CBD May Help Curb Heroin Cravings

Cannabidiol, a compound of marijuana commonly known as CBD, is effective at reducing anxiety and cravings in people who are dependent on heroin, according to a new study that could potentially open up new means of treating opioid use disorder. As part of the study, researchers gave heroin users doses of CBD in the form of Epidiolex, an FDA-approved cannabis-based medication. They received doses for three days, with follow-up doses over a two-week period.The study participants were long-time heroin users with an average history of 13 years of heroin use, who had not successfully stayed clean for more than a month, according to CNN. Researchers found that people who received CBD had 2 to 3 times fewer cravings for heroin than people on a placebo, and also had less stress hormones. Lead researcher Yasmin Hurd, director of the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai in New York, said that reducing cravings can help people stay sober. "The intense craving is what drives the drug use," she said. "If we can have the medications that can dampen that [craving], that can greatly reduce the chance of relapse and overdose risk."Hurd was careful to point out that the study participants were using a regulated medication, not traditional marijuana. "We are developing a medicine,” she said. “We are not developing... recreational cannabis.”Psychiatrist Julie Holland, former assistant professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine, said that the study—though small—is very important. "This is an extremely significant paper. We need to utilize every possible treatment in helping people with chronic pain to find other ways to manage their symptoms and in people with opiate addiction to find relief,” she said. "CBD not only manages the anxiety and cue/craving cycle, it also diminishes the original pain and inflammation that leads to opiate use in the first place.”Hurd said that the study indicated that CBD could be a better alternative to current medication-assisted treatment options like methadone or buprenorphine. Those medications are opioids that can be abused, so their use is tightly regulated. CBD could offer a less restrictive form of medication-assisted treatment. "It's not addictive. No one is diverting it. It doesn't get you high, but it can reduce craving and anxiety," Hurd said. “This can really help save lives."Although some states allow medical marijuana as a treatment for opioid use disorder, there has been controversy over whether cannabis is helpful for people with opioid addiction.In March, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow said that there is no evidence that cannabis can help treat opioid addiction. 

Why Aren't Doctors Prescribing Suboxone To More Black Patients?

The racial disparity in the prescribing of opioid treatment drugs like Suboxone is highlighted in a new study out of the University of Michigan.The study, published in JAMA, looked at two national surveys of prescriptions as reported by physicians between the years 2012 and 2015.While the total number of buprenorphine-related medical visits drastically increased to 13.4 million during this time span, researchers noted that the number of buprenorphine prescriptions did not increase among African-Americans, or any other minorities.Buprenorphine, most commonly known by the brand name Suboxone, is a medication that dramatically reduces opioid cravings and blocks the effects of opioids. "White Americans have 35 times as many buprenorphine-related visits than black Americans," Dr. Pooja Lagisetty, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and the study's corresponding author, told NPR.Although white Americans have been the face of the opioid epidemic, during the time period studied, the number of overdose deaths among black Americans was rising faster than their white counterparts.In addition, there is a shortage of clinicians and clinics prescribing buprenorphine, Dr. Andrew Kolodny, co-director of Opioid Policy Research at Brandeis University, told NPR.Currently, physicians must take on eight hours of training to become certified to prescribe buprenorphine. And even if they do receive authorization to prescribe it, they are then faced with a cap that only allows them to prescribe it to 30 patients in the first year and up to 100 patients afterwards. A bill in New York that would end the extra training required for physicians and nurses to dispense Suboxone, and the caps, has gained tremendous support. The special training for both doctors and nurses has meant that there are not enough providers who offer the lifesaving drug.According to STAT News, only 5% of doctors have completed the training required to prescribe buprenorphine.In France, where additional restrictions on prescribing opioid addiction treatment drugs were removed in 1995, there was an 80% decrease in opioid overdoses in the subsequent years.Michael Botticelli, director of the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center and the former director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, has questions about specific points of interest in the disparity between white and black patients receiving Suboxone.Botticelli questions if Medicaid reimbursement rates are too low to attract doctors to work with low-income patients, or if there is a scarcity of inner-city doctors prescribing buprenorphine, or if African-Americans are not seeking the treatment for an unknown reason. White patients typically paid cash (40%) or used private insurance (35%) to fund their buprenorphine treatment. A mere 25% used Medicaid and Medicare to pay for their visits.

For Teens in Recovery, Parents Are Crucial Resource

As a parent, watching your child hurting or struggling is one of the most painful experiences you can have. It’s even worse when their destruction is self-inflicted through drugs or alcohol. Parents of teenagers struggling with substance use disorder are often hurt, embarrassed, and worried, but they are also a critical part of helping their child succeed in recovery.“Your support is one of the most vital pieces of your teen’s recovery,” said Jaymes Murphy, business development assistant at Clearfork Academy, a residential, Christ-centered treatment center for boys ages 13-17 in Fort Worth, Texas.Murphy often sees parents who want to help their sons get sober, but who don’t know where to start, or are misguided in how they are trying to help. Here are his tips for helping teenagers succeed in recovery:Be Prepared to Do Your Own Work.Parents often send their children to Clearfork Academy when they feel fed up or hopeless. While they are excited for their sons to get treatment tailored to teens, they soon realize that as parents they also need to do some recovery work as well. Part of that involves letting go of blame and anger toward their son for the damage that his substance use has inflicted on the family.“We often tell parents to recognize that their child is still good under all that junk,” Murphy said. “Even if they have gotten to the point of losing hope and frustration, their little monster still has a heart and still desires the things they once did.”Partaking in individual and family therapies can help parents sort through their feelings and move forward in a more positive mindset.Know When to Step Back.While parental involvement is a cornerstone of treatment at Clearfork Academy, it’s also important that parents foster independence in their sons.“The goal — or even more strongly the responsibility — of parents is to raise a child that no longer needs them,” Murphy said. “It is easy to accept this statement on a cognitive level, however, dealing with that emotionally is deeply dismaying because we want our kids to need us.”Yet, giving teens the “Helicopter parent” treatment will lead to more strife and arguments. Instead, the staff at Clearfork Academy encourage parents to give their sons autonomy and allow them to deal with the repercussions if they make poor choices.“If we cannot let them face consequences for some of their actions, how will they deal with things that become overwhelmingly more difficult?” he said.Let Them Know They Are Loved.Many times teens in recovery recognize how their substance use has hurt them and their families. This can erode their self-confidence and self-esteem even more than addiction already did.“Addiction rips apart a lot of things externally, but the internal stuff is just as bad. It shreds apart self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect, and many other character attributes, making the teen almost completely unreliable to themselves,” Murphy said.Parents can help to rebuild that self-belief by engaging with the teens and showing that they believe long-term recovery is possible.“Encouragement and simply showing a small amount of interest in their hopes, dreams, and goals rebuilds their confidence that was torn apart by the tangled web they have weaved,” Murphy said. “Love and an emotional relationship in the midst of the addiction will always go far to ensure the teen knows that there is someone that cares for them and is fighting on their side.”Oftentimes, Murphy said, teens are beating themselves up for their actions more than they show. In these cases, their fear and sadness might be expressed as anger. Defusing that rather than engaging can help facilitate healing.“They are confused and not in control of the situation which is a formula for chaos,” Murphy said. “But if we can maintain a relationship that does not point fingers or say, ‘look what you’ve done’ we can reduce the chaos.”Prepare for their return home from treatment.The transition home from treatment is a pivotal time for teenagers in recovery. While they’ve stayed sober in the confines of residential treatment, they now need to test their sobriety in the real world. Parents can help ease this transition by being proactive, including:Remove any drugs or paraphernalia from their space.Pay particularly close attention to the teen’s bedroom, car, or other space where they spend lots of time. Check outlets and light switch panels, inside light covers, AC supply and return vents, inside toilet tanks, soles of the shoes, etc.Make a sobriety plan.Before a teen leaves treatment, work with their treatment team to make a sobriety plan. That way you know what you’ll do when inevitable hurdles come up. Remember that using substances isn’t the only sign that a teen is struggling, Murphy said.“As time passes and confidence rebuilds, they may feel inclined to take shortcuts and even ignore the plan that has been put in place,” he said. “This way of thinking is a definitive path to relapse and if a mental relapse occurs, a physical one is not far behind it.”Recognizing that teen recovery is a process of progress, not perfection, can help the whole family heal from the effects of substance abuse.Clearfork Academy offers residential treatment for boys ages 13-18 in Fort Worth, Texas. Connect with them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

"Halt and Catch Fire" Star Lisa Sheridan's Cause Of Death Revealed

Halt and Catch Fire actress Lisa Sheridan died on February 25, 2019, and the autopsy report has revealed that her cause of death was chronic alcoholism.Radar Online recently published the 44-year-old actress's autopsy report. Although the manner of her death was said to be "natural" in the report, it also stated that the actress had a “reported history of benzodiazepine abuse.”Benzodiazepines are typically used to treat anxiety and are known to be extremely addictive.Although no date was given, the report noted that Sheridan had a “remote brain injury” due to a fall. Her lungs were labeled “hyperinflated” and she had a cyst on her right ovary.The mixture of benzos and alcohol is a particularly dangerous combination that can cause an overdose. Benzodiazepines sedate the pill taker through an increase in the brain neurotransmitter GABA. If taken with alcohol, this can slowly and ultimately stop breathing.A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the amount of women overdosing on benzodiazepines has increased by a staggering 830% since 1999.Sheridan’s manager, Mitch Clem, released a statement soon after the actress was found in her residence. “We all loved Lisa very much and are devastated by the loss we all feel. She passed away Monday morning, at home, in her apartment in New Orleans. We are waiting for a coroners [sic] report on cause of death.”Baywatch actress Donna D’Errico, who worked with Sheridan on the 2015 film Only God, posted a Facebook tribute to the actress."I just received news that my dear friend, actress Lisa Sheridan, has passed away. She was found Monday morning. I am sitting here stunned. Lisa and I filmed a movie together 5 years ago and became very close on set and remained close friends after filming ended. It’s so rare to find kind, gentle souls like hers in this industry, this city...even this world. Truly one of the most genuinely sweet and gentle people I’ve ever come across in my life...Everyone who knew her loved and adored her. Goodbye and goodnight sweet angel...I will miss you terribly."

Experimental Brain Implant To Curb Addiction Being Tested In China

Researchers in China have been testing deep brain stimulation (DBS) on human subjects as a possible way to treat addiction, including to opioids, according to a report by the Associated Press.The process includes drilling holes into the skull in order to place electrodes in the brain that electrically stimulate the nucleus accumbens, which scientists believe are involved in addiction, in a fashion similar to a pacemaker.DBS has been used successfully to treat movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease, but results in the treatment of addiction have been mixed. Due to the complex nature of addiction disorders and ethical restrictions on such a radical therapy, as well as the high costs, human trials on DBS for addiction have been slow to come to the U.S.Two large-scale trials conducted five years ago in the U.S. for the treatment of depression failed, causing researchers to essentially start over in regards to their understanding of DBS for mental illness.“We’ve had a reset in the field,” said UCLA neurosurgeon Dr. Nader Pouratian. Despite the urgency around finding effective treatments for opioid addiction as overdose death rates have skyrocketed in recent years, Pouratian believes testing DBS treatment for the disorder should only be green-lit “if we can move forward in ethical, well-informed, well-designed studies.”In China, where ethical standards for medical testing are not as strict as they are in the U.S., doctors have already completed multiple case studies on this treatment with varied results. One patient fatally overdosed on heroin three months after receiving the brain implant. Others have remained sober for years.The AP report focuses on “Yan,” a young Chinese man who has been struggling with meth addiction for years and has relapsed multiple times after stints in rehab. When given the option, he jumped at the chance to receive the DBS surgery. He had already lost his job and his family to his addiction and feels that he has weak willpower.After getting the brain implant, doctors inserted a battery into Yan’s chest to power the device. With the press of a button, his doctor has been able to change his mood from happy to agitated and back. “This machine is pretty magical,” Yan says. “He adjusts it to make you happy and you’re happy, to make you nervous and you’re nervous. It controls your happiness, anger, grief and joy.”Yan has been sober for six months after the surgery and reported being able to refuse drugs when offered. Back in the U.S., the FDA has green-lit a single small human trial testing the use of DBS for opioid addiction, which is tentatively scheduled to begin in June at the West Virginia University Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute.“People are dying,” said the leader of the study Dr. Ali Rezai. “Their lives are devastated. It’s a brain issue. We need to explore all options.”

Charlize Theron Reveals Past Drug Use On "Watch What Happens Live"

Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron made a candid revelation about her past drug use during an appearance on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.Theron and Seth Rogen, who were promoting their current feature film Long Shot on the interactive talk show, participated in a game in which host Cohen quizzed their respective mothers—Gerda Maritz and Sandy Rogen, who also appeared on the episode—about the extent of their knowledge about their children. When asked what drugs Theron would admit to using, Maritz replied, "All of them!" Theron then noted that her mother was "pretty close" before clarifying that she had used "molly" (ecstasy), as well as "acid, mushrooms and cocaine."Theron quickly added that these experiences happened "a long time ago, and I don't do that anymore."Us Weekly also noted that Theron spoke about her past marijuana use three days prior to the Bravo broadcast. While appearing on The Howard Stern Show, Theron describe herself as a "wake and baker in [her] 20s."By the time she reached her 30s, she told Stern that she was "no fun on it anymore.""I didn't get paranoid," she said. "I just became a bore. I only wanted to eat. I just wanted to lie there. I just became so antisocial."Theron's comments on Stern echoed similar thoughts shared during a 2018 interview with People. She told the publication that she "really appreciated marijuana" when she was younger, adding that her "chemistry was really good with it when I was younger."As with the Stern interview, Theron said that she "became boring on it," which prompted her to stop her use.However, Theron also noted in the People interview that she would be open to trying marijuana again to help her with insomnia. "Now there's all these different strains and you can be more specific with it," she said. "I'd much rather get off sleeping pills and figure out a strain that helps me sleep better."Theron also said if she tried marijuana again, she knew exactly who she'd partner with for the experimental phase. "My mom has really bad sleep too," she said. "So when I have a moment, I'm actually doing that with [her]."

Could The Rebranding Of Sobriety Change Our Attitudes Toward Drinking?

Beyond the sober-friendly bars and inventive mocktails popping up on menus, there’s a whole world of workshops, online and real-life communities, alcohol-free parties and social media-based “programs” to help people cut down on drinking.The growing “sober curious”—or “elective sobriety”—trend is attracting not just people forcing away a drinking problem, but the full spectrum of non-drinkers.“Sobriety is getting rebranded,” author Virginia Sole-Smith declared on the website Medium in April. Sole-Smith, the author of The Eating Instinct, examines this budding lifestyle movement. Is it a trend, or something more? In the writer’s own words, “Is this just wellness culture in overdrive? Or is the U.S. starting to change its relationship with booze?”As Sole-Smith notes, while 64% of people keep their drinking at moderate, “low-risk” levels and do not qualify as having alcohol use disorder, that doesn’t mean their drinking habits are problem-free.“We’re finding a lot of unhealthy patterning buried within that ‘moderate-drinking’ group,” said Timothy Naimi, MD, a professor at the Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health. “I think many of us now recognize that alcohol consumption exists on a continuum and a lot of us are consuming alcohol to excess on a regular basis.”Joy Manning, who nurtures real-life and online sober communities with her friend Annie Baum-Stein, told Sole-Smith that their sober happy hours attract “the full spectrum” of people who choose not to drink.“We definitely have people who strongly identify as alcoholics in recovery and are doing the whole 12-step lifestyle. But there are also people who just want to embrace an alcohol-free life and see that as a positive upgrade,” she said. “And then there are people who do drink, but are just sick of every event revolving around alcohol.”“Sober experiments” like Dry January and Sober October challenge drinkers to lay off the booze for a month at a time. Even for people who don’t identify as alcoholics, it’s a chance to cut back and reflect on drinking habits.“I think there are more and more people who are saying, ‘Hold on, I’m concerned about my drinking and I would love a way to work on that where I don’t have to explain it all to people.’ That’s what these sobriety experiments can be,” said Jessica Lahey, author of The Gift of Failure.Lahey said that before she was ready to fully embrace meetings and around-the-clock sobriety, she would stop drinking here and there for months at a time. “I don’t see those as failed attempts at sobriety, I see those as times when I was starting to really look at my relationship with alcohol.”As Erin Shaw Street of the Tell Better Stories movement told Sole-Smith, “The dominant cultural message is that alcohol is a lifestyle accessory.” But not for long, it seems. “Elective sobriety” is becoming more popular and less taboo. Being sober is no longer lame—it’s a lifestyle choice. And there are a growing number of venues and supportive communities that now cater to this lifestyle.This budding movement encourages us to be conscious of our drinking, no matter how disciplined we are. It offers a chance to step back and reflect. And that’s a good thing.

Walgreens To Train Staff In Mental Health First Aid

Walgreens’ latest public health initiative aims to teach pharmacists and staff how to identify and respond to signs of mental health or substance use issues.Through a partnership with the National Council for Behavioral Health and the American Pharmacists Association, the national drug store chain is training staff in mental health first aid—an 8-hour course on “mental health literacy, understanding risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, and strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations,” the company stated.“With the growing need for services and resources to help those living with mental health conditions, as well as substance use and addiction, we can play an important role by giving our pharmacists and certain team members the training to help those in crisis,” said Alex Gourlay, chief operating officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance.More than 1.5 million people in the U.S. have completed the course.“One in five people experiences a mental health or substance use issue in a given year and it’s likely that most of those individuals use a pharmacy’s services during that year,” said Linda Rosenberg, CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health.This year, Walgreens will have installed safe medication disposal kiosks at all of its locations. It also offers naloxone without the need for a prescription.In 2016, the company launched Walgreens.com/MentalHealth in collaboration with Mental Health America to provide a resource that connects people with treatment options, free screening tools and information such as “How to Manage Anxiety Medications” and “Helping a Family Member Who Has PTSD.”Another major retailer, Walmart, is supporting community mental health by establishing a mental health clinic in a store in Texas.Last year Walmart opened its first clinic in its Carrolton, Texas store, with plans to open more nationwide. The clinic is staffed by a licensed social worker and offers treatment for anxiety, depression, grief, relationship issues and more.“People don’t know how to find a behavioral health or mental health professional. People don’t know where to go and what to do,” said Dr. Russell Petrella, president and CEO of Beacon Health Options, the company that collaborated with Walmart to open the clinic. “We’re trying to mainstream behavioral health services.”

Workers Challenge Japanese Tradition of Drinking with Bosses

The younger generation is shaking up tradition in the Japanese workplace.These days, “millennials” in the US are drinking less and more venues are catering to sober patrons, according to recent headlines. Apparently, this generation―those between the ages 22-37―is generally more mindful of drinking habits than their parents’ generation.There seems to be a similar trend happening in Japan as well. According to a recent Bloomberg report, young people in Japan are shaking things up in the workplace, in particular by skipping out on drinks with the boss and co-workers―a practice called “nominication" that is ingrained in Japanese culture. (Nomu, the Japanese word for drink, plus communication.)Some say that getting after-work drinks with the boss is a great way to de-stress and break the ice between managers and employees. But to others, nominication is unproductive and excludes parents of young children, especially mothers.As Bloomberg reports, “Some women in particular often resent having to entertain their superiors after a long working day.”Saiko Nanri, a banking unit executive at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and mother of two teenage daughters, decided to ditch the tradition altogether. She notified her team that she will not participate in nominication. So far, she says, she’s gotten positive feedback from her employees. Parents in particular expressed their appreciation. “It’s not as if I have any special knowledge to share with my staff by drinking with them every day,” she told Bloomberg.Bloomberg observed that “bonenkai”―office parties at the end of the year that are often many employers’ “biggest and booziest” events―is also falling out of favor among millennial workers. A survey from last November showed that more than half of 20-somethings have little interest in these parties.Here at The Fix, we’ve also observed the growing popularity of mindful drinking. It’s easier than ever to live a sober lifestyle. Alcohol-free “mocktails” are becoming more sophisticated, “sober bars” offer a place to socialize, and the market for low- or no-alcohol beverages is growing.It will be interesting to see how this trend progresses and how drinking culture―abroad and stateside―will evolve over time.

Moby on Sobriety: "We Can't Hold On to Crazy, Magical Thinking"

In his new book, Then It Fell Apart, producer/DJ and music artist Moby reflects on his rise to stardom in the early 2000s while struggling with destructive dependencies on alcohol and drugs.Moby (born Richard Melville Hall) has been sober for the past 11 years, during which he's continued to create new music—most recently Long Ambients 2 (2019), his follow-up to 2016's Long Ambients 1: Calm Sleep—and oversee several ventures outside recording, including a nonprofit vegan restaurant.The new book—which picks up where his previous memoir Porcelain (2016) left off—details his attempts "to fix childhood trauma with egregiously bad and clueless adult decisions. Not surprisingly, it didn't work."That early trauma—which included sexual abuse and his father's suicide—was only exacerbated by his ascent to fame with albums like 1999's Play and 2002's 18. Though his music had made him globally famous, Moby reports in Apart that he was plagued by loneliness and panic attacks, which he began experiencing after using LSD as a teenager."My belief, before I got sober, was that fame was going to fix my feelings of inadequacy," he told San Francisco's KQED. When that didn't work, he turned to drugs, alcohol and sex. "I longed for things to work in that way," he recalled. "I wanted to be fixed by these unhealthy external things." But as he discovered, the combination only added to his internal misery.In 2002, Moby sought to gain sobriety and insight into the reasons for his personal struggles. He finally stopped using in 2008, and has remained clean since then. Of his journey, Moby said, "Part of sobriety—and a degree of spiritual fitness—is that we can't in adulthood, hold onto crazy, magical thinking."Then It Fell Apart ends just before Moby became sober; he told KQED that he's saving that part of his story for a third volume, which will focus less on recovery and more on his pursuit of spiritual integrity. "I'm not a Christian, but my life is geared towards God, understanding God, trying to do God's will," he said. "Keeping in mind, I have no idea who or what God is."He's also learned to enjoy his time just outside the glare of the celebrity spotlight. "It's really nice to just accept age, accept hair loss, accept diminishing commercial viability," he explains. "Accepting these things and trying to learn from them is a lot more enjoyable and a lot healthier than angrily fighting entropy."