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SAj 12 Days of Holiday Cheer! Day 12: Our Most Cited

Dec 24, 2019 by AMERSA

12 Days of Holiday Cheer – Celebrating Some of Our Best!

Day 12: Our Most Cited

The following are our top 3 most cited articles:

Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) – Cited 192 and counting!
Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Substance Use Disorders: A Pilot Efficacy Trial – Cited 108 times and counting!
Mindfulness Meditation for Substance Use Disorders: A Systematic Review – Cited 63 times and counting!

SAj 12 Days of Holiday Cheer! Day 11: Most Viewed

Dec 23, 2019 by AMERSA

12 Days of Holiday Cheer – Celebrating Some of Our Best!

We made it through the countdown of most viewed – and what a great countdown it was! We loved getting to revisit these great pieces of addiction research!

Day 11: Most Read/Viewed:

Confronting Inadvertent Stigma and Pejorative Language in Addiction Scholarship: A Recognition and Response

Lauren M. Broyles, PhD, RN; Ingrid A. Binswanger, MD, MPH; Jennifer A. Jenkins, MPH; Deborah S. Finnell, DNS, PMHNP; Babalola Faseru, MD, MPH; Alan Cavaiola, PhD; Marianne Pugatch, MSW; & Adam J. Gordon, MD, MPH

Abstract: Appropriate use of language in the field of addiction is important. Inappropriate use of language can negatively impact the way society perceives substance use and the people who are affected by it. Language frames what the public thinks about substance use and recovery, and it can also affect how individuals think about themselves and their own ability to change. But most importantly, language intentionally and unintentionally propagates stigma: the mark of dishonor, disgrace, and difference that depersonalizes people, depriving them of individual or personal qualities and personal identity. Stigma is harmful, distressing, and marginalizing to the individuals, groups, and populations who bear it. For these reasons, the Editorial Team of Substance Abuse seeks to formally operationalize respect for personhood in our mission, our public relations, and our instructions to authors. We ask authors, reviewers, and readers to carefully and intentionally consider the language used to describe alcohol and other drug use and disorders, the individuals affected by these conditions, and their related behaviors, comorbidities, treatment, and recovery in our publication. Specifically, we make an appeal for the use of language that (1) respects the worth and dignity of all persons (“people-first language”); (2) focuses on the medical nature of substance use disorders and treatment; (3) promotes the recovery process; and (4) avoids perpetuating negative stereotypes and biases through the use of slang and idioms. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of each of the above principles, along with examples, as well as some of the nuances and tensions that inherently arise as we give greater attention to the issue of how we talk and write about substance use and addiction.

SAj 12 Days of Holiday Cheer! Day 9: 3rd Most Viewed

Dec 21, 2019 by AMERSA

12 Days of Holiday Cheer – Celebrating Some of Our Best!

Day 9: 3rd Most Read/Viewed:

Turning the tide or riptide? The changing opioid epidemic

Stefan G. Kertesz, MD, MSc

Abstract: The US opioid epidemic has changed profoundly in the last 3 years, in ways that require substantial recalibration of the US policy response. This report summarizes the changing nature of overdose deaths in Jefferson County (home to Birmingham, Alabama) using data updated through June 30, 2016. Heroin and fentanyl have come to dominate an escalating epidemic of lethal opioid overdose, whereas opioids commonly obtained by prescription play a minor role, accounting for no more than 15% of reported deaths in 2015. Such local data, along with similar reports from other localities, augment the insights available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s current overdose summary, which lacks data from 2015–2016 and lacks information regarding fentanyl in particular. The observed changes in the opioid epidemic are particularly remarkable because they have emerged despite sustained reductions in opioid prescribing and sustained reductions in prescription opioid misuse. Among US adults, past-year prescription opioid misuse is at its lowest level since 2002. Among 12th graders it is at its lowest level in 20 years. A credible epidemiologic account of the opioid epidemic is as follows: although opioid prescribing by physicians appears to have unleashed the epidemic prior to 2012, physician prescribing no longer plays a major role in sustaining it. The accelerating pace of the opioid epidemic in 2015–2016 requires a serious reconsideration of governmental policy initiatives that continue to focus on reductions in opioid prescribing. The dominant priority should be the assurance of subsidized access to evidence-based medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder. Such treatment is lacking across much of the United States at this time. Further aggressive focus on prescription reduction is likely to obtain diminishing returns while creating significant risks for patients.

SAj 12 Days of Holiday Cheer! Day 8: 4th Most Viewed

Dec 20, 2019 by AMERSA

12 Days of Holiday Cheer – Celebrating Some of Our Best!

Day 8: 4th Most Read/Viewed:

Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Substance Use Disorders: A Pilot Efficacy Trial

Sarah Bowen PhD; Neharika Chawla MS; Susan E. Collins PhD; Katie Witkiewitz PhD; Sharon Hsu BA; Joel Grow BA; Seema Clifasefi PhD; Michelle Garner PhD; Anne Douglass BA; Mary E. Larimer PhD; & Alan Marlatt PhD

Abstract: The current study is the first randomized-controlled trial evaluating the feasibility and initial efficacy of an 8-week outpatient Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) program as compared to treatment as usual (TAU). Participants were 168 adults with substance use disorders who had recently completed intensive inpatient or outpatient treatment. Assessments were administered pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 2 and 4 months post-intervention. Feasibility of MBRP was demonstrated by consistent homework compliance, attendance, and participant satisfaction. Initial efficacy was supported by significantly lower rates of substance use in those who received MBRP as compared to those in TAU over the 4-month post-intervention period. Additionally, MBRP participants demonstrated greater decreases in craving, and increases in acceptance and acting with awareness as compared to TAU. Results from this initial trial support the feasibility and initial efficacy of MBRP as an aftercare approach for individuals who have recently completed an intensive treatment for substance use disorders.

SAj 12 Days of Holiday Cheer! Day 7: 5th Most Viewed

Dec 19, 2019 by AMERSA

12 Days of Holiday Cheer – Celebrating Some of Our Best!

Day 7: 5th Most Read/Viewed:

Implications of Marijuana Legalization for Adolescent Substance Use

Christian Hopfer, MD

Abstract: Marijuana that is legally available for adults has multiple implications for adolescent substance use. One potential effect that legalization may have is an increase in adolescent use to due increased availability, greater social acceptance, and possibly lower prices. Legalization may also facilitate the introduction of new formulations of marijuana (edible, vaporized) and with potentially higher potencies. It is unknown what adolescent consumption patterns will be if marijuana is widely available and marketed in different forms, or what effects different patterns of adolescent use will have on cognition, the development of marijuana use disorders, school performance, and the development of psychotic illnesses. Also unclear is whether adolescent users will be experiencing higher levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) compared with previous generations of users due to higher potencies. Although previous studies of the effects of adolescent marijuana use provide some guidance for current policy and public health recommendations, many new studies will be needed that answer questions in the context of use within a legal adult environment. Claims that marijuana has medicinal benefits create additional challenges for adolescent prevention efforts, as they contrast with messages of its harmfulness. Prevention and treatment approaches will need to address perceptions of the safety of marijuana, claims of its medicinal use, and consider family-wide effects as older siblings and parents may increasingly openly consume and advocate for marijuana use. Guidance for primary care physicians will be needed regarded screening and counseling. Widespread legalization and acceptance of marijuana implies that as law enforcement approaches for marijuana control decline, public health, medical, and scientific efforts to understand and reduce negative consequences of adolescent marijuana use need to be substantially increased to levels commensurate with those efforts for tobacco and alcohol.