Opiate Addiction and Treatment Resources from the National Library of Medicine

In response to the growing heroin epidemic in the United States, the National Library of Medicine’s Specialized Information Services has created a portal to provide resources and information on prescribing, overdose, medication-assisted treatment, and recovery. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, addiction is defined as: “A primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.” 1 The portal includes information for those addressing addiction: healthcare providers, educators, researchers, patients and families. Deaths from overdose have been steadily increasing nationwide, and from 2002 – 2015 there was a 2.8 fold increase in number of deaths from opioids. In Seattle and King County such deaths numbered 359 in 2016, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. Understanding addiction and treatment is part of the picture, as well as chronic pain management, education, and support for families and those in recovery. Besides offering educational resources, some libraries have joined the front lines in preventing death from overdose. Public libraries around the country have trained their staff in the use of Naloxone, a nasal spray which reverses overdose from opiates and save...
Source: Dragonfly - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: News from NLM Public Health Source Type: news