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Lynne Lamberg

JAMA. 2004;292:1807-1809.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Viewing illicit drug abuse as a chronic relapsing disorder, comparable with diabetes and hypertension, makes its management as much a concern for primary care practitioners as for specialists, experts in substance abuse treatment say.

"You don’t expect to cure diabetes. Treating drug abuse is not conceptually that different," said David A. Gorelick, MD, PhD, chief of the clinical pharmacology section of the intramural research program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Baltimore, Md.

Nearly 34 million people in the United States say they have used cocaine at least once. (Photo credit: http://www.sciencesource.com)

Patients who abuse drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine need help with lifestyle changes and usually medical treatment as well, he added. They require ongoing monitoring and often multiple episodes of treatment.

Patients seldom say, "Doctor, I have a cocaine problem," Gorelick noted. But primary care physicians should consider that possibility in patients . . . [Full Text of this Article]

PSYCHOSOCIAL THERAPIES



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