SAMHSA guidelines for recovery housing emphasize MAT

If there's any question about the appropriateness of medication‐assisted treatment (MAT) using methadone and buprenorphine for recovery housing residents, it has been settled by the most recent report from the federal government: Don't ban it, and, furthermore, do it.     

Nuggets from AATOD: New CSAT director comments

Here are more reports from last month's American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) conference in Orlando — in particular, insights from Louis Trevisan, M.D., the new director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).     

Talbott,patient advocate and OTP owner,leaves BayMark

Zac Talbott's last day with BayMark Health Services, which bought his opioid treatment programs (OTPs), Counseling Solutions Treatment Centers, in Chatsworth, Georgia, and Brasstown, North Carolina, last year (see “From starter OTP to acquisition by BayMark: A 3‐year journey,” ADAW, Sept. 8, 2018, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.32095 ), was May 24. He had various options and opportunities that could have resulted in him leaving earlier, but he did not want to leave in the midst of so much change. He opened the first Counseling Solutions clinic in 2015 (see “Methadone patient and advocate to open own OTP in Georgia,” ADAW, Aug. 17, 2015, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adaw.30292 ).     

Koob addresses RSA meeting with NIAAA update

Last week, the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) held its annual scientific meeting, opened by an address from George F. Koob, Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The researchers and others in attendance heard an update of NIAAA's program efforts. NIAAA funds much of the alcoholism research in the United States, with a budget of $525 million for FY 2019 (the budget for 2020 is still under development). Would‐be grantees are very interested in this funding. Grant awards and start dates are based on the budget process and fund availability, Koob said.     

EMTs authorized to carry buprenorphine in New Jersey

Last month, the New Jersey state health commissioner issued an executive directive allowing medical directors of New Jersey's 21 Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) programs to carry buprenorphine, which can be used to mitigate opioid‐withdrawal symptoms following an overdose reversal with naloxone. People who are revived with naloxone after an overdose go through withdrawal, which can be intense and painful. Only an opioid, like buprenorphine, can reverse these symptoms.     

The other side: Pro‐cannabis physicians dispute SG advisory

Last week (see ADAW, Sept. 9), we wrote about the advisory from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, M.D., recommending against marijuana use by pregnant women or adolescents ( https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports‐and‐publications/addiction‐and‐substance‐misuse/advisory‐on‐marijuana‐use‐and‐developing‐brain/index.html ).