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Methadone Offers Hope, Not Harm
For more than a decade, I’ve been caring for patients who struggle with opioid addiction and have seen firsthand the devastating toll it takes on their lives. For many, medications for addiction treatment, including methadone, have given them their lives back. Yet, I see time and again the...
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Assisting Grieving Families to Find Closure While Maintaining Compliance with HIPAA
The most fundamental goals of Harm Reduction and Buprenorphine Programs are to keep people alive and safe. Despite the best efforts of a very dedicated SUD workforce, over 107,000 people died of overdose deaths in 2023. Behind every overdose death is a family or friends in mourning. Often, they are...
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Beyond Moral Panic: The Untold Stories of Harm Reduction and Care on Social Media
When the topic of social media inevitably arises in my conversations about youth suicide with clinicians, policymakers, researchers, parents, and other concerned adults, it is often framed as exacerbating. There is a widespread understanding among older generations that social media is worsening...
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Expand Harm Reduction Services to Address Impact of Overdose Crisis on Older Adults
The devastating impact of the overdose crisis in the United States has been well-documented, affecting people from all backgrounds, demographics, and geographic regions. The data tells us that one age group in particular has been overlooked in the overdose crisis – older adults. The rate...
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More Than 321,000 US Children Lost a Parent to Drug Overdose From 2011 to 2021
An estimated 321,566 children in the United States lost a parent to drug overdose from 2011 to 2021, according to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry. The rate of children who experienced this loss more than doubled during this period, from approximately 27 to 63 children per 100,000. The...
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Higher Buprenorphine Doses Associated With Improved Retention in Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder
Individuals with opioid use disorder who were prescribed a lower buprenorphine dose were 20% more likely to discontinue treatment than those on a higher dose, according to a study of patients prescribed buprenorphine in Rhode Island from 2016 to 2020, as fentanyl became widely available. The...
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Still Reaching: The Syndemics that Complicate and Characterize How Drugs and HIV Intersect in People’s Lives
Nearly 42 years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a rare pneumonia in five gay men, marking the recognized start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. While we often hear about those men’s sexuality, we hear less often about their substamce use. As the 1981 report notes,...
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Critical Questions for the Development of Housing that Supports Recovery
There is no doubt that housing supports recovery – i.e., having a satisfying life as a person with a serious mental illness depends first and foremost on having a decent place to live – but many people need help to have decent housing. Amazingly, that was not recognized in the initial phase...
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Behavioral Health News Spotlight on Excellence: An Interview with Mary Brewster, Associate Commissioner for Harm Reduction at the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS)
Overview David Minot, Executive Director of Mental Health News Education, the non-profit organization that publishes Behavioral Health News, interviewed Mary Brewster, Associate Commissioner for Harm Reduction at the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS). The mission of...
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Opioid Settlement Funds an Opportunity to Strengthen Services
The tragic loss of life and the impact of addiction on families and communities has been escalating in New York State annually almost every year for well over a decade. New York State’s response has been inadequate and lives have been lost as a consequence. Because of a strong federal...
