We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Counselor training and attitudes toward pharmacotherapies for opioid use disorder
Lydia Aletraris , Mary Bond Edmond , Maria Paino , Dail Fields , Paul M. Roman
Substance Abuse
Vol. 37, Iss. 1, 2016

Our study demonstrated that counselors held varying degrees of knowledge and opinions regarding the acceptability of buprenorphine and methadone, with 20% of counselors having insufficient knowledge about either medication. Even though counselors do not prescribe medications, their lack of knowledge regarding effectiveness is a significant barrier to the acceptance of these treatments in routine clinical practice. Acceptance was higher for buprenorphine and other medications used for opioid use disorder, than it was for methadone. The stigma facing opioid agonist medications, particularly methadone, suggests that they may be seen as less acceptable than other treatment approaches. Nevertheless, we found no significant differences between counselors’ ratings of buprenorphine and naltrexone. Our findings suggest that medication-specific training is an effective strategy for encouraging the acceptance and diffusion of opioid agonist medications.

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Our newly released issue is now online —> January-March 2016.
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We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

Do alcohol advertisements for brands popular among underage drinkers have greater appeal among youth and young adults?
Michael Siegel , William DeJong , Daryl Cioffi , Lucero Leon-Chi , Timothy S. Naimi , Alisa A. Padon , David H. Jernigan , Ziming Xuan
Substance Abuse
Vol. 37, Iss. 1, 2016

This study is the first to compare the extent of youth appeal of alcohol advertisements for brands popular among underage drinkers vs. brands unpopular among underage drinkers. We found that the advertisements for more popular brands were significantly more likely to be perceived as appealing to youth. This research is important for two reasons. First, it informs the debate about whether alcohol companies are targeting youth with their advertising. If youth-oriented brands are more likely to contain youth-oriented content, this could be an indication that the companies are preferentially trying to reach underage youth. Second, the research may help shed light on the debate about whether alcohol advertising is effective in influencing youth drinking behavior. If brands whose alcohol ads appeal more heavily to youth turn out to be the same brands that are popular among youth, this could be an indication that the advertising is influencing youth brand choices.

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Our newly released issue (January-March 2016) is now online!

We ask authors to describe their impressions regarding the implications of their accepted work, how their findings will change practice, and what is noteworthy about the work.

A Review of Opioid Overdose Prevention and Naloxone Prescribing: Implications for Translating Community Programming Into Clinical Practice
Shane R. Mueller , Alexander Y. Walley , Susan L. Calcaterra , Jason M. Glanz , Ingrid A. Binswanger
Substance Abuse
Vol. 36, Iss. 2, 2015

Drug overdose mortality from opioids has emerged as an epidemic in the United States. Medical providers are responsible for prescribing opioids and educating patients in many health care settings. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist which is FDA approved to reverse respiratory depression caused by opioid overdose. There is emerging evidence that community overdose education and take-home naloxone rescue kits is a promising intervention for reducing fatalities from overdose. Our review explores the role of medical providers in prescribing naloxone for take-home use and suggests that this is a promising intervention which may be used to address the opioid overdose epidemic.