BIG NEWS ‼️ CBCS is the new home of the Florida Center for Behavioral Health Workforce, supported by $5M in recurring funds. 🤘

This center will enhance recruitment and retention efforts and expand pathways to behavioral health professions. Learn more⬇️
usf.edu/news/2024/usf-…

Today, we launch opcinfo.org! A plain language, evidence based resource to find information about overdose prevention centers. Follow opcinfo.org for more and check out the thread below.

Read the Brown University story to find out more:
brown.edu/news/2024-02-1…

This narrative review describes a new approach to the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders that is based on dynamical systems theory, which addresses the concepts of tipping points, cycles, and chaos in complex systems. ja.ma/4ahYnG0

In JAMA Psychiatry, Helena Hansen and I show that 'Deaths of Despair' (from overdose, suicide, alcohol) among Black Americans overtook the rate for White Americans in 2022.

This further debunks the narrative that these deaths uniquely harm White communities.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jamap…

Call for abstracts: Addiction Health Services Research Conference! The deadline for all submissions is: Friday, May 3, 2024 at 11:59 PM PT. For more information: ahsrconference.org/2024/abstracts/

New Research in Drug and Alcohol Dependence | Attitudes toward extended-release naltrexone treatment for opioid use disorder among African Americans | sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

🆕 Overdose prevention centers are a proven intervention in preventing overdose deaths but face continuous legal barriers. This lit review by lead author #CHERISHResearchAffiliate Czarina Behrends, PhD, MPH provides economic evidence showing OPCs to be cost-saving: buff.ly/4cHQ2gj

Harm reduction is organic.
It is not a set of services.
It is not static.
It is re/defined by people who are harmed. We must listen.
University of Arizona Research UA College of Medicine – Tucson National Harm Reduction Coalition Southwest Recovery Alliance (SWRA) Sonoran Prevention Works Zaida Dedolph Piecoro Theresa Cullen UArizona Comprehensive Center for Pain & Addiction

Rachel Winograd provides some excellent advocacy to address the #moralhazard many professionals - including addiction professionals (!) - have in addressing & engaging patients with addiction. Stellar piece by Maia Szalavitz The New York Times Evidence-based treatment works. nytimes.com/2024/03/01/opi…

Opioid deaths involving polydrug use are now more prevalent than those involving only opioids. What often goes unnoticed is that deaths involving more than 1 substance are increasing faster among Black Americans. That was the impetus for our latest study link.springer.com/article/10.100…

“The impact of an unsanctioned compassion club on non-fatal overdose” by Jeremy Kalicum et al (2024) via International Journal of Drug Policy…are there any compassion clubs operating in your region? These clubs save lives!

Link: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Finding that gap in the literature for my research

NEW BOOK ALERT! Sheila Vakharia PhD MSW’s The Harm Reduction Gap is finally here; we are so excited and so proud! Learn how harm reduction can be a safety net for people rejected, abandoned, and left behind by current models of addiction treatment. Read it now: bit.ly/BuyTheHarmRedu…

Southwest Airlines begins carrying Narcan on planes to reverse opioid overdoses. New overdose reversal kits will be installed over the course of this year. abcactionnews.com/news/local-new…

@JSADjournal welcomes Mary Torregrossa (@mtorregrossa1) as a new Senior Editor. Her research is focused on understanding the neurobiological factors that underlie vulnerability to SUDs & relapse using sophisticated neuroscience techniques in animal models.
psychiatry.pitt.edu/about-us/our-p…

More evidence, this time from Toronto, that overdose prevention centres reduce overdose deaths in their vicinity thelancet.com/journals/lanpu… #OPCprep

Too many people die when using drugs alone at home.

New commentary argues that housing-based overdose interventions urgently need to be scaled up, tailored to maximize impact, & complemented by efforts to address drivers of overdose risk in housing.

link.springer.com/article/10.118…

ICYMI: An excerpt from my upcoming book, 'The Harm Reduction Gap' was published in Filter | harm reduction journalism!

In it, I explain that harm reduction fills the gaps left behind by our inaccessible, unaffordable, one-size-fits-all treatment system.

filtermag.org/harm-reduction…

A new study shows that in teens who use alcohol, cannabis, or nicotine daily / near-daily, *over half* had past-year suicidal thoughts

This prevalence was ~4x higher than in teens who have never used substances. Rates of depression, anxiety & psychosis were also higher

🧵1/4

New publication alert!!! Study led by Kelsey A Simpson, PhD w/ Alex Kral Ricky Bluthenthal et al.
Describes the challenges of opioid withdrawal and the impacts of the transition from heroin to fentanyl. PDF available for the first 50 folks at the link below.
tandfonline.com/eprint/3UFWKAK…