Monthly Archives: June 2008

The geography of drug use.To paraphrase an old tune by Gerry Rafferty, we got meth to the left of us, cocaine to the right, and here we are, stuck in the middle with pot.The National Drug Threat Survey of 2007, a product of the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) at the Department of Justice, illustrates the stark nature of regional variation when it comes to illegal drugs of choice in the United States. The map at the right represents the responses of state and local law enforcement agencies to the question: “What drug poses the greatest threat to your area?” Blue indicates cocaine, red indicates methamphetamine, and green stands for marijuana. (Click map for larger image.)According to the Oregonian in Portland, reporting on similar numbers from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: “The politics of methamphetamine have been shaped by geography. Lawmakers from the East, Midwest and South focused on cocaine–the most heavily abused drug by far in their home states. By contrast, more than 90 percent of people treated for meth abuse live west of the Mississippi River.”The NDIC’s stated mission is “to provide strategic drug-related intelligence, document and computer exploitation support, and training assistance to the drug control, public health, law enforcement, and intelligence communities of the United States….” NDIC obtains its data through direct surveys of federal, state and local law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as well as information from court documents, news sources, and public health agencies.The NDIC has produced a National Drug Threat Survey annually since 2000, and began deriving state-level estimates in 2003. Federal, state and local government agencies use the statistical estimates as guidelines for promulgating drug legislation and enforcement strategies.Graphics Credit: National Drug Intelligence Center (Source: Addiction Inbox) Continue reading →

Scientists have found impulsivity, a trait often associated with addicts’ behavior, predicts whether casual drug use will lead to compulsive drug use. Many individuals take addictive drugs at some point in their lives — not just illicit drugs like cocaine and heroin, but also legal and commonly available substances such as alcohol and nicotine. But only a sub-group of those who take drugs eventually lose control over their drug use and become ‘addicted’. Continue reading →

This toolkit features helpful resources, event ideas, suggestions, and samples on how to reach local media, fact sheets for key constituency groups and special audiences, and more. All of the materials can help you convey the 2008 observance theme: Join the Voices for Recovery: Real People, Real Recovery. The materials focus on treatment providers, families, faith-based organizations, employers and civil service workers.

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Date Added: 06/15/08
Inventory #: RMKIT-08
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This TIP, Treatment of Adolescents With Substance Use Disorders, presents information on substance abuse treatment for adolescent clients. Adolescents differ from adults both physiologically and emotionally as they make the transition from child to adult and, thus, require treatment adapted to their needs. This TIP focuses on ways to specialize treatment for adolescents, as well as on common and effective program components and approaches being used today.

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Date Added: 06/15/08
Inventory #: SMA08-4080
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Under the leadership of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), the substance use disorders treatment field is shifting from an acute care model of treatment to a chronic care approach, known as recovery-oriented systems of care. Recovery support services – services provided to people and families during the initiation, ongoing, and post-acute stages of their recovery – are an integral component of recovery-oriented systems of care. The purpose of this White Paper is twofold: (1) to describe our understanding of the present state of recovery support services; and (2) to lay a framework for future activities and products that will support the continuing development of recovery support services.

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Date Added: 06/15/08
Inventory #: SMA08-4315
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This TIP, Combining Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Treatment With Diversion for Juveniles in the Justice System, provides a strategy for diverting youth with substance abuse problems from further involvement with the juvenile justice system. It presents a process for communities to use in building new linkages and partnerships among treatment programs, community health and social services, and the juvenile court to plan juvenile diversion programs.

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Date Added: 06/15/08
Inventory #: SMA08-4073
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Exposure of the developing brain to cocaine can cause neurological and behavioral abnormalities in babies born to mothers who use the drug during pregnancy. Researchers — who note that cocaine use occurs in several hundred thousand pregnancies per year in the United States alone — investigated the mechanism of cocaine’s effect on fetal brain development. Continue reading →

In the first study across time into late childhood of the effects of prenatal drug exposure on sleep, prenatal drug exposure is associated with greater sleep problems in children. In addition, nicotine has a unique effect, and early sleep problems predict later sleep problems. Continue reading →