August 2011 Archives

UO REQUIRING FRESHMEN TO TAKE ALCOHOL ABUSE PREVENTION CLASS (video)

Article from: kezi.com

Aug 31, 2011 | No Comments

By Heather Hintze

EUGENE, Ore. -- University of Oregon freshmen will have to add one more thing to their back to school list: a new online alcohol education class.

Students don't think it will stop underage drinking, but they say a little education can't hurt.

Incoming freshmen will be greeted with an online alcohol awareness video when they start classes at the University of Oregon.

It's called AlcoholEdu and is used by more than 500 schools across the country.

The UO says the focus isn't to stop underage drinking.

The goal is to decrease the negative consequences when it comes to alcohol and also try to decrease the incidents of unwanted sexual behavior on campus," said UO Director of Substance Abuse Prevention Jennifer Summers.

The interactive class asks students questions like, what does BAC stand for, and what is the size of a standard drink.

Students and parents say it's a good refresher course before the school year starts.

"In high school you have a brief education on certain things like that, but maybe restating some things could be helpful. It's worth a shot," said potential UO freshman Amy Van Der Zanden.

"I think it's a good idea because I don't think some high schoolers have any idea of the impact or even the availability. While it's present in high school, I know my daughter is not really aware of that, and to have an online course is a good idea," said Jake Van Der Zanden, parent.

Students who've put in a few years on the UO campus say a lot of freshmen will choose to drink regardless of the online class.

Continue Reading: kezi.com

OBAMA RELATIVE ARRESTED ON DRUNK-DRIVING CHARGE

Article from: boston.com

Aug 31, 2011 | No Comments

By Billy Baker and Glen Johnson

FRAMINGHAM - As he was being booked on drunken driving charges by Framingham police last week, Onyango Obama was offered a chance to make a phone call to arrange for bail.

"I think,'' he said, according to a police report, "I'd like to call the White House.''

If he was hoping to reach his nephew, Barack Obama, he would have been out of luck; the president was vacationing with the first family on Martha's Vineyard.

The elder Obama, who is the half-brother of the president's late father, according to a spokesman for the law firm representing him, is in the custody of immigration officials, awaiting possible deportation to Kenya.

A White House spokesman referred all requests for comment yesterday to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The ICE press office, in an e-mail, said the agency does not comment on specific cases.

Onyango Obama, 67, who lives on Charles Street in Framingham, was stopped by police outside the Chicken Bone Saloon on Wednesday, shortly after 7 p.m.

According to the police report, Obama was driving on South Street, just in front of a police cruiser, when he made a sharp turn, causing the officer and another driver behind to jam on their brakes.

When the officer approached the vehicle, Obama, who "spoke English well, albeit with a moderate accent,'' appeared to have slurred speech, according to the report by Officer Val J. Krishtal.

"The male would not allow me to speak and continued to interrupt me,'' Krishtal wrote. "I explained to him that I narrowly avoided striking his vehicle, and he told me that he did not hear my tires screeching, so I was not being accurate.''

Obama first told the officer he had not had anything to drink, then admitted to one beer, and then to two beers, according to the report, which described his eyes as "red and glassy.''

When the officer attempted to administer a field sobriety test , Obama kept starting the test too early and talking over the officer's instructions, the report said.

"Every time I got a sentence out, Obama would say, 'You are correct,' '' Krishtal wrote. "He also attempted to start the [one-legged stand] test approximately 7 times without being told to do so.'' During another test known as the "nine-step walk and turn,'' Obama "could barely keep himself from falling,'' according to the report.

After failing three field sobriety tests, Obama was arrested on a drunken-driving charges and booked without incident, the police report said.

At the station, which is where Obama first hinted at his White House connection, he allegedly registered a 0.14 percent blood alcohol level on an alcohol breath test. The legal limit in Massachusetts is 0.08.

Continue Reading: boston.com

ECUADOR BUYS BOOZE TO PREVENT MORE BOOTLEG DEATHS

Article from: foxnews.com

Aug 31, 2011 | No Comments

Ecuador is buying all the booze they can get to stop the outbreak of bootleg alcohol that has killed 48 people and sickened hundreds.

Authorities are trying to buy back half a million bottles of the contaminated homemade aguardiente liquor.

The country's health minister, David Chiriboga, says the homemade alcohol is tainted with methanol, or wood alcohol, which is used for industrial purposes. The buyback offer involves 14 brands of wine and other alcohol that stores have been barred from selling since July.

More than 500 people have been injured by the contaminated alcohol, with some left permanently blinded.

The alcohol came from small provincial providers that didn't have the required health permits.

Chiriboga told the public that if they experience such symptoms as nausea, vomiting, bodily pain, affected eyesight, convulsions, changes in mental function or gasping for breath, they should go without delay to the nearest hospital or clinic.

Continue Reading: foxnews.com

DRINK-DRIVING RISK FOR OBESITY SURGERY PATIENTS

Article from: telegraph.com

Aug 31, 2011 | No Comments

Obese people who undergo weight-loss surgery become drunk more easily and may inadvertently find themselves over the limit, an academic has warned.

By Martin Beckford

Dr Peter Holt, a researcher at Rockefeller University in New York, said that overweight patients who have the common "stomach stapling" operations are likely to have large concentrations of alcohol in the blood even if they drink little, which take a long time to wear off.

He also claimed that bacteria in parts of the gut cut off in gastric bypasses can produce pure alcohol.

As a result, Dr Holt suggested that all patients who undergo weight-loss surgery should be warned about the effects on their ability to drink and should think about avoiding alcohol completely if they drive.

He wrote in a letter in The Lancet: "Obesity surgery has become one of the commonest operations in western countries.

"These data mandate that patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery e warned that they could experience a major difference in their capacity to handle alcohol after their surgery and that they should consider not driving after drinking any alcohol at all."

Dr Holt said he had heard of a patient who had undergone the operation - in which the stomach and digestive system are made smaller in order to make the patient eat and digest less food - and several years later found themselves over the drink-drive limit several hours after drinking one glass of wine.

Continue Reading: telegraph.com

SCHOOLS CONFRONT TEEN DRINKING

Article from: chicagotribune.com

Aug 30, 2011 | No Comments

Incident at Naperville North reflects a nagging problem

By Joseph Ruzich and Mick Swasko

Generation after generation of teenagers have been lectured by everyone from police and school officials to family and friends about the consequences associated with drinking alcohol.

Sometimes the words sink in. Often they don't.

The issue came to light again this month when 15 Naperville North High School students were suspended after it was determined they had been drinking until as late as 5 a.m. the morning of the first day of classes. Some of the students arrived on campus intoxicated, according to school officials.

According to a 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control, 42 percent of high school students drank some amount of alcohol during the 30 days before the survey was taken. During the same period, 24 percent were involved in binge drinking, 10 percent drove after drinking alcohol and 28 percent rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.

The survey also indicates that youths who start drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence or abuse later in life than those who begin drinking at or after age 21.

"There is a lot more drinking going on (with high school students) than people think," said Mark Weimer, 17, a junior at Naperville Central High School, which is in the same school district as Naperville North. "There's usually alcohol at most parties."

In an attempt to combat the problem, most schools have codes of conduct that deal with drinking and warn that those who do drink could be suspended or even expelled.

And the rules are stricter for students in sports or other extracurricular activities at some schools. Just being in the presence of other minors drinking -- including at parties where liquor is present -- could mean being tossed off a team or out of a club.

"Because athletes and students in a competitive activity wear a uniform that represents the school, we expect their behavior to be at their highest standard," said Diana Smith, principal of York Community High School in Elmhurst.

But officials also are looking to help students confront what could be a larger problem rather than just punish them. Many schools are reducing suspension times for students who are willing to attend substance abuse programs, according to officials.

Continue Reading: chicagotribune.com

CHEAPER, STRONGER HEROIN LEADING TO MORE USAGE IN SOUTH COUNTY

Article from: patch.com

Aug 30, 2011 | No Comments

Residents attended a town hall meeting at Oakville High School, where they learned the facts and prevention of heroin.

By Sarah Flagg

More than 300 people gathered at Oakville High School to learn prevention and the signs of heroin, which has killed 49 people already this year in St. Louis County.

The meeting was the third and largest in the area hosted by St. Louis County Police and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (NCADA). Nearly two-thirds of the audience raised their hands when Police Chief Tim Fitch asked if they'd been directly affected by the drug.

"It's an overwhelmingly large issue in South and West County," said Capt. Chuck Borschert, commander of the West County Precinct. Borschert was also in charge of the Drug Unit before moving to West County.

Heroin is a synthetic opiate that comes primarily from South America and Mexico. It is extremely addictive and made from morphine. Although it has been around for more than 100 years, its potency, cost and intake method has evolved in recent years, causing a sharp increase in usage.

Heroin can now be smoked and snorted, as opposed to just injected.

"It doesn't have to be used with a needle," said Dan Duncan with the NCADA. "They're snorting it, they're smoking it, it makes it more relatable to other drugs they may have used such as marijuana or cocaine."

Users are now buying and concealing heroin in empty capsules that can be purchased at pharmacies.

Called "buttons," Borschert said 1/20 of a gram in these capsules costs only $10 and creates a high that lasts three to five hours.

Continue Reading: patch.com

MOM'S SMOKING TIED TO PSYCHIATRIC MEDS IN KIDS

Article from: foxnews.com

Aug 30, 2011 | No Comments

Children whose mothers smoked while pregnant were more likely to end up on medications such as antidepressants, stimulants and drugs for addiction, according to a study from Finland that hints at smoking's affect on a baby's developing brain.

While the findings don't prove that cigarette smoking during pregnancy causes changes in children's brains or behavior, they offer one more piece of evidence that should encourage women not to smoke while pregnant, the researchers wrote in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

"The exposure was significantly associated with the risk for all medication use and for both single- and multiple-drug consumption even after adjustment (e.g. mothers' severe psychiatric illnesses," wrote lead researcher Mikael Ekblad, at the Department of Pediatrics at Turku University Hospital.

"These findings show that exposure to smoking during pregnancy is linked to both mild and severe psychiatric morbidity."

Ekblad and his colleagues used Finnish data for 175,000 children born in the country between 1987 and 1989. At that time, midwives had asked all new mothers if they smoked during pregnancy.

The researchers then matched those birth records to a nationwide database of prescription drugs covered by insurance between 1994 and 2007 -- when the children were between five and 20 years old.

One in 11 children was prescribed a psychiatric medication at some point during that period, including anti-anxiety drugs, antipsychotics, antidepressants, stimulants and drugs for addiction.

Of children and teens whose mothers didn't smoke during pregnancy, 8 percent were on at least one of those drugs during the study period. That compared to 11 percent of those whose mothers smoked fewer than 10 cigarettes per day, and close to 14 percent whose mothers had lit up more than 10 times a day.

The link remained when researchers left out babies who were born early or very small, which are other factors that could affect future mental health.

It also stuck when they looked at each class of drugs on its own, and was strongest for stimulant drugs that target attention problems and hyperactivity, and drugs for addiction.

Continue Reading: foxnews.com

IN DEPTH: THE CARTELS BEHIND MEXICO'S DRUG WAR

Article from: cbc.com

Aug 29, 2011 | No Comments

The bodies of gunmen laid out on a road beside their vehicle after a shootout with Mexican soldiers in the municipality of Tacambaro near Morelia on Aug. 16, 2011. The gunmen were suspected members of the Caballeros Templarios, a new spin-off cartel in Michoacan state linked to the Gulf cartel. (Leo Gonzalez /Reuters)

By Kazi Stastna

Although a specific drug cartel has not as yet been implicated in the recent arson attack on a Monterrey casino that killed 52 people, many observers suspect the incident is a product of the bloody turf wars and extortion rackets involving Mexico's notorious drug cartels.

The ruthless battles among competing cartels and between the cartels and the government forces trying to take them down have claimed at least 40,000 lives since 2006, the year that Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, launched a crackdown against the cartels that many say has only increased the violence. In 2010 alone, the bloodiest year to date, more than 15,000 people were killed in drug-related violence.

Although there are many areas of Mexico where cartels are not active, in the states and cities they do control, their reach is vast. They not only employ local gangs as enforcers but exert control over police, the military and politicians. Mayors, governors, journalists and police officers have all fallen victim to the cartels' particularly brutal brand of intimidation and violence.

What's more, the cartels have branched out from drug trafficking in recent years and are involved in numerous other criminal enterprises, including kidnapping, counterfeiting, human-smuggling and business extortion of the kind authorities suspect may have been behind the attack at the Monterrey casino, which had been hit twice before the Aug. 26 incident.

With a presidential election on the horizon in 2012, the pressure is on Calderon to curb the violence and rethink the strategy he set in motion in 2006. Back then, the president set about dismantling the local police forces he felt had been corrupted by the cartels and brought in tens of thousands of his own federal troops and police to pursue the drug lords. Some say this only led to more violence, as the cartels were now fighting not only each other but federal forces as well, and more and more civilians were getting caught in the crossfire.

Continue Reading: cbc.com

DRUNK DRIVERS SKIRTING LAW REQUIRING THEM TO DRIVE WITH BREATHALYZERS

Article from: nydaily.com

Aug 29, 2011 | No Comments

By: Kenneth Lovett

ALBANY - Drunken drivers busted in New York City have found a way around a law requiring that breath-testing devices be placed in their cars before they drive again.

Under a part of Leandra's Law that went into effect last August, people convicted of drunken driving are required to have an ignition interlock device installed in their car for at least six months - or surrender their license.

But the latest data show that just 21% of convicted drunken drivers in the city had the device installed - less than half of the 44% interlock rate of offenders statewide.

"There is a problem with getting the people to install the devices," admitted Kevin Ryan, spokesman for the Queens district attorney's office, which, along with the probation department, monitors the program for the entire city.

A total of 2,562 drivers had been convicted of drunken driving as of Aug. 15 - a year after the law was instituted.

But only 528 of the busted drivers have installed devices in their cars, city records show.

City and state officials said the boozehounds have come up with a creative way around the rules: transferring the title of their vehicle to a friend or relative.

Others have explained to authorities that they simply got rid of their vehicles.

"It's obviously very disappointing," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Charles Fuschillo (R-Nassau) who co-sponsored Leandra's Law. "Certainly, it wasn't the intent of the legislation."

Fuschillo blamed defense attorneys for advising clients on how to skirt the law. He's now working with Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice to come up with legislation to close the loophole.

Continue Reading: nydaily.com

APS HIGHLIGHTS, WHAT'S IN YOUR MEDICATION CABINET?

Article from: alamogordonews.com

Aug 29, 2011 | No Comments

By Lisa Patch

Second only to marijuana, prescription drugs are the most abused drugs. Prescription drug abuse is when a prescription is being used for any reason other than prescribed.

Forty-one percent of American teens believe that prescription drug abuse is not as serious as illegal drugs; they believe they have fewer side effects, according to Smart Moves Smart Choices. This is not correct. Prescription drug abuse can be as serious as -- or more serious than -- cocaine abuse.

The most threatening concern with prescription drugs over other drugs is easy access. How many of us know exactly what is in our medication cabinet? How many times have you stored leftover medications in the cabinet from an old injury or dental surgery?

Would you know if some were missing? Are they easily accessed? Sixty-five percent of teens who have abused prescription pain relievers got them from home or from a friend's home. Every day, 2,500 young people use a prescription pain reliever to get high for the first time. Due to the easy access, it is the drug of choice for our youngest teens, 12-13 years old. Sixty percent of teens age 12-17 who have abused prescription painkillers first tried them before age 15.

Parents and grandparents, here is where you can help protect your child/grandchild. Follow the recommendations below from Smart Moves, Smart Choices:

• Talk: Begin by talking with your pre-teen and teens and let them know that prescription drugs can be dangerous if taken by a different person, different amounts or for any reason other than intended from the doctor. The dangers are further increased when alcohol is used at the same time. Research shows that teens who learn a lot about the risks of drugs from their parents are up to 50 percent more likely to stay away from them.

• Be aware: What is in your medication cabinet? How many? How easy would it be for someone to find it? Teens are not the only ones with these addictions. Anyone visiting your home could be looking in the medication cabinet.

• Create a safe environment: Lock up medications in your home, both prescription and non-prescription. It is important to know what your child is taking and how much. As was recently in the news, Tylenol (acetaminophen) can be very dangerous if taken in quantities over the recommended dosages. If your child has to come to you for medications, it will give you the opportunity to hear why they are wanting the medications and be able to identify if it is something that warrants a trip to the doctor.

• Notice changes in your teen: Even though you have a busy schedule, try to talk to -- and spend time with -- your teen as often as possible. This may make it easier to notice if your teen is exhibiting any physical or behavioral changes that could indicate prescription drug abuse.

Continue Reading: alamogordonews.com

DRUG TESTING THE POOR: BAD POLICY, EVEN WORSE LAW

Article from: time.com

Aug 29, 2011 | No Comments

By: Adam Cohen

Under a new Florida law, people applying for welfare have to take a drug test at their own expense. If they pass, they are eligible for benefits and the state reimburses them for the test. If they fail, they are denied welfare for a year, until they take another test.

Mandatory drug testing for welfare applicants is becoming a popular idea across the U.S. Many states -- including Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Louisiana -- are considering adopting laws like Florida's. At the federal level, Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, has introduced the Drug Free Families Act of 2011, which would require all 50 states to drug-test welfare applicants. (See photos inside Colorado's marijuana industry.)

And the focus isn't even limited to welfare. In July, Indiana adopted drug tests for participants in a state job-training program. An Ohio state senator, Tim Grendell, recently said he plans to introduce a bill to require the unemployed to take a drug test before they receive unemployment benefits.

Drug-testing the needy has an undeniable populist appeal. It taps into deeply held beliefs about the deserving and undeserving poor. As Alabama state representative Kerry Rich put it, "I don't think the taxpayers should have to help fund somebody's drug habit."

But as government policy, drug testing is being oversold. These laws do not do what their supporters claim. And more importantly: they are likely to be unconstitutional. (See a TIME feature on your right to privacy.)

Drug testing proponents like to argue that there are large numbers of drug users going on welfare to get money to support their habits. The claim feeds into long-standing stereotypes about the kind of people who go on welfare, but it does not appear to have much basis in fact.

Continue Reading: time.com

MEXICO'S SINALOA CARTEL MAKES BIG MOVE INTO METH

Article from: ap.org

Aug 28, 2011 | No Comments

By: Mark Stevenson

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's most powerful drug cartel appears to be expanding methamphetamine production on a massive scale, filling a gap left by the breakdown of a rival gang that was once the top trafficker of the synthetic drug.

The globe-spanning Sinaloa cartel is suspected of dealing record tons of drugs as well as the chemicals that are used to make meth, known as precursor chemicals, which are processed in industrial-sized operations.

The apparent increase in the Sinaloa group's involvement comes as the Mexican government says it has dismantled the La Familia gang with key arrests and killings of its leadership. It also coincides with U.S. drug intelligence reports showing that Mexico is once again the primary source of meth to the United States.

Methamphetamine production, gauged by seizures of labs and drugs in Mexico, has increased dramatically since 2008.

Continue Reading: ap.org

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE DRIVES FLORIDA TO COLLECT OLD MEDICATIONS

Article from: tampabay.com

Aug 28, 2011 | No Comments

By: Shelly Rossetter

TAMPA -- Jerry Meguar had been saving his old and unused prescription medications for months. He wanted to dispose of the pills properly.

On Saturday morning, loaded down by two plastic grocery bags full of medications, he walked into a Sweetbay Supermarket on North Dale Mabry Highway and dumped them into a large, locked metal container.

Placed there as part of the state's second annual Drug Take Back Day, the container is one of the ways Florida officials are trying to combat prescription drug abuse ravaging the state.

"Florida has been known as the epicenter of prescription drug abuse for a while," Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the event Saturday. "We know that has to stop.

Continue Reading: tampabay.com

MAINE ATTORNEY GENERAL CALLS SUMMIT ON PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE

Article from: bangordailynews.com

Aug 28, 2011 | No Comments

By: Mal Leary

AUGUSTA, Maine -- Attorney General Bill Schneider is calling a summit in October to find ways to stem the growing problem of prescription drug abuse in Maine. The state was found to have the most serious legal drug abuse problem in the nation in a study released earlier this year.

"It is more serious in Maine than in most states," he said in an interview. "We are a rural state and it seems to be a rural state kind of problem. The bigger, more urban states still have the more prevalent problem [of] cocaine and crack."

Schneider said the abuse of prescription drugs was a major topic at the June meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General, and he decided after those sessions with national experts that he would hold a meeting to see what Maine specific actions could be taken to reduce abuse of legally prescribed drugs.

Continue Reading: bangordailynews.com

WHY IT'S NO LONGER RAINING COCAINE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Article from: time.com

Aug 28, 2011 | No Comments

By: Ezra Fieser

Drug cartels often drop their product from small planes for it to be picked up by traffickers on land. But sometimes those air deliveries miss their mark -- and until recently, errant bundles of cocaine used to fall from the sky into the Dominican Republic's countryside so frequently that one rural cab driver tells TIME they were like "gifts from God," because residents who found them could sell them back to the narcos for a handsome price. "It paid better than any other job," says the cabbie, who lost his job and is separated from his wife because of the drug addiction he developed as a result of all that exposure to cocaine.

Mabel Féliz Báez, head of the Dominican Republic's National Drug Council, agrees that the Caribbean nation "was being bombed by these drug shipments." In 2007, at the height of the drops, at least 200 narcoplanes flew over the country, releasing thousands of pounds of cocaine at a time.

Continue Reading: time.com

AS U.S. METH BUSTS DROP, INDIANA RAMPS US

Article from: jconline.com

Aug 27, 2011 | No Comments

By: Sophia Voravong

With 741 methamphetamine labs found and destroyed through the first half of 2011 -- a 33 percent increase since 2008 for the same time frame, according to numbers provided by Indiana State Police -- Indiana could break its own record by year's end.

The data itself might be troubling. But Indiana actually is in a better position than other states, such as Michigan and Tennessee, where enforcement efforts have stalled because federal funding is no longer available to clean up the toxic waste that meth labs produce.

Indiana drastically cut costs by partnering with the Drug Enforcement Agency beginning in 2007 to set up temporary disposal sites. There are 10 "containers" throughout the state.

"For the standard lab that has a contractor come clean it up, it costs about $3,500," said 1st Sgt. Niki Crawford, commander of ISP's Methamphetamine Suppression Section. "Our labs average $550 because of the container program.

Continue Reading: jconline.com

LIVERPOOL AND BLACKPOOL TOP ALCOHOL PROBLEM LIST

Article from: bbc.co.uk

Aug 27, 2011 | No Comments

Alcohol-related illness and injury rates are at their highest in Lancashire and Merseyside, according to latest findings from a health body.

The North West Public Health Observatory figures show Blackpool has the highest rates of chronic liver disease in England.

It revealed Liverpool came top for the numbers of alcohol-related conditions treated in hospital.

Across England such admissions have increased by 879 a day since 2006.

'National problem'

The observatory based in Liverpool John Moores University based their findings on updating the 2011 Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE), first released in May.

The profiles contain 25 alcohol-related indicators for every local authority and 22 for every primary care trust in England.

Continue Reading: bbc.co.uk

GOOGLE TO PAY $500M OVER CANADIAN DRUG ADVERTS

Article from: telegraph.co.uk

Aug 27, 2011 | No Comments

By: Katherine Rushton

Google is to pay out $500m to avoid going to court over claims it made hundreds of millions of dollars out of adverts from Canadian pharmacies illegally selling prescription drugs such as Viagra to US consumers.

The settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) is one of the biggest made by a single company but will allow Google to draw a line under a case that could have impacted its business.

The DoJ took action against the web search giant for hosting adverts for Canadian online pharmacies offering to sell US citizens prescription drugs such as Viagra and Vicodin without a prescription. Some of the internet pharmacies also offered controlled substances or drugs shipped to the US from a variety of other countries with little or no effective regulation.

Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft all banned the ads in 2003, in response to a crackdown by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, Google lifted the ban a year later. It also offered the pharmacies advice on how to optimise their Google ads and improve their websites through its adwords programs, despite repeated warnings by US regulators that it was at risk of aiding illegal activity by doing so.

Continue Reading: telegraph.co.uk

MAN SENTENCED IN 'MARIJUANA BY MAIL' SCHEME

Article from: suntimes.com

Aug 26, 2011 | No Comments

By: Bill Bird

A man from Naperville's far southwest side has been sentenced to jail for mailing packages to another man that contained a total of nearly seven pounds of marijuana.

Ambrocio Bueno is scheduled to report Monday to DuPage County Jail in Wheaton to begin serving a term of periodic imprisonment, according to records on file in DuPage County Circuit Court. He will be jailed from time to time until May 23, court records showed.

Bueno, 45, last lived on the 4800 block of Clearwater Lane in Naperville's Saddle Creek neighborhood. He pleaded guilty June 23 to a felony charge of the attempted manufacture or delivery of more than 5,000 grams of cannabis, court records declared.

Judge John J. Kinsella on Tuesday sentenced Bueno to jail. He also ordered Bueno to perform 400 hours of community service work and assessed fines and legal costs totaling $4,210, according to court records.

Continue Reading: suntimes.com

CRACK COCAINE EPIDEMIC SWEEPS BRAZIL FROM THE AMAZON TO RIO

Article from: guardian.co.uk

Aug 26, 2011 | No Comments

By: Tom Phillips

Past a roadblock, improvised from charred tree trunks and concrete sewer pipes, sits a muscle-bound man in flip-flops, with an AR-15 assault rifle cradled in his lap.

"Crack is the devil in rock form," he says baldly. "If one of my employees started smoking crack I'd confiscate his gun and kick him out of the gang."

The man is a drug boss from one of Rio de Janeiro's three main drug factions. He sells crack from his shanty town on the city's western edge, in the latest scourge to afflict Rio.

Until recently the city's gangsters largely refused to sell crack, fearful of the effect it would have on their clientele. But over the past few years economics have trumped good sense. The floodgates have opened.

"The use of crack is growing at a terrifying rate. In the last four years it has grown a great deal," says Julio Cesar Pereira de Oliveira, the director of a dilapidated civil police jail in northern Rio, where 10 damp and overcrowded cells are now packed with more than 360 prisoners, many of them addicts.

Continue Reading: guardian.co.uk

U.S. WIDENS ROLE IN MEXICO'S FIGHT AGAINST CRIME

Article from: nytimes.com

Aug 26, 2011 | No Comments

By: Mark Mazzetti

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has expanded its role in Mexico's fight against organized crime by allowing the Mexican police to stage cross-border drug raids from inside the United States, according to senior administration and military officials.

Mexican commandos have discreetly traveled to the United States, assembled at designated areas and dispatched helicopter missions back across the border aimed at suspected drug traffickers. The Drug Enforcement Administration provides logistical support on the American side of the border, officials said, arranging staging areas and sharing intelligence that helps guide Mexico's decisions about targets and tactics.

Officials said these so-called boomerang operations were intended to evade the surveillance -- and corrupting influences -- of the criminal organizations that closely monitor the movements of security forces inside Mexico. And they said the efforts were meant to provide settings with tight security for American and Mexican law enforcement officers to collaborate in their pursuit of criminals who operate on both sides of the border.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

NEW YORK MAN JAILED FOR SELLING PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FROM ICE CREAM TRUCK

Article from: heraldsun.com

Aug 26, 2011 | No Comments

A US man will spend the next three-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to selling massive quantities of prescription oxycodone out of his Staten Island ice cream truck.

It had been an open secret that Louis Scala Jr sold soft-serve and hard drugs - $20-a-pop "oxys" - out of his green-and-white Lickety Split truck, city Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said in announcing the case back in March.

Scala, 29, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court to conspiracy and drug possession charges, the New York Post reported.

Officials said Scala would sell actual ice cream on his regular route, then park his truck outside his house in Pleasant Plains.

He would sell to a few more kids, then deal pills to the adult customers who had been waiting for him in cars parked up and down the street, officials charged. New customers got a price break to hook them in, officials noted.

Continue Reading: heraldsun.com

TEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE EXPERT SEES DARK SIDE OF OPIOID ABUSE

Article from: drugfree.org

Aug 26, 2011 | No Comments

By: Celia Vilmont

From "pharming" to pill parties, teens are abusing prescription drugs in dangerous ways, and can become addicted quickly, warns an adolescent substance abuse specialist at Children's Hospital Boston.

"I see teens who become addicted to oxycodone by the third time they take it--they get hooked very quickly," says Patricia Schram, MD. "We're seeing a lot of teens who find pills and think it's fun to try them." She and her colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston Center for Adolescent Substance Research see teens who have become addicted to opioids through "pharming"--trying medicines they find in their own family's medicine cabinets or those of friends and family. They also see teens who have been rushed to the hospital after pill parties, where everyone brings pills they find at home and shares them with friends. "They don't know what they're taking or what could happen to them, and then they end up in the hospital in bad shape," she says.

Although Dr. Schram considers opioid abuse to be the most worrisome trend among teens, she and her colleagues are also seeing teens who abuse inhalants, the cold and cough medicine ingredient dextromethorphan, and newer substances such as K2, salvia and bath salts.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

€3.7bn - THE HIDDEN PRICE OF ALCOHOL

Article from: examiner.ie

Aug 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: Cormac O'Keeffe

The Government should "seriously consider" raising taxes on alcohol to reduce the estimated €3.7 billion cost to the state from alcohol abuse, according to a HSE report on the issue.

The research also goes on to suggest that the alcohol industry had, until recently, "exercised undue influence on government policy".

The report comes as provisional figures indicate that alcohol consumption levels in Ireland actually increased last year for the first time since 2007.

Alcohol Action Ireland has welcomed the report and said the Government should either introduce minimum pricing for alcohol or increase excise duty.

But the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland, which represents manufacturers and suppliers, said there was "no evidence" to suggest increasing the excise duty on alcohol was an effective way of dealing with misuse of alcohol, adding that such a move would penalise the average, responsible drinker.

Continue Reading: examiner.ie

JANE LYNCH CONFESSES SHE WAS ONCE ADDICTED TO COUGH SYRUP (video)

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Aug 25, 2011 | No Comments

Screen shot 2011-08-25 at 11.30.15 AM.png

In her upcoming memoir "Happy Accidents," actress Jane Lynch comes clean about her battle with addiction.

The 51-year-old Emmy winner, who recently hosted the "Do Something Awards," writes about how she became addicted to cough syrup after she gave up drinking in 1991.

In an excerpt from her memoir obtained by the New York Post, Lynch writes:

I found myself eating about a gallon of chocolate ice cream daily to replace the copious amounts of sugar my body was used to from my daily beer intake. I did, however, continue my habit of taking NyQuil before bed. Though no longer drinking Miller Lite, I was still in need of something to soothe me. The fact that NyQuil had alcohol in it was not something I acknowledged at all. I still considered myself on the wagon.

Continue Reading: huffingtonpost.com

THE PARTNERSHIP AT DRUGFREE.ORG COMMENTS ON NEW NATIONAL STUDY ON TEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Article from: drugfree.org

Aug 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: Josie Feliz

~CASA Survey Reports Teens Who Regularly Use Social Networking Sites More Likely to Smoke, Drink, Use Drugs ~

New York, NY - August, 24 2011 - A national study released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University underscores the vital role of parents in preventing drug and alcohol abuse among their children and teens.

The 16th annual "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse: Teens and Parents" reports that American teenagers who spend time on social networking sites are more likely to smoke, drink and use drugs. The survey asked 12- to 17-yearolds whether they spend time on Facebook, MySpace or other social networking sites.

CASA reports, "Seventy percent of teens report spending time on social networking sites in a typical day compared to 30 percent of teens who say they do not. Compared to teens that spend no time on social networking sites in a typical day, 'social networking teens' that do are: five times more likely to use tobacco; three times more likely to use alcohol; and twice as likely to use marijuana."

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

COUNCIL SHOOTS DOWN WALGREENS' BID TO SELL ALCOHOL

Article from: patch.com

Aug 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: Austin Walsh

The Menlo Park City Council gave the final denial to a request by Walgreens to be allowed to sell beer and wine at its store at 643 Santa Cruz Avenue, ending weeks of contentious debate.

The pharmacy had appealed a previous 4-3 vote by the planning commission to deny a permit, but the council unanimously supported the decision.

"I think it's important for a drug store to be a drug store, and just provide that particular service," said Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson.

The request has stirred heated argument among speakers at previous meetings, but no one addressed the council last night.

Walgreens legal counsel Dan Kramer argued that the retailer should be allowed to market beer and alcohol, partly because that would level the playing field between the pharmacy and its competitors in vying for a portion of the revenue that comes from alcohol sales.

Continue Reading: patch.com

IF NOT DRUGS, WHAT KILLED AMY WINEHOUSE?

Article from: abcnews.com

Aug 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: Luchina Fisher

Amy Winehouse's family revealed Tuesday that "no illegal substances" were found in her body at the time of her death.

Their bombshell announcement has many people wondering if drugs didn't kill the "Rehab" singer, what did?

In Tuesday's statement, the family said: "Toxicology results returned to the Winehouse family by authorities have confirmed that there were no illegal substances in Amy's system at the time of her death. Results indicate that alcohol was present, but it cannot be determined as yet if it played a role in her death."

Winehouse was found dead in her London flat July 23. She was 27. The formal cause of death remains unknown and will be not be released until October.

But Pittsburg forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht cautions against reaching a conclusion from the family's statement.

"The fact that the family said no illicit drugs were found does not mean in and of itself other drugs obtained legally were not found," Wecht told ABCNews.com. "Most drug deaths are from legally obtained drugs. That's one caveat I would express in regard to the family's statement."

Continue Reading: abcnews.com

A PLEDGE TO END FRATERNITY HAZING

Article from: nytimes.com

Aug 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: David J. Skorton

IN February, a 19-year-old Cornell sophomore died in a fraternity house while participating in a hazing episode that included mock kidnapping, ritualized humiliation and coerced drinking. While the case is still in the courts, the fraternity chapter has been disbanded and those indicted in connection with the death are no longer enrolled here.

This tragedy convinced me that it was time -- long past time -- to remedy practices of the fraternity system that continue to foster hazing, which has persisted at Cornell, as on college campuses across the country, in violation of state law and university policy.

Yesterday, I directed student leaders of Cornell's Greek chapters to develop a system of member recruitment and initiation that does not involve "pledging" -- the performance of demeaning or dangerous acts as a condition of membership. While fraternity and sorority chapters will be invited to suggest alternatives for inducting new members, I will not approve proposals that directly or indirectly encourage hazing and other risky behavior.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

DANGERS OF FACEBOOK FOR TEENS

Article from: chicagotribune.com

Aug 25, 2011 | No Comments

By: John Keilman

I received an intriguing e-mail Monday morning from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

The center does an annual survey on teen attitudes toward drinking and drug use.

This year's report found something new and alarming: Teens who regularly use Facebook and Myspace are much more likely than social network avoiders to drink, smoke and use marijuana.

One possible reason for that, the report concluded, is that teens who use social media are likely to see images of their peers drinking or using drugs.

A large body of research has shown the influence of peer pressure on teen substance abuse, and this could well be the new frontier.

Continue Reading: chicagotribune.com

DRUG ADDICTION SURGES IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Article from: globalpost.com

Aug 22, 2011 | No Comments

The rise in cocaine and crack consumption coincides with the country's emergence as a coveted way station for drug trafficking.

By: Ezra Fiese

FRANCISCO DEL ROSARIO SANCHEZ, Dominican Republic -- Dominican drug rehab centers are struggling to keep up with a rise in crack and cocaine addiction, a consequence of the country's decades-long role as a transshipment point in the international drug trade.

Although drug use is still relatively low in the Caribbean country, recent years have brought a surge in addicts, as cocaine and crack have become more prevalent, officials said.

"We've seen the establishment of micro-trafficking networks of drugs. That's been spreading around the country in recent years. The number of addicts is a reflection of the fact that there's more drugs and the price dropping," said Mabel Feliz Baez, head of the government's National Drug Council.

One study found that the number of drug addicts multiplied tenfold between 1975 and 2005, when there were an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 addicts amid a population of 9 million.

More from GlobalPost: "Legalize it" lobby gains strength across Americas

The rise in consumption coincides with the country's emergence as a coveted way station for South American cocaine on its way to the United States or Europe. Around the world, countries that once served as transshipment points are experiencing growing drug consumption problems.

The Dominican Republic is no exception. With its proximity to Puerto Rico and the United States and a history of corrupt politics and weak policing forces, it has served as an important stopover for traffickers.

Continue Reading: globalpost.com

ADDICTED IN HOLLYWOOD: OXYCONTIN ONE OF THE MOST ABUSED DRUGS, FOR THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD IT

Article from: foxnews.com

Aug 22, 2011 | No Comments

By Hollie McKay

The prescription pain medication Oxycontin is becoming on of the most abused and misused drugs in Hollywood. When used correctly, it's considered a safe pain management drug. But when used inappropriately, Oxycontin, known on the street as OC, O and hillbilly heroin, becomes incredibly dangerous.

Police officials said Michael Jackson was "heavily addicted" to Oxycontin before he died. Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein had several pills in his system at the time of his death two years ago. Courtney Love suffered an overdose of the medication in 2003, the same year radio personality Rush Limbaugh sought professional help for his Oxy addiction. And the drug was one of the medications prescribed to Heath Ledger prior to his fatal overdose.

"In my opinion, the OxyContin problem is in epidemic proportions," opiate addiction specialist Clare Kavin told FOX411's Pop tarts column. "Regardless of the number of warnings and the related news in the media from the last few years, there is still a significant number of patients that are chained to this addiction and are scared or unable to seek treatment due to shame, financial means or fear of relapse."

So what is it about Oxycontin that makes it so dangerously addictive?

"Oxycontin is a very strong opiate. It's essentially the same as heroin, and since many of the people who abuse it chop it up and snort it, or even shoot it up, there is no difference between being addicted to Oxycontin and being addicted to heroin," said Los Angeles-based addiction specialist, Dr. Adi Jaffe. "Since the body's natural opiates (opioids) are responsible for pleasure, suppressing pain, and a whole lot more (including roles in digestion), when you take them out of the equation patients experience severe withdrawal that involved incredible pain, restlessness, and anhedonia, which results in a lack of ability to experience pleasure."

Continue Reading: foxnews.com

TEEN EVENT PROMOTES ALCOHOL AWARENESS

Article from: hattiesburgamerican.com

Aug 22, 2011 | No Comments

Motivational speaker Matt Bellace compared early teen alcohol use to a coin flip Saturday morning at Lake Terrace Convention Center.

Tails being a lifetime wrestling with alcohol dependency.

Take your first drink at age 14, and you have a staggering 45 percent shot of developing a dependency, Bellace explained.

Take your first drink at age 21, and that number goes down to 10 percent.

"You're saving lives by delaying drinking," he said.

He was, of course, speaking to the folks who every day make that decision.

Approximately 120 teenagers, ages 14-18, and adults from across the state attended the alcohol awareness convention "All Up in Your Cool Aid" Saturday at the convention center, according to Anne Nelson, DREAM of Hattiesburg alcohol prevention coordinator.

Those who come up heads in Bellace's coin flip face their own set of problems.

Bellace, also a comedian who has appeared as a commentator on the TV "World's Dumbest Criminals," documented the brain alterations stemming from early alcohol and marijuana use that attack both motor skills and memory.

Mississippi Southern Coalition put on the annual seminar. Five South Mississippi substance-abuse prevention agencies comprise the MSC, including DREAM (Drug-free Resources and Education Alternatives in Mississippi) of Hattiesburg and PineBelt Mental Health Resources.

Continue Reading: hattiesburgamerican.com

DRUG ABUSE DIMINISHES SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA'S WORKFORCE

Article from: roanoke.com

Aug 21, 2011 | No Comments

By Laurence Hammack

Not long ago, 11 people applied for a job with a small Southwest Virginia business. Five walked away when told they would have to take a drug test. Another five took the test and failed.

That left the company with just one drug-free applicant to fill the position.

Such a scenario is all too common, according to a coalition fighting a prescription drug abuse problem that took hold a decade ago in far Southwest Virginia and has yet to let go.

"What we've heard, time and time again from employers, is their frustration that so many people they are trying to hire are either unwilling to take, or unable to pass, a drug test," said John Dreyzehner, chairman of the board of One Care of Southwest Virginia.

In a region where prescription drugs have long been abused, the costs are often measured by the number of arrests, the growing demand for treatment and the annual death toll from accidental overdoses.

But in addressing something that has killed more than 2,000 Southwest Virginians over the past decade, the coalition is broaching a less-talked-about casualty.

"This is a business, economic and workforce issue," said Carl Mitchell.

Mitchell is executive director of One Care of Southwest Virginia, a consortium of substance abuse coalitions, health care professionals, law enforcement officers and community leaders that last week released a 68-page plan of action.

Concerns about a workforce diminished by drug abuse are based largely on anecdotal evidence, group members acknowledged.

And, they say, an unwillingness in the business community to talk openly about a sensitive topic makes it even more difficult to quantify.

Continue Reading: roanoke.com

BREAKING FREE

Article from: tbnewswatch.com

Aug 21, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jeff Labine

Mike Croft's addiction to drugs was so strong that it overpowered his fear of needles.

About the time he was 13-years-old, the native of British Columbia had smoked marijuana, snorted cocaine, taken acid and had already moved onto heroin. But the then-teen had issues with injecting himself. Having a fear of needles, he typically asked someone else to inject the drug into him.

After more than a dozen doses, Croft was told that he would have to inject himself if we wanted to continue using.

"I was terrified of needles," The now 39-year-old says, remembering those years. "The hardest part was that first time. The first 10 or 12, I didn't inject myself. Somebody else did. I enjoyed it way too much, so I learned how to do it myself."

Croft remembers the feeling the drug gave him back then. He describes it as a thick warm blanket fresh from the drying machine, comforting him and filling him with good feelings.

But the high came with consequences. Croft dropped out school by Grade 10, and began roaming the country and taking odd jobs to pay for his addiction.

Finding jobs to make enough money for the drugs he wanted, finding a dealer and then getting high became a full-time, 24 hours-a-day routine.

He often found himself running from the law, but still managed to find himself in trouble. Police charged Croft for breaking into people's houses and theft - all crime committed in the name of his addiction.

Continue Reading: tbnewswatch.com

INCREASED PATROLS SET TO NAB DRUNK DRIVERS

Article from: timesdaily.com

Aug 21, 2011 | No Comments

By: Tom Smith

Local law enforcement officers are joining a nationwide campaign geared to cracking down on drinking and driving.

Eddie Russell, coordinator for the North Alabama Highway Safety Office in Tuscumbia, said the campaign will begin Friday and will continue through Labor Day.

"This is traditionally considered the last holiday of the summer, and we know because of that more people will be celebrating," Sheffield Police Chief Greg Ray said. "Not only will there be people celebrating the end of the summer, but there will be more people on the roads because it is a long holiday weekend. We're just trying to make sure people who are on the roads drive safely and not impaired."

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials said that in 2009, 10,839 people died in crashes where the driver or motorcycle rider was at or above the legal blood-alcohol limit. It is illegal to drive in Alabama with a blood alcohol level of .08 and above.

"That's one fatality every 48 minutes," said Eddie Russell, program coordinator for the North Alabama Highway Safety Office in Tuscumbia.

Russell said in Alabama in 2010, there were 215 alcohol-related deaths; 21 of those were in the nine-county north Alabama region.

During that same time there were 3,759 injuries due to alcohol-related crashes in the state, with 434 were in north Alabama.

"All too often, innocent, law-abiding people suffer tragic consequences and the loss of loved ones due to a careless disregard for human life," Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett said in a release. "Because (law enforcement) is committed to ending the carnage, we're intensifying enforcement during the crackdown."

Ray said the national campaign provides area departments with funding to pay overtime for more patrols.

Continue Reading: timesdaily.com

15 ARRESTED IN PRESCRIPTION DRUG CASE

Article from: ap.org

Aug 20, 2011 | No Comments

By: Elliot Spagat

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- U.S. border inspectors are not only seizing drugs coming into the country from Mexico -- they're making arrests for drug smuggling that's going the other way.

A Los Angeles-area doctor and 14 others have been charged in a conspiracy to smuggle prescription drugs from California to Mexico, authorities said Friday.

The unusual operation sent a flood of opiates to Tijuana pharmacies in exchange for bundles of cash that were brought back into the U.S. American addicts were able to buy the pills over the counter on jaunts across the border from San Diego, investigators told The Associated Press.

Authorities speculated it was easier for smugglers to unload large batches of pills at loosely regulated Mexican pharmacies than to distribute them in small amounts to American street dealers. They said it's also profitable: A smuggler who buys a pill for about $2 in the United States can sell it to a Mexican pharmacy for about $3.50, and the American addict pays about $6 to bring it back home.

"We got Tijuana in the palm of our hand," Jason Lewis, one of the people accused of smuggling, said in a wiretapped conversation, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in the case. "We've been doing this for years, bro."

Investigators say the San Diego ring is the first they found that was smuggling drugs into Mexico.

Continue Reading: ap.org

DRUNK-DRIVING CRACKDOWN BEGINS THIS WEEKEND IN L.A.

Article from: latimes.com

Aug 20, 2011 | No Comments

Los Angeles police will launch an end-of-summer crackdown on drunk drivers by setting up more than a dozen sobriety checkpoints beginning this weekend.

Dubbed the "Avoid the 100" campaign because of the number of local police agencies involved, the checkpoint program will aim to reduce drunk driving collisions and fatalities, officials said.

The campaign will run through Labor Day.

"Our message is simple and unwavering: if we find you driving impaired, we will arrest you.

No exceptions," Lt. Ron Katona said in a statement. "Even if you beat the odds and manage to walk away from an impaired-driving crash alive, the trauma and financial costs of a crash or an arrest for driving while impaired can still destroy your life."

Violators face jail time, loss of their driver's licenses or other penalties. The sobriety checkpoints will run from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

THE WORLD OF DRUGS IN SURFING

Article from: surfertoday.com

Aug 20, 2011 | No Comments

They help you surf better, they pump your adrenaline, they keep you focused and even shape a surfer's body. Meet drugs in surfing, a lethal escape that may end your life sooner.

Anthony Ruffo, Neco Padarataz and Andy Irons are only a few known surfers among many who have had different relationships with drugs. Sometimes, drugs are part of injury recovery. They are administered by professional doctors but may halt surfers from competing in official contests.

Ruffo had a serious problem with methamphetamines for a long time. The iconic surfer would get high in the morning, right after a night sleep. Fortunately, he had the strength to survive the addiction and is now getting back to a top form, free of drugs. There's a surf movie about his life, here.

Methamphetamine increases alertness, concentration, energy, and in high doses, can induce euphoria, enhance self-esteem, and increase libido. It is a highly addictive drug and may lead to depression and suicide.

Continue Reading: surfertoday.com

TEENS ARRESTED IN LATEST DRUG-TUNNEL CASE

Article from: nogalesinternational.com

Aug 20, 2011 | No Comments

Three Ambos Nogales teenagers are in federal custody after authorities allegedly caught them Tuesday with more than a ton of marijuana that had been smuggled through an illicit tunnel near the Morley Avenue border crossing.

Anthony Maytorena, 19, and Jorge Vargas Ruiz, 18, both U.S. citizens were arrested along with a juvenile Mexican citizen after federal authorities and Nogales police stopped them in a truck carrying 2,621 pounds of marijuana, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a news release Wednesday.

Further investigation revealed that the marijuana had been smuggled into the truck through a sophisticated drug tunnel that opened underneath the pavement at a parking spot near the crossing, the agency said.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents were reportedly conducting surveillance around the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry on Tuesday when they observed a white box truck with Arizona license plates parked near the Morley pedestrian gate.

Continue Reading: nogalesinternational.com

SUSPECTED MEMBERS OF AN IRAQI DRUG-TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATION ARE ARRESTED

Article from: latimes.com

Aug 19, 2011 | No Comments

Authorities in El Cajon arrest 60 suspects and seize more than $630,000 in cash, as well as marijuana and high-powered guns and explosives from an El Cajon group, which allegedly has ties to a Mexican cartel and organized crime in Detroit.

Law enforcement agents allegedly bought narcotics, firearms and explosives at this El Cajon building from a social club with possible ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and an Iraqi crime syndicate. (Lenny Ignelzi / Associated Press)

By Robert J. Lopez and Tony Perry

Sixty reputed members of an Iraqi drug-trafficking organization in El Cajon have been arrested and authorities seized more than $630,000 in cash, 3,500 pounds of marijuana, dozens of high-powered firearms and several explosive devices, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

The organization was run out of a social club and has suspected links to the ruthless Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and an Iraqi organized crime syndicate in Detroit, according to law enforcement officials.

The social club, located on East Main Street, has been a "hub of criminal activity conducted by Iraqi organized crime," El Cajon police Chief Pat Sprecco said.

According to authorities, over the last decade the club has been the center of other investigations for alleged drug sales, gambling, car theft and gun smuggling.

The undercover investigation that led to the latest arrests and seizures, dubbed Operation Shadowbox, has been underway since January as investigators gathered evidence, arrested suspects and served search warrants. A search warrant was served Wednesday at the club, where authorities seized $16,000 and uncovered evidence of illegal gambling, Sprecco said.

Over the years, thousands of Chaldean Christians fled Iraq and arrived in the United States to start new lives in cities such as Detroit and El Cajon, where about one-quarter of the roughly 96,000 residents have Iraqi ancestry.

The undercover operation announced Thursday found connections between the club and members of a suspected Iraqi Chaldean crime organization in Detroit, according to officials with the Police Department and the San Diego branch of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

DRINKING AND DRIVING: IS DRIVING WITH A BAC OF .08 OR EVEN BELOW EVER SAFE?

Article from: nydailynews.com

Aug 19, 2011 | No Comments

In America, twice as many die due to alcohol-related auto fatalities compared to countries Sweden or Norway.

BILL: "Why DO Americans demand the right to drink and drive," writes Erik, a Scandinavian tourist, "at the cost of thousands of lives each year? In my part of the world, any more than one glass of wine at dinner, and you risk losing your license or jail."

DR. DAVE: I've met a lot of international substance abuse professionals who are appalled that Americans are willing to stand by and watch twice the level of citizens die to alcohol-related auto fatalities compared to Sweden or Norway--just so we can continue to allow our citizens to drink and drive.

BILL: Erik says that when his next door neighbor registered a Blood Alcohol Level of .10, "even though it was his first time, he ended up with a two year jail sentence."

DR. DAVE: Bill, the two most populous countries in the world, India and China, have .03 BAL as the limit. In China, if you run a BAL of .08 -- the DUI limit in the United States - you're jailed for 3-6 months and lose your license for 5 years!

BILL: In this May's Journal of Addiction, your old University, UC--San Diego, published research that shows that even at a .01 Blood Alcohol Level, a driver is 36% more likely to have a serious injury crash. Or as the press release so aptly put it--"Buzz Kills: No amount of alcohol is safe for driving." Which reminds me: didn't you put together UC San Diego's Intervention Specialist Certification Program?

DR. DAVE: Though it's nothing compared to Dr. Sandra Brown's pioneering work following teen addicts since the 1980s, I had that honor. But to get back to Erik's point, my feeling is the way our DUI laws are enforced need changing too.

BILL: When I was in rehab, patients were shaking their heads at how their "creative" attorneys had gotten them off of DUIs, time after time. Now that they were sober it was coming home that for many of their friends who never made it to rehab, beating their DUI turned out to be a death sentence.

DR. DAVE: Denial isn't just a symptom of alcoholism, it's also present in the alcohol abuser who forgets he isn't risking merely his own safety on the road by repeated acts of drinking and driving.

BILL: Other countries know that the penalties have to cause enough pain to get those drivers off the road or deter them in the first place. Personally, I am fond of the Australian penalty, where local newspapers carry a police column, with names listed under the heading "He's drunk and in Jail!"
DR. DAVE: Or Norway, with a BAL limit of .02--they aren't kidding about the penalty either--3 weeks at hard labor and you lose your license for a year.

BILL: Not much recidivism there, I'll bet! But, Dave, is there an answer? All one has to do is compare alcohol fatalities in other countries to know our BAL limit and numerous legal loopholes result in more dead citizens. Yet nothing seems to change.

Continue Reading: nydailynews.com

GERARD DEPARDIEU REPORTEDLY URINATES ON A PLANE; ARE ALCOHOL AND THE BLADDER A BAD COMBO?

Article from: latimes.com

Aug 19, 2011 | No Comments

French actor Gerard Depardieu addresses the media on his latest sparkling-wine edition at the Paasburg's winery store in Berlin. Depardieu recently outraged fellow passengers by allegedly urinating in the aisle of a plane as it prepared to take off. (Tobias Schwarz / Reuters / November 30, 2010)

By Amina Khan

In what could be turning into a nasty trend, French actor Gerard Depardieu reportedly urinated on the cabin floor of an airplane. A passenger interviewed on French radio said that Depardieu, who reportedly did the deed on a Paris-to-Dublin flight after being told by crew members to wait in his seat until after takeoff, appeared to have been drinking.

This isn't the first time an alcohol-laced peeing incident has reportedly taken place on a plane, travel blogger Mary Forgione points out: Just this month, skier Sandy Vietze reportedly urinated on a young girl during a JetBlue flight.

There's certainly a connection between alcohol and bladder control -- as the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases says, the bladder has nerves that signal the brain when the bladder is full -- and alcohol may cause those nerves to fail.

It doesn't help that, as the Mayo Clinic points out, alcohol is a diuretic and speeds up the rate of urination. Never mind that alcohol suppresses our normal inhibitions about certain social mores -- possibly including, but not limited to, not going to the bathroom in public.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

NO CAUSE FOR MARIJUANA CASE, BUT ENOUGH FOR CHILD NEGLECT

Article from: nytimes.com

Aug 19, 2011 | No Comments

Jose Gunnell, 23, lost custody of his 1-year-old daughter in March over a $5 bag of marijuana.

By: Mosi Secret

The police found about 10 grams of marijuana, or about a third of an ounce, when they searched Penelope Harris's apartment in the Bronx last year. The amount was below the legal threshold for even a misdemeanor, and prosecutors declined to charge her. But Ms. Harris, a mother whose son and niece were home when she was briefly in custody, could hardly rest easy.

The police had reported her arrest to the state's child welfare hot line, and city caseworkers quickly arrived and took the children away.

Her son, then 10, spent more than a week in foster care. Her niece, who was 8 and living with her as a foster child, was placed in another home and not returned by the foster care agency for more than a year. Ms. Harris, 31, had to weather a lengthy child neglect inquiry, though she had no criminal record and had never before been investigated by the child welfare authorities, Ms. Harris and her lawyer said.

"I felt like less of a parent, like I had failed my children," Ms. Harris said. "It tore me up."

Hundreds of New Yorkers who have been caught with small amounts of marijuana, or who have simply admitted to using it, have become ensnared in civil child neglect cases in recent years, though they did not face even the least of criminal charges, according to city records and defense lawyers. A small number of parents in these cases have even lost custody of their children.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

BORDER PATROL SEIZES OVER $3 MILLION IN DRUGS

Article from: sandiego6.com

Aug 18, 2011 | No Comments

IMPERIAL COUNTY - Border Patrol agents from the El Centro Sector made three important drug busts during the last six days, the drug loads are valued at more than $3 million dollars.

The largest and most valuable bust was made Thursday, August 11th around 7:20 p.m. at the Highway 86 Checkpoint near Westmorland.

Canines alerted agents about the presence of drugs in a Gold Toyota Tundra driven by a 27 year-old male U.S. citizen, who got referred to secondary inspection where a large x-ray machine detected some bulks in the trucks tires.

When agents searched the tires, they discovered 61 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $1,950,000 dollars.

On Friday, August 12th agents in Indio discovered 1,300 pounds of marijuana hidden inside an international cargo truck that was transporting produce. The pot was discovered amongst several boxes of watermelon.

The marijuana valued at more than $1,070,000 dollars was seized and the 21 year-old male driver who is a U.S. citizen was arrested.

The males in the first to cases were turned into the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Wednesday morning, agents with the Calexico Border Patrol All Terrain Vehicle Unit discovered multiple bundles of marijuana in the desert when patrolling the area around 1:30 a.m.

The packages were discovered north of Interstate 8 when agents decided to follow the foot tracks of several backpackers who had illegally crossed the border into the U.S. from Mexico.

Continue Reading: sandiego6.com

OXYCODONE TOLL IN FLORIDA SPOTLIGHTS PRESCRIPTION DRUG DANGERS

Article from: cbsnews.com

Aug 18, 2011 | No Comments

By Ryan Jaslow

(CBS/AP) Oxycodone is killing Floridians in epidemic proportions.

New data shows Florida's prescription drug deaths have increased nearly 9 percent last year compared to 2009 despite an aggressive crackdown by law enforcement officials.

Oxycodone was the number one killer, causing 1,516 deaths in 2010, compared to 1,185 the year before. Overall, there were 2,710 deaths in Florida last year caused by prescription drugs, compared to 2,488 in 2009. For the second year in a row, prescription drugs continued to outpace illegal drugs as a cause of death - there were almost three times as many deaths in Florida last year attributed to oxycodone compared with cocaine.

Gov. Rick Scott said Monday he believes stronger legislation and regulation, along with more police funds, is helping in 2011. Data isn't available yet but Scott hopes the numbers will start to decline. He signed a new law in June that penalizes doctors who overprescribe painkillers, tightens rules for pharmacies, and modifies a prescription-drug monitoring database by prohibiting pharmaceutical companies from making financial contributions to support it.

Florida has been a leading source for the illicit purchase of prescription drugs, with addicts and dealers from across the Southeast flocking to clinics for fixes.

Scott called this effort personal because he has a brother who has abused drugs for many years.

"Any of us who are parents are scared to death of our kids using drugs," Scott said. "I've had drug abuse in my family, and it's just devastating."

Gerald Bailey, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner, said the new data continue to show a tragic trend.

"Be assured, our work is far from over," Bailey said.

Also Monday, officials presided over a court-ordered destruction of more than 148,000 prescription pills that were quarantined in South Florida following the declaration of a public health emergency.

Continue Reading: cbsnews.com

NHL POLICY CHANGE ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE?

Article from: torontosun.com

Aug 18, 2011 | No Comments

Gary Bettman will consult the NHL Players' Association about possible changes in the substance abuse program following the deaths of two players.

By Lance Hornby

TORONTO - The recent off-ice deaths of two NHL players could spark a change in how the league conducts its substance abuse and behavioural program.

Commenting on the passing of New York Ranger Derek Boogaard and Winnipeg Jet Rick Rypien at the league's research and developmnt camp in Toronto, commissioner Gary Bettman told a wire service that he will soon approach the Players Association to study the current policy.

Boogaard passed away in May after a mishap with alcohol and a painkiller drug. Rypien, who reportedly suffered from depression, died Monday and police will only say the circumstances were not suspicious. Both men had been in the program, which has helped many players with varied problems.

TRIALS ON ICE

The second and final day of the NHL camp will take another look at hybrid icing, where a linesman will determine if there'sreasonable chance a cleared puck will be retrieved by a forechecker by the time it reaches the lower faceoff dot. It's designed to stop some of the horrific high-speed crashes into the end boards when players have their backs turned.

On a related note, Toronto general manager Brian Burke will get to see his 'bear hug' rule in effect, in which a player can legally wrap another to cushion his impact into the boards. The same linesman will also be dropping the puck for all faceoffs in a bid to get more consistency.

GOALIES DODGE TRAP

Continue Reading: torontosun.com

TIJUANA DRUG TUNNEL EXTENDS INTO U.S.

Article from: newsmax.com

Aug 18, 2011 | No Comments

By Andra Varin

The Mexican army has discovered a suspected drug smugglers' tunnel that stretches from Tijuana more than 300 feet into U.S. territory.

The incomplete tunnel is about 328 yards long, 3 feet wide and 6 feet in height, complete with lights and ventilation. Its entrance was concealed inside a house under construction and the exit had not yet been dug.

Inside the house was a shrine to "Santa Muerte," a skeletal icon adored by some drug traffickers, Mexican army Gen. Alfonso Duarte told reporters.

Nine men and one woman were arrested in connection with the tunnel's construction.

Continue Reading: newsmax.com

STUDENT DRUG TESTING MAY HAVE ONLY SMALL EFFECT IN REDUCING USE

Article from: latimes.com

Aug 18, 2011 | No Comments

By Shari Roan

Student drug testing has been a hot-button issue in high schools for the past decade. But a new study joins a growing pile of research papers that describe student drug testing as failed policy.

The study, published online in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, was based on a nationally representative sample of 940 high school students across the country. The teens were surveyed by telephone in 2007 and 2008.

Overall, 27% of the students said their schools engaged in drug testing. However, the survey showed no evidence that drug-testing policies led male students to avoid drug use or engage in less drug use. Drug-testing policies seemed to have a slight impact on influencing female students not to use drugs, but the effect was found only in schools that have otherwise healthy social climates in which school rules are clear and enforced and student-adult relationships are based on respect.

The Supreme Court has backed the practice of student drug testing for students in sports and other extracurricular activities. And, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, part of the Department of Education, encourages schools to adopt drug testing.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

MORE THAN A FREUDIAN SLIP: DOCTORS AND DRUGS

Article from: thefix.com

Aug 17, 2011 | No Comments

In the 1800s, Sigmund Freud and father-of-modern-surgery William Stewart Halsted were regularly ingesting vast quantities of cocaine. This excerpt from the critically acclaimed new book An Anatomy of Addiction details some of the highs and lows.

On the morning of May 5, 1885, in lower Manhattan, a worker fell from a building's scaffolding to the ground. A splintered bone protruded from his bloody trousers; a plaintive wail signaled his pain; and soon he was taken from the scene by horse-drawn ambulance to Bellevue Hospital. At the hospital, in the dispensary, a young surgeon named William Stewart Halsted frantically searched the shelves for a container of cocaine.

In the late 19th century, there were no such things as "controlled substances," let alone illegal drugs. Bottles of morphine, cocaine, and other powerful, habit-forming pills and tonics were easily found in virtually every hospital, clinic, drugstore, and doctor's black bag. Consequently, it took less than a few minutes for the surgeon to ﬁnd a vial of cocaine. He drew a precise dose into a hypodermic syringe, rolled up his sleeve, and searched for a fresh spot on his scarred forearm. Upon doing so, he inserted the needle and pushed down on the syringe's plunger. Almost immediately, he felt a wave of relief and an overwhelming sense of euphoria. His pulse bounded and his mind raced, but his body, paradoxically, relaxed.

The orderlies rushed the laborer into Bellevue's accident room (the forerunner of today's emergency departments) for examination and treatment. A compound fracture--the breaking of a bone so severely that it pokes through the soft tissue and skin--was deadly serious in the late 19th century. Before X-ray technology, it was difﬁcult to assess the full extent of a fracture other than by means of painful palpation or cutting open the body part in question for a closer look. Discounting the attendant risks of infection and subsequent amputation, even in the best of surgical hands these injuries often carried a "hopeless prognosis." At Bellevue, above the table on which these battered patients were placed, a sign painted on the wall suggested the chances of recuperation. It read, in six-inch-high black letters: PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD. 

As the worker writhed in agony, one surgeon's name crossed the lips of every staff member working in the accident room: Halsted. When it came to a crisis of the body, few surgeons were faster or more expert than he. Leg fractures were a particular interest of his in an era when buildings were being thrown up daily and construction workers were falling off them almost as frequently. One of Dr. Halsted's earliest scientific papers assessed the surgical repair of fractured thigh, or femur, bones using a series of geometric equations based on how the leg adducted (drew toward) and abducted (drew away) from the central axis of the body. Such meticulous analysis was essential to repairing the break in a manner that accounted for the potential of the injured limb to shorten after the injury. Otherwise, the broken leg would heal in a manner that resulted in a decided limp or, given the intricate mechanics of the hip joint, much worse.

Continue Reading: thefix.com

GENES PLAY ROLE IN HOW ALCOHOL AFFECTS MEN AND WOMEN

Article from: webmd.com

Aug 17, 2011 | No Comments

By Denise Mann

Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

New genetic research may help explain some of the different ways that alcoholism affects men and women.

Gender differences in alcoholism have previously been attributed to differences in size and body composition. But the new study suggests that genes may also play a role in the way men and women react to alcohol.

The study is published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

The presence of two genes, ADH1B and ALDH2, increases risk for alcoholism. But men and women differ when it comes to how these genes affect risk.

An inactive ALDH2 gene actually delays the development of alcoholism among men. But in women, it may accelerate it, according to the study.

The study results suggest that gender differences in the effect of the ADH1B and ALDH2 genes may be helpful in predicting the course of alcohol dependence, says study researcher Mitsuru Kimura, MD, PhD, of the Kurihama Alcoholism Center in Kanagawa, Japan, in an email.
Genetic Influences on Alcoholism

ADH1B and ALDH2 act to eliminate most of the alcohol taken into the body. But a lack of ALDH2 activity causes a flushing response due to drinking alcohol. This response is characterized by flushing, nausea, and a headache and tends to greatly suppress drinking.

In the new study of 415 men and 200 women who were hospitalized for alcoholism at the Kurihama Alcoholism Center, female alcoholics with inactive ALDH2 were more likely to have psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety than women with the active version.

This may drive certain women towards dangerous drinking despite the flushing response, the researchers suggest.

Women with inactive ALDH2 also tend to develop alcoholism earlier than women with the active version of the gene. In contrast, ALDH2 does not seem to affect age of onset of alcoholism among men.

"There are male/female differences in alcohol use rates and addiction rates, but this was thought to be due to differences in size, but this paper suggests that it has to do with metabolism as well," says Victor M. Hesselbrock, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington, Conn.

The new findings may help develop more targeted treatments for alcoholism that take both genes and gender into account, he says.

Continue Reading: webmd.com

NO DRINKING UNDER 21 - PERIOD.

Article from: newsmax.com

Aug 17, 2011 | No Comments

Homecomings, proms, and graduations: booze, booze, and more booze. And, oh yes, drunken sex. But let's just focus on the alcohol for now.

There are actually parents who teach their children to "drink responsibly" by allowing them to consume alcohol under their supervision. They also host underage drinking parties thinking that children who consume alcohol while adults supervise will somehow become responsible about drinking. Wrong!

The lead author and a senior research associate at the school of nursing at the University of Minnesota conducted studies covering two continents and discovered that teens who drink with an adult supervising are more likely to develop problems with alcohol than kids who aren't allowed to drink until age 21.

I don't know why this surprises anybody. As with sex, parents need to make it clear that it's not OK for kids to drink until they reach the legal age. Parents need to point out their own mistakes and those of others who drank as children: not being able to stop drinking, getting violent and engaging in fights, getting injured or dying in car crashes, blacking out, suffering serious hangovers, having sex with strangers, and being unable to remember anything that happened.

Studies from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center show that kids are four times more likely to become alcoholics if they start drinking before the age of 15.

Let me give you some more sobering statistics. Youths who drink alcohol are more likely to experience school problems, social problems (fighting and less participation in healthy activities), legal problems, physical problems, inappropriate sexual activity, disruption of normal growth and sexual development, physical and sexual assault, higher suicide and homicide risk, alcohol-related car crashes, burns, falls, drowning, memory problems, abuse of other drugs, changes in brain development that may have life-long effects, and death from alcohol poisoning.

Although underage drinking is illegal, people aged 12 to 20 drink 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States. On average, underage drinkers consume more drinks per drinking occasion than adult drinkers.

Continue Reading: newsmax.com

ALCOHOL MAY ACTUALLY HINDER A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP

Article from: medindia.com

Aug 17, 2011 | No Comments

By: Kathy Jones

A new study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that instead of aiding in a good night's sleep, drinking alcohol in night instead has a negative effect.

Researchers from the Akita University in Japan conducted the experiment on 10 healthy male university students who were given three different doses of alcohol (none, low and high) at three week intervals.

The researchers found that while alcohol did indeed induce deep sleep for the first half of the night, the students did not sleep soundly for the rest of the night and suffered from insomnia. "Although the first half of sleep after alcohol intake looks good, the result of the assessment shows that drinking leads to insomnia rather than good sleep", lead researcher Dr Yohei Sagawa said.

Continue Reading: medindia.com

KHABIBULIN RELEASED FROM ARIZONA JAIL

Article from: torontosun.com

Aug 16, 2011 | No Comments

Edmonton Oilers netminder Nikolai Khabibulin has been released from Arizona's infamous Tent City jail.

The drunk driving convict was scheduled to be released Sunday, but was inexplicably released Saturday.

Officials at the Maricopa County jail did not respond to calls for comment Sunday.

Khabibulin walked away from the prison a free man after serving his sentence for impaired driving.

Khabibulin will spend the remaining 15 days of his 30-day sentence under house arrest in Paradise Valley, Ariz.

Paradise Valley is within the greater Phoenix area.

On top of his jail time, Khabibulin was also ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and participate in an alcohol recovery program.

Sgt. Jesse Spurgin described Khabibulin Saturday as an ideal inmate.

"No incidents or problems whatsoever," Spurgin said.

"He behaved himself perfectly."

Khabibulin was charged after being pulled over Feb 8, 2010, while driving 70 mph over in his Ferrari in a 45 mph zone.

Arizona police administered a sobriety test which the Oiler failed.

Khabibulin's blood alcohol was .164, twice the legal limit in the southern state.

Continue Reading: torontosun.com

TWELVE ARRESTED IN PERTH DRUGS BUST

Article from: abc.net

Aug 16, 2011 | No Comments

Police in Perth are investigating the modification of fake guns after they found live ammunition in two replica guns during a raid over the weekend.

The guns were uncovered during an investigation into drug dealers.

Police carried out search warrants on ten homes in Dianella, Morley, and Hamersley, seizing more than $50,000 worth of stolen goods.

There was also a large haul of drugs, including heroin, ecstasy and synthetic cannabinoids.

Police seized a number of weapons, including Tasers, batons, and knives, along with guns.

They also allegedly found a garage being used to modify and manufacture illegal firearms.

Detective First Class Constable Kay Townsend says the police are testing whether the replica guns are capable of being used as real weapons.

"We are currently still investigating this matter and the firearms still have to be sent off to ballistics for examination," she said.

Continue Reading: abc.net

NY'S TANKED TEENS

Article from: nypost.com

Aug 16, 2011 | No Comments

One-third of city kids admit drinking

By Jennifer Bain and Jeremy Olshan

The city has a "minor" drinking problem.

One-third of underage New Yorkers admit to hitting the bottle, and half of those say they've thrown back five or more drinks at one time, according to a sobering new study by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Staten Islanders are the city's biggest underage lushes, with 37 percent confessing to an alcohol-rich diet and 20 percent saying they're binge drinkers, the study found.

White kids drink more than minorities, with 42 percent responding they had at least one drink in the last 30 days, compared with 39.9 percent for Hispanics, 28.6 for blacks and 14.3 percent for Asians.

While health officials say the numbers are troubling, New York kids drink 10 percent less than their counterparts across the country -- possibly because there's more for them to do.

"Research demonstrates that the diverse, vibrant environments (arts, sports, other cultural activities) of urban landscapes such as NYC appear to reduce the likelihood of youth initiation to or use of psychoactive substances, such as alcohol and drugs," the Health Department reported.

Staten Island teens say the lack of anything going on in the most suburban of the boroughs may explain why they're tops in the city for underage imbibing.

"It's boring on Staten Island, so, of course, everyone will get high and drink," said Victoria Nespica, 15, who is "waiting until college" to drink.

"It's really easy to buy alcohol, and I know kids whose parents are totally fine with them drinking. They don't supply the alcohol, but they stock the fridge with it, and the kids take it out."

Nearly half of underage drinkers also reported being sexually active, compared to 18 percent for nondrinkers. Only 5 percent of nondrinkers said they'd used marijuana, compared with 35 percent of drinkers.

Continue Reading: nypost.com

MAN GETS DUI - IN DEMOLITION DERBY

Article from: nbc.com

Aug 16, 2011 | No Comments

Wasn't he supposed to be weaving and crashing?

By Greg Wilson

Weaving through traffic and bumping into other drivers can get anyone a DUI, but how about when that's the object?

David Warner got himself arrested for driving drunk in a demolition derby, which he won. The 36-year-old Kentuckian was competing in the Jessamine County Fair's derby, when cops got several complaints about his driving. Nicholasville police detained him and determined he was drunk.

Police waited until he event was over to check him, and said he was "staggering," and having trouble standing up. So they gave him a sobriety test and arrested him for DUI.

Continue Reading: nbc.com

ADDICTION NOW DEFINED AS CHRONIC BRAIN DISORDER

Article from: msnbc.com

Aug 16, 2011 | No Comments

Decades of research convinced American Society of Addiction Medicine to change definition

Addiction is a chronic brain disorder and not simply a behavior problem involving alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex, experts contend in a new definition of addiction, one that is not solely related to problematic substance abuse.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) just released this new definition of addiction after a four-year process involving more than 80 experts.

"At its core, addiction isn't just a social problem or a moral problem or a criminal problem. It's a brain problem whose behaviors manifest in all these other areas," said Dr. Michael Miller, past president of ASAM who oversaw the development of the new definition. "Many behaviors driven by addiction are real problems and sometimes criminal acts. But the disease is about brains, not drugs. It's about underlying neurology, not outward actions."

The new definition also describes addiction as a primary disease, meaning that it's not the result of other causes, such as emotional or psychiatric problems. And like cardiovascular disease and diabetes, addiction is recognized as a chronic disease; so it must be treated, managed and monitored over a person's lifetime, the researchers say.

Two decades of advancements in neuroscience convinced ASAM officials that addiction should be redefined by what's going on in the brain. For instance, research has shown that addiction affects the brain's reward circuitry, such that memories of previous experiences with food, sex, alcohol and other drugs trigger cravings and more addictive behaviors. Brain circuitry that governs impulse control and judgment is also altered in the brains of addicts, resulting in the nonsensical pursuit of "rewards," such as alcohol and other drugs.

A long-standing debate has roiled over whether addicts have a choice over their behaviors, said Dr. Raju Hajela, former president of the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine and chair of the ASAM committee on addiction's new definition.

"The disease creates distortions in thinking, feelings and perceptions, which drive people to behave in ways that are not understandable to others around them," Hajela said in a statement. "Simply put, addiction is not a choice. Addictive behaviors are a manifestation of the disease, not a cause."

Continue Reading: msnbc.com

DRUG PATCHES POSE OVERLOOKED DANGER TO KIDS

Article from: msnbc.com

Aug 15, 2011 | No Comments

By JoNel Aleccia

An 8-month-old Maine boy who overdosed on powerful painkillers after sucking on a grandparent's used medication patch is raising alarms about the dangers of drugs that stick to the skin.

The unconscious, barely breathing child was rushed to a local emergency room, where doctors discovered a missing 50-microgram-per-hour fentanyl patch stuck to the roof of his mouth. He had to be treated with two doses of a quick-acting opiate antidote, said Thomas Clemence, a registered pharmacist at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

The boy survived the June scare, but the close call is prompting patient safety experts to warn parents, grandparents and other caregivers about potential hazards to kids posed by growing numbers and types of transdermal medications.

Some children have found the patches in home trash cans, or had them adhere to their skin after they rubbed off during close contact -- even a grandparent's hug -- leaving youngsters vulnerable to inadvertent overdoses of drugs ranging from painkillers and nitoglycerin to nicotine from stop-smoking patches.

"Even after they're used, after 72 hours, there's still a residual drug that can be left in the patch and can be dangerous for a child," noted Clemence, who reported the Maine incident to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, an advocacy ageny that tracks medical dangers.

Grandparents didn't realize boy had patch
It's not clear how the Maine boy got hold of the patch, which was thought to be missing. His grandparents didn't realize he had the drug until after doctors examined the child, Clemence said.

Government records show that at least four children have died and six have been hospitalized since 1997 after being exposed to just one type of transdermal drug, the fentanyl patch, which also sickened the Maine boy. Another three were exposed to the drug, but the outcome wasn't recorded, according to information from the federal Food and Drug Administration's adverse events reporting system.

Continue Reading: msnbc.com

DENVER BRONCOS KICKER MATT PRATER ARRESTED ON DUI CHARGE

Article from: denverpost.com

Aug 15, 2011 | No Comments

By Jordan Steffen and Yesenia Robles

Denver Broncos kicker Matt Prater was arrested in Greenwood Village last week, on charges of allegedly driving drunk and leaving the scene of an accident.

The incident started just before 3 a.m. on Aug. 2. Police were called to the scene of a hit and run accident at 9280 E. Costilla Ave., just outside the Hyatt Summerfield Suites.

According to arrest reports, when police arrived, four witnesses told police that a dark colored Chevy Trailblazer had backed into an unoccupied, parked silver sedan.

The witnesses said they had contacted the driver after the accident, but he fled into the hotel's lobby. Witnesses did not recognize the man, but gave police a description.

When police went into the hotel lobby to look for the man, they met a woman, who said she had been a passenger in the Trailblazer.

The woman told police she and a man named Matt P. had just left Shotgun Willie's, where she worked. She could not remember his last name.

After the accident, she and the man went into the hotel to get a room but the hotel was full. She said she did not know where he went, but she was waiting for a cab ride home.

While searching the Trailblazer, an officer located a parking permit for the Broncos Dove Valley training camp with the name Prater on it.

Police then searched surrounding hotels for Matt Prater, and ultimately found him at La Quinta.

According to the reports, Prater told officers, he knew why he was being contacted.

"He didn't leave a note on the vehicle he hit because there was multiple witnesses confronting/yelling at him," the report states. He didn't think to call police, he said.

Continue Reading: denverpost.com

"COOL MOM" WRONG TO PROVIDE TEENS ALCOHOL

Article from: heraldsun.com

Aug 15, 2011 | No Comments

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports 98 percent of adults surveyed believe it is not acceptable for parents or other adults to provide alcohol to their teen.

Recently, a "cool mom" in Wake County was charged with several criminal violations for allegedly providing alcohol for her underage son's birthday party. She was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and with providing alcohol to someone less than 21 years of age.

Punishable by incarceration of up to 120 days for each, both charges are Class 1 misdemeanors.

At 11:30 p.m. on party night, angry neighbors complained to law enforcement of a loud party disturbance. When Wake County sheriff's deputies arrived, they found a large teen drinking party in progress.

Outside the residence, deputies quickly encountered a 17-year-old and 18-year-old. Both admitted consuming alcohol, and both confirmed that alcohol was available for teens inside the party residence.

For good measure, deputies observed in plain view a "beer pong" game in the back yard of the residence.

When met by officers, "cool mom" acknowledged sponsoring the birthday party for her teenage son, but denied alcohol was in use or otherwise available to underage drinkers. Reportedly, other than "cool mom," all attendees were underage.

Living in an age where virtually every event is captured by photographic imagery, deputies discovered digital photographs of the party beer and liquor supply taken inside the home.

Concluding their investigation, the charges speak for themselves as to whether they believed her narration of the circumstances surrounding the party she was hosting.

No other adult was charged. It seems unlikely any other parents of the underage attendees were aware "cool mom" was allegedly providing alcohol to their children.

But Raleigh's latest "cool mom" is not the only area parent or other adult who provides alcohol to children. It occurs in our community.

Some parents assert they engage in this unlawful act as a "teaching moment." They claim they are teaching their child to drink responsibly.

Continue Reading: heraldsun.com

DRIVER WHO KILLED COUNCILMAN TO BE FREED TODAY

Article from: ocregister.com

Aug 15, 2011 | No Comments

lptwhl-b78833481z.120110812115027000gtn1192b3.1.jpg

DUI death of Steve Ambriz five years ago has left lasting mark in Orange and statewide.

By GREG HARDESTY

ORANGE - Bridget Ambriz-Holl is spending time in the mountains this week, breathing the clean air and disconnecting from day-to-day life in Orange County.

Sometime Friday, Sara Lyn Ward - the impaired motorist who killed Ambriz-Holl's former husband in a head-on collision five years ago - was scheduled to step out of prison after serving half of a 10-year sentence, according to the victim's family.

And any day now, a DUI offender who kills someone in California may be looking at charges of second-degree murder instead of manslaughter - all because of what happened on Santiago Canyon Road in Orange on May 25, 2006.

That day, Ambriz, a popular Orange councilman and father of a young girl, was killed after Ward, traveling west on Santiago Canyon Road near Meads Avenue, crossed over into oncoming traffic and slammed her truck into his sedan.

Ambriz, 35, was killed instantly.

In a flash, a family was devastated, a community began grieving the death of a beloved civic leader, and a lawmaker and close friend of Ambriz's - then-Assemblyman Todd Spitzer - started a crusade for tougher sentences for impaired drivers who kill people.

Today, Ambriz's family isn't eager to relive the tragedy, or to comment on the release of Ward from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, said Martin Gardner, Bridget Ambriz-Holl's brother.

"We have moved on and closed a chapter in our lives," Gardner said.

Ambriz's widow - who has remarried - was not reachable by phone Thursday or Friday, Gardner said. Part of the reason she headed to the mountains, he said, was because of Ward's release.

Continue Reading: ocregister.com

UKRAINIAN BEARS WILL NO LONGER BE FORCE-FED VODKA (video)

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Aug 14, 2011 | No Comments

It's not only people that consume vodka in Ukraine -- apparently bears have become addicted to the alcohol as well. Ukraine is planning to release about 80 vodka-drinking bears that had been tamed and used in restaurants as a form of entertainment.

Environment Minister Mykola Zlochevsky asked, "How long can we tolerate animal torture in restaurants where drunken guests make bears drink vodka for laughs?"

The bears will be sent to a wildlife sanctuary that is currently under construction.

In case you're curious what a drunk bear looks like...

Continue Reading: huffingtonpost.com

HEROIN HIDDEN IN SARI HEM SEIZED AT JFK

Article from: nytimes.com

Aug 14, 2011 | No Comments

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers smelled a strong chemical odor coming from a box that was labeled: 'Dress.' Upon inspection they uncovered the smack-stuffed saris.

By: Bob Kappstatter

As far as drug-smuggling methods go, this one was pretty sari.

Federal inspectors at Kennedy Airport intercepted almost three pounds of heroin from India that was sewn inside the hems of the traditional dresses of Indian women, known as a sari.

The smuggling technique unraveled when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers smelled a strong chemical odor coming from a box that was labeled: "Dress," the agency said Friday. The box had been shipped from India.

When officers examined the three dresses that were inside, they noticed each had hems that were much thicker than normal.

A closer look at the hefty hems revealed the seams were stuffed with a tan powdery substance that tested positive for smack. The contraband saris held about 2.8 pounds of pure heroin, which has a total street value of about $90,000, the agency said.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

A SOBER LESSON THAT SEEMS TO STICK

Article from: boston.com

Aug 14, 2011 | No Comments

Battling binge drinking, colleges try program that grabs students with facts

By Mary Carmichael

A question that has vexed college administrators since John Belushi shambled on screen in "Animal House'' - what to do about heavy drinking by students - may have a new answer.

A study of 30 campuses nationwide found that an online educational course that showed students in attention-grabbing detail the consequences of excessive drinking had significantly reduced common alcohol-related problems among freshmen, including binge drinking and sexual assault.

The results, published in July in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, also showed that students who completed the program were less likely to get into arguments or trouble with authorities, said lead author M.J. Paschall of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, a nonprofit not affiliated with the program, called AlcoholEdu.

The program thrusts students into real-life quandaries, for example, asking them what they would do if a friend went wild after drinking too much and calculating their blood alcohol levels after going on a hypothetical bender.

Although the effects of the program faded after a semester, Paschall said the results of the study, which included six schools from the Northeast, were still very promising.

Colleges have spent decades trying, and often failing, to persuade students to drink less. Nationally, alcohol-related student deaths increased from 1,440 in 1998 to 1,825 in 2005. In 2001, an estimated 599,000 full-time students at four-year universities were injured in alcohol-related incidents, and 97,000 were victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or rape.

Continue Reading: boston.com

BREATH-TEST REQUIRMENT COULD PERMANENTLY BAR SOME DRUNK DRIVERS FROM REGAINING LICENCES

Article from: canada.com

Aug 13, 2011 | No Comments

By: Neal Hall

VANCOUVER -- B.C. drivers who receive a 90-day roadside suspension must drive for a year with a breath-testing device installed in the ignition of their vehicle before they can get their unrestricted licences back.

That means drivers who don't own vehicles and rely on co-op cars or rentals could remain without an unrestricted licence forever, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

Under the old system, a person convicted of impaired driving was fined and lost his or her licence for one year.

An offender caught under B.C.'s new administrative program cannot simply wait out the suspension without driving, the solicitor-general's ministry confirmed. The interlock restriction placed on a licence is not removed until drivers prove by operating a vehicle with the device for a year that their lifestyles have changed and they have given up drinking and driving.

The new administrative 90-day driver's licence suspension for first-time offenders blowing above the .08 blood-alcohol limit was brought in last September as an alternative to laying criminal charges for impaired driving. The aim was to reduce the number of drunk-driving crashes and deaths in B.C.

The device costs $1,730 before taxes and is hardwired to the vehicle. The driver blows into a tube to provide a breath sample and vehicle won't start if it detects alcohol.

The device also demands ongoing, random breath samples to ensure the driver remains alcohol-free while operating the vehicle.

Activity on the device is recorded and stored in the device's handset. It also records all attempts to tamper with it.

If someone attempts to disconnect or bypass the device, or a breath test is failed, the device will repeatedly warn the driver to shut down the vehicle. If these warnings are ignored, the vehicle's horn will sound and its hazard lights will flash until the vehicle is turned off.

An offender who drives a personal vehicle and a company vehicle must install the device in both, which is a challenge for employers who must decide whether to install the device or let the employee go.

But a lawyer who specializes in employment law warns that employers who fire an employee rather than installing the device on a company vehicle could face a human rights tribunal hearing.

Continue Reading: canada.com

REPORT: VODKA, MEDICINE FOUND NEAR JANI LANE

Article from: msnbc.com

Aug 13, 2011 | No Comments

A half-empty bottle of vodka and prescription medication were found in the California Comfort Inn hotel room where former Warrant rocker Jani Lane, 47, was found dead, TMZ.com reported.

His death is being investigated as a possible accidental overdose but may also have been from natural causes, the site reported.

An autopsy was performed by the L.A. County Coroner's office Friday, but an official said it did not reveal what caused the musician's death. Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said the cause of death will be determined after results from toxicology and other tests are received. Winter says that process may take up to two months.

His family will convene Sunday for a private memorial service, Lane's manager and longtime friend Obi Steinman said. A public memorial with performances by fellow metal rock bands including Great White and L.A. Guns will be held in Hollywood on Aug. 24 at a venue to be announced later, he said.

The singer had a history of alcohol-related arrests, including one for crashing into a parked car in 2009.

His sister, Vicky Oswald-Ley, told RadarOnline.com that Lane had battled alcoholism for a decade but he "did not do drugs." She also told the site that although the family hasn't seen the autopsy report yet, "he was a heavy drinker and I can only guess that alcoholism has a lot to do with it."

Oswald-Ley also told the site that she believed the death of their mother seven years ago affected Lane's battles against alcohol. "She would always talk him into going to rehab and hospitals," she said. "I think when she passed, that desire to stay healthy died too."

Continue Reading: msnbc.com

IS MARIJUANA ADDICTIVE?

Article from: alternet.com

Aug 13, 2011 | No Comments

There's a lot of science on the books on the question of marijuana's addictive properties, but is the issue too politicized to get any clear answers?

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) says it is. According to its "Marijuana Abuse" research report, "Long-term marijuana use can lead to addiction; that is, people have difficulty controlling their drug use and cannot stop even though it interferes with many aspects of their lives."

The Office of National Drug Control Policy's abovetheinfluence.com Web site is blunter. "Marijuana is addictive, with more teens in treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than for all other illicit drugs combined," it declares.

Sentiment among marijuana users and advocates is the exact opposite. While a minority of pot-smokers get high so frequently it impairs their functioning, the vast majority insist they can do it occasionally or regularly without problems.

The word "addiction" conjures up the stereotype of a heroin junkie, willing to lie, manipulate, steal, and perform cut-rate oral sex in order to avoid suffering the withdrawal--nausea, diarrhea and flu-like distress--that comes after they go without the drug for several hours. Cocaine, however, does not produce a similar physical withdrawal. So over the last generation, the concept has evolved to a more complex, subjective model.

NIDA now calls addiction "a complex illness characterized by intense and, at times, uncontrollable drug craving, along with compulsive drug seeking and use that persist even in the face of devastating consequences." The DSM-IV, the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, lists the criteria for drug "dependence" as tolerance, withdrawal, continuing to use despite negative psychological or physical consequences, using more than you want to, unsuccessful attempts to cut down or quit, excessive time spent procuring the drug, and withdrawal from social, work or family obligations.

Continue Reading: alternet.com

WEST VIRGINIA CANNOT RELY ON ARRESTS TO SOLVE PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE

Article from: drugfree.org

Aug 12, 2011 | No Comments

By: Join Together Staff

West Virginia, which has the nation's highest rate of drug overdose deaths, cannot rely on arrests to solve the state's problem with prescription drug abuse, officials said Thursday. Most of the overdose deaths involve prescription drugs, according to The Charleston Gazette.

At the West Virginia Drug Endangered Children Conference, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin, the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of West Virginia, released a report on how to fight prescription drug abuse in the state. Recommendations include using the state's prescription drug monitoring system, the electronic database that tracks prescriptions for drugs with a high risk of abuse.

The report also calls on doctors to require pill counts and random drug tests for patients who are susceptible to substance abuse, and have patients agree to only use one pharmacy.

Prevention and intervention programs should begin at the elementary school level, according to the report. Other recommendations include providing more take-back programs to help people get rid of unused prescriptions, increased opportunities for health professionals to learn about prescription drug abuse, expansion of drug courts and more substance abuse screening and treatment referrals in primary care settings.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

NAPERVILLE DRIVER IN FATAL TOLLWAY CRASH STOPPED 3 TIMES FOR DUI

Article from: patch.com

Aug 12, 2011 | No Comments

Two Elmhurst residents were killed in Aug. 6 crash; William Anthony Howe of Naperville remains hospitalized and has not been charged.

By Dan Campana

In early November 2010, a Naperville police officer stopped the driver of a red 2006 Porsche for a seat belt violation.

The officer issued a second ticket to the driver, 43-year-old William A. Howe of Naperville, that night near Rickert Road and Ogden Avenue. It was for transportation of open alcohol. The officer noted "3 empty beer bottles" on the ticket.

Howe didn't show up for court, records show, and was eventually fined.

Three months later, Howe would be charged with driving under the influence of drugs--his third DUI arrest in 12 years. He pleaded not guilty and failed to show up in court at least twice.

Nine months later, Illinois State Police have confirmed that Howe drove his Porsche the wrong way into busy traffic on Interstate-88. The resulting, high-speed crash killed two Elmhurst residents, Sherali Shalwani, 74, and Farzana Ali, 37, both of the 900 block of Virginia Lane, and seriously injured a third.

Witnesses report that Howe was driving erratically, swerving all over the road and throwing handfuls of cash out the window of his Porsche before he used an emergency turnaround near mile marker 130 to enter westbound oncoming traffic.

Howe remains hospitalized and has not been charged with anything related to the crash.

While witnesses have reported seeing money being thrown from the Porsche in the minutes before the crash, court records indicate Howe was in the midst of so much financial turmoil that he asked a judge for a public defender to handle his February DUI case.

"Stopped working 1 year ago," Howe wrote on his application for a public defender. "Was a dentist, stopped because was losing money."

Howe claimed his Naperville home and a 2000 Jeep Wrangler as his only assets on the form, also noting he received $1,170 in disability payments.

Continue Reading: patch.com

ARRESTS OF DRUG-SMUGGLING MINORS RISE ON ARIZONA-MEXICO BORDER

Article from: foxnews.com

Aug 12, 2011 | No Comments

Tucson - Between last Oct. 1 and June 30, law enforcement authorities arrested 135 minors who were trying to enter the United States over Arizona's southern border with packets of drugs taped to their bodies, a substantial increase over the 83 cases registered during the same period of the 2010 fiscal year.

"The youths are often recruited by the traffickers under the false promise that due to their age they will not face any consequences if they're arrested," Chris Leon, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Arizona, told Efe.

Of the 135 minors arrested, 93 are U.S. citizens and 42 are Mexicans.

"They are telling them that their criminal record will be erased when they become adults and that's a lie," said the CBP agent.

He warned that a minor who is arrested for drug smuggling will be processed and tried like any other person.

"This can seriously affect their future, since they may not be able to go to school because they're in jail or afterwards they can't get a job with the federal government because they have a criminal record," Leon said.

In the case of the Mexicans, they will not only face a prison sentence but also deportation and losing the possibility of entering the United States again legally.

In general, youths transport the packets taped to their waist, back, legs or arms.

Continue Reading: foxnews.com

MOM CHARGED AFTER SON, 3, POSITIVE FOR COCAINE (video)

Article from: cbsnews.com

Aug 11, 2011 | No Comments

(CBS/AP)

PITTSBURGH - A suburban Pittsburgh woman is facing charges after police say her 3-year-old son tested positive for cocaine.

Swissvale police say the boy's foster parents planned to pick him up at Kathryn Forrest's home last week but got no response when they tried to reach her.

Police say they found Forrest naked and unresponsive inside her filthy apartment and removed the preschooler. They say tests later showed the child had cocaine in his system.

Authorities say the boy's stuffed animals were infested with fleas and his body was covered in bug bites.

Investigators say they took the 32-year-old Forrest into custody after she failed to appear for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. It was not clear if she had an attorney.

Forrest's 53-year-old boyfriend, Santiago Negron, was also arrested, KDKA reports. Negron, authorities say, had a crack pipe in the front pocket of his shorts.

Both Forrest and Negron face child endangerment and drug charges.

Continue Reading: cbsnews.com

HOLDING ALCOHOL RETAILERS LIABLE CAN REDUCE DEATHS AND INJURIES, TASK FORCE FINDS

Article from: drugfree.org

Aug 11, 2011 | No Comments

By: Join Together Staff

Holding alcohol retailers liable for injuries or damage done by their customers who are intoxicated can reduce alcohol-related occurrences including motor vehicle deaths, homicides and injuries, according to a nationwide task force.

The Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent, volunteer body of public health and prevention experts, conducted a review of studies that looked at state laws on commercial host or dram shop liability, UPI reports. A dram shop is a retail establishment that sells alcohol. These laws hold any retail establishment that sells alcohol liable for injuries or harm caused by intoxicated or underage customers.

The task force found these liability laws encouraged more responsible beverage serving because they give managers and servers an incentive to manage their service to underage and intoxicated customers more closely. In areas with dram shop liability laws, there was a median reduction of 6.4 percent in alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths, compared with areas without such a law. The findings are scheduled to be published in September in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

ZILLE: GET TOUGH ON DRUGS

Article from: times.com

Aug 11, 2011 | No Comments

By: Sapa

Western Cape premier Helen Zille has called for tough action to fight substance abuse among schoolchildren, after 40 grade nine pupils tested positive for drugs at a school outside Cape Town.

"Last week a Grade nine class teacher at a primary school in the South Peninsula noticed signs of substance abuse amongst learners and, as a result, 15 learners were tested for substance abuse at the end of July," Zille told reporters at her offices in Cape Town on Thursday.

"All 15 tested positive. However, this number increased to over 40 when learners, who after realising they could also be tested, voluntarily admitted to using drugs."

This was the first mass testing to take place in a school in the province. The outcome was that close to 50 percent of the grade, all around 14 years of age, were using drugs.

"It is clear from this case that we urgently need to step up intervention and treatment programmes that target young people so that we can treat children abusing alcohol and drugs early in their lives," Zille said.

She said the provincial education department would send a letter to every principal in the province this week to provide guidelines on how to implement drug testing at schools.

"Eighty percent of crime in the Western Cape is linked to drugs," Zille said.

"The scale of this problem is enormous. What we have to do is capture children before they start experimenting and sink into chronic addiction."

Continue Reading: times.com

DOZENS OF ACCUSED GANG MEMBERS ARRESTED IN NEW YORK

Article from: reuters.com

Aug 10, 2011 | No Comments

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Authorities arrested on Tuesday dozens of alleged members of two gangs accused of peddling crack cocaine in Yonkers, New York, and assaulting or killing rivals who encroached on their turf, officials said.

Fifty-nine members and associates of the Elm Street Wolves and the Cliff Street Gangsters were charged in indictments unsealed on Tuesday with crimes including narcotics distribution and illegal possession of firearms in Yonkers, a city just north of New York City.

Three of the men also are charged with murder.

"They retaliated against anyone who dared to encroach on their territory, and they brought murder, mayhem and fear to our communities," Janice Fedaryck, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York field office, said in a statement announcing the indictments.

The Elm Street Wolves have been selling crack cocaine in the blocks surrounding their namesake street since at least 2000, according to the indictments.

They are accused of robbing rival dealers at gunpoint, particularly after an increase in the wholesale price of cocaine cut into their earnings, and of beating, stabbing and shooting members of other gangs.

Steven Knowles, 23, who is described in the indictment as the gang's chief enforcer, is accused along with Michael Andrews, 24, and Dexter Granger, 22, of driving to a housing project in July 2009 and shooting at members of the Strip Boys, a rival gang, killing one member.

Continue Reading: reuters.com

TEEN TELLS OF DRUG USE, RECOVERY

Article from: granitebay.com

Aug 10, 2011 | No Comments

Isaac became addicted to prescription pills six months after first trying weed

By: Sena Christian

Isaac can pinpoint the exact gesture that may have saved his life.

Two weeks after running away from home, the teenager met his older brother for lunch. Isaac "looked like death" and was spun out on drugs, as he had been for the past several months. He confessed to his brother, who lived in a different city, all about his drug use.

"He showed me the same love and affection," Isaac says. "That was what got through to me the most."

The 17-year-old is a friendly teenager with expressive eyes and a big smile. The clean-cut young man laughs often, especially as he plays foosball in a small room in a nondescript building in Roseville on a July afternoon. He's known as the group's foosball champion.

Isaac has spent a lot of time in this room, filled with chairs organized in a circle. Several collages hang on one wall, each with three categories: "How the world sees me, how I feel inside and how I see myself."

There is a large piece of butcher paper with a poem about a teenager trying to regain the trust of her parents -- lost as the young woman struggled with drug addiction.

According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 75 percent of all high school students in the United States have used addictive substances, including tobacco, alcohol, marijuana or cocaine.

Isaac, 17, (whose last name is withheld because he's a minor) is one of them. But he's not just a statistic of addiction. He's also another adolescent on the road to recovery.

Isaac started smoking weed at 14 years old, as a freshman at a Roseville high school. He quickly moved on to harder drugs, experimenting with ecstasy, mushrooms, acid and prescription pills. This was within six months of first trying pot.

Soon he was taking prescription pills every day. He left home and "binged on anything I could get my hands on," he says.

"It took me until then to realize I had a problem," Isaac says. "But I still was one foot in, one foot out."

He thought he could stop the hard stuff, and limit his illegal substance intake to alcohol and weed, which he considered less risky. But he learned it doesn't work that way.

During his sophomore year, he was living at home again and his parents noticed he was ditching school. One day, they told him he had a dentist appointment.

"I found myself here," he says.

Continue Reading: granitebay.com

CAMPUS LIFE 101: STAYING SOBER

Article from: wsj.com

Aug 10, 2011 | No Comments

By: Kevin Helliker

As a high school senior, Aaron Weir decided to attend Texas Tech University in Lubbock, not for any particular academic program but for the hospitality that school extends toward students in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction.

"I was 16 years old when I got clean and sober and I want to stay that way in college," says Mr. Weir, a 20-year-old business major now entering his junior year at Texas Tech. Among amenities including a sober-student hangout with study pods, pool tables and 12-step meetings, Mr. Weir receives a $3,000-a-year scholarship from the university for earning near-perfect grades while staying sober.

A growing number of universities are following Texas Tech's model by creating so-called recovery communities, which often feature on-campus clubhouses, recreational opportunities, academic support and recovery courses.

To promote the spread of the concept, about 20 colleges this summer formed the Association for Recovery in Higher Education. On the campus of one founding member--Georgia's Kennesaw State University--the community of 50 recovering students is up from three when the program was launched in 2008.

Two Big Ten giants, the University of Michigan and Penn State University, this summer are launching recovery programs that they expect eventually to serve hundreds of students, not only addicts but also the adult children and siblings of substance abusers.

With a starting budget of $10,000 from university health-service funds, Michigan's Collegiate Recovery Program offers counseling, self-help recovery courses and alcohol- and drug-free activities to help students steer clear of tempting situations. Penn State is dedicating campus space and staff to its new recovery program.

Continue Reading: wsj.com

SUSPECTED DRUG SMUGGLERS ARRESTED, BOAT SEIZED OFF NEWPORT BEACH (video)

Article from: abc7.com

Aug 9, 2011 | No Comments

By: Leanne Suter

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Authorities arrested three men Sunday aboard a small boat off Newport Beach in what may have been a drug-smuggling run.

The small panga carrying three Mexican nationals was on its way to Huntington State Park about 8:30 a.m. Sunday when lifeguards spotted it and called authorities.

Officials said the men shoved at least one package into the ocean before being confronted by sheriff's deputies. Deputies stopped the boat at gunpoint about a mile offshore from the Newport Beach Pier and took them into custody.

"The three men noticed the lifeguard and police trucks on the beach, so they went back out to sea and began throwing things into the water," Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Authorities combed the waters for a package seen thrown from the boat.

The trio was arrested on suspicion of drug possession, smuggling and attempting to enter the United States illegally.

The 25-foot boat, which was reported stolen in Mexico, was towed to Newport Dunes and impounded as evidence.

Investigators said drug smuggling along the coast is a growing problem in Orange County due to tighter security at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Sgt. John Hollenback of the Orange County Sheriff's Department said smugglers have been loading up with extra fuel, food and water in preparation to move 25 to 50 miles offshore where it's more difficult to detect them.

Continue Reading: abc7.com

TWO NEW INITIATIVES ADDRESS COLLEGE HIGH-RISK DRINKING

Article from: drugfree.org

Aug 9, 2011 | No Comments

By: Celia Vimont

Two new initiatives are bringing college leaders and experts together to tackle the seemingly intractable problem of college high-risk drinking.

Close to 40 percent of college students in the United States engage in binge drinking, and that number has remained virtually unchanged for decades. Almost 2,000 college students in the U.S. die each year from alcohol-related injuries. An estimated 600,000 students are injured while under the influence, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

One new initiative to address the problem, the Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking, includes 32 institutions, and is led by Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim. The group will use comprehensive evaluation and measurement techniques to identify and implement the most effective ways to confront college drinking and lessen its harmful effects.

The second initiative is the NIAAA's Presidents Working Group, a group of college presidents who will advise the institute. The group was created to bring national attention to college drinking, and to make recommendations to college administrators. It is co-chaired by Dartmouth's Dr. Kim, and Dr. Robert Carothers, immediate past president of the University of Rhode Island. The group held its kickoff meeting in May.

These initiatives are the latest attempts to curb college drinking. In 2008, more than 130 college and university presidents signed onto the Amethyst Initiative, which advocates lowering the national drinking age from 21 to 18. In April 2002, NIAAA released a series of reports from its Task Force on College Drinking. The Task Force found that successful interventions occur at three levels: reaching individual students, the student body as a whole and the greater college community. The Task Force also grouped commonly used intervention strategies into four tiers, from most to least effective.

Learning From One Another

The Learning Collaborative is designed to let participants implement changes quickly, and to determine which methods are most effective in their institutions. The collaborative will develop measures to track the progress of the effort, and schools will share data. Teams of students, faculty and administrators from each school are meeting three times over the course of a year. The first meeting took place in June.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

MORE MARINES MAY GET ALCOHOL-ABUSE TREATMENT

Article from: marinetimes.com

Aug 9, 2011 | No Comments

By Gidget Fuentes

With orders from the top, the Marine Corps' inspector general is canvassing the service to see how well commands are enforcing rules on alcohol use among Marines.

As a result, more Marines who get in trouble for booze-induced infractions could wind up in alcohol-abuse treatment.

The survey was prompted by the discovery that many Marines caught driving under the influence are not being screened by substance abuse control officers.

Assistant Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford ordered the assessment and tasked the Inspector General's Office and Manpower and Reserve Affairs with looking for other discrepancies regarding alcohol-abuse policies. Dunford issued the order as chairman of the 24th Force Preservation Board, a group representing several major commands that addresses safety issues.

Dunford was surprised to find that not every Marine charged with DUI was screened for substance abuse counseling, said Col. Adele Hodges, director of readiness assessments in the inspector general's office in Washington.

"We may have Marines who are in trouble out there, and unless they are professionally screened to determine whether they need treatment or not, we have a gap in that determination," Hodges said.

Among enlisted Marines, 702 of the 1,245 DUIs reported during fiscal 2010 led to screenings. Of those, 489 were sent to treatment, according to Naval Criminal Investigative Service data. In the officer ranks, 14 of 25 DUI cases were screened, and 11 Marines entered treatment. Data for 2009 showed similar gaps for all Marines.

It's up to the unit commander to order a screening after a Marine is interviewed by a substance abuse control officer. Both commanders and SACOs were questioned in the survey, expected to end July 25.

The IG team hopes to determine why Marines aren't being screened. Is it a funding issue? Are commanders unaware the program exists? When screening occurs, the IG team hopes to learn why some Marines fail to complete treatment.

Continue Reading: marinetimes.com

SELF HELP GROUP FOR FAMILIES OF SUBSTANCE ABUSERS (video)

Article from: abconline.com

Aug 9, 2011 | No Comments

Family members left wanting by traditional drug and alcohol services have set up their own support group in Hobart's northern suburbs.

The group was set up by people who have had friends and family struggle with alcohol and drug issues.

It approached the welfare agency Anglicare after finding gaps in traditional drug support services.

The group will meet for the first time in a couple of weeks at Anglicare in Glenorchy.

Group organiser John Ward says people discuss substance abuse more openly with others who know what they are going through.

"They know how to overcome these problems," he said.

"Some are straightforward, others are very ticklish problems and you've got to have someone that knows how to cope with these situations and with this group, most of them in the group have been through this.

"It's really heartwarming for them that they can bring out in the open what they've gone through 'cause they think they're the only ones."

Dr Chris Jones from Anglicare says families coping with substance abuse are best placed to help others going through the same issues.

"Groups like this work best if it's the people who've got the same concerns, been on the same experience, same journey," he said.

Continue Reading: abconline.com

U.S. WIDENS ITS ROLE IN BATTLE AGAINST MEXICO'S DRUG CARTELS

Article from: nytimes.com

Aug 8, 2011 | No Comments

Mexican federal police agents training in Mexico City. The United States has trained nearly 4,500 new federal police agents.

By: Ginger Thompson

WASHINGTON -- The United States is expanding its role in Mexico's bloody fight against drug trafficking organizations, sending new C.I.A. operatives and retired military personnel to the country and considering plans to deploy private security contractors in hopes of turning around a multibillion-dollar effort that so far has shown few results.

In recent weeks, small numbers of C.I.A. operatives and American civilian military employees have been posted at a Mexican military base, where, for the first time, security officials from both countries work side by side in collecting information about drug cartels and helping plan operations. Officials are also looking into embedding a team of American contractors inside a specially vetted Mexican counternarcotics police unit.

Officials on both sides of the border say the new efforts have been devised to get around Mexican laws that prohibit foreign military and police from operating on its soil, and to prevent advanced American surveillance technology from falling under the control of Mexican security agencies with long histories of corruption.

"A sea change has occurred over the past years in how effective Mexico and U.S. intelligence exchanges have become," said Arturo Sarukhán, Mexico's ambassador to the United States. "It is underpinned by the understanding that transnational organized crime can only be successfully confronted by working hand in hand, and that the outcome is as simple as it is compelling: we will together succeed or together fail."

The latest steps come three years after the United States began increasing its security assistance to Mexico with the $1.4 billion Merida Initiative and tens of millions of dollars from the Defense Department.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

ON IDYLLIC CAPE COD, GROWING DRUG PROBLEM FUELS A RISE IN PROPERTY CRIMES

Article from: nytimes.com

Aug 8, 2011 | No Comments

"Everyone's guard is down when they're on vacation, and it seems like the perfect opportunity for people to commit these crimes," said Sgt. Cleve Daniels of the Dennis police.

By: Katie Zezima and Abby Goodnough

DENNIS, Mass. -- In late April, Mildred Duda, 77, woke up in the middle of the night to find three masked men in her bedroom, rifling through her possessions. The police believe that the men had information about when Ms. Duda refilled her prescription for what they wanted: narcotic painkillers.

Ms. Duda's home has been the target of eight attempted or successful break-ins this year, terrifying her and frustrating the police, who have spent nights stationed outside her gray house here, trying to catch the men. Ms. Duda, a retired nurse who takes painkillers for a number of ailments, including a spinal fusion and a hiatal hernia, left Cape Cod to stay with her son for the summer.

"She doesn't even feel safe anymore," said Dan Duda, the son.

Cape Cod may be a summer playground known for its pristine beaches, shingled homes and laid-back way of life. But unbeknownst to most tourists, parts of it are plagued by drug abuse that the police say has led to a jump in property crime.

Thieves have smashed the windows of dozens of cars parked at the beach, grabbing GPS devices and iPods. Flat-screen televisions have been taken from isolated summer homes. Purses snatched out of the sand have been found in the woods, missing only cash. And while not all of the thefts can be linked to drug abuse, the police say many of those arrested for the crimes admit they wanted money for pills.

"They just tell you straight up front, 'I'm an addict, I have a really bad Percocet problem,' " said Sgt. Cleve Daniels of the Dennis police. Mug shots lining a bulletin board at the Police Department are mostly "people active in the local drug trade," he added.

Here in Dennis, where a gazebo with patriotic bunting sits on the town green and bicyclists in flip-flops coast down narrow roads lined with picket fences, property crime has risen sharply over the last few years, Sergeant Daniels said. In Dennis, the number of burglaries and break-ins increased to 252 in 2010 from 122 in 2007. In the same period, larcenies rose to 396, from 256.

About 75 percent of the property crimes are drug-related, Sergeant Daniels estimated. Electronic signs that typically warn of road construction are reminding drivers along Route 134 to lock their cars and secure valuables.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

REGULATE MARIJUANA LIKE WINE ACT

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Aug 8, 2011 | No Comments

This article comes to us courtesy of California Watch.

By Joshua Emerson Smith

Supporters are gathering signatures for an initiative that would decriminalize marijuana in California for those older than 21. The measure, dubbed the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act, would tax and regulate the cultivation, production and sale of cannabis using grape and wine industry standards.

"We're taking something that's unregulated and we're replacing it with a known successful program implemented by the California alcohol beverage control board," said co-author Steve Kubby, who also helped draft and promote Proposition 215, California's first medical cannabis law. "We know it works great with wine. It's already in place."

The measure currently is written to exempt people from permitting fees who are growing up to 25 plants, but Kubby said he and others have decided to amend that to 12 plants per parcel. Commercial growers exceeding that limit would be subject to regulations and fees similar to those for grape farmers. Those selling cannabis products would be taxed and regulated under state rules that currently apply to wine and other alcoholic beverages, with an exception for hemp products with no hallucinogenic properties.

"If you're going to treat it like wine, you have to have an exemption for people who make their own wine or make their own cannabis," Kubby said. "Now, if they sell it, then they have to pay tax on it. The intent really is for your own stash at home."

The initiative also bars state government and law enforcement officials from assisting the federal government in prosecuting individuals for marijuana use or cultivation.

"We all understand that federal law will trump state law in this regard," said Jim Gray, a former judge and co-author of the measure. "So we're telling the federal government, 'We know you can enforce it, but if you're going to, you have to do it by yourself. And by the way, you're going to have to come to a jury of Californians, and I think getting a conviction would be problematic.' "

Concerns over federal opposition helped defeat Proposition 19 [PDF], a measure on a 2010 ballot that would have legalized cannabis, said Dale Jones, chairwoman of the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform. She said the group has been collecting polling data in preparation for an initiative of its own.

"We asked for a tremendous amount of feedback," she said, explaining that many people were apathetic about Prop. 19 because they believed federal intervention would have been inevitable. She also said the campaign was significantly hurt because it didn't have have the full backing of the medical cannabis community.

Continue Reading: huffingtonpost.com

BEER SALES BECOMING MORE POPULAR AT COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES

Article from: drugfree.org

Aug 8, 2011 | No Comments

By: Join Together Staff

An increasing number of colleges are selling beer to legal-age drinkers to increase profits, according to The Des Moines Register. Beer will be sold at 20 major college venues this year, twice as many as a decade ago.

West Virginia is one school that has started beer sales at games. Athletic Director Oliver Luck told the newspaper he expects profits of about $1 million from the sales. "With the deficits that are being run at some schools getting bigger, you're going to have more and more schools going to it," he said. Some colleges, including Iowa's three largest universities, only sell beer to people in luxury suites.

While the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) does not have any rules preventing alcohol sales at regular-season events, it does bar sales and advertising of alcohol during championship games. Host sites of championship games are required to cover up alcohol-related ads.

University of Cincinnati Athletics Director Mike Thomas says selling beer in a stadium can help control drinking.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

FAWCETT'S SON PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO HEROIN CHARGE

Article from: abc.com

Aug 7, 2011 | No Comments

In this police booking photo released, Aug. 3,2011 by the Santa Monica Police Dept. showing Redmond O'Neal, who was pulled over after an officer saw him fail to stop for a red light. (AP Photo)

By Anthony McCartney

The son of the late Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal pleaded not guilty Thursday to felony heroin possession and will remain jailed until a hearing later this month.

Redmond O'Neal's attorney Richard Pintal said he hopes to reach a deal with prosecutors that includes additional treatment for his client, who had a string of drug arrests in recent years.

O'Neal also pleaded not guilty to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Police uncovered a 9mm handgun in a search of his apartment after his arrest Tuesday.

O'Neal's father and his half-sister, the actress Tatum O'Neal, also attended the hearing.

The 26-year-old was on probation for an incident in which he brought drugs to a detention facility north of Los Angeles. In that case, he was arrested in the parking lot of the facility while still under supervision for a previous drug arrest and an incident in which he and his father were arrested at the actor's Malibu home.

He was in jail in June 2009 when his mother died after a battle with cancer and was briefly released to attend her funeral.

Until his arrest by Santa Monica police on Tuesday, the younger O'Neal had stayed out of trouble for months. He was stopped after officers say they saw him run a red light, and a search of his car found the drugs, authorities have said.

Continue Reading: abc.com

DON'T PRAISE IRAN'S WAR ON DRUGS

Article from: guardian.com

Aug 7, 2011 | No Comments

By: Faraz Sanel

The Iranian regime won high praise last month from Yuri Fedotov, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Iran had "one of the world's strongest counter-narcotics responses", he said, and its good practices "deserve the acknowledgment of the international community".

His remarks came a little more than two weeks after Iran's state media announced that 13 drug traffickers had been executed in Mashhad's Vakilabad prison since 21 March. In May, the judiciary announced that at least 300 more were on death row for drug-related offenses.

So far this year, official Iranian sources have reported more than 100 of these executions. Iranian and international human rights groups fear the numbers are much higher.

If retributive justice is the sole hallmark of a "strong" anti-narcotics response, Fedotov's words are spot on. Last year, Iranian authorities signalled plans to intensify prosecutions for drug crimes. They amended the anti-narcotics law, which already imposed corporal punishment for less serious drug crimes and the death penalty for trafficking, possession or trade of more than 5kg of opium, 30g of heroin or morphine (and repeated offenses involving smaller amounts) or the manufacture of more than 50g of synthetic drugs such as methamphetamines a capital offense.

Last October, prosecutor general Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei announced that his office would review some drug-related cases in the interests of fast-tracking them through the courts. That meant some death sentences for drug-related crimes were no longer subject to appeal in the supreme court.

These draconian measures, many of which violate fundamental rights under international law, initiated a staggering wave of executions. Human Rights Watch believes that many of those executed may have had unfair trials, with little or no legal representation. There is also credible evidence that the authorities executed groups of convicted drug offenders without notifying their families or lawyers.

Continue Reading: guardian.com

'EXECUTIVE' TRAINING FOR PROBLEM DRINKERS?

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Aug 7, 2011 | No Comments

By: Wray Herbert

"The Hangover," the low-budget comedy hit of 2009, tells the story of Phil, Stu and Alan, 20-something buddies who wake up in a Las Vegas hotel room the morning after a booze-drenched bachelor party for their friend Doug. None of them remembers a single detail from the night of partying, and a lot needs explaining. There's the tiger in the bathroom just for starters, and then Stu's missing tooth. There's also an unfamiliar infant in the closet, and Phil is wearing a hospital wristband. What's more, Doug has gone missing -- and his wedding is the following day.

Anyone who has indulged in a night of heavy drinking knows how alcohol can sabotage memory, creating autobiographical "blackouts" like the ones depicted in "The Hangover." But heavy drinking can impair much more than these historical memories. It also impairs basic cognitive skills, like the ability to pay attention, to think through plans and act on them and the ability to choose appropriate actions over wrongheaded ones.

Cognitive psychologists lump these mental abilities under the umbrella term "executive function," and those who study alcohol are particularly interested in one aspect of executive function called working memory. Working memory is not the same as memory for last night's party. Instead, it's the ability to hold important information in mind temporarily, and to use that information to set goals and make plans and stick to those plans. It's a building block of executive functioning, and thus crucial to inhibiting impulsive misbehavior.

Continue Reading: huffingtonpost.com

GROUND-BREAKING EFFORT TO PREVENT OPIOID ABUSE AND OVERDOSE

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Aug 6, 2011 | No Comments

Fatal overdoses involving prescribed opioids tripled in the United States between 1999 and 2006, climbing to almost 14,000 deaths annually - more than cocaine and heroin overdoses combined. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits related to prescription opioid pain medicines such as oxycodone (brand name Oxycontin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin) also increased dramatically in the same period.

Now a report in the August issue of Health Affairs describes a major initiative at Group Health to make opioid prescribing safer while improving care for patients with chronic pain. Health Affairs is the nation's premier health policy journal, and its August issue focuses on substance abuse.

In the Group Health initiative's first nine months, clinicians at the Seattle-based integrated health system developed and documented care plans for almost 6,000 patients - 85 percent of those receiving long-term opioid therapy for chronic non-cancer pain.

Group Health's initiative was implemented well before the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced a national action plan in April 2011 to stem the epidemic of prescription drug abuse. Scientists from Group Health Research Institute are evaluating the initiative's effects on care, hoping Group Health's experience can help guide national efforts.

Use of prescription opioids has increased sharply since the 1980s. Excluding people with cancer and those in end-of-life care, about 4 percent of U.S. adults now use prescription opioids long term. Pharmaceutical industry advocacy and education have fueled increased opioid prescribing for chronic non-cancer pain - despite limited scientific evidence supporting the drugs' long-term effectiveness for chronic non-cancer pain.

In January 2010, Group Health Research Institute Senior Investigator Michael Von Korff, ScD, and colleagues published the first-ever study on overdose risk by dose among patients receiving prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain. That study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, linked higher risk of fatal and nonfatal overdose to higher daily dose prescribed. His research also showed that Group Health, like other health systems nationwide, had been prescribing more opioids for chronic non-cancer pain over time - a twofold increase from 1997 to 2005.

Group Health launched a major primary care-based initiative to enhance opioid prescribing safety later in 2010. Led by Group Health Medical Director of Primary Care Claire Trescott, MD, the initiative aims to standardize use of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain, without creating undue restrictions on clinically appropriate opioid prescribing.

Continue Reading: medicalnewstoday.com

WHAT PARENTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PARTY SCHOOLS

Article from: lifegoesstrong.com

Aug 6, 2011 | No Comments

By: Barbara Kantrowitz

Underage drinking is a serious problem and there's a lot you can do to guide your teens

If you're the parent of a rising high school senior, you're probably paying a lot of attention to this year's annual release of list from Princeton Review, US News and other organizations. These lists always amuse me because they rank schools in some bizarre ways - mostly to attract attention in the media.

One of the most headline-grabbing is the list of top party schools put out by Princeton Review. It inevitably draws protests from administrators at the "winning" schools and probably lots of interest from potential students.

But most parents look at this list in horror - as they should. You're paying a fortune for your kid to get an education, not for partying.

Which brings me to a bigger issue: how can you prepare your college-age children to handle alcohol when they're no longer under your roof?

1. Don't ignore the problem. Drinking under 21 is illegal, but we all know it happens. Hiding your head in the sand won't make underage drinking go away. Studies show that by age 18, at least 70 percent of teens have had a drink. And teens who do drink often drink a lot, which can have serious lifelong health consequences.

Continue Reading: lifegoesstrong.com

FOR THE LOWDOWN ON GETTING HIGH, VISIT THE DEA MUSEUM

Article from: washingtonpost.com

Aug 6, 2011 | No Comments

By: Jessica Goldstein

Beyond the DARE program, cheesy after-school specials, and Nancy Reagan imploring the masses to "Just Say No," some of us grow up learning very little about the breadth and depth of global drug abuse. Illegal drug use dates as far back as the Opium Wars of the early 1800s, and the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum in Arlington uses those conflicts as a jumping off point to explore drug abuse in the United States. Documenting 150 years of illegal drug use in America, the DEA museum covers the history of drug use and the science of how drugs affect the human body.

Show me what you're made of You probably know that in the 1940s, a bottle of Coca-Cola contained cocaine. But Coke wasn't the only product laced with a lethal substance. In 1888, Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Cough Syrup, marketed for children, was opiate-based. Babies died when parents accidentally overdosed their children. Dangerous drugs were so commonplace that in 1902 you could order a hypodermic syringe kit from the Sears Roebuck catalogue, complete with an opiate-based drug as a sample. Bayer advertised aspirin and heroin side by side in 1900.

The high-water mark Illegal drug use peaked in America in 1979. One in nine Americans used drugs "regularly," which was defined as at least once a month.

More money, more problems The first hard-core drug addicts in America were middle-class white women, who had access to doctors and the means to acquire patent medicine. Later, powder cocaine became a problem among wealthy white men who used the drug as a status symbol. The trend was such an open secret that Time magazine's July 6, 1981, cover showed a big martini glass filled with cocaine, topped with a straw and an olive. The headline: "High on Cocaine: A drug with status -- and menace."

Suiting up The DEA wasn't established officially until 1973. Narcotic agents in 1915 were issued a badge, a Thompson submachine gun and a pair of hand grenades. There were only 100 agents for the entire country.

Continue Reading: washingtonpost.com

TINY TOWN IS OREGON'S NO. 1 HUB FOR POT GROWERS

Article from: cbs.com

Aug 5, 2011 | No Comments

WILLIAMS, Ore. - Medical marijuana has taken root in this idyllic town like nowhere else in Oregon.

Nearly 20 percent of the population is registered to grow pot legally, and an untold number deals it illegally, creating stark contrasts in a bucolic burg where children still ring the bell to start the school day and pancake breakfasts draw a crowd at the local community center.

The Associated Press analyzed the locations of registered pot growers in Oregon based on their ZIP codes and found that Williams by far has the heaviest concentration. More than 400 of the town's 2000 residents are authorized by the state to grow up to six plants each.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Marijuana Nation

The proliferation of pot became the talk of the town last summer when new Google Earth satellite images showed little green circles in neat rows all over the valley.

"My daughter showed me on her iPhone," said Neil Sinnott, owner of a local cafe. "She said, `Dad, look what your neighbors are doing."'

Six-foot-tall fences that screen marijuana gardens from public view have become so common that a local pastor uses them as landmarks for giving directions. One resident is trying to capitalize on the growing popularity of medical marijuana by starting a testing lab. A variety of marijuana grown here, called Williams Wonder, is cherished among pot connoisseurs.

Though big-city Portland has cafes where medical marijuana users smoke pot while singing karaoke, it is the rural communities of southwestern Oregon like Williams that have the highest percentages of folks smoking it, growing it and caring for others who use the drug.

Neighboring towns in Josephine County have high rates of pot growers similar to the 19.5 percent in Williams: O'Brien was at 15.2 percent; Selma at 10.5 percent; and Cave Junction at 9.9 percent, according to the AP analysis.

One ZIP code covering mostly rural residences shows 60 out of 80 residents with permits. The Oregon Health Authority will not provide any identifying information of pot growers and patients beyond their ZIP codes for patient confidentiality reasons. It will not provide information on ZIP codes with fewer than 50 cardholders, also for confidentiality reasons.

Continue Reading: cbs.com

BRITISH ARREST 6 AND SEIZE 2,600 POUNDS OF COCAINE

Article from: nytimes.com

Aug 5, 2011 | No Comments

By: Matthew Saltmarsh

LONDON -- British authorities said on Wednesday that they had seized the largest shipment of illicit hard drugs in the country's history, and that the seizure had led to the arrests of six people suspected of working with an international narcotics ring.

The nation's Border Agency said it seized more than 2,600 pounds of almost pure cocaine in June, with an estimated street value of up to £300 million, or more than $490 million. The haul was found inside a luxury yacht at the Southampton docks on the southern English coast.

Since then, the British authorities have worked with the Dutch police to track the members of the gang they believe to be responsible. The arrests came on Tuesday in the Netherlands.

The agency said in a statement that its crime team had tracked the luxury yacht Louise, said to be worth more than $1.6 million as it was transported to Southampton from the British Virgin Islands on a cargo ship.

The subsequent search took six days, the agency said, and the drugs were finally found stashed beneath the boat's bathing platform, having been packed there in Venezuela.

The seizure formed part of an operation with the Dutch police, acting on intelligence provided by the British Serious Organized Crime Agency, and in cooperation with other agencies and countries, including France.

The Border Agency estimated the drugs' value at $82 million wholesale, with a street value of $493 million. It said the cocaine, which originated in South America, was 90 percent pure. The average purity of cocaine seized at the British border is 63 percent.

Cocaine is considered a Class A drug, as are heroin, ecstasy and LSD.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

BRIEF INTERVENTION FOR ALCOHOL: RECOMMENDED BUT MANY QUESTIONS REMAIN

Article from: drugfree.org

Aug 5, 2011 | No Comments

By: Celia Vimont

Screening and brief intervention (BI) is recommended to identify patients with unhealthy alcohol use and to treat them, even though there are still many questions about the effectiveness of the procedure, according to the Chair of the upcoming INEBRIA conference in Boston.

"It's probably not the case that screening everyone in every circumstance and doing a brief intervention will always lead to improvement," says Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, Director of the Clinical Addiction, Research and Education Unit at Boston University Medical Center."It's more likely that there are times and circumstances when BI is more or less effective. The problem is that we don't yet know what those circumstances are."

Unlike traditional treatment for alcohol dependence, BI is generally aimed at people who drink in ways that are risky or harmful but who are not alcohol-dependent. While traditional treatment for alcohol dependence can last weeks or months, BI is generally much shorter.

Experts do not agree on many aspects of BI, ranging from the definition of 'brief,' to who the treatment works best for, and in which settings it is most effective, according to Dr. Saitz.

"BI can be spending a few minutes with someone and telling them, 'You're drinking too much and here's what I advise,' but the more effective brief interventions consist of counseling someone for 10 to 15 minutes at least twice," notes Dr. Saitz. "When you hear 'BI' you need to drill down on what is meant by that. No one says something as general as, 'heart disease treatment is effective,' so we shouldn't be dumbing down our language around addiction treatment."

An important concern surrounding BI is how a person comes to the treatment, he says. People who are screened for alcohol use when they go to their primary care doctor for a sore throat are different from those who are screened when they go to the hospital with pneumonia, or who end up in a trauma center because they have just caused a fatal car crash while under the influence of alcohol. "It's unlikely that BI has the same effect in all these circumstances--it's not a monolithic thing," stated Dr. Saitz. "Like anything in health care, there is nuance and complexity to BI."

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

ALCOHOL, DRUGS TO EASE ANXIETY COULD SPUR SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROBLEMS

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Aug 5, 2011 | No Comments

"People probably believe that self-medication works," says James M. Bolton, M.D., the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg. "What people do not realize is that this quick-fix method actually makes things worse in the long term."

Self-medication for anxiety symptoms is common. In the study, which included a nationally representative sample of 34,653 American adults, 13 percent of the people who had consumed alcohol or drugs in the previous year said they'd done so to reduce their anxiety, fear, or panic about a situation.

An even greater proportion, roughly one-quarter, said they had similarly self-medicated with drugs. (Detailed data on the drug use was not available, but Bolton says most people were probably using prescription sedatives -- such as Xanax -- without a prescription, rather than using marijuana or illegal drugs.)

Self-medication and anxiety proved to be a hazardous combination for some of the study participants. People with diagnosed anxiety disorders who self-medicated at the start of the study were two to five times more likely than those who did not self-medicate to develop a drug or alcohol problem within three years, the study found. (The increase in risk depended on the anxiety disorder.)

In addition, people with anxiety symptoms who had never been officially diagnosed with a full-blown disorder were more likely to receive a diagnosis of social phobia by the end of the study if they self-medicated. Social phobia, also known as social anxiety disorder, is characterized by pronounced fear or anxiety about specific situations, such as parties or speaking in public.

"Serious consequences can develop very quickly," Bolton says. "People can develop alcoholism and anxiety disorders within just three years, and these are illnesses that can have a devastating impact on a person's health, their relationships, and their financial situation."

Experts have long known that people with anxiety disorders are vulnerable to substance abuse, and vice versa, but they haven't been able to determine whether one problem precedes the other.

The new findings are significant because they are among the first to examine the relationship of anxiety symptoms and substance use in a group of people over time, says Kristen Anderson, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at Reed College, in Portland, Ore. Anderson was not involved in the new study.

Continue Reading: huffingtonpost.com

MEXICO ARRESTS 'DEPUTY FINANCIER OF ZETAS DRUG CARTEL'

Article from: bbc.com

Aug 4, 2011 | No Comments

The Mexican military says it has arrested the alleged number two financial operator of the Zetas drug cartel.

Valdemar Quintanilla Soriano was captured in the northern city of Saltillo in Coahuila state, where weapons and cash were also found.

Another Zetas suspect, Jose Guadalupe Yanez Martinez, was also detained.

The Zetas and the Gulf Cartel are in a bloody battle for control of drug smuggling routes to the United States.

"During the last months, Quintanilla Soriano often travelled to Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, Saltillo and Monclova in Coahuila to coordinate finance matters as well as the payment to authorities working for the criminal organization," said Colonel Ricardo Trevilla, spokesman for Mexico's National Defense Secretariat.

Another key Zetas suspect, Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar, was arrested a month ago.

The Zetas were formed by former Mexican special forces soldiers.

Mr Rejon was a member of the Mexican special forces but deserted in 1999, officials say.

The Zetas initially acted as armed enforcers for the Gulf Cartel.

The Zetas have since split with their former paymasters, and have been engaged in brutal turf wars for control of smuggling routes.

Continue Reading: bbc.com

VERMONT LEADS U.S. IN UNDERAGE DRINKING

Article from: drugfree.org

Aug 4, 2011 | No Comments

By: Join Together Staff

Vermont has the highest rate of underage drinking in the nation, a new federal report reveals. The state ranks second in youth marijuana use, the Burlington Free Press reports.

The report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is a state-by-state analysis of a range of behavioral health issues. The report found 36.6 percent of 12- to 20-year-olds in Vermont said they drank alcohol in the previous month, the highest rate in the nation. Utah had the lowest underage drinking rate, 14.2 percent.

Vermont had the highest estimated rate of past-month use of marijuana for adults ages 18 to 25--30.6 percent. The state also had the highest rate of adults 18 to 25 who started using marijuana--11.9 percent. In contrast, Utah had the lowest rate, at 3.5 percent.

Barbara Cimaglio, Deputy Commissioner for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs for the Vermont Department of Health, told the newspaper there are several theories about why the state has a high rate of substance abuse among youth.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

130 YEARS SINCE SUNDAY DRINKING WAS BANNED IN WALES

Article from: bbc.com

Aug 4, 2011 | No Comments

By: Neil Prior

Members of the congregation arrive for the Sunday service at the Saron Chapel, Ebbw Vale in August 1952

One-hundred and thirty years ago this month, William Gladstone's Liberal government passed an act which would change the culture, politics, and even the architecture of Wales, for over a century.

Sponsored by prominent Welsh nonconformists in the Liberal party, such as future Prime Minister David Lloyd George, the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 banned the sale of alcohol in Welsh pubs on the Sabbath.

It would not be repealed until 1961, when each county was charged with holding a referendum on Sunday opening, to gauge support in their particular area.

While urban districts such as Swansea, Cardiff and Merthyr ditched the ban at the earliest possible opportunity, many rural and Welsh-speaking counties held on to "dry" Sundays.

Dwyfor - now part of Gwynedd - was the last district to drop the ban in 1996.

But Robin Hughes, clerk of Pwllheli Town Council, remembers that it wasn't a particularly contentious issue, with only nine percent of the local population turning out for the referendum.

"There were those on the extremes of the debate," he says.

"People involved in tourism argued that the ban was killing pretty much the only trade in the county, while the chapels thought getting rid of it was going to destroy the moral fibre of the area."

"Most of us had mixed feelings. On the one hand people welcomed the opportunity for a pint while they were off work, but on the other it was symbolic of the death of a little bit of Welshness, that made us a unique, tight-knit community."

Continue Reading: bbc.com

SEVEN REASONS YOU'RE DRUNKER THAN YOUR FRIENDS

Article from: abc.com

Aug 4, 2011 | No Comments

By: Lara Salahi

Think you know your level of alcohol tolerance? Think you know how many drinks it'll take you to get tipsy?

Think again.

Most alcohol recommendations are based on a 155-lb. adult male. Usually, drinking three standard-sized beverages - like a 12 oz. beer - consumed in under an hour can get the average man drunk.

But some experts say that many people don't know their level of tolerance. In fact, there are genetic, biological and physical factors that can make you drunk faster.

Here's a look at a few characteristics that contribute to your alcohol tolerance:

Handling Your Alcohol Consumption

Size

No, not height. Weight. The larger you are, the more alcohol you are able to consume before you begin to feel tipsy.

"We, in general, metabolize one drink an hour," said Dr. Corey Slovis, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

But those who weigh less are more affected by the same amount of alcohol. A larger body mass index and a higher volume of plasma in the body contribute to the ability of larger people to consume more, many experts said.

Continue Reading: abc.com

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA TO BAN ALCOHOL (video)

Article from: msnbc.com

Aug 3, 2011 | No Comments

NORMAN, Okla. -- In the University of Oklahoma student union, students cram for their final exams. But their big test comes next semester when the university bans alcohol everywhere on campus.

The moves comes after Blake Hammontree -- a 19-year-old freshman -- died at a Sigma Chi fraternity party. His blood-alcohol level was five times the legal limit.

His father Jack is left with one main question. "Where did this binge drinking come from?" he asks.

Binge drinking is defined as four to five drinks in less than an hour. It killed five college students, some under the legal drinking age of 21, in four states in September alone.

Among the victims, 19-year-old Samantha Spady, who police say may have consumed as many as 40 drinks at a Colorado State University fraternity.

Twelve days after Spady's death, a chilling 911 call came from the Chi Psi fraternity at the University of Colorado. "We got a guy who's passed out. He drank way too much and we found him this morning" said the caller.

That "guy" was Lynn Gordon Bailey -- a freshman pledge for less than 15 hours when he died from alcohol poisoning.

Back in Oklahoma, Blake Hammontree's death has led to one criminal indictment. And Oklahoma University president David Boren says the one death on his campus was one too many.

"This is a problem that's rampant all over this country and at colleges and universities from coast-to-coast," says Boren.

The crackdown on alcohol abuse will have its biggest impact along fraternity row.

Continue Reading: msnbc.com

WHO FALLS TO ADDICTION, AND WHO IS UNSCATHED?

Article from: nytimes.com

Aug 3, 2011 | No Comments

By Richard A. Friedman, M.D.

Shortly after the singer Amy Winehouse, 27, was found dead in her London home, the airwaves were ringing with her popular hit "Rehab," a song about her refusal to be treated for drug addiction.

The man said "Why you think you here?"

I said, "I got no idea."

I'm gonna, gonna lose my baby,

So I always keep a bottle near.

The official cause of Ms. Winehouse's death won't be announced until October pending toxicology reports, but her highly publicized battle with alcohol and drug addiction seems to have played a significant role. Indeed, her mother echoed a sentiment heard everywhere when she told The Sunday Mirror that her daughter's death was "only a matter of time."

But was it? Why is it that some people survive drug and alcohol abuse, even manage their lives with it, while others succumb to addiction? It's a question scientists have been wrestling with for decades, but only recently have they begun to find answers.

Illicit drug use in the United States, as in Britain, is very common and usually begins in adolescence. According to the 2008 National Survey of Drug Use and Health, 46 percent of Americans have tried an illicit drug at some point in their lives.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

U.S. TEENS 12 AND UP DRINKING - SAMHSA

Article from: news.com

Aug 3, 2011 | No Comments

    * Drinking most prevalent in 18-25 year olds
    * The legal drinking age in all 50 states is 21
    * North Dakota has highest binge drinking rate

MORE than half of Americans aged 12 and up drink alcohol, a quarter binge-drank in the past month, and one in 14 teens has used marijuana, a US government agency says in a report on substance abuse.

About 52 per cent of 137,436 Americans interviewed in 2008 and 2009 said they had a tipple in the past month, the report released late last month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) says.

Drinking was most prevalent among 18-25 year olds, with the northeastern state of New Hampshire leading the charge: three-quarters of young adults in the state said they'd used alcohol in the past month, the report says.

The legal drinking age in all 50 states is 21, although exceptions in many states allow under-age drinking in certain circumstances, such as in private premises with parental consent.

SAMHSA also found that almost a quarter (23.5 per cent) of Americans binge-drank in the past month - defined as having four or more drinks for women or girls and five or more for men or boys.

In North Dakota, nearly one in three residents binge-drank, the highest rate in the United States.

The number of Americans who used marijuana in the past month was also up for the period covered by the report: 6.4 per cent of Americans aged 12 and older said they had used marijuana in the past month compared to six per cent in 2007-2008, the report says.

Continue Reading: news.com

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE NOW AMONG CHILDREN

Article from: allvoices.com

Aug 3, 2011 | No Comments

By: Debbie Nicholson

Prescription drug abuse has been on the rise now it affects American children

University of Michigan Ann Arbor reveals one in five teens that receive prescription painkillers and other controlled substance medications from practitioners are overdosing on the substances.

As sad as it is to report children are simply taking too much of medications placing themselves at risk for dangerous side effects. What is more alarming is that ten percent of the children use these medications to get high.

Dr. Sean Esteban McCabe, PhD, M.A., M.S. W. Research Associate Professor at the University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center, internationally recognized scholar, and who participated in this study, stated there has been a rise in the prescribing of controlled substances and an increase of non-medical use of the substances.

Just last July a government report had revealed that there was an increase in the over abuse of pain killers. A 400% surge of the numbers of persons who were entering treatment for misusing painkillers. At that time the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) had that over six million Americans had been admitted for medication abuse.

Using a web-based survey Dr. McCabe and associates tested teenager's use of four groups of medications which were received from their practitioners. These medications included opioid painkillers such as OxyContin, sleeping pills such as Ambien, anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax and stimulants like Ritalin.

In the Detroit area middle and high school students overall, 18% of almost 2,600 students had reported they had used one such drug to treat a medical condition within the last year.

Once again, painkillers were the most common drugs and next in line were stimulants than sleeping pills. Overusing sleeping pills was especially common, 42% of those who used them took above the amount recommended and 17% just took them to obtain a high.

Those teenagers who did not the follow practitioners orders had a greater chance of smoking, binge drinking and using illegal drugs in comparison to those who followed medical orders. It was also discovered teenagers sell or give away medications mostly. For an example a third had mentioned they had given away or loan out the medications at some point.

Dr. McCabe in closing remarks that children are most likely to obtain medications which are not prescribed to them from their peers.

Continue Reading: allvoices.com

TESTING THE LIMITS OF TIPSY (video)

Article from: wsj.com

Aug 2, 2011 | No Comments

Many Factors Alter the Effects of Alcohol; A Party Experiment

How much alcohol does it take to reach a blood-alcohol level of .08%, the legal intoxication level in all 50 states? Since Alcohol clearly affects some people more than others, Melinda Beck looks at whether that affects their blood-alcohol level?

How much alcohol does it take to get intoxicated?

Many people figure a few beers at a ballgame or a couple of glasses of wine with dinner won't put them over the legal limit for driving. But how alcohol affects people is highly individual, with a number of factors in the mix.

Quick shots of liquor hit the bloodstream faster than slow sips of wine. Drinking on an empty stomach impairs reflexes more than consuming alcohol with food. And women and older drinkers generally hit legal intoxication levels sooner than men and younger people.

Carbonated beverages raise alcohol levels faster, because the gas irritates the stomach lining, causing alcohol to be absorbed faster. (Sweet or caffeinated alcoholic drinks aren't absorbed any faster, it just seems that way because people often consume more of them than they realize.)

Many Asians have a genetic variation that gives them a flush and a very rapid heartbeat from even a small amount of alcohol.

And factors like fatigue, stress, illness and depression can magnify alcohol's impact.

Eileen Wolter was driving home from an office Christmas party she had organized in Los Angeles in 1998. "I was definitely under a lot of stress," she says. She had had several mixed drinks, a few glasses of wine and very little food, but thought she was fine--until she took a turn too fast and hit a stop sign. She was driving with a flat tire and a broken wheel, causing even more car damage. A police car stopped to see if she was OK, and she flunked a breathalyzer test. "I blew a 0.9," says Ms. Wolter, who was arrested, fined $2,000 and sentenced to community service and alcohol education classes.

Continue Reading: wsj.com

NEW GENERATION OF FAKE IDS FLINGING OPEN DOORS TO UNDERAGE DRINKING

Article from: denverpost.com

Aug 2, 2011 | No Comments

By: Ashley Halsey III

WASHINGTON -- When the fleeing motorcycle hit the curb, scraped past a utility pole and hurled 20-year-old Craig Eney to his death, a bogus South Carolina driver's license was in the hip pocket of his jeans.

He spent the final hours of his life using that phony license to buy shots for buddies at two Annapolis, Md., bars -- places so popular among underage drinkers that bouncers are stationed outside to check everyone's ID.

Yet scores of young people flash fake licenses and waltz into the bar.

The days when faking driver's licenses was a cottage industry -- often practiced by computer geeks in dorm rooms with laminating machines -- have given way to far more sophisticated and prolific practitioners who operate outside the reach of the law.

In an era when terrorism and illegal immigration have transformed driver's licenses into sophisticated mini-documents festooned with holograms and bar codes, beating the system has never been easier. Just wire money to "the Chinese guy."

"He's like some sort of genius in China," said a 19-year-old for whom Eney bought shots that night. "Every kid in Annapolis has one of his licenses."

The "Chinese guy" -- whose e-mail address is passed around on college campuses and among high school kids -- is actually a Chinese company that mails thousands of fake driver's licenses to the U.S.

To the naked eye -- even the practiced eye of most bartenders and cops -- the counterfeits look perfect. The photo and physical description are real. So is the signature. The holograms are exact copies, and even the bar code can pass unsophisticated scans.

"We're seeing these false IDs being generated from the same source out of China," said Steven Williams, chief executive of Intellicheck, which supplies detection equipment to federal agencies, law enforcement and businesses.

The IDs have shown up in various states, each carrying a mysterious hidden tip-off in the bar code that points directly to the same Chinese company.

Continue Reading: denverpost.com

ALCOHOL AND ANXIETY A RISKY MIX FOR SOME

Article from: cnn.com

Aug 2, 2011 | No Comments

By: Anne Harding

(Health.com) -- Many people who experience chronic feelings of anxiety about social situations, work and relationships, or other aspects of everyday life often reach for a beer or a glass of wine to quell their unease.

Alcohol may help anxious people cope in the short term, but over time this strategy can backfire. According to a new study in the Archives of General Psychiatry, self-medicating with alcohol or drugs can increase the risk of alcoholism and other substance-abuse problems, without addressing the underlying anxiety.

"People probably believe that self-medication works," says James M. Bolton, M.D., the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg. "What people do not realize is that this quick-fix method actually makes things worse in the long term."

Health.com: How to relieve the acute discomfort of anxiety disorders

Self-medication for anxiety symptoms is common. In the study, which included a nationally representative sample of 34,653 American adults, 13% of the people who had consumed alcohol or drugs in the previous year said they'd done so to reduce their anxiety, fear, or panic about a situation.

An even greater proportion, roughly one-quarter, said they had similarly self-medicated with drugs. (Detailed data on the drug use was not available, but Bolton says most people were probably using prescription sedatives -- such as Xanax -- without a prescription, rather than using marijuana or illegal drugs.)

Self-medication and anxiety proved to be a hazardous combination for some of the study participants. People with diagnosed anxiety disorders who self-medicated at the start of the study were two to five times more likely than those who did not self-medicate to develop a drug or alcohol problem within three years, the study found. (The increase in risk depended on the anxiety disorder.)

Continue Reading: cnn.com

SHEBOYGAN MAYOR BOB RYAN BLAMES ALCOHOLISM FOR PUBLIC BENDER AND BAR BRAWL (video)

Article from: abc.com

Aug 2, 2011 | No Comments

By Courtney Hutchison

Sheboygan, Wis., Mayor Bob Ryan says he shouldn't have to resign over a three-day bender and bar brawl, because he is an admitted alcoholic and is getting treatment.

The city council has requested that Ryan, who had had two previous public episodes of drunken and disorderly behavior, give up his post, but the mayor says many of his constituents still support him and he deserves "one more chance."

"It's not a pretty picture. It's shameful, it's embarrassing, it's indefensible, and unfortunately who I am and who I have been for a long time," Ryan told ABC News affiliate WBAY-TV in Green Bay. Ryan today declined an interview with ABC News.

Ryan told WBAY-TV he will be entering intensive treatment again for his alcoholism and is hoping that his public promise to the residents of Sheboygan will be enough to stave off a forced removal.

"I asked the people to give me this one more chance," he said. "If I fail at this, I will be the first to walk away before I hit the headlines."

Ryan's appeal to the fact that he has a disease and is seeking treatment brings up a contentious issue concerning whether alcoholism should be grounds for dismissal -- of any employee, or more specifically, of a public official. Ryan's binges have never been while on the job and he has not broken any laws or gotten behind the wheel, so at what point do his personal struggles with addiction become the city's concern?

Continue Reading / Watching Video: abc.com

U.S. STOPS "NARCO SUB" WITH $180M OF COCAINE (video)

Article from: cbs.com

Aug 1, 2011 | No Comments

(CBS/AP)

MIAMI - The U.S. Coast Guard says its crews helped stop a semi-submersible craft filled with $180 million of cocaine in the western Caribbean.

According to CBS-4 in Miami, the so-called "narco submarine" was used by Colombian drug cartel members to export cocaine into the United States. (See video of the Coast Guard interdiction below).

The Coast Guard said Monday that with help from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection airplane, its cutter located the submarine-like craft Tuesday off the coast of Honduras near the Nicaraguan border. The Coast Guard, FBI dive teams and the Honduran navy had been searching for the vessel for more than 10 days.

The Coast Guard says the vessel sank, but not before an FBI dive team could recover nearly 7.5 tons of cocaine worth roughly $180 million.

Drug traffickers design a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) crafts to rapidly sink when they detect law enforcement which makes contraband recovery difficult, according to the Coast Guard, CBS-4 reports.

The drugs and five crew members aboard the semi-submersible were turned over to U.S. law enforcement.

SPSS crafts are regularly used to smuggle drugs along Central America's Pacific Coast.

Built in the FARC-controlled jungles of Colombia, the typical SPSS is less than 100 feet in length, with 4-5 crewmembers, and carries up to 10 metric tons of illicit cargo for distances up to 5,000 miles.

Continue Reading: cbs.com

D.C. TOPS NATION IN DRUG, ALCOHOL ABUSE

Article from: washingtonexaminer.com

Aug 1, 2011 | No Comments

By: Emily Babay

Drug and alcohol abuse rates are higher in the District than anywhere else in the country, and experts say the wide availability of drugs, high stress levels and difficulties getting abusers into treatment fuel the city's persistently stratospheric rates.

A new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 11.3 percent of people 12 and older abused or were dependent on alcohol or drugs in the past year, well above the national average of 8.9 percent. Maryland's abuse rate was 8.1 percent and Virginia's was 9.4 percent.

Drug and alcohol problems have long been a problem in all corners of the nation's capital, from drug deals on street corners to college binge drinking to the White House -- even former first lady Betty Ford admitted to a long battle with drinking and painkiller addiction after she left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"You can find drugs in any quadrant of the city," said George Wheeler, who runs Circles of Hope, an addiction counseling center.

The SAMHSA report is based on national drug surveys from 2008 and 2009 and interviews. It found the abuse rate in the District is down from 11.9 percent in 2002 and 2003 surveys. The most widely used drugs in the District are alcohol, marijuana and cocaine, according to the survey.

In D.C., politicians, lobbyists and others regularly attend functions where "work is socializing," said Babette Wise, director of the alcohol and drug abuse program at Georgetown University Hospital.

Continue Reading: washingtonexaminer.com

DRUG COURT TO HELP KEEP YOUTH OUT OF JAIL

Article from: yahoonews.com

Aug 1, 2011 | No Comments

The ACT will hold a two year trial of a new drug and alcohol court for children.

Magistrates in the ACT Children's Court will be able to refer young offenders to the Youth Drug and Alcohol Court, to plead guilty to charges carrying a prison term.

If they are eligible for the court, their sentencing would be deferred to allow them to undertake a rehabilitation program under the supervision of a magistrate.

Their sentencing would then take into account their rehabilitation.

Attorney-General Simon Corbell says it has been designed to help young people turn their lives around and keep them out of jail.

"We hope that we will prevent the need for those people firstly to serve a custodial sentence but secondly and more importantly to prevent their reoffending behavior," he said.

"It's a very worthwhile trial, it's certainly worked in other jurisdictions and I'm pleased the Magistrates Court are taking it on here."

Mr Corbell says it will be a challenging process for offenders.

"This is about making those young offenders work, making them think about and tackle their offending behavior and the reasons behind it," he said.

"If a young person is not living up to their side of the bargain, then of course ... a custodial sentence or other penalties will come into play."

Mr Corbell says it is important young people are diverted away from custodial sentences wherever possible.

Continue Reading: yahoonews.com

ALCOHOLISM: 'I STARTED DRINKING AT AGE 13' (video)

Article from: bbc.com

Aug 1, 2011 | No Comments

Alcoholic liver disease in the under 30s has risen by half in the last ten years according to official figures.

Doctors are warning of the growing impact of alcohol on young people's health after the findings show a quarter of the population drinks too much.

The BBC's Panorama filmed Victoria White, critically ill from drinking a bottle of brandy a day.

Now out of hospital, 35-year-old Vicky and her mother Debbie told the BBC's Charlie Stayt about her battle with alcoholism, which began at the age of 13.

Continue Reading / Watch Video: bbc.com

« July 2011 | Main Index | Archives | September 2011 »