CleanSlate Blog

This Mother's Day, far too many pregnant women will be struggling, not celebrating.

That's because they're battling an addiction to opioids, which is classified as Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). At any moment, this battle could end in tragedy for mother and baby.

Stigma makes it difficult for people with substance use disorder to obtain life-saving treatment. The obstacles multiply when that person is pregnant.

Opioid use in pregnancy has escalated dramatically in the last decade, paralleling the epidemic in the general population. Pregnant women suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD) constitute a highly vulnerable patient population. This group experiences a higher risk of unplanned pregnancy, and their infants are at risk for being born with opioid dependence and suffering Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).

Pregnant women often face serious barriers to treatment, including legal statutes in some states that support charging women with OUD with criminal child abuse. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia define substance use during pregnancy as child abuse under civil child-welfare statutes. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia require healthcare professionals to report suspected prenatal drug use.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid overdoses increased by an average of 30 percent nationwide from the third quarter of 2016 to the third quarter of 2017. CDC Acting Director Anne Schuchat, M.D., warns, “We’ve got an emergency on our hands.”

Even as the crisis gets the media attention it deserves, there still is a vexing roadblock keeping many of those addicted to opioids from getting the treatment they need.  As a physician leading addiction treatment teams, the roadblock I see most often is stigma.  

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, a time to reflect on the perils of alcohol addiction and the pathways to recovery. As we close out the month, perhaps the occasion has sparked just a little more discussion and determination around seeking treatment.

But one thing is for certain, this month and every month: few people are discussing one of the most effective forms of treating alcoholism.

Medication.

Outpatient Addiction Medicine Leader Partners with Pittsburgh Care Community to Treat All Facets of Opioid & Alcohol Use Disorders 

Recently, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, made an important recommendation that will impact anyone who works in the field of opioid addiction. By extension, anyone who is treated for opioid addiction is also affected by this breakthrough information.

National Medication Leader to Help Bexar County Address Widespread Problem with Heroin Addiction 

San Antonio TX –  CleanSlate announced today the opening of its fourth Texas office-based outpatient medication treatment center to reach those suffering from opioid and alcohol addictions. The new center is CleanSlate’s first location in San Antonio and is located at 5282 Medical Drive, Suite 210, in the Westgate Medical Center. 

Though San Antonio has not yet seen the tsunami of prescription opioid use and overdose deaths that have plagued other cities and towns across the country, the city has long struggled with heroin. Because of its proximity to Mexico, San Antonio is considered a “first cut” city, where heroin is strong and cheap. 

We’re at a pivotal point in the battle against the opioid epidemic, a public health catastrophe that claimed more than 64,000 lives in 2016 alone and has tracked to be even deadlier since then. Public policy, specifically leadership from our elected officials in our nation’s capital, has the power to reverse the course of the opioid epidemic. And in my view, Washington needs to focus its energy first and foremost on two critical measures: 

CleanSlate Director Brian Coonan first posted this blog on SouthCoastToday.com

Recently, I sat with a 46-year-old mother of three whose 24-year-old son recently overdosed for the third time in 5 weeks.  “How does it keep happening?” she asked, rhetorically. 

National Outpatient Addiction Medicine Leader Opens Center Adjacent to Kensington, Ground Zero of the Heroin Crisis in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Penn. –  CleanSlate announced today the opening of its second office-based outpatient medication addiction treatment center in Philadelphia,’ in the Port Richmond neighborhood. This area is adjacent to Kensington, known as ground zero for Philadelphia’s heroin crisis.