FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

McLean Hospital to present drug addiction seminar in May.

The seminar will feature prominent experts to discuss new treatments and address challenges.

Contact: Riya Patel, 732-123-1234

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Harvard Medical School’s largest psychiatric hospital, McLean Hospital, will be presenting an online seminar on drug addiction from May 13-14. The seminar, which will discuss the prevalence of addiction among various groups, and some of the newest treatments involved, will feature some of the leading experts in the field.

Among these experts will be Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy at the White House. Gupta has led the state’s response efforts to the opioid crisis, and is passionate about removing the stigma that surrounds addiction and seeking help. “Addiction is a disease that needs to be treated just like any other disease is treated in this country,” says Gupta. The seminar aims to address this stigma and spread awareness of its prevalence in the field of addiction.

In addition to addressing the stigma and other challenges around seeking help, the seminar aims to customize treatments for specific demographics, such as women, adolescents, and the LGBTQ+ community. Dr. Petros Levounis, a psychiatry professor at Rutgers Medical School, will speak on addiction within the LGBTQ+ community. “That component of expectation of being treated as a second-class citizen is quite detrimental to people’s mental health, resulting in excess social stress, which in turn results to higher rates of substance use disorders,” says Levounis. Following his speech, the conference will engage in breakout sessions to discuss substance use in women, and treatment of substance use disorders in adolescents.

As the nation continues to struggle with drug addiction, the seminar will present some of the latest treatments and how they will be implemented in coming months. It will also set forth national priorities for addressing substance use disorders moving forward.

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Broadcast Soundbyte

Mental health issues during COVID contribute to increasing overdose rates.

Soundbyte Transcript:

RIYA PATEL: Overdose deaths due to self-medication are getting worse due to COVID-19. While COVID is beginning to dwindle down, overdose deaths are increasing since the height of the pandemic. Daniel Benson, Assemblyman of New Jersey’s 14th Legislative District, says that this increase could be due to mental health issues related to COVID-19.

DANIEL BENSON: There’s been a lot of changes. With COVID being hit though, what we’ve seen is, with the rise of depression and other mental illnesses that occurred during COVID because of legislation, because of the loss of jobs, and everything else, we’ve also seen an equal amount of a rise in overdoses and drug use as well.

RIYA PATEL: Breaking down the stigma around mental health could be essential in lowering overdose rates.

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Source: Daniel R. Benson. Email: AsmBenson@njleg.org