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Northeast Node is Now Hiring!

The Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network is looking to expand its team!

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Northeast Node travels to Maine to begin Phase 1 of CTN trial with partner organization

In early October, the Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network traveled to its partner network, Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC), in Bangor, Maine, to collect qualitative data for Phase 1 of the CTN-0062-Ot-A1 study, “Implementing the Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription medication, and Substance use/misuse (TAPS) Tool in rural federally-qualified health centers: An ancillary study of the “CDE-EHR-PC” (CTN-0062-Ot) Study.”

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Dartmouth study looking to interview Safe Station users; gift cards available

Do you have experience using Manchester’s Safe Station?

A study team from Dartmouth College (the Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network) is interviewing people who have used the Safe Station program in Manchester, NH, to get into treatment for substance use.

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August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day

August 31, 2017 is International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD). IOAD was established in 2001 by two Australians, Sally J. Finn and Peter Streker, with the aim of raising awareness that overdose deaths are preventable. Since their first gathering, a plethora of communities, government and non-government organizations, community health centers, users, families and more throughout the world have hosted events to raise awareness and commemorate those who have lost their lives to drug overdose.

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National Data Ranks NH, VT in Top 10 States for Alcohol Consumption

In April, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) published its 108th surveillance report, Apparent Per Capita Alcohol Consumption: National, State, and Regional Trends, 1977–2015. This report is the official release of 2015 data for alcohol consumption across the United States in those aged 14 and older.

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Northeast Node to study Manchester’s Safe Station program

CHICKEY

Photo courtesy the New Hampshire Union Leader.

New Hampshire is in the midst of an unprecedented opioid crisis. Recent CDC data from 2015 places the state second in the nation in opioid-related overdose fatalities and first in synthetic non-methadone opioid (fentanyl)-related overdose fatalities per capita. More New Hampshirites die every year from opioid overdoses than residents of every other state in the nation. The state also has one of the lowest treatment availability rates in the nation (for more on this and New Hampshire’s problem, see the Rapid HotSpot Phase I and Phase II studies the Node conducted). People who need help treating their opioid use disorders have limited resources available to them. To combat this problem in the state’s largest city, the Manchester Fire Department created Safe Station, a connection to recovery program that allows users to ask for help and get it immediately. No waiting lists, no multi-visit process, just access to treatment when people need and want it most.

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Maine partner named as new site in Greater New York Node CTN study

Alcohol and drug use disorders are among the top ten causes of preventable death in the United States, and only a small fraction of individuals with unhealthy substance use are served by the specialty addiction treatment system.(1-4)  People with substance use disorders (SUDs) are rarely screened, assessed or treated in mainstream healthcare settings such as primary care clinics and other office-based practices. While mainstream settings represent an ideal place and context to identify SUDs and initiate treatment, efforts to integrate SUD services have largely fallen short.

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HotSpot Phase II Initial Report Released

The Northeast Node, alongside partners at our parent institution from the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH), have released the initial findings from our Phase II HotSpot study, Understanding Opioid Overdoses in New Hampshire.

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Node welcomed NIDA Director, Congresswoman, Senator to discuss tackling NH’s opioid epidemic with science

On Tuesday, May 30, 2017, the Northeast Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network, together with the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH) at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, welcomed the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Dr. Nora Volkow, and New Hampshire State Representative Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH2) to discuss New Hampshire’s Opioid Crisis.

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NH launches Zero Left campaign to eliminate leftover prescription opioids

In response to the opioid crisis affecting the region, New Hampshire’s Granite Health announced the launch of the Zero Left campaign. The goal is to educate the public and provide services so that no “leftover” prescribed opioids end up in medicine cabinets where others can easily access them.

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