President's Corner

Karen Miotto, MD; CSAM President

I was so delighted to have seen so many of you at the CSAM State of the Art Conference in San Diego last month. When I walked into the meeting room at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina and saw the familiar round table seating for case discussions at an in-person meeting, it felt like coming home. I easily became immersed in our strong community of colleagues - all with stories about treating, teaching, and advancing addiction care.

 

I was grateful for the opportunity to have joined together in-person, and I hope those of you who couldn't make it this year are able to join us next year.

 

The program that Dr. Mitika Kanabar and her team designed for us included a roster of top-notch leaders in the field of addiction medicine. There were too many noteworthy stories and material for me to recount here, but a few do stand out.  Dr. Christy Huff‘s harrowing personal experience withdrawing from therapeutic dose benzodiazepines, and her journey turning adversity into advocacy will stay with me for a long time. She and her colleagues formed the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition (https://www.benzoinfo.com) to alert prescribers and patients, as well patients' support networks, to the unique experiences some individuals have to benzodiazepines. Dr. Huff's personal story aligned well with Dr. David Lawrence's talk on treating benzodiazepine withdrawal and post-acute withdrawal syndrome.

 

Dr. Matthew Torrington‘s comprehensive review of how to stay compliant with the changing regulatory landscape was an essential talk. It highlighted one of my priorities. As president of CSAM, one of my priorities is to focus on our own health and wellbeing and our ability to deliver the care for our patients we think best. Our ability to care for our patients is sometimes being restricted or restrained by the appropriately motivated efforts of our regulatory agencies, doing what they can to reduce opioid overdose deaths.

 

One of CSAM's goals, especially with the Committee on Opioids that Dr. Torrington chairs, is to see if the ways that our regulatory agencies are using the interpretation of well-intended guidelines and recommendations are actually decreasing access to treatment and increasing a prescriber’s reluctance to treat addiction.

 

Next year, Dr. Jesse Ristau will chair the Review Course and welcome everyone to the Sheraton Hotel on the sparkling Marina in San Diego between August 30th and September 2nd, 2023 for the celebration of our 50th year. We’ll see the release of our history, “The Story of CSAM’s First 50 Years”, and we will hold a big party to celebrate not only our birthday but also the launch of our Anniversary Campaign to raise a fund dedicated to leadership development and to continuing the line of CSAM’s leaders who will guide the next years with the vision, advocacy and passion that has marked our history so far.

 

See you in San Diego!


Karen Miotto, MD

President, CSAM

CSAM SOA 2022!

Mason Turner, MD, FASAM

CSAM celebrated its return to live meetings in late August in San Diego with the State of the Art in Addiction Medicine Conference. Attendees from throughout the country and world gathered to hear the latest in addiction medicine treatments with a focus on international perspectives on addictive disease. I want to extend a special thanks and the utmost gratitude to Dr. Mitika Kanbar and her planning committee team and the CSAM Staff for their amazing work and dedication. We look forward to welcoming everyone again in 2023 when we will host the Addiction Medicine Review Course from August 30-September 2, 2023 in San Diego.


 Mason Turner. MD, FASAM

Chair, CSAM Education Committee

Upper Left: Karen Miotto, MD, DFASAM, DFAPA, CSAM President

Upper Right: Mitika Kanabar, MD, MPH, FASAM, Chair, CSAM Conference Planning Committee

Lower Left: George Koob, PhD, Keynote Speaker: State of the Art in Neurobiology

Lower Right: Christy Huff, MD, Keynote Speaker: Lived Experience with Benzodiazepines

Left: Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient: Ernie Vasti, MD, FASAM (with Anthony Albanese, MD, FACP, DFASAM)

Middle: Vernelle Fox Award Recipient: Christy Waters, MD, FASAM

Right: Community Service Award Recipient: Kerry Parker, CAE (with Karen Miotto, MD, DFASAM)

Featured Above: MERF Scholars and Facilitators at the CSAM Conference.


MERF Facilitators: Karen Antwiler, Stephanie Constantino, Steven J. Eickelberg, Tipu Khan, La Donna Porter, Lisa Rodelo, Kenneth A. Saffier, Gloria Sanchez, Maureen Strohm, Farah Zaidi


MERF Scholars: Amir Mir Abdolazimi, Bianka Aguilar, Abdul Alim, Tricia Bautista, Sarah Burbank, Karen Burks, Deborah Carritte, Jose Castellanos, Raheel Chaudhry, Connie Chen, Cati Crawford, Kyle Diaz, Duc Doan, Ryan Fortune, Stephanie Frank, Carolina Gutierrez-Garcia, Crystal Huang, Monika Koch, Sridevi Korand, Nicholas Kos, Shona Lamb, Danny Lee, David Leeds, Charlene Letchford, Leah Miller Lloyd, Caroline Nguyen, Amber Norris, Michelle Okoreeh, Benjamin Oldach, Sonia Paracha, Alan Padilla Ramos, Ashley Shatola, Andrew Smith, Joshua Strunk, Patrick Sullins, Clay Thibodeaux, Pavana Naga Tirumanisett, Ngoc Tran, Angela Sepulveda Velez, William Ventres, Regina Wang, Kimberlyn Baig Ward, Stephanie Zority

Additional snapshots from the Conference:

Public Policy Update

Randolph P. Holmes, MD, FAAFP, DFASAM

A short and quick Public Policy update to report: CSAM and ASAM sent a joint letter to the Governor urging him to sign SB 57, CSAM‘s bill to create Overdose Prevention Sites. Unfortunately, the bill was vetoed by the Governor. We did get our bill to legalize fentanyl test strips signed into law. Several other CSAM bills have reached the governor’s desk, awaiting his decision. We will know the outcomes by the end of the month.


Randolph P. Holmes, MD, FAAFP, DFASAM

Chair, CSAM Public Policy Committee

Attorney General Bonta Announces Victory in the Fight Against Makers of Suboxone

Press Release by Rob Bonta, California Attorney General | Posted August 23, 2022

Attorney General Bonta Announces Victory in the Fight Against Makers of Suboxone

Court decision allows 42-state coalition's antitrust litigation to move forward OAKLAND - California Attorney General Bonta, as part of a 42-state coalition led by Wisconsin, secured a decision from the district court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruling that the states can proceed with their antitrust litigation against the makers of Suboxone for "product hopping."

Read More

Like Minded Docs

Chwen-Yuen Angie Chen, MD, FACP, FASAM and Gail Jara, CPPPH

CSAM welcomed Mel Pohl, MD and a meeting of "Like Minded Docs" during our State of the Art Conference in San Diego. Like Minded Docs is a grassroots organization founded in 2012 by the late Ken Thompson, MD and a group of ASAM members in response to "a perceived emphasis for the treatment of addiction with medications to the exclusion of other effective interventions." The group includes over 400 clinicians, medical directors and researchers.


There is a meeting of LMD regularly at ASAM conferences, but this was the first one at a CSAM conference. Attendance was small because the time unfortunately coincided with the business meeting. It was a lively group that included ASAM President, William F. Haning, III, MD, DLFAPA, DFASAM, and several CSAM members who decided to pursue a meeting of LMD at next year's conference.


For more information on Like Minded Docs, please visit: likemindeddocs.org and consider joining their informative listserve where you’ll see sharing of information and experience around clinical questions that arise in practice.

Upcoming ASAM Member Events!


ASAM 2022

State Advocacy Summit

Virtual: Friday, Oct 14.

9:00 am - 12:00 pm (PT)


ASAM’s 2022 State Advocacy Summit is scheduled for Friday, October 14. This summit is free, virtual, fun, interactive, and informative – exclusive to ASAM members that includes some great speakers!


READ MORE...

Register

Integrating Addiction Medicine with Treatment Courts

FREE/In-Person: Wed. Oct. 26.

10:00 am - 5:00 pm (PT)


This 6-hour course will introduce you to the basics of addiction medicine and treatment courts. You will learn practical methods for addressing systemic challenges like reducing stigma, advocating for your patients, and creating an effective partnership between medical providers, treatment court specialists, and patients.


READ MORE...

Register

From CPPPH: Best Practices for Wellbeing Committees!

CPPPH presents a series of 5 videoconferences titled

What You Need to Know for Effective Functioning of Wellbeing Committees 2022.


These five 90-minute videoconference sessions will be held via Zoom on the following Tuesdays from 12pm - 1:30pm: Oct 11, Oct 18, Nov 1, Nov 8 and Nov 15.


These are for hospital medical staffs and medical groups whose wellbeing committees address alcohol/drug use and addiction, mental health issues, cognitive functioning, aging, and behavioral issues. Experienced faculty will review each topic, apply the information to a case illustration, and answer questions.

Read More or Register Online!

CSAM Education Center News!

The online CSAM education center will be updated and CME purchase from the conference for those who did not get to attend will be available soon! A future CSAM Email announcement will have all the details once they are ready!

In case you missed it - High Yield Question Bank


Improve your test taking skills with our 2022 High Yield Question Bank! The Question Bank is designed for physicians taking the Addiction Medicine Board Exam from the American Board of Preventive Medicine.


The set of over 600 board-style questions has been developed by physicians in the field of addictions and is aligned with the 16 key topic areas of the American Board of Preventive Medicine's exam content Blueprint. This version will offer more demonstration questions on Preventive Medicine as recommended by last year's test-takers.


This web-based, on-demand set of questions with correct answers indicated is ideal for self-study and self-paced learning. You may take the quiz multiple times to practice! The question bank was refreshed in 2022 by physicians in the field.

Please note that if you do not have an existing CSAM Education Center Account, you will have to register for an account here prior to purchasing the course.



This is a different account from the CSAM home page account.

PRICE: 

$285 (MEMBERS)

$399 (NON-MEMBERS)


Total CME credits available: 10

2022 High Yield Question Bank

CSAM is Turning 50 Next Year! Share Your Memories!

The CSAM History Group

Did you know that 2023 will be CSAM's 50th year? 


We’ll be celebrating with a birthday party next year and with the publication of “The CSAM History: 1973-2023”. Right now, we want to gather as many memories as possible and we are asking members to contribute theirs by answering several questions on this form:

50 Years of CSAM - Share Your Memories Form

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