New theories of nicotine‐psychosis link challenge the old

For some time, the link between cigarette smoking and schizophrenia has been clear. For decades, it has been assumed that this was due to one of two causes: “reverse causation” (smoking relative to the illness, by self‐medication or institutionalization) or by confounding (such as social factors or cannabis use).     

Drug users who only need treatment should get it,not arrest and incarceration

Many changes at the local, state and federal levels have resulted in getting treatment to at least some people with opioid use disorder (OUD) in prisons and jails — treatment that just a few years ago would have been unthinkable in those very institutions. Lawsuits over inmate deaths have been followed by establishment of methadone and buprenorphine treatment in some locations, while others have been moving toward treatment as a matter of public policy, Paul Samuels, director and president of the Legal Action Center, told the attendees of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) conference in Orlando, Florida, last month. He was joined by a jail accreditor, a sheriff and a judge at the plenary on corrections.     

Palm Partners sues NAATP for defamation

Palm Partners LLC, a treatment program based in Delray Beach, Florida, has sued the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP) for defamation, trade libel and tortious interference. In the lawsuit filed Nov. 30, 2018, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Palm Partners asks for $75,000 plus costs in damages. NAATP firmly denies the claims.     

AHRQ: Most MAT studies don't use treatment retention as an outcome

While it's known that longer‐term treatment with medications to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) is associated with improved outcomes, most studies do not focus on treatment retention, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released this month.