The
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is rolling out a new
public education campaign about the dangers of drugged driving. Like drunk
driving, drugged driving is impaired driving, which means it is dangerous and
illegal. Whether the drug is legally prescribed or illegal, driving while
drug-impaired poses a threat to the driver, passengers and others on the road. The
taglines of the campaign are “If You Feel Different, You Drive Different” and
“Drive High ― Get a DUI.” Media materials include digital banner ads, radio
ads, social media content and more.
PTACC has recently launched its new website. PTACC develops resources
and tools that help to advance pre-arrest diversion and provide guidance to
practitioners in the field, to their research partners and to community
members. Pre-arrest diversion provides an alternative to arrest for people with
substance use and mental health conditions, as well as for those who have
committed nonviolent misdemeanors. The new website will serve to provide
support to communities across the country looking to start or improve their own
pre-arrest diversion initiatives. The website will highlight the efforts of
workgroups within PTACC’s six strategy areas: leadership; treatment, housing,
and recovery; public safety; community, diversity and inclusion; research; and policy
and legislation.
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According to a recently published study, young adults between ages 13
and 30 who fill an opioid prescription before or after having their wisdom
teeth removed are 2.7 times more likely to demonstrate continued opioid use.
Based on the findings, the researchers urged dentists and oral surgeons to
consider prescribing non-opioid pain relievers instead of opioids for those
patients.
A new
study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has found that nationwide the rate of opioid use disorder among pregnant women more
than quadrupled between 1999 and 2014. Use of opioid drugs, whether heroin or
prescription pain relievers, during pregnancy harms both the mother and child
and can lead to stillbirth, preterm labor, neonatal abstinence syndrome and, in
some cases, the mother’s death.
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