Opioid – Addiction Treatment Strategies | Addiction Treatment Strategies

Among the many signs of a turnaround is a new substance abuse center in Portsmouth, Ohio. The newspaper describes other successes, including the closing of eight of nine pain clinics that prescribed millions of doses of opioids in one Ohio county. A new state law gives the state’s Medical Board more power to regulate “pill mills.” And a new spirit of cooperation is allowing federal, state and local agencies to work together on prescription drug abuse.
But, there are still ample signs that prescription drug abuse remains a major problem in the state. In Scioto County, in the south central part of the state, 10 percent of babies born so…

The FDA has approved a short-acting opioid painkiller with abuse-deterrent properties, the drugmaker Pfizer announced Monday.Oxecta, a new formulation of oxycodone, had previously been under development as Acurox, which included niacin to deter oral abuse. That version received a thumbs downfrom an FDA advisory panel in 2009.The new drug uses “Aversion” technology, licensed from Acura Pharmaceuticals — which is described as a “unique composition of commonly used pharmaceutical ingredients” — to stop potential abusers from crushing, chewing, snorting, or injecting the opioid. It does not deter oral…

Research links frequent prescribing to opioid-related deaths

Deaths related to prescription opioid therapy are under intense scrutiny, prompting those in pain medicine — clinicians, patient advocates, and regulators — to understand the causes behind avoidable mortality in legitimately treated patients. Studies reporting on statistics, causes, and adverse events involving opioid treatment are now available in a special supplement of Pain Medicine, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM).
Opioids are prescribed to treat moderate to severe pain and include extended-release opioid analgesic drugs such as methadone, morphine, and…