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Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked lawmakers to pare down their legislative wish lists and focus on the state’s coronavirus response. But state Sen. Jim Beall plans to forge ahead with his mental health care proposals, including a measure to create a state mental health parity requirement.
Dr. Nora Volkow, who heads the National Institute on Drug Abuse, details how emerging science points to added challenges for these patient populations and the public health system.
Under the national emergency, the government has waived a law that required patients to have an in-person visit with a physician before they could be prescribed drugs that help quell withdrawal symptoms, such as Suboxone. Now they can get those prescriptions via a phone call or videoconference with a doctor. That may give video addiction therapy a kick-start.
People in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction have to weather a new storm of depression, anxiety and isolation during the pandemic, just as the social supports of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs move online.
Sarah and Andy fell in love while working to keep drug users from overdosing. But when his own addiction reemerged, Andy's fear of returning to prison kept him from the best treatment.
Health care experts thought the battle was won against heart disease, measles, smoking, STDs and other life-threatening conditions and behaviors. Better think again.
When patients need long-term treatment with intravenous antibiotics, hospitals usually let them manage their treatment at home — but not if they have a history of injection drug use. A Boston program wants to change that.
In the first nine months of an alternative pain management program in Missouri, only a small fraction of the state’s Medicaid recipients have accessed the chiropractic care, acupuncture, physical therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy meant to combat the overprescription of opioids.
Indiana was ground zero for shifting ideas about needle exchanges after a small town had an HIV outbreak in 2015 brought on by needle-sharing. But even as other parts of the country start to embrace needle exchanges amid the ongoing opioid epidemic, the sites remain controversial in Indiana. Only nine of the state’s 92 counties have them, after a series of closures and reopenings.
Helping a loved one overcome addiction isn’t easy. Start by listening to people who have been through it. They can help find effective treatment and avoid unethical or incompetent operators.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don't have to.
As the Democratic primary campaign nears pivotal voting, important aspects of health care policy are being overlooked.
For rural physicians, the burden of responding to the opioid epidemic falls squarely on their already loaded shoulders. For one doctor in a small Wisconsin village, there was no question that she wanted to rise to the challenge.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Dr. Anton Nigusse Bland, a veteran of public health psychiatry, was appointed by San Francisco’s mayor earlier this year to a newly created job: director of mental health reform. His main task is to improve mental health and addiction treatment for people experiencing homelessness.
The opioid epidemic is intergenerational, with tens of thousands of babies born every year dependent on opioids. Advocates worry that settlement dollars resulting from lawsuits against the drug industry might not benefit these children.
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Public health officials are adopting a law enforcement tool, the mass spectrometer, to instantly identify potentially deadly levels of opioids in local drug supplies.
Vaping has produced a diverse community with all sorts of sub-specialties. Finding your tribe can be more complex than finding your Harry Potter house.
While the U.S. continues to focus mainly on the opioid crisis, cocaine is quietly making a comeback and has become one of the biggest overdose killers of African Americans when tainted with fentanyl.
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