The use of medications to treat addictions will increase and may change treatment models.

...But today, Kent isn't tempted in the least [to drink alcohol]. He says the credit goes to a prescription medication -- a pill called naltrexone. It's part of a new generation of anti-addiction drugs that may turn the world of rehab on its head. Dr. Mark Willenbring, who oversees scientific research at the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, says alcoholism has reached a point similar to one depression reached 30 years ago -- when the development of Prozac and other antidepressants took mental health care out of the asylum and put it in homes and doctors' offices. "There will be a 'Prozac moment,' " Willenbring says, "when primary care doctors start handling functional alcoholics."

APRIL 15, 2009, With Anti-Addiction Pill, 'No Urge, No Craving', by Caleb Hellerman, CNN, http://www.cnn.com .

The United States addiction pharmacotherapy market, currently valued at $2 billion, is expected to reach a value of $2.9 billion by 2012. Over 30 medications are in planning and testing stages to counter alcohol abuse and narcotic and nicotine dependencies. The 41% growth is expected as a result of increased demand for treatment medications that are more tolerable to people who are unable to tolerate currently available therapies. The market is projected to increase by an additional $2 billion with the introduction of medications to treat methamphetamine and phencyclidine addictions and gambling dependencies. These are projections of a report entitled, "The World Market for Addiction Disorders, 2005-2012: New Horizons in High-Profile Dependency Markets," compiled by Spectra Intelligence, a market research firm.

NOVEMBER 2006, U.S. Addiction Medication Market Expected to Grow to $2.9 Billion by 2012, Open Minds, 18:8, http://www.openminds.com/. [posted 4/17/2009]

The abuse of prescription opiates has lead to heroin abuse in young adults.

Once prevalent mostly in big cities, heroin has been spreading out to smaller towns in New England and the mid-Atlantic as the drug is becoming more widely available in a highly pure, inexpensive form that can be snorted. Many of these young addicts get started on prescription drugs, move on to cheap heroin that can be snorted, and end up injecting it for a more potent high. Either way, the effects have been deadly.... And according to drug intelligence, law enforcement, and treatment officials at both the federal and state level, the trend has not yet shown signs of reversing or slowing down.... The 2009 report has not yet been released, but Allison Stombaugh, an intelligence analyst for the NDIC [National Drug Intelligence Center], says it will cover the growing threat of prescription opiates. She adds that prescription drug abusers often graduate to heroin within a few years, suggesting that heroin abuse could rise even more in the near future. "Prescription opiates are seen as acceptable because they are doctor prescribed. But abusing them to get high frequently leads users to try heroin," Stombaugh says.

DECEMBER 5, 2008, Heroin Hits the Suburbs Hard Amid Wave of Drug Abuse by Teens and 20-Somethings, By Jessica Calefati, U.S. News & World Report, http://www.usnews.com
Related Report: OCTOBER 2007, National Drug Threat Assessment 2008, National Drug Intelligence Center, U. S. Department of Justice, Product No. 2007-Q0317-003, http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs25/25921/25921p.pdf [posted 1/22/2009]

Women-only substance abuse residential programs are growing.

More than seven million women in the United States are classified as substance dependent or substance abusers. Many also suffer from co-occurring disorders including some more common in women, such as eating disorders. To meet this need, some addiction treatment providers are creating residential programs specifically for women. "I would not say that it's an avalanche, but there's certainly a trend in that direction," says Ron Hunsicker, DMin, president/CEO of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP). Gender-specific treatment isn't new, but the way it is being implemented has changed. Dr. Hunsicker says that in the past, gender-specific treatment "meant that women would be housed in separate quarters. But those women still ate meals with men, and their care options weren't different." Now some believe that segregating the sexes, not only for residential housing but treatment as well, makes good healthcare and business sense. For Queler [Julie Queler, Executive Director, Orchid Recovery Center for Women], there's no better way to deliver residential substance abuse treatment: "We have found that at the end of the day, women need to be with women in treatment. I can't think of one good reason for them to be in a coed facility."

MARCH 2007, Treatment with a Feminine Touch: Providers are Finding Business Opportunities in Gender-Segregated Care, by Michael Levin-Epstein, Behavioral Healthcare, 27:3, http://www.behavioral.net . [posted 5/15/2008]

Unintentional drug overdoses have increased in recent years, mainly due to prescription drug abuse. The number of deaths that involved prescription opioid analgesics increased from 2,900 in 1999 to at least 7,500 in 2004.

The mortality rates from unintentional drug overdose (not including alcohol) have risen steadily since the early 1970s, and over the past ten years they have reached historic highs. Rates are currently 4 to 5 times higher than the rates during the black tar heroin epidemic in the mid-1970s and more than twice what they were during the peak years of crack cocaine in the early 1990s. The rate shown for 2005 translates into 22,400 unintentional and intentional drug overdose deaths. To put this in context, just over 17,000 homicides occurred in 2005. The number of drug overdose deaths does not yet exceed the number of motor vehicle crash deaths overall, but for the first time more people in the 45-54 age group now die of drug overdoses than from traffic crashes. The increase from 1999 to 2004 was driven largely by opioid analgesics, with a smaller contribution from cocaine, and essentially no contribution from heroin. The number of deaths in the narcotics category that involved prescription opioid analgesics increased from 2,900 in 1999 to at least 7,500 in 2004, an increase of 160% in just 5 years. By 2004, opioid painkiller deaths numbered more than the total of deaths involving heroin and cocaine in this category. All available evidence suggests that these deaths are related to the increasing use of prescription drugs, especially opioid painkillers, among people during the working years of life.

MARCH 12, 2008, Trends in Unintentional Drug Overdose Deaths: CDC Congressional Testimony Subcommittee on Crime & Drugs Committee on the Judiciary and the Caucus on International Narcotics Control United States Senate, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, statement of Leonard J. Paulozzi, M.D., M.P.H., Washington, DC, http://www.cdc.gov/print.do?url=http%3A//www.cdc.gov/washington/testimony/2008/t20080312a.htm. [posted 4/24/2008]

Substance abuse centers are addressing the needs of older addicts by offering them separate counseling classes as well as other services.

Across the country, substance abuse centers are reaching out to older addicts whose numbers are growing and who have historically been ignored. There are now residential and outpatient clinics dedicated to those over 50, special counselors just for them at clinics that serve all ages, and screenings at centers for older Americans and physicians' offices to identify older people unaware of their risk. Addiction specialists and organizations for the elderly anticipate a tidal wave of baby boomers needing help for addictions, often for different substances and with different attitudes toward treatment than the generation that came before them. Federal data shows the shifting demographics: In 2005, 184,400 Americans who were admitted to drug treatment programs - roughly 10 percent of the total - were over 50, up from 143,000, or 8 percent of the total, in 2001. The same report, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, foresees 4.4 million older substance abusers by 2020, compared with 1.7 million in 2001 - numbers that are "likely to swamp the current system," said Deborah Trunzo, who coordinates research for the agency.

MARCH 6, 2008, New Generation Gap as Older Addicts Seek Help, by Jane Gross, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com.
Report: AUGUST 11, 2005, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Among Older Americans: The State of the Knowledge and Future Directions, by Stephen J. Bartels, Frederic C. Blow, Laurie M. Brockmann and Aricca D. Van Citters, prepared by WESTAT, and prepared for: Older American Substance Abuse and Mental Health Technical Assistance Center, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, Maryland, http://www.samhsa.gov/OlderAdultsTAC/SA_MH_%20AmongOlderAdultsfinal102105.pdf. [posted 3/26/2008]