Opiod Related Disorders

New oxycodone therapy research from University of Chicago described

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Fresh data on oxycodone are presented in the report 'A possible link between sensation-seeking status and positive subjective effects of oxycodone in healthy volunteers.' According to recent research from the United States, "Sensation-seeking is a personality trait that is linked to use and abuse of drugs. Laboratory studies have established that high sensation seekers, as measured by different instruments, are more likely to report abuse liability-related subjective effects from drugs such as nicotine, alcohol, and d-amphetamine than low sensation seekers."

"One class of drugs that has not been studied to date in this fashion is opioids. Accordingly, a retrospective analysis encompassing five studies that examined oxycodone effects, including its abuse liability-related effects, was conducted in subjects categorized as high or low sensation seekers. In addition, because there appear to be sex differences in how males and females respond to opioids, this factor was taken into account in the analysis. Seventy...

Researchers at Emory University have published new data on methadone therapy

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

A report, 'High dose versus moderate dose methadone maintenance: is there a better outcome,' is newly published data in Journal of Addictive Diseases. "Methadone dosing has been an issue of controversy among clinicians for a long time. Few recent studies reported that doses above 100 mg daily seem promising in better control of illicit opiate use for some patients, but more research is needed to support that notion," scientists writing in the Journal of Addictive Diseases report (see also Methadone Therapy ).

"A retrospective chart review for patients maintained on methadone at Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center was conducted. Patients were categorized into two groups: patients on a methadone dose of 60 to 100 mg daily (n=34) and patients on a methadone dose greater than 100 mg daily (n=25). Those charts were compared for urine drug screens for opiates and cocaine (first four from admission and most recent four screens), retention...

Study findings on methadone therapy are outlined in reports from University Hospital, ...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Fresh data on methadone are presented in the report 'Use of street methadone in italian heroin addicts presenting for opioid agonist treatment.' According to recent research from Pisa, Italy, "It is commonly assumed that people who are addicted to certain substances would abuse any substance. This position has never been supported by validly collected and analyzed research data."

"In this study, the authors examine the use of street methadone by heroin addicts seeking their first agonist opioid treatment in a clinical setting. Fifty-four heroin addicts who resorted to street methadone use were compared by socio-demographic, current clinical, and disease-related variables to 251 peers who do not use street methadone. Heroin addicts who resort to street methadone use are more likely to be females and to have a higher degree of education, are less likely to engage in polyabuse (use of more than three substances), are less severely ill, have been...

Data on morphine therapy published by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Scientists discuss in 'Acute noxious stimulation modifies morphine effect in serotonergic but not dopaminergic midbrain areas' new findings in morphine therapy. According to a study from the United States, "It is poorly understood if and how pain may modify the effect of opioids on neural systems that contribute to reward and addictive behavior. We hypothesized that the activation of ascending dopaminergic and serotonergic nuclei by morphine is modified by the presence of noxious stimulation."

"Immunohistochemical double-labeling technique with Fos was used to examine if an intraplantar formalin injection, an acute noxious input, changed the effect of morphine on dopaminergic neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and serotonergic neurons of the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR). Four groups of rats were analyzed: (1) control injected with normal saline s.c., (2) rats treated with formalin into the hind paw 30 min after normal saline injection, (3) rats injected with morphine sulfate s.c.,...

New findings from Yale University, Department of Psychiatry in the area of morphine therapy ...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Investigators publish new data in the report 'Orexin mediates morphine place preference, but not morphine-induced hyperactivity or sensitization.' "Orexin (or hypocretin) has been implicated in mediating drug addiction and reward. Here, we investigated orexin's contribution to morphine-induced behavioral sensitization and place preference," investigators in the United States report (see also Morphine Therapy ).

"Orexin-/-(OKO) mice and littermate wild-type (WT) controls (n=56) and C57BL/6J mice (n=67) were tested for chronic morphine-induced locomotor sensitization or for conditioned place preference (CPP) for a morphine-or a cocaine-paired environment. C57BL/6J mice received the orexin receptor 1 (Ox1r) antagonist, SB-334867, prior to test sessions. OKO mice did not significantly differ from WT controls in locomotor activity following acute-or chronic-morphine treatments. Similarly, mice treated with the Ox1r antagonist did not differ from vehicle controls in locomotor activity following acute-or chronic-morphine treatments. In contrast, while OKO mice did not differ from WT controls in preference for a morphine-paired environment,...

New morphine therapy data have been reported by researchers at Universitat de les Illes Balears

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Research findings, 'The time course of unconditioned morphine-induced psychomotor sensitization mirrors the phosphorylation of FADD and MEK/ERK in rat striatum: role of PEA-15 as a FADD-ERK binding partner in striatal plasticity,' are discussed in a new report. According to a study from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, "Drugs of abuse induce behavioral neuroadaptations whose molecular mechanisms, partly known, are crucial to understanding drug addictions. The multifunctional adaptor Fas-associated protein with death domain (FADD) was recently associated with the induction of neuroplasticity."

"This study investigated the modulation of FADD and MAP kinase signaling, as well as their interactions with PEA-15 (phosphoprotein enriched in astrocytes-15 kDa) and Akt1 pathways, during the expression of unconditioned morphine-induced psychomotor sensitization. In morphine-pretreated rats (10mg/kg during 5 days), a challenge dose of the opiate induced a robust psychomotor sensitization at early withdrawal (3 days, SW 3), but not after a prolonged abstinence period (14 days), which was...

Researchers from School of Medicine describe findings in morphine therapy

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Data detailed in 'Qualitative differences between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice in morphine potentiation of brain stimulation reward and intravenous self-administration' have been presented. According to recent research from the United States, "The C57BL/6J (C57) and DBA/2J (DBA) mice are the most common genotypes used to identify chromosomal regions and neurochemical mechanisms of interest in opioid addiction. Unfortunately, outside of the oral two-bottle choice procedure, limited and sometimes controversial evidence is available for determining their relative sensitivity to the rewarding effects of morphine."

"The purpose of this study was to utilize classically accepted models of drug abuse liability to determine relative susceptibility to the rewarding effects of morphine. The ability of morphine or amphetamine to potentiate lateral hypothalamic brain stimulation and intravenous morphine self-administration (across three doses in a fixed ratio schedule and at the highest dose in progressive ratio schedules) was investigated in both genotypes. In both measures, C57 and...

Scientists at Temple University, University Health Science Center target morphine therapy

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Research findings, 'Beta-lactam antibiotic reduces morphine analgesic tolerance in rats through GLT-1 transporter activation,' are discussed in a new report. According to recent research from the United States, "Glutamate transporter subtype 1 (GLT-1) activation is a promising -and understudied -approach for managing aspects of morphine tolerance caused by increased glutamatergic transmission. Identification of beta-lactam antibiotics as pharmaceuticals which activate GLT-1 transporters prompted us to hypothesize that repeated beta-lactam antibiotic (ceftriaxone) administration blocks development of tolerance to morphine antinociception through GLT-1 activation."

"Here, we injected rats with morphine (10mg/kg, s.c.) twice daily for 7 days to induce tolerance and used the hot-plate assay to determine antinociception on days 1, 4 and 7 of repeated morphine administration. Ceftriaxone and a selective GLT-1 transporter inhibitor dihydrokainate (DHK) were co-administered with morphine to determine if GLT-1 activation mediated the ceftriaxone effect. Tolerance was present on days 4 and 7 of repeated morphine administration. Ceftriaxone...

The Miami Herald Fred Grimm column: Oxycodone pill mills work a lot like 'printing money' [The ...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:21:00 +0000

Mar. 9--One year. Five doctors. A single pain clinic. Two million hits of oxy.

To be precise, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says that five doctors working out of American Pain Clinic in Lake Worth prescribed -- peddled might be a more accurate term -- 2,167,710 Oxycodone tablets in 2009.

Consider that American Pain Clinic was only one of some 200 oxy mills in Broward and Palm Beach counties. Clearly, neither a recessionary economy nor the state's tepid new pill mill law (with its computerized record-keeping requirements) have done much to diminish South Florida's allure as a hassle-free wholesaler for the nation's oxy traffickers.

According to the DEA complaint filed in connection with a March 1 raid on American Pain, the Lake Worth clinic sold Oxycodone for $5 a tablet. Many of the pills, according to the court records, will be sold, illegally "in Kentucky for $20 to $40 per pill."

Which explains...

'It's killing people': 'It's killing people': Family mourns heroin death of son, 25 [The Daily ...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:47:00 +0000

Mar. 8--SALISBURY -- A cremation urn rests on the shelf of the hutch in a Spring Street home, evidence of the ultimate price paid for experimenting with the evils of drug addiction.

It was just over a year ago Jay and Brenda DeBoisbriand placed the urn carrying the ashes of their beloved 25-year-old son on the shelf, not long after Joseph DeBoisbriand died on Jan. 2 after using heroin with friends.

The second of three children, their son had been a happy and curious child, his parents said, a giving and loving son, and that's how they want to remember him. He was a thousand times more than a drug user, they said, but it was his addiction that finally consumed and destroyed him.

Dealing with his loss is unbearable, the DeBoisbriands said, so horrible, if fact, they want other parents to be alert to the signs and the sacrifice demanded by...

Feds charge two in heroin ring linked to Portland overdose deaths [The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.]

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:09:00 +0000

Mar. 4--Narcotics investigators have tied the 2009 heroin overdose deaths of two men to a large-scale drug trafficking ring responsible for a major part of the black-tar heroin market in Portland.

A yearlong investigation has led to the federal indictment of two men accused of being among the top heroin dealers -- Jose Luis Torres-Rojas, 30, who goes by the street name "Chad," and his alleged partner, Jose Hernandez-Flores, 37, who goes by "Pepe."

Both men are accused of supplying the heroin that resulted in the deaths of Patrick McGinnis, 38, and Joshua Reeves, 28, two men with middle-class upbringings who, despite supportive families, couldn't stop the downward spiral of drugs.

The accused are charged under the federal Len Bias law, named for the University of Maryland basketball star who died of a cocaine overdose in 1986 and which punishes those whose drug dealing leads to serious injury or death.

The combination of...

Research from University of South Carolina, Department of Neurosciences reveals new findings on ...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:21:00 +0000

Scientists discuss in 'Lateral hypothalamic orexin/hypocretin neurons: A role in reward-seeking and addiction' new findings in morphine. According to recent research published in the journal Brain Research, "Orexins (synonymous with hypocretins) are recently discovered neuropeptides made exclusively in hypothalamus. Behavioral, anatomical, and neurophysiological studies show that a subset of these cells, specifically those in lateral hypothalamus (LH), are involved in reward processing and addictive behaviors."

"Fos expression in LH orexin neurons varied in proportion to conditioned place preference (CPP) for morphine, cocaine, or food. This relationship occurred both in drug-naive rats and in animals during protracted morphine withdrawal, when drug preference was elevated but food preference was decreased. Inputs to the LH orexin cell field from lateral septum and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis were Fos-activated during cocaine CPP in proportion to the preference expressed in each animal. This implies that these inputs may be involved in driving the...

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine publish new data on morphine therapy

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:21:00 +0000

Fresh data on morphine are presented in the report 'Modulation of opiate-related signaling molecules in morphine-dependent conditioned behavior: conditioned place preference to morphine induces CREB phosphorylation.' According to a study from the United States, "Opiate addiction is a chronic, relapsing behavioral disorder where learned associations that develop between the abused opiate and the environment in which it is consumed are brought about through Pavlovian (classical) conditioning processes. However, the signaling mechanisms/pathways regulating the mechanisms that underlie the responses to opiate-associated cues or the development of sensitization as a consequence of repeated context-independent administration of opiates are unknown."

"In this study we examined the phosphorylation levels of various classic signaling molecules in brain regions implicated in addictive behaviors after acute and repeated morphine administration. An unbiased place conditioning protocol was used to examine changes in phosphorylation that are associated with (1) the expression of the rewarding effects of morphine and (2)...

Research reports from University Medical Center, Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction ...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:21:00 +0000

New investigation results, 'Effects of psychiatric comorbidity on treatment outcome in patients undergoing diamorphine or methadone maintenance treatment,' are detailed in a study published in Psychopathology. According to a study from Hamburg, Germany, "Comorbid psychiatric disorders among opioid-dependent patients are associated with several negative outcome factors. However, outcomes of maintenance treatment have not been sufficiently established, and no evidence is available with respect to heroin-assisted treatment (HAT)."

"For patients in the German heroin trial outcome measures were analyzed for HAT versus methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) both for patients with and without a comorbid diagnosis according to CIDI. 47.2% of the sample had at least one comorbid psychiatric diagnosis, mainly neurotic, stress-related or somatoform (F4) or affective (F3) disorders. HAT had a better outcome than MMT concerning improvement of health and reduction of illicit drug use in both comorbid and non-comorbid patients, but weaker effects were found in the comorbid group....

Zoning board may forego methadone clinic testimony [Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, Pa.]

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:11:00 +0000

Mar. 3--Before deciding the case of a methadone treatment center, Hazleton's zoners must decide how much testimony they will hear from the proposed clinic's operators and opponents.

For the Hazleton Zoning Hearing Board, the application of Discovery House led to a case that won't go away easily.

The board decided the case once already in August 2009 when granting Discovery House permission to open at 32 E. Buttonwood St.

Judge Thomas Burke of Luzerne County Court, however, sent the case back to the board in December that year.

The board scheduled a rehearing for last Thursday, but snow postponed the session until tonight at 6:30 in City Hall.

Stephen D. Rhoades, solicitor for the board, said Burke didn't write a decision when remanding the case so it isn't clear what the judge instructed the board to decide tonight.

"I think both the clinic and the protesters are going to have different interpretations," Rhoades said.

Burke ruled...

Construction injury led to man's excessive use of painkillers [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:52:00 +0000

Feb. 28--MUKWONAGO -- In a picture from one of his better days, Jamie Forecki is crouched over two eight-point bucks that he shot on the same day.

Hunting and fishing, said Colleen Forecki, were two of her son's passions.

But after he fell off a roof while working a construction job in 2005, he began taking prescription painkillers.

On May 4, 2007, Colleen Forecki found her son, a 32-year-old father of three, dead in her Mukwonago home. He had overdosed on cocaine, the painkiller methadone and three other prescription drugs.

His fatal overdose was one of nearly 150, not including suicides, that occurred in Waukesha County since 2002.

Prescription drugs were involved in 91% of the deaths, a rate higher than those in Milwaukee, Ozaukee and Washington counties, a Journal Sentinel analysis found.

Although Jamie Forecki died from a mix of illegal and prescription drugs, his mother blames his death on what she said was...

The Oregonian, Portland, Ore., Margie Boule column: A heroin addict's legacy: Scholarships for ...

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:35:00 +0000

Feb. 25--"I remember riding the bus to third grade, crying, because the previous night my dad had once again been drunk and verbally abusive to my mother and me," a Portland high school girl named Jessica wrote recently.

"My mom complained to me because he scared her friends away and so I hated him, despised his very face. I consoled my mom and tried to give her courage to leave him, but she couldn't imagine life alone with two children. She didn't have to wonder for long.

"It was the middle of July, and he was drunk and depressed. My mom and brother were watching a movie when my dad stormed into the bedroom, holding a shotgun to his head, threatening to pull the trigger. At that moment she realized how unsafe she was making life for us.

"When she finally left him, I left her. At 13 I was so afraid...

New morphine therapy research has been reported by scientists at Princeton University

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:00:00 +0000

According to recent research published in the journal Alcoholism - Clinical and Experimental Research, "Specialized hypothalamic systems that increase food intake might also increase ethanol intake. To test this possibility, morphine and receptor-specific opioid agonists were microinjected in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of rats that had learned to drink ethanol."

"To cross-validate the results, naloxone methiodide (m-naloxone), an opioid antagonist, was microinjected with the expectation that it would have the opposite effect of morphine and the specific opioid agonists. Sprague-Dawley rats were trained, without sugar, to drink 4 or 7% ethanol and were then implanted with chronic brain cannulas aimed at the PVN. After recovery, those drinking 7% ethanol, with food and water available, were injected with 2 doses each of morphine or m-naloxone. To test for receptor specificity, 2 doses each of the mu-receptor agonist [d-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4,Gly5-ol]-Enkephalin (DAMGO), delta-receptor agonist d-Ala-Gly-Phe-Met-NH2 (DALA), or kappa-receptor agonist U-50,488H were injected. DAMGO was...

OxyContin abuse on the rise in Mendocino County [The Ukiah Daily Journal, Calif.]

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:05:00 +0000

Feb. 23--Laytonville people suspected of dealing OxyContin pills in the Laytonville area were arrested last week in an investigation by the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force.

For the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force, OxyContin dealing is new and had not been detected in Mendocino County until earlier this winter, said Bob Nishiyama, Commander of the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force.

At a residence where the bust was made, police found with about 10 to 15 pills on a countertop along with some marijuana, Nishiyama said. From the Laytonville location three suspects were taken to county jail last Wednesday.

Gage Matthew Griffin, 18, was booked at county jail on suspicion of possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of a switchblade knife.

Deanna Dawn Renfort, 34, was booked at county jail on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance for sale, cultivation of marijuana, possession of...

The heroin road: Addiction in the U.S. provides the good life in Xalisco ...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:16:00 +0000

XALISCO, Mexico _ As a boy, Esteban Avila had only a skinny old horse and two pairs of pants, and he lived in a swampy neighborhood called The Toad. He felt stranded across a river from the rest of the world and wondered about life on the other side.

He saw merchants pay bands to serenade them in the village plaza and dreamed of doing the same.

He had a girlfriend but no hope of marrying her because her father was the village butcher and expected a good life for his daughter.

Then Avila found an elixir and took it with him when, at 19, he went to the United States. It was black-tar heroin, and selling it turned his nightmare into a fairy tale.

Avila was part of a migration of impoverished Mexican sugar cane farm workers that has had profound repercussions for cities and towns across America. Over the last decade...

The heroin road: Black tar moves in, and death follows [BC-BLACKTAR-HEROIN-2-ADV21:LA]

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:13:00 +0000

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. _ On a Monday in September 2007, Teddy Johnson went to his son's apartment.

Adam Johnson, 22, was in his first year at Marshall University in Huntington. A history major, he played guitar, drums and bass, loved glam bands like the New York Dolls and hosted "The Oscillating Zoo," an eclectic rock show on the university radio station.

Teddy hadn't heard from his son in three days. Letting himself into the apartment, he found Adam lying lifeless on his bed, in the same shirt he'd seen him wearing three days earlier.

The cause of death: a heroin overdose.

"I had no clue," said the elder Johnson, a plumbing contractor in Huntington. "We're a small town. We weren't prepared."

The death was part of a rash of overdoses, 12 of them fatal, that shook Huntington that fall and winter. All were caused by black-tar heroin, a potent, inexpensive, semi-processed form of the drug...

New methadone therapy data have been reported by scientists at University of New South Wales, ...

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:06:00 +0000

Fresh data on methadone are presented in the report 'The comparative toxicology and major organ pathology of fatal methadone and heroin toxicity cases.' According to recent research from Sydney, Australia, "In order to determine the comparative toxicology and systemic disease of cases of death due to methadone and heroin toxicity, 1193 coronial cases of opioid overdose that occurred in New South Wales, Australia between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2007 were inspected. These comprised 193 cases in which cause of death involved methadone toxicity (METH) and 1000 cases in which cause of death involved heroin toxicity in the absence of methadone (HER)."

"METH cases were significantly more likely to have benzodiazepines (63.7% vs. 32.2%), and less likely to have alcohol (23.6% vs. 42.7%) detected. METH cases were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with pre-existing systemic pathology (94.3% vs. 79.9%), and multiple organ system pathology (68.8% vs. 41.4%). Specifically,...

New heroin dependence research from University of Western Australia discussed

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:06:00 +0000

Fresh data on heroin dependence are presented in the report 'Minor pathological changes are induced by naltrexone-poly(DL-lactide) implants in pregnant rats.' According to a study from Crawley, Australia, "Oral naltrexone is used to treat alcohol and heroin dependence but is associated with poor patient compliance. Sustained-release preparations have been developed to overcome noncompliance."

"Many sustained-release preparations are composed of polymers combined with naltrexone. Limited data indicate that polymers induce variable levels of tissue reactivity and that naltrexone may increase this effect. A slow-release subcutaneous naltrexone-poly (DL-lactide) implant is currently being trialed to treat heroin dependence in Western Australia. A minority of women fall pregnant and, although tissue reactivity in nonpregnant humans is relatively minor, detailed chronological data during pregnancy are lacking. Histological changes in pregnant rats were assessed; a single active tablet containing poly[trans-3,6-dimethyl-1,4-dioxyane-2,5-dione] (DL-lactide) loaded with 25 mg of naltrexone was implanted subcutaneously, and tissue response was compared with...

Research on opioid dependence described by scientists at University of Illinois

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:06:00 +0000

Fresh data on opioid dependence are presented in the report 'A review of opioid dependence treatment: pharmacological and psychosocial interventions to treat opioid addiction.' "Opioid dependence is a problem of national concern, especially with dramatically increased rates of abuse and dependence of prescription opioids. The current article provides an up-to-date review of the literature on opioid dependence treatment, with a focus on conclusions drawn by experts in the field (e.g., Cochrane reviews and meta-analyses) and methodologically rigorous studies (e.g., randomized controlled trials)," investigators in the United States report (see also Opioid Dependence ).

"We describe the major classes of drug treatments available, including opioid agonist (e.g., methadone, buprenorphine, LAAM), antagonist (e.g., naltrexone) and non-opioid pharmacotherapies (e.g., alpha2 adrenergic agonists). These treatments are discussed in the context of detoxification and long term treatment options such as abstinence-based and maintenance strategies. We review the state of the literature as to prevention of opioid...

New methadone therapy research from Harvard University discussed

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:06:00 +0000

Data detailed in 'Effects of sleep deprivation on sleep homeostasis and restoration during methadone-maintenance: a [31]P MRS brain imaging study' have been presented. According to a study from the United States, "Insomnia afflicts many individuals, but particularly those in chronic methadone treatment. Studies examining sleep deprivation (SD) have begun to identify sleep restoration processes involving brain bioenergetics."

"The technique ([31])P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) can measure brain changes in the high-energy phosphates: alpha-, beta-, and gamma-nucleoside triphosphate (NTP). In the present study, 21 methadone-maintained (MM) and 16 control participants underwent baseline (BL), SD (40 wakeful hours), recovery1 (RE1), and recovery2 (RE2) study nights. Polysomnographic sleep was recorded each night and ([31])P MRS brain scanning conducted each morning using a 4T MR scanner (dual-tuned proton/phosphorus head-coil). Interestingly, increases in total sleep time (TST) and sleep efficiency index (SEI) commonly associated with RE sleep were not apparent in MM participants. Analysis of...