July 2012 Archives

By: Chris Barrett

American swimmer Anthony Ervin has revealed how he spiralled into a life of alcohol, drugs and sex addiction after he won gold in Sydney in an extraordinary interview coinciding with his Olympic Games comeback.

The 31-year-old Californian won a gold medal in the 50m freestyle in Sydney 2000 and, eight years after quitting the sport, is appearing in his second Olympics having again won a spot on the US team. A former world record holder over the one-lap thrash and dash, Ervin told Rolling Stone he had experimented with marijuana and psychedelic drugs while at university in the lead-up to qualifying for Sydney, and he also lowered his dosage for the drugs treating the Tourette's syndrome with which he had been diagnosed.

In the years afterwards, he told the magazine, swimming took a back seat to an existence centred around heavy drinking, drug use and womanising as he moved to New York and joined a band. It was a destructive lifestyle that he said, at its lowest ebb, featured a failed suicide attempt and a crash on his motorbike while trying to evade police.

Ervin said at the time he viewed women as "objects to destroy at will". "There were so many phases of casual sex, which now seems repugnant. Not that I don't believe it's a liveable lifestyle," Ervin said in the interview. "I just don't think it's for me. I can't handle it.


Continue Reading: smh.com

Actor Colin Farrell is surprised to still be working in Hollywood after burning "so many bridges" during his hell-raising heyday.

The Irish star took full advantage of his newfound fame after his breakthrough role in the 2002 sci-fi hit "Minority Report," and he fell into a downward spiral of substance abuse.

He entered rehab in 2005 for addiction to prescription and recreational drugs and quit drinking upon his release in 2006, and has since learned to embrace the "sweet simplicity" of his healthy lifestyle.

And Farrell, who will next appear in the "Total Recall" remake, insists he is lucky to still have a career after behaving so badly in his darkest moments.

The father-of-two tells Britain's Men's Health magazine, "I had burned so many bridges in the film industry that I couldn't get a f- meeting. But now I'm just enjoying life...

Continue Reading: sfgate.com

SOBERLINK -

I would like to share my story with you about how your device has changed my life.  I am an alcoholic and my battle with this disease has been a constant struggle of sobriety and relapse.  My marriage was in shambles and my loved ones did not trust me when I would say that I am staying sober.

Making things worse I travel a lot for work.  When I thought I could get away with drinking I did, always with horrible consequences. Now my wife has no idea if I am staying sober on my trips or if I'm on an all night drinking binge.

My wife recently found your product.  I was hesitant at first but after using it for a week I realized how incredible the product is.  I finally had a way to earn my family's trust back.

I don't need to send a lot of reports a day.  One at night and one in the morning is plenty to keep me accountable.  Because of SOBERLINK, my cravings are less.  There was one day when my batteries died and I instantly thought, maybe I could get away with drinking but then realized that 2 AAA's were just downstairs in the gift shop and I was OK.

I have suggested your product to other married friends of mine and they have seen similar success.  Addiction is a lifelong struggle and I thank you for creating a product that helps people like myself.  It is obviously not a cure and I will always need to go to my meetings but this product has helped me tremendously.

-Anonymous


For more information on Soberlink, visit www.soberlink.net or call 714-975-7200

Bassist speaks candidly about his battle with alcoholism and the new Muse songs it inspired

Muse's Chris Wolstenholme has spoken candidly about his battle with alcoholism.

The bassist's drinking problem had become so consuming by the time Muse came to record their 2009 album 'The Resistance' that his bandmates Matt Bellamy and Dom Howard were often left to work on their music alone.

Discussing the extent of his problem, Wolstenholme told NME: "Drinking all day every day is pretty bad. It's when you start getting to that point where you realise you can't function without it, where you wake up in the morning shaking and the first thing you do is go to the fridge and down a bottle of wine. That's how bad it was. I was incredibly unhealthy, overweight, a mess."

As well as affecting him physically, Wolstenholme also admitted that the drug had got to him "psychologically". He recalled: "You've got anxiety 24 hours a day, you feel your fucking life's about to end, you're very scared but you don't know what you're scared of."

Because he had previously witnessed first-hand the potentially tragic consequences of alcohol abuse, Wolstenholme was able to spot how severe his own problem had become. He explained: "There was only two ways to go: die in a few years or stop. The same happened to my dad, he was 40 when he died. I'd just turned 30 and it was that realisation that if I go the same way I could be dead in ten years. Ten years is not a long time."

Continue Reading: nme.com

By JULIÁN AGUILAR

EAGLE PASS, Tex. -- Freddie knows he is lucky. If he were six months older, he could be in a state prison.

Or he could have been labeled a snitch and treated as such by Mexican cartel operatives.

Or he could be dead. Instead, Freddie will be free in December after finishing a year of court-ordered juvenile probation in his drug smuggling case. And he owes his good fortune to Bruce Ballou, the chief juvenile probation officer for Maverick, Zavala and Dimmit Counties.

Mr. Ballou, who has held his position for a year, focuses on a "restorative justice" approach to rehabilitation. He has helped Freddie and other teenagers who have gotten caught up in the drug trade that flourishes on the Texas-Mexico border, but who are willing to turn their lives around.

"It is a forgiving piece, not necessarily a judicial hammer, but a piece where we put the victims back whole and we put back into the system instead of take away from the system," Mr. Ballou said of his approach, which includes teaching the teenagers skills like construction, electrical work and carpentry at detention centers. "The benefit to the kids is that they are learning a trade."

Mr. Ballou is also the driving force behind a planned South Texas juvenile detention village that will focus on helping others like Freddie. In November, six months before Freddie turned 17, he was on the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, just across the border from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, waiting for what he thought would be an 80-pound shipment of marijuana. After Freddie talked to his spotter, a Mexican soldier for the Zetas drug gang whom he knew only as Saul, a Mexican smuggler arrived with a load meant for Freddie. United States Border Patrol agents then moved in, and the teenager put his truck in reverse. In a panic, he ran into a pecan tree and was taken into custody, charged with possession of 400 -- not 80 -- pounds of marijuana.

Continue Reading: nytimes.com

A Minnesota bar wants women to remember to think before they drink. The bar has installed a dispenser with $3 pregnancy tests in the public women's bathrooms in an attempt to prevent fetal alcohol syndrome.

Tom Fredrik, owner of Pub 500 in Mankato, Minn., agreed to make the $3 pregnancy tests available at his bar.

"Strange, yes," Fredrik told Kare11. "But it took about 30 seconds to say yes."

The idea for the dispenser came from Jody Allen Crowe, an expert in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and executive director of Healthy Brains for Children, an organization dedicated to preventing prenatal exposure to alcohol.

The pregnancy tests can be purchased with the simple swipe of a debit card. On the face of the dispenser is a large sign that reads: "Think Before You Drink."

"If it gives you an informed decision at that point in time to stop drinking, your baby is going to be better for it," Crowe told Kare11.

The Think Before You Drink Initiative was launched on July 19, according to the Healthy Brains for Children website.

Pub 500 is the first establishment to feature the $3 pregnancy test dispenser, and some bar patrons are intrigued by the installment.

"It's either a cocktail or a kiddie cocktail from that point on," Pub 500 patron Trish Bordonaro told WQOW.

Continue Reading: huffingtonpost.com

By Dr. Manny Alvarez

The Obama administration has dropped the ball in curbing teen drug abuse.  As a father of teenagers and someone who is intimately involved in my community, never in the history of this country have I seen the amount of illegal drugs that are circulating in the streets - and personally I feel that the federal government is not doing its job.

I don't care about officially-released 'statistics' manipulated to show falling drug rates--just ask any parent what's going on in their own homes.

The problem is not only illegal drugs, but also the troubling trend of kids switching to household chemicals, or what some bureaucrats like to call legal substances, to get high.  A 2011 study found that one in nine high school seniors abuse synthetic marijuana, while 15.2 percent of teens abused prescription medicines. Let me expand on just a few of these easily-accessible drugs teens are using:

Cold medicines
For years, there have been reports of teenagers abusing common cold medicines such as Robitussin, NyQuil, Benadryl and Coricidin to get high.  The main culprit in these medicines is an ingredient called dextromethorphan (DXM), a cough suppressant which can cause hallucinations when used in large amounts. DXM is present in more than 80 over-the-counter cold medicines. In cases of overdose, users can suffer psychosis, brain damage, seizures and even death.  

Bath salts
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), bath salts typically contain amphetamine-like chemicals, such as methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MPDV), mephedrone and pyrovalerone.

Continue Reading: foxnews.com

Is Mayor Bloomberg quietly plotting to tackle the city's alcohol consumption again?

Despite a quick and angry backlash following the mayor's last attempt to limit the sale of booze in the city, The Post has caught wind of a 50-question survey currently being conducted via telephone and focused primarily on alcohol intake.

The city told potential pollsters the survey would explore "behavior patterns around unhealthy alcohol consumption and awareness of existing alcohol-related laws and standards."

The city's Health Department denied the poll was part of any initial steps leading to some type of ban and said the questions coincide with various other health initiatives and surveys routinely given to New Yorkers.

New Yorkers, of course, have every right to be wary. Bloomberg has a history of controversial public health policies, including his ban on trans-fat and smoking in public spaces. Even Bloomberg's divisive soda ban proposal appears as though it'll be a reality soon enough.

However, the city's drinking rate and alcohol related hospital visits continue to rise at a disconcerting pace. In 2009, the city saw 8,840 such visits, a 36 percent increase since 2000. As for emergency room visits stemming from binge drinking, in 2009 the rate nearly doubled in just six years.

Continue Reading: huffingtonpost.com

By DR. GEORGE GROSSBERG

As a doctor who takes care of older adults, I am often asked two types of questions about drinking or alcohol consumption.

An 80-year-old male patient, who is "sharp as a bell," recently told me that for the past many years his singular vice has been having  "a martini with two olives" every night before dinner. He wanted to know if this was medically acceptable, or whether he should quit.

An 84-year-old female patient, who is cognitively intact and a life-time teetotaler, had read that mild-moderate alcohol consumption (1-2 drinks/day) was good for the heart and may even decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

She asks: "Would you recommend that I start having a daily drink?"

Two studies presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Vancouver on Wednesday help us to better address these questions.

One study followed a group of women 65 or older who started out as non-drinker, mild drinkers, or moderate drinkers (no heavy drinkers, please).  After 20 years, they were evaluated for memory problems and dementia.  The women who went from non-drinking to any level of drinking increased their chances of developing memory or dementia problems by 200 percent.  Also, the women who were moderate drinkers at the start and stayed that way did not have a lower risk of developing problems than the ones who didn't drink the whole way through.  So going from teetotaler to any level of drinking was actually harmful.  Being a drinker from the start didn't necessarily hurt, but it wasn't protective.

Continue Reading: abcblog.com

By Rheana Murray

Authorities reportedly believe Sage Moonblood Stallone was a drug dealer before he died.

Law enforcement sources told TMZ.com it's a "likely scenario" that the eldest son of Sylvester Stallone was selling Hydrocodone, after dozens of empty prescription pill bottles were found in the 36-year-old's Los Angeles home.

Officials don't believe Stallone was an addict.

 "He was pudgy, and drug addicts are almost always rail thin," a law enforcement source told TMZ.com.

At the time of his death, the 5-foot-7 Stallone weighed 188 pounds.

Authorities told the website they didn't find any Hydrocodone tablets in the actor's home, but did find several baggies of white powder in his bedroom -- which could be the drug in a crushed-up form.

 More than 60 big prescription pill bottles, all empty, were also found, enough to hold more than 30,000 pills, according to TMZ.com.

Stallone was found dead of what TMZ.com said was an apparent overdose in his home July 13. Autopsy results have not yet been released.

According to TMZ.com, the actor's body was found surrounded by cigarette butts and beer cans, and may have been there for days before it was discovered by a housekeeper.


Continue Reading: nydailynews.com

By Lauren Effron

Former boxing heavyweight champ Mike Tyson said his role in "The Hangover," the hit 2009 film about three groomsmen and their drunken Vegas debauchery, actually helped him become sober and get his life back on track.

Tyson, who has had three stints in rehab for substance abuse, said he was still in a "dark place" when the movie was filming. But after it came out, he said one day he was swarmed by a tour group full of kids, who hugged him and asked him all sorts of questions about his "Hangover" performance, in which he played himself as the owner of a stolen white Bengal tiger.

"That changed everything for me, which I'm so appreciative," Tyson, 46, said. "That was just some good stuff."

In a brutally honest interview with "Nightline" anchor Terry Moran, Tyson opened up about his turbulent past, dealing with substance abuse and moving forward. The champ said he has been sober for over three years now, but still grapples with his demons every day.

"I'm just constantly working on turning. It doesn't happen overnight," he said. "I may have a good few years in me but it's still not out of me. You still have to work consistently. Every moment of the day you have to work because your demons always -- that's who you are."

After years of reigning supreme in the boxing ring, Tyson's career has been marked by struggle and heartache. Tyson served a three-year sentence in the '90s for a rape conviction, a crime he still denies he committed.

"I didn't do that," Tyson said. "I'm never going to say I did something I didn't do... I'm just so happy that it's over."

The champ's boxing career then suffered another major blow in 1997 when he bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during a fight. He has been married three times, and has sought treatment for his issues with drugs and alcohol abuse.

Continue Reading: abcnews.com

By Nicole Ostrow

Certain types of alcohol use after age 65 may affect memory and thinking, according to two studies that raise new questions about earlier research that suggested drinking may stymie cognitive decline.

People 65 and older who regularly consumed four or more alcoholic beverages at a time, a situation described in the study as binge-drinking, were more likely to have the highest drop-off in brain function and the most memory decline, according to one result. A second study reported that women who indulged heavily early in life or were moderate drinkers after 65 were more likely to have cognitive impairment.

Drinking alcohol had been thought to reduce the risk of cognitive decline in some older people, the Alzheimer's Association said in a statement. Today's reports, presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Vancouver, suggest more research is needed.

"It's clear that the pattern of drinking is important, that increasing alcohol consumption even to moderate levels may not be a good idea, and that there is a lot we don't know about this topic," said Iain Lang, lead author of the binge-drinking study and a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Exeter's Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry in the U.K. "Older adults should be cautious."

New research should be done to look at the effects of alcohol consumption, including how binge drinking at younger ages may affect people later in life, Lang wrote in an e-mail.

Continue Reading: businessweek.com

BY HEATHER R FITZGERALD
PUBLISHED JULY 18, 2012

When alcohol dependence is a factor in a child custody battle, the ruling may seem frightening for all parties involved.  According to the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, 1.08 million parents of minor children were admitted to the public treatment system within a year.  With this staggering number, many states have instated policies for drug and alcohol testing to determine the custodial eligibility of a parent.  However, without a way to monitor a parent in real time for alcohol use, an ex-spouse has no absolute assurance that the child is in the hands of a sober parent.  That is why judges and family law attorneys all over the country are turning to the product called SOBERLINK to provide what is stated in the product's name - a link between a person and sobriety.

Prior to SOBERLINK, Family Law courts were primarily using EtG urinalysis to test parents for alcohol use.  Along with being invasive and inconvenient, this type of testing is highly susceptible to false positives.  In a 2012 advisory report, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) determined: "Biomarkers, however, should not be used as the sole screening tool in light of their low-to-moderate sensitivity and specificity, and in the case of EtG, because of exposure to alcohol from sources other than drinking."  Dr. Gregory Skipper of Promises Treatment Center recently completed a study comparing the SOBERLINK product and EtG testing, and determined SOBERLINK more reliable than the EtG method.  He went on to say "SOBERLINK appears to be the most user-friendly, sensitive, and specific way to monitor alcohol abstinence.  My prediction is that SOBERLINK will soon replace all other forms of alcohol monitoring."

SOBERLINK is a handheld breathalyzer with a built-in camera that wirelessly sends real time reports of an individual's alcohol sobriety to cloud storage for remote access.  This unique technology is a convenient and reliable way for parents to prove accountability to one another or to the courts.  Each sobriety report includes the person's blood alcohol content (BAC), GPS location, real-time photo, and time of report.  This information is sent directly to the Monitoring Web Portal where the parent can log on to their account to view real time reports of their ex-spouse's alcohol sobriety. The web portal allows for automated text reminders to be sent to the parent being monitored when reports are due and direct alerts to be sent to designated contacts upon missed or failed tests.  With the easy access of real time reports, SOBERLINK is the perfect option for parents who need evidence in order to add trust into their child's custody arrangement.

Click here to watch the Soberlink Family Video.











Sources:
    National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
    SAMHSA Report
       

Carson City, NV - Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced today that the Nevada Drug Endangered Children (DEC) initiative has launched their website: www.decnevada.org. The Nevada Drug Endangered Children initiative is a statewide effort to identify and protect children at risk because of their caregivers' involvement in drug trafficking or substance abuse.

"The Nevada DEC website will strengthen this effort by making tools and resources available to practitioners in all parts of the state," said Masto. "It helps unify and centralize this statewide effort that helps protect our most vulnerable citizens, children. I applaud the Drug Endangered Children initiative in its efforts to raise public awareness and subsequent action on this issue."

"Our new Nevada DEC website will help us support the work of local practitioners throughout the state, said Allison Smith, Statewide Coordinator, Office of Drug Endangered Children in the Office of the Nevada Attorney General. This is an important step in raising awareness and providing resources for the benefit of drug endangered children."

The Nevada DEC initiative includes training for law enforcement, child protection, prosecutors, medical personnel, first responders, and others to develop a collaborative approach to identifying and serving drug endangered children.

The initiative is part of a national effort to break the cycle of abuse and neglect by empowering practitioners who work to transform the lives of children and families living in drug environments. A major goal of the initiative is to improve the systems that are designed to protect children by implementing a DEC multi-disciplinary approach in communities throughout the state. The DEC approach is proving to be an effective way to improve the way business is done. The Office of Drug Endangered Children facilitates formalization of the initiative through training and the establishment of multi-disciplinary protocols and procedures.

Continue Reading: lahontanvalleynews.com

By: RUSSELL GOLDMAN

Ohio police have arrested an alleged drug kingpin, a 17-year-old accused of running a multimillion dollar ring that distributed high-grade marijuana through two school districts and netted $20,000 a month.

When cops raided the boy's bedroom at his parents' home, they found over $6,000 in cash, prosecutors said.

Authorities have not released the student's name, because he was a 16-year-old minor at the time he committed the alleged drug deals. Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said the boy will be tried as juvenile.

Cops first became aware of a high-grade hydroponic strain of marijuana being sold for $350-$400 an ounce in the Mason school district near Cincinnati last year. An undercover agent began making buys at Mason High School, where the teenager was a student, and uncovered a dealing operation headed by the arrested student.

"The undercover officer uncovered six students or former students working for that individual and trafficking drugs in two school districts," Fornshell told ABC News.

"The group supplied an overwhelming amount of marijuana in the Mason and King school districts," Fornshell said.

The marijuana previously sold in the areas was a lower-grade variety smuggled into the U.S. through the border, but the weed they began seeing last year was a much more expensive product.

Continue Reading: abcnews.com

NEW YORK -- A new state law designed to curb the prescription drug addiction that kills one American every 19 minutes is a model for the country, New York officials said Monday.

Under I-STOP -- the Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing -- a real-time, central database of prescriptions will show pharmacists if a person has been "doctor shopping" for extra narcotics.

"I truly believe that this is the most important legislation that we have seen passed in decades," state Sen. Andrew Lanza said. "And that's because this problem, this scourge, this epidemic, is so severe that it's ripped apart families across the nation."

The I-STOP plan was recently passed by both houses of the New York Legislature and is awaiting the signature of Gov. Andrew Cuomo before it goes into action next year, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.

Doctors and pharmacists will be required to monitor a patient's prescription history before supplying increasingly popular painkillers containing oxycodone, the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and Percodan.

"I-STOP will save lives," said Schneiderman.

He was joined by two legislators who pushed the bill through the state Senate and Assembly -- Lanza, a Republican from Staten Island, and Democratic Assemblyman Michael Cusick, also from that borough.

They joined Schneiderman at a community clinic on Staten Island, which is New York's oxycodone distribution capital and has reported more pharmacy robberies than bank holdups.

Sales of oxycodone in the New York borough that's a ferry ride from Manhattan rose by 1,200 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to federal Drug Enforcement Administration figures.

In March, prosecutors broke up a Staten Island drug ring that used an ice cream truck to peddle black-market prescription painkillers.

Across the United States, armed robberies at pharmacies rose 81 percent between 2006 and 2010, from 380 to 686, according to the DEA.

Schneiderman said he's in touch with other attorneys general who could copy New York's efforts to stop prescription drug abuse, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kills one person every 19 minutes nationwide.

According to Schneiderman, fatalities on Staten Island linked to accidental overdoses of prescription drugs increased by 147 percent from 3 per 100,000 in 2005 to 7.4 per 100,000 in 2009 -- more than double the rate of any other New York borough.

Continue Reading: cbsnews.com

By Courtney Hazlett

Singer Elton John sat down with TODAY's Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview about his memoir, "Love is the Cure: On Life, Loss and the End of AIDS." John spoke candidly about the decades leading up to where he is now, saying that he "wasted" much of his time on drugs and addiction, especially during the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

"I wasted such a big part of my life, when this epidemic was beginning to happen in the early 1980s. And I was a drug addict and self-absorbed," he told Lauer from his home outside London. "You know, I was having people die right, left and center around me, friends.  And yet, I didn't stop the life that I had, which is the terrible thing about addiction.  It's that -- you know, it's that bad of a disease."

In his book -- sales of which will benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation -- John writes, "I was consumed by cocaine, booze, and who knows what else.  I apparently never got the memo that the me generation had ended."

John told Lauer he feels guilty about that time, but "I'm making up for it.  There is so much more to be done."

The two also discussed John's sexuality, and his fears -- or lack thereof -- about living publicly as a gay man, even though coming out impacted his career.

"In America, people burned my records for a second and radio stations didn't play me.  It didn't have any effect like the Dixie Chicks had when they made the anti-Iraq statements and their career was ruined," John said. "So by me saying gay in the 1970s -- it didn't have a big effect on me whatsoever."

Continue Reading: msnbc.com

By Jamie Sotonoff

When Chelsea Laliberte's parents broke the news that her brother, Alex, had died of a heroin overdose, she angrily screamed "I told you so!"

Laliberte spent months warning her parents that Alex's drinking and pot smoking had escalated to harder drugs. Their mother, Jody Daitchman, admits she didn't believe her daughter, and was blindsided when she found her son dead in their Buffalo Grove home in 2008.

Alex's death devastated the entire family, but as his sister and friend, Laliberte, then 23, had different emotional issues to deal with than her parents did, including her anger toward them combined with her own guilt and grief.

"That's a lot to carry with me. And after he died, I was expected to support my parents, which I tried to do," said Laliberte, 27, who now lives in Chicago. "There was no support for siblings. I tried to go to a support group, but I remember feeling like I was the only sibling there, and the only person under the age of 40."

Now, both nationally and locally, there is a growing focus on the emotional needs of the non-addicted siblings in families dealing with substance abuse. Addiction treatment centers are offering more sibling support, including a program at Highland Park Hospital, as are national groups with suburban chapters, such as Compassionate Friends, Nar-Anon and GRASP (Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing).

Laliberte is toying with the idea of starting a sibling support group, offering herself up as someone to talk to who's been down this terrible and difficult road. She's currently working on a book about being a grieving sibling, and finds comfort running Live4Lali, a charity she created in her brother's memory. The nonprofit will host its 4th annual drug awareness-raising fundraiser, "Lalipalooza," Saturday at the Par King in Lincolnshire.

Continue Reading: dailyherald.com

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor

New research suggests adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in youth can influence adult health behavior.

In a new study, researchers explain how these events can influence adult smoking behaviors, especially for women. Their findings, which suggest that treatment and strategies to stop smoking need to take into account the psychological effects of childhood trauma, are found in BioMed Central's open access journal Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy.

Experts say that ACEs can range from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse to neglect and household dysfunction; and they affect a large range of people.

In one of the largest studies of ACEs, a survey over 60 percent of adults reported a history of at least one event. ACEs are thought to have a long-term effect on the development of children and can lead to unhealthy coping behavior later in life.

Prior research has shown that some psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety increase the risk of smoking. In the current study, researchers collaborated to investigate the effects of psychological distress on the relationship between ACE and current adult smoking.

The ACE questionnaire was completed by over 7000 people, about half of whom were women. Even after adjusting the data for factors known to affect a person's propensity for smoking (such as their parents smoking during the subject's childhood, and whether or not they had drunk alcohol in the previous month), women who had been physically or emotionally abused were 1.4 times more likely to smoke.

Researchers discovered having had a parent in prison during childhood doubled chances of women smoking.

Continue Reading: psychcentral.com

By Ryan Gorman

The war on drugs is going even further underground.

The Mexican army uncovered a drug tunnel Thursday in Tijuana, marking the second time in as many days a drug tunnel built by a Mexican drug cartel has been uncovered at the border.

"(The tunnel) came up to the border fence and was headed into the Otay Mesa (industrial) area," San Diego Immigration Customs and Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack told the Daily News, "It was the beginning of a sophisticated tunnel." Mack added that it ran over 650 feet.

Mack said that the entry to the tunnel "was under a sink in the warehouse" where it was discovered.

This was the first major tunnel to be found in San Diego since two others were uncovered in November last year in consecutive weeks.

No arrests have yet been made in connection with this latest tunnel, said Mack. No links have been made to any cartels, but the dominant drug-smuggling operation in the area is the violent Sinaloa Cartel, she said.

Continue Reading: nydailynews.com

Alice G. Walton

What was once thought to be a boon for the medical community seems to be backfiring, as "non-addictive" prescription drugs are effectively ushering users to street drugs instead. Two years ago, a non-addictive (or "abuse-deterrent") form of the widely prescribed opioid OxyContin was made available for doctors to prescribe. Its main differences are that it's harder to mash up for snorting purposes, and less dissolvable in liquid for injection purposes. But as promising as the drug was once thought to be, users are still getting their high by turning to other, more dangerous drugs.

"Our data show that OxyContin use by inhalation or intravenous administration has dropped significantly since that abuse-deterrent formulation came onto the market," says Theodore J. Cicero, a professor of neuropharmacology in psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis. "In that sense, the new formulation was very successful."

OxyContin used for the purpose of getting high dropped from 47% in people who were opioid abusers to 30%, after the new "abuse-deterrent formulation" was released.

But people don't seem to be conquering their opioid addictions - rather, they're simply turning elsewhere to get a similar high.

During the same year-long period, heroin use doubled, pointing out unwanted and perhaps unanticipated effects of the new "non-addictive" formulation. "The most unexpected, and probably detrimental, effect of the abuse-deterrent formulation was that it contributed to a huge surge in the use of heroin, which is like OxyContin in that it also is inhaled or injected," says Cicero.

Continue Reading: forbes.com

In Mexico, the media called her  "La Bonita," the pretty one, or "La Chula," the beautiful one  or "La Reina del Crimen," the queen of Mexican crime.

Mexican authorities long alleged Anel Violeta Noriega Rios, 27, was a top operative in the La Familia drug cartel working out of the United States. They claimed she helped smuggle drugs from Mexico into the United States, once using a gardening company to move drugs brought by sea into Long Beach.

But when authorities arrested Noriega Rios at a modest El Monte apartment last week on immigration charges, there were no indications the woman had a 5-million peso reward on her head.

"It is the last place you'd expect to find someone who was supposed to have run so many drugs," a source familiar with the investigation told The Times.

When announcing Noriega Rios' arrest on Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called her a "main U.S.-based operative" in the La Familia cartel, a group often characterized as ruthless and cult-like, known for moving mostly methamphetamine - but cocaine and marijuana too -- into the U.S. from the Mexican state of Michoacan.

Authorities began watching Noriega Rios in El Monte upon request from Mexican officials, who received a tip indicting she was living in the working-class San Gabriel Valley city. After authorities were able to determine the woman was in fact Noriega Rios, they arrested her without incident.

They confirmed her identity later using fingerprints, sources said.

Immigration officials said Noriega Rios was arrested in the United States and deported to Mexico five times between 2004 and 2005 but has no criminal convictions in the U.S.

She was handed over to Mexican authorities in San Ysidro on Friday.

Continue Reading: latimes.com

By Betsy Shaw

An article from the Telegraph UK focuses on just how destructive the inability to conceive can be on a woman's mental health.

The article cites a Danish study that has led fertility experts in Great Britain to label infertility as a disease and urge greater public funding for IVF, which is, according to this report, notoriously restrictive in Great Britain.

The study, which looked at 100,000 women who had visited a fertility clinic, revealed that those who were never able to get pregnant were twice as likely to be hospitalized for alcoholism or substance abuse and 47 percent more likely to display signs of schizophrenia or be hospitalized for an eating disorder.

Study leader Dr. Birgitte Baldur- Felskov emphasized the fact that this study only takes those who were hospitalized into account. Factoring in those women who may have been treated as an outpatient, or not at all, could shed even more light on this problem. It's also important to note this affect of infertility on mental health doesn't appear to be a temporary condition:

    "Dr Baldur-Felskov also said the results suggested that the psychological impact of unwanted childlessness was not just a transient phase. This was because the risks were equally strong more than a decade after women had seen a fertility specialist, as they were in the years immediately following their attempts to get pregnant.

Interestingly, the study also suggested that women who weren't able to get pregnant were 10 percent less likely to be hospitalized for depression than those who did.

British fertility expert Dr. Allan Pacey was quoted in the article expressing his surprise at the findings and also his determination to advocate for infertile women:

    He said the study showed that infertility was "more than just wanting to have a baby."
    He added: "I think it illustrates my personal frustration with all those people who say infertility isn't a disease and it shouldn't be funded because having a baby is a lifestyle choice."

This seems an important finding to me. I think those of us who don't struggle with infertility can't ever know what those who do are going through. I can understand how many women suffer in silence, stifled and invalidated by the not-so-helpful comments made by insensitive and well-meaning people alike who suggest they accept their fate and move on, consider adoption, or try not to let infertility define them.

Continue Reading: blog.babycenter.com

Soberlink, Inc.'s alcohol monitoring product receives positive feedback within several prominent treatment centers in the addiction recovery community.
COSTA MESA, CA, July 08, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Soberlink, Inc., a technology-based company that develops products to automate the alcohol monitoring process, is seeing momentous success within the treatment community. The company has continuously enhanced the automation and convenience of their remote alcohol monitoring product in response to the needs of a rapidly growing customer base, including some of the most influential treatment centers in the country. The expanding popularity and confidence in this monitoring product has been promoted by the no-risk 30 day free trial that Soberlink, Inc. offers to their new customers.

The current SOBERLINK product is a breathalyzer with a built-in camera that uses a customized Smartphone to wirelessly transmit a person's BAC, GPS, real-time photo, and time of breath test to secure cloud storage. Soberlink's Monitoring Web Portal consists of unlimited, password protected cloud storage of client sobriety reports, along with downloadable client records, customization of test schedules, text reminders to clients, and direct alert emails and/or texts to supervisors upon missed, late, or failed tests, making the system optimal for immediate action.

The discreet, handheld breathalyzer and real-time remote reporting system with automated functions create the perfect monitoring tool for facilities focused on intensive outpatient care or aftercare monitoring. Roy Thomas, owner of The Bridges Network in Arizona, was eager to contribute his opinion of the monitoring solution: "Ours is an intensive aftercare program where accountability is foundational in helping guide clients successfully through the first tender year of sobriety. SOBERLINK's real-time accuracy, location assessment and user picture feature is rock solid. SOBERLINK is brilliant in its simplicity and comprehensive in its results. We could not imagine a better tool for our efforts." For more information about the no-risk 30 day free trial, call 714-975-7200.

Soberlink, Inc. is a technology-based company that develops products to streamline and automate the alcohol monitoring process. Soberlink's initial product holds the title of the first handheld breathalyzer to remotely monitor a person's blood alcohol content using wireless technology. The company was founded in 2010 by CEO, Brad Keays and is now headquartered in Costa Mesa, CA. Call 714-975-7200 or visit www.soberlink.net to learn more.

Continue Reading: digitaljournal.com

There are days I wonder if overcoming the horrific impact of an addiction to alcohol isn't more challenging than illicit drugs ( heroin, cocaine, meth..) .   Drinking booze  is socially more acceptable and not illegal and those who "overdrink" themselves silly rationalize that it is OK - " why can't I drink whenever I want"  says the drunk as he staggers away from the argument brewing over his/her problem.   I believe that the disease/injury to the brain is more severe and long term - even resulting in permanent damage  than many others substances. I have seen for many of our clients that the access to alcohol clearly makes early recovery bumpy.

There have been exciting advances in the medication management of alcoholism that eases the discomfort of early sobriety through the use of Naltrexone ( Vivitrol) or now even Suboxone  is being introduced to alcoholics.  We appreciate all the treatment tools that compliment recovery such as 12 step meetings that  provide a support network and outpatient systems of care help mitigate the underlying causes that lead to the "overdrinking" behavior .  Often that is not even when it comes to helping someone be accountable/

At the I Promise Foundation we have introduced the use of the SOBERLINK device for our alcoholics who continue to struggle with sobriety.  This is a daily testing program that captures the breathe and a picture of the user through the cell phone.  GO figure - a cell phone can probably walk your dog if a code-writer genius would just create the application.  ( maybe they have - I'm still figuring out how to text)

www.soberlink.net - Accountability

The SOBERLINK breathalyzer works in conjunction with the SOBERLINK Smartphone to collect the person's blood alcohol content (BAC), digital photograph, GPS location, and time of test. This detailed sobriety report is wirelessly sent to password protected cloud storage on SOBERLINK's Monitoring Web Portal, where test results can be accessed from any computer.

This is  a great asset that is affordable and easy to use for anyone who has a DUI or is facing pending legal charges to mitigate jail time while the indiviudal enters early recovery.  Or for a family that is allowing an alcoholic loved one to live at home VS being homeless.  If a family can't afford traditional treatment this is a great option to start with.

Call the I Promise Foundation for more information about having your loved one use SOBERLINK   801-472-9780

Continue Reading: yourrecoverynews.com

By Logan Burruss

(CNN) -- Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had no traces of alcohol in her system when she took her own life in May, according to a toxicology report released Friday by the Westchester County medical examiner.

Kennedy, who had been battling depression, was found dead May 16 in Bedford, New York, a small town north of New York City where she lived. The medical examiner's office determined Kennedy died as a result of asphyxiation due to hanging. She was 52.

While no traces of alcohol were found in Kennedy's system, the medical examiner's report did find Trazodone, O-Desmethylvenlafaxine and Venlafaxine -- substances the National Institute of Health categorizes as anti-depressants.

Mary Kennedy married Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 1994. The prominent environmental lawyer is the third of 11 children born to Ethel and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was gunned down in 1968.

Details of the couple's private life were exposed when Robert Kennedy filed for divorce in May 2010.

After that, Mary Kennedy was charged once with driving while intoxicated and once with driving while impaired by prescription drugs, according to Bedford police.

Continue Reading: cnn.com

By Yardena Schwartz

Alyssa Dedrick was 15 when she began drinking and taking drugs. A year later, she found herself in her first treatment center. It wasn't voluntary, and she missed hanging out with her friends, who were still experimenting with pot, OxyContin, Percocet and heroin. But her first treatment program didn't work, because as soon as Dedrick went back to school, she went right back to her old ways. She received treatment four more times, with the same results.

Finally, she and her mother realized that the answer to her seemingly unstoppable problem was not the treatment she received, but where she went when it was over. After her fifth treatment program at the end of her junior year, Dedrick truly wanted to recover. This time, she and her mother decided, she wouldn't go back to her old high school. Rather than facing the same temptations and triggers, surrounded by friends who weren't committed to recovery, Dedrick started her senior year at Northshore Recovery High School. It was minutes away from her old high school in Massachusetts, but may as well have been on a different planet.

"I remember going in and thinking, 'This is a place full of other kids just like me,'" said Dedrick, now 24 and a recent graduate of Clark University.  Dedrick has been clean for five years now, and believes her life would be very different  if she hadn't finished high school at Northshore Recovery.

"There was a 50/50 chance of me either dying or getting better," said Dedrick. "I think going to a recovery school really increased my odds, not only of recovery, but of survival in general."

Continue Reading: msnbc.com

By TIMOTHY W. MARTIN

In the latest sign of how entrenched the nation's epidemic of painkiller misuse has become, people are also abusing treatments meant to cure their addiction.

Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to file for Food and Drug Administration approval in September for a matchstick-size implant of buprenorphine, a drug that eases withdrawal symptoms. Current versions of the drug normally come in a pill or strip, but many are being diverted to the black market and taken to get high, because they contain small amounts of opioids, or used more heavily by addicts than they should be to relieve withdrawal symptoms, according to Titan as well as law enforcement officials.

Buprenorphine is abused by injecting or snorting crushed tablets, according to the Center for Substance Abuse Research at the University of Maryland, the same methods addicts use to get high from oxycodone or any other powerful painkiller.

The San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company is hoping to cut down on abuse of buprenorphine by offering the implant--called Probuphine--which is inserted just under the skin in the upper arm and releases continuous, small doses of the drug over a six-month period. "You cannot easily remove these implants from the arm," said Katherine L. Beebe, a senior vice president with Titan.

Drugs like buprenorphine are on the market in ever greater quantities to help combat a growing epidemic of painkiller abuse. Pharmacies dispensed enough painkillers last year to keep every American adult medicated around the clock for a month, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated two million Americans are addicted to the prescription opioids. Of that number, 800,000 are currently receiving treatment, Titan said.

Methadone, another drug used to treat addiction, now causes 30% of prescription painkiller deaths, putting it second behind painkilling drugs containing oxycodone, according to the CDC.

Continue Reading: wsj.com

In anticipation of the Fourth of July holiday, some counties in Michigan are trying a unique approach. Urinals in 10 bars and restaurants are being outfitted with an audio device that asks patrons to call a cab or a friend if they are too drunk to drive - and to wash their hands.

By Makini Brice

The audio device in the urinal cakes is outfitted with a woman's voice. This is probably because research indicates that men and women both prefer female voices, possibly because of evolutionary purposes.

The unveiling of one such a device took place Monday at Goog's Pub and Grub. The restaurant was one of 10 local establishments in Ottawa, Bay, Wayne, and Delta counties piloting the feature in collaboration with Michigan's Licensed Beverage Association and law enforcement agencies.

During the Fourth of July weekend last year, eight people died in traffic collisions in Michiagan. Three of those people were drunk. In total, 319 people died last year due to impaired driving caused by alcohol or drugs. These fatalities account for over a third of traffic accident fatalities and while that number is down from 2010, but law enforcement officials say that it is still too much.

The program is currently only targeting men. While the actual reason as outlined by the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department was not given, according to statistics furnished by a 2008 paper written at Washington State University, men are arrested at a far greater rate for drunk driving than women are.

Continue Reading: medicaldaily.com

Experts advise parents to be alert, help kids structure their days

By: Steven Reinberg

TUESDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- More teenagers start drinking and smoking cigarettes and marijuana in June and July than in any other months, U.S. health officials say.

During each of those summer days, more than 11,000 teens on average use alcohol for the first time, 5,000 start smoking cigarettes and 4,500 try marijuana, according to the report, which was released Tuesday by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

"These months include periods when adolescents are on a break from school and have more idle time; they have fewer structured responsibilities and less adult supervision," said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.

The findings are based on data from the administration's annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health for the years 2002 to 2012, which include interviews with more than 230,000 teens.

December is the only other month in which substance-start rates approach June and July levels, according to the report.

During the rest of the year, daily first-time alcohol use runs from 5,000 to 8,000 occurrences a day. Approximately 3,000 to 4,000 teens start smoking cigarettes, and about the same number try marijuana, according to the report.

More teenagers start using hallucinogens and inhalants in the summer, the researchers found. There was, however, no such increase in those starting to use cocaine or abuse prescription drugs.

Parents need to know that summertime is when their teens are more likely to start smoking, drinking and using drugs, Clark said.

Continue Reading: health.usnews.com

Researchers in journal Pediatrics say up to 7% of mental illnesses could be blamed on corporal punishment

By Linda Kinstler AND Tracy Connor

SPARE THE ROD and you spoil the child, the saying goes. But spank your kid regularly and they might wind up with mental problems.

That's the conclusion of a provocative new study that links physical punishment like slapping, hitting or grabbing to anxiety, depression, substance abuse and other disorders down the line.

"This study documents that even simple spanking and corporal punishment can lead to adverse outcomes," said Dr. Victor Fornari, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the North Shore-LIJ Health System.

"Hopefully, this study will bring to people's attention that hitting our kids is not a good thing."

Previous studies have tied physical or sexual abuse to mental illness, but the large-scale Canadian study looked at the effects of less severe corporal punishment that many parents use to discipline their children.

It found that kids who were spanked or hit sometimes had a greater chance of developing depression, mood disorders, phobias, drug problems or major personality disorders.

The increase wasn't dramatic, but it was found across the board. The researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics that up to 7% of mental illnesses could be attributed to the punishment.

The results didn't impress New York parents who admitted to swatting their children to keep them in line.

"I think it's necessary, especially at a younger age," said Pamela Alvarez, 38, a Staten Island mom of a 11-year-old and a 6-year-old.

"Certainly anything to do with physical touch is a sensitive thing. But if there's love in the family, if you emphasize that this is a home and that Mommy and Daddy love you, and it's a safe home environment, then I think it works."

"I don't think spanking is wrong," said Heather Dufek, 35, of Harlem, who has three kids between the age of 2 and 8. "I think there's a place for it. It's how I was raised, and I think I'm a really well-adjusted adult."


Continue Reading: nydailynews.com

By: Jennifer Welsh

Could one shot cure a hard drug addiction? Researchers have developed not one, but two cocaine vaccines that show promise in blocking the highly addictive drug before it reaches the brain.

The vaccines have been successful in monkeys and mice injected with cocaine.

The vaccines were both developed by teams led by Ronald Crystal, a researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. They could be the first of a new line of anti-addiction treatments that use our own bodies to fight off addiction.

"Cocaine addiction is a major social problem. It s causes changes to behavior, it's expensive and it's illegal," Crystal told LiveScience. "It's very difficult to stop. If we could successfully develop a cocaine vaccine it would really be a very positive social advance."

The vaccines are still in the labs and not yet available for humans, but could be within a few years, Crystal said. They use antibodies -- proteins of the immune system that attach to potentially dangerous molecules, tagging them for take-down by white blood cells -- against a cocaine-like molecule to clear the body of the drug. [Trippy Tales: The History of 8 Hallucinogens]

Active immunity

The first so-called "active" vaccine uses harmless viral proteins to introduce the body's immune system to a cocaine-like molecule. The body's immune system sees the virus-molecule combination as a threat and produces anti-cocaine antibodies.

The latest work on this vaccine was presented June 12 at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's annual meeting in Miami Beach by study researcher Shankar Vallabhajosula, also of Weil Cornell Medical College.

Continue Reading: foxnews.com

PHOTO: A man presented by authorities as Alfredo Guzman Salazar is shown to the media in Mexico City, Thursday, June 21, 2012. As it turns out, the man is really Felix Beltran Leon, 23. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

(AP) MEXICO CITY - After working months with U.S. intelligence, the Mexican navy said it believed it had nabbed a big prize in a known Guadalajara narco-haven: the son of Mexico's top fugitive drug lord.

But it turned out they got the wrong man.

The man arrested Thursday as the presumed son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is really Felix Beltran Leon, 23, and not Alfredo Guzman Salazar, as the Mexican Navy had presented him, the Attorney General's Office said Friday.

The stocky, baby-faced suspect had been presented as the son of Guzman, the chief of the Sinaloa Cartel, and a Navy official described him as a rising operator in the international drug trafficking organization.

But Beltran Leon's wife, Karla Pacheco, said he is the father of a toddler and works with his mother-in-law at a used car dealership.

The Attorney General's Office said that "necessary tests" had proved that he wasn't the drug lord's son, but said he would remain under investigation for the guns and money found during his arrest.

"There is total confusion," said Beltran Leon's lawyer Veronica Guerrero,"... which is having a serious effect on their personal and family situation."

Continue Reading: cbsnews.com