Updates

The Injury and Violence Prevention Branch of the Division of Public Health (IVPB) recently posted an update of suspected overdose deaths, fentanyl-positive deaths, and provisional data on Emergency Department (ED) visits for overdose reports. While the year-to-date...

North Carolina is teetering on the edge of losing roughly $5.4 million in federal funds for combating the opioid epidemic and supporting substance use disorder treatment. If the state doesn’t slash youth tobacco access, it could forfeit funding. But North Carolina’s...

Benzodiazepines are the primary method of treatment for alcohol withdrawal, though ASAM guidelines also include alternative agents for consideration. Due to concerns about potential more-than-necessary benzodiazepine use, this study used a single-site VA retrospective...

This systematic review of 283 articles explored the reasons physicians give for not addressing substance use and addiction in their clinical practice. The institutional environment (81.2% of articles) was the most common reason given for physicians not intervening in...

Substance use during pregnancy (or “prenatal substance use”) is becoming more common. Overdose and substance-related suicide are the leading preventable causes of maternal mortality, and prenatal substance use can increase the risk of miscarriage, birth defects,...

Public policy on cannabis is changing rapidly as several states have legalized the drug for medical and recreational use even though its possession, use, and distribution remain illegal under federal law. In 2008, the American College of Physicians (ACP) published...