November 2011 Archives

DECLARING HOMES ALCOHOL FREE COULD REDUCE VIOLENCE

Article from: abc.net

Nov 30, 2011 | No Comments
269660-3x2-340x227.jpgBy David McGeoch

For some, it's an everyday reality - the walls are smashed as a fist goes through or there are holes or marks where a chair has been thrown.

A woman lies bruised or bleeding, children crawl around in a mess or hide in a corner as a drunk lets fly or a party gets out of control.

A police officer in regional WA recounts what he has seen when he has been called out.

"They are living in an environment that has been been controlled or dictated to them by alcohol abuse or by people who are using alcohol as an excuse to abuse," he said.

Now, laws have been introduced to ban alcohol in certain individual residences.

The Department of Child Protection can now apply to the Director of Liquor Licensing to ban alcohol in 'at risk homes'.

And, individual homeowners or tenants can voluntarily apply to have their properties declared alcohol free.

In 2007, the Kimberley community of Fitzroy Crossing became the first town in WA to voluntarily become alcohol free.

The chief executive of Fitroy Crossing's Womens Resource Centre, June Oscar, has welcomed the new moves for individual homes.

"I think [the new laws] are a positive thing because I know that there are cases where people require this level of assistance and in those situations this will be something that they choose for their own homes," she said.

Continue Reading: abc.net

TOP COLOMBIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER CAPTURED

Article from: time.com

Nov 30, 2011 | No Comments
(CARACAS, Venezuela) -- A top Colombian drug trafficker reputedly responsible for shipping tons of cocaine to the United States through Central America and Mexico has been captured in Venezuela, officials said Monday.

The U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maximiliano Bonilla Orozco, also known as "Valenciano," who was also on Colombia's most-wanted list.

Colombian authorities told The Associated Press that Bonilla was captured Sunday. The information was later confirmed by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who was in Venezuela meeting with President Hugo Chavez. (See photos of the seized drug-smuggling submarines.)

"He's one of the most recognized drug traffickers, who has caused terrible harm to our country," Santos told Chavez at the presidential palace. He added that Bonilla's capture was "truly a very high-value objective" for Colombian authorities.

"We know that your people, your authorities ... were after this individual for some time, and look how God is on our side, the coincidence that last night you captured him and today we can give this magnificent news," Santos said.

"This is a very good welcome gift," Santos told Chavez.

The Venezuelan leader called the arrest "a happy coincidence."

Both presidents said it was an example of increased cooperation between their authorities. It wasn't immediately clear how authorities tracked down Bonilla.


Continue Reading: time.com

LIL BOOSIE PLEADS GUILTY TO DRUG SMUGGLING, GETS 8-YEAR SENTENCE

Article from: mtv.com

Nov 30, 2011 | No Comments
By Nadeska Alexis

Lil Boosie has been biding his time behind bars since June 2010, after being charged with first-degree murder, but on Tuesday (November 29), the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, rapper (real name, Torrence Hatch) landed an eight-year prison sentence for drug charges. He pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiring to smuggle drugs into disciplinary facilities.

Local TV station WFAB reports that District Judge Mike Erwin passed down the sentence after Boosie admitted that he tried to smuggle drugs into Louisiana's Dixon Correctional Center and Angola State Penitentiary. Upon hearing his sentence, the 29-year-old rapper requested admittance to a drug rehab program, and while the judge agreed to recommend treatment, he wouldn't order it. Boosie will receive credit for the time he has already served behind bars.

Last June, Boosie pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder, two counts of conspiracy to introduce contraband into a penal institution, three counts of possession with intent to distribute narcotics and three counts of conspiracy to commit possession with intent to distribute narcotics.

Continue Reading: mtv.com

DRUG-SNIFFING DOG AIDS FAMILY INTERVENTIONS

Article from: dailynews.com

Nov 29, 2011 | No Comments
20111125__news_dog_xanax_action_horiz.JPGBy C.J. Lin

As DJ Smith watched Xanax, a drug-sniffing dog, search for narcotics around a sober living home, he couldn't help but think how a dog like the eager Belgian Malinois might have changed his own life.

Smith, 23, had become addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol at age 16. His family suspected, but they never knew the extent of his problem. Nor did they find the pills he'd hidden in innocuous over-the-counter medicine bottles or disguised in other ways.

So the Agoura Hills family constantly worried if and when Smith would come home at night, or if he would survive his latest hospitalization.

"Unfortunately, I didn't have a service like this," said Smith of Narc with a Bark, a North Hollywood-based business that uses Xanax

the drug detection dog to find drugs in private homes and rehab facilities, and doesn't involve law enforcement.

"A service like this would have intervened a lot quicker," Smith added.

Now nine months sober and training to become Xanax's handler, Smith likes the fact that the service is geared not toward catching people with drugs in order to report them to police, but to offer solid proof of use to those interested in helping them recover.

"It's not to get anyone in trouble," said Smith, who is now working on a counseling degree. "It's not like a bust, it's not to get you expelled from school. It's strictly for gaining more information for a family that is worried and doesn't know what's going on."

Narc with a Bark was started in June by Nancy Swanson, a North Hollywood therapist with Cast Recovery, which runs transition programs and sober living homes for recovering addicts.

Private residents and managers of rehabilitation facilities or transition homes are among the service's clients, and call Swanson, Xanax's owner, to do sweeps to check for drugs or paraphernalia.

Continue Reading: dailynews.com

U.S. BORDER PATROL SAY DRUG SMUGGLERS COULD BLEND IN WITH DUNE ENTHUSIASTS

Article from: kswt.com

Nov 29, 2011 | No Comments
by Stephanie Sanchez

Buttercup Dunes--For this Thanksgiving weekend, thousands of people head out to the Imperial sand dunes to have fun but behind the scenes law enforcement officials are making sure you'll have safe weekend.

Members of the Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue Unit join forces with other law enforcement agencies around this time of year to make sure you have a safe holiday.

But the main mission is to find those drug and human smugglers who might be blending right in with you.

"There is a bit more of increase of smuggling activity, here with all the extra people, smugglers or what not can blend in with all the holiday traffic," BORSTAR agent J. Hughes said.

Hughes said 30 to 40 U.S. Border patrol agents from the Yuma and El Centro sector are added to patrol the area.

Also, members of BORSTAR team are on standby for any emergencies.

Hughes said alcohol is usually a factor in accidents.

"This is an accident waiting to happen here. I don't know if this guy crashed. I'm expecting to be a bunch of wrecks in this area right here," Hughes said. "This used to be really open, you could get through here really easily with good visibility, wind, its usually changing in the sand dunes."

Continue Reading: kswt.com

MILEY CYRUS QUIPS ABOUT MARIJUANA: WHAT ARE POT'S HEALTH EFFECTS?

Article from: latimes.com

Nov 29, 2011 | No Comments
189690820-28114120.jpgBy Jeannine Stein

Miley Cyrus celebrated her 19th birthday recently with a cake--supposedly a Bob Marley cake. When she saw it, the singer/actress said, "You know you're a stoner when your friends make you a Bob Marley cake. You know you smoke way too much [expletive] weed."

And therein lies the latest video-spawned drug-related controversy about Cyrus, who last year appeared on grainy video smoking what she later said was salvia. She has since admitted the incident was a mistake, but the latest video has people wondering if the birthday quips suggest where there's smoke, there's marijuana.

If Cyrus is going down the pot path (and we have no indication she is, for the record), she may want to be aware of some recent studies on the health effects of marijuana.

Cyrus may be part of a trend, one reported on in 2010 by Monitoring the Future, an annual national survey looking at attitudes, behavior and values of teens. The group reported that marijuana use is up among adolescents after declining in the previous decade.

The fallout? Teens who are heavy marijuana users could experience withdrawal symptoms similar to those of some adult pot users. Research published in a 2005 issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence surveyed 72 serious marijuana users age 14 to 19 who were in outpatient treatment for substance abuse.

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EYEBALL SHOTS AND OTHER STUPID WAYS TEENS (PURPORTEDLY) USE ALCOHOL

Article from: bostonglobe.com

Nov 29, 2011 | No Comments
By Deborah Kotz

A rash of ridiculous-sounding news stories have been circulating around the internet describing teens putting alcohol in bizarre places in an effort to get a quicker high. Local TV news stations have reported that teenagers are inserting vodka-soaked tampons into their vaginas and rectums or doing eyeball shots.

"This is not isolated to any school, any city, any financial area," Phoenix police officer Chris Thomas told CBS-affiliate KPHO news earlier this month. "This is everywhere."

Is it really? "We don't know, but I'd say it probably isn't," said Aaron White, program director of underage and college drinking prevention research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "It's only on our radar screen because it's occurring in the media."

He means bloggers, like Danielle Crittenden from the Huffington Post, who recently decided to try the technique themselves to see if they'd get drunk. In a post last week, Crittenden described her experience with a vodka tampon as "Absolut...firewater! It felt like someone had thrown a lit match in there." She wrote that she eventually felt a little light-headed before removing the offending object after 10 minutes.

No question, alcohol can enter the body through vaginal and rectal tissues and hits the bloodstream faster than when it goes through the stomach, making you feel drunk more quickly. It can also increase the risk of alcohol poisoning, said White, since a certain portion of alcohol that's ingested is normally broken down in the digestive tract before it hits the bloodstream, which doesn't occur when alcohol enters the body via other routes.

Continue Reading: bostonglobe.com

DRUG COURT ALUMNI PAYING IT FORWARD

Article from: columbian.com

Nov 28, 2011 | No Comments
625554_HF_drug_court_alum5_t600.jpgFor a year and a half, when Christina Traxler wasn't in jail, she was sleeping on Discovery Trail.

Traxler's meth-addicted lifestyle finally caught up with her in February 2005, when she was arrested for residential burglary and entered the drug court program.

Initially a skeptic, Traxler said her path to becoming clean started about six months into the program, when she met a recovered addict at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.

The informal mentor helped her realize she wasn't alone. A new life was attainable.

"I didn't have any clue what I was doing," Traxler recalled. "I remember what it is to be completely lonely."

Now, the 42-year-old drug court graduate is paying it forward. She and 17 other graduates have started a mentoring program to help current Clark County drug court participants wade through the challenging process of becoming -- and staying -- clean.

There has long been an alumni group for drug court, which offers low-level offenders treatment instead of jail time for a minimum 12-month program. But last month, with the help of Clark County Superior Court therapeutic courts coordinator Brad Finegood, group members began meeting with "mentees" -- new participants in the program. They help the participants by accompanying them to NA or Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, answering questions about the program and simply being a stable support.

Continue Reading: columbian.com

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS SEARCH HOLIDAY MAIL FOR ILLEGAL DRUGS

Article from: valleycentral.com

Nov 28, 2011 | No Comments
Law enforcement officers are on alert as drug smugglers try to use the post office holiday rush to get their goods in the mail.

"The amount of volume that's going through the postal system right now would make it easier for certain packages to get through," one Cameron County investigator said.     

He and his partner do not want to be identified.

They are undercover at the Los Ebanos Post Office in Brownsville.

They're trying to detect drug traffickers.

"People want money... They need money to buy gifts," one investigator said.

More than 54,000 pounds of marijuana alone were seized by Cameron County sheriff deputies as part of a two-year federal grant that's set to expire in December.

The department will lose a dozen deputies who solely work drug trafficking cases which include narcotics through the mail.    

Manpower is the biggest set back for most agencies who work these types of cases.     

The investigators admit they're outnumbered.

But the game of cat and mouse can tip in their favor with extensive training.

Continue Reading: valleycentral.com 

EXHIBIT SHOWS IMPACT OF DRUGS ON SOCIETY, BODY

Article from: orlandosentinel.com

Nov 28, 2011 | No Comments
66342141.jpgThere's the gnarled scraps from the World Trade Center. The large picture of a baby burned in a meth lab. The replica of a cocaine-manufacturing hut in the Colombian jungle.

The displays are part of a one-of-a-kind exhibit recently installed at the Museum of Science & Industry in Tampa designed to teach the public about how illicit drugs are impacting Florida and the nation.

"Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause" has already been to museums in Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans.

Tampa will be the only stop in Florida for the 10,000-square-foot U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration exhibit, which features a special section on the state's prescription-drug epidemic.

"Everyone sees this as a learning opportunity for the state of Florida," said Anthony Pelaez, the director of education at the Museum of Science & Industry, the largest science center in the Southeast..

"The impact drugs has on our society...is so staggering," Pelaez said. "People need to know. They can't turn a blind eye to what's going on."

Continue Reading: orlandosentinel.com

ELDER SUBSTANCE ABUSE: BE CAREFUL!

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Nov 28, 2011 | No Comments
Gladys became a drug addict at the age of 82 when the pain of arthritis got to be too much for her and she became dependent on opiates to get through the day and to sleep at night.

Frank became a dangerous, problem drinker at 66 after he retired from his job as a maintenance man in a local school. Every day he drove to a bar where he hung out with a few buddies and drank a few too many beers before he drove home.

Samuel grew up during the era of drugs, sex and rock and roll. Throughout his adult life, he smoked marijuana after work without problems at work or at home. After he retired at 65 he smoked more often and getting high began to interfere with the life he had hoped for when he retired.

For most of her adult life, Joan had had two or three glasses of wine with dinner. In her mid-60s her physical tolerance for alcohol diminished. She drank no more than usual, but by the second glass she began to slur her words and to find it hard to think clearly. She frequently fell asleep right after dinner.

These are just a few of the faces of substance abuse or misuse among older adults. They are not the images that ordinarily come to mind when we think of substance abuse, and this is a major reason why these problems often go undetected in elders. Of course, there are older adults who are alcoholics and/or addicted to illegal drugs such as heroin, but fewer and fewer as people age, in part because so many people addicted to alcohol or drugs die prematurely and in part because some survivors turn their lives around.

For older adults, drinking too much and misusing medications are the major substance use problems, affecting as many as 20 percent of them (1). They are particularly vulnerable to the mental and physical effects of alcohol and drugs because of physiological and cognitive changes that take place with age. And, even if they are not addicted to alcohol or illegal substances, they are at risk for serious problems including:

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COLIN FARRELL HAPPY SMELLING FLOWERS

Article from: filmnews.com

Nov 25, 2011 | No Comments
COLIN.pngColin Farrell has joked he gets high by sniffing flowers nowadays.

The Irish actor used to be famed for his wild lifestyle, which included regularly being seen partying and filming a sex tape.

He eventually checked into rehab to be treated for prescription and recreational drug use. He is clean and sober now, having also chosen to give up alcohol. The star is proud of the way he's turned his life around.

"To be treated for that sh*t was one of the best decisions in my life. Before my rehab everything was so messed up," he told German magazine In, before being asked what he uses to get high now. "The scent of a flower! I used to hit the bottle whenever I felt overwhelmed, now I sniff on flowers."

Continue Reading: filmnews.com

RECOVERING ADDICT SPEAKS OUT ABOUT PILL MILLS (video)

Article from: 11alive.com

Nov 25, 2011 | No Comments
Picture try.pngTUCKER, Ga. -- It's the investigation that has everyone talking. We showed you the undercover video that prompted DEA agents to shut down a Tucker pain clinic.

Now meet some of the people behind the scenes as we confront the doctor, a man who performed MRI's, and the security guards who stood in front of the clinic.

Our undercover investigation revealed how our Center for Investigative Action producer was able to get prescriptions for powerful narcotic pain killers, even though he said he was in no pain and even though he didn't see the doctor.

"You're lying," said Dr. Michael Stanley Johnston when we confronted him after DEA agents shut down his pain management clinic.

Continue Reading: 11alive.com

FROM 'SEX IN THE CITY' MOTHERING TO ABSTINENCE - HOW ONE WOMAN INSPIRED OTHERS TO STOP (video)

Article from: thestar.com

Nov 23, 2011 | No Comments
Screen Shot 2011-11-23 at 9.11.21 AM.pngShe is arguably one of the best-known sober mothers in North America. Stefanie Wilder-Taylor, author of Naptime is the New Happy Hour and Sippy Cups are not for Chardonnay, made her name with a popular online column "Make Mine a Double: Tales of Twins and Tequila."

Then, without warning, she quit drinking. Only three months into sobriety, she was profiled in the New York Times Sunday Styles section with the following headline: "A Heroine of Cocktail Moms Sobers Up." Wilder-Taylor had announced her news on her popular mommy blog, Babyonbored with this simple statement: "I drink too much. It became a nightly compulsion and I'm outing myself to you. . . . I quit on Friday."

That was 2009. Two years later, the 45-year old California mother of three has launched "Don't Get Drunk Fridays," a subset of her blog, inviting others to join her online group "The Booze-Free Brigade." The homepage welcomes with this: "We are Moms and Dads who are creating better lives for ourselves by letting go of booze. Are you scared? Are you embarrassed? . . . Is there a nagging voice in your heart of hearts telling you something is wrong?"

To date, 1,100 people have joined the Booze-Free Brigade: one man and 1,099 women. Primarily, they are mothers sharing stories about drinking and sobriety. Here is "Elevenyearslater" writing to "the woman who is still drinking": I know the hell of the voices in your head. I know the blankness and the relief that come from taking the action to get a drink. ...When I look back on when I quit, I imagine the Furies readying their scissors to cut the single thread of sanity that held my life aloft over their boiling pot of oil. They were waiting for THAT drink, the one that made me snap, the one I wouldn't come back from."

Continue Reading: thestar.com

THE ANATOMY OF A DUI: WHAT IT CAN COST YOU (video)

Article from: volunteertv.com

Nov 23, 2011 | No Comments
One person's decision to drive drunk can affect more than 3,000 lives. So , what is the fallout and what does that DUI conviction really cost you?

By: Conroy Delouche

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - One person's decision to drive drunk can affect more than 3,000 lives.

So, what is the fallout and what does that DUI conviction really cost you?

Getting caught driving while drunk or high can cost you thousands in fines, fees and classes. But if someone is hurt or dies as a result, it can mean so much more than that.

Continue Reading: volunteertv.com

MEXICO ARMY SEIZES 15 MILLION FROM TOP DRUG LORD

Article from: msnbc.com

Nov 23, 2011 | No Comments
Screen Shot 2011-11-23 at 9.11.51 AM.pngMEXICO CITY -- Mexico's army seized nearly $15.4 million from the organization of the country's most powerful drug lord, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, officials said Tuesday, marking a rare financial blow to cartels.

The seizure was revealed the same day U.S. border police revealed the third discovery in a week of drug-smuggling tunnel under the border with Mexico.

In Mexico, the military said it found the cash was found in a vehicle on Nov. 18 in the northern border city of Tijuana and that it was linked to Guzman's operations.

The haul marked the second-largest cash seizure by the military since President Felipe Calderon sent the country's armed forces out to battle drug cartels in 2006, the statement said. Some $26 million was captured in September 2008 in Culiacan, the capital of Guzman's home state of Sinaloa.

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OFFSTAGE: SHOULD TAYLOR SWIFT BE DRUG-FREE SPOKESWOMAN?

Article from: cmt.com

Nov 22, 2011 | No Comments
taylorswift62-280x210.jpgI think Taylor Swift may be on to something. Of all the drug-free and above-the-influence campaigns out there, I don't think anything is quite as compelling as Swift's reasoning for avoiding the party-girl ways. She says she doesn't get drunk because it's not cute. And she doesn't smoke pot (or anything else) because she sings. That's just one part of her interview on Sunday (Nov. 20) night's 60 Minutes on CBS. She admits she has had drinks before, but that she is not "a drinker." They will talk more about that, I'm sure, and about Swift's status as a role model. "It would be really easy to say, 'I'm 21 now. I do what I want. You raise your kids.' But that's not the truth of it. The truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation. So make your words count," she says. "I definitely think about a million people when I'm getting dressed in the morning. And that's just part of my life now. I think it's my responsibility to know it and to be conscious of it."

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ROB LOWE TALKS SOBRIETY AT DRUG AND ALCOHOL TREATMENT CENTER FUNDRAISER

Article from: ecorazzi.com

Nov 22, 2011 | No Comments
rob.jpgActor Rob Lowe spoke from the heart at the Artists on Recovery Fundraiser, a charity event to benefit Austin Recovery, an affordable drug and alcohol treatment center.

The 'Parks and Recreation' star knows firsthand the value of sobriety. As the keynote speaker for the event, he talked about how sobriety has impacted his life for the better.

The $800,000 that was raised at the luncheon will go towards the construction of Austin Recovery's newest project: Family House. The new building will allow mothers to keep their families together, by bringing their children with them into residential treatment.

Family House will be the first facility of its kind. Many addict mothers lose their children, but with this new 21,000 square foot facility, they have the chance to work through their addiction and heal alongside their children in an atmosphere of sobriety. Family House will boast a play area, family style dining hall and group counseling. Mothers aren't the only ones who will receive treatment. They will also offer special therapy for the children.


Continue Reading: ecorazzi.com

AUSTRALIAN GETS $129K AFTER SHAMPOO FOUND DRUG-FREE

Article from: straitstimes.com

Nov 22, 2011 | No Comments
DARWIN, Australia (AP) - Australian authorities have compensated a Darwin man A$100,000 (S$129,685) after they wrongly accused him of trying to smuggle drugs into the country in bottles of shampoo.

Neil Parry spent three days in jail last year after he was arrested at Darwin Airport and accused of trafficking liquid ecstasy. His boat and two of his friends houses were also searched.

But it turned out that his two bottles of Pantene Pro-V shampoo and conditioner were exactly what the label said.

Continue Reading: straitstimes.com

WRESTLING STAR MATT HARDY KICKED OUT PF REHAD ARRESTED AFTER FAILED BOOZE TEST

Article from: tmz.com

Nov 21, 2011 | No Comments
111-matt-hardy-mug-ex.jpgFormer wrestling champ Matt Hardy was kicked out of court-ordered rehab today for failing a breathalyzer test ... this according to multiple sources.

Earlier this year, Hardy was ordered to go to rehab by the court after a string of run-ins with the law.

We're told the staff at the rehab got suspicious of Hardy's behavior on Friday and gave him a breathalyzer test on the spot ... which he failed. According to our sources, Hardy was adamant he wasn't drinking ... and said he only failed because he had "just used mouthwash."

Continue Reading: tmz.com

COPS JUST CAN'T KEEP UP WITH LATEST DESIGNER-DRUG THREATS

Article from: startribune.com

Nov 21, 2011 | No Comments
by: JAMES WALSH

DULLES, VA. - Day after day, inside a tightly guarded federal lab, chemist Arthur Berrier probes packages of dangerous new synthetic drugs in search of secrets he can share with criminal investigators before the substances kill or seriously harm someone else.

It's a constant game of catch-up. As soon as he tips off law enforcement officials to the kinds of chemical compounds turning up in the drugs, another form of them emerges.

Manufacturers of the drugs can choose from an almost endless menu of chemicals that they can concoct, putting the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration at a disadvantage as it tries to help states crack down.

"They're keeping ahead of us," Berrier said.

From the DEA research lab here on the suburban fringe of the nation's capital, to small-town sheriff's offices across the country, taming the rising menace of synthetic drugs remains a losing battle.

Hardly anyone saw the scourge coming. The wild names and strange mixes of substances contained in the drugs are constantly changing, quickly rendering state or federal bans against them weak or moot. Enforcing new laws against synthetic drugs -- sometimes sold as harmless "bath salts" over the Internet by shadowy foreign companies or at local stores -- is also difficult. And police departments in places swamped by the drugs say they lack either the resources or the expertise to respond to the problem.

"For us, this is just getting bigger and bigger," said Thomas Duncan, Berrier's boss at the Virginia research lab. "We had no idea."

'What do we do?'

Berrier's testing and research is vital to the emerging law enforcement struggle against synthetic drugs, which in the past year have caused deaths and debilitating injuries across the country, including Minnesota.

It also illustrates just how difficult winning the battle may be.

Berrier is one of 46 chemists working in this nondescript facility in a Virginia suburb. It's one of nine DEA labs around the country, but this is the one where chemists spend all of their time using science to help the government take down drug kingpins and warlords.

Continue Reading: startribune.com

SPECIAL GRAND JURY TO PROBE DOCTOR SHOPPING

Article from: newsday.com

Nov 21, 2011 | No Comments
image.jpgBy SANDRA PEDDIE AND ROBERT LEWIS

A special grand jury will be empaneled in Suffolk County to investigate doctor shopping and the possible criminal conduct of physicians in the prescribing of painkiller pills.

Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said the grand jury will also examine the effectiveness of a state database that tracks painkiller abuse.

Newsday reported Friday that David Laffer and his wife, Melinda Brady, filled prescriptions for almost 12,000 pain pills from dozens of doctors in the four years before Laffer walked into Haven Drugs in Medford on Father's Day and murdered four people. During an 11-day period before the June 19 killings, Laffer filled six prescriptions for more than 400 pills from five doctors.

revealed that members of his staff interviewed Laffer and Brady after their sentencing earlier this month.

He said the couple "said some doctors were complicit" in providing them painkillers. He declined to provide further details as to what Laffer and his wife told investigators.

"How can two people go to so many doctors seeking powerful, addictive narcotics and no one notice?" Spota said in the interview in his Hauppauge office. "Or if they did notice, fail to take action or even care to take action?"

Prescription painkiller abuse has exploded across the region, with oxycodone contributing to more overdose deaths on Long Island last year than heroin.

Continue Reading: newsday.com

SONG CONTEST AIMS TO SPUR FRANK TALK ABOUT TEEN DRUG ABUSE

Article from: npr.org

Nov 21, 2011 | No Comments
By Jordan Calmes

Research that found a third of popular songs contain drug references, led to headlines like, "Study: Music Has Drug References, Pope Is Catholic" a few years back.

Drugs and music. The two just seem to go together. Often, though, in a more tragic way than artists would like to let on. Compare Amy Winehouse's defiant lyrics to her reality: the singer who said "no, no, no" to rehab lost her very public struggle with alcohol last summer.

There are countless other examples. But some artists and organizations aren't content with the status quo.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has teamed up with MusiCares and the Grammy Foundation to sponsor a music contest to raise teen awareness of substance abuse.
 
Young songwriters submit original compositions that either celebrate a healthful lifestyle or accurately depict drug abuse.

The result is a series of honest, heartbreaking and hopeful songs from young people whose lives had been altered by substance abuse and addiction.

Unlike motivational speakers and celebrities, who have usually already slain their demons and are talking about their drug use in retrospect, these young people are sharing their stories from the thick of things.

When the winners were named recently, the top songwriting team was identified only as Harvie and Amanda. Both are currently in treatment, and their full names won't be released until they finish their program.

Continue Reading: npr.org

REGION'S BEST CHEFS HELP ROSECRANCE RAISE $75,000

Article from: suntimes.com

Nov 18, 2011 | No Comments
dt.common.streams.StreamServer.jpgChefs from 12 great Chicago-area restaurants and an independent grocer volunteered their talents for a chef's tasting Oct. 2 at Naperville Country Club to help area teens in need of addiction treatment.

Cooking Up Hope, a benefit sponsored by The Rosecrance Foundation Chicago Board, drew more than 200 people and raised more than $75,000. All proceeds go to Rosecrance's charity care fund, which assists families in need of financial assistance for treatment. Funds raised at the event are earmarked to help adolescents from Chicago and the suburbs.

This was the second year for Cooking Up Hope, which last year raised more than $40,000 for the cause. The Rosecrance Foundation every year provides an estimated $350,000 in charity care to families who do not have insurance or personal resources to pay for treatment.

Restaurants and businesses participating in Cooking Up Hope, a fundraiser for The Rosecrance Foundation, were: Casey's Foods; Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House; Hyatt Lodge at McDonald's Campus; Hyatt Regency Chicago; Ivy; Kuma's Asian Bistro; Labriola Bakery Café; Naperville Country Club; SugarToad; Tasso's Greek Cuisine; Vie; Yerbabuena Mexican Cuisine; and Zak's Place.

Continue Reading: suntimes.com

MADD RELEASES NATIONAL AND STATE-BY-STATE RATINGS AS PART OF ITS CAMPAIGN TO...

Article from: sacbee.com

Nov 18, 2011 | No Comments
By: Mothers Against Drunk Driving

New Data Cites $132 Billion Annual Cost of Drunk Driving in America

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In connection with the fifth anniversary of its Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving®, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is unveiling a Report to the Nation, which rates each state on its progress toward eliminating drunk driving. Based on an average of these state ratings, the nation received a three-star rating on a five-star scale. Also included in the report are updated figures showing that drunk driving costs the United States more than $132 billion annually, according to data compiled by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE).

"While we've made substantial progress with the Campaign over the past five years, the ratings earned by each state show that there is still much work to be done," said MADD National President Jan Withers. "During this time of year, when drunk driving crashes are most prevalent, we are reminded that the goal of the Campaign is to have no more drunk driving victims. MADD calls on the nation to rededicate itself to efforts to save lives, prevent injuries and eliminate this primary threat on our nation's roadways."

The states earning a five-star rating include Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and Utah, while Montana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Dakota each earned one star. These ratings are an indication of states passing effective laws and employing effective drunk driving countermeasures, and are independent of a state's fatality numbers.

Each state's rating was determined by adoption of the following proven drunk driving countermeasures:


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JONATHAN RHYS-MEYERS FINED FOR THREATENING TO KILL FRENCH POLICEMEN

Article from: usmagazine.com

Nov 18, 2011 | No Comments
Screen Shot 2011-11-18 at 9.30.34 AM.pngBy: Allison Corneau

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers' aggressive antics have finally caught up with him.

A French court ordered The Tudors star, 34, to pay a 1,000 euro (about $1300) fine and gave him a one-month suspended sentence Wednesday, two years after he was charged with drunk and disorderly conduct and threatened to kill three police officers.

In June 2009, Match Point's Meyers was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after he struck a bartender and threatened to pay to get someone to kill three police officers and their families.

Once he sobered up, the actor apologized to officers and cited alcoholism as a reason for his outburst. The Parisian court said that Meyers had compensated his victims.

At Wednesday's sentencing -- for which Meyers was not present -- the actor's lawyer painted him as a "weak person" who "suffers...from his demons." Asking the court to dismiss the charges, lawyer Vincent Toledano said Meyers was "a fragile man."

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THANKSGIVING EVE BIGGEST NIGHT FOR UNDERAGE DRINKING

Article from: patch.com

Nov 18, 2011 | No Comments
Parents "need to be parents" and should talk with their kids. In Connecticut it is ILLEGAL to host a party where alcohol is consumed by minors.

By: Pem McNerney

Much of the focus around underage drinking is around graduation or prom night, but Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) say in their latest newsletter that the night before Thanksgiving is the biggest night for underage drinking.

"Thanksgiving-Eve Night-the night before Thanksgiving-is the biggest night for underage drinking, even more than graduation or prom night," states the November MADD newsletter. "The fridge and the liquor cabinets are stocked, parents are distracted by relatives and dinner preparations, and older siblings or college-age friends are around."

MADD has a recommendation: "Refresh yourself on Connecticut's laws in regards to underage drinking and house parties. An underage drinking "house party" is a gathering of two or more people in a home or on private property where youth under 21 years of age possess and consume alcohol."

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STEEL MAGNOLIA'S JOSHUA SCOTT JONES 'DOING WONDERFUL' AFTER REHAB

Article from: tasteofcountry.com

Nov 17, 2011 | No Comments
Steel-Magnolia.jpgby: Billy Dukes

Steel Magnolia fans got a nice surprise if they were paying close attention to the ABC's crowd shots during last week's CMA Awards in Nashville. Meghan Linsey was in the crowd, seated next to her duo partner/fiance Joshua Scott Jones. Jones had previously been in rehab dealing with undisclosed addictions.

Country Weekly caught up with Linsey, who is touring alongside James Otto until Jones is ready to return to the microphone. She says Jones has completed his program. "I think it's a real brave thing," she says. "He's done really well and stuck it out and did the whole thing. He's got some other commitments to fulfill as part of that, but I'm proud of him. I've just tried to support him, and the fans and the label have been super supportive."

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VANDERBILT STUDY FINDS ALCOHOLICS' 'INJURED BRAINS' WORK HARDER TO COMPLETE SIMPLE TASKS

Article from: newswise.com

Nov 17, 2011 | No Comments
Newswise -- Alcoholic brains can perform a simple finger-tapping exercise as well as their sober counterparts but their brain must work a lot harder to do it, according to a Vanderbilt study released today by the journal, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Chronic drinking is associated with abnormalities in the structure, metabolism and function of the brain. One of the consequences of these deficits is impairment of motor functioning.

The new study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a finger-tapping exercise, found that the frontal lobe and cerebellum activities were less integrated in alcoholic individuals.

"The relationship was weaker in alcoholic people, even a week after they had stopped drinking," said lead author Baxter Rogers, Ph.D., research assistant professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences.

Rogers and colleagues used fMRI to examine 10 uncomplicated chronic alcoholic patients after five to seven days of abstinence and once signs of withdrawal were no longer present, as well as 10 matched healthy controls.

Finger tapping recruits portions of both the cerebellum and frontal cortex, Rogers said, and previous research strongly suggested that both are affected in alcoholism, especially the cerebellum.

"We used fMRI because it measures the function of the entire brain painlessly and non-invasively," Rogers said. "And it can identify specific brain regions that are involved in tasks, and that are affected in disease."

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70-FOOT DRUG SMUGGLING TUNNEL FOUND AT BORDER

Article from: myfoxphoenix.com

Nov 17, 2011 | No Comments
NOGALES, Ariz. - ICE investigators have located and shut down a drug smuggling tunnel on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The U.S. entrance to the tunnel was in Nogales, concealed beneath the front porch of a home about one-half mile west of the DeConcini Port of Entry.

The tunnel ran south into Mexico and was about 70 feet long. It was 3 feet wide and 2 feet tall, and extended about 25 feet on Mexico's side.

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IPROMISES RECOVERY COMPANION, A FREE SOBRIETY IPHONE APP, REACHES 20,000 DOWNLOADS

Article from: sfgate.com

Nov 17, 2011 | No Comments
Promises Treatment Centers' iPromises Recovery Companion had its 20,000th download this month. The free iPhone application has been well-received, with four-star reviews and a feature in Inc. Magazine's "App Time."

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 16, 2011

This week Promises Treatment Centers and Elements Behavioral Health announced that the iPromises Recovery Companion, a free sobriety application that provides tools and support for those in addiction recovery, reached 20,000 downloads.

The iPromises app features daily reflections, a calendar to help users keep track of their 12-Step meetings, and a tool that lets users monitor their moods and relapse triggers. Just nine months after its release, the app reached 10,000 downloads in March 2011. It was also featured in the December 2010/January 2011 edition of Inc. Magazine's "App Time."

"We are thrilled that this free app has been so helpful to the recovery community," said David Sack, CEO of Promises Treatment Centers and its parent company, Elements Behavioral Health. "Helping people avoid relapse has always been a top priority for Promises. Particularly around the holidays, when stress runs high, we hope the recovery community finds the iPromises app to be an effective relapse prevention tool."

Since its launch in June 2010, the iPromises app has garnered over 180 reviews on iTunes, maintaining a four-star average. One user wrote, "Great app - have recommended to all my clients - great sections, contacts, etc. Highly recommend to anyone in recovery or those who simply like to stay on top of their moods and want a place to record their thoughts."

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JAY-Z REVEALS FATHER'S ALCOHOL STRUGGLES, "HE WAS GONE"

Article from: gq.com

Nov 16, 2011 | No Comments
Jay-Z-2010-05-09-300x300.jpgby Alex Pappademas

They're waiting for him at the gallery. They're lined up in the foyer, as if for inspection. Ealan Wingate, who runs the place, nutty-professorial in a bow tie and blazer, stands with some gallery staffers, young women in heels and complicated blouses, their demeanor poised and professional, their eyes flashing OMG, OMG as the gallery doors open to let in the hard fall wind off the Hudson and also Shawn Corey Carter, better known from the Marcy Houses to Marrakech as Jay-Z. He's wearing Timberlands, just-this-side-of-baggy jeans, a plain dark blue hoodie, and a look of regal amusement. Like, For me? He shakes everybody's hand, introduces himself as "Jay."

Jay is among the first rappers to name-drop his contemporary-art holdings in the same you-ain't-up-on-this tone that other MCs employ when discussing their watches. He shouts out art-world superdealer Larry Gagosian in his verse on "That's My Bitch," from Watch the Throne, the collaborative album he and Kanye West released a few months ago. So we're at one of Larry's places, the warehouse-sized Gagosian Gallery on West 24th Street.

Wingate leads us into the main room, which currently houses Junction/Cycle, two mammoth sculptures by he-man minimalist Richard Serra (who happens to live around the corner from Jay in Tribeca). Curving walls of rust-brown steel cut the gallery into canyons. Wingate says we're supposed to walk through them and think about memory, so we do; it's kind of like an existential corn maze. Jay is clearly impressed by the sheer scale Serra's working on, but he doesn't linger. It's not until Wingate takes us into a side room and shows us a big Cy Twombly triptych that I see him actually stopped short by what he's looking at.

The Twombly is all scrawl and half-erasure, violent like a bus window keyed by an army of scratch-taggers, if scratch-taggers bombed public transit with the names of Greek heroes like AGAMEMNON and AJAX and ODYSSEUS and JASON. Also--and once Wingate points this out to us, it's hard to see anything else--there are a lot of exuberantly crude drawings of vaginas and balloon-animalish dicks.


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RONNIE WOOD IS FINISHED WITH DRINK

Article from: winnipegfreepress.com

Nov 16, 2011 | No Comments
bang_1321304002-12-650x1000.jpgRonnie Wood is "determined" to never drink or take drugs again.

The Rolling Stones guitarist went to rehab several times in a period between 2008 and 2009 to be treated for alcoholism, and although he has struggled to stay sober before he insists he is now totally devoted to a teetotal lifestyle now.

The 64-year-old rocker said: "I became an annoying kind of drunk. I annoyed myself and it wasn't working any more. I thought, 'This is not me, this is horrible.'

"I would have long times - months - of sobriety and then say, 'I've got it, I can have a drink now. I can have a drug now', and it would all explode and go terribly wrong. I'm still learning from my mistakes and I'm determined I'll never do anything stupid like that again.

"I still feel 29. Maybe I should act my age more, but I just can't."

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HIGH IQ IN CHILDHOOD MAY PREDICT LATER DRUG USE

Article from: webmd.com

Nov 16, 2011 | No Comments
By Denise Mann

Nov. 14, 2011 -- Brainy kids -- especially girls -- may be more likely to experiment with marijuana, cocaine, and other illicit drugs when they grow up, according to a new report.

In the study of close to 8,000 people, those who had high IQs when they were aged 5 and 10 were more likely to use certain illicit drugs at age 16 and at age 30.

The findings appear online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Exactly why having a high IQ at age 5 or 10 may encourage future drug use is not fully understood. But researchers have a theory. "People with a high IQ have also been found to be more open to new experiences," says study researcher James White, PhD, in an email.

White is a research associate at the Center for Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement at Cardiff University, Wales.

The research has been mixed on how a high childhood IQ affects behavior in adulthood, White says.

"Previous studies have found high childhood IQ is associated with mostly healthy behaviors in adult life, such as having a healthy diet, being physically active, and not smoking," he says. "However, other studies have found high childhood IQ is linked to excess alcohol intake and alcohol dependency in adult life."

Kids With High IQs

In the study, women with high IQ scores at age 5 were more than twice as likely to have used marijuana and cocaine by age 30 than those with lower IQs at age 5.

Men with high IQ scores at age 5 were about 50% more likely to have used speed (amphetamines), 65% more likely to have used ecstasy, and 57% more likely to have used multiple illicit drugs by age 30, compared with those who did not perform as well on IQ tests at age 5.

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YOGA PROGRAM IN MEXICAN PRISON HELPS BREAK CYCLE OF ADDICTION, VIOLENCE

Article from: foxnews.com

Nov 15, 2011 | No Comments
Yoga in Prisons_2.jpgMexico City, Mexico -  David Arellano Lara was sentenced to 11 years for car theft and kidnapping. In his Mexican prison, he dealt drugs and smoked pot and crack.

But an innovative yoga program in prison designed to treat addicts proved to be his way out of addiction, out of jail and into a new life.

He remembers being locked in a cell too small for the 20 men inside--some of the prison's worst offenders--and teaching yoga to them all from the confines of his bunk.

He remembers sharing what he knew from the yoga classes he had taken in jail before he was transferred to that crowded wing as a punishment for beating up more than a dozen guards in a crack-fueled rampage. He taught the other men simple asanas, meditation and pranayama breathing techniques to keep everyone calm.

"It was bit by bit," he says about learning yoga and quitting drugs. "It's a process in which you start to gain consciousness of yourself."

In 2003, Ann Moxey, a yoga instructor and psychologist specializing in addictions, founded the yoga program in the Atlacholoaya federal prison in Cuernavaca, Morelos, south of Mexico City, where Arellano served seven years before getting out early on good behavior. The program is called Parinaama Yoga.

The yoga programs have since spread. Today, yoga is taught in three juvenile jails and one adult prison in Mexico City and in adult detention facilities in the cities of San Miguel de Allende, Guadalajara and Puebla.


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NATURE'S LOVE DRUG OFFERS HOPE TO ADDICTS

Article from: smh.com

Nov 15, 2011 | No Comments
By, Belinda Tasker

Nature's love drug, oxytocin, could hold the key to helping alcoholics overcome their addiction.

Australian scientists have launched clinical trials involving alcoholics using oxytocin nasal sprays, to see if extra doses of the hormone can make drugs less appealing.

However, when given oxytocin injections, their interest in alcohol and drugs plummeted.

Oxytocin has anti-stress effects when released in men and women, who experience a surge after giving birth as part of nature's way of helping them bond with their babies.

University of Sydney researcher Professor Iain McGregor said if scientists could harness oxytocin's feel-good effects into a medical treatment it could reverse the impact of drug and alcohol use or even make people less vulnerable to addiction.

"With excessive alcohol consumption or methamphetamines or cocaine use, people get depleted levels of oxytocin in the brain," he said.

"So what we might be doing by treating people with oxytocin is restoring the brain system that's been changed from alcohol and drug abuse.

"If you can naturally boost their oxytocin levels you can make people less vulnerable to addiction."

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SYNTHETIC DRUGS STILL RAMPANT DESPITE BANS

Article from: dcourier.com

Nov 15, 2011 | No Comments
100051a.jpgHolding up a jar, Prescott Valley Police Officer James Tobin told the audience at a MATForce anti-substance abuse presentation, "I took this spice off a kid about six months ago. The price tag on it says $30, and the kid said you can buy it in Prescott Valley at a smoke shop."

Spice, a mix of herbs and chemicals that produces a marijuana-like high, was made illegal in February after people smoking it experienced dangerous side effects such as trouble breathing, paranoia, agitation, seizures, and loss of consciousness. But newer versions of the drug are still available and causing problems, said Ivan Anderson with the Verde Valley Fire District.

A young man who said he was in rehab stood up at the Prescott presentation and explained, "After they made it illegal, it was only about a week or so before they changed the chemical compound and they were reselling the stuff. You can go to head shops here today and buy it right now."

When Tobin asked the young man what the effects of using the new spice were, he replied, "(It's like the symptoms) people described (after using) bath salts. When I was on it, I had heart-racing, crazy dreams, and stuff like that."

The bath salts he referred to aren't for soaking in the tub; they're a drug labeled as not for human consumption that contains a stimulant with hallucinogenic properties, said Keith Boesen, managing director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center in Tucson.

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VADKA TAMPONS? REPORTED ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG TEENS ALSO INCLUDED 'BUTT CHUGGING'

Article from: huffingtonpost.ca

Nov 15, 2011 | No Comments
It would appear that nobody wants to use their mouth anymore to get drunk.

Much to their parents' dismay, teens have long been known to secretly consume alcohol, and the latest method reportedly has them doing so with tampons and bongs.

"[It's a] quicker high, they think it's going to last longer, it's more intense," Dr. Dan Quan from Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix told KPHO News.

Vodka tampons are exactly what they sound like. Teens supposedly soak a tampon in alcohol and consume it by either taking as shots or inserting the tampons in their rectums or vaginas, KPHO reported. This way, alcohol is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the membrane walls. In fact, Dr. Lisa Masterson, co-host of "The Doctors," says this method will "literally destroy the vagina."

Accounts of soaking tampons in alcohol have circulated for years and some believe the practice may be nothing more than an urban myth. According to the International Business Times:

UPDATE: Other sites have called KPHO's story into question, saying the practice remains unverified despite multiple reports of incidents in the U.S. and elsewhere. One blogger conducted her own informal trial to see whether the purported method worked, with unfavourable results.

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TSA WARNS TRAVELERS OVER CHRISTMAS GIFTS

Article from: huffingtonpost.com

Nov 14, 2011 | No Comments
s-TSA-large.jpgIn the wake of last week's pot-filled Christmas gift finding, when a TSA agent found dozens of pounds of marijuana wrapped as a Christmas present on passenger Derik Dwayne Neely, the TSA has issued a warning to travelers not to try that again.

The TSA is telling passengers that anything that looks like a Christmas gift might just be searched, including but not limited to bows and arrows and pool cues, CBS Los Angeles reports.

As always, items that have previously been prohibited from airplanes--like pocket knives--will still not be allowed to get on board, even if they are wrapped in cute holiday-themed paper.

Every day the TSA seems more and more like Scrooge. Last year, Taiwanese animation firm NMA.tv put together a little carol to get travelers in the spirit of the holidays.

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MY TEENAGER IS A DRUG ADDICT - A FATHER'S STORY

Article from: clinton.patch.com

Nov 14, 2011 | No Comments
There was an article published recently that really hit home in so many ways that I felt compelled to write this letter. It was about a funny, warm, loving young man from Madison who fought and ultimately lost his battle with drugs.

Our son is fighting the exact same battle the only difference is we still have hope that he may not lose his battle. Let me be clear nobody ever wins a battle with drugs. For those that are lucky enough to stay alive and find sobriety the fight is part of their daily life.

Our son was, or should I say is, a caring, loving, funny, smart and athletic young man. The impact he has on people of all ages and his ability to light up a room with his personality are traits that always set him apart. Of course that was before drugs took hold of him and robbed him off all his gifts.

Like many high school kids our son started drinking and smoking a little pot. I would be lying if I said I did not expect it at some point during high school. In all honesty, I was one of those parents who probably would have lived with a little drinking and pot smoking in high school with the knowledge that he would grow out of it. In my mind it was sort of a rite of passage. After all I did both and probably some worse things. Do not get me wrong -  I would never condone it and there would always be consequences but I am a realist.

In hindsight I could not have been more misguided. The first couple times we caught him we lectured and punished him but did not really think much of it. As it became more apparent that we had a more serious problem, I began to research, read and focus on the problem.

We started to discover our son was not only smoking pot but was using household items to get high such as cough syrup, cold tablets and even nutmeg. Yes nutmeg the spice is used as a hallucinogen. Five teaspoons provides a solid trip but a major headache the next day. This can start in middle school for many kids.

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PLAYERS SAY IT'S HARD TO BEAT NFL'S DRUG-TESTING SYSTEM

Article from: bostonherald.com

Nov 14, 2011 | No Comments
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Howard Green was on the couch one summer day when he got a call that can occur at any time for any NFL player no matter where he is or what he's doing.

Drug test. As in, surprise!

The Green Bay Packers defensive linemen answered his phone to discover that there was a guy parked in front of his house ready to collect his urine sample.

"Only . . . I didn't have to go," said Green. "So he was just sitting at my house, watching TV with me, just chillin' while I'm drinking water.

"I'm like, man, this is the weirdest thing and he's like, I've got to wait here until you can go."

Drug testing in the NFL has become a little strange, slightly annoying and absolutely essential to maintaining the integrity of the most popular game in America.

And there's a push to make the biggest drug testing program in any sport -- with 14,000 tests a year at a cost of $10 million to the NFL -- even tougher. That push is coming from the league itself.

As of today, the NFL tests 350 players every week during the season, starting with the first preseason game all the way through to the Super Bowl. Ten randomly chosen players from all 32 NFL teams find a notice in their locker every week that it's their turn.

The current test determines whether the player has illegal drugs in his system, and if he does, he faces a series of consequences resulting in varying degrees of suspensions.

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ALARM AT GROWING ADDICTION PROBLEMS AMONG PROFESSIONALS

Article from: guardian.co.uk

Nov 13, 2011 | No Comments
man-wearing-medical-scrub-007.jpgUrgent action needed to tackle problems suffered by doctors, lawyers and people in other high-profile jobs, say healthcare experts

By: Tracy McVeigh

Experts are calling for urgent action to tackle the "significant challenge" of rising levels of alcoholism and substance abuse among professionals including doctors, dentists and lawyers.

At the first international conference of its kind, in Ireland this weekend, there were calls for the UK government to help the silent mass of professionals who were "functioning alcoholics".

Rory O'Connor, the UK co-ordinator of health support programmes for dentists and veterinary surgeons, told the Observer that Britain was turning a blind eye to a huge problem. He said: "There are serious issues regarding health professionals accessing appropriate help for mental health issues and there are serious issues in the treatment that is out there for them."

Research suggests 15-24% of lawyers will suffer from alcoholism during their careers, while the British Medical Association estimates that one in 15 healthcare professionals will develop an addiction problem. Doctors are three times more likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver than the general population.

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DRUG SMUGGLERS USE KIDS AS DECOYS TO DEFLECT SUSPICION (video)

Article from: kens5.com

Nov 12, 2011 | No Comments
truck.pngBy: Angela Kocherga

TOMBSTONE, Ariz. -- Smugglers are using children as part of a ploy to sneak drugs past Border Patrol checkpoints.

Agents are finding more kids in vehicles loaded with drugs, and the drivers are usually the children's own mothers.

U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints are set up on highways that serve as drug trafficking routes. The goal for smugglers: To slip past agents by blending in with normal travelers.

One checkpoint near the town of Tombstone is about an hour from the Arizona border.

"We had an incident at this very checkpoint where we had a woman bringing her eight-year-old child with her in the vehicle," said Border Patrol spokeswoman Colleen Agle. "We discovered that she was carrying 104 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of her car."

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NEW JERSEY BUS DRIVER BUSTED FOR DRUNK DRIVING WITH CHILDREN ON BOARD

Article from: nydailynews.com

Nov 12, 2011 | No Comments
Middle schoolers prevented disaster by calling home to say plastered driver was swerving, sleepy

By: Philip Caulfield

A group of quick-thinking middle schoolers in New Jersey saved themselves from a brush with death when they whipped out cell phones and reported their boozed-up bus driver was asleep at the wheel, police said.

Panicked parents alerted Westampton Middle School officials on Wednesday afternoon hearing their children's school bus driver was swerving and dozing off behind the wheel, The Courier-Post reported.

The school alerted police, who eventually found driver Carole Crockett, 46, at another South Jersey middle school trying to pick up more kids. Some 25 kids were on board the bus, the newspaper said.

A breath test showed Crockett's blood alcohol level was .25, more than three times the legal limit of .08.

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PROFESSIONAL SURFERS HAVE TO ACCEPT THE TIDE HAS TURNED TO DRUG TESTING

Article from: theaustralian.com

Nov 11, 2011 | No Comments
Screen Shot 2011-11-11 at 11.04.49 AM.pngBy: Fred Pawle

THE Association of Surfing Professionals will introduce drug testing at contests from next year, according to board member Randy Rarick.

"It's been a long time coming," he told The Australian yesterday.

It sure has. Surfers have been embracing drug culture ever since some of the sport's biggest stars started smoking pot and reinterpreting their hobby as a freaky, creative pursuit in the 1960s.

The association soon graduated to LSD, heroin and cocaine, and the casualties mounted. Australians Kevin Brennan, Joe Engel and Michael Peterson and Americans Jeff Hakman and Dave Eggers are just some of the surfers whose lives or careers were cut short by substance abuse.

And they're just the prominent ones. The industry's history is littered with hangers-on and bit players who burned brightly and spun out.

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'BLACK SWAN' DIRECTOR DARREN ARONOFSKY CREATES ANTI-METH ADS (video)

Article from: abcnews.com

Nov 11, 2011 | No Comments
Screen Shot 2011-11-11 at 10.52.34 AM.pngBy Katie Moisse

Darren Aronofsky, the Oscar-nominated director behind "Black Swan" and "Requiem for a Dream," has taken his famously dark style to the small screen in four 30-second ads guaranteed to make teens think twice about using methamphetamine.

The ads, released Tuesday as part of the Meth Project's latest multimedia awareness campaign, depict the scary scenes of meth addiction; from desperation to loss of control to attempted suicide.

"We wanted to show the stark reality of methamphetamine use," said Nitsa Zuppas, executive director of the Siebel Foundation, which funds the Meth Project. "We know that if teens understand the risks, usage will decline."

This is the second time Aronofsky has lent his vision and star power to the campaign. In 2008, he directed a series of ads showing how meth affects users and their loved ones.

"Every year we have this huge list of people who want to do this work," said Zuppas. "They all care so deeply and passionately about the work, and you can see it in the result."

Continue Reading: abcnews.com

DRUGS SLIPPED INTO DRINKS SEND MANY TO ER

Article from: usnews.com

Nov 11, 2011 | No Comments
Majority of victims are women, but one in every four is a man, researchers note

By: Alan Mozes

In 2009, nearly 15,000 American women and men ended up in an emergency room after being unwittingly, but intentionally, drugged by someone else, a new federal report reveals.

According to the data, about 60 percent of these cases occurred after someone surreptitiously slipped a drug into the victim's drink.

Details outlined in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) report -- touted as the first of its kind -- suggest that the problem extends to a broad section of society.

For example, nearly three-quarters of intentional poisonings involved individuals over the age of 21. And though the majority of cases involved females, nearly one in every four victims was male.

"This is not an epidemic, but it is a serious situation," said Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA's Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. "That means there are a lot of people who end up in the emergency room because a drug was given to them -- stimulants, cocaine, Ecstasy, anxiety drugs -- without their knowledge.

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ROB LOWE RECALLS HIS ADDICTION AND AFTERMATH

Article from: austin360.com

Nov 11, 2011 | No Comments
Screen Shot 2011-11-11 at 10.43.24 AM.pngActor has been in recovery for 21 years; he chronicles it in 'Stories I Only Tell My Friends'

By Michael Barnes

Rob Lowe's memories about his last visit to Austin, during a Farm Aid concert in the 1980s, are fond but fuzzy.

"I smoked one of those little cigarettes on Willie Nelson's bus," he said during an Austin Recovery luncheon at ACL Live on Tuesday. "I tried to start a fight with John Cougar Mellencamp."

The movie star's recollections will be sharper -- and tamer -- this time around. He's been in recovery for 21 years, a journey he shared, humorously and humanely, with 800 guests raising money for the nonprofit group's Family Home. A new version of this residence for women in recovery and their children will be named for fervent Austin backer Dawn Crouch, it was announced Tuesday.

"Sobriety saved my life," said Lowe, known for nervy escapades with his Hollywood buddies during the years following "The Outsiders," "St. Elmo's Fire" and "About Last Night." "Not because I would have died, but because my life would have been an 'unlife,' a slow malaise of death on the inside."

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SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA LINKED TO HEART ATTACKS IN TEENS

Article from: latimes.com

Nov 10, 2011 | No Comments
281244740-08102952.jpgBy Shari Roan

Three teenagers in Texas appear to have had heart attacks caused by smoking synthetic marijuana, doctors reported Monday.

While smoking marijuana is known to affect the heart, such as by increasing the heart rate, synthetic pot -- known as K2 or Spice -- may represent an additional risk. These drugs contain synthetic cannabinoids and have become popular among illicit drug users because they do not show up on toxicology screens.

Doctor at UT Southwestern Medical Center described three recent cases of heart attacks in teen-agers using K2. All three were 16-year-old boys who said they had smoked marijuana recently but also admitted to using K2 within the past few days or within the prior week. Each boy was otherwise healthy and had no signs of cardiovascular disease. But each reported intermittent chest pain shortly after smoking K2. The youths were treated and recovered.

Efforts are underway nationwide to make sale and possession of K2 illegal. However, new synthetic drugs could already be in circulation, the authors of the report noted, and K2 and Spice are readily available around the country. It's impossible to say what ingredients go into these synthetic drugs, they added.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

D'ALESSANDRO: MONMOUTH COACH KING RICE FINDS SOBRIETY AND REDEMPTION

Article from: nj.com

Nov 10, 2011 | No Comments
10236524-large.jpgHe was walking through the kitchen on his way out last week when a chime happened to catch his attention. King Rice looked down at his wife's cell phone and noticed one of those calendar reminders pop up.

The message on the phone was plain enough: "Congratulate K on 15 years!" it read. He smiled and whispered an involuntary, Well, I'll be damned. Truth is, he had been too busy to commemorate the occasion. Practices already were at full tilt, he and Summer were scrambling in preparation for the arrival of No. 2 Son (any day now), and how exactly does one "celebrate" 15 years of sobriety, anyway?

Not by breaking out the champagne flutes, he knows that much.

So Rice marked the moment in the best way he knew: As he made the pre-dawn walk down Larchwood Avenue in West Long Branch -- just 2,000 feet from his new home to the Monmouth University campus -- he dialed the guy in Nashville.

"Coach, it's King," he said after it went to voice mail. "I don't know if you remember, but it was 15 years ago today. You could have fired my behind and you didn't. But you helped me get through it, and now I have a great life, a great job, my family life is fantastic. So ... Coach ... I just ... uh ..."

There it goes again. Throat. Year after year, this happens -- even to this guy, who speaks with the fluent ease of a starling. Every time Rice makes that call to Kevin Stallings, he has to squeeze out that final "thank you" in the smallest of voices.

But even 15 years later, a DUI remains the watershed milepost in his life. And 15 years later, the intervention of a single man -- Stallings, his boss at Illinois State at the time, and his boss at Vanderbilt the past five years -- helped Rice escape from the dark, alcoholic energies that governed his young life.


Continue Reading: nj.com

STUDY SUPPORTS SHORTER WAIT TIME FOR ALCOHOLICS SEEKING LIVER TRANSPLANT

Article from: usnews.com

Nov 10, 2011 | No Comments
By Maureen Salamon

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Right now, alcoholics with seriously compromised livers are typically subject to a mandatory six-month "dry-out" period before they can receive a transplant.

Unfortunately, many of the sickest of these patients fail to survive that long. However, a new study finds that earlier transplants can dramatically improve survival odds in those whose condition hasn't responded to medication.

French researchers found that 77 percent of recovering alcoholics given transplants an average of 13 days after suffering a first bout of severe alcoholic hepatitis were still alive six months after surgery, compared with 23 percent of similar patients who didn't receive early transplants.

The 26 selected patients -- who comprised less than 3 percent of all liver transplants at seven health care centers during the study period -- had supportive family members and a commitment to quit drinking, factors considered vital for their potential recovery.

The study is published in the Nov. 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The practice of offering liver transplants to alcoholic patients is admittedly controversial, health experts said, because of the scarcity of donor organs and the sense that those who ruin their health from drinking are somehow "less deserving" of help.

"The six-month rule is fair, but not an optimal way of deciding who the best candidates [for liver transplantation] are," said Dr. Robert S. Brown Jr., chief of the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Brown urged reconsideration of the six-month dry-out rule.

"What we need to do is come up with a better way of determining patients who are not going to get better [with medication] but do well with transplant," added Brown, also a professor of medicine at Columbia University. "I think part of this is that though many people say we accept alcoholism as a disease, we don't really. Most people, and I would say most physicians, still view alcoholism more as a habit."

Continue Reading: usnews.com

MELISSA GILBERT: EMPOWERING PARENTS TO PREVENT TEEN ADDICTIONS

Article from: celebritybabyscoop.com

Nov 9, 2011 | No Comments
Screen Shot 2011-11-09 at 9.38.33 AM.pngWe all loved her as Laura Ingalls on the beloved television series Little House on the Prairie. Now, Melissa Gilbert is all grown up and speaking out against a cause close to her heart: teen alcohol and drug prevention. "I know from personal experience the importance of educating parents about the dangers of teen substance abuse," the mom-of-four tells Celebrity Baby Scoop.

Melissa, 47, sat down with Celebrity Baby Scoop and opened up about the "staggering" statistics facing our teens and her best advice for concerned parents: "I truly believe that empowering parents is the first step in preventing the disease of addiction from ruining families," she said. The actress also talked about her four sons - Dakota, Michael, Sam, and Lee - whom she'd "rather hang out with more than anyone in the world." Read on about Melissa's mission to empower parents with DrugFree.org, and hear about her upcoming Christmas movie.

CBS: We think it's great you partnered with DrugFree.org for their 25th Anniversary Luncheon! How did you get involved with the organization? Do you have a personal connection to the cause?

MG: "I decided to get involved with The Partnership at DrugFree.org because I know from personal experience the importance of educating parents about the dangers of teen substance abuse. The statistics are staggering - 90 percent of addictions get their start in teenage years, and I truly believe that empowering parents is the first step in preventing the disease of addiction from ruining families. I am currently celebrating my seventh year in recovery and I have faced substance abuse issues within my immediate family in a number of ways.

The Partnership at DrugFree.org is a unique organization dedicated to educating parents and providing them with the resources and tools they need to address a teen drug or alcohol problem with a loved one.

Continue Reading: celebritybabyscoop.com

METHAMPHETAMINE TIED TO SCHIZOPHRENIA: WHAT EXPLAINS LINK?

Article from: cbsnews.com

Nov 9, 2011 | No Comments
(CBS) Can crystal meth cause madness? Maybe so. Heavy use of methamphetamine is associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia, Canadian researchers say.

PICTURES - Meth mouth: Inside look at icky problem (15 graphic images)

The researchers uncovered the link by examining the medical records of patients admitted to California hospitals between 1990 and 2000 for drug abuse or dependency.

They looked specifically at abusers of meth, marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, and opioid painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin and compared these patients with a control group of appendicitis patients who didn't abuse drugs. Then the researchers looked at the number of patients in each group rehospitalized for schizophrenia up to 10 years later.

"We found that people hospitalized for methamphetamine dependence who did not have a diagnosis of schizophrenia or psychotic symptoms at the start of our study period had an approximately 1.5 to 3.0-fold risk of subsequently being diagnosed with schizophrenia, compared with groups of patients who used cocaine, alcohol or opioid drugs," study author Dr. Russ Callaghan, of Toronto's Centre for Addication and Mental Health, said in a written statement.

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B.C. DOCTOR ORDERED TO STOP ANTI-ADDICTION TEA USE

Article from: cbc.ca

Nov 9, 2011 | No Comments
The B.C. doctor who allowed a film crew to document his use of a traditional Amazonian tea to help drug addicts has been ordered to end the treatments.

Dr. Gabor Maté was using ayahuasca, which induces a trance that unlocks painful memories to help drug addicts end their addictive behaviour.

The active ingredients in the plant are restricted. Dr. Gabor Maté was using ayahuasca, which induces a trance that unlocks painful memories to help drug addicts.Dr. Gabor Maté was using ayahuasca, which induces a trance that unlocks painful memories to help drug addicts. CBC

Since CBC News reported on Maté's work on Sunday, Health Canada has threatened him with criminal prosecution if he continues.

"Naturally I will have to comply with the regulations as I received them, and I intend to," Maté said.

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WHITE AND MIXED-RACE YOUTHS RANK HIGH IN ALCOHOL, SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Article from: latimes.com

Nov 8, 2011 | No Comments
271925640-07161018.jpgBy Melissa Healy

The first-ever survey of adolescent alcohol and drug abuse to recognize youths of mixed race or ethnicity has found that such kids hover closest to white adolescents in the rate at which they suffer substance abuse disorders. That is not reassuring, because white adolescents are among the most likely ethnic and racial groups to have substance-use disorders.

Of all ethnic groups, Native Americans were found to suffer the highest rates of drug and alcohol abuse and dependence -- about 15% in a given year. African American adolescents were among the least likely to abuse or be dependent on drugs or alcohol: on a yearly basis, roughly 5% of black teens fit the criteria for substance-use disorder - -almost as low a rate as prevails among adolescents of Asian or Pacific Islander ethnicity (3.5%).

Latino youths -- the fastest-growing ethnic group in this age cohort -- fell below white and multi-ethnic adolescents in their rate of substance-use disorders, but not by much: 7.7% qualified as having dangerously abused or been dependent on drugs or alcohol in the past year.

The survey was published Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Between 2005 and 2007, researchers plumbed the drug and alcohol use patterns of 72,561 adolescents between age 12 and 17. They conducted computer-assisted interviews with adolescents  about their use in the past 12 months of alcohol and a wide range of illicit drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and opioid painkillers taken for non-medical reasons.

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WHAT'S IN YOUR CANTEEN, SOLDIER?

Article from: time.com

Nov 8, 2011 | No Comments
bed-days-chart.pngSince the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, the days spent by U.S. troops in hospitals for alcohol-related problems have skyrocketed, according to a new Pentagon study:

The results of this analysis demonstrate the increasing medical burden that excessive alcohol use is placing on the military health system; this is especially noteworthy for service members with chronic alcohol diagnoses. The number of bed days attributable to chronic alcohol abuse diagnoses has almost quadrupled over the surveillance period.

Wow. A four-fold jump in the number of days spent in hospitals because of alcoholism between 2001 and 2010. There are apparently a lot of deeply unhappy drunken troops in the U.S. military these days.

The study, contained in the Pentagon's Medical Surveillance Monthly Report, doesn't blame anything for the rise, except to suggest that increased attention to the problem might contribute to its apparent growth. It doesn't blame the wars, the fears of going off to war, or celebrating one's return from war, for the Bacchanalia. Instead, it notes that "the proportions of acute incident alcohol diagnoses that were recurrent were relatively higher among Air Force members, senior-enlisted personnel, and those serving in combat occupations." (Excuse me: Air Force?)


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LIVERPOOL'S FIRST DRY BAR OPENS

Article from: guardian.co.uk

Nov 8, 2011 | No Comments
The problems of alcohol abuse in Merseyside are well-known, with a study by Liverpool John Moores University showing the city to have the highest level of hospital admissions in Britain linked to alcohol.

However, Liverpool is also "the recovery capital", according to Carl Alderdice, manager of Brink, in Parr Street, which is Britain's first "dry" bar.

The bar, which has been open since the end of September, is a social enterprise run by a limited company. "We are self-funded, and invest in helping people with drug and alcohol addictions," said Alderdice, who has years of experience running bars in Liverpool.

The original initiative for the bar came from the charity Action on Addiction, which saw the impact of alcohol abuse on homelessness. It is linked to the Sharp recovery service in the city.

"I was originally brought in through a consultancy role and was asked about the feasibility of a dry bar," Alderdice said. While Liverpool has many cafes, "the difference is that we actively say we're a dry bar".

Brink's customers are not just those who are in recovery and want an alcohol-free venue, but also many who want to avoid what Alderdice terms the "testosterone, drunk and drug-fuelled club and bar scene".

Single women like Brink as they feel safe there due to the lack of alcohol. It is also popular with members of the Muslim community.

Stressing Liverpool's position as "recovery capital", he points to the 33 AA groups meeting in the city each week, as well as many meetings of Narcotics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous.

Continue Reading: guardian.co.uk

NFL DELAY OVER HGH TESTS: UNACCEPTABLE

Article from: espn.go.com

Nov 7, 2011 | No Comments
By Rep. Henry Waxman

We are now halfway through the 2011 NFL season, and the league and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) remain at an impasse with regard to the commencement of testing for human growth hormone (HGH). While the two sides announced an agreement to begin testing earlier this year, they remain bogged down over technical disagreements on the procedures for the test. This impasse should not continue.

HGH is an illegal performance-enhancing drug. Athletes take HGH in hopes that it will allow them to work out longer and heal faster. How much HGH improves performance is subject to debate, but what is certain is that athletes who use HGH are putting their health at risk. HGH abuse can cause diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, hypertension, muscle and joint disorders, and even cancer.

While steroid use is detectable through urine tests, HGH is undetectable through the drug tests currently administered by the NFL. When former Sen. George Mitchell investigated performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball, he found that as the league cracked down on steroids, HGH use increased because players could use it without fear of detection. Observers of the NFL believe HGH is now the drug of choice for pro football players. Former NFL player and television commentator Boomer Esiason recently said that many believe at least 20 percent of players are using it.

To stop abuse of HGH, professional sports need to create a disincentive for its use. That means leagues need to start testing. This requires a small blood sample, which is then evaluated through an "isoform" test to determine if the HGH in an athlete's body is naturally occurring or the result of an injection of the synthetic form of the drug. The test is approved and used by the World Anti-Doping Agency and has been used successfully for the Olympics and for athletes playing minor league baseball.

In August, the NFL and NFLPA made a breakthrough announcement: HGH testing had been incorporated into the new NFL collective bargaining agreement. It was the first time that a major U.S. professional sports league and a players' union reached an agreement on HGH testing. In testimony before Congress in 2005, the NFL and NFLPA officials testified proudly about the toughness of their drug testing program. The HGH agreement seemed to embody football's commitment to be the leader in developing strong performance-enhancing drug policies.

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EX-KORN MEMBER BRIAN 'HEAD' WELCH SPEAKS TO BALDWIN COUNTY DRUG COURT GRADS

Article from: al.com

Nov 7, 2011 | No Comments
Korn.jpg
FAIRHOPE, Alabama -- Few rock stars living the dream in a world-famous band would give it all up at the top of their game. But Brian "Head" Welch did.

Drug addiction had Welch, a founding member of Korn who grew up in Bakersfield, Ca., living what was sometimes a nightmare. Welch told his story to crowd of about 300 Thursday during a ceremony for the latest group of Baldwin County Drug Court graduates.

Thirteen of 20 graduates attended the event at the Church on the Eastern Shore in Fairhope. During the ceremony, the participants who had completed the two-year-program -- three years in one man's case -- received copies of orders dismissing felony charges against them.

Circuit Judge Robert E. Wilters, who presides over the Baldwin County Drug Court, said that having no felony conviction on their records may be more important than a diploma.

This year marks the third graduation ceremony since the program's creation in October 2007. To be eligible, participants must plead guilty to the crime. Adjudication is withheld for two to three years during which time participants must go into drug treatment, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, submit to drug testing and show up for court hearings.

They must also show up for their jobs on time or seek employment.

"Drug Court in not easy," Wilters said. "It's a difficult process." He said the program gives participants tools to help them live drug-free lives.

Graduate Ronnie Norris of Fayette, Ala., and formerly of Baldwin County, described her drug-induced lifestyle as slavery that entailed prostitution, kidnapping, being beaten, raped, bought and sold. Norris, who underwent chemotherapy for cancer, equated addiction to cancer.

Continue Reading: al.com



D.E.A. SQUADS EXTEND REACH OF DRUG WAR

Article from: nytimes.com

Nov 7, 2011 | No Comments
WASHINGTON -- Late on a moonless night last March, a plane smuggling nearly half a ton of cocaine touched down at a remote airstrip in Honduras. A heavily armed ground crew was waiting for it -- as were Honduran security forces. After a 20-minute firefight, a Honduran officer was wounded and two drug traffickers lay dead.

Several news outlets briefly reported the episode, mentioning that a Honduran official said the United States Drug Enforcement Administration had provided support. But none of the reports included a striking detail: that support consisted of an elite detachment of military-trained D.E.A. special agents who joined in the shootout, according to a person familiar with the episode.

The D.E.A. now has five commando-style squads it has been quietly deploying for the past several years to Western Hemisphere nations -- including Haiti, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Belize -- that are battling drug cartels, according to documents and interviews with law enforcement officials.

The program -- called FAST, for Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team -- was created during the George W. Bush administration to investigate Taliban-linked drug traffickers in Afghanistan. Beginning in 2008 and continuing under President Obama, it has expanded far beyond the war zone.

"You have got to have special skills and equipment to be able to operate effectively and safely in environments like this," said Michael A. Braun, a former head of operations for the drug agency who helped design the program. "The D.E.A. is working shoulder-to-shoulder in harm's way with host-nation counterparts."

The evolution of the program into a global enforcement arm reflects the United States' growing reach in combating drug cartels and how policy makers increasingly are blurring the line between law enforcement and military activities, fusing elements of the "war on drugs" with the "war on terrorism."

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

LOVE AND ADDICTION: VOLES IN LOVE JUST SAY NO TO SPEED

Article from: time.com

Nov 7, 2011 | No Comments
volescropped.jpgBy Maia Szalavitz

While love doesn't always conquer all, it can be a potent antidote to addiction, according to a growing body of research. The latest study on the matter examined male prairie vole behavior, finding that those that had bonded to a female partner were less interested in taking amphetamine than bachelor voles.

"These results indicate that the pair-bonding experience decreased the rewarding properties of amphetamine," says Kimberly Young, an author of the study and a postdoctoral student at Florida State University.

Unlike rats or mice, prairie voles form lifelong bonds with their mates, more closely approximating human social behavior, which is why scientists like to study them. For the current research, which was published in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers looked closely at how pair-bonding and amphetamine affected voles' brains.

The first experiment involved 30 male voles, 17 of which had been allowed to mate and form pair bonds; the rest were virgins. The voles were allowed to explore a set of two cages, connected by a tube, to see which cage they preferred. Then, the animals were given either amphetamine or a saline injection in the place that they did not like. The idea was to determine whether the voles would begin to prefer the cage in which they'd received the pleasurable drug. Only the virgin voles given amphetamine did.

In a second experiment, researchers studied brain activity in single and pair-bonded voles. They found that singletons derived more pleasure from amphetamine than the mated animals. In the bachelor voles, amphetamine increased the availability of dopamine D1 receptors in the nucleus accumbens, a pleasure-related region of the brain. In bonded voles, however, the availability of these receptors decreased.

"Amphetamine exposure had opposite neurobiological effects in sexually naïve and pair-bonded voles," Young notes.

But longtime vole researcher Larry Young of Emory University, who was not affiliated with the current research, expressed caution. "While this study is very interesting, it will be important to determine whether pair-bonded voles would be less likely to work for drugs of abuse if given unlimited access," he said in a statement. Like "place preference," determining how hard an animal will work to get drugs is another way to measure how pleasurable -- or, as regulators put it, "liable to abuse" -- a substance is.


Continue Reading: time.com

PAIN LINGERS FOR PRESCRIPTION PILL ADDICTS -- AND THOSE THEY'VE HURT

Article from: delawareonline.com

Nov 7, 2011 | No Comments
Sick from opiate withdrawal and unable to afford more pills, Phil Maconi grabbed his new 9 mm pistol, drove to a pharmacy where he was a regular customer and covered his face with a black ski mask.

Inside Manor Pharmacy on U.S. 13 on that rainy night in March 2010, pharmacist Jeff Smith filled last-minute orders, his 9-year-old son by his side and his 7-year-old daughter at the front counter.

Two worlds -- that of the pill addict and pill dispenser -- were about to collide. As painkiller abuse has skyrocketed in Delaware, the confrontation was one that has become commonplace and puts innocent customers and employees in danger.

Maconi entered the drugstore near New Castle through a rear door, approached the counter and pointed the gun at Smith and the child.

"Give me your OxyContins," he demanded.

Smith, startled, pushed his terrified son out of the pharmacy area.

"Which strength do you want?"

"Eighties."

Smith dashed to a backroom safe, grabbed several bottles of 80-milligram pills and handed over the powerful narcotics.

Maconi, 21, drove off into the rainy night with 700 pills. At his home in Bear, he immediately snorted a couple. The nasty withdrawal pains and tremors soon left as the drugs circulated through his body. Over the next month, Maconi sold $14,000 worth of pills, many for $50 apiece, and used the rest himself, sometimes as many as eight a day.

Continue Reading: delawareonline.com

KEITH URBAN AND HIS 'BEAUTIFUL' HOME LIFE

Article from: abcnews.com

Nov 6, 2011 | No Comments
abc_robin_roberts_keith_urban_thg_111103_wg.jpgBy JANICE JOHNSTON

Country star Keith Urban waged a very public battle with drugs and alcohol, but these days, he said, staying sober isn't a struggle.

"It was a struggle to live the life I was living before," he told Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview for the "In the Spotlight" special."That's what the actual real struggle is."

Today, Urban's life is grounded by his wife, actress Nicole Kidman, who he describes as an "extremely pure spirit. A really, really extraordinarily rare, I think, pure spirit. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to find the right words because, you know, words are limiting."

This songwriter says, "I'm glad [words are] only part of it. I'm glad music plays a role too, because music is ... the larger language, you know, that goes beyond the limitations of words."

Continue Reading: abcnews.com

FORMER CRYSTAL METH ADDICT REBOUNDS TO RUN NYC MARATHON (video)

Article from: nbcnews.com

Nov 6, 2011 | No Comments
Screen shot 2011-11-06 at 2.42.16 PM.pngBronx man's journey includes homelessness, counseling.

By: Andrew Siff

Among the 47,000 participants in this Sunday's ING New York City Marathon, you'll find runners who have overcome illness, injury and more. But it would be hard to top the mountain climbed by Rob Vassilarakis of the Bronx. Andrew Siff has his inspirational story.

Rob Vassilarakis was a crystal meth addict for nearly 15 years. Estranged from his parents, he was homeless and struggling.

Now, he's about to run the New York marathon for the second time.

Vassilarakis's recovery began at a drug counseling center in Harlem called El Faro, which means "lighthouse."

"For many of us who have walked through these doors as a client, this has been a port in the storm," said Vassilarakis, who is now a counselor at the center. It's part of the larger group of nonprofits known as Harlem United.

Continue Reading: nbcnews.com

TEENS GETTING HIGH ON SONIC DRUGS

Article from: firstcoastnews.com

Nov 5, 2011 | No Comments
111102070258_idose_1.jpg
It may sound far-fetched, but websites are selling sonic drugs.
The websites claim that by listening to specific frequencies, you can get the same effect as if you actually took recreational, prescription and hallucinogenic drugs.

Sonic drugs or digital drugs, also known as I-Dosing are available online.

Websites now claim listening to specific sounds can make you feel like you have taken real drugs.  The marketing may look illegal, but it's not.  The packs range from just under $7 to almost $200.  You can buy individual drug doses or buy them bundled, like the Wasted Pack, which promises all the effects of opium, cocaine, and marijuana.

There are more than a thousand YouTube videos of people experimenting with I-Dosing.  Many feature teenagers twitching and screaming... appearing to be spaced out and confused.

Continue Reading: firstcoastnews.com

NICOTINE COULD ACT AS A GATEWAY DRUG

Article from: medicalnewstoday.com

Nov 5, 2011 | No Comments
By: Petra Rattue

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institute of Health, scientists have identified a biological mechanism in a landmark study in mice, which could provide insight into how tobacco products could act as gateway drugs, and therefore increase the risk of abusing cocaine and perhaps also other drugs. The study, published in today's Science Translational Medicine is the first study that shows that nicotine might prime the brain to enhance the behavioral effects of cocaine. 

Researchers based their gateway drug model on epidemiological evidence on reports of most illicit drug users who state they used tobacco products or alcohol before using illicit drugs. Over the years, this model has generated substantial controversy, mainly over whether prior drug exposure to nicotine, alcohol or marijuana is causally associated with later drug abuse. Until recently, scientists have not been able to demonstrate a biological mechanism whereby nicotine exposure could increase vulnerability to illicit drug use. 

In the new study researchers at Columbia University in New York City administered nicotine to mice's drinking water for a minimum of seven days and discovered they displayed an increased response to cocaine. This priming effect was based on the nicotine's effect on gene expression that was previously not recognized; Nicotine changes the structure of the tightly packaged DNA molecule and reprograms expression patterns of specific genes, in particular that of the FosB gene, which has been associated with addiction, and ultimately changes the behavioral response to cocaine. 



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MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AND THE PARTNERSHIP AT DRUGFREE.ORG PRESENT...

Article from: drugfree.org

Nov 4, 2011 | No Comments
2011-Play-Healthy-Winners-300x200.jpgMAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AND THE PARTNERSHIP AT DRUGFREE.ORG PRESENT SECOND ANNUAL COMMISSIONER'S PLAY HEALTHY AWARDS TO EXEMPLARY COACH AND TEEN ATHLETE

By Candice Besson

New York, NY (November 4, 2011) - Susan Mayberrry, a youth coach and teacher from Overland Park, Kansas and Carlos Umana, a teen athlete from El Paso, Texas, were honored by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and Major League Baseball (MLB), with the second annual Commissioner's Play Healthy Awards. The award recipients were recognized during The Partnership at Drugfree.org's annual gala at The Waldorf=Astoria on Tuesday, October 18.

Judged by a panel of parents, coaches and industry professionals, Mayberry and Umana were selected as part of a nationwide competition for their commitment to fair and drug-free competition. Winners were chosen based on their spirit of teamwork, dedication and leadership on and off the playing field.

Mayberry, coach of the Basehor-Linwood High School girls' softball team and a health and physical education teacher, devotes herself to her students and athletes. With her guidance and team's persistence, they earned the 2010 State 4A Champions title. She emphasizes the value of academics and volunteering, and is personally dedicated to keeping her athletes and pupils healthy. This commitment drove her to partner with the high school's drama teacher and local substance abuse agencies to produce a play about the effects of drug and alcohol abuse.

A baseball fan and a regular spectator of his town's semi-pro baseball league, Umana is also a star basketball player on the Mountain View High School and Boys & Girls Clubs of El Paso- Janacek Unit teams. He passionately believes that playing sports can motivate any teen to stay away from drugs and alcohol, and has taken the initiative to support and educate other teens within his sport and community. Umana was part of the first Boys & Girls Clubs of El Paso Teen 2 Teen City Wide Summit where he presented a session on drugs and alcohol awareness. Through this positive work and involvement, he has shown superior leadership.

Continue Reading: drugfree.org

DRUG MULES: SMUGGLERS CAUGHT MOULDING COCAINE INTO SHAPE OF MANOLO BLAHNIK SHOES

Article from: telegraph.co.uk

Nov 4, 2011 | No Comments
It brings a whole new meaning to the term "drug mule".

A drug gang which smuggled cocaine into Europe disguised as Manolo Blahnik shoes has been busted in northern Spain. The traffickers moulded the class A drug into the shape of designer shoes and gave them to airline passengers to bring into Spain from Colombia.

The designer brand usually commands a price tag of several thousand pounds for stiletto marvels made famous by Sex in the City's Carrie Bradshaw. But the smugglers' version, created from cocaine paste, had a street value of around €50,000 a pair.

Manolo Blahnik on Kate Moss's wedding shoes

Police in the Basque country swooped on the gang in northern town of Gorliz on Thursday, following a two year investigation. Six people were arrested and 4kgs of the drug seized.

"This investigation revealed that those detained had been bringing in cocaine shaped as women's shoes for two years," a spokesman for Basque police said.

It is the latest and possibly most inventive method of smuggling in the class A drug. Spanish police have in the past discovered cocaine shipments disguised as replica sculptures by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, the "plaster cast" protecting a man's broken leg, and even an entire 42-piece crockery set.

Continue Reading: telegraph.co.uk

ABUSE OF MUSCLE RELAXANT LEADS TO DOUDLING OF ER VISITS

Article from: drugfree.org

Nov 4, 2011 | No Comments
A growing number of people are ending up in the emergency room after abusing the muscle relaxant carisoprodol. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released a report that shows the number of such ER visits doubled, from 15,830 in 2004 to 31,763 in 2009.

The drug, sold under brand names including Soma, Soprodal or Vanadom, is meant to be used for short-term relief of acute muscle pain, HealthDay reports. It can become dangerous when it is taken with other prescription drugs, illegal drugs or alcohol.

According to SAMHSA, many of the ER visits related to carisoprodol involved at least one other prescription drug. The most common combinations included narcotic pain relievers. Overall, more than one-third of ER visits related to misuse of the muscle relaxant required follow-up hospitalization.

The report found the number of carisoprodol-related ER visits that involved misuse or abuse by patients aged 50 or older tripled between 2004 and 2009, from 2,070 to 7,115.

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ALCOHOLIC MAYOR WANTS ANOTHER CHANCE

Article from: wsj.com

Nov 3, 2011 | No Comments
OB-QI428_1028bi_D_20111028140547.jpgBy DOUGLAS BELKIN

SHEBOYGAN, Wis.--Mayor Bob Ryan has big plans for this little city. He wants to dredge the Sheboygan River to lure bigger recreational boats, build a green corporate park and bring high-end housing to the sleepy downtown.

But before he gets to any of that he has to deal with a problem. Mr. Ryan is an alcoholic, and since taking office two years ago, he has fallen off the wagon four times. His sobriety slip-ups, including a bar fight, have been documented in a police report and a YouTube video, making this small-city mayor the butt of late-night television jokes and international news coverage.

"He's an embarrassment, a disgrace," said Judy David, one of the thousands of residents here who think he should lose his job. "He's given the city a black eye."

While some residents push for his ouster, including members of the city council who think his behavior is impeding city efforts to revive a slumping economy, there is big sympathetic support for Mr. Ryan, in part because Sheboygan happens to be the most alcohol-loving part of the biggest drinking state in the country.

When Germans immigrated to Wisconsin a century ago, they brought a tradition of beer making that later inspired the name of the state's only major league baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers. For many, part of living in Wisconsin is hoisting a cold one after a hard day's work.

The state has the highest rate of binge drinking in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Sheboygan County, halfway between Green Bay and Milwaukee on the edge of Lake Michigan, has the highest percentage of drinkers in the state, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

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CATAPULT USED TO FLING DRUGS ACROSS US-MEXICAN BORDER, AUTHORITIES SAY

Article from: foxnews.com

Nov 3, 2011 | No Comments
drugcatapult.jpgWho needs elaborate underground tunnels or rigged up cars to smuggle drugs into the U.S.?

All some drug smugglers need, evidently, is a giant sling to hurl drugs over the border.

Months after Mexican troops found catapults used by drug smugglers on the US-Mexican border, soldiers said they have found two more.

The two catapults, similar to a giant medieval-looking sling, were seized by the Mexican army; they were being used to fling packages of marijuana across the border into Arizona.

A military statement Tuesday says an anonymous tip led troops to a house in the border city of Agua Prieta, where they found a catapult in the bed of a pickup truck and another inside the house.

It says soldiers also seized 1.4 tons of marijuana during Monday's raid in Agua Prieta, which is across the border from Douglas, Arizona.

The catapults are the latest creative method drug smugglers are using to carry drugs across a more beefed up border.

Continue Reading: foxnews.com

STRESSED OUT `SUPERMOMS' TURNING TO DRUGS, ALCOHOL

Article from: dailybreeze.com

Nov 3, 2011 | No Comments
Amy Briddell had an image in her head of how life would work out: She would have a perfect family and be the perfect mother and wife.

But making that image a reality was harder than she expected as she dealt with two children in an upscale private school, their extracurricular activities and her own miscarriages.

"I felt like a failure trying to live up to the expectation that I had in my head," Briddell said. "You would never guess from the outside - it looked like the perfect picture - but I was crumbling on the inside."

So she began using alcohol as a way to numb her feelings and escape the pressures of motherhood.

And she's hardly the only one.

Substance abuse treatment facilities across the nation have seen a rise in patients seeking treatment, and a large number of them are mothers.

One facility, in particular, is Passages Malibu Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center.

"Giving a rough estimate, I would say 25 percent to 35 percent of the clients who check into Passages are mothers who are abusing substances," . "They actually make up a large population of the people who are seeking treatment. There has been a slight increase over the years, so it went from large to larger."

Lynn Blanchard is the clinical director for New Directions for Women in Newport Beach and she, too, notes there has been an increase in mothers coming in for treatment, especially within the past eight months.

Continue Reading: dailybreeze.com

RX DRUG DEATHS TRIPLE IN DECADE

Article from: cnn.com

Nov 2, 2011 | No Comments
Inappropriately used prescription pain medications kill 15,000 people in the United States each year, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We're in the midst of an epidemic," says CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden. "Narcotics prescribed by physicians kill 40 people per day."

Deaths due to prescription painkiller overdoses now exceed the number of heroin and cocaine overdose deaths combined, says Frieden, who is joining  Gil Kerlikowske, the director of National Drug Control Policy, also known as the nation's drug czar, to raise awareness about how prescription drug abuse deaths have tripled since 1999.

According to the data released Tuesday, 1 in 20 or 12 million Americans age 12 and older has misused prescription painkillers like oxycodone (Oxycotin), methadone or hydrocodone (Vicodin) and middle-aged adults have the highest overdose rates.

Health officials say that enough prescription painkillers were prescribed last year to medicate every adult every four hours for an entire month, and this type of drug abuse is costing insurance companies up to $72.5 million each year. Just a few months ago, the CDC reported that opioid pain medication abuse accounts for the most common poisonings treated in emergency departments and nearly 1 million people in the United States are currently addicted to some type of opiates.

Kerlikowske calls prescription drug abuse "our nation's largest drug problems," which he recognizes can't be solved overnight.  More needs to be done, he said, to reduce the number of people starting to abuse prescription painkillers, which stands at about 5,500 each day, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Continue Reading: cnn.com

OFFICIALS SEIZE THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF NARCOTICS WITH ARREST OF 70 US SMUGGLERS

Article from: dailymail.co.uk

Nov 2, 2011 | No Comments
article-2055693-0E9D47C600000578-368_468x312.jpg• Thousands of pounds of narcotics were seized in Arizona with the arrest of over 70 smugglers
• 61,000 pounds of pot, 160 pounds of heroin, 210 pounds of cocaine, $760,000 in cash, and 108 weapons seized

By: Daily Mail Reporter

Arizona authorities have dismantled a 'massive' drug trafficking ring responsible for smuggling more than $33 million worth of drugs through the state's western desert each month in recent years, officials said Monday.

The ring is believed be tied to the Sinaloa cartel - Mexico's most powerful - and its members smuggled more than 3.3 million pounds of marijuana, 20,000 pounds of cocaine and 10,000 pounds of heroin into the U.S. through Arizona, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE and the Pinal County Sheriff's Office arrested 22 suspected smugglers tied to the ring on Thursday, the latest of three busts they say have brought it down following a 17-month investigation dubbed 'Operation Pipeline Express.'

In the three busts combined, the agencies have arrested 76 suspected smugglers and seized more than 61,000 pounds of pot, about 160 pounds of heroin, about 210 pounds of cocaine, nearly 760,000 in cash, and 108 weapons, including assault rifles and shotguns.

Although the agencies released some information about Thursday's bust last week, they held back most of their information for a Monday news conference in which they displayed dozens of guns and hundreds of pounds of pot seized for members of the media.

Continue Reading: dailymail.co.uk


LIGHT DRINKING LINKED TO INCREASED BREAST CANCER RISK

Article from: latimes.com

Nov 2, 2011 | No Comments
By Shari Roan
Drinking as few as three to six glasses of wine per week may increase a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer by 15%, according to an analysis by Harvard researchers.

The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., reaffirms that heavy alcohol use raises breast cancer risk, and it adds that light drinking matters too.

"Alcohol is a real risk factor, and the more you drink the higher your risk," said Dr. Steven A. Narod, the Canada research chair in breast cancer at the University of Toronto, who wrote a commentary accompanying the study.

Whether women should consider abstaining from even light alcohol consumption, however, is not easily answered, preventive health experts said.

On average, a U.S. woman's baseline risk of breast cancer is 1 in 8 over her lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. The 15% increased risk that was linked to consumption of 5 to 9.9 grams of alcohol per day is modest, similar to the heightened risk associated with using estrogen-progesterone hormone therapy to treat symptoms of menopause. But it's far smaller than the fivefold increased risk that comes from inheriting certain mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.

Moreover, having a few drinks a week has been found to lower the incidence of heart disease by 25% to 40%. The average woman's lifetime risk for heart disease is 1 in 2.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

ADDERALL ABUSE: SMART PILL OR COLLEGE CRACK?

Article from: myfoxdc.com

Nov 2, 2011 | No Comments
By SHERRI LY

WASHINGTON - It is a growing epidemic across college campuses. Students are popping pills to get an academic edge. The drug is Adderall, a prescription drug that is illegally abused by many students to study. Only the consequences can be deadly.

The pill gives college students the ability to pull all-nighters, study for days with only a few hours of sleep. It is a stimulant that makes the heart pound, blood rush and can provide a feeling of euphoria.

"It's pretty common now and days," said Devon Fehn, a junior at the University of Maryland.

Adderall has been successfully used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. It has also been abused: snorted like cocaine or mixed with alcohol and a cocktail of other drugs. But on college campuses, it is most often used to help students concentrate on studying. Students call it the smart drug or steroids for the brain.

"Adderall, yeah, it's very popular, everyone uses Adderall," said one student who did not want to be named.

Doctors say no doubt the drug does what students report, improving concentration, alertness and sustained attention. If that were all it did, the drug would be given to everyone. But it's the risks with Adderall that make it a bad idea. University of Maryland senior Marcello Morinigo is among the believers.

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FORMER GUNS N' ROSES ROCK DUFF MCKAGAN ON HOW THE DAY HE NEARLY DIED HELPED HIM LEARN TO LOVE LIFE AGAIN

Article from: walesonline.co.uk

Nov 1, 2011 | No Comments
He was once a hellraising member of 'the world's most dangerous band', but now Duff McKagan is a clean-living family man who gives financial advice on the side. Here the ex-Guns N' Roses bassist tells Nathan Bevan how a near-death experience saw him walk away from the wild side

IT'S 1994 and Duff McKagan is lying critically ill in hospital, years of alcohol and drugs having caused his pancreas to burst and leave third-degree burns on the inside of this body.

His mother, stricken with Parkinson's and wheel chair-bound, is keeping tearful vigil at her son's bedside.

And it was at this moment the ex-Guns N' Roses bassist says he experienced what alcoholics refer to as "a moment of clarity", realising that he needed to change his life or risk losing it altogether.

"I was drinking maybe a gallon of vodka a day and doing all sorts of drugs, so after a while your body's just going to rebel," says the impossibly fit and healthy-looking 47-year-old rocker, who's appearing in North Wales next week with his latest band Loaded.

"I ended up with acute pancreatitis, although there's nothing 'cute' about it, and just got so angry at myself.

"I wasn't being fair on my mom - I mean, here was this lion of a woman, who was really sick herself, having to worry about me!" he splutters.

"It should have been the other way round, I should have been taking care of her. And, at that precise moment, I knew I had to get clean."

Flash forward 17 years of sobriety and McKagan has also just published a brutally candid autobiography - It's So Easy (And Other Lies) - about his ascent to rock superstardom, steep slide into addiction and subsequent recovery.

It's a book which, given its crazy accounts of Venezuelan drug lords, rioting fans, overdoses and excesses, is all the more amazing for ever getting written at all.

Indeed, such was McKagan's tolerance for swimming pool-sized quantities of booze that the makers of The Simpsons even named Homer's favourite tipple after him - Duff, The King Of Beers.

Continue Reading: walesonline.co.uk

NARCO SUB STOPPED WITH 7 TONS OF COCAINE

Article from: cnn.com

Nov 1, 2011 | No Comments
t1larg.narco.coast.guard.jpg
The United States Coast Guard said it recovered seven tons of cocaine from a narco sub, a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel that is used to transport illegal drugs. The drugs were brought to shore Monday in St. Petersburg, Florida, and will be handed over to the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida where the case is being handled.

This is the third semi-submersible to be stopped by the Coast Guard in the Caribbean Sea and the second interdiction by the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk.

Narco subs may become trend in Caribbean

"We've got two within about two weeks of each other," said Coast Guard Cmdr. Mark J. Fedor, the Mohawk's commanding officer. "It really makes you wonder how many of these things might be coming through."

This recent semi-submersible that didn't make it past law enforcement was stopped by the Mohawk on September 30.

"It was spotted by a maritime patrol aircraft," Fedor said. "We were a long way away from it.  We had to run at full sped for about 12 to 15 hours until we were in a spot to make the interdiction."

It was dark when the Mohawk arrived at the vessel, which was off the coast Honduras, said Fedor. A small boat that the Mohawk launched fired warning shots across the bow of the narco sub when it refused to stop.

"Once we did that they stopped,"said Fedor, "and right after they stopped they scuttled the vessel."

Continue Reading: cnn.com

DUI ANKLET COULD FREE UP PRICEY PRISON SPACE

Article from: sfexaminer.com

Nov 1, 2011 | No Comments
DUI offenders required to wear an electronic anklet that monitors their alcohol use are considerably less likely to be arrested for another DUI than offenders who do not, according to a recent report by a company that helps counties track the devices.

Yet the company's president says Bay Area judges too rarely administer the tool, especially judges in San Mateo County, which has the Bay Area's most overcrowded jails.

"It's just crazy," said Linda Connelly, president of Leaders in Community Alternatives in San Francisco. "DUI and hardcore drunk drivers are filling our jails. If we are able to use these tools for people and keep them clean and sober in their home and in the community, the odds of them getting out of the criminal justice system are improved."

Worn 24/7 by DUI offenders deemed eligible for the program by a judge, the SCRAM device measures alcohol released through the skin. Every 30 minutes, the data are relayed by modem from the wearer's home to Leaders in Community Alternatives, which investigates alcohol spikes or device tampering and reports its findings to county officials.

SCRAM is typically used in conjunction with Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or outpatient treatment.

"Being on SCRAM allowed me the opportunity to get into the rhythm of sobriety and abstinence again," said Orlando Perez, who was arrested in San Mateo County last year for his third DUI after falling off the wagon in 2006.

Continue Reading: sfexaminer.com

ESPN DOCUMENTS EX-BULLDOG HERREN'S DARK ADDICTIONS

Article from: fresnobee.com

Nov 1, 2011 | No Comments
baseketball.jpgLOS ANGELES -- Chris Herren was a highly touted basketball player when he was young. But his time at Boston College, Fresno State and the Boston Celtics became tainted by a decade-long addiction to cocaine, OxyContin and heroin.

"The tough times that my family went through, my children went through, I went through, it became a family illness," Herren says.

Emmy-winning filmmaker Jonathan Hock became interested in the rise and fall of Herren because sports didn't help him defeat his drug addiction.

"We tend to look to sports to provide the stage for redemption in life. And for Chris, it was when he gave up his sport where he was able to find his redemption. And that twist was very compelling to me," Hock says.

Hock compares Herren's story to the documentary he made on the life of football player Marcus Dupree. His ESPN documentary, "The Best That Never Was," showed how Dupree was one of the top prospects as a high school and college player, but he never lived up to those great expectations.

Herren -- who's been sober for more than three years -- agreed to the documentary because he wanted to shed more light on drug addiction and the recovery process. It was the same reason he co-wrote "Basketball Junkie: A Memoir" with Bill Reynolds, which documents his career on and off the court.

"No matter what depths you go to in life, if you give up, you can get up. And I think that's the beauty of this film," he says. "I think there's a lot of people out there. I don't care if the book sells another copy. I've received enough emails from people struggling in their addiction that have thanked me for it. So the book is a blessing."

Continue Reading: fresnobee.com

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