Medical Journal Houston Vol. 11, Issue 13, April 2015
Legal Affairs: OIG issues unfavorable advisory opinion on laboratory/physician practice arrangement, see page 3
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Leading Source for Healthcare Business News
Special Report: Addiction
April 2015 • Volume 12, Issue 1 • $3.50
A regeneration of addiction
INSIDE
▼
Hippo “Crosstalk”
may be vital to
tumor suppression
see page 16
INDEX
▼
Legal Affairs......................3
Financial Perspectives.......4
THA................................5
Integrative Medicine.........6
Hospital Headlines...........7
Moving On Up..................8
Physicians’ Forum.............9
Integrative practices
for anxiety
see page 6
. . . . . . . . . . . .
By Matt Feehery,
MBA, LCDC, Senior
Vice President, CEO,
Memorial Hermann
Prevention and Recovery
Center
are aware of the power addiction has as it
relates to our specialized areas of care. But
the simple fact is that addiction has a major
impact on our entire healthcare system and
will continue to do so indefinitely if history
repeats itself and the trends of addiction
among different age groups continue.
marijuana once a month, according to
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration. The irony in that
statistic is that marijuana is more potent
and harmful now than it was 20 years ago.
Teens are less wary of marijuana at a time
when it’s never been more harmful, which
Old habits die hard, but for an increasingly
alarming number of the nation’s 76 million
Baby Boomers, their addiction habits didn’t
die at all. They lay dormant and now are
coming back to haunt. A Wall Street
Journal story about a 58-year-old California
man who had cleaned up his act following
heavy marijuana and cocaine use in the
1970s, only to begin abusing opioids and
alcohol after a knee surgery nearly 30 years
later, illustrated the point.
While baby boomers – those born the years
1946 to 1964 – are one of the leading age
groups affected by addiction, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), the reality is addiction
touches the old, young and those in
between.
As defined by the National Institute
on Drug Abuse, addiction “is a chronic,
relapsing brain disease that is characterized
by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite
harmful consequences.”
There is reason for concern about the
recurrence of addiction among older
Americans when one considers that in
2013 more than 12,000 deaths resulted
from accidental drug overdoses, which is
more deaths than car accidents, the flu,
or pneumonia caused in that age group.
Moreover, experts predict that more than
5.7 million people older than age 50 will be
in need of substance-abuse treatment only
five years from now.
Many of us in the healthcare industry
Addiction is not a phase
The statistics, consequences, and actions
surrounding addiction all suggest that it
is not a phase. Addiction should not be
treated as something people will grow out
of or “go through.” Attitudes among teens
are softening toward the negative effects of
illicit drugs like marijuana.
Nearly two-thirds of all surveyed by
Monitoring the Future (MTF), an annual
survey conducted by the University of
Michigan that measures the use of alcohol,
tobacco, and illicit drugs among 8th-, 10thand 12th-graders nationwide, said that they
did not think regular use of marijuana was
harmful. That is in stark contrast to 20
years ago, when only 35 percent held the
same belief.
In Texas, 71.4 percent of adolescents aged
12-17 perceived no great risk in smoking
could be damning since one in six teens
become addicted to marijuana compared to
one in 11 who start using as adults.
Additionally, a recent study submitted
to the American Chemical Society,
consistently found THC levels to be
above 20 percent and sometimes upward
of 30 percent in legally-sold marijuana in
Colorado. The “old school” marijuana
consistently had THC levels of less than 10
percent. Moreover, of the 600-plus samples
of marijuana provided by certified growers
and sellers in the study, many contained
little to no cannabidiol (CBD), the medical
component of marijuana.
There is some good news. The MTF survey
revealed an overall decrease in alcohol and
tobacco use among teenagers over the last
20 years. However, the fact remains that
Please see ADDICTION page 14
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
HOUSTON TX
PERMIT NO 13187