American Addiction Centers Blog

It can be days, weeks, months, or years before you notice your loved one has an addiction problem. It can take even longer to get them to check into a drug or alcohol treatment center. The day finally comes, and your loved one is in rehab. Your hopes are high. It’s such a relief. But after all […]

New Charges in the Opioid Arena  As the United States continues to endure the worst of the opioid epidemic, the nation has reached the point where it starts asking difficult questions. Like all those who’ve found themselves in crises of various types throughout history, there’s a watershed moment where one pauses, considers their situation, and […]

What is Enabling? The Definition Enabling means the family or friends of an addicted person help that person continue their addiction, often by not allowing that person to experience the consequences of their addiction. Enabling can be spending money on a person with an addiction or buying them things that allow them to spend more […]

Although national studies show that underage alcohol use has steadily declined since 2002, there were still 7.4 million drinkers between the ages of 12 and 20 in 2017.1 With this in mind, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is leveraging Alcohol Awareness Month in April and National Prevention Week May 12-18 to bring […]

In April 2016, rock legend Prince, suffering from intense hip pain, consumed a Vicodin for relief. Shortly afterward, he overdosed and died at his Paisley Park estate. Investigators determined that the pill was counterfeit and laced with fentanyl and that Prince, in all likelihood, did not know it. That incident brought attention to fentanyl on […]

Well, the time has come at long last; the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has stepped in to the opioid epidemic arena. And it did so by prescribing firm action regarding opioid research. The agency issued a mandate that applies to all manufacturers of opioid drugs. It requires them to conduct long-term studies for one express […]

Oh, the pain….whether it comes from an accident, surgery, or other cause, the narcotic painkiller du jour prescribed by doctors far and wide was OxyContin. Available legally by prescription, this substance came on the market in 1996 from its maker, Purdue Pharma. And when it did, an aggressive sales and marketing strategy touted its benefits. […]

At first glance, the opioid epidemic seems like an insurmountable problem. According to the CDC, over 70,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2017, nearly 50,000 of which were opioid related. Meanwhile, a recent SAMHSA survey found that nearly 20 million people struggled with some form substance use disorder (SUD) in 2018. And yet, there […]

They’re called supervised injection sites (SIS). You may know them by other terms too. These include drug consumption facilities (DCF), fix rooms, medically supervised injection centers (MSIC), safe injection sites, safer injection facilities (SIF), and overdose prevention sites.  Although their names may differ, they function the same way. They provide a service – actually, a […]

The opioid epidemic is perhaps the worst public health crisis the U.S. has ever endured. Each year, tens of thousands of individuals die of opioid-related overdoses, while millions more suffer from addiction. To win the war against opioids, the country needs every weapon in its arsenal. Unfortunately, one of the most effective weapons in that […]

We look back, us alcoholics, far more often than we look ahead. The past is where the fun is, the excitement and the nostalgia. We see things the way they used to be, and wish we could recapture that magic, even one more time. So we chase it, and drink, and look into our glass […]

Deciding to stop doing whatever it is you have become addicted to is great. I decided to stop drinking pretty much right after I started. It only took me twenty-five years to get up the courage to actually do it. I lived in denial, created chaos and may have sabotaged a bright future by waiting. […]