June 14th Drug Addiction News

PAINKILLER – IRELAND
Study finds 'worrying' lack of knowledge on medicines – Irish Independent
Almost one in every two people would give aspirin to a child under 16 years - even though it could have fatal consequences, a survey has found.

DRUGS – USA
Duval leads in drug deaths – Florida Times-Union
The Jacksonville area led the state in alprazolam, cocaine and hydrocodone-related deaths in a study released this week by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

DRUGS – USA
Oxycodone deaths double; cocaine declines – TCPalm Local News
The potent pain reliever oxycodone was found at lethal levels in more than twice the number of bodies that crossed the local four-county medical examiner's autopsy tables in 2006 compared to 2005.

METHADONE – ITALY
A ray of hope – Dublin People
In Suluzzo, Northern Italy, a nun named Sister Elvira was concerned by the destruction she saw among young Italians through drug abuse and felt called to do something to help them.

ALCOHOL – USA
Alcohol: A weapon of mass destruction – African Path
They call me alcohol. I live in a bottle but I like swimming in people’s heads. I’m unbeatable. I fail and fall people. I’m a weapon of mass destruction.

ALCOHOL – USA
Winfield board approves policy for alcohol testing – Winfield Daily Courier
Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, students at Winfield High School and their guests at school events will be subject to preliminary breath tests administered by local law enforcement and school officials.

METH –CANADA
Sweet-tasting drug targets children – Today’s Family News
A new type of sweet-tasting methamphetamine, which is intended to lure younger children, may be on its way to Canadian streets.

CANNABIS – UK
Majority of cannabis 'home grown' – BBC News
Many cannabis plants have also been selectively bred, to produce a much stronger drug called super skunk.

DRUGS – AUSTRALIA
Children part of drug solution – Herald Sun
CHILDREN in early primary school must learn about illicit drugs and should be part of their parents' drug treatment programs, experts say.

CANNABIS – AUSTRALIA
Cannabis education centre expected by end of year – ABC News Online
A new research and education centre targeting cannabis is expected to be up and running by the end of this year.

May 23rd Drug Addiction News

CANNABIS – UK
Cannabis that can be worn, not smoked at Chelsea Flower Show – Times Online
Cannabis plants have been put on display at the Chelsea Flower Show to educate visitors about the uses plants can be put to.

OPIUM – CHINA
Countries mull drug-control measures – China Daily News
China is considering further cooperation with other Greater Mekong subregional countries to eradicate opium poppy cultivation within the notorious Golden Triangle.

OPIUM – UK
FEATURE-Iran, like the West, has a drugs problem – Reuters AlertNet
Young Iranians queue for methadone to help end years of drug addiction. Elsewhere in the building, a pale, bearded man lies motionless on a bed, his eyes closed, after starting detoxification.

METH – USA
Boozman Introduces Anti-Meth Bill – Today’s THV
U.S. Representative John Boozman (R-AR) today introduced critical legislation to protect America’s children from drug dealers who market directly to minors.

ALCOHOL – USA
Governor won't allow alcohol at state fair – Akron Beacon Journal
Alcohol sales will not be allowed at the Ohio State Fair, Gov. Ted Strickland announced Tuesday, striking down proposals to start some beer and wine sales.

ALCOHOL – MALAYSIA
Global campaign planned to target alcohol abuse – Malaysia Sun
The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday agreed to target alcohol and alcohol addiction worldwide with a campaign warning against the risks of abuse.

METH – USA
Flavored Meth Worries – Join Together
National news reports have highlighted concerns about drug dealers adding kid-friendly flavorings to methamphetamine.

DRUGS – USA
Fingerprint Instead Of Blood Sample To Detect Drugs And Diseases – Medical News Today
To this day, fingerprints are just the thing when a perpetrator needs to be arrested or a person needs to be identified. British scientists working with David A. Russell also want to make it possible to use fingerprints to reveal drug and doping transgressions and to diagnose diseases.

DRUGS – USA
Director Speaks on Substance Abuse Treatment, Addiction Treatment to UCLA's American Medical Students Association – Press Release Web
Michael Cahlin was recently a guest speaker for the ASMA (American Students Medical Association), where he spoke of substance abuse treatment and addiction treatment to the premed chapter in Franz Hall on the UCLA campus.

METH – USA
OCF grants target meth; emphasis put on families – The Mail Tribune
Local efforts to prevent methamphetamine use and break the cycle of addiction secured the largest portion of nearly $2 million in private grants awarded recently.

May 19th Drug Addiction News

METH – USA
Nevada Praised For Action in Combating Methamphetamine – KRNV News
Nevada is getting praise from Democratic attorneys general from several other states for taking steps to stem an "epidemic" of methamphetamine use.

METH – AUSTRALIA
Doctors to fight ice – Sky News
Doctors are being urged to help end the nation's ice epidemic and lead the fight against methamphetamines.

COCAINE – UK
Exile and extinction face a tribe that lost everything to cocaine – Times Online
The Wounaan Indians have been driven out by rebels, militias and a craving for drugs in the rich world.

COCAINE – COLUMBIA
Cocaine Comes to Canada – Shared Responsibility
Edmonton’s economy is booming, but, unfortunately so is it’s cocaine consumption.

METHADONE – USA
Methadone Leading Cause of Overdose Victims in Kentucky – WKYT News
A state medical examiner's report says methadone is the prescription drug that was most frequently detected in the blood of fatal overdose victims.

ALCOHOL – USA
More Community Underage Drinking Prevention Efforts Target Parents – Join Together
As graduation and prom season approaches, more communities are expanding their underage drinking prevention strategies to include parental behavior.

DRUGS – USA
Random Drug Tests Becoming More Prevalent in New Jersey – Join Together
A growing number of New Jersey high schools are instituting random drug testing of students, using loss of eligibility for extracurricular activities and parking privileges as sanctions for positive test results.

DRUGS – USA
Colorado fest to show Utah film – Deseret News
A documentary that examines prescription drug abuse in Utah has been accepted at the Breckenridge Festival of Film in Colorado.

April 25th Drug Addiction News

ADDERALL – USA
Eight Wake Forest student films to be featured at screening – Wake Forest University
The film explores the growing underground culture of Adderall use on college campuses.

METH – UK
Addicts turn Lemsip into 'crystal meth' – ITV News
Addicts are turning flu drugs like Lemsip and Benylin into the lethal street narcotic crystal meth, the government has revealed.

METH – UK
Crystal meth fears over medicine – BBC News
Some over-the-counter flu remedies could face restrictions, amid fears that they are being used to produce the highly addictive drug, crystal meth.

ALCOHOL – USA
Higher beer taxes, 21 drinking age reduces traffic deaths of young people – PIRE
Communities with few alcohol regulations could consider raising taxes on beer as a way to reduce drunken driving fatalities among young people.

ALCOHOL – USA
Comparing Alcohol Policies Between Countries: Science or Silliness? – PLoS Medicine
It seems self-evident that it would be useful to have a way of comparing alcohol policies between countries. A metric to compare countries would enable improvements or changes to be monitored.

DRUGS – UK
Statistics on Drug Misuse, England, 2007 (full report) – The Information Centre
For the first time, this annual statistical bulletin presents information on drug misuse among both adults and children.

ALCOHOL – UK
Binge drinking raises cancer risk – BBC News
Women who drink the equivalent of roughly two bottles of wine over a weekend more than double their risk of breast cancer, say Danish researchers.

PRESCRIPTION – USA
8 Ways To Prevent Teen Prescription Drug Abuse – Pushing Back
Teens are turning away from street drugs and the stigma that goes along with using them, and abusing prescription drugs to get the same type of high.

Nov 2 Drug Headlines

GENERAL - UK
Piperazines – how to regulate an emerging recreational drug not covered by existing legislation
A new ‘family' of drugs, the piperazines, has emerged on the recreational drugs market over the past couple of years. Some are licensed medicines but others currently have an ambiguous legal status in the UK, with some possibly covered by the Medicines Act 1968 and others awaiting decisions on their classification under the Act by the MRHA.
2006, November 2

GENERAL - SCOTLAND
Dozens of drug dealers arrested - BBC
Police have made more than 100 drug-related arrests in the latest phase of a campaign against dealers. Officers have seized drugs worth £64,000 and nearly £30,000 in cash in the six-week Scottish campaign.
2006, November 2

COCAINE - EU
UN Drugs Chief Tells Europe to Wake up to its Cocaine Problem - United Nations
At a meeting today in London to launch a campaign on shared responsibility and the global problem of illicit drugs, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, warned Europe that it was heading for a cocaine crisis.
2006, November 2

COCAINE - EU
Europe warned of cocaine crisis - United Press International
The U.N. narcotics czar warns that Europe is headed toward a cocaine crisis as many governments there continue to be in denial of the problem.
2006, November 2

COCAINE - EU
Europe facing cocaine crisis, U.N. drug chief says - International Herald Tribune
Europe is heading for a cocaine crisis, with demand for the drug rising across the continent even as it holds steady or falls elsewhere in the world, the U.N.'s drug chief said Thursday.
2006, November 2

GENERAL - AUSTRALIA
Heroin, ecstasy addicts turn to ice - Herald Sun
Heavy heroin and ecstasy abusers are increasingly adding the dangerous street drug ice to their substances of choice, new national surveys have revealed.
2006, November 2

OPIUM - AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan's next opium crop likely to match this year's record harvest, officials say - Sign on San Diego
Afghan farmers now planting opium poppies will probably reap a harvest comparable to this year's record crop, in part because insurgents are preventing effective counter-narcotics work, officials said Thursday.
2006, November 2

MARIJUANA - US
Marijuana measure lacks sense
There are signs up around the state that read: Make Colorado Safer. Yes on 44. We can't argue about safety, but we're voting no on Amendment 44. The initiative proposes a change to the Colorado statutes that legalizes the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana for adults 21 years old and older.
2006, November 2

COCAINE - US
The killing power of cocaine - Benetton Talk
It is not only those who consume it who are the victims of the cocaine. Cocaine victims are local victims as well. In the producing countries like Colombia, victims range from those kidnapped to those mutilated in their fight against the production of the drug.
2006, November 2

COCAINE - US
Documentary captures Miami's cocaine craze in the 1980s - Sun-Sentinel
During the heyday of the cocaine trade in Miami during the 1970s and early '80s, drug smugglers and dealers fueled by Colombia's Medellin cartel transformed the city from a sleepy retirement community into one of the country's hot spots. The cocaine industry was a $20billion annual business in the South Florida metropolis.
2006, November 2

CANNABIS - US
Pot makes you crazy - The Exonent
Marijuana users beware. This product may cause hallucinations or psychotic behavior. Users may also experience periods where they believe they are a god. Researchers and scientists have been studying the effects of marijuana on the brain for years. Now they are asking themselves a new question. Can marijuana usage cause psychosis?
2006, November 2

METH - US
Crystal Meth Detected In Newborns' Hair - MedPage Today
Methamphetamine can be detected in the hair of newborns whose mothers used the drug during pregnancy, researchers here have found.
2006, November 2

METH - CANADA
Jury weighs recommendations in overdose death - Sun Ottawa News
A coroner's jury began deliberating today on how to save the lives of people like Wade Hatt, who died last year after being given a massive overdose of methadone at a Centretown clinic.
2006, November 2