EP 04

🎙 Special Series: ASAM’s 56th Annual Conference

This episode is part of a special four-part series spotlighting key sessions from ASAM’s 56th Annual Conference.

In this episode of ASAM Practice Pearls, In this episode of ASAM Practice Pearls, Dr. Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar is joined by Drs. Sarah Wakeman and Joshua Lee to review the most influential addiction medicine publications of 2024–2025. They discuss the criteria used to identify high-impact papers, highlight key findings, and explore how these insights can inform clinical practice and future research.

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Host

Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, MD, MPH, FAAFP, FACPM, DFASAM

Dr. Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar is a family medicine, preventive medicine/public health, and addiction medicine physician. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, Wisconsin. She is a core faculty member for the Addiction Medicine Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, and her clinical roles include addiction medicine consult service and serving as medical director of a low-barrier walk-in clinic serving people who use substances. She is also the Program Director of the Preventive Medicine Residency at UW-Madison and Medical Director of Harm Reduction Services at the Wisconsin Division of Public Health. Dr. Salisbury-Afshar’s work focuses on expanding access to evidence-based addiction treatment and harm reduction services. She has over 14 years of experience practicing in medically underserved settings. Dr. Salisbury-Afshar lectures nationally on addiction medicine topics, including the treatment of opioid use disorder, harm reduction, the intersection of addiction and the criminal legal system, and public health approaches to reduce overdose mortality. Dr. Salisbury-Afshar is actively involved in ASAM, where she currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Medical Education Council, Course Director of the ASAM-All Rise treatment courts courses, a member of the ASAM Conference Planning Committee, and the Chair of Harm Reduction Special Interest Group.

Expert

Sarah E. Wakeman, MD, FASAM

Dr. Sarah Wakeman is the Medical Director for the Mass General Hospital Program for Substance Use & Addiction Services, Program Director of the Mass General Addiction Medicine fellowship, Senior Medical Director for Substance Use Disorder at Mass General Brigham, and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She received her AB from Brown University and her MD from Brown Medical School. She completed residency training in internal medicine and served as Chief Medical Resident at Mass General Hospital. She is a diplomate and fellow of the American Board of Addiction Medicine and board-certified in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine. She served on Massachusetts’ Governor Baker’s Opioid Addiction Working Group. Nationally, she serves on the American Society of Addiction Medicine Ethics Committee. Clinically, she provides specialty addiction and general medical care in the inpatient and outpatient setting at Mass General Hospital and the Mass General Charlestown Health Center. Her research interests include evaluating models for integrated substance use disorder treatment in general medical settings, low threshold treatment models, recovery coaching, physician attitudes and practice related to substance use disorder, and screening for substance use in primary care.

Expert

Joshua D. Lee, MD, MSc

Dr. Joshua Lee is a Professor in the Department of Population Health and Medicine/General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is Co-Director of the Section on Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drug Use and Program Director of the NYU Fellowship in Addiction Medicine. He is a clinician-researcher focused on addiction pharmacotherapies in primary care and criminal justice populations. 

📖 Show Segments

• 00:05 – Introduction
• 02:34 – History and Evolution of the Annual Review Session
• 03:44 – Methodology for Selecting High-Impact Articles
• 06:52 – Top Papers of the Year: Semaglutide and Fentanyl Seizures
• 11:44 – Emerging Trends in Addiction Medicine
• 14:40 – Innovations in Buprenorphine Initiation
• 18:52 – Landmark Clinical Trials on Reducing Overdose Deaths
• 26:38 – Impact of Addiction on Adolescents and Parental Loss
• 31:00 – Final Thoughts
• 31:50 – Conclusion and Additional Learning Opportunities

📋 Key Takeaways

• GLP-1s for Substance Use Disorders: Significant findings showed reduced alcohol consumption among non-treatment-seeking individuals randomized to treatment with semaglutide. Additional findings indicated a link between GLP-1 drugs and improved outcomes in those with cannabis, opioid, and tobacco use disorders, suggesting a potential for improved addiction outcomes.  
• Fentanyl Seizure Trends: Law enforcement data shows increasing fentanyl seizures, especially in pill form, predominantly in the Western U.S. 
• Buprenorphine Initiation Strategies: New studies found that in patients with minimal to mild opioid withdrawal, a seven-day injectable buprenorphine induction strategy was associated with a low rate of precipitated opioid withdrawal and kept patients more engaged in treatment after the first dose. 
• Consult Services Impact on Opioid Use Disorder: Studies show that having an addiction consult team, in addition to the usual care team, increased MOUD initiation rates and post-discharge engagement. 
• Differences in Overdose Death Rates: While data indicate that overall overdose death rates have declined, minority communities continue to experience an increase in overdose deaths.  
• Adolescents and Parental Loss to Overdose: Updated data shows that more than half a million children have lost parents in the last decade to drug overdoses. 
• Delta-8-THC Trends in Younger Populations: Data shows an increase in Delta-8-THC use among adolescents, particularly in non-legal states. We should continue to monitor these trends for future public health interventions.  
• Declining Rates of Tobacco Products and E-cigarette Use: Recent data shows declining rates of tobacco and e-cigarette use among adolescents; however, there has been an emerging uptick in the use of nicotine pouches, which should be monitored. 

🔗 Resources

• ASAM’s 56th Annual Conference Session: Annual Review of Addiction Medicine: Highest Impact Publications 2024-2025 Register HERE
• Addiction Consultation Services for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Initiation and Engagement: A Randomized Clinical Trial: McNeely J, Wang SS, Rostam Abadi Y, et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2024;184(9):1106-1115. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.3422 
• Adolescent ∆8-THC and Marijuana Use in the US: Harlow AF, Miech RA, Leventhal AM. JAMA. 2024;331(10):861-865. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.0865 
• Association of Semaglutide With Tobacco Use Disorder in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: Target Trial Emulation Using Real-World Data: Wang W, Volkow ND, Berger NA, Davis PB, Kaelber DC, Xu R. Ann Intern Med. 2024;177(8):1016-1027. doi:10.7326/M23-2718 
• Association of Semaglutide with Reduced Incidence and Relapse of Cannabis Use Disorder in Real-World Populations: A Retrospective Cohort Study: Wang W, Volkow ND, Berger NA, Davis PB, Kaelber DC, Xu R. Mol Psychiatry. 2024;29(8):2587-2598. doi:10.1038/s41380-024-02498-5 
• Estimated Number of Children Who Lost a Parent to Drug Overdose in the US From 2011 to 2021: Jones CM, Zhang K, Han B, et al. JAMA Psychiatry. 2024;81(8):789-796. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.0810 
• Extended-Release 7-Day Injectable Buprenorphine for Patients With Minimal to Mild Opioid Withdrawal: D’Onofrio G, Herring AA, Perrone J, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(7):e2420702. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.20702 
• Community-Based Cluster-Randomized Trial to Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths: HEALing Communities Study Consortium, Samet JH, El-Bassel N, et al. N Engl J Med. 2024;391(11):989-1001. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2401177 
• Hospital Addiction Consultation Service and Opioid Use Disorder Treatment: The START Randomized Clinical Trial: Ober AJ, Murray-Krezan C, Page K, et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2025. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.8586  
• National and Regional Trends in Fentanyl Seizures in the United States, 2017-2023: Palamar JJ, Fitzgerald N, Carr TH, Cottler LB, Ciccarone D. Int J Drug Policy. 2025;138:104417. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104417 
• Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults With Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial: Hendershot CS, Bremmer MP, Paladino MB, et al. JAMA Psychiatry. 2025;82(4):395-405. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.4789 
• Semaglutide and Opioid Overdose Risk in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Opioid Use Disorder: Wang W, Volkow ND, Wang Q, et al. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(9):e2435247. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.35247 
• Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students – National Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2024: Jamal A, Park-Lee E, Birdsey J, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024;73(41):917-924. Published 2024 Oct 17. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7341a2 

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