News Updates

North Texas addiction treatment centers are working hard to keep facilities open during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal: to give some of the highest-risk patients access to medications that treat opioid addiction. The opioid epidemic hasn’t been supplanted by the pandemic. Rather, the pandemic has worsened an already existing crisis. In the Dallas area, the pandemic is … [Read more...] about ‘I am Alone’: Opioid Relapses on the Rise as COVID-19 Interrupts Drug Addiction Recovery in Dallas

On the first Friday in June, Jefrey Cameron, 29, left his home around midnight to buy heroin. He had been struggling with addiction for seven years but had seemingly turned a corner, holding down a job that he loved at Basil’s Pizzeria, driving his teenage sister to the mall to go shopping and sharing a home with his grandmother. But then the coronavirus pandemic hit. When … [Read more...] about “The Drug Became His Friend”: Pandemic Drives Hike in Opioid Deaths

People with substance use disorder — especially involving opioids or tobacco — are at a significantly higher risk for contracting COVID-19. What’s more, they also are more likely to develop a serious case of the virus and die, a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health has found. Additionally, these findings mark still more examples of race-based health … [Read more...] about Addiction to Opioids and Tobacco Increases Risk for COVID-19, Study Finds

Hospitals and clinics around Massachusetts are gearing up to help people access treatment for opioid use disorder, as part of a statewide event aimed at increasing awareness of the disease. The Sept. 22 event, called Massachusetts Opioid Screening and Awareness Day, will feature a free virtual panel discussion with experts in opioid use disorder and people with lived … [Read more...] about Statewide Opioid Screening Day To Help People Assess Their Risk And Find Treatment

Here's some heartening news on the opioid painkillers front: Abuse of the prescription medicines in the United States fell by more than one-quarter between 2007 and 2018. "Prior research has shown slight reductions in abuse rates, but our analysis shows we're tracking statistically significant year-to-year declines in abuse, indicating that the decrease is not an anomaly and … [Read more...] about Signs America’s Prescription Opioid Epidemic Might Finally Be Waning