Dr. Lauren Costine Meets with the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy to Discuss the Heroin and Opioid Epidemic
America is experiencing an epidemic of prescription opioid and heroin addiction. Dr. Lauren Costine, renowned addiction therapist and author of Lesbian Love Addiction met with Dalen A. Harris, Director of the Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to discuss the heroin epidemic in the United States. As Chief Clinical Officer of BLVD Treatment Centers, Dr. Costine is developing a specific opioid and heroin treatment plan for the organization’s 7 facilities in Southern California, as well as the planned expansion facilities in Oregon, Texas, Georgia, and New Jersey.
Dr. Lauren Costine and BLVD’s CEO, Stampp Corbin met with Dalen A. Harris in Washington D.C. to discuss the issues surrounding the heroin and opioid crisis in the United States, as well as potential solutions to the epidemic. BLVD Treatment Centers plans to be a part of the solution by offering a ground breaking opioid and heroin treatment program which will focus specifically on cutting edge therapeutic approaches for patients with opioid addiction, including medically assisted treatment and genetic testing to ensure the best medication is used with each patient. Medication assisted treatment is used to help patients deal with the dangerous cravings of opioid misuse and reduces patient recidivism.
America has been fighting but losing the War on Drugs and the Obama Administration is launching a series of initiatives aimed at curbing America’s opioid addiction epidemic. “The current opioid epidemic is killing people at a rate never seen before in our country and for the first time it crosses socioeconomic, racial and sexual orientation lines. Thankfully Americans are waking up to the problem and many are involved in creating solutions ranging from behavioral health experts to President Obama. The time is now – we must figure out how to educate the public, change the amount of opioids prescribed by physicians, use behavioral approaches with proven results and create programs that will save lives,” said Dr. Costine
“It is clear that there is over-prescribing of opioids in America. Last year, prescriptions for opioids could have supplied every American adult with a thirty-day supply. There is not that much pain in America,” said Stampp Corbin, BLVD CEO.
When it comes to the treatment of addiction, the treatment team is an integral part of a patient’s recovery. BLVD has a carefully curated team of treatment professionals to match the intense dedication of each patient to their overall well-being and recovery. “Our clinical team is comprised of professionals who are both established, extensively credentialed and highly esteemed in the substance use community.
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BLVD Treatment Centers is a Los Angeles Based Addiction Treatment Center whose mission is to help patients attain an unshakable joy through sobriety. The organization believes a life of active addiction is a shrinking life of ever-diminishing returns but a life of recovery is an expanding one filled with love, truth, mindfulness, and joy. For a truly sustainable recovery, a powerful shift of one’s core perceptions and belief systems must take place. BLVD believes in a comprehensive approach that combines traditional, time-tested practices combined with innovative, evidence-based methods.
Dr. Lauren Costine is a clinical psychologist, author, educator, advocate, activist, and one of BLVD’s founding members. Her work focuses on addiction and codependency issues, co-occurring disorders, depth psychology, psychodynamic and family systems modalities, and LGBTQ-affirmative psychotherapy. Previous to her work at BLVD, Dr. Costine acted as the Family Counselor at a local substance abuse recovery center for over five years. Dr. Costine is the author of the newly released book– Lesbian Love Addiction: Understanding the Urge to Merge and How to Heal When Things Go Wrong which sheds light upon the reasons why so many lesbian relationships fail, and gives hope to women who are having difficulty in a same-sex partnership or marriage.