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The Division of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA) has released a funding opportunity for entities that plan to become designated as a Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Center (CARC). DMHA is looking to designate as many CARC’s that qualify per requirements found in the RFP. Entities that need additional resources or funds to fulfill requirements to be designated as a CARC need to apply for this RFP. Preference will be given to respondents according to the northern, central and southern regions of the state. Funding must be used to fill gaps in treatment continuum and build capacity to meet the requirements to be designated as a CARC. This deadline for this RFP is 3 p.m. Aug. 9.
A University of Southern California study, published in JAMA pediatrics, highlights the association between prescription opioid use and heroin. The study found that adolescents and teens who use prescription opioids are more likely to start using heroin by high school graduation. The study followed more than 3,000 freshmen from 10 Los Angeles area high schools through their senior years, and were asked about previous and use of prescription painkillers to get high. The study found that 13 percent of current opioid users and 10 percent of former opioid users switched to heroin by the end of high school, leading to the conclusion that adolescents need to be considered, and not overlooked, when discussing the opioid epidemic.
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Columbus Regional Health’s outpatient behavioral health clinic recently hosted a public open house for its new facility. This new facility offers medication-assisted treatment, behavioral therapy and other services for people struggling with substance use disorders, including alcohol, opioids, methamphetamine and cocaine. The clinic will treat an estimated 100-plus patients within its first year and expects to increase this to nearly 600 patients by the end of its fifth year. The clinic is available to people living in Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Johnson, Ripley, Scott and Shelby counties.
A recent study published in Lancet Public Health found that when incarceration rates rise and household incomes fall, drug-related deaths increase. Between 1983 and 2014, the decrease in the national average household income coincided with a more than 12 percent increase in drug-related deaths. Furthermore, an increase in jail and prison admissions was associated with over a 1 percent and nearly 3 percent increase, respectively, in the country’s fatal drug overdose rate. A similar trend was discovered at the county level. The study aimed to highlight that opioid prescriptions are not the only cause for the current epidemic, and that public health must have a better understanding of the effects caused by mass incarceration.
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