Articles of Interest

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Addiction Medicine Updates Articles of Interest The Presidents Desk

Exciting Time For Addiction Medicine – Alexander Zotos, MD, FASAM

Greetings from TnSAM, I hope everyone enjoys their summer and takes some time off for family, friends, and personal endeavors. It is an exciting time for addiction medicine. More and more light is being shed on the opioid epidemic currently facing our communities. The tides are turning on the liberal use of opiates for “chronic pain.” Just recently, the President of the AMA, Steven Stack,...
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Articles of Interest Legislative/Regulatory

SB1391- Bad Medicine in Tennessee for Pregnant and Drug-addicted Women

A July law could lock up new mothers who are on drugs, a move that some say will inflict even more harm September 30, 2014 5:00AM ET by Lindsay Beyerstein@Beyerstein Excerpt: In theory, a woman who gives birth to a sick baby could avoid the misdemeanor-assault charge that SB1391 carries by successfully completing a court-approved drug-rehab program. But for a number of reasons, including...
TnSAM Legislative Update
Addiction Medicine Updates Articles of Interest Legislative/Regulatory

Current Legislative Concerns

In response to current legislative concerns: Dear all, We have fended off a number of legislative issues and regulatory challenges in Tennessee over the last few years.  Some brief background: 1) Tennessee physicians lead the nation in prescribing opiates, 143 prescriptions each year per 100 persons (compared with 60 in NY) despite TnSAM sponsoring REMS courses and other CME. 2) Tennessee has...
legislating-treatment
Articles of Interest Legislative/Regulatory

Legislating Limited Treatment Will Worsen Outcomes

Recovery , stable sustained abstinence,  does not alleviate the accountabilities of addiction treatment by the healthcare professionals. Each year, more than 13,000 specialized addiction treatment programs in the United States serve between 1.8 and 2.3 million individuals, many of whom are seeking help under external duress.  Those who are the source of such pressure are, as they see it,...
tnsam-Soper-Says
Articles of Interest Editorials

Liquid Soap

Soper Says: In 2012 the American Society of Addiction Medicine smartly set forth a definition of addiction that encompasses both substance abuse and certain compulsive behaviors. Using ASAM’s definition a clinician can assess process and appetite addictions. Some discussion of this classification is topic today. In most ways, substance and behavioral addictions are incredibly similar....
prescription-opiate-abuse
Articles of Interest Editorials

Prescription Opiate Abuse

Prescription Opiate Abuse — from Liquid Soap by Rich Soper, September 3, 2013 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 100 people in the United States die from drug overdoses every day, and death rates as a result of drug overdoses have more than tripled since 1990. The CDC also reports that nearly three out of four prescription drug overdoses are caused by opiates....
parity-law
Articles of Interest Editorials

Parity Law and TN Care Restrictions

Several people have asked me to delineate the particulars concerning this Parity Law and TN Care restrictions.  If you can bear with me to the end, I think the position will be clear. As you know, TNCare limits the amount of Suboxone they will pay for for a recipient.  They allow 16mg (2 tabs or film) a day for 6 months, then they cut it to 8mg a day for six months, and then they stop.  That...