FOR HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONALS

OMA Amphetamine Task Force

Addicts and their families have not been the only people struggling to get a grasp on Oregon's surge in methamphetamine use: health-care providers have felt the impact as well. Doctors have had to deal with patients presenting a new array of addiction-related maladies, and emergency-room staffs and other practitioners have had to learn to identify and cope with the often-erratic behavior presented by methamphetamine-using patients.

At the request of member physicians, the Oregon Medical Association formed an Amphetamine Task Force to address the need for physician education on the role of health-care providers in responding to methamphetamine and amphetamine abuse in Oregon. The task force's work has culminated in creation of a set of slides that can be used in provider-education workshops around the state and in the development of a speaker's bureau of physicians and medical students.

Oregon-Hawaii Clinical Trials Network node

To improve quality of drug-treatment programs and interventions in the United States, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) operates a nationwide, multi-level research effort known at the Clinical Trials Network. The network teams research scientists with community treatment professionals to test and refine new treatment practices and innovations.

Our local branch of the CTN, the Oregon-Hawaii Node, is headquartered in OHSU's Public Health and Preventive Medicine department and includes addictions treatment providers from around the state. These providers and their clients participate in a selection of clinical trials being carried out at various sites nationwide by NIDA.

Parenting resources

For adults parenting children who have been affected by methamphetamine exposure, the Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center offers an informational booklet with current research and behavioral strategies.

"Key to Methamphetamine-Related Literature" from New York State

This 2007.pdf bibliography from New York state's Department of Health indexes several hundred methamphetamine-related articles, grouped by theme and subject terms; PubMed links are embedded.

Bibliography of clinical research on methamphetamine

As a resource for health-care providers, the MARC has begun collecting a bibliography of current academic research on clinical aspects of methamphetamine addiction.