The Wednesday Weekly - September 8, 2021
Highlights
National
Sacklers win immunity in bankruptcy settlement | NIDA director calls for decriminalizing drug use
State and Local
Medication-assisted treatment in Albuquerque jails | Setback in AZ hospital system opioid lawsuit against CVS
Studies/Research in the News
Univ. of Washington Medical School advances understanding of the brain’s reward circuitry | Experts make the harm reduction case for vaping
Opinion
America’s real longest war | Rethinking pharma’s role in health care | Why overdose awareness matters
Reviews
Book: Maia Szalvitz’s “Untold Story of Harm Reduction” | Two Amy Winehouse documentaries
Podcasts
On Flourishing After Addiction’s (FAC) first episode, Dr. Katie Witkiewitz discusses what ‘recovery’ means and whether it requires abstinence | On FAC, episode 2, Maia Szalavitz discusses her new book, “Undoing Drugs”
Legislative Updates and Advocacy
California’s AB 541 will require tobacco treatment in SUD programs | Take action to support the Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Leg/Advocacy
National
Seminar (Friday Sept. 10 @ 11 a.m. ET): Pathways to Recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder with Katie Witkiewitz, Ph.D.
Abstinence from alcohol is often viewed as the most desirable and ideal outcome for individuals with alcohol use disorder. Yet, most individuals with alcohol use disorder do not want to abstain from drinking and do not seek treatment. Over the past 20 years, there have been several significant methodological advances in studying patterns and predictors of alcohol use and drinking reductions, yet most of the work has not had a major influence on clinical practice. Dr. Witkiewitz's talk will provide a broad overview of this literature and highlight new perspectives and new empirical data examining non-abstinent recovery from alcohol use disorder.
Virginia Tech Fralin Biomedical Research Institute
‘The Wire’ actor Michael K. Williams found dead in NYC apartment
Williams — who had talked openly about his past struggles with drugs — was pronounced dead by authorities at 2:12 p.m., sources said, adding that it appeared the TV star had fatally OD’d. It was unclear how long the actor may have been dead.
New York Post - Sept. 6, 2021
Comedian Fuquan Johnson, 2 Others Die of Suspected Overdose
The 42-year-old funnyman and the other victims are believed to have unwittingly ingested fentanyl-laced cocaine during a get-together in Venice late Friday.
The Daily Beast - Sept. 5, 2021
Deal with OxyContin maker leaves families angry, conflicted
In one of the hardest-fought provisions in the settlement, the family will be protected from any future opioid lawsuits. While the Sacklers weren’t given immunity from criminal charges, there have been no indications they will face any. On Wednesday, a bankruptcy judge conditionally approved a settlement worth an estimated $10 billion. In one of the hardest-fought provisions in the settlement, the family will be protected from any future opioid lawsuits. While the Sacklers weren’t given immunity from criminal charges, there have been no indications they will face any.
AP - Sept. 2, 2021
Top Federal Drug Official Says We Don't Need More Research To Show Criminalization's Racist Impact
When it comes to the war on drugs, there’s no need for further research to prove that such criminalization has disproportionately impacted communities of color, a top federal drug official said in a new interview. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow has on several recent occasions discussed the harms of the drug war and the need to take an alternative approach, in part by decriminalizing substance misuse and promoting treatment through a public health-focused model.
Marijuana Moment - Sept. 2, 2021
The Sacklers, Who Made Billions From OxyContin, Win Immunity From Opioid Lawsuits
Members of the Sackler family who are at the center of the nation's deadly opioid crisis have won sweeping immunity from opioid lawsuits linked to their privately owned company Purdue Pharma and its OxyContin medication. Federal Judge Robert Drain approved a bankruptcy settlement on Wednesday that grants the Sacklers "global peace" from any liability for the opioid epidemic.
NPR - Sept. 1, 2021
Press Release: Plan of Reorganization of Purdue Pharma L.P. Receives Bankruptcy Court Approval
The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Bankruptcy Court”) today approved the Purdue Pharma L.P. chapter 11 plan of reorganization (the “Plan”). The Plan received overwhelming support from more than 95% of voting creditors, including every voting class of creditors and bi-partisan state attorneys general from 43 states and territories.
AP - Sept. 1, 2021
Hazelden execs share addiction histories, retirement plans
This fall, Marvin Seppala, chief medical officer, and Nick Motu, vice president and chief external affairs officer, will be retiring after decades with the nonprofit addiction treatment giant. heir stories are strikingly similar: Two young Minnesota men whose lives were upended by substance use. For years they both struggled with addiction, treatment and relapse before finding sobriety. Later their winding roads led them to long careers in leadership at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. Recently both men took time to talk about their tumultuous pasts — and their long careers promoting addiction treatment and recovery.
MinnPost - Aug. 30, 2021
National State and Local Studies in the News Opinion Reviews Podcasts Leg/Advocacy
State / Local
Albuquerque Jail Offers Treatment for Opioid Addiction
The Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque has begun a program to give buprenorphine to people in jail who are already using it to treat their opioid addictions.
U.S. News and World Report - Sept. 6, 2021
Oregon Psilocybin Panel Teams Up With Harvard To Research Psychedelic History And Impacts Of Reform
Members of the Oregon Psilocybin Advisory Board released an initial report in July that reviewed hundreds of studies into psilocybin, as required under the state’s historic, voter-approved 2020 medical legalization initiative. The board will now be working with a recently established psychedelic research center at Harvard Law School to more thoroughly cover the subject. Part of the intent of the new expanded research project is to help inform legislative efforts outside of Oregon where psychedelics reform is being considered.
Marijuana Moment - Sept. 6, 2021
Former Ky. police officer leaves the force to help people find treatment for addiction
It was a trip to an Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) treatment center that changed the way he saw people and policing.
WYMT.com - Sept. 6, 2021
Addicted North Carolina: Church leaders in Jones County helping fight addiction
Church members in one county are now working together to fight off addiction in their community. Church leaders said drug overdose is a constant issue in the area but the pandemic is now keeping people from getting the help they need. Program leaders at Memorial Baptist Church said they are concerned that if people don’t get help they need, the county may see an even bigger spike in overdose cases.
WCTI News 12 - Sept. 2, 2021
Maine to pay addiction treatment providers more per patient
Facilities that provide treatment for substance use disorder will be reimbursed at a higher rate for Medicaid patients they treat, Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Tuesday. Some $2.1 million set aside in the budget passed in July will go toward making the payments to a range of facilities, including detoxification providers and halfway houses, the Portland Press Herald reported.
AP - Sept. 1, 2021
Arizona high court rejects major part of lawsuit against CVS
The justices ruled Wednesday that Tucson Medical Center can’t sue CVS Health Corporation for alleged negligence through distribution of opioids. The 2018 lawsuit said CVS was part of a conspiracy of drug manufacturers and others who promoted the use of opioids and fueled the national opioid epidemic, causing huge losses for hospitals.
AP - Sept. 1, 2021
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Leg/Advocacy
Studies/Research in the News
Beyond dopamine: New reward circuitry discovered
In a paper published in Nature Neuroscience, researchers from the Bruchas Lab at the University of Washington School of Medicine pushed the science forward on our reward pathways and found there is another pathway beyond dopamine. The Bruchas Lab is expanding knowledge of the inner workings of the brain and identifying treatments for psychiatric diseases. "This study opens new avenues to understanding reward circuitry that might be altered in abuse of nicotine, opiates, or other drugs as well as neuropsychiatric diseases that affect reward processing including depression," said corresponding author Dr. Michael Bruchas, professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine who runs the Bruchas Lab.
Science Daily - Sept. 2, 2021
Tobacco Control Experts Unite for Unprecedented Endorsement of Vaping
In a new paper in the American Journal of Public Health, the most influential tobacco control experts in the country have come together to endorse the harm reduction benefits of vaping for adult smokers, calling for the rehabilitation of its public image and emphasizing its ability to save lives as a safer alternative to combustible cigarettes.
Filter Magazine - Aug. 19, 2021
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Leg/Advocacy
Opinion
America’s real longest war
As we witnessed the agony of our nation’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, most of us thought that, after 20 years there, we were ending America’s longest war. But conventional wisdom is wrong. The United States is still fighting the war on drugs that President Richard Nixon officially declared more than 50 years ago on June 17, 1971. Both wars have been fueled by false assumptions. And when the concepts used to justify a war prove misguided, it’s reasonable to believe that our leaders, supported by the public, will change course. This is what caused us to leave Afghanistan. The same thing can happen with the war on drugs.
Chicago Sun Time - Sept. 3, 2021
Purdue bankruptcy settlement has this doctor thinking about pharma’s role in health care | Expert Opinion
The actions of Purdue Pharma demonstrate how aggressive and slanted marketing can lead to dangerous outcomes. We as medical professionals have the responsibility to ensure that the process of developing, prescribing, and administering drugs does not cause harm. Cases like that of Purdue illustrate how the present process can go wrong.
Philadelphia Inquirer - Sept. 2, 2021
Overdose Awareness: Why it matters
August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD). Many people also don’t realize that overdose deaths are preventable. “This day draws attention to drug overdose and reminds people what they can do to prevent these unnecessary deaths,” explains Kevin Fiscella, MD, MPH, an addiction physician and professor of family medicine at the University of Rochester. Dr. Fiscella added that widespread availability of naloxone (i.e. “Narcan”) kits and encouragement of those experiencing addiction to seek treatment are critical early steps.
Forbes - Aug. 31, 2021
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Leg/Advocacy
Reviews
Book Review: The Rise of Harm Reduction in the War on Drugs, by Maia Szalavitz
Maia Szalavitz’s new book “Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction” is an in-depth history of a powerful idea, exploring many angles of drug policy, including prescription drug use, supervised consumption, and legalizing cannabis. Throughout, she also details the racial inequities and social justice tensions that have defined the drug war.
Undark - Sept. 3, 2021
Two Documentary Films: The Battle Over Amy Winehouse’s Memory Continues
July 23 was the 10th anniversary of the death of British singer Amy Winehouse. On the anniversary date, two British documentaries – it would be a mistake to call them “films” – were released whose aim was seemingly conscience-clearing, self-promotion, or both.
Haaretz - Sept. 2, 2021
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Leg/Advocacy
Podcasts: The Weekly Roundup
Recovery in the Middle Ages – Get Smart with Erin Moore! Discussing Sponsorship and the 13th Step
When sponsors go bad. Anyone who has been around 12 step groups for any length of time is familiar with the idea of the “13th Step”. The act of “13th Stepping” is when a more experienced member of AA or NA pursues a romantic or other exploitative relationship with a new group member. Mike and Nat, joined by RMA regular Erin Moore, do a deep dive into the issues of power imbalances and exploitation in 12 step groups, and consider ways to make meetings safer for people in recovery.
Rehab Confidential – Wendy Adamson, author and clinical marketing manager of Polaris Teen Center
Amy and Joe chat with Wendy Adamson about her new memoir “Incorrigible,” which recounts her life in the juvenile justice system. She discusses how kids with mental health issues get lost in the system and the impact of intergenerational trauma.
Flourishing After Addiction with Carl Erik Fisher, M.D.
Episode 1: What is recovery? with Katie Witkiewitz, Ph.D.
Even among researchers who study the concept, the definition of “recovery” is far from settled: does it require abstinence? does it necessarily involve lofty concepts like spirituality and citizenship? is the main point the absence of problems, or is there more to it than that?
Episode 2: A compassionate alternative to the war on drugs, with Maia Szalavitz
Maia is an award-winning author and journalist well-known for covering addiction, neuroscience, and harm reduction. Her most recent book, Undoing Drugs, is a sweeping, ambitious, yet tightly plotted and fast-paced history of harm reduction, ranging across the globe to tell a vivid history of harm reduction as a revolutionary movement.
Episode 3: Beyond mindfulness: integrating Buddhism and recovery, with Buddhist teacher Kevin Griffin
Kevin is one of the founders of the Buddhist Recovery Network, an organization that promotes the use of Buddhist teachings and practices for recovery and is respectful of all recovery paths.
The Addicted Mind Podcast - 144: The Journey Through Alcoholism and Recovery with Charlie Gray
Duane talks with Charlie Gray about his journey of hope and resiliency through his toxic relationship with vodka and the one thing that allowed him to stay sober. In his memoir, At Least I’m Not The Frog: A Zany Memoir of Alcoholism & Recovery, Charlie Gray tells his story of being a recovering alcoholic sharing his experience of addiction, relapse, and recovery.
National State/Local Studies/Research Opinion Reviews Podcasts Leg/Advocacy
Legislative Updates and Advocacy
Press Release: California Governor Newsom Signs Bill (AB 541) to Include Tobacco Treatment in Substance Use Disorder Programs
On Sept. 1, 2021, Governor Newsom signed AB 541 (Berman, 2021), which will help patients in drug treatment programs quit smoking. The bill requires a licensed facility or a certified program to assess a patient or client for use of tobacco products at the time of the initial intake and to provide information and treatment (or a referral to treatment) if the patient or client has a tobacco use disorder. “I was surprised to learn that people with substance use disorders are more likely to die from tobacco-related illness than from the addiction that brings them to treatment in the first place,” said the bill’s author, Assemblymember Berman.
The bill’s text includes the following findings and declarations:
(1) people with mental health and/or substance use disorders are more than twice as likely to smoke cigarettes and are more likely to die from a smoking-related illness than from their behavioral health conditions;
(2) Research shows patients who are concomitantly treated for tobacco use disorder while receiving addiction treatment have a 25-percent increase in the likelihood of substance use abstinence one year after treatment compared to those not treated for tobacco use disorder; and
(3) the CDC concludes that given that tobacco cessation in behavioral health treatment could improve both physical and behavioral health outcomes.
For an engaging lecture on the benefits of including tobacco cessation in substance use disorder treatment program, see this video of Dr. Todd Carran, an addiction specialist and medical director at Transitions, Inc. and Northland and the Ridge.
Tell Your Reps: Make Addiction Training Standard For Doctors
The Medication Access and Training Expansion (MATE) Act is designed to ensure that all DEA-controlled medication prescribers have a baseline knowledge of how to prevent addiction and how to identify, treat, and manage patients who have substance use disorders. You might think that this is already the case, but it’s not. Addiction treatment is currently not a focus in many medical schools, meaning most doctors do not know how to identify or treat substance use disorder, despite the public health emergency that it is. That’s why we need this legislation. Contact your Members of Congress now and urge them to pass the MATE Act!