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The NYSPA Report: Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorder – Effective but Still Underutilized
As our society continues to struggle with opioid use disorders and diversion of opioid pain medication, several strategies here in New York State have proven helpful. The duty to consult the online Prescription Monitoring Program prior to prescribing controlled substances has resulted in a 90% drop...
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The Epidemic of Opiate Abuse: Its Causes and (Potential) Solutions
The use of mind and mood altering substances is certainly not unique to our modern post-industrialized society. Epidemics of substance use and addiction have ravaged communities for hundreds of years. Homo Sapiens and their ancestors have sought relief from suffering for as long as suffering has...
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Addressing Behavioral Health and Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care Settings
The Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness (SIPCW) is a non-profit organization established to promote wellness and to improve the health of the Staten Island community through collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach. For more than 20 years, SIPCW has addressed critical public...
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Collaborative Impact Needed for the Opioid Epidemic
Acacia Network, the leading Latino integrated care nonprofit in NY, began in 1969 to address the consequences of heroin in the South Bronx. Our founding leaders, Carlos Pagan, Julio Martinez, Gumersindo Martinez, Hector Diaz, Evalina Lopez Antonetty, and Lorraine Montengreo, among others,...
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Treating Individuals with Both Opioid Addiction and Mental Illness
As we work to address the nation’s opioid crisis, we must recognize that a disproportionate share of prescription painkillers is being consumed by people with anxiety and depression. We at the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) are partnering with the Office of Alcohol and Substance...
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Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths: NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Responses
Let us address the epidemiology of overdose deaths in New York City. Like cities and states around the United States, New York City is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic. In 2016, someone died every seven hours of an overdose in New York City, resulting in 1,374 confirmed deaths. More New...
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The Opioid Epidemic: A Consumer’s Point of View
As Gertrude Stein would have said it: addiction is addiction is addiction. This was the central theme of the focus group that got together to talk about the opioid epidemic: the pitfalls, how it all happens, what helps for real, and the power of peer support. We all have our stories. Some of us...
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What’s Hidden in the Hallways: A Look Inside Teenage Opioid Use
Walking through the hallways of any high school in America, you will notice student cliques that have existed for generations. You will find your scholars, your athletes, your artists, your so-called “outcasts,” your musicians, your “popular” kids, and anyone and everyone else that falls...
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What Do We Know About Social Workers’ Use of Heroin?
Much has been written lately about the opioid epidemic in the United States. By and large, the vast majority of current opioid users are young, white males who use either heroin or fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid. But these opioid users are not only our clients, or potential clients. They are...
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WellLife Network Provides Vital Services to Stem the Tide of Opioid Addiction
Opium is an extract of the exudate derived from seedpods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. Cultivated in the ancient civilizations of Persia, Egypt and Mesopotamia, archaeological evidence and fossilized poppy seeds suggest that Neanderthal man may have used the opium poppy over thirty...
