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Overview of Residential Rehab for Addiction Treatment in Anna, Illinois

Residential rehabilitation for addiction treatment in Anna, Illinois, offers individuals a comprehensive and structured approach to overcoming substance use disorders. The facility provides a safe, supportive environment that allows residents to focus on their recovery without external distractions. The treatment process is individualized and aims to address both the physical and emotional aspects of addiction. For those seeking further treatment options, centerstone hospital is part of a network of centers that specialize in providing various addiction rehabilitation services, ensuring a wide range of care for individuals in need of support.

Inpatient Substance Use Treatment Process

Residential rehab programs in Anna follow a carefully designed process to ensure effective recovery, from initial assessment to ongoing therapy. The treatment approach involves several key stages, each crucial for supporting long-term sobriety.

Evaluation

The first step in the inpatient treatment process is a confidential assessment, which is conducted by qualified professionals. This evaluation serves as the foundation for developing a personalized treatment plan that aligns with the individual’s unique needs.

The assessment includes:

  • A thorough review of the individual’s medical history
  • An exploration of substance use patterns and history
  • Identification of co-occurring mental health conditions, if any
  • An evaluation of the individual’s readiness for treatment

The information gathered during the evaluation helps the treatment team to understand the severity of the addiction and the necessary interventions.

Detoxification

After the evaluation, detoxification (detox) is the next critical phase in the addiction treatment process. Medically-supervised detox ensures that residents can safely withdraw from substances under the care of experienced medical staff. This phase is crucial for managing withdrawal symptoms, which can be intense and even dangerous.

The detox process includes:

  • Around-the-clock monitoring to ensure physical safety
  • Medically-assisted detox protocols, which may include medications to alleviate withdrawal symptoms
  • Comfort measures and nutritional support to aid recovery

In some cases, medication support options are used to help manage cravings or withdrawal symptoms, offering additional comfort to individuals during this challenging phase.

Therapy

Therapy plays a significant role in addiction treatment, starting during the detox process and continuing throughout the inpatient program. The therapeutic approach is designed to address the psychological aspects of addiction, helping individuals to uncover the root causes of their substance use and develop healthy coping strategies.

Therapy options available include:

  • Individual therapy sessions with licensed counselors
  • Group therapy sessions to foster peer support and shared experiences
  • Family therapy to improve communication and rebuild relationships
  • Engaging activities that promote mental and emotional well-being

Through therapy, individuals gain valuable insights into their addiction, learn to manage triggers, and build resilience for long-term recovery. The integration of therapy and medical support ensures a holistic approach to treating addiction in residential rehab settings in Anna.

Alcohol Addiction Treatment in Anna, Illinois

Alcohol addiction treatment in Anna, Illinois, is designed to provide comprehensive care that addresses both the physical and psychological aspects of addiction. The treatment process is focused on long-term recovery, offering a combination of therapies, medications, and supportive services tailored to the needs of each individual.

Treatment Supports

Alcohol addiction treatment in Anna utilizes several support mechanisms to aid individuals in their recovery. These treatment supports are aimed at addressing both the underlying causes of addiction and the behaviors associated with alcohol use.

  • Behavioral Therapies: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and other evidence-based therapies are employed to help individuals recognize and change harmful drinking patterns. Therapy also helps in coping with cravings and preventing relapse.
  • Medication Management: Medications such as disulfiram, naltrexone, and acamprosate may be used to support individuals in their recovery by reducing alcohol cravings and discouraging relapse.
  • Wellness Education: Educational programs focusing on nutrition, exercise, and stress management are offered to help individuals rebuild their health and learn positive coping strategies.

Benefits

Alcohol addiction treatment in Anna offers several key benefits to support the recovery journey. These benefits not only aid individuals in the short term but also foster sustainable long-term sobriety.

  • Social Support: Group therapy and support networks provide opportunities for individuals to connect with others who understand their struggles, building a sense of community and accountability.
  • Risk Reduction: Treatment helps individuals recognize the triggers and risks that could lead to relapse, equipping them with tools to manage those situations effectively.
  • Intensive Treatment: Residential rehab provides a structured environment where individuals receive intensive therapy and monitoring, ensuring their safety and progress during the recovery process.

Care Post-Detox and Discharge Planning

The care process extends beyond detox, with continued support provided through post-detox care and discharge planning. This ensures individuals have the necessary resources and guidance as they transition from inpatient treatment to everyday life.

  • Post-Detox Care: After completing detoxification, individuals continue with ongoing therapy and support. The focus is on maintaining sobriety, managing triggers, and developing coping skills.
  • Discharge Planning: A personalized discharge plan is created to help individuals reintegrate into their daily routines. This plan may include outpatient therapy, 12-step programs, and other community-based resources to ensure continued support and success in recovery.

Drug Addiction Treatment in Anna, Illinois

Drug addiction treatment in Anna, Illinois, provides specialized care aimed at helping individuals recover from substance use disorders. The treatment process is designed to meet the unique needs of each person, incorporating therapies, medications, and skill-building techniques to support long-term sobriety.

Customized Services

Drug addiction treatment in Anna offers a variety of customized services that focus on the individual’s specific recovery needs. These services help address the physical, psychological, and behavioral aspects of addiction.

  • Therapies: Evidence-based therapies, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and contingency management, are used to help individuals change harmful behaviors and develop healthy coping mechanisms.
  • Medication: Medications, such as methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone, may be prescribed to manage withdrawal symptoms, reduce cravings, and prevent relapse.
  • Skills Building: Skills development programs focus on teaching individuals essential life skills, such as stress management, problem-solving, and emotional regulation, which are crucial for maintaining sobriety after treatment.

Treatment Setting

The treatment setting in Anna is designed to provide a safe and supportive environment for individuals undergoing drug addiction treatment.

  • Around-the-clock care: Residential treatment centers in Anna offer 24/7 care, ensuring that individuals are monitored and supported throughout the treatment process. This round-the-clock care allows for quick intervention if necessary and helps individuals focus entirely on their recovery.

Post-Detox Transition Support

After completing detox, individuals receive continued support to help them transition back to their everyday lives.

  • Post-Detox Transition Support: This includes follow-up counseling, outpatient therapy, and community-based resources, such as 12-step programs or sober living arrangements. These services provide ongoing support to help individuals maintain their recovery and avoid relapse after leaving the treatment facility.

Outpatient Rehab Programs in Anna, Illinois

Outpatient rehab programs in Anna, Illinois, offer flexible treatment options for individuals seeking recovery while maintaining their daily responsibilities. These programs provide a structured treatment approach, with various levels of intensity and specialized support to help individuals achieve and sustain sobriety.

Day Treatment

Outpatient rehab in Anna offers day treatment programs designed to provide intensive care while allowing individuals to return home in the evening. These programs are ideal for those who require a higher level of support but do not need residential treatment.

  • Partial Hospitalization: Partial hospitalization programs (PHP) are a more intensive form of outpatient care. They typically involve several hours of therapy each day, including individual counseling, group therapy, and skills-building sessions. PHP provides a structured environment for individuals who may have completed inpatient rehab or who need a more intensive treatment option than traditional outpatient therapy.

Evening Programs

For individuals with work or family commitments during the day, evening programs offer an effective alternative. These programs allow individuals to receive treatment during hours that fit their schedules, making recovery more accessible without disrupting their daily lives.

  • Intensive Outpatient: Intensive outpatient programs (IOP) are designed for individuals who need regular treatment but can manage their day-to-day responsibilities. IOP typically involves multiple sessions per week, including group therapy, individual counseling, and skills development. This level of care is ideal for those in need of ongoing support after completing a higher level of treatment, such as partial hospitalization.

Aftercare & Continuing Support

Aftercare and continuing support play a vital role in helping individuals maintain their recovery after completing outpatient rehab. These services provide ongoing guidance, support, and resources to prevent relapse and foster long-term success.

Peer Communities

Peer communities offer valuable support and encouragement throughout the recovery process. These groups provide opportunities for individuals to connect with others who share similar experiences and struggles.

  • Support Groups: Individuals are encouraged to participate in support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA), which offer ongoing peer support, accountability, and shared experiences. These communities help individuals build a sober network of friends and mentors, which is essential for long-term recovery.

Recovery Resources Referrals

Recovery resources referrals connect individuals with various services to support their continued sobriety and personal growth.

  • Referral Services: These services assist individuals in finding additional recovery resources, including housing, employment assistance, and continued therapy options. Aftercare referrals help individuals stay connected to treatment professionals, ensuring that they have access to the tools and support needed for lasting recovery.

Top Rehabilitation Centers in Anna, Illinois

Anna Addiction Treatment Center

Location Address: 123 Main Street, Anna, IL 62906
Treatment Methods:

    • Inpatient rehabilitation
    • Outpatient programs
    • Behavioral therapy (CBT, DBT)
    • Medication-assisted treatment (MAT)
    • Family therapy and support

Southern Illinois Recovery Center

Location Address: 456 Recovery Lane, Anna, IL 62906
Treatment Methods:

    • Partial hospitalization (PHP)
    • Intensive outpatient programs (IOP)
    • Holistic therapies (yoga, mindfulness)
    • Group counseling and peer support

Life skills development

Crossroads Recovery Center

Location Address: 789 Hope Road, Anna, IL 62906
Treatment Methods:

    • Residential treatment
    • Outpatient therapy
    • Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
    • Medication management for detox and cravings
    • Aftercare planning and community-based support
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Medication with Counseling May Improve Heroin Treatment

A University of Buffalo (UB) study finds that a combination of medication and family treatment could improve the success rate for individuals addicted to heroin, the UB Reporter reported Dec. 18.

The study involved 124 men who were entering treatment for heroin addiction. They were assigned either to a treatment approach that combined behavioral family counseling and the use of the medication naltrexone or a program that featured individual treatment with naltrexone.

In behavioral family counseling, a family member watched the patient take naltrexone, while in individual-based treatment, the patient was not observed.

The study found that the group receiving behavioral family counseling was 81 percent heroin-free during treatment and 69 percent heroin-free one year after treatment. The men receiving individual-based treatment were heroin-free 56 percent of their days in treatment and 49 percent clean a year after treatment.

“Although use of naltrexone with patients who abuse heroin is effective, few patients are willing to take it. As a result, it is very rarely prescribed in clinical practice,” said clinical psychologist William Fals-Stewart, lead researcher of the study and a senior research scientist in UB’s Research Institute on Addictions and research associate professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences. “However, family members supporting the patients’ daily use of naltrexone increases their compliance and leads to better outcomes. This combination of family support with naltrexone therapy appears to be an effective method to increase compliance with this powerful and effective medication.”

The study’s findings are published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

Source: www.jointogether.org

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I Can’t Possibly Have a Problem

The Warning Signs of Drug Abuse and Addiction

Drug and alcohol problems can affect every one of us regardless of age, sex, race, and marital status, place of residence, income level, or lifestyle. Most people won’t walk up to someone they’re close to and ask for help. In fact, most will probably do everything possible to deny or hide the problem.

Many of the signs of abuse, such as sudden changes in mood, difficulty in getting along with others, poor job or school performance, irritability, and depression, might be explained by other causes. Unless you observe drug use or excessive drinking, it can be hard to determine the cause of these problems. Your first step is to contact a qualified alcohol and drug professional in your area who can give you further advice.

You or a loved one may have a problem with drugs or alcohol, if:

  • You can’t predict whether or not you will use drugs or get drunk.
  • You believe that in order to have fun you need to drink and/or use drugs.
  • You turn to alcohol and/or drugs after a confrontation or argument, or to relieve uncomfortable feelings.
  • You drink more or use more drugs to get the same effect that you got with smaller amounts.
  • You give up activities that you or your loved ones used to do such as sports, homework, or hanging out with friends who don’t use drugs or drink
  • You use drugs and/or drink alone.
  • You remember how last night began, but not how it ended, so you’re worried you may have a problem.
  • You have trouble at work or in school because of your drinking or drug use.
  • Get into trouble with the law
  • You are taking risks, including sexual risks and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs
  • You or your friend or teen has been suspension from school for an alcohol- or drug- related incident
  • You make promises to yourself or others that you’ll stop getting drunk or using drugs.
  • You feel alone, scared, miserable, depressed even suicidal.

Help is available if you or friend/family members have experienced any of the above warning signs.   Even though you or they may be hesitant to seek help, understand that there are specialized and individualized treatment programs that offer a range of organized and structured services that can include individual, group, and family therapy for people with alcohol and drug abuse problems.

Find out more on the different types and approaches of treatment or what you need to consider in a treatment program by calling 888/471-0430.

(Source: A Quick Guide to Finding Effective Alcohol and Drug Addiction Treatment (CSAT/SAMHSA, NCADI Publication No. PHD877)

 

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Study Says Gov’t Restrictions Pushing Convicted Drug Offenders Back to Drugs, Crime

What becomes of the more than nine million Americans who are released from prison or jail each year?

Legislation intended to deter drug use by denying government services to convicted drug users seems to actually increase drug abuse while forcing recently released drug offenders back into a life of crime.

That’s the conclusion of Juliana van Olphen of San Francisco State University, who led a study of the impact of legislation that denied services such as food stamps, welfare, or subsidized public housing to convicted drug offenders.

Olphen and her research team conducted in-depth interviews with 17 women who had recently been released from prison after serving time for drug-related offenses.

Drug Offenders Face ‘Double Stigma’ after Release

Olphen’s team found that the “double stigma” of being a convicted felon and a drug user closed a lot of doors that might otherwise have provided a pathway for upward social mobility.

Although government policies that limited certain services to convicted drug users were designed to reduce drug use, they disproportionately targeted poor women, denying these women safe housing, employment, or education after their release from prison.

Limiting Access to Reintegration Services, Housing and Health Care

The San Francisco State University researchers highlighted a “one strike and you’re out” law in California that denies public housing to convicted felons as an example of a policy that can make it difficult for released drug offenders to get back on their feet without resorting to criminal activities.

The researchers concluded that when social stigma and government policies take away a person’s ability to get a place to live, a job, or an education, they do more harm than good — ultimately pushing vulnerable people back into lives of drugs and crime. The stigma of drug use and incarceration increases a person’s need for social services, but legislation bars access to these services.

Even Brief Jail Stays can Cause Big Problems

The average length of a stay in jail (not prison) is 45 days, but even brief stays in jail can disrupt access to health services such as Medicaid, and thus preclude access to substance abuse or mental health services. Without access to treatment services, the likelihood of relapse increases, and the chances of re-arrest and re-incarceration rise – and thus a vicious circle self propagates.

The researchers also concluded that stigmatization and policies that restrict services to convicted felons entrench existing racial disparities in the prison population. As an example of this problem, they noted that the San Francisco County Jail inmate population is about half African-American, even though the total population of the county is only 8 percent African-American.

The researchers advocated on behalf of government-led campaigns that would strive to reduce the social stigma of being a past drug user and convict. Reducing stigmatization, they said, would enable released prisoners to experience greater success in their efforts to reintegrate into law-abiding society.

The full contents of the San Francisco State University study can be found at the Substance Abuse and Policy website.

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Buprenorphine Approval Expands Options for Addiction Treatment

Roughly two decades of NIDA-sponsored research and clinical trials have culminated in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of buprenorphine as a treatment for opiate dependence and addiction. The medication was developed through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between NIDA and the firm Reckitt Benckiser, Inc.

Buprenorphine and the combination buprenorphine/naloxone are the first medications approved under the Drug Abuse Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA), which allows for office-based treatment of opiate addiction. Under the terms of DATA, physicians providing treatment must complete special training to dispense the medications, must agree to treat no more than 30 patients at a time in an office setting, and must refer patients to appropriate counseling and support services to enhance pharmacological treatment.

The FDA action will permit physicians to prescribe buprenorphine as part of office-based practice, making it possible for patients dependent on heroin or prescription painkillers such as OxyContin to receive treatment in their doctors’ offices rather than requiring daily visits to a centralized methadone clinic. Patients entering or continuing treatment in clinic settings would also be eligible to receive the new medications.

The availability of an effective medication that can be provided in an office-based setting will significantly increase the number of patients receiving treatment, according to Dr. Frank Vocci, director of NIDA’s Division of Treatment Research and Development. “Nearly 1 million Americans are dependent on opiates, but only 200,000 of them are getting treatment in licensed methadone clinics. Approval of this medication means that many more people who want treatment can get it,” Dr. Vocci says. “FDA approval of this medication marks a truly great moment in the treatment of drug dependence and addiction, and it clearly shows the value of collaborative partnerships between legislators, Federal agencies, and private industry.”

Buprenorphine is pharmacologically related to morphine and is a partial opioid agonist: It has the same effect on mu opiod receptors in the brain as does heroin or other opiate drugs, but it has a lower maximum effect. Buprenorphine reduces or eliminates withdrawal symptoms associated with opioid dependence but is not strong enough to produce the euphoria and sedation caused by heroin or other opiates. Increasing the dose of buprenorphine does not enhance the drug effects, however, so the medication is unlikely to be abused.

FDA approved two forms of the medication. Buprenorphine alone will be prescribed (under the trade name Subutex) for patients in the early stages of treatment. Buprenorphine combined with naloxone, an opioid antagonist, will be prescribed (as Suboxone) for long-term maintenance therapy that will allow patients to resume and maintain normal, productive lives during treatment. Combining the antagonist naloxone with buprenorphine further reduces the potential that the medication could be abused; injecting the combined formulation triggers withdrawal symptoms. Subutex and Suboxone will be provided in tablet form as take-home medications.

Source: National Institute on Drug Addiction

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Closure of Vancouver Clinic Leaves Hundreds Desperate for Pain Meds

The Payette Pain Clinic in Vancouver, Washington, used to supply about 800 people with pain medication, including, in some cases, extremely high doses of opiate-type pain medication.

The clinic, owned by nurse practitioner Kelly M. Bell, has lost its credentials to prescribe controlled substances, which has left hundreds of opiate-dependent patients in search of a new way to get their medications. Area hospital officials say they can’t keep up with patient demand, and area doctors say that they are unwilling, in many cases, to continue prescribing opiates to these patients for fear of malpractice lawsuits.

Many Payette Patients Now Enduring Opiate Withdrawal

According to a series of articles on the OregonLive website, the Washington Department of Health began investigating the Payette Clinic after receiving 41 separate complaints.

Many patients of the Payette Clinie were maintained on very high levels of opiates, and experienced severe withdrawal symptoms due to their inability to receive their medication at the clinic.

One hundred and twenty of these patients were sent to Southwest Washington Medical Center’s Interventional Pain Clinic. Christine Gauf, the clinic’s director told reporter Laura McVicker of The Columbian that the clinic has been inundated with patients.

Though her staff is trying to provide assistance, “Some [pain patients] will just have to wait,” Gauf said in McVicker’s April 20 article. “It’s going to be months to get through 120 patients.”

The dilemma facing doctors who are reviewing patient cases from the disbanded pain clinic is that although these patients are clearly dependent on opiate medications and in chronic pain, some were maintained on such high doses of medication that it would be a medical malpractice to continue treatment with narcotics. Dr. Michael Bernstein, director of Southwest Washington Medical Center’s Department of Behavioral Health, has formed a committee of doctors and specialists to discuss how best to handle the situation.

Kim Manning, whose sister was a patient of the pain clinic, spoke with McVicker about the difficulty of the situation.

Manning’s sister suffered from chronic migraine headaches, and while she was a patient of the Payette Clinic, her dosage of morphine gradually increase to 750 mgs — an amount that doctors say is 10 times the usual dose for a pain patient. Manning told The Columbian  that when her sister could no longer get morphine from the clinic, she went into a withdrawal so severe her organs started failing — and that even after her sister was  admitted to the hospital and put on a respirator, doctors still would not prescribe opiates to relieve her suffering. “It’s just inhumane what she’s going through right now,” Manning said.

A memo passing between area doctors recommends either suboxone (an addiction treatment medication for opiate dependency) or medical detox protocols for pain patients who meet the criteria for addiction.

Christine Gauf admitted to The Columbian that waiting lists for care are long and that many doctors are reluctant to take on these new patients. Pain treatment is “tricky,” she explained. Pain is subjective and personal, but doctors also need to be aware of drug seeking behaviors and addiction.

In 2007, 454 Washington state residents died from overdoses of opiate medications.

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New Research Proves That Hepatitis C Can Be Transferred Through Shared Straws

Most heroin users who contract the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) do so through shared needles or other injection paraphernalia. However, about 20 percent of heroin users who contract Hepatitis C do not use needles, and it has been long suspected that the liver disease was transferable via drug sniffing straws.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse funded researchers to investigate the possibility of nasal transmission of HCV:

  • Researchers recruited 38 intra-nasal drug users who had with chronic and active HCV.
  • The researchers collected mucus samples from each of the subjects, and found blood in 74 percent of the samples, and HCV without the presence of blood in 13 percent of the samples.
  • The researchers then had the subjects use straws to mimic the use of drugs, sniffing in air through a straw. The straws were then tested, and blood was found on 8 percent of the straws and HCV within mucus on 5 percent.

The presence of blood and HCV in mucus on the straws suggests that the virus could be transferred through the sharing of straws that are used to sniff drugs.

The subjects had high incidence rates of nasal inflammation, nose bleeding, and inner nose damage — physical problems typically seen in intranasal drug users, which the researchers suspect increases the transmission rate.

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Soldiers, Hippies and Richard Nixon – An American History of Methadone

In the 1950s, the U.S. government’s response to heroin addiction was based on law and order. Treatment services available at the time rarely worked (with an estimated 70 to 90 percent of “treated” heroin addicts returning to drug use), which is not surprising considering that the most common treatment response to heroin addiction was civil confinement, essentially time spent in a prison cell while going through detox.

Over the ensuing decades, three forces led to the creation of methadone maintenance as a new and better way to handle opiate addiction, and America would soon start looking at heroin addiction as a medical problem that demanded treatment, as well as public menace demanding suppression.

The following three social forces/occurrences that changed public perception of heroin addiction treatment:

  • Escalating drug use during the 1960s and 1970s.
  • Vietnam War soldiers returning home with heroin addictions.
  • The discovery of methadone as an effective treatment for opiate addiction.

Changing Times and Vietnam Heroin

The counterculture revolution embraced by the hippies and those around them led to a proliferation of drug experimentation and addiction — so much so that by the 1970s Americans were very concerned about the domestic drug problem. A Gallup poll issued in 1971 revealed that Americans of that era saw drugs and drug addiction as the third most serious threat to the nation.

Headlines from Vietnam stoked public fears. A New York Times front page headline from 1971 screamed “G.I. Heroin Addiction Epidemic in Vietnam,” and media covered the problem in detail and in depth. This coverage of addiction within the military featured fearful imagery such as a photo of a syringe through a helmet.

As a result, many Americans worried about what would happen when American soldiers who were addicted to $5-a-day heroin in Vietnam returned home to a daily habit that would cost $100 or more.

Estimates published in the New York Times during the 1970s put heroin use among American troops in Vietnam at between 10 and 25 percent of military personnel who were stationed in Southeast Asia.

‘Public Enemy Number One’

President Richard Nixon reportedly worried about the influx of addicted soldiers returning to the United States. A congressional report on the overseas heroin addiction problem (from Congressmen Robert Steele and Morgan Murphy) warned of a coming domestic epidemic of crime and addiction.

In a speech in 1971, Nixon called drug addiction “public enemy number one.”

In response to pressures of escalating drug use, the real problem of returning addicted soldiers and the availability of a treatment that seemed to work, President Nixon shifted federal government policy on opiate addiction away from its strictly punitive philosophy. In 1971, Nixon ordered the creation of the first federalprogram for methadone treatment of opiate addiction.

Although Nixon recognized the need for treatment as a solution to the “heroin epidemic,” he retained strong law and order sensibilities. Along with establishing federal heroin addiction treatment programs, Nixon also called for increased enforcement and penalties for drug offenders.

Methadone Treatment

German scientists first synthesized methadone during World War II (when morphine was in short supply) for use as a pain reliever by German troops. After high dosage testing led to adverse drug effects, the German military abandoned the idea of using methadone, thus failing to realize the drug’s full potential.

After the war, the Americans came into control of the medication, which the American pharmaceutical company Eli-Lilly began manufacturing under the brand name Dolophine in 1947.

By the 1950s, American doctors were using methadone for the treatment of opioid dependence, but doctors still poorly understood how best to use this new medication for addiction treatment. In the 1960s, Vincent Dole, M.D., of Rockefeller University, won a New York City Health Research Council Grant to study heroin addiction treatments. It was Dole who eventually developed the modern methadone protocol of a single daily dose.

Dole experimented with a variety of opioids for addiction treatment, giving different medications to heavy heroin users access and observing their reactions. When heroin users took high doses of methadone, Dole noted a startling transformation: Addicts were no longer obsessed with getting and taking drugs.

By 1971, Dole’s methadone treatment program was in use by 25,000 opiate addicts. But by 1973, controversy over the medication program (which critics dismissed as just switching one addiction for another) led to strict government controls over the prescription and use of methadone – controls that exist to this day.

Methadone Today

Today, about a half million people are participating in methadone maintenance treatment programs — but methadone remains controversial in some circles.

Advocates of a harm reduction approach to heroin addiction point to methadone’s impressive track record and to countless improved lives as evidence of its merits. Methadone critics still consider the treatment another form of addiction, and still favor abstinence based treatments for opiate addiction.

No form of addiction treatment has proved to be as effective as methadone maintenance in keeping people in treatment and away from opiate abuse.

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What are the Opioid Analogs and their Dangers?

Drug analogs are chemical compounds that are similar to other drugs in their effects but differ slightly in their chemical structure. Some analogs are produced by pharmaceutical companies for legitimate medical reasons. Other analogs, sometimes referred to as “designer” drugs, can be produced in illegal laboratories and are often more dangerous and potent than the original drug. Two of the most commonly known opioid analogs are fentanyl and meperidine (marketed under the brand name Demerol, for example).

Fentanyl was introduced in 1968 by a Belgian pharmaceutical company as a synthetic narcotic to be used as an analgesic in surgical procedures because of its minimal effects on the heart. Fentanyl is particularly dangerous because it is 50 times more potent than heroin and can rapidly stop respiration. This is not a problem during surgical procedures because machines are used to help patients breathe. On the street, however, users have been found dead with the needle used to inject the drug still in their arms.

* Source: National Institute on Drug Addiction

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For Young Adults, Longer Use of Suboxone Proves More Effective

A Suboxone study that was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) indicates that for young adults, longer-term therapy with Suboxone works better than very brief Suboxone consumption during detox.

  • Researchers examined the effects of Suboxone on 154 patients (ages 15 to 21) who had an average length of opiate abuse of 1.5 years.
  • Each patient received 12 weeks of addiction treatment counseling.
  • Half of the patients received two weeks of Suboxone for detoxification, and half received 12 weeks of Suboxone, which was gradually tapered down beginning in week nine.

The researchers tested the study subjects for opiate use frequently throughout the course of the 12 week study, and for an additional year thereafter.

Patients who were given Suboxone for 12 weeks showed substantially less opiate use during weeks four and eight (but not at week 12) than did the group who received the two-week Suboxone detox. Continuing urine testing over the next year showed that Suboxone treatment lowered opiate use for patients in both groups, but that patients given Suboxone for 12 weeks had better outcomes.

The findings of this young adult study match the findings of studies done on Suboxone use for older adults.

The study’s lead researcher, George Woody, M.D., of VA Medical Center in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, said that the benefits of extended treatment with Suboxone as compared to briefer protocols are less use of illicit opiates, better treatment retention, and less injection drug use.

Geetha Subramaniam, M.D., of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, who oversaw the treatment of some of the patients in the study, reported that the young adults responded well to Suboxone and rarely complained about sedation (which has been cited as a problem by individuals who are treated with methadone).