PPU: 03.05.18
There was a flurry of activity in Washington last week. The White House held its long anticipated Opioid Summit. Participants discussed actions already taken by the Administration. While statements were made that anyone who needs treatment should be able to access it, the tone of the event was focused on a tougher law enforcement approach. The President mentioned that perhaps drug dealers in the US should be executed.
PPU: 02.15.18
The Opioid Crisis was addressed in the President’s recent State of the Union Address. He stated that his administration will provide treatment for anyone suffering from addiction. Subsequently, the White House released its 2019 Budget proposal. It contains a request for $10 billion to fight the Opioid Epidemic – a significant increase from the $3 billion contained in the budget recently passed by Congress.
The grant awarded to Road to Recovery on Sept. 1, 2017, under Colorado State Senate Bill 17-074, (“SB74”) is a grant pilot program that specifically addresses opioid use disorders in Routt and Pueblo counties by expanding access to medication-assisted treatment (“MAT”) for opioid use disorder. MAT utilizes a “whole patient” treatment approach for opioid addiction, combining Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved medications, such as Buprenorphine, with behavioral health therapy. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, MAT is shown to decrease “opioid use, opioid-related deaths, criminal activity and infectious disease transmission.”
Before Joe Thompson switched treatments for his opioid addiction, he was a devoted stay-at-home father, caring for his infant son after his wife returned to work. His recovery was aided by the anticraving medication buprenorphine. But after over two years free of heroin, Mr. Thompson, a former United Parcel Service worker from Iowa, relapsed and decided to try another kind of treatment program.
January 24, 2018 — John Russell, Steamboat Today
Nancy Beste knows about pain, and she is hoping that knowledge will be welcomed by those in Steamboat Springs who are dealing with it.
Early next month, Mountain Medical Injury & Pain Professionals will open a clinic at 320 Oak St. in downtown Steamboat Springs. Beste, a physicians assistant, serves as executive director of Mountain Medical, which started in 2009 on the Front Range.
Presented by Nancy Smith Beste, MPAS, PA-C, Registered Psychotherapist
I have been asked to speak about anxiety which is an important topic because of high prevalence ( Most if not all of us experience it in one form or another). And because of addiction potential and death due to benzos which are commonly RX for anxiety.
