent court rulings do not apply — has launched two sites, in East Harlem and Washington Heights. The results: Since November 2021, the sites together have served more than 2,100 experienced drug users more than 50,000 times, with 672 overdoses treated. No one has died at the centers. Without these facilities, many of these overdoses would have been deadly unless somebody with a dose of Narcan happened to be present.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Jan. 3, 2023
Pennsylvania has regional disparities in buprenorphine distribution, study says
A new study from the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine found distribution of the addiction-curbing drug buprenorphine in Pennsylvania increased by 217% over the last decade. Piper said the less impressive increases in buprenorphine distribution to densely populated areas of the state were troublesome. Among U.S. counties with a population of more than 1 million people, Philadelphia and Allegheny counties ranked highest in rates of opioid-related deaths in 2016.
WESA - Jan. 3, 2023
Studies/Research in the News
USC Researchers Suggest a Quick Fix for America’s Opioid Epidemic
There are no simple solutions to America’s deadly overdose epidemic, which costs 100,000 lives each year and is erasing gains in life expectancy. But a team of researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) has found one low-cost intervention can make a difference: a letter notifying providers their patient has died from an overdose.
Sci Tech Daily - Jan. 10, 2022
Alcohol liver disease rising among young people, especially women
Cirrhosis or severe liver disease used to be something that mostly struck people in middle age, or older. Increasingly, alcohol-related liver disease is killing younger people in the U.S. [There is a] disturbing trend of 25-to-34-year-old men and women experiencing severe, and sometimes fatal, liver damage related to their drinking. A 2018 study reported that between 2009 and 2016, deaths attributed to alcohol-related cirrhosis — scarring of the organ that can lead to its failure over time — had been consistently rising, with the sharpest increase among those in that age group.
NBC - Jan. 8, 2023
First-in-kind psychedelic trials treat opioid and methamphetamine use disorders
Three million people in the United States have had opioid use disorder, and another 1.5 million people have dealt with methamphetamine misuse within the last year alone. But two new groundbreaking clinical trials out of the UW Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances (TCRPS), housed within the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy, aim to address these pressing issues with a promising psychoactive agent: psilocybin.
University of Wisconsin - Jan. 6, 2023
Consumption of Marijuana Edibles Surges Among Children, Study Finds
The accidental consumption of marijuana edibles, such as brownies and gummies, among children under the age of 6 has surged in recent years as more states have legalized the recreational use of pot, a new study has found. The study, published on Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, analyzed reports of child exposure to edibles from 2017 to 2021. The authors concluded that there had been a “consistent increase in pediatric edible cannabis exposures over the past five years, with the potential for significant toxicity.”
New York Times - Jan. 4, 2023
New medicine could help kick vaping and nicotine addiction
According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 5.6 million American adults vape, using an electronic device to inhale nicotine and flavored vapors. And much like cigarette smoking, for some, vaping may become a habit that is tough to quit. Researchers are now conducting a clinical trial of a plant-based product that has been tested on cigarette smokers to see if it helps people hooked on vaping. Nancy Rigotti, MD is the Director of the Tobacco Research and Treatment Unit at Mass. General Hospital. She and her colleagues use text messaging, behavioral counseling, and medications to help young adults who want to quit nicotine. Now, they are testing a medicine called Cytisinicline made from a plant by the same name. “The drug itself is very similar to one of our smoking cessation medicines that’s called Varenicline or Chantix. So, it has a similar effect, but it has fewer side effects, is what we’re seeing,” Dr. Rigotti explains.
7KPLC - Jan. 3, 2023
Opinion
She sold a fatal dose of heroin. She’s also an addict who shouldn’t be in prison, critics say.
Earlier this year, a jury convicted McGuigan at trial, and a judge sentenced her in April to 12 years in state prison. The use of New Jersey’s strict liability for drug induced death law is not new, but how it’s being used as the opioid crisis stretches on is, critics say. In recent years, it’s been unjust, unfair, and unevenly applied across the Garden State, they argue.
NJ.com - Jan. 9, 2023
Use drug possession charge as leverage for treatment Marysville will use a misdemeanor law to address addiction. State lawmakers should follow suit.
The City of Marysville isn’t waiting for the state Legislature to take action on reforms to the state’s standard for dealing with public use and possession of intoxicating drugs; it passed its own law recently to immediately cite those caught using nonprescription drugs in public, referring misdemeanor charges to its own municipal court, as The Herald’s Riley Haun reported Wednesday. Marysville’s new ordinance makes public drug use a misdemeanor, with a potential penalty of 90 days in jail and up to a $1,000 fine, but again, that’s meant to be used as leverage to get those charged into drug court and treatment.
HeraldNet - Jan. 5, 2023
I Compulsively Consumed Everything From Vodka To Juicy Fruit. Here's What I Know About Addiction.
Susan Shapiro: I was a nice Jewish girl finishing my master’s program who’d just landed a coveted (albeit low-paying) editorial assistant job at a top magazine. Why was I risking my safety for this middle-of-the-night excursion? I had seen no choice, since I’d unexpectedly run out of my daily dose and couldn’t find anybody closer who had any to share, loan or sell me.
HuffPost - Jan. 4, 2023
‘Entire Body is Shaking’: Why Americans With Chronic Pain Are Dying
From the mid-1990s to the early 2010s, the number of opioid prescriptions written for Americans roughly doubled, driven by dishonest pharmaceutical marketing campaigns and unscrupulous entrepreneurs who opened so-called pill mills to sell drugs. Medical guidelines, legislation, law enforcement efforts and other measures have since returned painkiller prescribing to precrisis levels. But because people who lose access to medical opioids are rarely provided with immediate treatment (whether they are experiencing pain or addiction or both), the result has been more overdose and suicide deaths, not fewer. Despite these dismal facts, American medicine and law enforcement continue to fight the last war.
New York Times - Jan. 3, 2023
2022 was a deadly (but hopeful) year in America's opioid crisis
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the avalanche of overdose deaths — driven largely by the spread of illicit fentanyl --may have crested in March. Researchers found a staggering 110,236 people died in a single 12-month period, a stunning new record. But there are signs help may finally be on the way. The avalanche of drug deaths spurred a series of major reforms in 2022 to the way drug addiction is treated in the U.S., changes designed to reduce stigma and improve access to care. 2022 was also a year of corporate accountability.
NPR - Dec. 31, 2023
Take 3 W/SLP, December 2022
One. Medication and Training Expansion (MATE) and Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Acts passed as part of the federal omnibus spending bill. Two. As elderly increasingly struggle with addiction, Medicare beneficiaries experience gaps in coverage. Three. The case for safe supply.
Sober Linings Playbook - Dec. 28, 2022