Drug News

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
O’REILLY: Houston embraced drug life – Rapid City Journal

The media have no clue how to cover the death of Whitney Houston. That’s because she was slowly dying for years and many in the press simply averted their eyes. It was ultra-disturbing that a beautiful woman blessed with an extraordinary singing voice chose a self-destructive path in full view of the world.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Why Prescription Drug Addiction is Growing Among Teens – LiveScience

By the time Jessica McDonald was 13, she had already started drinking, smoking marijuana and using Adderall — a stimulant used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — to get high. Physically abused by her father and feeling aimless, the Corona, Calif., girl quickly became an addict, racking up five DUI convictions while high on Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug. In many ways, McDonald’s story is timeless. But her drugs of choice — prescription pills — highlight an increasingly pervasive problem among U.S. teenagers, who are abusing such medications in record numbers.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Whitney Houston’s death inspires question: Why not higher alcohol taxes? – Arkansas Times

I don’t read the New York Times’ newish columnist Frank Bruni much. And I don’t know why this caught my attention this morning. In one respect, it belabors an obvious point. But that is the point, that something so obvious gets relatively little attention. He uses Whitney Houston’s death (and Amy Winehouse’s) as a takeoff on the ill effects of alcohol abuse. He notes how little public alarm and government reaction accumulate against it in comparison with tobacco corn syrup and other agents harmful to health.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
7.5 Million Children Live With Parent With Alcohol Use Disorder – WBNG

A new report shows 7.5 million children under age 18 (10.5 percent of this population) lived with a parent who has experienced an alcohol use disorder in the past year.

ECSTASY – CANADA
Parents get Abbotsford Police Department ecstasy letter – Abbotsford Times

Abbotsford Police and the school district are partnering in a campaign to educate parents and students about the risks associated with street drugs after a recent spate of ecstasy deaths.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug abuse hearings planned after Whitney Houston’s death – My Desert

Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, plans to hold a series of congressional hearings on prescription drug abuse — a problem she said was highlighted by the weekend death of singer Whitney Houston.

HEROIN – GLOBAL
Heroin production in Afghanistan has RISEN 61% – Daily Mail

Afghan drug war debacle: Blair said smashing opium trade was a major reason to invade but 10 years on heroin production is up from 185 tons a year to 5,800. Such has been the failure to combat the problem that more than 90 per cent of the heroin sold on Britain’s streets is still made using opium from Afghanistan.

COCAINE – UK
Fears scores could go free after cocaine case dropped over DNA ruling – Daily Record

Suspects accused of serious crimes could walk free after a landmark ruling on DNA testing.