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Colorado legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes. Washington State decriminalized possession of small amounts of the drug for personal use. More and more states are legalizing marijuana for medical uses. With the wave of legislative changes that support the use of marijuana in different contexts, it seems that almost everyone is forgetting the negative impacts that use of the drug can cause – not just on someone’s ability to function and succeed in daily life but the negative toll marijuana use takes on cognitive ability, physical health, and mental health.

More Evidence That Marijuana Use Has Negative Consequences

A recent study published in the journal Comprehensive Psychiatry sought to identify the prevalence of marijuana use among patients diagnosed with a mental illness. The responses of more than 43,000 people to the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions were included. Outcome measures for the study included the frequency of marijuana use reported and the type of psychiatric diagnoses they had been given among some respondents as compared to the answers given by participants who were not living with a mental health diagnosis and did not report using marijuana.

It was found that not only did patients who had been living with a mental illness for at least 12 months smoke significantly more marijuana than their peers, but that they were more likely to use marijuana more frequently. Marijuana use was associated especially with certain mental health disorders, including:

• Bipolar disorder
• Addiction
• Antisocial personality disorder
• Dependent personality disorder
• Histrionic personality disorder

People who had been living with a mental illness in the past year made up 72 percent of all marijuana users in the study, and researchers estimated that they ingested about 83 percent of the marijuana consumed and reported in the national study.

What Can We Learn?

The study seems to indicate that marijuana is often used as a way to self-medicate feelings of discomfort caused by mental health symptoms and that many patients simply aren’t getting the effective treatment they need to address the issue. Unfortunately, abuse of marijuana leads to problems of its own:

• An inability to function well at work and do things that can improve self-esteem and self-confidence among patients
• An inability to interact positively with other people
• An inability to learn how to manage one’s behavior
• Health problems

If marijuana abuse is an issue for someone you love, help is available. Contact us at Alta Mira today to learn more about our intensive drug abuse and treatment programs.

Promethazine is a drug often used to treat allergies. It has a sedative effective and a mild hallucinogenic effect when taken in large doses. It is also a drug that is commonly abused by patients taking methadone for the treatment of opiate addiction or living with an active opiate addiction without treatment, according to a recent study based out of San Francisco, California and published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine. This was the first study of its kind that focused on the non-medical use of promethazine in any population.

Promethazine Study

Two populations were targeted for the San Francisco study: patients on methadone maintenance and individuals living with an active dependence upon heroin who utilized needles to inject. The clinical records of about 334 methadone patients were included as well as data taken from samples provided by 139 opiate drug users. Prevalence factors associated with promethazine were assessed.

It was found that about 26 percent of methadone maintenance patients tested positive using urine samples for promethazine; only about 15 percent of the patients who tested positive had a prescription for the drug. Additionally, about 17 percent of the intravenous drug users reported the use of promethazine in the past month, and 24 percent of the intravenous drug users who said they had been enrolled in a methadone treatment program said they had also abused promethazine during that time.

The researchers suggest that further research is necessary to determine the effects of the use of promethazine in the recovery community and determine prevention and treatment possibilities that may help to mitigate the damaging health effects caused by ongoing use of the drugs.

Abusing Methadone Maintenance Programs

Too often, those in active addiction seek the “easy way out.” They believe that taking methadone daily or another maintenance medication will help them to avoid the withdrawal symptoms that can occur and make their recovery easier. The fact is that switching one’s addiction to another addictive substance, even if that substance is regulated, just changes the types of problems experienced; it doesn’t address the deep-seated issues that drive addiction and all the negative consequences and impacts on the person’s life that happen as a result of drug abuse and use.

Learn more about effective treatment methods designed to help patients enjoy long-term success in abstinence when you contact us at Alta Mira today.

Currently, there is no cure for addiction, so a huge amount of scientific research is dedicated to finding treatments, medications, and therapies that will aid patients in the process of recovery. Because it has been found that a multi-faceted treatment program made up of a number of different types of therapies and treatments chosen based upon the needs of the individual is the most effective option, there are often little things that the patient can do to augment their recovery and improve their progress. The use of supplements and other holistic options can be beneficial and, according to a new study, fish oil may be of assistance to the process of treatment.

The Study

A study published in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research found that fish oil supplements given to participants who were engaged in early alcohol addiction treatment experienced stress relief that they found aided their ability to avoid relapse. Researchers pointed out that dysfunctions of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis may play a part in the behavioral issues that lead to alcohol abuse and omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish oil, may serve to regulate some of those dysfunctions, provides a calming, anti-stress effect on the individual.

The participants, all male, were enrolled in a residential treatment program; half were given fish oil each day for a three-week period and a placebo group was given nothing. The levels of cortisol, a hormone related to stress, in the saliva were measured at the beginning of the study and throughout the three-week period at different times of the day in both groups.

Results of the study demonstrated lower levels of cortisol as well as stress in the group given fish oil, and no change in the placebo group. The conclusion? Use of the supplement may be an aid to patients in lowering their stress, which in turn can increase the efficacy of alcohol addiction treatment.

Effective Treatment

The more personalized and layered the rehabilitation experience of your loved one at treatment, the more likely it is that he or she will build a strong foundation in recovery that will sustain them for years. Contact us at Alta Mira today and speak to a counselor about the options in therapies and treatment that we can offer, and begin the enrollment process for your addicted family member in our evidence-based program today.

Drug courts have been proven effective time and again, offering offenders the opportunity to go through drug rehab rather than do jail time for crimes that are non-violent and related to an active addiction. Some drug courts are seeking to increase their efficacy for those who are addicted to heroin and other opiate drugs like OxyContin and hydrocodone by including Vivitrol injections in their treatment. The drug has been shown to help patients transition from active drug use into active recovery by stopping their ability to get high through opiate use and abuse.

Vivitrol

Vivitrol was first approved in the treatment of alcohol addiction, helping alcoholics to limit their experience of cravings early in their recovery. In 2010, however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug for use in the detox treatment of opiate drugs like heroin and painkillers (e.g., oxycodone-, morphine-, and hydrocodone-based substances). The medication works by blocking the opiate receptors in the brain, which stops opiates in the body from creating the euphoric high that many addicts chase. A single injection of Vivitrol can have an effect for up to a month.

The benefit? Knowing they have a drug in their system that will stop them from getting high should they relapse can help patients in early recovery to stay on track and remain persistent and engaged in learning how to utilize more positive coping mechanisms.

Limitations

Despite the drug’s efficacy, Vivitrol is utilized in a very few drug courts across the country. It is beyond the range of many budgets that are already considering cutting back on drug treatment availability for patients through the court system due to budget cuts. Each dose costs about $1,100, according to the San Diego City Beat, so the pilot program in San Diego has a max capacity of 10 participants.

In their case, a San Diego judge lobbied the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to review the results of a study that demonstrated the ability of Vivitrol to help reduce recidivism rates, and in response, the Los Angeles County of Supervisors funded the Vivitrol program for three years using $3.4 million in funding for the project.

When Drug Court Isn’t Available

Not everyone has access to a Vivitrol pilot program or drug court or state-funded treatment programs. Many family members must look elsewhere for treatment help and often find that private resources are a far better choice for their loved one. Contact us today at Alta Mira to learn how we can help your loved one come back from a long-term drug addiction.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is one of the most commonly referred to manuals on mental health disorder diagnosis and treatment. Updated regularly, the fifth version of the manual will be released in May, and it is expected to have a few changes that may be significant for patients who are struggling with alcohol abuse and addiction.

Formerly, a patient could be diagnosed with either problem drinking (e.g., alcohol abuse) or alcohol addiction (e.g., alcoholism). In the new DSM-V, however, these disorders will be combined into a single diagnosis: alcohol use disorder.

How will this affect treatment and care for patients who need their health insurance company to cover part of the cost of treatment?

Insurance Coverage and the DSM

Insurance companies often base their decision on what treatment services will and will not be covered under a given policy based upon the diagnosis received by the patient and the therapies that have been proven to be effective in its care. In some cases, changes to the DSM can impact this significantly. If, for example, a disorder is removed from the manual altogether or is separated out of a spectrum disorder, the change to the criteria required for a diagnosis may mean that someone who has formerly been receiving health insurance coverage for treatment of that disorder will no longer qualify.

In the case of the combined alcohol use disorder, this likely will be a non-issue, according to a report on Time.com.

Will People Lose Their Alcohol-Related Diagnosis Due to DSM Changes?

A study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research investigated whether or not the new diagnostic definition of alcohol abuse and use would change the diagnosis of participants currently struggling with an alcohol problem. They looked at 7,000 sets of twins to cull their data and found that the change was not likely to cause a less accurate diagnosis than the current criteria but that it doesn’t necessarily improve the diagnostic criteria currently in use.

Right now, there is a separate diagnosis for alcohol abuse, which implies either a short-term alcohol problem or a binge drinking issue, and for alcoholism, which requires long-term and chronic physical and psychological dependence upon alcohol. The new “alcohol use disorder” will include patients who currently fall into both categories. Essentially, those who are new to alcohol abuse and long-term alcoholics could end up with the diagnosis. Though patients’ access to treatment will likely be unaffected, it could have a negative impact on the patient who, for example, may struggle with binge drinking during college and seek help but otherwise have no issue with alcohol.

Alexis Edwards, PhD, was a researcher for the study. In a news release, he said: “(I)t is not clear that the proposed diagnostic changes will result in a more accurate diagnosis. (A)t best, one group of low severity cases will be replaced by another; at worst a group of individuals who exhibit more severe problems will be excluded from the DSM-5 diagnosis, while less severely affected individuals will meet diagnostic criteria.”

Learn More About Alcohol Rehabilitation at Alta Mira

If someone you love is struggling with alcohol abuse or addiction, don’t wait to get them the treatment they need to heal. Though changes to the DSM shouldn’t affect their access to appropriate medical care, every day they continue with an active alcohol abuse problem could be damaging to their physical and mental health and wellness. Contact us at Alta Mira today to speak to a counselor about effective alcohol rehab and treatment.

Methadone is an opiate drug that can be prescribed in pill form for pain, but it is most often prescribed as a maintenance medication for heroin addiction and in liquid form. For the purposes of opiate addiction treatment, methadone is heavily regulated. Patients must come in daily and take their dose in front of a treatment professional for months, slowly “earning” the right to get “take home” doses, or little bottles of liquid methadone they can take at home without having to come into the clinic. Patients earn this by:

• Taking drug tests and testing negative for other drugs of abuse
• Not missing more than a couple of days in a row at the methadone clinic for any reason
• Attending meetings with their case manager, often including a weekly group session
• Avoiding police contact

At first, it might mean a single day’s dose for a federal holiday, but over time, the patient can avoid coming in on the weekends by getting the doses for Saturday and Sunday on Friday then up to a week at a time, then two weeks, and so on until the patient only has to come in once per month for a case manager meeting and group check-in.

Unfortunately, these take-home doses are showing up on the black market more and more often, according to Bloomberg. Despite the fact that these doses are not easy to earn and counseling is mandatory and most patients are in need of that dose in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms, many are selling their medication instead of taking it.

Why?

Why would someone who needs methadone in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms choose to sell their dose on the street? There are a number of scenarios that might make this feasible. Some possibilities include:

• Some patients earn all their doses – or most – as take home doses. They can cut their dose on their own, thus decreasing their need for the medication, and sell the extra.
• Some patients use heroin instead, which can be cheaper, and sell their methadone doses.
• They may take part of it and water down the rest to sell.
• They may trade it for other substances, including heroin or prescription painkillers.

Unfortunately, some former staff members of methadone clinics say they were over worked during their employment, and they may not have kept up with the regulations and standards as they should have. They believe a lack of counseling also contributes to the high rate of take-home methadone doses on the black market.

Treating Methadone Dependence

If the methadone used to treat opiate addiction has now become the substance of abuse or if your loved one is taking methadone but subsidizing use of the drug with heroin, painkillers, sedatives, and other substances, it’s clear that they need a new path to recovery that will be effective. Contact us at Alta Mira today and learn more about our detox and addiction treatment programs.