By Jason Mullins
Recent headlines concerning a federal raid at an area doctor’s office has prompted one area doctor and his patients to speak out in support of a controversial treatment option for people suffering from addiction to prescription pain medication.

Last week, agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services entered a doctor’s office in Gate City, Va., that prescribes Suboxone to treat patients who are addicted to opioid-based drugs, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone. The raid was part of a year-long investigation into the clinic.  » More

By Chris Brooker
Patients should be given a pain management plan when prescribed opioids, with a limited initial trial period of six weeks on the treatments, an NPS research project has recommended. In addition, a national real-time monitoring system was also called for.  » More

By Daniel Simmons-Ritchie, The World
Coos County's struggle with drugs is poised to get worse. Experts fear that heroin will soon replace meth as the scourge of the South Coast, bringing with it a new level of disease, dependency and desperation. Heroin-related arrests in the region jumped to 41 in the past year - five years ago, police arrested only two people for crimes linked to the drug. » More

By LARRY ESKRIDGE of the Daily Ledger
CANTON — The cost of underage drinking and ways to reduce it provided the focus of a town hall meeting Tuesday at the Donaldson Center in Wallace Park, sponsored by SADD/SWAT, the Coalition for Wise Choices, the Making Wise Choices program, the YWCA, the YMCA, and United in Jesus Outreach Ministries.

District 66 Superintendent Roy Webb said he was pleased to see such a large turnout, noting he believed so many people came because there was a concern about young people in the area.  » More

Newswise— Medical professionals will gain access to free clinical support in the use of opioid medications through a new grant announced by SAMHSA today. SAMHSA awarded $1.5 million to the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry to develop a Prescriber’s Clinical Support System.  » More

WILLINGBORO — Patients at the behavioral health unit at Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County now have a quiet garden area to find some solace. Nick Fernandez of Mount Laurel, an Eagle Scout candidate with Troop 61 in Moorestown, coordinated a project to transform a courtyard in the unit into an oasis with plants, a vegetable garden, fruit trees, picnic area and mural. » More