American pharmacies face trial in Ohio over role in opioid crisis
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Harold Lewis has been battling drug addiction for years, but he recently started thinking that recovery could be fun.
The 59-year-old former chef won small prizes — candy, gum, gift cards, sunglasses and headphones — for attending meetings and staying in opioid addiction treatment during a 12-week program in Bridgeport , Connecticut.
“Recovery should be fun because you get your life back,” Lewis said.
For a growing number of Americans, addiction treatment involves not only hard work but also earning rewards, sometimes as much as $500, for testing negative for drugs or showing up for counseling or meetings of group
There is brain science behind the method, which is known as contingency management. And barriers to wider adoption of rewards programs, such as government concerns about fraud, are beginning to crumble.
“We’re in a state of desperation where we have to pull out all the stops and this is something that works,” said Dr. James Berry, who directs addiction medicine at West Virginia University.
Overdose deaths in the United States hit an all-time high during the pandemic. While opioids are the main culprits, deaths involving stimulants like methamphetamines are also on the rise. People often die with multiple drugs in their system.
Medications can help people stop abusing opioids, but stimulant addiction has no effective medication. Rewards programs, especially when the value of the dollar increases with consistent performance, are widely recognized as the most effective treatment for people addicted to stimulants.
Since 2011, the US Department of Veterans Affairs has used the method with 5,700 veterans. Rewards are vouchers that vets redeem at their local canteen. Over the years, 92 percent of urine tests given to these veterans have come back negative for drugs, said Dominick DePhilippis of the VA’s substance use disorder program.
When done right, reward programs can be a bridge from the tough days of early recovery to a better life, said Carla Rash, an associate professor of medicine at UConn Health who studies the method. It helps people make better decisions in the moment, tipping the scales when the immediate rewards of drug use are hard to resist.
(AP Video/Emma H. Tobin)
Rewards can “provide some recognition for people’s efforts,” Rash said.
For Casey Thompson, 41, of Colville, Washington, the first month after quitting meth was the worst. Without stimulants, he felt drained and exhausted.
“Even standing up, you can fall asleep,” Thompson said.
Earning gift cards for passing drug tests helped, he said. During her 12-week program, she received about $500 in Walmart gift cards that she spent on food, T-shirts, socks and shampoo. He is a trained welder and is looking for work after a recent layoff.
“I’m a totally different person than I was,” Thompson said. “I was already planning to be clean, so it was more.”
More than 150 studies over 30 years have shown that rewards work better than counseling alone for addictions such as cocaine, alcohol, tobacco and, when used in conjunction with medication, opioids.
The method is based on brain science. Psychologists have known for years that people who prefer small, immediate rewards to larger, delayed rewards are vulnerable to addiction. They may promise to quit every morning and start using again in the afternoon.
And neuroscientists have learned from imaging studies how addiction takes over the brain’s reward center, hijacking dopamine pathways and robbing people of their ability to enjoy simple pleasures.
“It uses a lot of the same dopamine reward system that is the basis of addictions to promote healthy behavior change,” said University of Vermont psychologist Stephen Higgins, who pioneered the method in 1991. Their recent research shows that it helps pregnant women quit and quit smoking. improves the health of your babies.
“Biologically, substance use lights up the same part of the brain that lights up when a person wins the lottery, falls in love, or experiences something really positive and exciting,” said psychologist Sara Becker of the Northwestern University.
The same path is lit if someone wins a reward.
“That’s part of what’s so powerful about these programs,” Becker said.
Support has never been stronger. The Biden administration supports the method in its National Drug Control Strategy. This fall, California will launch a pilot program designed to reward $10 gift cards that pass drug tests for stimulants. Oregon will use tax revenue from the state’s legal marijuana industry to pay for similar incentives. Montana launched a program in March with a federal grant.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working to revise its guidelines on how much government grant money can be spent on prizes, rewards and cash cards. Researchers say the current cap of $75 per patient is arbitrary and ineffective and should be increased to $599.
The method “is a widely studied and proven intervention that has been successful in treating people with a variety of substance use disorders,” said Dr. Yngvild K. Olsen, who directs the Center for Treatment of substance abuse by the US government.
Rewards programs can be low-tech, pieces of paper out of a fishbowl, or high-tech, with “smart” debit cards programmed so they can’t be spent at liquor stores or converted to cash at an ATM.
Maureen Walsh is a 54-year-old Philadelphia flower shop owner who avoids opioids with the help of a smartphone app called DynamiCare. When you pass a saliva test, you earn cash with a smart card. She uses the money to treat herself to a new pair of shoes or donate to a favorite cause.
“The payoff for me was knowing I was clean and the test proved it,” Walsh said.
For Lewis, the Connecticut man in opioid recovery, a weekly prize draw became a way to bring home gifts for his mother.
“The awards make me feel good,” he said. “But the awards make my mother feel very good. I’m talking about Tony the BIG Tiger!”
On a recent summer day, Lewis had earned a chance to draw 10 slips — 10 chances to win prizes, including a tablet. The grand prize eluded him, but he won six small prizes and $20 in grocery gift cards.
“Recovery isn’t all fists and clenched teeth, you know what I mean?” Lewis said later. “It can be fun, where you can exhale and you can breathe in and get excited, because you don’t know what you’re going to win today.”
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AP video reporter Emma H. Tobin contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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“Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” ~ Stephen Covey
I recently talked to a mom who is having a hard time with trust issues.
Her son, Kyle, is in his early 20’s. Kyle is currently finishing up with a treatment program because of his meth use. Kyle has had many relapses, which has been frustrating for his mom.
In the spring of last year, Kyle made up his mind that he was not going to use meth any longer. After all the trouble he had experienced, Kyle felt ready to stop using drugs. Kyle went through an outpatient program and was on a healthy path. Also, he had gotten a job and was talking about going back to school.
Then one night, he asked his mom if he could use the car to visit some friends. She was hesitant, but since he had been doing so well, she agreed. Kyle came home on time and had stayed sober. Then Kyle asked the following weekend to go out with some friends, and again things went well. The next week, he wanted to visit some old buddies from high school. His mom said yes, as she was feeling more confident that he was finally in a stable place.
He didn’t come home that night, and when he did arrive home the next day, Kyle’s mom knew he had been using meth again. She was crestfallen. She didn’t want to see her son back on that path.
After a few more incidences of drug use, Kyle agreed to go to an inpatient program. Now Kyle is ready to take the next step, which for him is sober living. His mom is now anxious again about Kyle’s future and wonders if he’ll stick to his recovery plan.
Has your child had starts and stops to their recovery?
Sending your son or daughter off to treatment can be a huge relief.
You can get off that long and chaotic road of not being able to trust your son or daughter.
It is an important milestone when your child decides they are ready for help.
Yet there is that inevitable day when your child, like Kyle, finishes rehab. They most likely are either coming home, going to sober living, or living on their own. Your anxiety may start to get the better of you as that day approaches.
Thoughts of your child going back to their drug use may take you back to feeling worried and stressed.
So how do you build trust again after so many disappointments in the past? Remember, your child needs to earn your trust. Often they do, but it is not immediate.
“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
As a parent, you can help the process of rebuilding trust.

Here are five things to consider as you maneuver back to having a positive relationship with your child.
Restoring trust is going to take time. During the first year or at least the first few months, expect to feel skeptical of what your child is doing. When you see that your child is doing well, your trust will be restored. Don’t assume trust will develop overnight. It may take a few months of positive behavior before you feel comfortable trusting your child again. Have patience with the process. Your child is learning to trust himself again.
Spend time with your child and have open conversations. Sharing information in a kind considerate way leaves the door open for him or her to do the same. Positive communication supports the change process. For each person, recovery will look different. You could ask your child what you can do to help if that feels appropriate for your situation. Use open-ended questions, so there is less defensiveness.
While it may be tempting to try to manage your child’s recovery, this is a time to step back and let them take the lead. Do your best not to ask your son or daughter if they’ve gone to a meeting or some other invasive question about their recovery. Through the treatment process, your child has hopefully discovered what change is going to look like for them.
Let them know that you trust them to make healthy decisions. That gives your son or daughter a better chance of living up to your expectations.
Remember that past lying and other harmful behavior served a purpose. The change process provides an opportunity for your child to practice being truthful. As long as you see behavior that feels right to you, the chances are good that your child is staying trustworthy.
Carole Bennett, in her article, “Rebuilding Trust in the Recovery Process,” has developed an acronym for what family and friends should be experiencing as their loved ones’ recovery process strengthens:
C.A.R.D.
Credibility = trustworthy
Accountability = answerable for
Responsibility = fulfilled obligation
Dependability = reliable
She goes on to say, “Through the addiction process, an enormous amount of trust is broken. The collective “C.A.R.D.” acronym means trust, and when the credibility, accountability, responsibility, and dependability become everyday occurrences, then trust can start to be restored again.”
Again, this is a process that takes time.

With any change, there are many starts and stops. Hopefully, with the treatment that your child has experienced, they are ready to embrace change. Yet, everyone makes mistakes. If your child makes a mistake, help him get back on track as soon as possible. If your child is trying, appreciate the effort they are making,
We are all human. Your child is bound to make a mistake on occasion. With time and effort, things should begin to smooth out. You can still build trust with your child even though the road is not a straight line.
Trust builds when you can see one affirmative action after another. Research shows that when you acknowledge positive behavior, the chances are higher that it will occur again. Be on the lookout for what your child is doing well. They have taken a big step to change their life. When you support their actions, in the form of words or rewards, it will go a long way to keeping them on their path to recovery. This will help with building trust. Your child needs you now more than ever. As the positive momentum builds, so will the faith you have in your son or daughter.
After four months in sober living, Kyle continues to do well. He and his mom have stayed close and talk often. Their trust in each other has continued to grow. They are both seeing the light at the end of a dark tunnel.
By: Cathy Taughinbaugh
Title: How to Rebuild Trust After Rehab
Sourced From: cathytaughinbaugh.com/how-to-rebuild-trust-after-rehab/
Published Date: Sat, 07 Mar 2020 17:53:39 +0000
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It’s no secret that drug and alcohol-related content is some of the most engaging out there. People can’t get enough of content like AMC’s Breaking Bad, Showtime’s Weeds, and USA’s Queen of the South; so much so that they consistently tune in to their favorites, even if the underlying message is questionable. That’s why it’s no surprise that drugs and alcohol have made their way into – and even become central themes – of some of the most popular shows of all time. It’s as simple as this: supply and demand.
Honestly, we get it. Drug and alcohol-related tv shows are interesting and engaging if not always entirely accurate. But when our favorite shows fail to highlight the realistic repercussions of drug and alcohol use, that’s when they fall into dangerous territory.
While we all know that drug and alcohol-related terms regularly find their way into TV shows on the most popular television networks, there’s less conversation surrounding the prevalence of drug and alcohol references in the original shows put out by some of the world’s top streaming services, like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. And this sparked our curiosity.
How frequently do these terms really occur in the shows released by our beloved streaming services? And are some streaming outlets more drug-friendly than others?
With these questions in mind, we analyzed the total number of drug and alcohol mentions per season on each major platform’s original shows. We then ranked the shows and platforms accordingly. And we must say, our findings might surprise you!

When it comes to the shows with the most drug and alcohol mentions, we found that the margin of difference between the top shows in each network and the runner-up isn’t that significant. On Hulu, for example, The Mindy Project had nearly thirty-one drug and alcohol mentions per season – only about three more mentions than Deadbeat. Similarly, with Amazon Prime, there’s only a margin of three mentions that separates the top two shows: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Patriot. The exception to this trend is Netflix, where we found a 26 point gap between Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series and Murder Mountain.
We also found it somewhat surprising that seemingly lighthearted shows like The Mindy Project and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel had among the highest number drug and alcohol mentions on their respective streaming services. This goes to show how commonplace substance use is. The “light” tv shows still talk about drugs and alcohol because it’s relevant to a general audience.

Aside from the sheer numbers of drug and alcohol mentions, we were also curious about the differences in drug and alcohol-related terms by platform. And as it turns out, there are several differences worth noting.
First, the term ‘dope,’ must be a Netflix thing, as it tied for the most-used drug or alcohol-related term on Netflix originals, but didn’t make the top ten on either of the other streaming services. Drunk, weed, drinking, drugs, and beer were among the other most frequently used terms in Netflix originals.
With sixty-two occurrences, Hulu original writers must have wine on their minds. Though “beer” ,also made the cut, it ranked much higher on Netflix. Following wine, drunk, and drinking are the second and third-most frequent terms used on Hulu, occurring sixty and fifty-two times, respectively.

As for Amazon Prime, “drinking” and “drunk” occurred most often – forty-seven and forty-six times, to be exact.
It’s also worth pointing out that Amazon also uses a few less-common drug-related terms, like ‘lit’ and ‘acid,’ that weren’t among those on its competitors’ shortlists.

While Hulu and Amazon Prime certainly don’t shy away from drug and alcohol references, neither outlet comes close to the frequency with which Netflix mentions these topics. In fact, Netflix originals include over twice as many drug and alcohol-related terms as Hulu and Amazon Prime do.
For better or for worse, it’s safe to say that drug and alcohol references are, and will likely continue to be, a prevalent subject, infiltrating most of the media we consume in one way or another. And clearly, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime originals are not immune to this trend. So, the next time you open your favorite streaming service, remember to stop and ask yourself:
Can I use this information?
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The post Breaking Down Drug & Alcohol Mentions in TV Shows appeared first on Drug Rehab Options.
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Contact: Steven Lee, 210-450-3823, lees22@uthscsa.edu
SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 13, 2022 – With the United States facing an unprecedented opioid overdose crisis, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) has received a grant of 1.8 million dollars from the National Institutes of Health to research peer recovery support services for people living with opioid use disorder.
Although medications for opioid use disorder may reduce rates of illness or death, data suggest that some support services aid treatment and sustain long-term recovery.
These services may include emergent “peer” support, in which people with lived experience of addiction are specially trained to support others in their recovery by providing non-clinical links to treatment, such as mentoring, referrals for illnesses medical, occupational training, housing and education. However, there are gaps in knowledge of the approach that limit wider adoption.
Jennifer Sharpe Potter, PhD
“That’s what this new grant is designed to address,” said Jennifer Sharpe Potter, PhD, MPH, vice president for research and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UT Health San Antonio, and principal investigator of the grant funding. NIH. She is also the executive director of Be Well Texas, a statewide initiative of UT Health San Antonio funded by Texas Health and Human Services, which provides equitable access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and care.
“We propose a research network that will provide systematic integration and collaboration between researchers and community organizations and develop a pipeline of future recovery scientists to close empirical and practice gaps in Peer Recovery Support Services, or PRSS Potter said.
Focus on stakeholder engagement
The stakes are high for the effort, amid a backdrop of 107,000 opioid-related drug overdose deaths in the United States in the 12 months ending in January 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control .
The Peer Recovery Innovation Network, the name of the new research network under the grant effort, will focus on stakeholder engagement in setting the research agenda, improve the infrastructure for scientific research of PRSS recovery and will accelerate the growth of the PRSS evidence base in priority areas and populations, with training and telementoring as key approaches.
“We will use the innovative Extension for Community Health Outcomes model, ECHO,” said Adrienne Lindsey, DBH, MA, director of the Center for Substance Use Training and Telementoring at UT Health San Antonio. “This telementoring model will be used to expose researchers and clinicians interested in recovery support services and recovery science to the latest research findings and best practices, as well as provide a platform to vet the work of ongoing research to obtain critical feedback from peers and subject. experts in a growing field.”
Expanding the science of recovery
The effort will expand the science of recovery by developing a research program on PRSS during opioid use disorder medication through a novel research agenda-setting approach and a process of associated collaboration, training and mentoring and infrastructure development.
Specific objectives include:
“We believe all of this will inform the development and expansion of services and strengthen the system of care that people with opioid use disorders can use to initiate and maintain recovery,” Potter said.
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio), a major driver of San Antonio’s $44.1 billion health and life sciences sector, is the largest research institution in South Texas with an annual research portfolio of $360 million of dollars With substantial economic impact with its six professional schools, a diverse workforce of more than 7,900, an annual operating budget of $1.08 billion, and clinical practices that provide 2.6 million patient visits each year, UT Health San Antonio plans to add more than 1,500 higher wages. jobs over the next five years to serve San Antonio, Bexar County and South Texas. To learn about the many ways we “Make Lives Better®,” visit UTHealthSA.org.
Stay connected with The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
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