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Encouraged by recently unsealed court documents involving Purdue Pharma’s campaign for advertising OxyContin in 1996, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) uncovered an interesting and previously unexamined link between stricter drug advertising laws and a slower adoption of the new pain drug. The analysis relies on a natural quasi-experiment examining the role of five states which implemented Triplicate Prescription Programs that required state-issued prescription forms for schedule II drugs, including OxyContin, making it more burdensome for doctors to write those prescriptions.
NBER found that states with triplicate programs had an approximately 50 percent lower rate of OxyContin prescriptions in the late 1990s compared to those without, and those states also saw substantially slower growth in overdose deaths versus their neighbors without triplicate programs. While the reasons for the drug overdose crisis are numerous and complex, this research shows support for the hypothesis that advertising of addictive opiates a contributing factor and stricter prescribing and advertising laws could have helped protect the country.
 Indianapolis-based Indiana Association of Peer Recovery Support Specialists (INSTEP) needs volunteers for a consumer focus/advisory group. INSTEP is attempting to recruit a diverse group (of all genders, races, ethnicities, ages, cultures, etc.) of persons in recovery, individuals in treatment or supportive services, and family members of those individuals. To be considered or for more information, apply here.
Several psychiatric and neuroscience researchers recently published an article examining the relationship between a person in recovery’s tolerance for ambiguity (dealing with unknown risks) and likelihood of using opioids within the next few weeks. This longitudinal study used computational markers of risky decision-making studied over seven months of treatment. They found an increase in an individual’s marker of tolerance to ambiguity was significantly tied to imminent opioid use. While there has already been published evidence of the role of risky decision-making in addiction, this was the first paper to show a time-lagged measure of tolerance for ambiguity foreshadowing potential opiate use.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) is accepting applications for the 2020 Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) Grant Program for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness. This four-year program is intended to implement and evaluate new AOT programs and identify evidence-based practices to reduce the incidence and duration of psychiatric hospitalization, homelessness, incarcerations and interactions with the criminal justice system while improving the health and social outcomes of individuals with a serious mental illness. States, counties, cities, mental health systems, mental health courts and other entities with the authority to implement, monitor and oversee AOT programs are eligible to apply for up to $1 million a year for four years. Applications are due Jan. 24.
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