Aware Recovery Care Blog

March 06, 2019

It's an increasingly accepted notion in medical circles that medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder improves the odds of recovery and saves lives. Given this fact, one would think gaining access to this level of care would be easy. Well, according to researchers at Oregon Health and Safety University (OHSU)…

February 20, 2019

Aware Recovery Care is proud to announce that the Addiction Policy Forum has, for the second year in a row, singled out our addiction treatment programs for innovations that are changing the field of addiction. The Addiction Policy Forum is a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating addiction as a…

February 01, 2019

Aware Recovery Care has just earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for both Home Care and Behavioral Health Care by demonstrating continuous compliance with its performance standards (https://www.qualitycheck.org/quality-report/?bsnId=623503).  Receiving dual accreditation is a rare feat in this field.  The Gold Seal of Approval® is a symbol of quality that…

January 08, 2019

Aware Recovery Care, an innovative and promising drug and alcohol addiction treatment program created in concert with addiction specialists at Yale University, has opened its doors in Maine. The program is unique in the nation. Aware Recovery Care’s unique and innovative in-home addiction treatment program was founded on the research-supported…

January 08, 2019

Mike Moore used to be the Attorney General for the state of Mississippi.  He is also the guy who decided to sue Big Tobacco for lying about nicotine addiction and to hold them accountable for the health-care costs of sick smokers.  Though derided and told he had no shot at…

December 10, 2018

It’s an established fact that no amount of alcohol consumed by an expectant mom during pregnancy is good for the infant. For expectant moms who suffer from alcoholism or alcohol dependency – the impact on the child is often very grave, producing children with a condition called fetal alcohol spectrum…

November 21, 2018

These are the FACTS about America’s problem with opioids… Approximately 40,000 Americans are now dying annually from opioid overdoses.  That’s approximately 115 people every single day. More than two million Americans are now addicted to opioids. Americans make up 5% of the world’s population – but consume 80% of the…

November 09, 2018

For decades, scientists have been trying to unravel the mystery of addiction, how it gets started, and why it often persists so stubbornly. And for years, there’s been a theory that a chemical in the human nervous system called dopamine lies at the core of that mystery. Dopamine is what’s…

October 26, 2018

Sadly – the drug addiction crisis in America continues to roar ahead – seemingly unabated. In data recently released by the Centers for Disease Control, bleak new estimates put the number of drug overdose deaths in 2017 at 72,000. That number is not a typo. The Vietnam War (1961-1975) took…

October 16, 2018

A few years ago, physicians, like Elliot Tapper at the University of Michigan Medical School, began noticing an alarming increase in the number of young adults seeking help for liver disease. Their observation led them on a quest to understand why. The medical journal BMJ has just published the results…

September 28, 2018

With an opioid crisis choking the nation, it’s understandable that few are talking about what drugs might create the next crisis. Addiction treatment specialists, however, are seeing the beginnings of a worrying trend – a surge of adolescents addicted to Xanax and other sedatives in a class of anti-anxiety drugs…

September 24, 2018

The opioid crisis has left millions of Americans addicted. It has also led to many tens of thousands of overdoses. And even when addicts survive an overdose incident – they still face staggeringly high odds (130 times greater) of dying from related causes. Just what are those causes? HIV Chronic…

September 06, 2018

Why is it that some succumb to drug or alcohol addiction and others do not? Well, we’ve known for a while that there’s a genetic link.  But could something else be a significant contributor? According to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and confirmed by Kaiser Permanente…

June 22, 2018

As the opioid crisis deepens across America, the pharmaceutical industry’s role in the crisis has gained increased attention. What did the industry actually know about the dangers these drugs posed? And if they knew of the dangers, what did they do, if anything, to restrain their use? All great questions.…

June 08, 2018

Anyone struggling with addiction knows there are literally thousands of treatment options available in the U.S. And if you’re battling addiction – the chances are also very good that you’ve tried a number of these options without achieving long-term abstinence. Aware Recovery Care is the brainchild of addiction specialists at…

May 18, 2018

Many think of marijuana and assume it is a relatively benign drug. After all, many states are moving to legalize its use and distribution. That benign view may now be changing with the arrival of dangerous synthetic versions. Physicians in different parts of the U.S. are now receiving patients in…

April 27, 2018

Innovation… Since Aware Recovery Care first opened its doors, we’ve focused on finding and deploying innovative new tools capable of improving the odds of recovery for folks addicted to drugs and/or alcohol.  We believe this approach is one reason our clients achieve long-term sobriety at such high rates. One of…

April 19, 2018

As the opioid crisis continues to rage across America, a new and very significant danger has emerged.  Cocaine laced with Fentanyl.  Fentanyl is dangerous, and it’s often lethal.  It’s a synthetic opioid that’s between 50 and 100 times more powerful than morphine. And it kills quickly – so quickly that…

April 02, 2018

The answer to that question may be more important than you think. Researchers from the Opioid Response and Education program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have just completed a study on Naloxone use and overdose death rates. They found that Naloxone reverses 93% of all overdoses.  What troubled…

March 02, 2018

In 2016, this drug was associated with more deaths than auto and gun deaths combined. Can you guess the drug? Not opioids. Alcohol. According to Center for Disease Controls data, 88,000 people died as a result of alcohol consumption in 2016.  Sixty-four thousand died from overdosing on other drugs that…

January 18, 2018

New provisional data has been released from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding the drug crisis in America – and the news is discouraging. From May 2016 to May 2017, 17% more drug-related deaths were reported in the U.S. when compared to the previous 12-month period. What does that…

December 21, 2017

Holidays are often particularly difficult for people in recovery from addiction. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, in particular, have long been considered the Bermuda Triangle of addiction, where drugs, alcohol and family issues often intersect in what’s described as a “perfect storm.” For many in recovery, the holidays can bring…

December 07, 2017

Much has been written about the epidemic of opioid use in America. As a class of drugs – opioids are killing at a stunning rate. But has the focus on opioids obscured an equally vexing and deadly problem? According to new research just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine,…

November 30, 2017

New Hampshire is without question one of the most beautiful states in the nation. Sadly, it also has the second worst death rate from opioid overdoses relative to its population (behind West Virginia). Remarkably, it also has the highest death rate from Fentanyl overdoses. So what exactly is going on?…

November 09, 2017

It’s a well accepted fact that alcohol consumption during pregnancy is fraught with risks for the fetus, at times leading to what are called fetal alcohol spectrum disorders or FASDs. FASDs are health issues known to occur in some individuals whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These health problems can…

October 26, 2017

One of the most puzzling aspects of the opioid crisis has been the fact that despite the known dangers of these drugs, physicians have continued to prescribe them recklessly. What could possibly explain this behavior? That’s a question we have raised with regularity in these pages. Why is it that…

October 12, 2017

The stats are well known. America is in the midst of a crisis of opioid drug addiction and deadly overdoses. The current annual death rate from drug overdoses stands at 62,000. That’s a 19% increase from 2015 – much of it driven by opioid deaths. And incredibly – physicians in…

October 05, 2017

Today, at least 2.5 million Americans are addicted to opioid drugs and over 30,000 are dying from opioid overdoses annually. Families are being destroyed. Careers lost. It’s worth noting that the danger of opioid drugs has been known for a very long time. And America’s problem of addiction to these…

August 16, 2017

Alcohol is one of the oldest intoxicating substances known to humankind. According to a study just published in JAMA Psychiatry, it’s also increasingly leading to addiction in the form of “alcohol use disorder” or alcoholism. According to the study, one in eight Americans over the age of 18 meets the…

August 10, 2017

On September 11, 2001, 2,996 people were killed and another 6,000 wounded in a coordinated attack on U.S. targets. It was a day of unimaginable tragedy - one few Americans will ever forget. Incredibly, 142 Americans are now dying daily from opioid overdoses - a death toll the equivalent of…

August 03, 2017

It’s a well-documented fact that opioid addiction is at epidemic levels in the U.S. And sadly, opioids are equal opportunity addictors - effecting men and women in alarming numbers. Data from a newly released report shows a huge spike in opioid and heroin related hospital stays for women in the…

July 27, 2017

The opioid crisis continues unabated across the nation and a new source of supply is greatly complicating efforts to stem the tide of addiction and death. What’s the new source of supply? The internet. Health officials and police in every region of the country are now reporting an alarming rise…

July 10, 2017

With death rates from opioid overdoses spiraling ever higher, one would expect EMTs, police and fire personnel to know how to treat someone in crisis. But librarians? According to CNN, librarians are finding themselves increasingly on the front lines in a number of major cities in the battle to save…

June 21, 2017

Thirty-seven million Americans died from an opioid overdose (prescription drugs and heroin) in 2016 and over 2 million in the U.S. are addicted to these drugs. Among all adults in treatment for opioid addiction, one-third started using opioids before the age of 18, with two-thirds starting before the age of…

June 15, 2017

We are in the midst of what the CDC characterizes as a major public health crisis – the spiraling epidemic of drug addiction in America. The scary question is, “Can it get any worse?” Sadly – newly released data shows it is. In 2016, there was a 19% increase in…

June 11, 2017

Much has been written in these pages about the opioid addiction public health crisis in America. It was long ago established that the drug companies covered up the risk of addiction to opioids and aggressively marketed this class of drugs, leaving physicians to jump on the prescribing bandwagon. And jump…

June 01, 2017

Working with addiction specialists at Yale and other universities, Aware Recovery Care has developed a novel and demonstratively effective home based drug and alcohol addiction treatment program. The program is novel for several reasons – including its home-based approach, its reliance on a team of addiction specialists assigned to each…

May 18, 2017

Alcohol dependency can develop at any age – but researchers recently sought to understand if those over 60 might be at a higher risk for developing a problem. To conduct their study, researchers looked at gender and age-specific trends in a population of older Americans from 1997 through 2014. Their…

May 04, 2017

If it’s possible – the opioid addiction crisis is morphing by generation and getting more deadly. Researchers at the University of Maryland now report that older consumers are overdosing on prescription opioids at alarming rates while younger Americans are dying disproportionately from overdosing on heroin. Sadly – in both cases…

April 27, 2017

Over fourteen million Americans suffer from alcoholism/alcohol dependency. That’s approximately seven percent of the U.S. population. And data shows that women are increasingly vulnerable to the problem. Researchers have long wondered whether the cause of alcohol dependency is idiosyncratic, varying from person to person. A team working at the Scripps…

April 12, 2017

Heroin, once seen as largely an urban problem, is now ravaging five-times the number of people across America it did just 15 years ago. According to research from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, a condition known as heroin dependence or heroin use disorder has also tripled during this…

March 30, 2017

Many young women realize that drinking during pregnancy is not a good idea, but they often fail to understand all of the ramifications. Did you know that alcohol can actually harm a baby at every stage of a pregnancy and that alcohol can cause something called fetal alcohol spectrum disorders…

March 22, 2017

It’s now a well established fact that the class of drugs known as opioids are at the root of what is by far the worst drug addiction epidemic in U.S. history. Between the years 2000 and 2015, over 500 thousand Americans died from drug overdoses – the majority of which…

March 09, 2017

For more than a decade, researchers and physicians have know that opioid drugs are among some of the most dangerous and addictive drugs known to humankind. In fact, the death rate from drug overdoses tied largely to opioid drugs is now estimated to be 125 Americans each and every day…

February 23, 2017

One would have thought the opioid crisis would serve as a lesson for organized medicine and its pharmaceutical allies. Overprescribe a class of drugs, and you’re likely to create a public health crisis. Well sadly – it hasn’t. In a paper just published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers…

February 16, 2017

It should be obvious that mixing alcohol and opioid painkillers is a bad idea. Right? Yup. And now we have confirmation In a report just published in the respected journal, Anesthesiology, researchers confirmed that combining just one painkilling opioid pill with even a modest amount of alcohol increases the risk…

February 09, 2017

[caption id=“attachment_457” align=“alignnone” width=“218”] Governor Malloy[/caption] Connecticut’s Governor Dannel Malloy just announced a number of proposals for combating the state’s opioid crisis that he has now sent to the Connecticut legislature for consideration during the 2017 legislative session. Stating that every town and city in the State has been affected…

February 02, 2017

In December of 2016, a Pennsylvania couple died of an apparent opioid overdose. Days after their passing, police discovered the body of their infant child – a victim of starvation. In the past 15 years, more than 300,000 U.S. residents have died from opioid overdoses – 33,000 in 2015 alone.…

January 26, 2017

[caption id=“attachment_447” align=“alignnone” width=“289”] Medical Director, Aware Recovery Care, N.H.[/caption] Aware Recovery Care is pleased to announce that Dr. Joffree Barrnett MD has been named Medical Director for Aware in the state of New Hampshire. Dr. Barrnett has had a long and distinguished career in the fields of substance abuse…

January 19, 2017

There was a time when physician referrals and word-of-mouth provided most of the guidance people received when trying to decide where to seek drug and alcohol rehab help. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Increasingly, patients who are often in one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives,…

January 05, 2017

What happens when drug companies put profits ahead of patient safety? Ask the folks in West Virginia. Between 2007 and 2012, the big drug makers pumped 780 million opioid pills (hydrocodone and oxycodone) into the state. In case you’re wondering – that’s enough to give every man, woman and child…

December 22, 2016

New research just published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) shows that the number of babies born with drug withdrawal symptoms from opioids (called neonatal abstinence syndrome or NAS) has increased substantially and that the increases are occurring more dramatically in rural areas than in cities. The study’s…

December 15, 2016

What’s it like to run a company? How about a surgical unit or an emergency room? Or a high powered law firm? It’s stressful, time consuming and exhausting – mentally and physically. It can also be lonely. For professionals in high stress jobs – lots of lives depend on their…

December 08, 2016

Chronic pain is believed to affect over 50 million Americans annually. Sadly, pain and the tendency of physicians to vastly overprescribe opioid pain killers are largely to blame for the current drug abuse epidemic. Are addictive pain pills really the answer to chronic pain? In many cases – these drugs…

November 30, 2016

With the strong urging of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, we are pleased to announce that Aware Recovery Care, one of the most successful and innovative drug and alcohol addiction programs in the country, will begin treating clients in New Hampshire on December 1, 2016. Aware Recovery Care’s unique and…

November 21, 2016

According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s most recent report, 21 million Americans are currently battling with substance abuse. That’s more people than are currently diagnosed with cancer in the entire country. Fifty thousand Americans are dying each year from drug overdoses – considerably more than the approximately 32,000 who die…

November 17, 2016

At Aware Recovery Care, we create a multi-disciplinary drug and/or alcohol addiction rehabilitation team for each and every client. Each team is led by an Addiction Psychiatrist and supported by an Addiction Nurse, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, an Individual Therapist, and a Certified Recovery Advisor (CRA) - most…

November 10, 2016

In a new research paper published by the National Institute of Alcohol and Drug Abuse – scientists attempt to explain how addicts’ brains might malfunction to create a susceptibility to addiction. According to the authors of this latest study, addiction is tied to the interplay of three key factors: executive…

November 03, 2016

Late in October, U.S. health insurer Cigna, took steps to make it easier for doctors and patients to get access to a life saving drug used to treat opioid addiction. The insurer also pledged to reduce opioid use among its customers significantly within three years. The drug - buprenorphine, is…

October 27, 2016

On Friday – October 14th, 2016, the State of Connecticut hosted a symposium on the opioid addiction crisis in the State. The event was chaired by the Commissioner of the Connecticut State Department of Insurance – Katie Wade, and featured experts from the Yale School of Medicine and medical directors…

October 13, 2016

No family of a drug or alcohol addict goes unaffected by the tragedy and the turmoil of addiction. Ever. Parents, spouses, children and often extended family are all impacted. Given this fact, addiction researchers and clinicians have long had an interest in the family dynamics of addicts in the hope…

October 06, 2016

Many of us who’ve sent children through public schools in Connecticut are familiar with the drug and alcohol prevention program called D.A.R.E. D.A.R.E. was designed to help children understand the risks of drugs and alcohol while also teaching them critical avoidance tactics in the hope that a generation of children…

September 29, 2016

Do you worry about the drinking habits of a partner or good friend? Are you growing concerned they may be becoming addicted to alcohol? Over 17.6 million people in the U.S. are and the signs of a problem are fairly easy to spot. That’s one in every twelve adults… Here…

September 22, 2016

[caption id=“attachment_384” align=“alignright” width=“376”] Photo credit: IsaacMao via Foter.com / CC BY[/caption] Many of the actions and reactions of living creatures are governed by substances found in the body called “enzymes.” Just what’s an enzyme? It’s a chemical produced by the body to regulate other functions such as digestion and…

September 15, 2016

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). It’s a term used to describe the withdrawal symptoms babies are forced to endure when they have been exposed to opioid drugs while in the womb. What’s it like to be an infant withdrawing from these drugs? The common symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, fever, tremors, hyperactive…

September 01, 2016

The opioid addiction epidemic in America just got worse. Law enforcement and health officials are reporting that heroin laced with a drug called carfentanil is showing up in increasing frequency throughout the U.S. Why does that matter? Carfentanil is perhaps the most potent opioid available commercially. It is 10,000 times…

August 25, 2016

There has been much written and reported this summer about the number of big insurance companies abandoning state healthcare exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act. They’re leaving these exchanges in large part because they have not proven to be profitable. Could it be that the opioid addiction crisis…

August 17, 2016

We write often about the toxic relationship between big drug companies and physicians in America. The current opioid addiction - public health crisis can be traced directly to that relationship. But are there other factors contributing to the problem? It appears there are… A part of the Affordable Care Act,…

August 10, 2016

For some time now, addiction researchers have wondered whether there were any real differences in male vs. female responses to a range of addictive drugs. While most addiction research has been conducted on male subjects in the past, anecdotally, it appeared there might be. To gain a better understanding of…

August 04, 2016

Opioids are a first line of defense for conventional medicine in the battle against acute and chronic pain. Sadly, an overly aggressive reliance on those drugs has created a public health crisis of addiction in America. Given the importance of these drugs to conventional practitioners, one would think we know…

July 28, 2016

It’s a well known phenomenon – one that addiction specialists have seen throughout history…the harder the enforcement, the harder the drugs. In fact, whether one is talking about alcohol or drugs – the pattern is always dangerously the same. And it’s happening again throughout Connecticut and the U.S. In this…

July 21, 2016

It has long been known that some people are more prone to alcoholism than others. Researchers at Texas A&M have recently made an interesting discovery that may provide at least a partial explanation as to why. These researchers sought to understand whether a certain type of nerve cell – called…

July 14, 2016

For years, the maker of Oxycontin, Purdue Pharma, has allegedly been collecting an extensive amount of information about the Oxycontin prescribing habits of physicians and pharmacies across the United States – including Connecticut. As we have reported before – nearly 200,000 people have died from Oxycontin overdoses since 1999. 200,000……

July 07, 2016

Do physicians need help curbing opioid prescriptions? Let’s look at the facts. In the 1990’s, the large pharmaceutical companies began marketing a new class of painkilling opioids – spending many tens of millions of dollars to encourage their use. It was quickly discovered that this new class of drugs was…

June 29, 2016

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), over 50 million Americans suffer with significant to severe chronic pain. Low back pain is the most common (27%) type of pain, followed by severe headache or migraine pain (15%), neck pain (15%) and facial ache or pain (4%). Over half (52.7%)…

June 22, 2016

If you were born between the years 1946 and 1964 – you’re a member of the baby boom generation. Until recently, Boomers were the largest generation in the history of the planet… now surpassed in size by the generation they gave birth to – the Millennials. As they age –…

June 16, 2016

As people age, the incidence of arthritis tends to rise, leading to an increase in aches and pains. Levels of general anxiety can also rise with the years. What do many of the elderly do in the face of these problems? They seek medical advice and treatment that often includes…

June 09, 2016

One of the great challenges in addiction rehab care is getting help to addicts when they need it most – at that crisis point when the urge to use begins to overwhelm self-control. We know from our extensive work in the field, and from the research of others, that stresses…

June 02, 2016

Given the sharp and catastrophic rise in the number of Americans addicted to opioid painkillers – one would naturally assume most physicians now know how to treat a person overdosing. Right? Particularly since physicians are largely responsible for the epidemic… Well, guess again. Many doctors have little or no training…

May 25, 2016

At present count – there are over 35 million Americans aged 65 or older. Did you know that fully 17% of them are addicted to either drugs and/or alcohol? And that rate is expected to double by the year 2020. Double… What in the world is causing this sharp rise…

May 19, 2016

We have written often about the terrible toll opioid painkillers are taking on American lives. Rates of addiction and overdose are at all time highs – as are overdose deaths. If you have a family member who is using opioids – even those appropriately prescribed – you need to consider…

May 12, 2016

When Purdue Pharma first launched its blockbuster opioid painkilling drug Oxycontin in the mid-1990s – they did so with the claim that the drug provided relief for a full twelve hours. And the generic alternatives didn’t come close. Thirty-one billion dollars in profit and an epidemic of opioid painkiller addiction…

April 21, 2016

Think tanks… Read those words and one thinks of a room full of really smart people trying to solve the world’s problems – right? How about if that room full of really smart people isn’t really there in pursuit of truth – but rather because they have academic credentials that…

April 14, 2016

Aware Recovery Care’s model of addiction rehab treatment is helping our clients achieve rates of long term recovery that are some of the highest in the nation. In fact, they are 350% above the national average. As many have noted, our willingness to consistently work with addiction researchers to seek…

March 31, 2016

A child is born already addicted to drugs every 25 minutes in America. Yes – you read that correctly. Every 25 minutes. How can a baby be addicted you ask? Simple – a pregnant mom passes the drugs she is taking through the placenta, through the umbilical cord and right…

March 23, 2016

We have written often that the medical community needs to take responsibility for the current epidemic of painkilling drug addiction in this country. Why? Rates of addiction, and overdose deaths from these drugs, are rising sharply across America – rising as the number of prescriptions for these drugs have reached…

March 16, 2016

Helen grew up in rural Connecticut with parents who were addicted to drugs and alcohol. While from the outside, her childhood looked like many others, truth is – Helen lived a life filled with sadness, shame – and fear. A nurturing, safe and love filled world was denied her from…

March 10, 2016

Imagine discovering that the passenger sitting next to you on a commuter bus in Philadelphia had a syringe and was about to shoot up – and did. Or walking into a venerable old church in Boston only to discover victims of a heroin overdose lying on the church’s bathroom floor……

March 03, 2016

One cannot pick up a newspaper, search an internet news service, or turn on the television without seeing news reports about the deadly epidemic of addiction to opioid painkillers and heroin in America. It’s estimated that 25,000 lives are being lost each year in this country to this class of…

February 18, 2016

The TV audience for Super Bowl 50 witnessed a somewhat mediocre game and what may have been Peyton Manning’s last game in the NFL. And as usual – there was the annual parade of high priced and often humorous TV commercials to watch and enjoy. There was one ad, however…

February 11, 2016

In the 1980s, scientists began to suspect that drug and alcohol addiction was tied to altered brain function and started experimenting with biofeedback to see if the brain could be taught new habits. Their first results were promising and prompted other researchers to continue that research. A number of studies…

February 04, 2016

The problems of drug and alcohol addiction are almost as old as humankind. Sadly – “advances” in medicine have greatly contributed to the drug addiction problem and brought ever more addictive and dangerous drug options to Americans and to the rest of the world. Perhaps one of the most chilling…

January 27, 2016

Did you know that over time, people prescribed opioid painkilling drugs slowly develop a tolerance to the drugs requiring ever larger doses to get the “same” effect? The National Institute on Drug Abuse defines tolerance as “a state in which an organism no longer responds to a drug. A higher…

January 21, 2016

New research from the New York Times shows that drug overdoses are driving up the death rates of young white adults in America – to rates not seen since the outbreak of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. These statistics match data recently released from Princeton University showing a rapid rise of…

January 14, 2016

Think about this one…. A patient being prescribed opioid painkillers for pain, overdoses and is hospitalized. What would you expect to see happen next? The patient would be referred to addiction treatment specialists The patient’s physician would stop prescribing painkillers The patient would continue to receive prescriptions for the drug…

January 07, 2016

As with most diseased states – there is an herbal substance that purports to help with addiction recovery. It’s called Kratom – and it’s made from a south Asian plant by the same name. Some believe it’s also a safe alternative for pain relief – one that is safer than…

December 28, 2015

Lot’s going on in the world… strife in the Middle East, international terrorism, and debates in the U.S. about income inequality, energy policy, global warming, racism, jobs and so much more. Know what topic is taking 2016 presidential candidates most by surprise? The epidemic of drug addiction that is killing…

December 22, 2015

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) earlier this Fall announced efforts to try and reduce the number of opioid painkiller prescriptions issued by the nation’s physicians. It was an unusual move – and one that shifted the focus of the CDC into areas normally reserved for the FDA. Why did…

December 17, 2015

Powerful painkillers were once used primarily to bring comfort to those just out of surgery and to late stage cancer patients. And then in the mid-1990’s, new opioid painkillers were introduced supported by the massive marketing budgets of the pharmaceutical companies that make them. A primary target of those dollars…

December 10, 2015

When one thinks about the problem of drug addiction in America – one typically thinks of it as a problem for adults. And it is. But take it a step farther. Over 2.5 million American adults are currently addicted to heroin and opioid painkilling drugs. If that number of adults…