Lawmakers get more serious about helping addicts
For years, the people concerned with these problems nibbled at it only on the margins. Most states, including Indiana, have been far more likely to throw drug users in prison than to get them treatment. And there's been little appetite to fund what … Read more on Indianapolis Business Journal

Homeless in Vancouver: Treating meth addicts like pariahs for fun and profit
Turns out that, sanctimonious justifications aside, it's all about the high-pressure marketing of private U.S. drug treatment clinics. Rehabs.com isn't itself in the business of addiction treatment. It's in the business of steering addicts toward … Read more on Straight.com (blog)

Kane County board rejects treatment center in Campton Township
Emotional pleas by speakers, an impassioned request to look at the evidence and the possibility of a lawsuit failed to sway Kane County board members to approve a zoning application which would've cleared the way for an alcohol and drug treatment … Read more on Chicago Tribune

Nightclub tsar and cocaine dealer becomes rehab clinic owner
Some experts in addiction medicine have expressed scepticism about the involvement of Mr Metropolis and Mr Harland in a rehabilitation service. Others defended their role and claimed many counsellors had personal experienced substance abuse and … Read more on The Age

Group calls for more addiction treatment
“Drug addiction among young people is a horrendous and life-threatening epidemic — a deadly epidemic, as we have seen in the last few days,” Blumenthal said, referring to the nine heroin overdoses, one of them fatal, that occurred in New London County … Read more on CT Post

Big caseloads for drug abuse counselors
MONTPELIER. – Vermont has expanded addiction treatment in a big way in recent years, but a state Senate committee heard Thursday of continuing waiting lists for treatment and huge caseloads for substance abuse counselors. The Senate Health and … Read more on BurlingtonFreePress.com

Opinionator | Staying Sober After Treatment Ends
A related reason is that the face of drug abuse is changing — a factor that has led to a softening of drug policy in general. In the last decade, 90 percent of new heroin users have been white, and suddenly people in power are noticing that drug abuse … Read more on New York Times (blog)

Resident says problems were rampant at Fortitude Treatment Center
"They were never checked on,” she said. “They were taking drugs in the facility, sharing drugs with each other." Not only did she make claims of drug abuse, she said offenders like her son were supposed to leave for work or to look for jobs during the … Read more on fox13now.com

Addiction not a character flaw issue: expert
Drug, alcohol, gambling and most other addictions hijack the dopamine or pleasure pathway of the brain, resulting in reward, pleasure or persistence, says Dr Phil Townshend, Clinical Psychologist, Treatment Director at DARA Thailand, an international … Read more on Australian Journal of Pharmacy (registration) (blog)

Couple chronicles addiction struggles
Getting behind the science of alcoholism aided in Pond's quest for answers and a new treatment for his addiction, that goes beyond the standard 12-step approach. The couple crisscrossed the United States and went across the pond, over a nine-month … Read more on North Shore News

The surprising Internet forum some alcoholics are choosing
r/StopDrinking (www.reddit.com/r/stopdrinking) is a fascinating case study, both as a thriving online community and as a possible new vector for addiction treatment. It's run entirely by volunteers, most of whom are recovered alcoholics. It includes an … Read more on Wichita Eagle

Mother who lost son to heroin: Talk about it
The former Shrewsbury man died Sunday from a heroin overdose after being released from a drug rehabilitation facility in Florida. Kevin's mother, Michelle Outen, chose to disclose the … Ultimately, the short stays in rehab weren't nearly long enough … Read more on York Dispatch

Why addiction is suddenly a hot investment sector in Philly
Federal changes boosting access to care for alcoholics and drug addicts as well as people with mental illness, and growing attention to deaths from prescription painkillers and heroin, are luring investors to buy into addiction treatment. Plus … Read more on Philly.com

O'Malley urges Iowans to "shift the dynamic of the race"
We worked on addiction and drug treatment. I learned if you treat the physical component without the mental component, you're playing a game of whack-a-mole, you … Now we have the most unrepresentative House of Representatives in modern times." He … Read more on Spencer Daily Reporter

Medicaid managed care plans may get financial boost to cover addiction treatment
Chris Benedetto, a 30-year-old who started using heroin when he was 13 years old, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, says he needed much more than 15 or even 30 days in rehab to kick his drug habit. "I was really young," Benedetto said. "I actually was … Read more on Healthcare Payer News

Congress Members to VA: Let Veterans Smoke Marijuana
Some statistics show that more than 20 veterans a day commit suicide as a result of PTSD and depression, while many others succumb to the perils of painkiller addiction and alcohol abuse in an effort to shadow the pain long enough to function like a … Read more on HIGH TIMES

Mexican Lawmakers on Medical Marijuana Legalization: Current Policy 'Not Working'
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified a ballot initiative late Wednesday to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana in the State of California after proponents of the measure submitted over 690,000 signatures. The measure will … Read more on Latinos Health

British Company Developing Field Sobriety Test for Marijuana
"THC is a molecule that really loves human fat, and when you ingest it, it sticks in the fat, and then it slowly seeps out over the course of a week, or a month if you are a heavy user," Timothy Fong, an addiction psychiatrist at the University of … Read more on ATTN

The online program that may revolutionize addiction treatment
The program, an online system designed to teach people how to reformulate their relationships with abusive substances at a fraction of the cost of traditional face-to-face therapy, was the culmination of a multidecade effort to revolutionize how … Read more on The Kernel

Telehealth Takes the Lead in Addiction Treatment
Texas-based MAP Health Management is adding 1,200 counselors to its national MAP Recovery Network, with the goal of creating programs that connect providers with the estimated 22 million Americans with addiction problems on a continual basis, rather … Read more on mHealthIntelligence.com

Helping Drug–Addicted Inmates Break The Cycle
About two-thirds of the nation's 2.3 million inmates are addicted to drugs or alcohol, compared to 9 percent of the general population, according to a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Yet only 11 … Read more on Huffington Post

'I was completely and utterly addicted to hurting myself'
Soon, she was dabbling in tobacco, alcohol and huffing fly spray and petrol. … Police arrested her at the scene and after a court appearance, she was sentenced to seven years and nine months behind bars on three separate charges. Jail was a wake-up … Read more on Stuff.co.nz

Plymouth health news
Narcotics Anonymous is an international, community-based association of recovering drug addicts with more than 33,500 weekly meetings in over 116 countries worldwide. Narcotics Anonymous sprang from the Alcoholics Anonymous program of the late … Read more on Wicked Local