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Empowering Recovery: How Technology Supports Those with Substance Use Disorders
The journey of overcoming substance use disorders (SUD) is multifaceted and often daunting. However, recent technological advancements have proven to be formidable allies in this quest, offering hope and innovative solutions. From the vast capabilities of data analytics to the immediacy of...
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Harm Reduction: A Bridge Back to Life
Harm reduction is a decades-long, well-established, effective tool in reducing illnesses, deaths, and other negative consequences of problematic substance use (Jones et al., 2022). This approach has never been more important as in the current overdose crisis (Perera et al., 2022). Harm reduction...
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The NYSPA Report: Overdose Prevention Centers Keep Our People Alive
People with opioid use disorder (OUD) have a high prevalence of a serious mental illness (SMI). Nearly 27% of people with an OUD had a co-occurring SMI (Jones and McCance-Katz 2019), which complicates care when access to dual diagnosis treatment is limited. Overdose deaths have steadily increased...
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On International Overdose Awareness Day, HHS Announces Awarding of $79.1 Million in Overdose Prevention Grants
On International Overdose Awareness Day, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is announcing the awarding of $79.1 million in overdose prevention grants, as part of President Biden’s National Drug...
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Today’s Treatment Models Use All the Tools in the Toolbox
Treatment for substance misuse begins before someone walks through the doors of a rehabilitation center asking for help. It starts when a person acknowledges their life is out of control - or controlled by a drug of abuse - and harms themselves and potentially others. Denial, conscious and...
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Opioid Addiction Wears Many Different Faces
Opioid addiction wears many different faces. It is time to open the door to stop the epidemic of people addicted to opioids. Some people going into surgery come out needing medication for pain. In a book by Arwen Podesta, MD, called Hooked: a Concise Guide to the Underlying Mechanics of Addiction...
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Confronting the Opioid Epidemic: A Comprehensive Treatment Approach at Odyssey House
With more than 60,000 opioid overdose deaths nationally in 2016, a multi-pronged treatment approach is necessary to address the worst drug crisis in American history. Odyssey House is on the front line in treating those diagnosed with the most severe opioid use disorders. Since 2014, individuals...
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Taking a Holistic Approach to Treating Opioid Addiction
Opioid overdoses led to more than 33,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2015—an average of 91 per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control. That national death toll is the “equivalent to America enduring another 9/11 attack every two-and-a-half weeks,” says New Jersey governor Chris...
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The Doctor Will Actually See You Now
In New York City only 1 out of 10 adults struggling with substance use issues accesses any form of clinical care. This profound treatment gap – the mismatch between community need and clinical care – perpetuates our city’s escalating opioid crisis. Barriers to addiction treatment are well...
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Collaborative Impact Needed for the Opioid Epidemic
Acacia Network, the leading Latino integrated care nonprofit in NY, began in 1969 to address the consequences of heroin in the South Bronx. Our founding leaders, Carlos Pagan, Julio Martinez, Gumersindo Martinez, Hector Diaz, Evalina Lopez Antonetty, and Lorraine Montengreo, among others,...
