Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Our medical school introduced 77 new students this week, culminating in a White Coat Ceremony. This may not be fully familiar to readers, but it’s nothing more than a robing-ceremony. Students are provided and cloaked with a short clinical coat, given a stethoscope and a book of Oslerian aphorisms, and congratulated on making it through the gauntlet. All this takes place before their parents, friends, sometimes spouses or intended spouses, possibly some bank loan officers, and not uncommonly the mentors who induced them to stay the course. It concludes in the assembly reciting the Oath of Hippocrates, mindful of the fact that they are not doctors, yet; but that the tenets of the Oath still apply as students.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

My editorial this week was superseded over the course of the weekend. It became clear that consultation was needed, and in a profession that is founded on the consultative process, that is no light matter. So I put it to bed. Therapeutic coma, if you will. That left me with a brain full of dendritic tangles, from which I despaired of summoning any inspiration; and this caused me to pick up a book. I have an original copy of Benjamin Rush’s “Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind,” published in 1812. To read it is to wonder at times if Dr. Rush was not being facetious in addressing certain topics.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Please look to the last link and edit, a question of crime vs. misconduct in the California penal system. The issue tried relates to possession of cannabis in a controlled or special setting. In this instance, the inmates who were originally convicted may be seen as having committed a type of status offense, similar to when a minor consumes alcohol or violates curfew. This judgment must have been exasperating to both sides of the aisle, prosecution and defense, and entertaining to the gallery.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

A link to a BuzzFeed piece on addiction memes is included below, in which the work of Timothy Kavanagh is reviewed by journalist Derek Garner. The memes do not require editorial interpretation by me, but because of the potentially inflammatory nature of the material, it seemed wisest for me to take advantage of this editorial spot occurring at the top of the Weekly’s front page.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Apart from the discussion of the Pennsylvania Society of Addiction Medicine's efforts to improve access to buprenorphine, legislatively, the topics this week focus on the needs of women, the newborn, and adolescents.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

The claim associated with the linked article in Journal of Neuroinflammation warrants special attention this week. A novel opioid under investigation is described as being less subject to specific adverse properties associated with morphine, notably aggravation of acute pain over the long term and initiation of a chronic nociceptive state. The principle underlying this transition to chronicity is postulated as inflammatory, a contention that has been increasingly supported.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

In last week’s ASAM Weekly (04 June 2019), Dr. Raymond Anton and co-authors replied to a guest editorial by Dr. Stuart Gitlow, in reference to a Clinical Psychiatry News 21 February report from the December 2018 meeting of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP). As is customary in an exchange of letters, Dr. Gitlow’s response is provided below, in conclusion:

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

(Dr. Stuart Gitlow’s guest editorial, titled “End-point in AUD Treatment” and posted 26 February 2019, followed comments reported from Dr. Raymond Anton and colleagues in the December 2018 AAAP meeting, in Clinical Psychiatry News dated 21 February.) Response to Dr. Gitlow regarding use of the WHO risk drinking reduction to guide medication-based treatments. In a recent guest editorial, Dr. Stuart Gitlow expresses some concerns about a proposed new AUD clinical trial efficacy outcome measure based upon reductions in World Health Organization (WHO) risk drinking levels. The editorial suggests more broadly that “reductions in alcohol use” are not an adequate measure of recovery from AUD, as they may reflect only a reduction in symptoms (that is alcohol related pathology).

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

For the years that I have been with the Weekly, I have been grateful to the ASAM staff leadership for observing Memorial Day. It is one day that I’ve always taken more seriously than those associated explicitly with other historical events. Mention of it here has particular significance, given the long association of alcohol use with military service.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Even for this periodical, the variety of topics included today is unusual. The We Rise project in the Los Angeles, alcohol use in pregnancy, the impact of psychostimulants on opioid use and mortality rates, alcoholism and emotional responsiveness, major national policy initiatives, and the adverse effects of early discontinuation of opioids in those on long-term management are among these. A week seldom goes by without this periodical including a piece that reflects the concerns of physicians about governmental restrictions placed on either opioid analgesia or pharmacologic management of opioid addiction; so noting that frequency leads to the following overview.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Sessi Kuwabara Blanchard, in last week’s issue of Filter, an online journal emphasizing public policy in the realm of drug use and addiction, describes Congressional initiatives relating to buprenorphine prescribing limits. Before opening the link, please know that while Filter has several intelligently written and apparently well-researched articles displayed, it is of uncertain provenance: no editorial or financial support information, no editorial objectives, no history.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

All around us during this last month of spring are the phenomena of emergence: graduations, convocations, celebrations. Students complete some phase of their education and are reminded by high-minded pedants that they are just about to enter another phase of it.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Decades ago, as an older resident in a second career, I met with a 17-year-old Chinese-Hawaiian-Filipino male in the emergency room of a large acute-care hospital. He will be “Kyle”. He was agitated and acknowledged intense anxiety. The basis for his evaluation was his inability to communicate coherently, plus his acknowledgment that he was experiencing auditory hallucinations.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Nick – Dr. Athanasiou – prompted me to recall that 4/20, or April 20th, is the date celebrated by many in honor of cannabis consumption. Bracketed by Good Friday and by Easter, it would seem an unlikely competitor for the attentions of the Christian faithful, and we will similarly Passover other religious references. But with the nation's attention so preoccupied with how best to become intoxicated, “420” and the legal status of marijuana seemed a right topic for attention.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

On Friday 05 April, the Annual ASAM Scientific Conference included two plenary sessions titled, “Big Ideas.” At the latter of these were Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); and Dr. George Koob, Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Both provided brief presentations to serve as take-off points for a colloquium hosted by Dr. Kelly Clark, then President of ASAM.

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Journey 1: The Staff, Senior Editor, and Editor-in-Chief of the ASAM Weeklyare honored to announce the digest’s bronze award in the category of best E-Newsletter, from The American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors (ASHPE). We have shared the task leading to this point for three years. Journey 2:

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin

Aug 9, 2021, 13:40 by admin admin