Subject(s)
Cyclonic Storms , Disasters , Hospitals, Veterans , Physician's Role , Primary Health Care , Humans , TexasABSTRACT
Substance use disorders involving illicit and prescription drugs are a serious public health issue. In the United States, millions of individuals need treatment for substance use disorders but few receive it. The rising number of drug overdose deaths and the changing legal status of marijuana pose new challenges. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians maintains that substance use disorder is a treatable chronic medical condition and offers recommendations on expanding treatment options, the legal status of marijuana, addressing the opioid epidemic, insurance coverage of substance use disorders treatment, education and workforce, and public health interventions.
Subject(s)
Health Policy , Illicit Drugs/adverse effects , Opioid-Related Disorders/prevention & control , Opioid-Related Disorders/therapy , Prescription Drugs/adverse effects , Chronic Disease , Crime , Drug Monitoring , Epidemics/prevention & control , Humans , Insurance Coverage , Insurance, Health , Opioid-Related Disorders/epidemiology , Risk Assessment , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
[Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Journal of Health Communication for the following free supplemental resources: a PowerPoint presentation, Communicating Through the Arts: Lessons for Medicine an Public Health, Symposium Proceedings, June 15-21, 2012, and a video, Communicating Through the Arts: Lessons for Medicine and Public Health, 2012 Symposium. The PowerPoint presentation describes the Symposium and includes a gallery of images. The video is a 6-minute documentary featuring guest faculty discussing the Symposium.].