News: June 2011 Archives

GOOGLE BRACES FOR HUGE FINE FROM ROGUE DRUG ADS

Article from: cnn.com

Jun 30, 2011 | No Comments

By David Fitzpatrick and Drew Griffin

New York (CNN) -- Internet search giant Google is bracing for a fine that could top $500 million, after a federal probe of illegal online pharmacy ads placed on the website over the past three years, CNN has confirmed.

Law enforcement sources tell CNN that federal prosecutors in Rhode Island, along with undercover agents from the Food and Drug Administration, are heading up a massive investigation aimed at showing Google knowingly took advertising money from websites selling highly addictive drugs without a legitimate prescription.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Providence told CNN he could "neither confirm nor deny" reports of the probe, and Google declined comment "since this is a legal matter."

But in early May, Google filed a notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying it was setting aside $500 million to potentially resolve a case with the Department of Justice. In its filing, Google stated only that the matter involved "the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers."

If a fine of $500 million or higher is in fact imposed on Google, legal experts say it would be the largest such penalty in U.S. history.

A recent study by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Southern California showed a significant expansion in treatment for prescription drug abuse from 2000 to 2007. During those years, the study showed, emergency room admissions for prescription drug abuse rose from 100,000 to 200,000. The study showed states with the greatest expansion of high-speed internet access also had the largest increase in admissions for treatment of prescription drug abuse.

Continue Reading: cnn.com

DOCTORS TELL CONGRESS HOW TO REIN IN PERSCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE

Article from: pbs.com

Jun 30, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jason Kane

More than 125 physicians descended on Capitol Hill this week to demand some relief in their fight against prescription drug addiction.

With nearly 30,000 Americans dying from overdose last year - roughly half from prescription drugs - they say it's time for the federal government to step in. Their solution: Require health care professionals who prescribe drugs to receive specialized training.

"In most cases, doctors contribute innocently because they haven't been trained properly on how to prescribe in a responsible way, how to identify a drug addict and help them," said Dr. David Kloth, a pain management physician from Connecticut and spokesman for the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.

In fact, 80 to 90 percent of physicians in the United States have absolutely no training or education in the use of controlled substances, he said.

The doctors from ASIPP and the North American Neuromodulation Society - two leading associations for pain physicians - encouraged lawmakers to support a bill by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., that would require all physicians to participate in prescription drug abuse training and to register with the Drug Enforcement Administration before prescribing certain medications, especially highly addictive opioid-based pain killers.

Continue Reading: pbs.com

JULY 4TH WEEKEND DANGEROUS FOR UNDERAGE BOYS WHO DRINK

Article from: usnews.com

Jun 30, 2011 | No Comments

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- The number of U.S. teen boys who end up in emergency rooms for drinking-related injuries doubles over the July 4th weekend, federal officials say.
Click here to find out more!

On July 3 and 4, drinking sends a daily average of nearly 1,000 youth under 21 -- two-thirds of them male -- to the ER for problems related to alcohol use, according to a report by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

"When it's a holiday weekend, what we are finding now is that kids, especially young men, are ending up at the emergency room because of alcohol-related problems at almost double as what they would on any other day during July," said Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA's Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality.

Of those seen in emergency rooms over the July 4 holiday in 2009, 622 were boys and 304 were girls, according to the report. Although the number of emergency room visits for girls held steady throughout July, the emergency room visits by boys doubled during the July 4th weekend.

Delany said drinking-related injuries are from fights, car accidents and other mishaps. When kids drink, "they are at greater risk for all those activities that can get you hurt," he explained.

The same problem is seen on other holiday weekends, especially New Year's, Delany added.

"Holidays are trigger points. We as a society have really attached alcohol to certain holidays," he said. "July 4th is a big one. New Year's is a big one."

The data for the study is culled from SAMHSA's 2009 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report, a system that monitors drug-related hospital emergency department visits around the country.

(photo courtesy of whyfame.com)

Continue Reading: usnews.com

MEMORY BLACKOUTS CAUSED BY DRINKING LEAD TO FUTURE ALCOHOL-RELATED INJURIES

Article from: drugfree.org

Jun 30, 2011 | No Comments

By: Join Together Staff

A new study suggests that the more alcohol-related memory blackouts a college student has, the greater the risk he or she has of future accidental injuries related to drinking.

The study of 796 undergraduate and 158 graduate students at four U.S. universities and one Canadian university found that over a two-year period, hazardous drinking was widespread. HealthDay reports that more than half of the students had at least one memory blackout in the year before the study began, while 7 percent said they had at least six blackouts. The study defined memory blackouts as the inability to recall events, not a loss of consciousness as a result of drinking too much.

Overall, the students' alcohol-related injury rate was 25 percent, with no difference between men and women. The more drinking-related blackouts a student had, the greater their risk of having a future alcohol-related injury. One or two memory blackouts increased a student's risk of alcohol-related injury by 57 percent. Those who experienced at least six blackouts were almost three times as likely to have a future alcohol-related injury, the researchers reported in the journal Injury Prevention.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

TEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE IS TOP U.S. HEALTH CONCERN, RESEARCHERS SAY.

Article from: sfgate.com

Jun 30, 2011 | No Comments

(Bloomberg) -- Ninety percent of American alcoholics and drug addicts began their habits before age 18, making adolescent substance abuse the biggest U.S. public health problem, researchers say.

Efforts in the past decade that curbed underage drinking and drug usage may be losing their effect, according to a study released today by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York. While drug usage overall by teens has declined since 1999, one in eight high- school students is addicted to alcohol or another drug, said Susan Foster, the lead author of the report.

Substance use contributes to unintentional injury, homicide and suicide, the top three causes of adolescent death, the study found. Juvenile justice costs for substance-related cases were at least $14 billion. According to the study, U.S. and state governments spent $207.2 billion in 2005 on health-care costs for substance use and addiction, a problem the researchers say originates in the teen years.

"It's shocking to see how many high-school students meet clinical definitions for an addictive disease," Foster, vice president and director of policy research and analysis for the addiction center, said in an interview.

Researchers analyzed data from surveys of students, parents, school personnel, health officials, scientific articles, and professional interviews. Ten million high-school students, or 76 percent, say they have used addictive substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana or cocaine, the report found. Six percent of those kids seek treatment, Foster said.

Alcohol Tops List

Alcohol was the preferred substance among high-school students, researchers found, with 73 percent saying they have drunk alcohol at least once. Cigarettes are the second-most popular at 46 percent, and 65 percent of students said they have used more than one substance.

The report found the number of teens using smokeless tobacco increased to 8.9 percent in 2009 from 6.7 percent in 2003. High-school students who said they currently were using marijuana rose to 21 percent in 2009 from 20 percent in 2007, and those misusing prescription drugs rose to 4 percent in 2009 from 3.5 percent a year earlier.

Continue Reading: sfgate.com

CORNELL UNIVERSITY FRAT HOUSE SUED FOR $25 MILLION OVER HOUSE HAZING DEATH (video)

Article from: abcnews.com

Jun 29, 2011 | No Comments

Screen shot 2011-06-29 at 12.17.34 PM.png

By: Christina Caron

The heartbroken mother of a Cornell University sophomore is suing a fraternity for $25 million after members allegedly kidnapped her son, blindfolded him, bound his hands and feet, and forced him to drink so much alcohol that he passed out and died.

George Desdunes, the son of a Haitian immigrant, was pronounced dead on Feb. 25 from alcohol poisoning at Cayuga Medical Center. Desdunes' blood alcohol level was .409 - more than five times the legal limit, according to the family's lawsuit.

Desdunes' mother, Marie Lourdes Andre, is suing Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for $25 million in the wrongful death of her only son.

The aspiring doctor was captured by freshmen "pledges" of the fraternity who allegedly devised a horrific set of tasks and punishments for Desdunes and one other frat member.

Continue Reading: abcnews.com

RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT URGED BY IAS TO RADICALLY REASSESS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE DRUG POLICIES

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 29, 2011 | No Comments

As Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the Russian state Duma, calls for a "total war on drugs" to tackle Russia's growing drug problem, the International AIDS Society (IAS) urges the Russian government to radically reassess its approach to drug policy, and to accept that the war on drugs has failed dramatically from both a law enforcement and a public health perspective.

Under new laws being drawn up by the Russian parliament, injecting drug users would be forced into treatment or jailed, while drug dealers would be sent to forced labour camps. These new measures contradict the recommendations of the recent report by the Global Commission on Drugs Policy, which clearly states that there must be a shift away from criminalizing drugs and incarcerating those who use them, and which calls on policy makers to "end the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others."

These new measures also ignore existing solid scientific evidence demonstrating that harm reduction programmes, including Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST), are effective in keeping injecting drug users (IDUs) in treatment programmes, reducing risky behaviors and mitigating a wide range of health and social consequences of drug dependence.

Continue Reading: medicalnewstoday.com

ALARM SOUNDED OVER BLACK TAR HEROIN USE

Article from: charlotteobserver.com

Jun 29, 2011 | No Comments

By: Franco Ordonez & Cleve R. Wootson, Jr.

The escalation of black tar heroin in Charlotte has police worried about growing addiction and dangers for young people.

"It's as serious as the beginning of the crack cocaine epidemic," said UNC Charlotte criminal justice professor Paul Friday. "And the reason it is serious is because it can expand so quickly."

Friday spoke to the Charlotte City Council on Monday, warning about increasing use of the highly addictive drug that seems particularly prevalent in affluent areas and among young people. He was joined by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, who told council members that suppliers are Mexican-based cartels that operate as efficiently as a business.

"We take a cell off the street and oftentimes, they'll make another cell in the next five days because they're at the bottoms of the distribution chain," Maj. Glen Neimeyer said at a Tuesday press conference.

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TEENS AND DRUGS: RITE OF PASSAGE OR RECIPE FOR ADDICTION?

Article from: time.com

Jun 29, 2011 | No Comments

By: Alice Park

Teen drug use shouldn't be looked at as a rite of passage but as a public health problem, say experts, and one that has reached "epidemic" levels.

In a new report on drug, alcohol and tobacco use among teens in the U.S., the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University finds that 75% of all high school students have used alcohol, tobacco or either legal or illicit drugs and that 20% of these adolescents are addicted.

The data also support previous studies that link early substance use to addiction later in life: 90% of Americans who are currently addicted started smoking, drinking or using drugs before age 18. A quarter of those who begin using addictive substances at these early ages become addicted as adults, while only one in 25 who start using these substances after age 21 does.

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ADDICTION AND AGE 21

Article from: latimes.com

Jun 29, 2011 | No Comments

By: Shari Roan

Addictions are largely problems of people who begin smoking, drinking or using other drugs before age 21, according to a report published Wednesday by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The report calls adolescent substance use American's leading public health problem and points to statistics that show an "epidemic" of use among minors. For example, 75% of all high school students have used addictive substances. One in five meets the medical criteria for addiction.

The report comes at a time when science has clarified a critical aspect of addiction. Substances act differently on the developing brain than they do on the adult brain. The report notes that one in four Americans who began using any addictive substance before age 18 are addicted compared with one in 25 Americans who started using at age 21 or older. Delaying the use of addictive substances for as long as possible should be a high priority of parents and pediatricians.

However, 46% of children under age 18 live in a household where someone 18 or older is smoking, drinking excessively, misusing prescription drugs or using illegal drugs, the report concluded.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

NIKE PULLS "DOPE" AND "GET HIGH" T-SHIRTS FROM BOSTON WINDOW DISPLAY

Article from: drugfree.org

Jun 28, 2011 | No Comments

By: Join Together Staff

A Nike store in Boston has taken down a window display of T-shirts that said "Dope" and "Get High" after initially refusing a request to remove them by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

The Boston Herald reports that the Niketown store in the Back Bay neighborhood removed the T-shirts after Nike issued a statement last week explaining that the T-shirts are part of an action sports campaign, and they do not condone the use of banned or illegal substances.

Last week, Menino wrote a letter to Nike, asking the company to remove the T-shirts. He said they contain drug references and profanity that "are out of keeping with the character of Boston's Back Bay, our entire city, and our aspirations for our young people...not to mention common sense."

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COCAINE BEING MIXED WITH ANIMAL DRUG CAN SCAR FOR LIFE

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 28, 2011 | No Comments

Editors Choice:

Cocaine is one of the most used illegal substances. So much so that cocaine "cut" with byproducts is rampant and in a new report, it seems that cocaine is now being diluted from its pure form with levamisole, a cheap and widely available drug used to deworm livestock. Considering the rampant use, this could result in a tremendous health epidemic in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Justice has reported that up to 70% of cocaine in the United States is contaminated with levamisole. Once prescribed for humans, the drug was discontinued after patients who took the drug developed skin conditions similar to the cocaine users.

The new report states that patients in Los Angeles and New York who smoked or snorted cocaine diluted with the veterinary drug developed serious skin reactions.

Six patients developed patches of purple necrotic skin on their ears, nose and cheeks, as well as other parts of their body, and in some instances, the cocaine users suffered permanent scarring as a result of using the tainted drug.

Dr. Noah Craft, of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center said:

"We believe these cases of skin reactions and illnesses linked to contaminated cocaine are just the tip of the iceberg in a looming public health problem posed by levamisole."

Continue Reading: medicalnewstoday.com

GUATEMALA BECOMES KILLING FIELD AS DRUG WARS SPREAD THROUGH CENTRAL AMERICA

Article from: guardian.com

Jun 28, 2011 | No Comments

Photo left: Guatemalan police raid at a home in Coban, Alta Verapaz, in their fight against Mexico's Zetas drug gang. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP

By: Rory Carroll

It is called a war, but there is no frontline or thunder of battle in this scorched wilderness. There is only a no man's land where the dead pile up in silence and the living have nothing to say.

Twenty-seven farm labourers were decapitated and had their heads strewn across a field one recent night, but ask neighbours and they reply with blank looks and apologetic shrugs, as if it happened in a distant land.

Two well-known peasant leaders were killed in separate incidents as if by phantoms. Broad daylight, but no witnesses. Months later, some in the community profess ignorance it even happened. "Ricardo Estrada and Jorge Gutiérrez are dead?"

Yes, they are dead. As are three Mexicans shot in a house last week, according to neighbourhood whispers. A pick-up spirited away the bodies and the home owner scrubbed the blood before police arrived. They decided nothing happened.

Welcome to El Naranjo, a sun-blistered one-street town on Guatemala's northern frontier, once in the middle of nowhere, now in the middle of Latin America's drug war. Mexico's narco-fuelled bloodshed, with 36,000 dead in four years, is dripping here and across much of central America.

The isthmus has been a transit point for Andean cocaine for decades, but its importance to cartels has multiplied since the US coastguard shut down alternative Caribbean routes. Competition has sharpened since Mexico's crackdown flushed some narcos south, notably the Zetas, a particularly brutal bunch who seek to annihilate rivals.

The region can ill afford such visitors. Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are already world murder capitals because of poverty, youth gangs and dysfunctional, feeble states. Hurricanes and climate change, which disrupt agriculture, do not help. The massacre of the peasants - targeted allegedly because the ranch owner stole Zeta cocaine - has filled the region with foreboding. "This is a war without quarter," Guatemala's president, Álvaro Colom, told the Guardian. "There is a lot of infiltration, a lot of corruption. We need a Nato-type force to fight back."

Continue Reading: guardian.com

ARMED ROBBERIES AT PHARMACIES INCREASE

Article from: scrippsnews.com

Jun 28, 2011 | No Comments

By: Victoria Colliver

SAN FRANCISCO - Christopher Patterson, co-owner of High Street Pharmacy in Oakland, Calif., didn't panic when two young thieves in masks walked in last month and pointed a gun at him. He and his staff simply gave them what they wanted: the store's entire supply of a prescription narcotic cough syrup that that sells for up to $200 a bottle on the street.

"It just happened so fast. They were in and out in about three minutes," said Patterson, who has since upgraded the pharmacy's surveillance cameras, provided additional safety training for employees and taken other security measures.

Pharmacies, from large chain stores to corner drugstores, have increasingly become victims of holdups and burglaries, fueled largely by the abuse of prescription medications such as oxycodone, hydrocodone -- the main ingredient in Vicodin -- and alprazolam, or Xanax.

"You've got people breaking in. We have pharmacies with employees who are stealing drugs," said Virginia Herold, the California Board of Pharmacy's executive officer. "... People want prescription drugs and they see pharmacies as where to get them."

Prescription drug abuse has been a growing problem in the United States for years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prescription painkillers have surpassed illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine as the leading cause of fatal overdoses.

As abuse rates have risen, so has the frequency of armed robberies at pharmacies.

Over the past four years, pharmacy holdups reported to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency have gone up 80 percent: from 380 at pharmacies nationwide in 2006 to 686 last year. Last year, Florida led with 65 robberies; California followed with 61.

Continue Reading: scrippsnews.com

OFFICIALS OUTLINE EFFORTS TO FIGHT UNDERAGE DRINKING AT JERSEY SHORE

Article from: njtoday.com

Jun 28, 2011 | No Comments

BELMAR - Attorney General Paula T. Dow today joined with state, county and local law enforcement officials to announce a comprehensive law enforcement and public awareness effort by the Divisions of Alcoholic Beverage Control and Highway Traffic Safety to combat underage drinking in Jersey Shore resort areas this summer.

"Today I am calling on our law enforcement partners and those people in the alcoholic beverage industry to help us combat rampant underage drinking by cracking down on fake IDs," Dow said. "Far too many young people use this fraudulent document as a gateway to obtain alcohol illegally."

Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control Director Jerry Fischer added, "Through its law enforcement efforts and its public awareness initiatives, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control continues to send a strong message that underage drinking can have not just legal ramifications, but also life-changing consequences that affect the drinker and all of the people whose lives the drinker may shatter."

Scores of law enforcement personnel and alcoholic beverage representatives joined with the Attorney General at a late morning press conference held at the Taylor Pavilion in Belmar.

Division of Highway Traffic Safety Acting Director Gary Poedubicky stressed the potentially fatal consequences of underage drinking and driving.

"While we continue to make steady progress in our fight to keep drunk drivers off of our roads, we still have a long way to go if we are to ensure that all drivers remain safe," Acting Director Poedubicky said. "In 2009, nearly 28,000 individuals were arrested in New Jersey for driving while intoxicated, and of those charged, nearly 3,000 were under the age of 21."

Diane Weiss, Executive Director of the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association (NJLBA), which is comprised of bar, tavern and restaurant owners throughout New Jersey, stated that the association strongly supports the efforts announced today to combat underage drinking.

Continue Reading: njtoday.com

CLOSE TIES CAN HELP WITH BOOZE

Article from: noosanews.com

Jun 27, 2011 | No Comments

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By: Miranda Cashin

CLOSE relationships between teenagers and their parents may discourage teenagers from alcohol use according to research conducted by The University of Queensland's Centre for Youth Substance Abuse Research and the Centre for Adolescent Health in Melbourne.

The research showed that emotional closeness between fathers and daughters and between mothers and sons may protect young teenagers, and that family conflict was more closely linked to girls' drinking than boys' drinking.

It also indicated that parents needed to start early with alcohol-related strategies due to the high levels of risk that even pre-teens were exposed to with respect to alcohol.

Integrated Family and Youth Service chief Paul Morton agreed with the research but said emotional closeness extended beyond just protecting from alcohol abuse.

"It's not just alcohol but a whole range of things," he said.

"The more connected a teenager feels to their family the less likely they are to engage in anti-social behaviours. I'm not talking about just skylarking but serious criminal behaviour."

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KIDS GETTING ADDICTED TO 'WHITE INK'

Article from: ahmedabadmirror.com

Jun 27, 2011 | No Comments

By: Dhwani Pathak Dave

Children believe its consumption helps in increasing stamina; experts say it can damage their brain

June 26 is observed as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking. However, for a group of 12-year-olds, it was a regular Sunday of play after consuming a dose of 'white ink'.

'White ink' or correction pen ink has drawn attention after Mohanbhai, a watchman of a building in Usmanpura was caught in a tiff with the 'leader' of a group of boys.

Mohanbhai says, "Suddenly the young boy started abusing me. There was a slight lisp and he fumbled while talking. When I tried to probe a little further, I found out that he consumed 'white ink' regularly."

Close to 20 children in the area have become addicted to the ink that contains toluene. Says the 'second leader', "Look at anybody over here. Even the ones that look "straight" have tried everything. The fact is that most of us are consumers of this substance."

Toluene or methylbenzene, is an aromatic hydrocarbon (C7H8) commonly used as an industrial solvent.

An 11-year-old boy says, "I started having this after a friend of mine suggested it to me last year. Since then, I have grown taller." He adds, "We do not have it that often. Just twice or thrice a month."

Another boy who is fondly known as the 'expert' in such matters says, "It feels great after you drink it. You are able to concentrate on something better."

Continue Reading: ahmedabadmirror.com

ENERGY DRINKS LINKED TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN SURVEY OF MUSICIANS

Article from: independent.com

Jun 27, 2011 | No Comments

Frequent consumption of energy drinks has been linked to alcohol-related problems, binge drinking and prescription drug abuse among a very specific group of users - musicians, says a group of US researchers.

In a survey examining substance use among 226 New York professional and amateur musicians aged 18-45, researchers found that of the 94 percent of respondents who said they were caffeine users, 57 percent said they sought caffeine jolts from energy drinks specifically.

The study was published in the Journal of Caffeine Research and released from the University of Buffalo last week.

In the study, those who used energy drinks reported significantly more misuse of legal substances than those who didn't drink energy drinks: 31 percent of energy drink users misused prescription drugs compared to 13 percent of nonusers while 76 percent reported binge drinking compared to 59 percent of nonusers.

Researchers also found that 68 percent of musicians reported heavy drinking at least once or twice a year and 74 reported experiencing at least one alcohol-related social problem, defined as a hangover, arguing with others about their drinking, or doing something under the influence that they later regretted.

Musicians also reported recreational drug use: 52 percent said they used marijuana, 25 percent used psychedelic drugs, 23 percent abused prescription drugs and 21 percent said they used cocaine.

Continue Reading: independent.com

CHINESE COURT SENTENCES SEVEN DRUG TRAFFICKERS TO DEATH PENALITY

Article from: channel6news.com

Jun 26, 2011 | No Comments

By: BNO News

NANJING, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- A Chinese court on Friday sentenced seven men to death penalty after being convicted of drug trafficking in the eastern Jiangsu Province, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The Intermediate People's Court in Changzhou city sentenced Wei Rong Xiu and Cheng Gang to death while five other drug dealers received death sentences with a two-year reprieve.

Wei and Chen were found guilty of selling over 2 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride, known in the streets as 'ice', between August 2008 and December 2009. The other five defendants were given lenient sentences after pleading guilty to the charges brought against them.

The Changzhou court also ordered to seize all properties of the seven convicts as well as depriving them of their political rights for life. Chinese authorities have intensified their efforts to fight drug trafficking in recent times.

It is unknown how many people are executed in China each year as the government considers these figures to be a state secret. But according to Amnesty International, the figure is at least 'thousands'.

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ANTIOCH RAISES FINES FOR UNDERAGE DRINKING

Article from: dailyherald.com

Jun 26, 2011 | No Comments

By Samantha Bilharz

Antioch officials have significantly increased fines for underage drinking and social hosting in an effort to deter teen alcohol use.

The village board approved the changes Monday, following a decision in neighboring Kenosha County, Wis. to boost underage drinking fines. The maximum fine there is more than $1,000.

"Kids from Wisconsin were coming to Antioch to drink because the fine was $50 in Antioch. I found this fine was way too low," Antioch Police Chief Craig Somerville said.

The village's new fine for underage drinking rose from $50 to $150 for the first offense. The second offense will cost $500, while the fine for additional offenses is set at $750.

For a social hosting violation, the first offense rose from $75 to $500, and any subsequent offenses will cost $750. Social hosting makes any adult accountable for having a gathering where minors are using alcohol and drugs.

Repeat offenders may be required to take alcohol classes or have their driver's license revoked, officials said. Somerville said the level of alcohol in the offender's system is also a factor in the penalties.

Continue Reading: dailyherald.com

CENTRAL AMERICA DRUGS WAR: CLINTON PLEDGES MORE FUNDS

Article from: bbc.com

Jun 26, 2011 | No Comments

Hillary Clinton urged businesses in the region to pull their weight in the fight against drug-related violence

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pledged more foreign aid to fight drug cartels in Central America.

Mrs Clinton told a regional security conference in Guatemala that the US would increase its aid by more than 10% to nearly $300m (£187m).

Analysts say the figure is still small, given that more than two-thirds of cocaine sent from South America to the US now passes through Central America.

In total, some $1.8bn was promised to support the region's security.

The World Bank is to provide $1bn in the coming years, said Pamela Cox, the bank's vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) will also offer $500m over two years.

Announcing the increased US funding, Mrs Clinton said Washington was committed to helping the region.

"Everyone knows the statistics, the murder rates surpassing civil war levels," she said in remarks to the Central American Security Conference (SICA).

Mrs Clinton said funding to tackle transnational organised crime in the region would be increased from $260m in 2010 to almost $300m this year.

Continue Reading: bbc.com

DRUG USE INVOLVED IN 25% OF FATAL CRASHES

Article from: usatoday.com

Jun 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jonathan Shorman

Drivers who die in crashes test positive for drugs 25% of the time, a new study finds.

Researchers examined data on more than 44,000 drivers in single-vehicle crashes who died between 1999 and 2009. They found that 24.9% tested positive for drugs and 37% had blood-alcohol levels in excess of 0.08, the legal limit. Fifty-eight percent had no alcohol in their systems; 5% had less than 0.08. The data were from a government database on traffic fatalities.

Study co-authors Eduardo Romano and Robert Voas of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Md., say their study is one of the first to show the prevalence of drug use among fatally injured drivers. Among drivers who tested positive for drugs, 22% were positive for marijuana, 22% for stimulants and 9% for narcotics.

The study also examined interaction between alcohol and drugs in fatal crashes. Researchers found no evidence that combining drugs and alcohol produced greater impairment.

"When a driver is drunk, it doesn't matter what drugs are in their system. The alcohol takes over," Romano says.

Unlike data for drunken driving, data on drugged driving are limited, says Robert DuPont, former head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Continue Reading: usatoday.com

BRITAIN HAS HIGHEST NUMBER OF DRUG DEATHS IN WESTERN EUROPE

Article from: telegraph.com

Jun 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: Steven Adams

Britain has one of the highest numbers of reported drug-related deaths in the world, according to a United Nations report.

Drugs were the primary cause of death in 2,278 cases in the UK in 2008, the highest number for any country in west or central Europe, found the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Drug deaths in Britain accounted for one in 10 across Europe, the figures indicated.

Most of these deaths were caused by opioids, followed by sedatives, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and ecstasy.

Britain has the sixth-highest number of drug-related deaths globally, according to the UNODC annual report, after the United States, the Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Iran and Mexico.

Other countries across the globe are likely to have significantly higher actual numbers of drug related deaths than in Britain, but in countries like Afghanistan the vast majority go unreported. Britain, by contrast, has one of the most stringent processes to ascertain cause of death in the world.

Nonetheless, Britain is a major market for suppliers of illicit drugs due to the size and wealth of its population.

The UN report also found that while overall drug use across the world remained stable, "demand soared for substances not under international control" - so-called "legal highs".

"These markets continue to evolve and every year new products, not under control, are manufactured to supply an increasingly diversified demand for psychoactive substances."

Continue Reading: telegraph.com

MAKERS OF GENERIC DRUGS DON'T HAVE TO WARN OF NEW DANGERS, SUPREME COURT RULES

Article from: latimes.com

Jun 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: David G. Savage

The Supreme Court rules that makers of generics, unlike makers of brand-name drugs, do not have to warn patients of newly revealed problems. In another ruling, justices supported drug makers buying or selling prescription records from patients for 'marketing' purposes.

Reporting from Washington--
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court gave the pharmaceutical industry a pair of victories Thursday, shielding the makers of generic drugs from most lawsuits by injured patients and declaring that drug makers had a free-speech right to buy private prescription records to boost their sales pitches to doctors.

In both decisions, the court's conservative bloc formed the majority, and most of its liberals dissented.

About 75% of the prescriptions written in this country are for lower-cost generic versions of brand-name drugs. Federal law requires the original makers of these brand-name drugs to include an approved and up-to-date warning label that tells doctors and patients of possible side effects or complications.

But in a 5-4 decision, the high court said this duty to warn patients of newly revealed dangers does not extend to the makers of generic drugs. Justice Clarence Thomas said that because the federal Food and Drug Administration must approve changes in the warning labels, the generic makers may not be sued under state liability laws for failing to warn patients of new dangers.

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WEST AFRICA NEWEST MARKET IN GLOBAL DRUG TRADE

Article from: globalpost.com

Jun 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: Tristian McConnell

West Africa risks being thrown into new turmoil and conflict by the drug cartels, whose trade is often worth more than the economies of the countries in which they operate.

Africa-wide figures contained in a report published Thursday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime show that cocaine seizures have fallen from a record high of 5,500 tons in 2007 to only 956 tons in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. But fewer seizures doesn't necessarily mean fewer drugs are being trafficked.

"The role of West Africa in cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe might have decreased if judged from seizures only, but there are other indications that traffickers may have changed their tactics, and the area remains vulnerable to a resurgence in trafficking of cocaine," the U.N. report says.

Earlier this week Alexandre Schmidt, the U.N. organization's regional head, refused to be buoyed by the apparent fall in quantities of cocaine trafficked.

"It means there has been a repositioning of the drug routes and the drug traffickers have much more sophisticated means and they are using more routes," he told a conference in Dakar, Senegal.

Schmidt warned that cartels are probably using submarines to evade detection.

"We are not talking about military vessels here, but rather smaller ones which can be bought freely on the international market by anybody who has a couple of million dollars to spare," he said. A number of drug-smuggling submarines have been discovered in Latin America.

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CANADA IS A LEADING SOURCE OF SYNTHETIC DRUGS (video)

Article from: theglobeandmail.com

Jun 24, 2011 | No Comments

By: Julian Sher

Canadians may think of illegal drug trafficking as a problem to pin on foreigners, but in the global trade in synthetic drugs like ecstasy and methamphetamines, Canada is one of the bad guys.

The United Nations' World Drug Report for 2011 was released Thursday, and Canada does not come off well - which is no surprise to those working in drug enforcement.

"If you look at the size and magnitude of these illicit drug labs, we just don't have the population and consumer base for this," said Sergeant Brent Hill, commander of the RCMP's chemical diversion unit in Milton, Ont. "This is for export and we know this. Do you really want to be a leading source country of illegal drugs?"

The annual UN drug report singles out Canada as a leading exporter of meth to the United States, the Philippines, Malaysia, Mexico and Jamaica.

In addition, "the resurgence" of ecstasy use south of the border "was fuelled by the manufacture [of ecstasy] in Canada and subsequent smuggling," according to the report which is based on global police, government and health records.

"For years we have pointed the finger at Colombia and Afghanistan," said Thomas Pietschmann, of the threat analysis section of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime. "But the same kind of standard should apply to Western countries like Canada."

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LIQUOR INDUSTRY CLAIMS ALCOHOL CRACKDOWN WILL PUSH DRINKERS TO DRUGS

Article from: watoday.com

Jun 24, 2011 | No Comments

By: Courtney Trenwith

A crackdown on the availability of alcohol in Western Australia will only serve to push addicts and binge drinkers onto other drugs, the liquor industry claims.

A report into the prevention and treatment of alcohol-related harm released yesterday called for both the minimum drinking age and the cost of alcohol to be raised, while cracking down on liquor outlets, licensed venues and alcohol advertising.

The radical recommendations are in light of findings that show WA is the highest consumer of alcohol in the country and 10th in the world per capita.

Last year, the average West Australian drank about 70 per cent more than the recommended maximum of two standard drinks per day, costing the state between $1.5 billion and $5 billion, the Education and Health parliamentary committee found.

The committee criticised the state's liquor legislation as being weak and pro-industry, propagating a dangerous drinking culture.

"The government has a tough-on-crime approach, we need now a tough-on-alcohol and a tough-on-enforcing-alcohol-legislation approach," committee chair Dr Janet Woollard said.

Among the recommendations, the committee proposed introducing a floor price per standard drink and lifting the drinking age to 21, or banning those under 20 years from buying takeaway alcohol.

Premier Colin Barnett has ruled out raising the legal drinking age from 18 to 21.

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TREATMENT UP FOR PRESCRIPTION DRUG, ALCOHOL ABUSE

Article from: usatoday.com

Jun 24, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jonathan Shorman

More people are getting treatment for prescription drug abuse than a decade ago, and alcohol treament is on the rise after declining for several years, a new government analysis shows.

The report, released this week by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), found that the percentage of patients treated for opiates other than heroin, such as OxyContin and other prescription drugs, rose from 1% of all substance abuse admissions (to both outpatient and in-patient treatment programs) in 1999 to 7% in 2009. These presciption drugs made up 33% of opiate admissions in 2009, up from 8% in 1999.

Lynn Webster, director-at-large for the American Academy of Pain Medicine, says that the prescription drug abuse problem began about a decade ago as prescriptions for opiate-based pain killers increased. Doctors believed solutions to pain were inadequate and saw opiates as safe as well as effective. "Basically, we were nave as clinicians," Webster says.

Most individuals who end up with substance abuse problems from medications also have a mental health issue, Webster says. Increased assessment by physicians of patients before and during use of presciptions will help combat abuse, he says.

The percentage of patients seeking treatment for alcohol abuse declined from 48% in 1999 to 39% in 2005, but has been on the rise since. In 2009, alcohol treatment accounted for 44% of treatment admissions.

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ELEMENTS ALERT PARENTS ABOUT RISE IN "STUDY DRUG" ABUSE

Article from: prweb.com

Jun 24, 2011 | No Comments

Recent studies shows the abuse by college students of "study drugs" such as Adderall and Ritalin has dramatically increased and Elements Behavioral Health provides parents with information on how to recognize signs of abuse and addiction that indicate the need to intervene.

Elements Behavioral Health warns parents that more and more college students are abusing study drugs and provides information on how to recognize withdrawal symptoms and signs of addiction when their children return home for the summer. Many college students are exposed to illicit drug use and to prescription drug abuse while they are away at school, which can lead to risky behavior, injury, disease, addiction, and even death.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has reported via its Drug Abuse Warning Network that increased prescribing of ADHD drugs has led to greater access by person without a prescription and that peers are a common source of ADHD medications.

When college students return home for the summer, they are often subject to curfews and other house rules that didn't apply while they were away. In some cases, students that have become dependent on illicit drugs or prescription medication (such as "study drugs") will experience withdrawal symptoms if they can't continue their substance use while living at home. Others will continue their substance abuse and may exhibit signs of addiction. Being able to recognize these signs and symptoms will help you get your child the treatment they may need as well as prevent future addiction-related problems.

"Study drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin, when taken by someone who doesn't suffer from attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), act as stimulants. They can cause irritability, insomnia, rapid shifts in emotions, and weight loss," explains Dr. David Sack, an addiction psychiatrist and CEO of Elements Behavioral Health.

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EX-DRUG CZAR URGES SUBSTANCE ABUSERS TO SEEK HELP

Article from: mysanantonio.com

Jun 24, 2011 | No Comments

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey says drug and alcohol problems have "a devastating impact on families and employers. We've got to do something about it."
Photo: Helen L. Montoya/hmontoya@express-news.net / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

By: Don Finley

Noting the shame and stigma of seeking help, the nation's former drug czar encouraged millions of Americans needing treatment for substance abuse -- including some returning soldiers -- and their families to come forward anyway.

"Twenty-four million of us have chronic drug abuse or alcohol issues and are not in treatment," said retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey. "It has a devastating impact on families and employers. We've got to do something about it."

McCaffrey, who led the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy from 1996 to 2001, now serves on the board of the for-profit CRC Health Group, which operates substance abuse programs across the country, including the Starlite Recovery Center, near Kerrville.

He was in San Antonio to help promote a new treatment program for pain pill addicts that combines inpatient care, counseling and a recently approved, once-monthly shot for opiate abuse called Vivitrol.

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SURGE IN NUMBER OF AMERICANS TREATED FOR PERSCRIPTION PAINKILLER ABUSE

Article from: usnews.com

Jun 23, 2011 | No Comments

Rehab admissions related to alcohol, opiates (including prescription painkillers) and marijuana increased in the United States between 1999 and 2009, according to a new national report.
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However, fewer people sought treatment for problems with cocaine and methamphetamine or amphetamines, the researchers noted.

One of the most staggering increases over the 10-year study period: opiate admissions, mostly due to use of prescription opioids, which include painkillers such as oxycodone (Oxycontin) or Vicodin (hydrocodone).

The findings showed that 96 percent of the nearly 2 million admissions to treatment facilities that occurred in 2009 were related to alcohol (42 percent), opiates (21 percent), marijuana (18 percent), cocaine (9 percent) and methamphetamine/amphetamines (6 percent).

The report from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) identified trends in the reasons why people are admitted to substance abuse treatment facilities.

The SAMHSA report revealed that prescription drugs were to blame for 33 percent of opiate rehab admissions in 2009 -- up from just 8 percent a decade earlier.

Alcohol abuse also remains a serious problem. It was the number one reason for substance abuse treatment among all major ethnic and racial groups, except Puerto Ricans, according to the report. Although alcohol-related admissions dropped from 48 percent to 39 percent between 1999 and 2005, the number resurged to 42 percent of all admissions by 2009. Compounding the problem, 44 percent of those who abused alcohol admitted to using other drugs as well.

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NIKE TAKING HEAT FOR NEW SHIRTS (video)

Article from: kgw.com

Jun 23, 2011 | No Comments

By: Tim Gordon

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Nike has released a new line of shirts for it's action sports line that is creating a controversy over themes involving drug use.

The Beaverton-based Nike said the themes of the shirts have nothing to do with drugs, but drug prevention groups and others disagreed.

The t-shirts, being sold at Nike stores in Portland and worldwide, are aimed at snow, skate and surf boarders, and BMX bike riders. One of the shirts simply states "Get High," referring to elevating off the ground on a bike or a board. But "Get High" can also be connected to smoking marijuana or using other drugs.

Oregon Partnership is a non-profit drug and alcohol abuse prevention agency based in Portland. Oregon Partnership is publicly calling on Nike to remove the shirts from store shelves. It points to one t-shirt that says "Dope," and has a graphic image of a pill bottle with small pill-shaped skateboards coming out of it, as the worst example of a drug message.

"To even have a wink at it by having a pill bottle and skateboards that look like pills is just bad thinking," said Oregon Partnership's Tom Parker. "I'm shocked that Nike is responding and defending this position."

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LSD: ADIC TESTS

Article from: economist.com

Jun 23, 2011 | No Comments

Research into hallucinogenic drugs begins to shake off decades of taboo.

THE psychedelic era of the 1960s is remembered for its music, its art and, of course, its drugs. Its science is somewhat further down the list. But before the rise of the counterculture, researchers had been studying LSD as a treatment for everything from alcoholism to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with promising results.

Timothy Leary, a psychologist at Harvard University, was one of the best-known workers in the field, but it was also he who was widely blamed for discrediting it, by his unconventional research methods and his lax handling of drugs. Now, the details of Leary's research will be made public, with the recent purchase of his papers by the New York Public Library. These papers will be interesting not only culturally, but also scientifically, as they reflect what happened between the early medical promise of hallucinogens and their subsequent blacklisting by authorities around the world.

American researchers began experimenting with LSD in 1949, at first using it to simulate mental illness. Once its psychedelic effects were realised, they then tried it in psychotherapy and as a treatment for alcoholism, for which it became known at the time as a miracle cure.

By 1965 over 1,000 papers had been published describing positive results for LSD therapy. It, and its close chemical relative psilocybin, isolated from hallucinogenic mushrooms, were reported as having potential for treating anxiety disorders, OCD, depression, bereavement and even sexual dysfunction. Unfortunately, most of the studies that came to these conclusions were flawed: many results were anecdotal, and control groups were not established to take account of the placebo effect.

Continue Reading: economist.com

RANDOM POLICE DRUG TESTS 'INEVITABLE'

Article from: brisbanetimes.com

Jun 23, 2011 | No Comments

By: Daniel Hurst and Marissa Calligeros

Queensland police officers may be subject to random drug tests in the wake of a damning Crime and Misconduct Commission report into policing on the Gold Coast.

The CMC report said police bosses must do more to tackle "serious systemic issues" and called for greater action against drug and substance abuse by police officers, along with better recruitment and job screening practices.

This afternoon, Queensland police commissioner Bob Atkinson said the random drug testing of officers was now necessary.
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Mr Atkinson, who had previously said the cost of carrying out random drug tests on officers was not warranted, today said he had changed his mind.

"Times do change," he said.

"It's something we have to consider ... We have to explore going down that path again. It is the price of being professional.

"I think it's probably going to be inevitable."

Its report on Operation Tesco, tabled in State Parliament today, found no evidence of widespread corruption among Gold Coast officers but warned key issues needed to be addressed, such as illegal drug use and steroid abuse.

The CMC found officers were reluctant to support suspected police misconduct, while members of the force engaged in drug and alcohol abuse and improperly accessed confidential information and misused police service vehicles as "blue light taxis".

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/random-police-drug-tests-inevitable-20110623-1ggek.html#ixzz1Q7NP2661

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GALLIANO BLAMES PARIS 'RACE OUTBURSTS' ON ADDICTIONS (video)

Article from: bbc.com

Jun 23, 2011 | No Comments

British fashion designer John Galliano has told a Paris court that his drug and alcohol addictions were to blame for his alleged anti-Semitic outbursts.

Prosecutors say he hurled racial slurs at customers in Paris a cafe.

The designer, who was fired by the Dior fashion house over the allegations, said he had no recollection of the events and denied being racist.

If convicted, he faces a possible six months in jail and a fine of up to 22,500-euro (£20,000).

Prosecutors have asked for a fine of not less than 10,000 euros.

Mr Galliano is charged with "public insults based on origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity". The verdict will be announced on 8 September.

The trial focuses on two alleged incidents in October and February.
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Video of a third incident - in which he was shown saying to two women in a cafe, "I love Hitler", and telling them that their parents could have been gassed by the Nazis - was used as evidence in court.

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ARIZONA SHERIFF: WILDFIRES LIKELY STARTED BY MEXICAN DRUG TRAFFICKERS, SMUGGLERS

Article from: foxnews.com

Jun 22, 2011 | No Comments

By: Joshua Rhett Miller

Massive wildfires in eastern Arizona that have scorched 250,000 acres were probably started by Mexican drug traffickers or human smugglers, an Arizona sheriff told Fox News on Wednesday.

During a televised interview on Fox News, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said the most recent blaze -- the so-called Monument Fire -- was "man-caused" and began about a week ago near Coronado National Forest, where the border fence ends. Dever said the 4,700-acre park had been closed for days prior to the start of the fire.

"The bottom line is, there was nobody in the park [who] would've been there legally," Dever said. "There were no vehicles, no nothing. It's a high-intensity drug trafficking and human smuggling area. We have scouts that hang out there all the time. They light signal fires, they light warming fires because it gets cold at night ... There is nothing to indicate that there was any other cause. And the highest probability -- not possibility -- is that this is how this fire started."

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FEDS CHARGE 38 PEOPLE IN THREE STATES FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

Article from: reuters.com

Jun 22, 2011 | No Comments

By: Mary Wisniewski

(Reuters) - A total of 38 defendants in three states face federal narcotics charges as a result of an investigation into a Chicago-based heroin and cocaine trafficking ring, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The investigation included an alleged supply network, as well as wholesale customers in Cincinnati and New York.

The probe included at least five alleged heroin purchases by an undercover Chicago police officer, wiretaps on 16 phones and seizures of narcotics and drug proceeds.

In one incident last year, the trafficking ring allegedly tried to transport about a pound of heroin hidden inside an SUV to Cincinnati.

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DRUNK DRIVING: EVEN A TRACE OF ALCOHOL CAN MAKE A DRIVER DANGEROUS (video)

Article from: abc.com

Jun 22, 2011 | No Comments

By: Lee Dye

Everybody knows drunk drivers are killers. But here's a startling finding by researchers at the University of California, San Diego:

Even a trace of alcohol, just enough to give a driver a "buzz," greatly increases the chances that the driver will be involved in an accident causing serious injuries and fatalities.

So how much is a trace? Anyone driving in the United States with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent is violating the law and considered drunk enough to be dangerous. But this study of nearly 1.5 million fatal accidents indicates that even .01 percent blood alcohol concentration is enough to increase the odds of a deadly accident. For many adults, that's less than half a beer.

"Accident severity increases significantly even when the driver is merely 'buzzed,'" according to the study, published in the current issue of the journal Addiction. The research, conducted by sociologists David Phillips and Kimberly M. Brewer, is based on federal statistics for fatal automotive accidents from 1994 through 2008.

The researchers were "initially startled" by their own findings, Phillips said during a telephone interview, "but then we discovered that people with such a low level of alcohol were behaving differently from sober drivers."

The authors said they believe this is the first study to use more than a decade of evidence from all U.S. counties and for all times of the day and all days of the week. They also believe their results are so conclusive that the legal limit should be lowered.

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DRUG WAR CREATES DISTRUST BETWEEN COPS AND COMMUNITIES

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Jun 22, 2011 | No Comments

By: Leigh Maddox

The 40-year-old "war on drugs" and the criminalization of addiction have placed communities at odds with law enforcement, prosecutors and courts -- to the detriment of justice and respect for the rule of law. The violence driven by the astronomical profits of the illicit drug market and the life-long collateral consequences for those snared by drug laws will continue to exile generations from the mainstream.

It might be surprising to hear this from a cop like me, but the solution to our current human rights crisis will ultimately require the legalization and regulation of current illicit drugs.

I retired from a rewarding career with the Maryland State Police in 2007, and since then have had the honor of working as a lawyer and educator in Baltimore, largely in communities composed of people of color. One of the most heartbreaking things to witness - as both a law enforcement officer and a legal educator -- is a "contempt of cop" culture held by many people living in poor and blighted communities. As a police officer I understood that some people dislike the police. As a lawyer I have witnessed a generational feedback loop within communities of color that perpetuates fear, distrust and hatred for the police officers charged with protecting their communities and maintaining order.

This contempt is grounded in the failure of criminal justice system leaders to effectively screen and manage cases to ensure the fair enforcement of laws and distribution of police services in all neighborhoods -- regardless of the socioeconomic and racial demographics. It is also informed by our nation's long history of racial tension and violence between police and minority communities.

But nowhere is the racial disparity more glaring than in the enforcement of drug laws. The rates of illicit drug usage in America by race and zip code do not reflect the criminal engagement and prosecution rates. In fact, black and brown people in this country are being disproportionately impacted by our criminal drug laws and what has evolved into an incarceration and penal model of social control. Meanwhile, affluent whites are afforded the privilege of handling substance abuse as a family and health issue, often covered by insurance.

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COPS: SCHOOLS 'FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE' ON DRUGS

Article from: patch.com

Jun 22, 2011 | No Comments

By: Sue Toth

Jefferson Township schools would love to keep students off of drugs--not to have substance abuse be an issue in school at all.

But that's not how the real world works. Not even in a low-crime community like Jefferson.

Drug issues do arise. And when they do, it's a matter for both the academic and law enforcement communities to address.

"While we work together with the schools on drug issues, the school is the first line of defense," said Captain Eric Wilsusen of the Jefferson Police Department. "The school follows a particular protocol, and their main objective is to get the student help."

The school district has a policy in place detailing exactly what happens when a student is suspected to be under the influence, or found with drugs in school. It involves notifying parents, conducting searches of the student's property and locker, and arranging for the student to have a medical examination that includes drug screening. It lays out procedures for the principal to be notified of results, and bars a student from returning to school without a signed physician's release form.

If a student is indeed confirmed to be using drugs, the policy also requires treatment before the student can continue attending school, and lays out penalties that can escalate from detention to suspension after repeated offenses.

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PEOPLE OVER 65 SHOULD DRINK LESS, A REPORT SAYS

Article from: bbc.com

Jun 22, 2011 | No Comments

_53560606_m3700481-elderly_man_drinking_alcohol-spl.jpg

By: Dominic Hughes

Recommended safe limits for drinking alcohol by older people should be drastically cut, according to a report.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists says people over 65 should drink a maximum of only 1.5 units of alcohol a day.

That is the equivalent of just over about half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine.

The report says older drinkers are less able to process alcohol and the drink might also interact with medication they may be taking for other ailments.

It warns current advice - 14 units of alcohol for women and 21 for men each week - is based on work with young adults.

A group of experts from the Royal College of Psychiatrists says there is a growing problem with substance abuse among older people, who they describe as society's "invisible addicts".

The report says a third those who experience problems with alcohol abuse do so later on in life, often as a result of big changes like retirement, bereavement or feelings of boredom, loneliness and depression.

But the extent of the drinking is hidden because unlike younger drinkers, more older people drink in their own homes, the report suggests.

The problem is exacerbated by the widespread use - and misuse - of prescribed and over-the-counter medicines among elderly people which can interact badly with alcohol.

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RUSSIA'S KROKODIL ADDICTION: DEADLY DESIGNER DRUG SPREADS

Article from: time.com

Jun 21, 2011 | No Comments

By: Mae ryan

The new arrivals at the drug rehab center in Chichevo, a tiny village that is a two hours' drive east of Moscow, are usually given two weeks without chores to recover from the nausea, pain and sleeplessness of withdrawal. After that, between Bible study and prayer (the center is run by Pentecostals), they have to start chopping firewood, hauling water from the village well or otherwise helping around the old wooden house. But a lot more leeway was allowed in the case of Irina Pavlova, the only resident at the center who is addicted to krokodil, or crocodile, Russia's deadliest new designer drug.

There is no good medical explanation for why Pavlova survived her addiction. The average user of krokodil, a dirty cousin of morphine that is spreading like a virus among Russian youth, does not live longer than two or three years, and the few who manage to quit usually come away disfigured. But Pavlova says she injected the drug nearly every day for six years, having learned to cook it in her brother's kitchen. "God must have protected me," she says.

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DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES BLUNTED IN CHRONIC MARIJUANA SMOKERS

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 21, 2011 | No Comments

Smoking marijuana affects peoples' impulsivity, attention, memory, cognition and decision-making abilities. That's been scientifically proven.

Recent research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center draws on the findings of previously published studies to further understanding about how marijuana affects the brains of chronic users, with specific focus on how the drug affects the decision-making process.

These findings are important because they demonstrate a potential, negative side effect of chronic marijuana use.

"Understanding how marijuana influences the perception of what is 'negative' may help explain continued marijuana use and aid in the development of effective strategies for treatment therapies," said lead author Michael J. Wesley, Ph.D., department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Wake Forest Baptist.

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ASYMPTOMATIC HEART DAMAGE COMMON AMONG HEAVY COCAINE USERS

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 21, 2011 | No Comments

A considerable number of regular cocaine users have heart damage and do not know it, researchers revealed in the medical journal Heart. Serious heart damage among cocaine users commonly has no symptoms.

Cocaine is the most potent stimulant of natural origin. It is extracted from the coca scrub leaf, a plant indigenous to the Andes regions in South America. Cocaine is a bitter, addictive pain blocker (anesthetic). Its name came from the plant's name (coca). Cocaine is often called coke. Illegal cocaine is usually sold as a white crystalline powder, or as an off-white chunky material. Dealers commonly adulterate cocaine in order to increase volume and make more money.

Cocaine can be snorted, injected and smoked (crack cocaine).

In western industrialized nations, cocaine is the most commonly used illegal drug. Health authorities estimate that there are approximately 6.4 million users in the USA.

About 1 in every 5 cocaine addicts has inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), according to autopsy studies. Approximately one quarter of all non-fatal heart attacks among individuals aged 45 years or less are linked to cocaine usage, the authors wrote.

Myocarditis is associated with heart failure and chest pain. It can also trigger fatal and non-fatal heart attacks. However, in most cases the patient does not have the typical narrowed arteries that cause ischemic heart disease.

The authors wanted to determine whether there was any compelling evidence linking heart damage to long-term cocaine use, especially among people with no history of heart disease or heart problem symptoms.

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TEEN DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE RISES

Article from: patch.com

Jun 21, 2011 | No Comments

By: Marilyn Joyce Lehren

In Livingston, the number of students reporting drug and alcohol use is higher than the national level, according to the results of an Alcohol and Drug Survey released Monday by the school district.

Of high school seniors responding to the anonymous survey, 46 percent admitted to drinking in the past month. Thirty-one percent said they had been drunk and 23 percent admitted smoking marijuana.

School officials -- who are currently working on a new substance abuse policy -- say these numbers don't tell the full story. The numbers are considered low estimates because only 589 Livingston students responded to the survey, which required parental approval, a decrease by half who participated three years ago. Moreover, they believe that students who respond with parental approval are less likely to be users.

The findings from this survey are especially chilling because students from this sample group are admitting in high numbers to using drugs and alcohol before school, at school events, and at parties.

Of concern is the 20 percent of high school seniors who said they did something sexual and regretted it after drinking, and 29 percent who said they couldn't remember what happened.

The results were presented by Mary Oates, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, and will be posted on the district's Web site.

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DRUG ADDICTS MAY BE PREDISPOSED TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS CLAIM

Article from: cambridge-news.com

Jun 21, 2011 | No Comments

Drug addicts may be predisposed to substance abuse because of the make-up of their brains, Cambridge scientists have discovered.

Researchers at Cambridge University have identified abnormalities in the frontal lobe of cocaine users' brains which are linked to their compulsive cocaine-using behaviour.

The News reported earlier this year how the university was seeking cocaine users to take part in a brain-mapping study.

Volunteers were offered £80 and were told they would receive a scan of their brain in return.

Led by Dr Karen Ersche, the researchers scanned the brains of 120 people, half of whom had a dependence on cocaine.

They found that the cocaine users had widespread loss of grey matter which was directly related to the duration of their cocaine abuse and that this reduction in volume was associated with greater compulsivity to take cocaine.

The scientists also found that parts of the brain's reward system where cocaine has its effect were significantly enlarged in cocaine users. This was not linked to the duration of the user's habit.

The researchers believe this may suggest that alterations in the brain's reward system predate cocaine abuse, possibly rendering these people more vulnerable to the effects of the drug.

Dr Ersche, of the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute at the university, said: "This research gives us an important insight into why some people are more vulnerable to drug addiction.

Continue Reading: cambridge-news.com

PATIENT DRINKS 6 BOTTLES OF HAND SANITIZER

Article from: msnbc.com

Jun 20, 2011 | No Comments

SYDNEY -- A man who drank six bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitizer while being treated in an Australian hospital for alcoholism has sparked calls for the anti-bacterial gels to be better secured.

Doctors said in a letter published Sunday in the Medical Journal of Australia that they were stunned to discover the man had downed six 12.7-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer, giving him a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.271 percent. That's more than five times higher than the 0.05 percent legal limit for driving in Australia.

Dr. Michael Oldmeadow, an internist at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne city, said that although the incident was not the first of its kind, it was the most serious case he had seen and the man is lucky to have survived.

"It surprised us that he drank this stuff," Oldmeadow said, according to the Australian Associated Press. "It's horrendous. You'd think it would taste pretty bad."

The 45-year-old had been undergoing treatment for alcohol-related gastritis when he drank the sanitizer. The gel has an ethanol content of 66 percent and is routinely used by medical staff to prevent infection.

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CAN RECOVERY TAKE PLACE ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS?

Article from: latimes.com

Jun 20, 2011 | No Comments

By: Shari Roan

Reporting from Hollywood, Fla.--

College students who are lucky enough to realize they need treatment for substance-use disorders are faced not only with the daunting task of recovery but also with reintegration into college life -- otherwise known as the land of pills and booze.

A new program, however, may begin cropping up on U.S. campuses to assist young people who are trying to recover and aid those who wish to achieve sobriety.

The Collegiate Recovery Communities emerged from a program at Texas Tech University and now has spin-offs at several U.S. universities. The program is a peer-based, on-campus model that aims to promote a culture of recovery. Little is known about how these programs can help students, but data so far suggest students benefit from the support. After six months, students reported feeling strong levels of support for their recovery and satisfaction with their lives, according to the first study to assess collegiate recovery programs.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

IN DENIAL ABOUT THE DANGERS OF DRINK

Article from: pressandjournal.com

Jun 20, 2011 | No Comments

By: Lisa Salmon

As alcohol-related hospital admissions rise to record levels, the experts stress it's ordinary drinkers who may be risking their health. Lisa Salmon reports

THE very public alcohol abuse problems suffered by stars such as Amy Winehouse mirror countless battles with booze being fought all over the country in private.

But while Amy can afford spells in an expensive rehab clinic like The Priory to help tackle her drinking, most ordinary men and women have to deal with it themselves. If they even try.

One in four people in the UK exceeds their recommended alcohol limit each week, and many of them don't realize their drinking is a problem.

Recently released NHS figures show that the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions in England has topped one million for the first time, double the rate eight years ago, and it's a similar picture in Wales and Northern Ireland. And while rates have come down for the last two years in Scotland, they had previously increased for a decade.

Alcohol is linked to 60 different illnesses, warns Alcohol Concern, and these don't just affect alcoholics.

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman of Alcohol Health Alliance UK, a coalition of 24 health organizations set up by the Royal College of Physicians, points out that a third of patients who have end-stage liver cirrhosis aren't dependent on alcohol and can stop drinking.

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WILL TIMOTHY LEARY'S PAPERS TURN US ON TO LSD?

Article from: guardian.co.uk

Jun 19, 2011 | No Comments

By: Sue Blackmore

What was Timothy Leary really up to? We may soon know more now that the New York public library is buying 335 boxes of his papers, videotapes, letters and photographs for $900,000. Once it has spent 18 months to two years sorting them out, the collection will be available to the public.

These papers are not just the rants of this decidedly peculiar man - the 1960s drugs guru whom Richard Nixon called "the most dangerous man in America". There is correspondence with the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Cary Grant, Aldous Huxley, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Arthur Koestler.

Perhaps these papers will give a glimpse of great genius arising from the clash of creative minds with powerful drugs - of insights gained and mystical peaks reached. Or perhaps they will show the horrors and mental decline of drug abuse and excess.

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THE WAR ON 'THE WAR ON DRUGS' [THE CONVERSATION]

Article from: latimes.com

Jun 19, 2011 | No Comments

With the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's "War on Drugs" Friday, many people seem to agree that the battle against "America's public enemy No. 1" has failed.

After the Global Commission on Drug Policy released its June report, the Office of National Drug Control Policy released statistics that reflected decreasing use of illicit drugs in the U.S.

But the 19-member Global Commission said current drug policy isn't working and recommends that governments "end the criminalization, marginalization and stigmatization of people who use drugs but who do no harm to others." The group also encourages governments to experiment with drug legalization to undermine organized crime, expand treatment programs, educate youth to discourage drug use and focus on reducing violence from crime organizations that harm individuals.

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'EL BRAD PITT' ARRESTED IN MEXICO DRUG SWOOP (video)

Article from: guardian.co.uk

Jun 19, 2011 | No Comments

By: Associated Press

Federal authorities have detained a former police officer accused of leading the armed wing of the violent Juárez cartel in northern Mexico, according to the government.

Marco Antonio Guzmán, who had several aliases including "El Brad Pitt", was captured on Wednesday in Chihuahua along with two alleged accomplices, according to a federal police statement.

Guzmán, 34, was brought to the Mexican capital on Thursday and shown, handcuffed, to the media.

Police said Guzmán was involved in a car bomb explosion that killed a federal police officer and two civilians in June 2010.

They also accuse him of being involved in drug-trafficking operations across Chihuahua. Ciudad Juárez is one of the worst affected areas of the drug war, where an estimated 3,100 people were killed in 2010.

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EMERGENCY ROOM VISITS UP FOR DRUG-RELATED SUICIDE ATTEMPTS

Article from: usatoday.com

Jun 18, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jonathan Shorman

Emergency room visits by men ages 21 to 34 involving drug-related suicide attempts increased 55% from 2005 to 2009, according to a report out today by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Use of prescription drugs in particular increased significantly, it says. Attempts involving anti-depressants increased 155% and those with anti-anxiety and insomnia medication rose 93%.

"I think a lot of these people don't see these drugs as dangerous because it's a nice, clean little pill," says Peter Delany, director of the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality at SAMHSA.

Doctors should ask patients about their mental health as well as their physical health before prescribing drugs, Delany says. "You've got to monitor everybody you have on a medication."

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FAA FINES UNITED FOR FLUNKING DRUG & ALCOHOL TESTING REGULATIONS

Article from: msnbc.com

Jun 18, 2011 | No Comments

By: Rebecca Ruiz

The Federal Aviation Administration announced today that it is proposing a $584,375 civil penalty against United Airlines for allegedly violating regulations for drug and alcohol testing of "safety-sensitive" employees.

Paul Turk, a FAA spokesperson, declined to specify at what airports the employees worked or in what capacity. "Safety-sensitive" workers are generally considered people "who have access to planes or work on them," Turk said. This could include pilots, flight attendants, ground crew and dispatchers.

The FAA alleged that United transferred 13 individuals to safety-sensitive positions without performing pre-employment drug tests and receiving verified negative test results. The agency is also asking the airline to correct its method of randomly selecting workers for drug and alcohol testing so that it is "scientifically valid."

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UK MASS DRINKING CHILD REPORT RELEASED; US PARENTS SUPERVISING MORE

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 18, 2011 | No Comments

By: Sy Kraft

While friends play a critical role in peer drinking habits, family has a strong direct and indirect influence. The parent or guardian has a particularly strong influence on their child's behavior. This ranges from the point at which alcohol is introduced, to exposure to adult drinking and drunkenness, to the amount of supervision placed on a young person (such as knowing where their child is on a Saturday evening or how many evenings their child spends with friends).

A new 91 page report released this week by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, United Kingdom delves deeper into this issue. (see below for link to full report)

There are critical points where a carefully timed intervention could generate a positive outcome by reducing the likelihood that a young person will drink frequently and drink to excess.

Continue Reading: medicalnewstoday.com

ARMY TAKES STEPS TO CURB PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE

Article from: drugfree.org

Jun 17, 2011 | No Comments

By: Celia Vimont

Following a 2010 report on health promotion, risk reduction and suicide prevention in the Army that cites prescription drug abuse as a growing issue, the Army is making changes to reduce the misuse of prescription pain medications.

Prescription drug abuse in the military mirrors a growing trend in the country as a whole, but soldiers may have specific job-related reasons to start using prescription painkillers, which can lead to abuse, says Col. Paul Bliese, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

While young adults in the general population who abuse prescription drugs often do so to get high, soldiers tend to misuse prescription painkillers to treat pain, not for recreational use, Col. Bliese says.

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DRUG COURT OFFERS OFFENDERS CHANCE TO AVOID PRISION, SUCCEED IN COMMUNITY

Article from: hawaiinewsnow.com

Jun 17, 2011 | No Comments

By: Minna Sugimoto

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - It's a tough program designed to get drug addicts and dealers on the right path. Hawaii News Now takes a close-up look at Oahu's Drug Court.

Authorities say there are about 1,500 adult drug courts across the country. On Oahu, participants have access to intensive substance abuse treatment programs, as well as other services that should help them succeed in the community.

Initially, Drug Court only accepted non-violent criminals, giving them a chance to avoid prison and remain in the community. But now, a wider variety of drug offenders are getting that shot. The concept is simple -- follow all the rules or get locked up.

"All rise," the bailiff announced.

It's not your typical courtroom. You immediately feel a different vibe. It's a place where the judge, his staff, and the offenders themselves are giving everything they've got to reach a common goal.

"How many days sober?" Steven Alm, presiding Drug Court judge, asked.

"A year and eight months," a program participant proudly replied.

"Okay, excellent," the judge said.

This is Drug Court, where qualified offenders are granted community supervision instead of incarceration. They each get a counselor for drug and alcohol issues, and a case manager for real-life challenges such as housing, employment and budgeting.

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SUBSTANCE ABUSE CENTERS: DOES HIGHER COST MEAN HIGHER QUALITY TREATMENT?

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Jun 17, 2011 | No Comments

By: Deni Carise

Time and time again, we hear about celebrities checking in and out of rehab. Last month, Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse sought additional help after several earlier treatments. And they weren't alone. For anyone who reads People magazine, it would seem that the cycle of substance abuse, treatment, relapse and treatment again was a Hollywood rite of passage.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud anyone who seeks treatment when the disease of addiction resurfaces; it's just a shame that celebrities have no choice but to have their relapses and stints in posh rehabs become front page news.

As an article on DailyFinance.com pointed out, celebrity relapses have not only provided constant tabloid fodder, but they've also been very good for the luxury treatment business. Residential treatment at Promises, where both Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen have been clients, can cost up to $100,000 a month. Not a year -- a month!

While respected treatment centers like Hazelden and Betty Ford are more reasonable ($28,300 and $27,400 a month, respectively), they might still be more than the average person can afford.

Sadly, cost can be one of the many reasons why more than 90 percent of those who meet the criteria for substance abuse or dependence in this country don't receive treatment. It might seem to regular folks that quality treatment is not within their budgets -- unless they become rich and famous or are willing to mortgage the house.

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BOOMERS MAY BE DOING HARM BY DRINKING TOO MUCH TO THEIR HEALTH

Article from: tbo.com

Jun 17, 2011 | No Comments

By: Anya Martin

As baby boomers approach their golden years, they are embracing wellness and wine -- two things that don't always go together.

While a glass of red wine a day may reduce the risk of heart disease, many boomers are drinking a lot more. And they may not realize they are increasing their potential risks for other serious health problems, ranging from alcohol abuse disorders to chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, liver disease, pancreatitis and certain cancers, says Dr. Robert Huebner, acting director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's (NIAAA) Division of Treatment and Recovery Research.

"People need to be mindful of the risks associated with risky drinking in the same way this (boomer) generation is more mindful of nutrition in general," he says. The baby boomer generation is reading labels in the grocery store, but not necessarily at the liquor store.

Between 2000 to 2008, the number of substance abuse treatment admissions for people age 50 and older increased by 70 percent, according to a recent study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Previous SAMHSA research suggested that the number of older substance abusers may rise to as many as 4.4 million by 2020, up from 1.7 million seniors in 2001.

Most boomers won't become abusers of alcohol or other drugs, but boomers may be at a higher risk of having problems later in life related to excessive drinking or drug use, says Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA's Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality

"There are two key demographic issues," Delany says. "One is that the baby boomers are the largest cohort in history, and right now, all of the people aged 50 to 59 are baby boomers. And the other is that the baby boomers were part of a very high drug-use (culture) in general."

In other words, the effects of drinking affect you faster as you age because your body and brain are not able to metabolize the alcohol that you consume as well or regenerate brain cells, says Dr. Howard Rankin, a clinical psychologist in Hilton Head, S.C., who has been researching addiction since the 1970s.

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LUNDBECK TO FILE ALCOHOLISM DRUG IN EUROPE BY YEAR END

Article from: pharmatimes.com

Jun 16, 2011 | No Comments

By: Selina Mckee

Danish drugmaker Lundbeck is expecting to file its alcoholism drug nalmefene in Europe by the end of the year following positive results from the final trial in the drug's Phase III clinical programme.

Results of the multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled ESENSE2 trial involving 718 patients were consistent with others from the clinical programme showing that nalmefene was able to induce a significant reduction in alcohol consumption in patients with alcohol dependency.

The clinical trial programme for the drug was designed to assess a number of primary and secondary endpoints, and though some did not reach statistical significance, it was "consistently observed" that nalmefene was able to cut alcohol consumption by over 50% in heavy drinkers, and that this was maintained throughout the study periods.

And importantly, safety data from all three Phase III clinical trials was in line with observations from previous studies, with the most frequently reported side effects being dizziness, insomnia and nausea, all of which were considered mild and transient in nature.

"Across the clinical Phase III programme consistency and robustness were observed and the studies support the overall positive clinical profile of nalmefene", commented executive vice President Anders Gersel Pedersen, head of drug development at Lundbeck, which has helped improve the likelihood of its approval.

Continue Reading: pharmatimes.com

DRUG IS HARDER TO ABUSE, BUT USERS PERSEVERE

Article from: nytimes.com

Jun 16, 2011 | No Comments

By: Abby Goodnough & Katie Zezima

BROCKTON, Mass. -- Michael Capece had been snorting OxyContin for five years when a new version of the drug, intended to deter such abuse, hit the market last summer. The reformulated pills are harder to crush, turning instead into a gummy substance that cannot be easily snorted, injected or chewed.

Instructed by his dealer, Mr. Capece, 21, tried microwaving one of the new pills, then sniffing up the burnt remains. Other addicts have tried to defeat the new formula by freezing, baking or soaking the pills in solvents ranging from soda to acetone. Many are ending up frustrated.

"It's too much work," said Mr. Capece who entered a rehab program here last month. "It wasn't anything I enjoyed."

A powerful narcotic meant for cancer patients and others with searing pain, OxyContin is designed to slowly release its active ingredient, oxycodone, over 12 hours.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

TAILORED TREATMENTS TARGETED TO SPECIFIC SUBGROUPS MAY BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN ALCOHOL-DEPENDENCE TREATMENT

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 16, 2011 | No Comments

By: J. Kim Penberthy

People seeking help for their alcohol or other drug problems enter treatment with very different levels of motivation to change. Differences in motivation appear to make a critical difference in which patients seek, comply with, and complete treatment. Findings from a study of the extent to which motivation and self-efficacy - the confidence to resist temptation and to abstain from drinking - changed during treatment, and the degree to which these variables affected drinking behaviors, indicate that treatments tailored to specific subgroups may be more effective.

Results will be published in the September 2011 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

"There are a number of different ways to talk about motivation," said J. Kim Penberthy, associate professor of psychiatry & neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine as well as corresponding author for the study.

Continue Reading: medicalnewstoday.com

DRUG TESTERS CRACK DOWN ON SCHOOL DOPING

Article from: timeslive.com

Jun 15, 2011 | No Comments

By: Sbu H Mjikeliso

South Africa's drug busters are to crack down on rampant doping in school sports - which has more than doubled in the past year - starting with this year's Craven Week rugby tournament.

And government is considering legislation to take action against those supplying the dope.

The SA Institute for Drug Free Sport, boosted by a cash injection from the department of Sports and Recreation, on Tuesday launched an "I Play Fair - Say No to Doping" initiative to counter the increase in school-going dopers.

"Our SA doping control stats clearly show the use of performance enhancing drugs is on the increase among adolescent athletes and among the adult population," institute chairman Shuaib Manjra said.

"Our latest positive doping stats for the period April 1 2010 to March 30 2011 show a doubling to 50 positive tests from 19 for the year before."

This increase has been attributed the widespread availability of supplements that contain banned substances like anabolic steroids, pro hormones and stimulants.

"With the recent acknowledged use of steroids in schools, we will also step up this initiative around the up and coming Craven rugby weeks, with an increased awareness drive and increased drug testing. We will ensure we get face time with adolescent rugby players.

"It is important to protect our athletes, especially high school athletes, who in many cases are unknowingly purchasing illegal steroids and are under the false impression they are taking a permissible sports supplement."

Continue Reading: timeslive.com

A GENERAL IN THE DRUG WAR

Article from: nytimes.com

Jun 15, 2011 | No Comments

By: Abigail Zuger

From heroin and cocaine to sex and lies, Tetris and the ponies, the spectrum of human addictions is vast. But for Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the neuroscientist in charge of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, they all boil down to pretty much the same thing.

She must say it a dozen times a day: Addiction is all about the dopamine. The pleasure, pain and devilish problem of control are simply the detritus left by waves of this little molecule surging and retreating deep in the brain.

A driven worker with a colorful family history and a bad chocolate problem of her own, Dr. Volkow (pronounced VOHL-kuv), 55, has devoted her career to studying this chemical tide. And now, eight years into her tenure at the institute, the pace of addiction research is accelerating, propelled by a nationwide emergency that has sent her agency, with a $1.09 billion budget, into crisis mode.

The toll from soaring rates of prescription drug abuse, including both psychiatric medications and drugs for pain, has begun to dwarf that of the usual illegal culprits. Hospitalizations related to prescription drugs are up fivefold in the last decade, and overdose deaths up fourfold. More high school seniors report recreational use of tranquilizers or prescription narcotics, like OxyContin and Vicodin, than heroin and cocaine combined.

The numbers have alarmed drug policy experts, their foreboding heightened by the realization that the usual regulatory tools may be relatively unhelpful in this new crisis.

As Dr. Volkow said to a group of drug experts convened by the surgeon general last month to discuss the problem, "In the past, when we have addressed the issue of controlled substances, illicit or licit, we have been addressing drugs that we could remove from the earth and no one would suffer."

But prescription drugs, she continued, have a double life: They are lifesaving yet every bit as dangerous as banned substances. "The challenges we face are much more complex," Dr. Volkow said, "because we need to address the needs of patients in pain, while protecting those at risk for substance use disorders."

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

TRUCKER ACCUSED IN $3.5M DRUG SMUGGLING CASE ACQUITTED

Article from: dailycourier.com

Jun 15, 2011 | No Comments

By: Scott Orr

PRESCOTT - It took only 45 minutes for a jury to find a trucker, who was stopped for a traffic violation and ended up under arrest on charges of transporting $3.5 million in cocaine in his big rig, not guilty of transporting a narcotic drug for sale and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The defense's case hinged on whether the jury would buy Margarito Lujano Jr.'s argument that he did not know he was carrying the cocaine in a secret compartment of the cab of the 2005 Kenworth tractor he was driving on Interstate 17 in February 2010.

When he was stopped for an equipment violation - a missing mud flap - the original DPS officer making the stop said he didn't notice anything else wrong and told Lujano to go. However, a second DPS officer testified that he noticed Lujano had a throbbing carotid artery and heavy breathing, which he believed was consistent with someone trying to hide something. A K-9 alerted on the sleeper portion of the cab and officers located the drugs.

In closing arguments Tuesday, Deputy County Attorney Keith Evans said the most important evidence came from a videotape made during Lujano's questioning by detectives. Evans again showed the jury the portion where they tell Lujano they found 81 pounds of cocaine in the sleeper compartment of the cab.

"I don't see a blink of an eye" from Lujano as he's told what the cops found, said Evans. "He is a pro."

Evans then said this wasn't the first time Lujano has smuggled drugs, which drew an immediate objection from Lujano's attorney, Linda Moore.

Continue Reading: dailycourier.com

CARTEL CORRUPTION REACHES INTO THE RANDS OF U.S. BORDER AGENTS, OFFICIALS SAY

Article from: latimes.com

Jun 14, 2011 | No Comments

By: Daniel Hernandez

Mexican drug cartels are increasingly luring U.S. border agents into smuggling operations with offers of cash and sex, authorities acknowledged in Washington last week.

Top officials in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told a Senate subcommittee during a hearing on Thursday that Mexican drug-trafficking organizations are attempting to generate "systematic corruption" among the ranks of U.S. customs and border patrol agents, forcing the agency to open hundreds of internal investigations on employees.

Charles Edwards, acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, told the subcommittee that corruption on the border has taken the form of "cash bribes, sexual favors, and other gratuities in return for allowing contraband or undocumented aliens through primary inspection lanes or even protecting or escorting border crossings," according to a transcript of the official's testimony.

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MOM ACCUSED OF STEALING SON'S EDUCATION, ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

Article from: abcnews.com

Jun 14, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jessica Hopper

Tanya McDowell, the Connecticut woman charged with stealing her son's education after sending him to a school allegedly outside of her district, was arraigned on drug charges today.

McDowell, 33, is being held on $200,000 bond. She was arrested Friday after she allegedly sold crack cocaine and marijuana to undercover officers.

McDowell's arrest came three days after she participated in an education reform rally with Rev. Al Sharpton that was organized by the NAACP. In April, McDowell was charged with first degree grand larceny and conspiracy for allegedly stealing $15,686 in educational services from Norwalk Public Schools because she sent her 6-year-old son to Brookside Elementary School, a school allegedly outside of her district.

Sharpton told ABC News that his appearance at the rally was not in response to McDowell's case and that he is not familiar with the intricacies of her case.

"My position is this young man, the son, should be treated like any other kid if their parent didn't live in the district," Sharpton said. "We don't play politics with the boy. If this mother is unfit to be a mother, it doesn't solve what happens to the boy."

Continue Reading: abcnews.com

SURVEY REVEALS AN INCREASE IN DRINKING, CANNABIS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 14, 2011 | No Comments

The latest survey of Ontario adults from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) shows increasing rates of daily drinking and cannabis use and high levels of psychological distress.

The results of the 2009 CAMH Monitor survey, the longest running survey tracking mental health and addiction indicators among adults in Ontario, were published 13 June, 2011.

Alcohol

The proportion of adults reporting daily drinking increased from 5.3% in 2002 to over 9% in 2009. The average number of drinks consumed weekly among drinkers has also increased from 3 drinks to 4.6 drinks, and the proportion of adults exceeding low-risk drinking guidelines remains at elevated levels (22%).

However, there were also some encouraging findings: there was a significant decline in binge drinking from 12.6% in 2006 to 7.1% in 2009, and the decline was evident especially among young adults, from 24% to 11.5%.

Although driving within an hour of consuming two or more drinks has shown a steady decline in the past years, from 13.1% in 1996 to 6.9% in 2009, there is evidence that this trend has reversed among young adults. Driving after drinking posted a significant increase among 18 to 29 year olds, from 7.7% in 2005 to 12.8% in 2009.

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FACES AND VOICES OF RECOVERY: ANNUAL EVENT CELEBRATES RECOVERY COMMUNITY

Article from: drugfree.org

Jun 14, 2011 | No Comments

By: Pat Taylor

America Honors Recovery, an annual awards event, recognizes the extraordinary and unheralded contributions of one recovery community organization and three of the country's most influential recovery leaders on behalf of the over 20 million Americans in recovery, and their families.

On June 22, grassroots recovery advocates and leaders in business and government will join Congressman John Sullivan (R-OK), co-chair of the Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus, in honoring the award recipients.

This event honors the legacies of two dynamic recovery trailblazers - Joel Hernandez and Dr. Vernon E. Johnson, who dedicated their lives to removing barriers for individuals and families affected by addiction.

Inspired by the tenacity of Hernandez in his efforts against recovery discrimination in the workplace, The Joel Hernandez Award will recognize Richmond, VA-based McShin Foundation, an organization led and governed by the recovery community - people in long-term recovery, their families, friends and allies.

Since it was founded seven years ago, McShin has worked tirelessly to link the recovery community with families, professional resources and the community as a whole.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

MORE THAN HALF OF U.S. INMATES WERE CONVICTED OF DRUG OFFENCES

Article from: dailymail.co.uk

Jun 13, 2011 | No Comments

More than 50 per cent on inmates in U.S. federal prisons were jailed for drug offences, shocking new figures show.

The statistics from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, reveal that out of a total inmate population of 215,888, 102,391 (that's 50.8 per cent) were jailed for drug offences.

The second highest crime area was weapons, explosives and arson offences with a prison population of 30,509, that's 15.1 per cent, according to the figures published on the Department's website on May 28 of this year.

Murder, aggravated Assault and kidnapping Offenses made up 2.7 per cent with 5,473 inmates.

The drug offences relate to crime in multiple ways. Most directly, it is use, possession, manufacturing and distributing drugs classified as having a potential for abuse, such as cocaine, heroin, morphine and amphetamines.

But the offences also involve crimes such as drug trafficking and drug production controlled by drug cartels, organized crime and gangs.

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JUAREZ POLICE CHIEF: DRUG CARTELS AREN'T INVINCIBLE

Article from: npr.org

Jun 13, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jason Beaubien

The new top cop in Mexico's deadliest city, Juarez, gained notoriety for using an iron fist to reduce the violence in Tijuana's streets. And Julian Leyzaola now plans to use that fist to beat down the drug cartels in Juarez.

On his first day, thugs left Leyzaola a greeting on a tortured, duct-taped body. It said, "Welcome to Juarez, Julian Leyzaola. This is your first little gift and it's going to keep happening." It was signed the Sinaloan cartel.

Leyzaola also quickly encountered problems inside the police department. In the three months since he took over the force, more than 160 officers have either quit or been fired. Six others have been arrested.

"It was a police force with a very low morale, infiltrated by criminals, unable to regain control of its territory, unable to regain its prestige or the respect of the citizens," he says.

Continue Reading: npr.org

PRESCRIPTION PILLS ARE A KILLER IN KENTUCKY (audio)

Article from: bbc.co.uk

Jun 13, 2011 | No Comments

Prescription drug abuse is fast becoming one of America's deadliest problems. The BBC's Paul Adams went to the US state of Kentucky to speak to people who have first hand knowledge of the damage pills can do.

Shepherd's Shelter, located on the tranquil outskirts of in Mount Sterling, east of Lexington, Offers residents a recovery and relapse prevention programme.

Adam, completed the programme and is now volunteering at Shepherd's Shelter in an attempt to stay on the straight and narrow.

Continue Reading: bbc.co.uk

LAUREN SPIERER'S DISAPPEARANCE DRINKING AN ISSUE

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Jun 12, 2011 | No Comments

By: Deanna Martin

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Underage drinking is a common problem in the Indiana college town where a 20-year-old student disappeared last week after a night out with friends.

Twenty-year-old Lauren Spierer (SPEER'-ur) of Greenburgh, N.Y., was last seen walking home alone about 4:30 a.m. June 3.

Police say witnesses told them Spierer had been drinking at a sports bar near her apartment. Bar owners won't say whether they checked her ID.

Students say it's common for those who are underage to have fake IDs. Officer Travis Thickstun of the Indiana Excise Police says Bloomington and the surrounding county consistently lead the state in alcohol citations, and about a third are for fake IDs.

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HOPISTALIZED FOR ALCOHOL

Article from: nsnewstoday.com

Jun 12, 2011 | No Comments

By: Loren Romei

Every year 150 North Shore youth end up at the Lions Gate Hospital for alcohol-related incidents.

The figure is a rough estimate, but Kerrie Watt, an alcohol and drug prevention educator with Vancouver Coastal Health, says it is on the low side of the actual number of alcohol-related incidents involving youth the hospital sees. She says she believes the number is higher.

The incidents that make up the statistic include falls, head injuries, alcohol poisoning and any other incidents that occurred because alcohol was involved, says Watt.

The majority of those who end up at the hospital for alcohol-related incidents are a mix of boys and girls between the ages of 13 to 19.

Watt says the most common alcohol-related incident the hospital deals with is alcohol poisoning. She says the reason many youth end up with alcohol poisoning is because of a shift in the way youth are drinking.

"When kids are drinking, they are almost consistently binge drinking," she says.

Watt defines binge drinking as five or more drinks for males and four or more drinks for females in one occasion, generally in a short period of time.

When Watt talks to youth and tells them the definition of binge drinking, she says a typical response is: "Well then, I don't know anybody that when they drink, isn't binge drinking."

Continue Reading: nsnewstoday.com

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RISK PATHWAYS FOR ADOLESCENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND EARLY ADULT ALCOHOLISM

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 12, 2011 | No Comments

According to a recent Finnish study, boys and girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may differ from each other in their vulnerability to substance use problems. I

nattentiveness and hyperactivity may be more predictive of alcohol use disorders and maladaptive patterns of alcohol and illicit drug use among girls than boys.

Clinically ascertained reports suggest that boys and girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may differ from each other in their vulnerability to substance use problems, say the researchers of the University of Helsinki and University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

A total of 1545 Finnish adolescents were assessed for DSM-IV-based ADHD symptoms by their parents and classroom teachers using standardized rating scales at age 11 - 12 years. At age 14, substance use disorders and psychiatric co-morbidity were assessed with the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism, providing DSM-III-R/DSM-IV diagnoses for Axis I disorders. At age 17.5, substance use was assessed by multi-item questionnaire.

Continue Reading: medicalnewstoday.com

NO NEW CHECKPOINT LOCATOR APPS FOR APPLE

Article from: tvnz.com

Jun 11, 2011 | No Comments

Apple has agreed not to allow any new iPhone applications in the App Store that identify police drink-driving checkpoints.

The move has been hailed by a group of US senators who have been calling for not only Apple, but also Blackberry maker Research In Motion and Google, to ban smartphone applications that could help intoxicated drivers avoid police.

Senators Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Frank Lautenberg and Tom Udall urged Apple, Blackberry maker Research In Motion and Google in March to ban smartphone applications that could help intoxicated drivers avoid police.

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PERSCRIPTION DRUG-RELATED SUICIDE ATTEMPTS UP 49 PERCENT AMONG WOMEN 50 AND UP, NEW FEDERAL STUDY SAYS

Article from: desertnews.com

Jun 11, 2011 | No Comments

By: Marjorie Cortez

SALT LAKE CITY -- Abuse of narcotic pain relievers, insomnia drugs and anxiety drugs by women is landing a growing number of them in emergency rooms for drug-related suicide attempts.

A recent report by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows a 49 percent rise in emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts by women aged 50 and older between 2005 and 2009.

While some of the increase can be attributed to population growth of women in this age group, the study found stark increases in emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts involving drugs that treat anxiety, insomnia and pain, such as hydrocodone and oxycodone products.

Michael Dulle, clinical director of the Salt Lake substance abuse treatment center Odyssey House, said he is personally aware of five to eight female patients, ages 50 and up, who have been hospitalized for accidental overdoses or suicide attempts from prescription drugs in the past 18 months.

Some report being depressed, feeling hopeless, having nowhere to go or feeling abandoned by their support systems, sometimes because of their substance abuse.

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FUNDING WILL SUPPORT DEVELOPMENTS OF THERAPEUTICS FOR TREATING SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 11, 2011 | No Comments

By: Mika Ono

The Scripps Research Institute has been awarded a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop novel therapeutics for the treatment of addiction to multiple substances in a national effort with the University of Kansas.

The total award is for $3,698,130, with the Florida campus of Scripps Research receiving $2.19 million over five years and the University of Kansas receiving approximately $1.5 million.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2009 an estimated 21.8 million Americans aged 12 or older had used illicit drugs within the last month, approximately 8.7 percent of the population aged 12 or older, an increase over 2008. Illicit drugs include marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, and prescription-type psychotherapeutics used nonmedically. Multiple drug use is common among substance abusers, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

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PHARMAGEDDON: HOW AMERICA GOT HOOKED ON KILLER PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Article from: guardian.co.uk

Jun 10, 2011 | No Comments

By: Ed Pilkington

The Kentucky number plate on Chad's pick-up truck, parked round the back of a doctor's clinic in Palm Beach, Florida, reveals that he has just driven a thousand miles, 16 hours overnight, to be here - and he's not come for the surfing.

"It's my back," he says, rubbing his lower vertebrae. "I'm a builder. I fell off the roof and hurt my back."

That's odd, as we have just watched him run out of the clinic and over to his truck without so much as a limp. He's clutching a prescription for 180 30mg doses of the painkiller oxycodone.

Chad is one of thousands of "pillbillies" who descend on Florida every year from across the south and east coasts of America. Some come in trucks bearing telltale number plates from Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, even far-away Ohio. Others come by the busload on the apocryphally named Oxycodone Express.

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HOW DO YOU DISCUSS YOUR CHILD'S SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROBLEM WITH YOUR OTHER KIDS?

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Jun 10, 2011 | No Comments

By: Carole Bennett

Substance abuse within a family is a devastating, gut-wrenching problem. It can tear at the very fiber of even the strongest family 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can percolate for years, and the behavior that accompanies it might have been dismissed because of scholastic demands, peer pressure or even a rite of passage that so many adolescents go through. But when their demeanor and conduct start to become out of control and irresponsible actions begin to occur, then parents have to face the harsh reality that their child may be on a destructive, possibly one-way path toward an addiction issue.

How do responsible parents communicate with their other, healthy children about the disease that may be infecting their sibling? Confusion, uncertainty and insecurity abounds for the child or children that doesn't understand why their brother or sister is sleeping all day, acting crazy, sounding and looking like a different person and not participating with the family anymore.

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U.S. HIGH SCHOOL OPENS DRUG CLINIC

Article from: in.reuters.com

Jun 10, 2011 | No Comments

By: Bernd Debusmann Jr.

(Reuters Life!) - An in-school drug and alcohol abuse clinic is opening at a public high school in New York, the first of its kind in the state and possibly in the United States, treatment advocates said.

Responding to soaring rates of substance abuse among students, the William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach on Long Island will house the clinic starting in August.

It will be run by Daytop Treatment Services, a network of drug and alcohol abuse centers, at no cost to the school district. The clinic will provide counseling but cannot dispense methadone or other drugs.

"The school district is being incredibly proactive," said Daytop programs director Caroline Sullivan. "Other schools may have prevention programs, but this is a full-fledged treatment option with treatment done on site."

Substance abuse has "increased exponentially" among the 3,200 students at the school and there were 38 disciplinary hearings tied to drug and alcohol abuse in the last two years, according to documents filed by Daytop with the state of New York.

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WAR ON DRUGS: U.S. CAN'T JUSTIFY ITS DRUG WAR SPENDING

Article from: losangelestimes.com

Jun 9, 2011 | No Comments

By: Brian Bennett

Reporting from Washington--

As drug cartels wreak murderous havoc from Mexico to Panama, the Obama administration is unable to show that the billions of dollars spent in the war on drugs have significantly stemmed the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States, according to two government reports and outside experts.

The reports specifically criticize the government's growing use of U.S. contractors, which were paid more than $3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate fields of coca, operate surveillance equipment and otherwise battle the widening drug trade in Latin America over the last five years.

"We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who chairs the Senate subcommittee that wrote one of the reports, which was released Wednesday.

Continue Reading: losangelestimes.com

STIMULANT ABUSE RISES ON CAMPUS

Article from: dispatch.com

Jun 9, 2011 | No Comments

By: Encarnacion Pyle

College students might be tempted to buy or bum Adderall or other prescription stimulants to "get in the zone" as finals come to a close this week.

But it's unsafe, illegal and downright wrong, campus officials warn.

"National policymakers call prescription-drug abuse an epidemic, and I'm particularly concerned about students using prescription stimulants designed to treat attention-deficit (disorders) as a study aid," said Kenneth M. Hale, an assistant dean at Ohio State University's College of Pharmacy.

Drinking among college students has been relatively steady in recent years, but the abuse of prescription drugs -- most notably stimulants, sedatives and painkillers -- has soared, Hale said.

The misuse of Adderall and other stimulants can lead to increases in blood pressure or heart rate, addiction and even death, he said. In recent years, prescription-drug abuse has become the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio and many other states.

Ohio State, Ohio University and Otterbein University have expanded their public-awareness campaigns.

Among those 18 to 22 years old, full-time college students are twice as likely as their peers to misuse a stimulant, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Continue Reading: dispatch.com

STIFFER DRUNKEN DRIVING LAW BOOSTS REHAB EFFORTS

Article from: battlecreekenquirer.com

Jun 9, 2011 | No Comments

When Michigan instituted a tougher, two-tier penalty system for drunken driving last fall, critics questioned whether it would be effective in keeping hard-core drinkers off the road.

Under the 7-month-old so-called "super drunk" law, intoxicated drivers are divided into two categories: those registering a blood-alcohol level of a minimum 0.08 to 0.16 and those whose level is 0.17 or higher.

Being arrested for a first offense with a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 or more can bring double the maximum jail sentence than if the driver registers 0.16 or below. In addition, first offenders convicted in the higher category must undergo mandatory alcohol treatment, cannot drive for 45 days and must pay thousands of dollars in fines and related costs.

It's too soon to know whether the new law will result in fewer alcohol-related traffic accidents, but court officials around the state are noting a trend: more people are going into treatment programs.

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ALCOHOL CHARITY HELPS TO CUT HOSPITAL RE-ADMISSIONS

Article from: therugbyobserver.co.uk

Jun 9, 2011 | No Comments

By: Laura Payne

A TOWN charity has helped slash the number of people being re-admitted to hospital for help with alcoholism.
At University Hospital in Coventry 331 patients - 80 per cent - of those who received support from Swanswell over the past year were not re-referred to alcohol help services.

Swanswell, based on Corporation Street, said by working with patients while they are in hospital they have cut down the number of people who are re-admitted.

And it is striving to do the same elsewhere by rolling out the service to other areas.

In April the Observer reported there had been a 16 per cent rise in the number of people admitted to hospital in Rugby with problems linked to alcohol. This was an increase from 1,006 in the first half of 2008/9 to 1,171 during the same period in 2010/11.

Elsewhere in Warwickshire the figures were even more worrying with a 48 per cent rise in Warwick district and a 28 per cent increase in Stratford.

And a report from the NHS Information Centre released last week showed nationally admissions have reached over one million, an increase of 12 per cent from 2008/09 to 2009/10.

Continue Reading: therugbyobserver.co.uk

MARIJUANA LINKED TO BRAIN CHANGES, BUT ARE THEY HARMFUL?

Article from: cbsnews.com

Jun 9, 2011 | No Comments

By: Ryan Jaslow

(CBS) Can pot rot your brain? A preliminary study reveals brain abnormalities in everyday pot smokers, and its author has a bit of advice for marijuana mavens:

Ditch the doobies.

"With this study, we were able to show for the first time that people who abuse cannabis have abnormalities of the cannabinoid receptors," study author Dr. Jussi Hirvonen, adjunct professor of experimental nuclear medicine at Finland's Turku University, said in a written statement.

What in the heck are cannabinoid receptors?

They're the sites on the brain which different substances bind to in order to affect pleasure, concentration, perception of time, memory, sensory perception, and coordination. Marijuana's main psychoactive component - tetrahydrocannibinol, or THC - is just one of several substances that bind to cannabinoid receptors.

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RUSSIA DEFIES GROWING CONSENSUS WITH DECLARATION OF 'TOTAL WAR ON DRUGS'

Article from: guardian.co.uk

Jun 8, 2011 | No Comments

By: Tom Parfitt

Drug dealers are to be "treated like serial killers" and could be sent to forced labour camps under harsh laws being drawn up by Russia's Kremlin-controlled parliament.

Boris Gryzlov, the speaker of the state duma, the lower house, said a "total war on drugs" was needed to stem a soaring abuse rate driven by the flow of Afghan heroin through central Asia to Europe.

Russia has as many as 6 million addicts (one in 25 people). Every year 100,000 people die from using drugs, Gryzlov said in a newspaper. The scale of the problem "threatens Russia's gene pool", he said. "We are standing on the edge of a precipice. Either we squash drug addiction or it will destroy us."

This year, President Dmitry Medvedev said drug abuse was cutting up to three percentage points off economic growth.

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HOMES HELP VETS FIGHT NEW ENEMY: ADDICTION

Article from: chicagotribune.com

Jun 8, 2011 | No Comments

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By: Paul LaTour

Jeff Gilbert has no military experience, but he can empathize with veterans who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

Gilbert faced the same battle with addiction -- a battle that led him to help others through Hope for Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization he co-founded with his wife, Janet, in 1999. About a decade later, while he was doing research for his doctorate in psychology, he learned about the connection between post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction in veterans.

That spurred Gilbert to create U.S. VETCare, a program specifically designed to help addicted veterans in recovery-home settings, similar to the four homes he had set up in Aurora for Hope for Tomorrow.

Continue Reading: chicagotribune.com

STUDENTS POPPING STUDY DRUG RISK ADDICTION

Article from: kval.com

Jun 8, 2011 | No Comments

By: Kelly Koopmans

EUGENE, Ore. -- Finals week on the University of Oregon has students hunched over books, cramming for exams and logging hours over a keyboard.

"When it comes to crunch time for finals, people have a lot of studying to make up," said UO student Brian Stocks.

Stocks said he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and used Adderall to help him control symptoms and to focus.

"I'm not going to lie," said Stocks. "I've been asked once or twice for it."

That's how the black market for Adderall works, according to Chrysalis Drug-Free Program Coordinator Larry Weinerman.

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CORRUPT BORDER GUARD HELPED B.C. DRUG RING SMUGGLE COCAINE

Article from: vancouversun.com

Jun 7, 2011 | No Comments

By: Kim Bolan

METRO VANCOUVER -- A B.C.-based drug ring smuggled at least 208 kilos of cocaine and three firearms into Canada with the help of a corrupt border guard, B.C. Supreme Court heard Monday.

Crown prosecutor James Torrance said former Canada Border Services Agency guard Baljinder Kandola conspired with smugglers Shminder Johal and Herman Riar for more than a year before his arrest in October 2007 at his Pacific Border crossing booth.

Torrance told Justice Selwyn Romilly on the opening day of Kandola's and Johal's trial that intercepted telephone calls, surveillance in both Canada and the U.S., as well as text messages would show that Johal recruited Kandola into the drug gang by offering him cash to allow the cocaine across the border.

The third accused, Riar, was sentenced in January 2010 to 12 years in jail after pleading guilty in the drug-smuggling case.

Torrance said Johal and Riar travelled to Washington state on drug runs "on at least three occasions" between May 2007 and their arrest on Oct. 25, 2007, crossing through Kandola's lane each time.

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RECOVERY HIGH SCHOOLS: GIVING STUDENTS A SECOND CHANCE

Article from: drugfree.org

Jun 7, 2011 | No Comments

By: Celia Vimont

Students who return to their high school after leaving to deal with substance abuse issues often find that getting thrown back in with old friends quickly leads to relapse. Around the country, a small number of recovery high schools offer a safe and sober alternative for students struggling to avoid falling back into old harmful routines.

"It's just too easy for these students to go back to using drugs and drinking at their old school," says Andrew J. Finch, PhD, a co-founder and former Executive Director of the Association of Recovery Schools, who is currently Assistant Clinical Professor of Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. "We want to create a safe place for them so they're not confronted by drugs and alcohol during the school day."

The first recovery high school was established in 1987 in Minnesota. Currently, the Association of Recovery Schools has 22 member high schools in nine states.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

U.S. YOUTH SWITCHING TO THE HARD STUFF

Article from: bettyfordinstitute.com

Jun 6, 2011 | No Comments

By: Betty Ford Institute

Nearly half of 8th-grade youth have used alcohol. By the end of high school almost three-fourths have initiated use. Alcohol is a key contributor to the causes of death among those 10 to 24 years--motor-vehicle mortality, suicide, and unintentional injuries. Alcohol continues to be the drug of choice among adolescents but consumption has shifted from beer to liquor. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of beverage-specific alcohol use, particularly hard liquor.

Specific types of alcohol may be associated with different levels of consumption and the potential harmful consequences. More importantly, many prevention strategies to reduce underage drinking are beverage-specific .This study by the University of Florida; College of Medicine examined the effect of specific types of alcoholic beverages on 731 urban youths who reported drinking alcohol in 7th grade. This research addressed three questions: What is the most prevalent type of beverage? What are the effects of beverage-specific use on alcohol behaviors 1 year later? .What are the primary sources for each type of beverage?

Sixty-one public schools in Chicago participated (29 schools assigned to the

intervention, 32 to the comparison group). The students completed self-report questionnaires while in 6th through 8th grades answering questions about their drinking history, quantity, the kind of beverage, and the source of the beverage. The responses enabled the researchers to analyze beverage types, drinking behaviors, sources, trends and demographics.

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AMONG OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY'S GRADUATING DOCTORS, A WOMAN WHO OVERCAME HEROIN ADDICTION

Article from: oregonlive.com

Jun 6, 2011 | No Comments

By: Julie Sullivan

Among the 104 students graduating from medical school in Portland today are the straight arrows who flew from loving homes across the top of their high school and college classes, past examinations and rotations, to Oregon Health & Science University's most hallowed stage.

And then there is girl in orange velour hot pants.

Her trajectory began in Eugene where she first snorted black-tar heroin in the spring of eighth grade. She smoked meth, tried speedballs and sold hallucinogenic mushrooms in high school. She started college classes after a stop at a methadone clinic.

This morning at Arlene Schnitzer Hall, Aleka Spurgeon-Heinrici will be among the 59 women and 45 men who will don the green-trimmed hood, with gold tassel, of a doctor of medicine.

Next week, she begins her residency in family and community medicine at the University of California San Francisco -- her first choice.

"Aleka has overcome obstacles, become a medical school success and now wants to go out and make a difference," says Dr. Molly Osborne, associate dean for student affairs.

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THE DAMAGE DONE: HEROIN USE SOARS AMONG LOCAL YOUTHS, WITH DEADLY RESULTS

Article from: lohud.com

Jun 6, 2011 | No Comments

By: Marcela Rojas

It was a Tuesday in March when college student Gwendolyn Farrell texted her parents and older sister to let them know she had gotten a 90 on her math test.

The grade was significant, her mother, Christina Farrell, said, because math had always been her most difficult subject.

"That represented to me that she was feeling good, feeling proud," said Farrell, of Yorktown. "She wasn't going down the road to destruction."

But just four days later, the 21-year-old whom friends and family described as smart, creative and outgoing was found dead of an apparent heroin overdose in her bedroom in her parents' home. Thomas Plant, 22, also was found dead at the scene. Two syringes and six glassine envelopes that toxicology results later revealed to contain heroin were also discovered, Yorktown Lt. Kevin Soravella said.

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'PEACE CARAVAN' CROSSING MEXICO TO PROTEST DRUG WAR

Article from: reuters.com

Jun 5, 2011 | No Comments

By: Mica Rosenberg

(Reuters) - Hundreds of Mexicans began a weeklong caravan on Saturday to protest the country's bloody drug war, led by a crusading poet whose son was murdered by suspected cartel hitmen.

Human rights activists and families of victims of violence piled into 13 buses and more than two dozen cars to set out on a 12-state tour that will end in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most violent drug war city on the U.S. border.

"We hope the authorities realize this is a national emergency and if they don't (listen), the situation will become even more painful," said poet-turned-activist Javier Sicilia.

Police found the bodies of Sicilia's 24-year-old son and several of his friends in March along with a menacing drug cartel message in Cuernavaca, a city south of the capital once known as a peaceful colonial-era tourist retreat.

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DRUG SMUGGLERS' PARTY DAYS A PRELUDE TO WAR

Article from: npr.org

Jun 5, 2011 | No Comments

Forty years ago this month, President Richard Nixon officially introduced something he called the "War on Drugs." A decade later, Ronald Reagan launched it as a national crusade, with the memorable slogan "Just Say No."

Since then, though, the Obama administration has jettisoned the term "war on drugs," and this past week, the Global Commission on Drug Policy issued a report calling the crusade a failure.

But back in the 1970s, the U.S. fight against drugs -- especially marijuana -- wasn't a war at all. In fact, for the "gentlemen smugglers" bringing bales of pot and bricks of hash into Florida and South Carolina, it was a nonstop party. Mostly college-educated and averse to violence, they were in it for fun more than money -- though the money didn't hurt.

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WHERE PRISONERS CAN DO ANYTHING, EXCEPT LEAVE

Article from: nytimes.com

Jun 4, 2011 | No Comments

By: Simon Romero

PORLAMAR, Venezuela -- On the outside, the San Antonio prison on Margarita Island looks like any other Venezuelan penitentiary. Soldiers in green fatigues stand at its gates. Sharpshooters squint from watchtowers. Guards cast menacing glances at visitors before searching them at the entrance.

But once inside, the prison for more than 2,000 Venezuelans and foreigners held largely for drug trafficking looks more like a Hugh Hefner-inspired fleshpot than a stockade for toughened smugglers.

Bikini-clad female visitors frolic under the Caribbean sun in an outdoor pool. Marijuana smoke flavors the air. Reggaetón booms from a club filled with grinding couples. Paintings of the Playboy logo adorn the pool hall. Inmates and their guests jostle to place bets at the prison's raucous cockfighting arena.

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EDUCATORS AWARE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG USE, TURN TO PREVENTION

Article from: usatoday.com

Jun 3, 2011 | No Comments

By: Allie Grasgreen

PHOENIX -- Judging by the turnout at a session on non-medical prescription drug use at the American College Health Association's annual conference here on Wednesday, the issue is one colleges are well aware of. But considering that research on the topic is only beginning to emerge, and that some major surveys of student drug use don't even inquire about prescription medicines, it is likely that most of those colleges aren't so well-equipped with prevention methods.

That's what Stacy Andes, director of health promotion at Villanova University, said in an interview after her presentation. "I think they're becoming more concerned," she said, while adding, "I think they're not measuring the problem to the extent that they need to be, so they're not implementing the prevention methods they need to."

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'IMITATION COCAINE' KILLED FLORIDA MAN, SAY AUTHORITIES (video)

Article from: abcnews.com

Jun 3, 2011 | No Comments

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By: Anna Schecter

An autopsy has determined that a Florida man died after ingesting "bath salts," just two days after Gov. Rick Scott signed a state law banning the synthetic drugs, which had been sold legally in stores and on the internet.

A toxicologist with the medical examiner's office of Hillsborough County, Florida said that Jairious McGhee, 23, died from an overdose of methylone, one of the chemicals sold as bath salts and used as a form of imitation cocaine. Julia Pearson said methylone was found in McGhee's blood after tests for other better known drugs were negative.

An ABC News investigation to air on "20/20" Friday found that "legal drugs" like bath salts, "K2" and "spice" that mimic the effects of cocaine and marijuana were widely available on the internet and in suburban malls and convenience stores. Bath salts. which have nothing in common with the products long used in bathing, are legally sold in more than 30 states, and there is no federal ban on them.

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POSITIVE ANTI-BINGE DRINKING MESSAGES MOST EFFECTIVE

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 3, 2011 | No Comments

By: Nathan Hurst

Binge drinking among college students has long been viewed as dangerous and destructive. Government and non-profit health organizations spend millions of dollars annually on public service announcements (PSAs) aimed at dissuading college students from hazardous drinking habits. These organizations primarily use "loss-framed", or negative messages, to show the dangers of binge drinking. Now, University of Missouri researchers have found that "gain-framed", or positive messages, are much more effective in convincing college students to abandon binge drinking.

Gain-framed messages portray positive reasons for avoiding risky behavior such as improved grades or more fulfilling relationships. Alternatively, loss-framed messages focus on negative consequences, such as failing school or suffering from health problems. Through in-depth interviews of college students, Joonghwa Lee, a doctoral candidate at the Missouri School of Journalism, identified four areas of interest for college students regarding the effects of binge drinking: relationships, academic success, health, and control safety.

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FLORIDA GOVERNOR SIGNS WELFARE DRUG-SCREEN MEASURE

Article from: cnn.com

Jun 2, 2011 | No Comments

By: The CNN Wire staff

(CNN) - Saying it is "unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction," Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday signed legislation requiring adults applying for welfare assistance to undergo drug screening.

"It's the right thing for taxpayers," Scott said after signing the measure. "It's the right thing for citizens of this state that need public assistance. We don't want to waste tax dollars. And also, we want to give people an incentive to not use drugs."

Under the law, which takes effect on July 1, the Florida Department of Children and Family Services will be required to conduct the drug tests on adults applying to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The aid recipients would be responsible for the cost of the screening, which they would recoup in their assistance if they qualify. Those who fail the required drug testing may designate another individual to receive the benefits on behalf of their children.

Shortly after the bill was signed, five Democrats from the state's congressional delegation issued a joint statement attacking the legislation, one calling it "downright unconstitutional."

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THREE RUSSIAN TOURISTS DIE IN TURKISH ALCOHOL POISONING

Article from: bbc.co.uk

Jun 2, 2011 | No Comments

Three young Russian women have died and others are in hospital after drinking poisoned alcohol on a yacht in Turkey, Russian and Turkish media report.

One of the women died after returning to Moscow while the other deaths occurred in Turkey after the poisoning in the resort of Bodrum.

Twenty Russians and one Turk were affected, and one woman is in a coma.

As Turkish police began an investigation, samples were taken of alcohol on the yacht for analysis.

Russian prosecutors have also opened an investigation, which they said they hoped to conduct in Turkey.

'Strange taste'

The party of some 60 Russians was largely made up of travel agency managers, in Turkey for a fact-finding visit, the Russian newspaper Argumenty i fakty reports.

Anatasia Lavrenko, whose friend Marina Shevelyova died in Moscow, told Russian online newspaper Life News they had paid $50 for the night-time cruise and each had been served between 10 and 12 of their favourite cocktails, whiskey and cola.

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CHILDREN WITH ADHA MORE PRONE TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE: STUDY

Article from: health.usnews.com

Jun 2, 2011 | No Comments

Boys and girls diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face a significantly higher risk of developing a substance abuse problem -- including cigarettes, alcohol and drugs, new research reveals.

"Our study, which is one of the largest set of longitudinal studies of this issue to date, supports the association between ADHD and substance abuse found in several earlier studies and shows that the increased risk cannot be accounted for by co-existing factors such as other psychiatric disorders or family history of substance abuse," lead author Dr. Timothy Wilens, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said in a news release from Massachusetts General Hospital.

"Overall, study participants diagnosed with ADHD had a one-and-a-half times greater risk of developing substance abuse than did control participants," he added.

Continue Reading: health.usnews.com

MAHARASHTRA RAISES AGE BAR FOR DRINKING ALCOHOL

Article from: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Jun 2, 2011 | No Comments

By: Ians

MUMBAI: In an attempt to discourage youngsters from consuming alcohol, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday hiked the minimum age for drinking beer from 18 to 21 and hard liquor from 21 to 25.

Announcing this, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan denied that it was an attempt at moral policing and said that the decision was unanimously taken by the state cabinet.

Chavan said the move was intended to increase people's participation to control alcohol consumption.

However, wine consumption has not been barred for any age group.

"One of the major areas of concern is to control the consumption of illegal liquor which kills people. If sale of illegal liquor is found anywhere, the police and excise chief would be held responsible," Chavan warned.

Continue Reading: timesofinda.indiatimes.com

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS SCORE BIG BUCKS ON THE STREET

Article from: cnn.com

Jun 1, 2011 | No Comments

By: Parija Kavilanz

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Prescription drug abuse, now the fastest-growing drug problem in the country, has created a ballooning street market for highly-addictive pain relief, anxiety and depression drugs.

Given the money involved, it's no wonder.

Here's a sampling of the street prices for a single tablet of some commonly trafficked drugs, compared to their retail prices:

--Oxycontin: $50 to $80 on the street, vs. $6 when sold legally

--Oxycodone: $12 to $40 on the street, vs. $6 retail

--Hydrocodone: $5 to $20 vs. $1.50

--Percocet: $10 to $15 vs. $6

--Vicodin: $5 to $25 vs. $1.50

Those street prices were gleaned from the latest data put out by federal law enforcement agencies, and the retail prices were from pharmacychecker.com.

Continue Reading: cnn.com

NEW GUIDE SAFEGUARDS CHILDREN AFFECTED BY SUBSTANCE MISUSE, UK

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Jun 1, 2011 | No Comments

A third of drug addicts or problem drinkers in treatment have childcare responsibilities and the lives of these children are much improved when providers and children's services get together early on to ensure the whole family gets the support it may need.

A new practical guide issued today (Wednesday, 1st June) by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) says those responsible for drink and drug treatment must take a wider, more preventative approach, identifying early on when families need help as well as protecting children from neglect and harm.

The guide also calls on children and family services to view treatment for parents as a way of improving life for the whole family and to get involved when problems are first identified ensuring these are dealt with before a crisis point is reached.

Continue Reading: medicalnewstoday.com

STUDY FINDS ADHD IS MAJOR RISK FACTOR FOR DEVELOPING SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS AND SMOKING

Article from: drugfree.org

Jun 1, 2011 | No Comments

By: Join Together Staff

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a significant risk factor for developing substance use disorders and cigarette smoking in both boys and girls, new research indicates.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston analyzed data on about 500 boys and girls both with and without ADHD who were followed over 10 years, into young adulthood. They found that ADHD was a significant risk factor for any substance use disorder and cigarette smoking.

UPI reports the researchers found that among those with ADHD, 32 percent developed some type of substance abuse during the 10-year period, compared with 25 percent of those without ADHD.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

EL SALVADOR FEARS TIES BETWEEN CARTELS, STREET GANGS (part 3)

Article from: npr.org

Jun 1, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jason Beaubien

The drug war in Mexico is having ramifications throughout the hemisphere, as Mexican cartels seek new markets and smuggling routes for their products.

As the Mexican government has attacked the cartels, several of them have been moving into Central America, where security forces are ill-equipped to confront them. The migration of the cartels into Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador has given the region the highest homicide rate in the hemisphere.

In El Salvador, there's fear that the Mexican cartels are aligning themselves with the country's ubiquitous street gangs.

El Salvador has had a gang problem for quite some time. The two main gangs -- the 18th Street and the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS -- are so powerful and so volatile that their members get sent to separate prisons.

Continue Reading: npr.org

BRAZIL SEES SPREAD OF AMAZON 'CRACK COCAINE' OXI

Article from: bbc.co.uk

Jun 1, 2011 | No Comments

By: Pablo Cabral

In the dark alleys of cities in the Brazilian Amazon, the smell of burned plastic and fuel is in the air, coming from small groups of people smoking under the cover of night.

They are users of oxi - a dirtier and more devastating version of crack cocaine.

The drug has taken hold in towns and cities in the Amazon thanks to its low price - about $1 (60p) a hit - and extreme addictiveness.

"Life on the streets is hard. I have to find money every day to get drugs or I can't sleep," said an oxi user between one hit and the next.

Continue Reading: bbc.co.uk

UTAH STRUGGLES WITH LIQUOR LAW MANDATING BARTENDERS BE HIDDEN FROM VIEW

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Jun 1, 2011

Utah is currently struggling with draconian liquor laws that mandate that restaurant bartenders must be hidden from public view and that 70 percent of restaurant receipts must be for meals, explains the Salt Lake Tribune.

Restaurant owner Dimitri Golesis wanted a bar for people to watch sports and watch the bartender mix drinks. "But with no bartender in sight, few of our customers want to sit at what is now just a counter." The manager at Silver restaurant in Park City also felt that the rules gave visitors a negative impression about Utah.

Between 2001 and 2009, alcohol consumption by gallon has increased 54 percent in Utah, more than double that of the population increase.

Continue Reading: huffingtonpost.com

WHITE ROCK ANGELS ACCUSED IN MASSIVE DRUG SMUGGLING RING

Article from: vancouversun.com

Jun 1, 2011

By: Kim Bolan

The White Rock chapter of the Hells Angels supplied marijuana and muscle to a multimillion-dollar cross-border drug-smuggling ring in which 22 people have so far been charged, U.S. court documents allege.

U.S. law enforcement agents allege Hells Angel associate Trevor Jones was the Canadian "boss" of the drug ring alleged to have distributed up to a tonne of pot and 200 kilograms of cocaine a month for several years.

The ring was broken up last month with a series of arrests in several states and the seizure of almost $2 million US and 1,000 kilograms of cocaine from various locations.

The just-unsealed court documents say that Jones, who is not charged on the indictment, was observed by U.S. agents meeting a key member of the drug ring in Las Vegas in February.

And the documents say that U.S. members of the gang were caught on wiretap in April trying to get guns, baseball bats and pepper spray for the B.C. bikers so they could go after an associate believed to have stolen 106 kilograms of cocaine.

Continue Reading: vancouversun.com