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U.S. Sees Tripling of Babies Born Addicted to Painkillers

Posted 30 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, April 30 – About one baby an hour is born addicted to powerful painkillers called opiates in the United States, a new study shows. The number of infants born with a drug withdrawal syndrome called neonatal abstinence syndrome tripled between 2000 and 2009, jumping to more than 13,000, according to a study published online April 30 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. At the same time, use of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin) by mothers-to-be increased fivefold, the researchers noted. "This is becoming a big problem and affecting newborns at an alarmingly high and increasing rate," said study author Dr. Stephen W. Patrick, a fellow in the University of Michigan's division of neonatal-perinatal medicine in Ann Arbor. Babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome tend to be irritable, have heightened muscle tone (hypertonia), tremors, feeding ... Read more

Many Who First Misuse Prescription Pills Get Them From Friends, Family: Report

Posted 25 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, April 25 – A new U.S. government analysis shows that more than 70 percent of people who first misuse prescription medications get those pills from their friends or relatives. "We are in the midst of a public health epidemic driven by prescription drug abuse," Gil Kerlikowske, director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said during a news conference Wednesday. "Prescription painkiller abuse led to 15,500 overdose deaths in 2009, which is more than cocaine and heroin combined." That year, the tally also exceeded the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents for the first time ever, according to the report. Individuals who frequently abuse prescription drugs were more likely to obtain them from doctors or over the Internet, the new report also showed. To arrive at these conclusions, researchers re-analyzed data from the 2009 and 2010 U.S. National Survey on ... Read more

Related support groups: Opiate Dependence, Drug Dependence, Substance Abuse

Heroin Addicts Have Higher Pain Sensitivity, Even During Treatment

Posted 25 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, April 25 – Heroin addicts often have an increased sensitivity to pain, and this sensitivity does not subside over the course of treatment with methadone or other opioids, new research finds. Researchers from the University of California-Los Angeles sought to determine how increased sensitivity to pain (also called hyperalgesia) might change as a heroin addict moves from drug abuse to stabilization and eventually to maintenance on a pain-treatment opioid such as methadone or buprenorphine. The investigators assessed the pain responses of 82 heroin addicts who sought treatment and were given either methadone or buprenorphine. The addicts' pain responses were compared to people who didn't use drugs. Pain responses in both groups were measured using electrical stimulation and the cold pressor test, in which a hand is placed in ice cold water. The results showed no significant ... Read more

Seniors' Long-Term Use of Strong Painkillers a Concern

Posted 12 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, March 12 – Older patients prescribed narcotic painkiller drugs, such as codeine or oxycodone, soon after short-stay surgery are at increased risk of becoming long-term users, a new study finds. Canadian researchers looked at data from almost 400,000 patients aged 66 and older who had short-stay surgery for cataracts, gallbladder removal, prostate tissue removal or varicose vein stripping. Of those patients, almost 28,000 (more than 7 percent) were prescribed narcotic painkillers, also called opioids, within seven days after hospital discharge. More than 30,000 (nearly 8 percent) were prescribed opioids one year after surgery. Almost 3,000 (more than 10 percent) of patients from both groups were identified as long-term opioid users one year after surgery. Patients who received an opioid prescription within seven days of surgery were about 44 percent more likely to become ... Read more

Hard Drug Use in Middle Age Could Prove Fatal, Study Finds

Posted 3 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Feb. 3 – People who start using hard drugs – such as cocaine, opiates and amphetamines – as young adults and continue to use them into their 50s have a fivefold increased risk of early death, researchers report. The finding is from an analysis of hard drug use among 4,300 U.S. adults who took part in a long-term study of cardiovascular disease and risk factors. The participants, including blacks, whites, men and women, were recruited when they were 18 to 30 years of age and followed from 1985 to 2006. The University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers compared those who stopped drug use early in life to those who continued, and calculated their risk of premature death. "Fourteen percent of the people in the study reported recent hard-drug use at least once, and of these, half continued using well into middle age," lead author Dr. Stefan Kertesz, an associate professor in the ... Read more

Global Study Finds Drug Abuse Highest in Richer Nations

Posted 6 Jan 2012 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Jan. 6 – About 200 million people worldwide use illicit drugs each year, and use is highest in wealthier nations, a new study shows. The researchers also found that the burden of health problems caused by illicit drug use in developed countries is similar to that caused by alcohol, but much less than that caused by tobacco. Experts in the United States weren't surprised by the numbers, and said that more needs to be done to reduce Americans' dependence on illegal drugs. The study "serves to confirm something addiction experts have known for some time – that the extent of illicit drug use and abuse in developed countries like the United States has reached epidemic proportions," said Dr. Jeffrey T. Parsons, a professor in the department of psychology at Hunter College, in New York City. The analysis of available data from a team of Australian researchers estimates that there are ... Read more

Smart Kids More Likely to Try Illicit Drugs as Young Adults

Posted 15 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Nov. 15 – Brainy children are at increased risk for illegal drug use when they're young adults, a new study says. Researchers analyzed data from nearly 8,000 people in the ongoing 1970 British Cohort Study of drug use, education and socioeconomic status. The participants' IQ scores were checked at ages 5 and 10 years, and their use of illegal drugs (marijuana, cocaine, uppers, downers, LSD and heroin) was self-reported at ages 16 and 30. At age 30, about 35 percent of men and nearly 16 percent of women had used marijuana in the previous year, and 8.6 percent of men and 3.6 percent of women had used cocaine during that time. In general, men were twice as likely as women to use drugs. The investigators found that 30-year-old men who had high IQ scores at age 5 were about 50 percent more likely than those who had low IQ scores to have used amphetamines, ecstasy and several ... Read more

Quitting Even Tougher When Smokers Battle Other Addictions

Posted 26 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Aug. 26 – Four out of every 10 smokers is also burdened with alcohol or drug addictions, or mental health disorders, and getting them to quit cigarettes can be a big challenge. But a new study finds that these patients are five times more likely to give up smoking if they receive smoking-cessation counseling from their primary care doctors. Finding ways to help them kick the smoking habit not only boosts their health but also reduces tobacco-related health care costs, said study author Dr. Michael Ong, an assistant professor of general internal medicine and health services research and a researcher at Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. In the study, his team looked at success rates among almost 1,400 smokers who tried to quit. The rates were 6 percent for those with so-called "comorbid disorders" (for example, mental illness and/or ... Read more

When Teens Abuse Prescriptions, Addiction Often Follows

Posted 1 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Aug. 1 – More than one in five teens who have been prescribed a controlled medication such as Oxycontin for pain or Ritalin to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are misusing the drugs, a new study has found. And these kids are more likely than others to abuse other substances and to start giving or selling drugs to their peers, the researchers said. Still, it's important to remember that most kids do take their medications as prescribed, the team added. "The fact that we can now say the majority of secondary school kids who are prescribed opioids and other controlled medications [do not abuse then] is important because the field doesn't want to go back to having so much fear associated with these medications that we then underprescribe them," stressed Sean Esteban McCabe, lead author of a study on teens and controlled medications appearing in the August issue of ... Read more

Long-Term Opioid Therapy Often Leads to Addiction

Posted 29 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, July 29 – Addiction to prescription drugs is common among patients with chronic pain, with 35 percent of patients receiving long-term treatment with opioids now meeting the criteria for addiction, a new study has found. In conducting the research, published in the July issue of the Journal of Addictive Diseases, researchers interviewed 705 people undergoing long-term opioid therapy for non-cancer pain between August 2007 and November 2008. The study found that addiction to prescription pain medication – such as morphine, OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin – happens often among those with the following risk factors: younger than 65; a history of opioid abuse; withdrawal symptoms; and substance abuse treatment. Anti-social personality disorder, the researchers noted, is another risk factor for this type of addiction. Moreover, even after the American Psychiatric Association ... Read more

Related support groups: Pain, Suboxone, Methadone, Oxycodone, Percocet, OxyContin, Hydrocodone, Vicodin, Opiate Dependence, Morphine, Norco, Fentanyl, Lortab, Subutex, Opana

Vaccine to Prevent Heroin High Works in Animals

Posted 28 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, July 28 – Researchers say they're seeing promising results in animals from a vaccine designed to prevent a heroin high. The vaccine produces antibodies – a part of the immune system – that appear to prevent heroin from reaching the brain and producing euphoria, the study authors explained. "In my 25 years of making drug-of-abuse vaccines, I haven't seen such a strong immune response as I have with what we term a dynamic anti-heroin vaccine," principal investigator Kim D. Janda, a chair in chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute, said in an institute news release. "It is just extremely effective. The hope is that such a protective vaccine will be an effective therapeutic option for those trying to break their addiction to heroin." Janda and his colleagues have already produced vaccines that try to stop the effects of cocaine and nicotine; they're being tested in humans. ... Read more

Related support groups: Opiate Dependence, Substance Abuse

Cognitive Therapy Helps Depressed Drug Abusers

Posted 6 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 6 – A new study suggests that cognitive behavioral therapy – a type of therapy oriented toward problem-solving – may help the depressed in residential treatment programs for drug and alcohol abuse. Many people with substance disorders and depression fail to receive treatment for both conditions. "The consequences of this unmet need are great," the study authors write. "The interactive nature of the two disorders leads to poorer depression and substance abuse treatment outcomes compared with the outcomes when only one disorder is present." Researchers led by Dr. Katherine E. Watkins of the RAND Corp. studied patients at behavioral health services facilities in Los Angeles between 2006 and 2009. Every four months, the facilities alternated between providing regular care for substance abuse and care plus cognitive behavioral therapy, which aims to change dysfunctional ... Read more

Genes May Affect Severity of Drug Addiction

Posted 8 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 8 – Treatment for drug addiction is affected by a person's genetic makeup and the duration of substance abuse, U.S. scientists report. A research team at the Brookhaven National Laboratory found that drug addicts who have a certain genetic makeup have lower gray matter density – and therefore fewer neurons – in areas of the brain that are important for decision-making, self-control, learning and memory. "This research shows that genes can influence the severity of addiction," study co-author Nelly Alia-Klein, a medical scientist, said in a Brookhaven news release. "The results suggest that addicted individuals with low MAOA [monoamine oxidase A] genotype may need a different kind of treatment than other addicted individuals who carry the high MAOA genotype." She said that additional study is needed before treatment strategies should change. "However, addiction ... Read more

Related support groups: Opiate Dependence, Drug Dependence, Substance Abuse

Depression May Worsen Over Time in Addiction-Prone Women

Posted 25 Feb 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Feb. 25 – Depression symptoms increase over time for women in their 30s and 40s who are prone to addiction problems and antisocial behavior, researchers report. The new study looked at how personal history, family life and neighborhood instability affected alcoholism symptoms in 273 women over a 12-year period during their early years of marriage and motherhood. The participants lived in the U.S. Midwest. While alcohol problems and antisocial behavior declined over time, depression symptoms increased among the women. The study also found that the women's partner's and children's problems also had an effect on them. For example, women's symptoms and behaviors worsened if their partner also struggled with addiction and antisocial behavior, such as trouble with the law. And negative behaviors in their children, such as acting out and getting into trouble, tended to increase the ... Read more

Related support groups: Depression, Opiate Dependence, Drug Dependence, Substance Abuse

Helping Fellow Addicts Can Help Maintain Sobriety

Posted 5 Feb 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Feb. 3 – By helping other alcoholics and addicts stay clean, addicts can actually help themselves stay on the wagon, a Case Western expert suggests. Maria E. Pagano, an associate professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, finds that addicts who offer fellow addicts structured support through participation in community service programs help to reduce the pull of egocentrism and/or selfishness that some researchers believe is a root cause of addiction. "The research indicates that getting active in service helps alcoholics and other addicts become sober and stay sober, and suggests this approach is applicable to all treatment-seeking individuals with a desire to not drink or use drugs," Pagano said in a university news release. "Helping others in the program of AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] has forged a therapy based on the kinship of common ... Read more

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Suboxone, Subutex, buprenorphine, naltrexone, Vivitrol, Revia, Depade, buprenorphine/naloxone