Formally known as the Addiction Medicine Consultation Service, this initiative responds directly to Inspira’s 2025 – 2027 Community Health Needs Assessment, which identified substance use as a major health challenge in Gloucester County. By expanding access to evidence-based treatment and support, Inspira aims to reduce mortality, improve continuity of care, and enhance quality of life for patients and families affected by substance use disorder. Deputy Director of the Gloucester County Board of Commissioners Jim Jefferson recently visited the hospital to lend his support and learn about the program’s early success. In its first two months, the program has touched the lives of more than 150 individuals with substance use disorder.

What can I expect if I have cannabis use disorder?

• Learners are strongly advised to contact their professional licensing board or professional association to confirm this certificate will be accepted as evidence supporting continuing education requirements.
• Mullica Hill, NJ (January 29, 2026) – Inspira Health has launched a substance use disorder (SUD) program to provide patients with initial treatment, guidance and connectivity to services when they receive care at the hospital.
• SUDs are treatable, and evidence of clinically significant benefit exists for medications (in opioid, nicotine and alcohol use disorders), behavioral therapies (in all SUDs), and neuromodulation (in nicotine use disorder).
• The executive control network underlies various cognitive processes, including decision‐making and self‐regulation.

Comorbidities between psychiatric disorders and SUDs are also relevant to prevention efforts. Specifically, because psychiatric disorders increase the vulnerability for SUDs, their early diagnosis and treatment could help prevent SUDs. Conversely, early identification of drug use in an adolescent might be an indicator of an underlying emerging psychiatric disorder, and its treatment might prevent a more severe presentation143, 144. Molecular mechanisms implicated in these neuro‐adaptations include upregulation of dynorphin signaling through kappa opioid receptors, which are believed to contribute to negative emotional states, although these effects appear drug‐specific68, 69. Adaptations in the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis, which regulates cortisol response during stressful circumstances, are also induced by chronic drug exposures, leading to elevations in corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) and cortisol levels.

What are the complications of cannabis use disorder?

Eight questions about alcohol, tobacco and drug use (including injection drug use) help identify an individual’s hazardous, harmful or dependent substance use. The Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription medication, and other Substance (TAPS) is another newer and briefer (four items) valid screening tool155. Consequently, we recently proposed the new term “pre‐addiction” to identify the early stages of a SUD (mild SUD, as per DSM‐5) as a focus of attention in screening for problematic drug use15. The term and strategy were inspired by the introduction of the term “pre‐diabetes” to bring attention to the early stages of a condition amenable to intervention, in order substance use disorder to halt the progression to the full‐blown disease.

• Cannabis use disorder (CUD) mainly involves THC-containing substances (marijuana).
• Examples include methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also called MDMA, ecstasy or molly, and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, known as GHB.
• Substance use disorders are diagnosed through evaluation of medical history and behaviours that suggest recurring substance use, as well as through drug testing and prescription drug monitoring.
• The term and strategy were inspired by the introduction of the term “pre‐diabetes” to bring attention to the early stages of a condition amenable to intervention, in order to halt the progression to the full‐blown disease.
• Twelve‐step mutual aid groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, can help promote abstinence on their own or as part of a more comprehensive plan243, 244.
• These interventions are generally intended for settings in which the main purpose of the visit is not substance use, such as visits to primary care or the emergency department248.

Social environments

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are highly prevalent and exact a large toll on individuals’ health, well‐being, and social functioning. Biological (including genetics and developmental life stages) and social (including adverse childhood experiences) determinants of health are recognized factors that contribute to vulnerability for or resilience against developing a SUD. Consequently, prevention strategies that target social risk factors can improve outcomes and, when deployed in childhood and adolescence, can decrease the risk for these disorders. SUDs are treatable, and evidence of clinically significant benefit exists for medications (in opioid, nicotine and alcohol use disorders), behavioral therapies (in all SUDs), and neuromodulation (in nicotine use disorder). Treatment of SUDs should be considered within the context of a Chronic Care Model, with the intensity of intervention adjusted to the severity of the disorder and with the concomitant treatment of comorbid psychiatric and physical conditions.

What criteria do you use to determine whether I’m at a facility eligible for STAR Loan Repayment Program approval?

Instead, healthcare providers rely on a thorough evaluation of your medical history and behaviors surrounding substance use. They may order drug tests to see how much and how many types of substances are in your body at a time. They may also evaluate prescription drug monitoring program reports (a database of distributed controlled substances). “The AMA also supports HHS efforts to streamline access to MOUD for parents with opioid use disorder to help prevent their children from entering foster care, an approach that has the potential to improve outcomes for parents and families. Medications such as buprenorphine and methadone are proven, life-saving treatments and should be accessible without unnecessary barriers for patients who need them. Now, the prevention and solution to substance use disorder is a long-term, compassionate societal endeavour that must address the man behind the substance.

For example, individuals can be diverted from the justice system at pre‐arrest and linked to clinical and social services, including harm reduction or case management. Individuals can also be referred to the treatment system through drug courts352. In justice‐involved populations, evidence‐based SUD treatment is effective in reducing substance use as well as re‐offending and re‐incarceration, and in facilitating recovery343, 344, 345, 346. These approaches lead to better outcomes than those based on criminalization and punishment of substance use, and they are cost‐effective347, 348. Thus, it is important to intervene at every possible step in the cycle of drug use and involvement with the justice system. Individuals with SUDs are more likely than other people to come into contact with the justice system342.

This differs from the UK, where e‐cigarettes are encouraged as smoking‐cessation aids181. As described in a following section of this paper, the Chronic Care Model suggests the need to develop tiered models of care. This approach allows for the provision of the least intrusive possible care to the individual, while optimizing the use of resources at the community level. Biological risk for SUDs emerges early in life, changes at various life stages, and is differentially influenced by social factors and experiences during those different life stages and transitions78. This developmental conceptualization of SUDs79 helps explain the diversity of possible pathways from the various risk factors to a SUD. The dopamine reinforcement system is dynamic, and its responses to rewards, including drugs, change as a function of the magnitude and duration of the stimulus.