Drug News

PRESCRIPTION – USA
Are Prescription Drugs America’s New Addiction? – Black Voices

Most of us think that drugs which come out of a legal manufacturer are going to be safer than those being sold by a dealer on the corner. That was once the case. But with the deaths of Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith, it has become clearer by the day that prescription drugs are fast becoming America’s new obsession.

ADDICTION – UK
Treatments helping addicts, says drug study – Guardian

Two-thirds of heroin and crack cocaine addicts on drug treatment programmes either abstain or substantially reduce their use of street drugs during the first six months, according to the biggest study of outcomes ever attempted.

COCAINE – UK
Cocaine drug of choice for under-25s, NHS figures suggest – Guardian

Fewer young adults with a drug problem are using heroin and crack – the two substances most likely to cause addiction, increase crime and pose serious health risks – but the number of under-25s seeking treatment for dependency on cocaine is rising significantly, official figures show.

PRESCRIPTION – USA
Gazette opinion: Let’s put a lid on the pills that kill – Billings Gazette

“Abuse of legal drugs killing people.” That front-page headline over a national story in last Thursday’s Billings Gazette explains why Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock recently created a prescription drug advisory council and why his office has obtained a $1.2 million federal grant to reduce abuse of prescription drugs.

HEROIN – USA
Buffalo Grove forum to address rise in heroin use – Daily Herald

In the last few years, there’s been a spike in heroin use across the Northwest suburbs. Area treatment facilities have waiting lists, and the village of Buffalo Grove, for example, now averages one heroin overdose death per year, with victims ranging in age from 18 to mid-40s.

PAINKILLER – USA
Painkillers in sports series: Counselor says use of drugs ‘rampant’ among athletes – Myrtle Beach Sun News

The National Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by College Athletes said 75 percent of college athletes used some kind of painkiller medicine for sports-related injuries. And that was in 1991, before illicit online acquisition of drugs was a major problem.

ALCOHOL – AFRICA
Government Must Treat This Alcohol Crisis Seriously – All Africa

The numbers of people dying of acute alcohol poisoning, especially from improperly distilled local gin is increasing by day. According to media reports, 26 people from Kampala and Wakiso districts reportedly died in a space of just one week!

ALCOHOL – USA
KU asking students for input on alcohol policy – Kansas City Star

The University of Kansas is asking students for help on how to address alcohol abuse on campus. The school says any student may join a committee to help form an alcohol abuse policy. The committee’s next meeting scheduled for Oct. 22.