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New Survey Again Raises Alarm About Teen Drug Use, Attitudes
A new report finds that more kids say they are using alcohol and other drugs, but many parents are unable or unwilling to deal with the issue -- a bad combination when declining support for prevention and cultural apathy about the issue leave parents as the last and sometimes only line of defense against adolescent drug use. 03/03/2010

Panel Recommends Amending Federal Privacy Law to Help Integrate Addiction Treatment Records
A new proposal to amend a landmark federal privacy law is butting up against resistance from recovery advocates and others, as the addiction treatment and recovery community struggles to strike a balance between the need for integration with mainstream medicine and privacy concerns about the use of electronic medical records. 02/19/2010

DSM-V Draft Includes Major Changes to Addictive Disease Classifications
The first draft of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) eliminates the disease categories for substance abuse and dependence and replaces it with a new "addictions and related disorders" -- just one of several major changes to the "Bible" used almost universally to diagnose (and get insurance reimbursement for) behavioral-health problems. 02/12/2010

Obama Proposes Increased Funding for Treatment and Prevention, but 'Balance' Proves Elusive Goal
The Obama administration's first stab at crafting its own national drug-control budget priorities adds new funding for addiction treatment and prevention but does little to close the huge gap between spending on drug supply- and demand-reduction efforts despite promises of a "balanced" strategy. 02/05/2010

Rules on Addiction and Mental Health Parity Issued by Obama Administration
New rules for implementing the addiction and mental-health parity law passed by Congress in 2008 are being hailed by advocates, despite their issuance three months after the law actually went into effect. 01/29/2010

State Alcohol Taxes Creep Up, But Not to Benefit of Treatment and Prevention Programs
At least six states raised taxes on alcohol last year, but it was a glass only half-full for advocates who argue that higher prices lead to less consumption and that alcohol producers should bear part of the societal costs of alcoholism and alcohol-related deaths, injuries, and property damage. 01/19/2010