Substance Use & Addiction Journal

The Boston Lesbian Health Project II, a national survey of 1139 self-identified lesbian women, found higher rates of drinking alcohol, heavy alcohol intake and self reported alcoholism than in national studies of women in general. Several known risk factors for alcoholism were higher in lesbians who self defined as alcoholic in this sample: family history of alcoholism and drug abuse, rape and childhood sexual abuse and report of having made a suicide attempt. These findings are consistent with other studies that found a high rate of drinking alcohol, alcohol abuse and problem drinking among lesbians. The reasons for these findings are not clear and further research is needed to continue to explore the reasons.

Substance abuse and HIV infection are important medical problems that receive comparatively little attention in residency training programs and residents often feel unprepared to deal with them. We developed a month-long rotation that combined outpatient care for patients with HIV infection and addiction, with inpatient care for medically-ill patients on a detoxification unit. At the end of the rotation, residents reported greater comfort with caring for these patients and improved self-rated competence. They also rated the rotation highly. Our experience shows that a rotation combining inpatient and outpatient substance abuse and HIV care was valued by residents and increased their comfort and proficiency with caring for these underserved and stigmatized populations.

The purpose of the study was to describe the following components of specialized Family Drug Courts: (1) children under court supervision; (2) parent(s) named in the petition; (3) services provided and court actions taken; and (4) relapse rates. Data were collected from the court records of 65 families in three courts in Florida, Kansas, and New York. Courts differed in type of clients, sanctions used, and length of time required between drug testing. Drug testing frequency varied depending on the parent's recovery and cooperation. Test results indicated a decline in drug use in the first four months and an increased risk for relapse between the 15th and 19th weeks. Specialized Family Drug Courts show promise for an improved way to address child abuse and neglect involving parental substance use. They can also provide a unique clinical training experience for health professionals.

There are some rationales for developing anticonvulsants for the treatment of substance abuse. The blockade of the AMPA/kainate subtype of glutamate receptor by topiramate may be of particular interest, as preclinical studies of withdrawal from opioids suggest that whilst AMPA-receptor antagonists may not be able to prevent tolerance or dependence from developing, they may ameliorate both physical and emotional consequences of withdrawal.

The Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA-2000) allows qualified physicians to treat opioid-dependent patients with schedule III-V medications, such as buprenorphine, in practices separate from licensed, accredited opioid treatment programs. Physicians may attain this qualification by completing 8-hours of training in treating opioid dependence. This paper describes the evaluation of a faculty development workshop designed to enhance teaching skills of small-group facilitators involved with DATA-2000 training sessions. This workshop coached the facilitators on their teaching roles in the DATA-2000 session through experiential practice of patient-case discussions related to treatment of opioid-dependence. Descriptive questionnaires evaluated the value of the workshop. Twenty-six facilitators participated in the workshops. Paired mean score responses for specific teaching skill abilities demonstrated statistically significant improvement in all categories. Evaluation of the DATA-2000 training session small-group facilitators was uniformly positive. This faculty development workshop was successful in improving teaching skills for our small-group faculty facilitators.

From the beginning of history, it is a well known fact that some people admire to substances making them tipsy and stories about them were told and heard in everywhere and in every time. As shown in several studies, psychiatric disorders related to substance abuse especially in adolescents are becoming more prevalent in all countries including Turkey every year and this is another well-known reality of our time. There are many known psychoactive substances affecting the mental well being of young people and disturbing their social adaptation skills. Inhalants are the preferred psychoactive substances between the young people because of the factors making their abuse become widespread such as cheapness, ease of availability and frequent use in daily life. Here we report an adolescent with a different substance abuse.