School Nurses Work to Prevent Prescription Drug Abuse by Teens

The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) has teamed up with PriCara®, Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., on a program called “Smart Moves, Smart Choices.” The national program addresses the rise in prescription drug abuse among middle and high school students. A national survey of more than 1,300 school nurses showed that almost 60% of…

Simple steps can help curb opiate misuse in doctor’s offices, study shows

Researchers from the University of Michigan and Ohio State University have come up with some simple steps to help doctor’s offices reduce the abuse of Oxycontin and other painkillers and help those that that may need substance abuse treatment. The study was conducted in a busy multi-physician clinic at Ohio State University that was resident-staffed…

Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol, Drugs and Tobbaco Affects Brain Into Adolescence

Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston and Boston Medical Center have found that the effects of fetal exposure to alcohol, drugs and tobacco persist into early adolescence. The study used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans to the effects on brain structure into early adolescence. Participants of the study included 35 young adolescents, with an average…

Long-term Benefits Found for Women-only Substance Abuse Treatment

The Betty Ford Center‘s recent newsletter, Findings (Winter 2008), included an article on a study about women-focused substance abuse treatment. The study found that women-focused and women-only treatment groups have long-term, positive outcomes. Researchers took patients with substance use disorders and randomly assigned them to either a women-focused treatment group, called the Women’s Recovery Group,…