Opiate drugs, which come from the opium poppy flower, and synthetic, or man-made, opioids also can trigger that brain process in the mesolimbic system. The drugs attach to certain specialized proteins on the same receptor brain cells where the pleasure-causing chemicals the body naturally makes normally attach. So can other drugs, including alcohol — but… Read More
Addiction experts agree it should be treated as a medical problem rather than a crime. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Medicine Executive Dean David Stern said the director of the center for addiction on campus uses this approach. “He views addiction as a medical problem,” Stern said of Dr. Daniel Sumrok.… Read More
As lawmakers, prosecutors, doctors and law enforcement officers all battle over how to solve the heroin and opioid epidemic, one man, a recovering addict, says he knows the answer. He doesn’t want to use his name or show his face, so we’ll call him John. “It comes back to the stigmas of addiction,” he said.
When you think of a drug addict, who do you see? A criminal who is mentally weak, morally deficient or recklessly irresponsible? Or a child or spouse or friend or neighbor who is physically ill? Dr. David Stern, dean of the University of Tennessee’s College of Medicine in Memphis, is trying to get us to see… Read More
NASHVILLE — Religious groups across the USA have long helped recovering addicts through 12-step programs and nonprofits that hire recovering addicts. But now, many are turning their sights on the opioid crisis gripping the nation, and experts say they can do more to fight the epidemic. Barriers to treatment particularly cause anxiety to people who have endured decades… Read More
