We’ve all heard clichés like “alcohol kills brain cells” or “drugs fry your brain.” Watching someone who’s under the influence of drugs and alcohol, few of us are inclined to doubt it. However, the idea that a period of heavy substance use can leave you mentally damaged for life is also terribly discouraging. If you’ve […]
It was supposed to be the panacea for the opioid epidemic. If you decriminalize drug possession and get people with substance use disorder (SUD) into treatment, the crisis will go away. Except, it didn’t. “When Oregon embarked on a landmark plan three years ago to decriminalize hard drugs, it wagered that a focus on treatment […]
This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. The previous National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 is also still available. Colorado’s Rural Communities Offer Stark Evidence of Factors Reducing the Nation’s Life Expectancy US life expectancy dropped […]
Fentanyl deaths in Colorado dropped last year, but still inflicted a severe economic toll, says a new report by the Common Sense Institute (CSI), a free-enterprise think tank. Fentanyl-related deaths in Colorado “dropped from 1,184 in December 2023 to 801 in November 2024, a 32.4 percent reduction, but that’s still well above death rates before […]
Could Clinical Trial Reporting Spur Illicit Substance Use? Might the widespread publicization of oversimplified clinical study findings contribute to increased substance use? The precipitous rise of cannabis legalization, industrialization, and use may prove a powerful case in point. Some studies suggesting the efficacy of cannabis to treat various medical problems were used by cannabis proponents […]
Chronic pain is one of the hardest to manage conditions for people with a substance use disorder. Coping with physical ailments and pain can be the reason some people start using substances. They may start using substances for another reason and end up spiraling in their use of substances and alcohol as a means to […]
“More Americans than ever are dying fromfentanyl overdoses as the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic crashes throughevery community, in every corner of the country,” reported Nadine Yousif on BBC News in September. A recent study by researchers at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, outlined the four waves: “The UnitedStates overdose crisis has escalated […]
Every year, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) provides the most recently available information on tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use, mental health, and other health-related issues in the United States. The NSDUH began in 1971 and is conducted annually in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Approximately 70,000 people […]
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