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Over a ten year-period, admissions to substance abuse treatment for opioids, attributable mainly to prescription opioids, rose from 8 percent in 1999 to 33 percent in 2009, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Overall, opioids accounted for 21 percent of all treatment admissions—second after alcohol (42 percent) and followed by … [Read more...] about Prescription Opioids Account for a Greater Share of Treatment Admissions

Societal costs of illicit drug use were $193 billion in 2007, according to a report out this spring from the National Drug Intelligence Center, part of the federal Department of Justice. Included were costs due to crime ($61 million), health costs ($11 billion), and productivity costs ($120 billion). Public costs of specialty treatment totaled $3.3 billion: $650 million for … [Read more...] about Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use in the U.S.

The number of patients admitted to substance abuse treatment who report benzodiazepine abuse tripled from 1998 to 2008, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported in June. In 1998, benzodiazepines were involved—not necessarily as the primary drug of abuse—in 22,400 admissions. Ten years later, this number had grown to … [Read more...] about Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions for Benzodiazepine Abuse Triple

A recent study based on an anonymous survey of methadone patients in a Baltimore, Maryland opioid treatment program (OTP) found that more than half of benzodiazepine users attending group meetings had started using these drugs after entering methadone maintenance (MM) treatment. The authors caution that their study results should not be used to make clinic policy, or to change … [Read more...] about Study: Benzodiazepine Use by OTP Patients May Indicate Untreated Anxiety