Approximately 70% of 67,367 drug overdose deaths involved opioids with rates 4 times higher than in 1999. The purpose of this systematic review is to assess the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in opioid cessation. The search criteria for this review were: (a) published in English language between 2014 and 2019; (b) indexed in…

The number of deaths caused by the use of heroin or prescription pain killers nationwide has increased annually over the past decade with some of the most rapid growth occurring in the nation's most rural areas. This qualitative study examines the responses of districts and superintendents to this growing health crisis in twelve rural school…

This study aimed to examine (a) the impact of the change in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" ("DSM") from a categorical to dimensional classification of substance use diagnoses, (b) the elimination of the legal criterion, and (c) the inclusion of a craving criterion in the "DSM"-5.…

Objective: To describe the characteristics and health effects of adolescent (age 13-19 years) prescription drug abuse and misuse using the Researched Abuse Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS[R])) System. Method: Secondary analysis of data collected from RADARS System participating poison centers was performed. Data for all…

Methamphetamine (meth) exposure during fetal development has the potential to adversely affect the development of multiple organ systems. An interdisciplinary case study of a 4-year 11-month-old child born to a mother addicted to meth revealed significant cognitive and communicative delays. Possible meth-related consequences for these delays…

This article highlights the problem of substance use and abuse among adolescents and discusses the important role of school leaders in addressing this problem. Drug and alcohol use among adolescents is a significant and serious problem. In fact, an alarmingly high number of students report that they have used drugs or alcohol. Substance use and…

We compared two strategies of prize-based contingency management (CM) in methadone-maintained outpatients. Urine was tested thrice weekly for 5 weeks pre-CM, 12 weeks CM, and 8 weeks post-CM. Participants were randomly assigned to a cocaine contingency (four prize draws for each cocaine-negative urine, N = 29) or an opiate-cocaine contingency (one…

Using a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, The Missouri Institute of Mental Health produced a series of media tools designed to teach fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children from African-American churches about the science of drug addiction. Beginning with a core curriculum, we created two separate interventions. In the…

The increase in drug abuse in South Africa has had major social implications in the country. Problems associated with drug dependency are poverty, unemployment, a heavier burden on the health care system, the disintegration of family systems and drug-related crimes. Another area of concern is the link between drug abuse and child abuse. While…

There may have been a time when we in Kenya considered the use or abuse of drugs as a problem relating only to Western world. Today it has become an African problem to the extent that a month hardly passes without media reports on large quantities of drugs having been intercepted in a number of African cities and towns. The results of the study…

Presents a sociologically grounded framework for drug treatment, positing three social processes: 1) dissociation from the addict lifestyle and subculture, involving sacrifice, renunciation and investment; 2) association with the treatment program and its goals, involving communion, mortification, and transcendence; and 3) a reintegration process…

Comparison of demographic characteristics of persons enrolled in three programs indicate that the younger and unemployed are in therapeutic communities while the older, more often jailed persons are members of the methadone program. (Author)

Injection drug users (IDUs) are at risk for HIV and viral hepatitis, and risky injection behavior persists despite decades of intervention. Cognitive behavioral theories (CBTs) are commonly used to help understand risky injection behavior. The authors review findings from CBT-based studies of injection risk behavior among IDUs. An extensive…

Although parents and families are a valuable resource in substance abuse prevention programs, to date most programs have been community or school based. This article reviews the growing number of family-oriented programs and discusses outcome effectiveness when available. (Author/LHW)

There is a powerful inducement for the teacher to channel the problem of drug addiction to the administrators but the teacher can't ignore it because the prime responsibility of the teacher is the student. This article deals with this relationship. (Author)