We curate a digest of the latest news in our field for advocates, policymakers, community coalitions and all who work toward shaping policies and practices to effectively prevent substance use and treat addiction.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is taking its efforts to bridge the gap between physician education and high-quality care of patients with drug abuse to selected medical schools, and ultimately, to the World Wide Web.
Thanks to comments from public health advocates -- including many of you -- the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans do not suggest a weekly average for alcohol consumption. Consistent with current scientific evidence, the guidelines suggest up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men for moderate consumers.
"Wisconsin-based NIATx has developed a self-assessment tool for behavioral healthcare treatment providers, designed to help agency leaders determine their organization’s capacity to ’undertake the changes resulting from health care reform, parity legislation, state budget shortfalls, and increased performance accountability.’
"The National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) is offering free training to juvenile drug court staff in a brief, evidence-based intervention for adolescents abusing drugs and alcohol.
Well, this is good news: the largest tobacco company in the United States, Altria Group Inc., reported that its fourth-quarter earnings went up 27 percent, even though shipments of cigarettes dropped seven percent in the same time period.