Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic


Book Description

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.




Defense of Narcotics Cases


Book Description







Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Save Lives


Book Description

The opioid crisis in the United States has come about because of excessive use of these drugs for both legal and illicit purposes and unprecedented levels of consequent opioid use disorder (OUD). More than 2 million people in the United States are estimated to have OUD, which is caused by prolonged use of prescription opioids, heroin, or other illicit opioids. OUD is a life-threatening condition associated with a 20-fold greater risk of early death due to overdose, infectious diseases, trauma, and suicide. Mortality related to OUD continues to escalate as this public health crisis gathers momentum across the country, with opioid overdoses killing more than 47,000 people in 2017 in the United States. Efforts to date have made no real headway in stemming this crisis, in large part because tools that already existâ€"like evidence-based medicationsâ€"are not being deployed to maximum impact. To support the dissemination of accurate patient-focused information about treatments for addiction, and to help provide scientific solutions to the current opioid crisis, this report studies the evidence base on medication assisted treatment (MAT) for OUD. It examines available evidence on the range of parameters and circumstances in which MAT can be effectively delivered and identifies additional research needed.




The Blind Mule


Book Description

Mark Porter, criminal defense lawyer in San Diego, California, is doing so well defending blind mules, those unsuspecting citizens trapped in a an ugly game of unwittingly delivering drugs across the U.S-Mexico border, that he is expanding his business. Jason Spurlock, boxer, surfer, and brand-new attorney, seems like an excellent fit for a new associate. Two weeks after Jason's hire, Mark is on his way for a ten-day trip to Paradise. That's Medellin, Colombia, and Camila Escobar, the love of his life he'd met three years earlier. On the way, Mark drops off his car, a partial payment from a client, for a paint job. No one has a better reputation than the Slim Brothers in Tijuana, Mexico. Upon return from an idyllic vacation, all hell breaks loose when a drug-sniffing dog alerts border guards to cocaine inside Mark's car. In an unbelievable ripped from the headlines adventure, Mark must now fight for justice-for himself. His terminally ill father is determined to help at any cost. Camila has innocently played into the government's hands by sending a gift to the Slim brothers to put as a surprise in the car. But the real surprise is her pregnancy. Now Mark has even more to fight for when he learns of his unborn daughter. Jason Spurlock puts on the gloves in a new arena when he's tossed into the first real case of his career. It's not just any case-it's a career-maker or breaker. Defending his boss was never on his agenda. What is Mark holding back? And trying to work with Mark's best friend, Steven Roberts, an investigator who constantly ridicules him, is like constantly bouncing off the ropes. There's something dirty about this case, though, and Jason is determined to find out what that is, come hell or high water.







The American Disease


Book Description

The American Disease is a classic study of the development of drug laws in the United States. Supporting the theory that Americans' attitudes toward drugs have followed a cyclic pattern of tolerance and restraint, author David F. Musto examines the relationz between public outcry and the creation of prohibitive drug laws from the end of the Civil War up to the present. Originally published in 1973, and then in an expanded edition in 1987, this third edition contains a new chapter and preface that both address the renewed debate on policy and drug legislation from the end of the Reagan administration to the current Clinton administration. Here, Musto thoroughly investigates how our nation has dealt with such issues as the controversies over prevention programs and mandatory minimum sentencing, the catastrophe of the crack epidemic, the fear of a heroin revival, and the continued debate over the legalization of marijuana.




Criminal Investigation of Drug Offenses


Book Description

Drug Dealers and Drug Abusers; Drugs, Homicide, and Other Crimes; The Narcotics Detective and His Investigations; Undercover Operations; Informants; Surveillance and Drug Raids; Drug Smuggling; Search and Seizure; Heroin and Other Narcotics; Cocaine, Amphetamines, and Other Stimulants; Barbiturates and Other Sedative-Hypnotics; LSD, PCP, and Other Hallucinogens; Marijuana; Solvents, Aerosols, and Other Inhalants; Prevention of Drug Abuse. Appendix, Glossary.




Facing Addiction in America


Book Description

All across the United States, individuals, families, communities, and health care systems are struggling to cope with substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders. Substance misuse and substance use disorders have devastating effects, disrupt the future plans of too many young people, and all too often, end lives prematurely and tragically. Substance misuse is a major public health challenge and a priority for our nation to address. The effects of substance use are cumulative and costly for our society, placing burdens on workplaces, the health care system, families, states, and communities. The Report discusses opportunities to bring substance use disorder treatment and mainstream health care systems into alignment so that they can address a person's overall health, rather than a substance misuse or a physical health condition alone or in isolation. It also provides suggestions and recommendations for action that everyone-individuals, families, community leaders, law enforcement, health care professionals, policymakers, and researchers-can take to prevent substance misuse and reduce its consequences.




Pain Modulation


Book Description

This volume represents edited material that was presented at a conference on brainstem modulation of spinal nociception held in Beaune, France during July, 1987. Pain Modulation, Volume 77 in the series Progress in Brain Research reviews, analyses and suggests new research strategies on several relevant topics including: the endogenous opioid peptides; sites of action of opiates; the role of biogenic animes and non-opioid peptides in analgesia; dorsal horn circuitry; behavioural factors in the activation of pain modulating networks and clinical studies of nociceptive modulation.