Premium
In Case You Haven't Heard…
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alcoholism and drug abuse weekly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1556-7591
pISSN - 1042-1394
DOI - 10.1002/adaw.32698
Subject(s) - grief , job loss , buprenorphine , safe haven , methadone , aka , cannabis , psychology , medicine , psychiatry , unemployment , computer science , international economics , receptor , opioid , library science , economics , economic growth
Cannabis as an essential medicine. More unrestricted methadone and buprenorphine. Thirty‐eight percent of New Yorkers drinking while working during COVID‐19 lockdown. Home delivery of cocktails and marijuana. Telephone therapy for stressed‐out, newly impoverished, death‐fearing Americans. Daily press briefings by federal and state officials that boggle the mind. These are just a few of the news articles we're seeing (and, in some cases, writing). What will be the aftereffects of this time period on vulnerable patients and people in recovery? Will there be more people whose substance use problems are compounded by grief, job loss, loss of their future, loss of hope? Will there be a treatment system left to help them? Yes, we have been here before. There are smart people working hard every day, regulations being crafted, bills being drafted, deals being made, children being born and patients' lives being rescued.