Posts by Nate Anderson

Nobody has to score Hershey’s kisses on the street. Nobody has to smuggle Pringles across the country hidden in the wheel well of a car. And if you’re paying $100 for a gram of Coke, you’re definitely being overcharged. But that doesn’t mean that the life-sustaining substances we come into the world loving and couldn’t…

These kids, they break my heart every day. “I’m sorry about yesterday,” Jared mumbles as he shuffles into my classroom. “I’m couch surfing for a while. I can’t go home, and I was really tired and grumpy.” He toes the ground and smiles sheepishly. These are my high school students, making my heart burst open…

Each day, 91 people die of prescription opioid and heroin (the cheapest form of opiate) overdoses, according to the CDC. Synthetic drugs mixed with heroin are the fastest growing category of abused and misused drugs. A recent CDC report says past misuse of prescription opioids is the STRONGEST risk factor for starting heroin use —…

Although prescribed frequently, benzodiazepines like Xanax or Valium are not a quick fix for anxiety, seizures, insomnia and other ailments. In fact, due to possible benzodiazepine side effects and the propensity for not only physical tolerance but also possible addiction, benzodiazepine drugs should not be considered for long-term treatment regardless of condition. That’s why doctors…

Americans are now more likely to die by accidental opioid overdose than by a car crash. Source: TODAY On May 31, 2019, my life swerved off track, fell down the side of a cliff and came crashing down. On that Friday morning, my 21-year-old brother Matt, my best friend and confidant, died. His life was…

Effective treatment needs to include both the substance use disorder and the co-occurring disorder in an integrated approach because the two conditions build on each other. Thirty-three percent of people with mental illness also have a substance use disorder (SUD); that number rises to 50 percent for severe mental illness. Fifty-one percent of people with…

Plaintiffs are seeking billions of dollars in restitution. Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid are among the superstores and chain drugstores named in what will be a major trial regarding corporate complicity in the opioid epidemic. As reported by the New York Times, the lawsuit filed in federal court last Friday seeks billions of dollars…

Fears of a jump in U.S. high school students using marijuana in states where recreational cannabis has been legalized appears to be contradicted by a new study. Weed consumption among high school teenagers has actually declined in states where pot is legal, the study published this week in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics concludes. “Consistent…

After a breakup in 2008, a cousin gave Ashlee Krichmar, then 20, a Percocet. She’d never much liked them in the past — they made her sick — but that day the college student majoring in business management took the pill. “It numbed all the emotions I was having at the time, so I didn’t…

Too much Fortnite could be an actual problem. The World Health Organization approved its new version of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems Saturday, ratifying the industry standard for diagnosing “diseases disorders, injuries” and other health issues. Among the changes is the addition of the so-called “gaming disorder,” which falls under…