Nov 14 Drug Headlines

PRESCRIPTION - US & JAPAN
FDA to parents: Watch for 'abnormal behavior' onTamiflu - CNN
More than 100 recent cases of delirium, hallucinations and other unusual psychiatric behavior in Japanese patients treated with Tamiflu should have parents watching for similar reactions when treating their children with the flu drug. That's the new advice from the Food and Drug Administration in adding a new precaution to the label of the influenza drug, prescribed about 2 million times a year in the United States.

GENERAL - AFRICA
Teenager wins battle against addiction - The Herald, South Africa
In the biannual alcohol and drug abuse trends study conducted by the Medical Research Council for the period July to December 2005, it was found that the Eastern Cape had the highest percentage of known cocaine and mandrax users in South Africa.

GENERAL - US
Wipes Used to Detect Drugs on School Surfaces; Foreheads Eyed - Join Together
Some New York area schools are using "DrugWipes" to detect drug residue left on surfaces such as student lockers from contact with student sweat, the New York Post reported Nov. 13.

GENERAL - RUSSIA
Officially drugs kill 8,000 Russians yearly, unofficially 70,000
Eight thousand deaths were registered from illegal drug use in Russia last year, but unofficial estimates suggest total drug-related fatalities may be as high as 70,000 per year, the government's narcotics watchdog said Tuesday.

GENERAL - CANADA
Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Costs Ontario $34 Billion - Canada News Wire
A new study released today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) reveals that, in the year 2000, the economic cost of mental disorders and substance abuse in Ontario was $33.9 billion.

ALCOHOL - UK
Alcohol Concern: New Evidence on Alcohol - Related Deaths are just the Tip of the Iceberg - Alcohol Concern
Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics putting alcohol-related deaths at 8,386 do not fully capture the scale of the problem, Alcohol Concerns Annual Conference will hear today. The charity, which is launching a national campaign to persuade Government and local health authorities to put more money into alcohol treatment services has just released a new report: Wasted: lives lost to Alcohol.

CANNABIS - US
Cannabis: A token issue no longer - The Daily Reveille
These ballot initiatives asked voters to legalize the possession of marijuana in some way. South Dakotans were asked to decide whether they should become the 12th state in the Union to allow medical marijuana.

OPIUM - AFGHANISTAN
If not opium, then what? - Channel 4 News
It's difficult to exaggerate the scale of the opium production problem in Afghanistan. President Karsai has said that either Afghanistan destroys opium or opium will destroy Afghanistan. The United Nations estimates that poppy cultivation is up by nearly 60 per cent this year.

MARIJUANA - ITALY
Government lifts marijuana limit - Italy Magazine
The centre-left government announced on Monday that it had raised the amount of marijuana a person can carry without being arrested for dealing.

PRESCRIPTION - US
Academic Doping In Local Classrooms - WKRC
The search for academic perfection may be fueling a disturbing drug trend on local high school and college campuses. Nationally, one in 10 teenagers say they've taken Adderall or Ritalin without a doctor's order. The stimulants, typically prescribed for ADHD, are often taken from parents' medicine cabinets and sold to classmates.

METH - UK
Drug use 'behind crumbling euros' - BBC
Users of the drug crystal methamphetamine may be causing euro banknotes to disintegrate, German police have told Der Spiegel magazine. Sulphates used in the production of the drug could form sulphuric acid when mixed with human sweat, they say, causing banknotes to corrode.