In the United States, over six-million women become pregnant every year. Approximately 9 out of 10 of those pregnant women take medication. About five percent of pregnant women use one or more substance that is addictive. Almost ten percent of pregnant women have smoked tobacco within the past month.
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Unfortunately, expectant mothers struggle with withdrawal just like any other person suffering with drug addiction. Often the withdrawal becomes too difficult, and withdrawal symptoms are relieved by turning again to the substance.
Of all the substances that people abuse, only one fits into ALL the following criteria: socially acceptable, over-the-counter accessible, the cost is not prohibitive, legal for adults to purchase in all 50 states, and often viewed as harmless or a normal rite of passage into adulthood. This magic elixir is alcohol.
While the lead headline from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) touted “Marijuana use at historic highs among college-age adults,” the institute could have also released some positive headlines.
It’s National Recovery Month, and according to the Orleans Parish Coroner’s 2018 report, deaths caused by the lethal synthetic opioid have doubled in recent years.
A recently released report suggests that there will be an increased need for recovery services in the years ahead.
Over the past 15 years communities have been affected, families destroyed, and thousands of individuals have died during the ongoing opioid epidemic. In only six years, statistics show that the rate of overdose deaths doubled from 21,089 in 2010 to 42,249 in 2016.
A U.S. Government-sponsored task force this week released a report recommending that primary care physicians routinely screen their patients for illicit drug use. The recommendation is similar to the task force’s now-followed recommendation that primary care physicians routinely query their patients about drinking and smoking habits.
To begin to calculate the value of treatment for substance abuse, it is helpful to first understand the costs related to substance abuse. Substance abuse impact is expensive, not just to the person using the substance, but to their family, workplace and society.