What’s News Blog
Latest Allies in Recovery News
Hunter Biden and the National Conversation About SUD
Biden’s case, like those of other famous persons, could help shed some needed light on the disorder.
What’s News Posts
Rhode Island Sees First Drop in Drug Fatalities Since 2019
The state is also the newest to make access to Allies in Recovery free for all residents
SUD Is “A preventable, Treatable Disease With Roots in Adolescence”
A conversation with the CEO of the Partnership to End Addiction
Allies in Recovery Named a Top 10 Addiction Recovery Company by Health Care Business Review
It’s a welcome endorsement of the effectiveness and solid track record of Allies in Recovery: recognition by a trusted journal as one of the 10 best companies dedicated to addiction recovery in the United States.
Fourth Largest Health Insurer U.S. Is Sued For Fraudulent, AI-Calculated Denial of Claims
If you’ve been thinking that concerns about artificial intelligence are overblown, this story may change your mind. But as with many abuses of new technology, human greed also plays a role.
The Biden Administration Is Easing Access to Methadone
Fentanyl and other opioids are cutting lives short in numbers we’ve never seen before. Unfortunately, this health emergency hasn’t yet generated the national response we need. But there are some encouraging steps in the right direction—and among them are these new rules on access to methadone.
What Happens In Recovery: A Young Man’s Journey in 2 ¼ Minutes
Fentanyl and other opioids are cutting lives short in numbers we’ve never seen before. Unfortunately, this health emergency hasn’t yet generated the national response we need. But there are some encouraging steps in the right direction—and among them are these new rules on access to methadone.
Fentanyl Is Making “The Worst Overdose Crisis in American History” Worse All The Time
Many factors have combined to make recent years the deadliest in history for U.S. drug overdose deaths. At the same time, many policy responses, from bold to incremental, are on the negotiating table. Unfortunately, as this report from Politico explains, most of them are likely to stay there awhile. For now, in the absence of national leadership, it’s up to others to carry on.
Positive Childhood Experiences Are Linked to Emotional Health and Resilience—Even in Households Experiencing Trauma
For decades, pediatric research has focused on negative childhood experiences (NCEs) and their effects on children’s wellbeing. Until recently, however, positive childhood experiences (PCEs) went mostly unstudied. Now that’s beginning to change, and the findings are encouraging to say the least.
Ozempic, Widely Used for Diabetes and Weight Loss, Has Potential Substance Use Disorder Benefits As Well
It was developed to help regulate blood sugar in diabetics and pre-diabetics. It’s widely (though unofficially) used for weight loss. Now semaglutide (brand name Ozempic) is showing promise for SUD sufferers as well.
Fentanyl Deaths In Communities of Color: A Crisis “Decades In the Making”
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals the unequal effects of the opioid crisis on Black, Native American, Hispanic, and white populations in the United States. Fentanyl deaths in particular have skyrocketed for all groups—but far more so in Black communities. Understanding the lasting effects of discrimination is essential, both for grasping the problem and seeking solutions.
Borderline Personality Disorder: A Family Takes Its Caring to the Next Level
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) affects nearly 6% of Americans at some point in their lives, but research, treatment, and support for the condition lags far behind other serious mental illnesses. Paula Tusiani-Eng and her parents know first-hand what it’s like to live with, and eventually lose, a loved one suffering from BPD. Their story is remarkable not just because of those challenges, but because of what they decided to do next.
Ketamine: A Potential Leap Forward In Opioid Addiction Medication
Buprenorphine is a crucial medicine for many patients in treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). But with the rise of deadly fentanyl, buprenorphine is becoming much harder to use effectively. That’s where another medicine, ketamine, is showing immense promise.
White Patients Receive Opioid Addiction Medication at More Than Twice the Rate of Black Patients
In a new report, the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that Black and Native American patients struggling with opioid use were less than half as likely to be prescribed a crucial treatment medicine as White patients. The reasons are numerous, but many stem from what the reports’ authors call “the racial segregation of healthcare” in the United States.
Bromazolam, Delivered By Mail, Is Killing Canadians in Startling Numbers
Over 20,000 Canadians have died of opioid-related causes since 2020. Many of these deaths involved opioids mixed with Bromazolam or similar illicit sedatives—and most, it appears, reach users via Canadian mail. Until that pipeline can be shut down, awareness may be the best protection families can hope for.
Lessons From Risk (the Board Game) May Help You Change Your Life
Eric Zimmer barely survived his twentieth year, when his struggle with heroin was at its worst. In this TED talk, he looks back on the choices he made and strategies he developed that supported his full recovery. Don’t worry if you’ve never played Risk! Eric’s presentation lays it all out clearly.
New Data Proves It: You’re Not Alone
A Pew Research Center survey gives us another sharp statistical window on substance use in America. Its findings may surprise you. 46% of Americans have a family member or close friend who’s struggled with substance use disorder.
A New Study Reveals How the Brains of Family Members Respond to Their Loved One
It’s no mystery that humans subjected to various stressors can respond in similar ways. But why is this so? What are the neurological mechanisms? We’re far from having all the answers. Now, however, brain scans are revealing similar activity in substance use disorder (SUD) sufferers and the family and friends who care for them.
Debunked in 3 ½ Minutes: Harmful Myths About Family and Recovery
It can’t be said too often: substance use disorder is a disease. Yet unlike nearly all other diseases, it’s still often treated as a moral failure, or even a lifestyle choice. This short video illustrates this double standard in the starkest terms. It reminds us that showing care, commitment, and understanding to a Loved One with SUD is not just natural, but also the foundation for helping them at all.
Mental Health: Just How Much Have We Got Wrong?
Everyone knows that great ideas can spread. But bad ones can also “hang around so long that you can forget you have the option of questioning them.” In this arresting Ted Talk, the entrepreneur and mental health leader Khaliya takes on some ideas that certainly merit questioning, and make a passionate case for trying to “remove our mental health blinders.”
Opioid Treatment Medications Will Be Permanently More Accessible Under New Federal Rules
Covid-19 pushed U.S. patient care to the brink. In response, take-home policies for opioid treatment medications use were temporarily relaxed. There’s evidence that these changes were massively beneficial. Now a federal agency is moving to make the changes permanent—and even expand them.