There are no jokes to be made about the crisis of opioid abuse addiction, but you might purse your lips and nod sagaciously about this one.
One of the ways you might be able to curb opioid abuse is by curbing alcohol use. It seems to make sense. About 26 percent of people with opioid use disorder also drink a lot; binge drinking almost doubles your chances of abusing prescription opioids.
Dan V. Blalock, associate consulting professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, found that a simple, brief alcohol intervention – a 15-minute discussion about the consequences of alcohol abuse – made study participants less likely to have new opioid prescriptions or a new opioid use disorder diagnosis. The alcohol intervention isn’t new, but Blalock thought it was worth seeing how it connected with opioids.
“We were trying for some outside-the-box thinking,” he said. “We’re hoping that providers’ ears might perk up and that they will be sure to not only check these boxes because they have to, but actively look to administer this intervention anytime it might be indicated.”