Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Coronavirus Crisis Opens Access To Online Opioid Addiction Treatment

    Addiction experts have been offering online counseling for addiction patients for years but have also been working to change a federal law that required patients seeking medications to help with withdrawals to first make an in-person appointment. The coronavirus pandemic has now expedited that change, and with the regulation lifted, doctors are able to offer medication-assisted treatment via online appointments in addition to the counseling.

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  • Portugal's answer to the heroin crisis Audio icon

    When faced with an opioid crisis, the government in Portugual made a drastic decision to decriminalize drug use. This shift in policy allowed for a shift in perspective – addiction problems could now be treated as a public health issue, rather than a criminal issue. This approach resulted in a significant decrease in overdoses, and is now a model that U.S. cities, such as Philadelphia, are looking at to learn from.

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  • 12-Step Recovery Programs Adapt in the Age of Social Distancing

    When the size of group gatherings began to be limited to prevent the spread of COVID-19, recovery programs had to rethink how to hold meetings – such as moving groups to online formats. Although there are limitations to not meeting in-person, this format has increased accessibility for many participants and allowed them to join meetings from outside of their typical region.

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  • Revive: A fatal overdose, a stunning coincidence, and a mother's long quest to heal.

    A mother's grief and a doctor's determination led to the first syringe-exchange center in Florida – a significant first step in increasing conversation around the merits of harm reduction policies. Since opening, the center has "collected 360,000 dirty syringes, provided medical treatment to 1,200 people, and helped 200 patients detox," while also reversing 1,450 overdoses, which has prompted five other counties to lift their syringe-exchange bans.

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  • Support groups grapple with social distance and isolation

    Social connection is crucial to recovery for people participating in Alcoholics Anonymous, but the quarantine mandated by the coronavirus has made that impossible. Support groups across the state of Washington are grappling with isolation and, in response, have started meeting over Zoom instead. This article talks to several participants to get their take on it. One person in particular said that meeting online has allowed them to attend more meetings, and it has been a source of comfort during quarantine.

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  • This is what sobriety in a time of crisis looks like

    As meetings and social gatherings of all kinds have been postponed or canceled altogether, the support group Alcoholics Anonymous faced a particular challenge given the imperative and power of their in-person meetings. Fortunately, many chapters have moved their meetings online, to video conference services like Skype or Zoom.

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  • Nowhere to Go: Out of jail, recovery housing hard to find

    New Hampshire's Rockinham County gives some people with extensive drug and criminal histories an offramp from the criminal legal system, in the form of housing at Cross Roads House and a drug court to emphasize treatment over punishment. But, while other cities in the state meet such needs with multiple programs, the second-most populous county in the state has a severe shortage of supportive housing and services. Such services can make the difference between prison and success, and even between life and death in a place with high rates of overdose deaths.

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  • His Daughter Died Of An Opioid Overdose. So He Built A Treatment Facility In Her Name

    Named after his daughter who overdosed, a former narcotics police officer created Brooke's House, a women's treatment facility in Maryland. Combining methodologies and using multiple approaches, the program works to help residents achieve sobriety through counseling and treatment.

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  • How medication donation programs could be a game-changer in PA

    Unused prescription drugs can often end up in landfills or in "the hands of those who may be vulnerable to misuse and addiction," so Wyoming has introduced a program to decrease those likelihoods from happening. This program, like that of other programs in 38 other states, collects unused medications and redistributes them to uninsured residents.

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  • Teaching Children How to Reverse an Overdose

    In Carter County, Tennessee, where an opioid crisis is underway, elementary-aged children and teenagers are being taught how to administer the overdose reversal nasal spray, Narcan. Although this strategy has faced opposition from some local residents, at least 100 students have administered the life-saving treatment.

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