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Making Addiction Treatment More Realistic and Pragmatic: The Perfect Should Not Be the Enemy of the Good
Last year saw drug overdose deaths in the U.S. surpass an unthinkable milestone: 100,000 deaths in a year. This is the highest number of drug overdoses in our country’s history, and the numbers are climbing every month. There is an urgent need for a nationwide, coordinated response that...
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What Do We Know About Social Workers’ Use of Heroin?
Much has been written lately about the opioid epidemic in the United States. By and large, the vast majority of current opioid users are young, white males who use either heroin or fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid. But these opioid users are not only our clients, or potential clients. They are...
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Pharmacogenomic Testing in Pain Management and Behavioral Health: A Pharmacist Perspective
Pain, in its many forms (e.g., nociceptive, neuropathic, inflammatory, etc.), affects upwards of 100 million people in the United States resulting in costs reaching $600 billion per year.1 Treatment of pain symptoms through the inappropriate prescribing and use of opioids has fueled an opioid abuse...
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Peers and Recovery: Models for Success
This article is part of a quarterly series giving voice to the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences as they share their opinions on a particular topic. The authors of this column facilitated a focus group of their peers to inform this writing. The authors are provided with services by...
