Volume 5, Number 1 - April, 2009 This issue features three articles on drug abuse and criminal justice. In the first, Dr. Michael Prendergast describes how correctional drug treatment can improve outcomes for offenders upon release and stresses the importance of community aftercare for reducing relapse and recidivism. In the second, Dr. Carl Leukefeld and colleagues describe two projects for drug-abusing offenders re-entering the community after incarceration: the development of a set of re-entry guidelines through a Delphi process and an intervention to reduce post-release HIV risk in women offenders. Concluding the criminal justice feature, Ms. Melody Heaps and her colleagues at Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) of Illinois posit a recovery-oriented system of care for drug-abusing criminal offenders that exists outside of the justice system, comanages offender treatment, and provides other services to promote successful outcomes as well as public health and safety. Finally, addressing some of the medical complications of illicit drug use, Drs. Kristy Hendricks and Sherwood Gorbach describe the nutrition issues of chronic drug users living with HIV.
Volume 4, Number 2 - June, 2008 The issue's feature article is a comprehensive discussion by Dr. Seddon R. Savage and colleagues on the challenges of using opioids to treat pain in patients with substance use disorders. Addressing an audience of addiction specialists, the authors describe the nature and physiological basis of pain, explore its interrelationships with substance use, present methodical approaches to the evaluation and treatment of pain and co-occurring substance use disorder, and discuss the clinical and ethical challenges that both pain management specialists and addiction professionals face when treating this population. Drs. Linda A. Dimeff and Marsha M. Linehan describe Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a treatment originally developed for suicidal patients with severe psychosocial disorders. The authors discuss their modification of DBT for treating substance abusers, DBT's strategies for promoting abstinence and preventing relapse, and the clinical trials that demonstrate the therapy's efficacy. Finally, Dr. Kyle Kampman discusses current research efforts toward developing effective medications for stimulant dependence.
Volume 4, Number 1 - December, 2007 In this issue, Dr. Alan J. Budney and colleagues review recent research on marijuana dependence, withdrawal, and treatment. Dr. Sharon Samet and colleagues discuss several formal assessment instruments used to diagnose psychiatric disorders and their utility in diagnosing abuse and addiction. Dr. Diana Sylvestre explains the disease process, screening methods, and treatment of hepatitis C in the context of addiction medicine. Finally, Drs. Michael Dennis and Christy Scott explore the discrepancy between acute-care models of addiction treatment and the compelling evidence that addiction is a chronic condition.

This journal previously was published under the title Science & Practice Perspectives

Science & Practice Perspectives

• Volume 3, Number 2 - April, 2007
• Volume 3, Number 1 - December, 2005
• Volume 2, Number 2 - August, 2004
• Volume 2, Number 1 - September, 2003
• Volume 1, Number 1 - July, 2002