Advocates For Opioid Recovery is a non-profit organization spearheaded by Newt Gingrich, Patrick Kennedy, and Van Jones. The group is dedicated to advancing evidence-based treatment to better address the effects of America’s opioid addiction dilemma. A main focus of the organization is breaking down regulatory barriers that exist in patient access to recovery medications like

Opioid addiction is a particularly difficult addictive disorder to deal with because it creates not only a strong psychological dependency, but also a powerful physical dependency. The progression of opioid addiction is rapid for most people because of the euphoric effects (stimulation of the brain’s pleasure/reward center) and increased tolerance to the drug. Increased tolerance

Probuphine is a new drug recently developed and released by Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. The drug is FDA-approved and is a time-released version of buprenorphine (the active ingredient in Suboxone that staves off opioid withdrawal symtoms). Probuphine must be implanted beneath the patient’s skin (typically in the arm) where it gradually distributes medication for 6 months. The

Historic NC Legislation More than 1000 people die each year in North Carolina as a result of opioid overdose. On June 20th, Governor Pat McCrory signed legislation authorizing NC pharmacies to make available, without a prescription, the life-saving drug: naloxone. Naloxone has been used by first responders and other medical professionals across the country to

CNN has posted a story about the mayor of Ithaca, New York proposing that the city host a program which would allow addicts to legally inject heroin at a designated safe place. The approach is a harm reduction strategy that has been reportedly tried in Europe, Australia, and Canada. Ithaca’s mayor, Svante Myrick, is quoted

The High Point Police Department has been a steadfast supporter of addiction treatment and in assisting people with addiction problems find the help that they need. Their most recent effort is the use of Heroin Help Cards. WFMY News2 aired a segment highlighting this new initiative in which High Point Police Officers will hand out

CNN aired an informative special program on 5/11/2016, Prescription Addiction: Doctors Must Lead Us Out. The one hour special was hosted by Anderson Cooper and neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It specifically addressed how the current opioid epidemic in America has been driven by the over prescribing of opioid medication. Various doctors, recovering addicts, and others

The CBS-affiliate station out of Connecticut, WTVR, reported this week that a new street drug is being sold in the United States and Canada. It is called W-18 and is a synthetic opioid first developed in a Canadian lab in 1981. Emergency medical personnel have stated that a small amount of the drug is powerful

Using CDC statistics from 2002 – 2014, TIME has produced a coded map of fatal overdoses in the United States. In the graphic below, red areas are geographical locations with the highest concentration of fatal overdoses per capita. The study has a disclaimer however which states that small counties are not represented as accurately on

A February 4 article in The New England Journal of Medicine addresses the epidemic of opioid abuse that has become the #1 leading cause of injury-related death in the United States now even surpassing vehicle accidents. The Journal reports that approximately 100 million U.S. citizens suffer pain in the course of a year and that