Drug News

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
The Situation in drug treatment – The Hour
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The party is on hold for The Situation. The “Jersey Shore” cast member is getting treatment for prescription medication use. Mike Sorrentino says he’s voluntarily seeking to “take control” of medication he was taking to deal with exhaustion.

COCAINE – USA
Celebrity addicts: Who dies, who survives, and why? – 9NEWS.com
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Singer Whitney Houston’s death last month from accidental drowning from the effects of cocaine use and heart disease throws bright light on a dark corner of the world of celebrities who wrestle with substance abuse.

ALCOHOL – USA
Vital Signs: Start young to prevent substance abuse – The Daily Progress
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Children who begin drinking before the age of 15 are seven times more likely to develop substance abuse problems as adults. Postponing or preventing children and adolescents from using alcohol is an important way to assure that children will not have to struggle with addiction as adults.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prosecutor: Ex-Miss Russia is getting in pill trouble in NYC drug rehab program – Washington Post

Prosecutors say a former Miss Russia has been hoarding pills to try to get high while in court-ordered drug treatment. A New York City judge said Tuesday that Anna Malova can stay in a residential rehabilitation program for now. But she may have to go to trial if she gets another bad behavior report at a May 1 court date.

BATH SALTS – USA
Local popularity of designer drug bath salts grows – Utica Observer Dispatch
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Dr. Tim Page has seen ER patients on hallucinogenic highs that last for days. Sometimes, they become so violent they need physical restraints to protect them. But they haven’t taken common drugs such as LSD, coke or amphetamines. They have taken designer drugs known as bath salts.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Narconon Freedom Center Actively Supports Governor Snyder’s Efforts to Reinvent Michigan – PR Web
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Narconon Freedom Center, an alcohol and drug rehab facility that also provides community drug prevention education, actively supports Governor Snyder’s efforts to take back Michigan cities overwhelmed by unemployment, drugs and crime.

ALCOHOL – UK
Alcohol abuse contributes to big rise in deaths from liver disease – The Guardian
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Heavy drinking is a major cause of a 25% increase in deaths from liver disease in England in under a decade, according to the government’s specialist NHS unit on terminal care.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Pill mills’ effects showing up in neonatal units, doctors say – Bellingham Herald
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On any given day, more than one-third of the babies in the neonatal intensive care unit at Manatee Memorial Hospital have been exposed to drugs. Their mothers have passed the curse of substance abuse to their newborns.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE – USA
Herbal incense, ‘bath salts’ rip apart user’s life – Shelbyville Times-Gazette

“I’m not an addict,” Brenda Fogus thought as she consumed herbal incense. “It’s not narcotics. I’m not an addict,” Brenda told the staff at a Georgia treatment center, where she’d been taken after a binge on bath salts which led to a long drive to a city where she had no connections. “I’m clean. I’m not using narcotics.” Brenda was lying. To the world — and herself.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Back2Basics Drug Rehab Facility Now Includes Higher Education Classes in Program – SF Gate

Through the recent incorporation of higher education courses at Northern Arizona University, the Back2Basics long-term sober living program pushes addicts to come out of addiction and go back into the classroom.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – CANADA
The long wait for rehab: Parents watch addicted children suffer, and feel compelled to pay for drugs – Ottawa Citizen

Oxy, we know, can wreck your teenager. It can also ruin your resolve as a parent, leave you with only bad choices, introduce you to shame, failure. Armchair psychologists like to toss around terms like “enabling” and “tough love” as verdicts on the trials of parents coping with addiction in their families. But one thing complicates the equation. Being witness to human suffering.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Christie: Give nonviolent criminal addicts treatment – Philly.com

Calling addiction a treatable disease, Gov. Christie said Thursday that he would mandate treatment for nonviolent criminals with drug dependence, a program that would take at least a year to start. In the meantime, Christie would offer yearlong drug treatment to 1,000 to 1,500 low-level offenders now in prison.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Proposal Attempts Alcohol Abuse Prevention – WOWT.com
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A proposed change in a Lincoln ordinance is aimed at curbing liquor violations before they occur. The proposal would require bartenders and others who serve alcohol to take special training classes. The Lincoln Journal Star reports an estimated 7,000 servers or sellers of alcohol would have to take the hour-long class that is tentatively priced at $20. Topics include the signs of intoxication and how to avoid serving underage customers.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Addiction Treatment Advocates Call for More Alcohol Tax Money for Programs – KTVA.Com

Calling substance abuse an epidemic in Alaska, advocates of treatment and prevention say the key to getting more people help is by increasing the amount of dollars used from the alcohol beverage tax – money they say could save lives. The numbers are quite frankly embarrassing and heartbreaking, with substance abuse playing a role in nine of Alaska’s top ten causes of death.

DRUG REHAB – WORLDWIDE
Can Exercise Help Treat Addiction? – Huffington Post

When an individual is trying to recover from addiction, the body and mind miss whatever was producing endorphins in the brain, responsible for that “high” feeling. Add in everyday stress, which can heighten cravings, and the recovery process can be a knockdown, drag-out fight.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Drinking Games Causing Legal, School Problems for Light, Moderate Drinkers – College Times
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A new study suggests that drinking games – and not the actual act of consuming a moderate amount of alcohol – is getting light and moderate drinkers into trouble with the law and school.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug addiction skyrocketed 430% over past decade; Drug rehab for painkiller abuse soars – New York Daily News

The increase is even more pronounced given that over the same time period the overall rate of substance-abuse-related admissions to rehab facilities has flatlined.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin industry growing in Arizona – Tucson Citizen
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It also has helped push heroin and other opiates past cocaine and amphetamines as the top drug-related reason in Arizona for emergency-room admissions and inpatient hospital discharges.

ALCOHOL – USA
Former Herriman HS teacher arrested for allegedly providing alcohol to minors – Fox 13 Now
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21-year-old Kylie Devey, a special education teacher and assistant softball coach at Herriman High School, is charged with five counts of providing alcohol to minors after parents of a student alerted the school district of the alleged incident.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin drove ex-teacher to steal school computers, rob bank – Pittsburgh Post Gazette

A former school teacher accused of stealing 22 computers from Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts high school pleaded guilty today to robbery, burglary and criminal conspiracy. Her attorney said all of the crimes were driven by the couple’s heroin addiction.

ECSTASY – USA
Ecstasy causes changes in the brain – UPI.com

Recreational use of the illegal drug Ecstasy, which produces feelings of euphoria, is associated with chronic changes in the human brain.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Once-Prominent Colorado Sheriff Now Faces Charges – Fox News
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Former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan is accused of using and distributing methamphetamine in exchange for sex, according to authorities.

ALCOHOL – UK
Alcohol diseases double in 7 years – The Independent
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Nearly 1.2 million people in England needed in-patient hospital treatment for alcohol related cancers, liver diseases and poisoning in 2010-11 – a 9 per cent rise on the previous year. There have already been over 7,000 hospital admissions for young people under the age of 18 in 2011.

BATH SALTS/SYNTHETIC DRUGS – USA
House votes to ban so-called ‘bath salts,’ other synthetic drugs that mimic marijuana, cocaine – Washington Post

The House voted Thursday to ban synthetic drugs nicknamed “bath salts” and other compounds that mimic marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines.

ALCOHOL/DRUG ADDICTION – UK
Amy Winehouse’s death: Rising numbers of people checking into rehab – Mirror.co.uk

Soaring numbers of patients have been checking into rehab following the death of Amy Winehouse. “One woman was sobbing saying she knew she needed help and that Amy’s death has brought it all home to her.”

ALCOHOL/DRUG REHAB – USA
Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller together again – HULIQ.com

Sheen and Mueller first broke up in 2009. Reports of drug problems and rehab seemed to fuel their split. Currently Sheen is helping Mueller get through rehab and states he is also getting clean.

HEROIN – USA
35 indicted for participating in major heroin-trafficking ring – WTKR Your NewsChannel 3

Thirty-five individuals have been indicted for participating in a heroin-trafficking organization that transported several kilograms of the narcotic from New York City into the Tidewater area. Each faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

ALCOHOL – USA
Books & booze: Can Iowa schools, students put end to tragedies? – DesMoinesRegister.com

No single intervention will solve the problem,” said Ralph Hingson of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “If they think just adopting one program is going to do this, it’s not going to happen.”

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Jerome Block Jr. admits to prescription drug addiction, but won’t resign – KOB.com

Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. says he fighting an addiction to prescription drugs.

ECSTASY – USA
‘Bath Salts’ Have Effects Similar to Meth, Ecstasy – Medscape

Mephedrone is sold as “bath salts” or as other innocuous products in an effort to sidestep drug laws, DEA Special Agent Gary Boggs tells WebMD. “In order to escape law enforcement scrutiny, products are labeled ‘not for human consumption,’ but they know full well it is intended for that.”

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Methamphetamine Abuse May Raise Parkinson’s Risk – U.S. News & World Report

People who abuse methamphetamine or other stimulants are at increased risk for Parkinson’s disease, a new study warns.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
SW Virginia drug abuse cast in workforce terms – Houston Chronicle

A coalition fighting prescription drug abuse in southwest Virginia is casting its battle in economic terms, saying substance abuse has made it more difficult for employers to hire workers. “What we’ve heard, time and time again from employers, is their frustration that so many people they are trying to hire are either unwilling to take, or unable to pass, a drug test.”

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
‘Pill-mill’ doctors responsible for much prescription-drug abuse – TC Palm
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How about a “zero tolerance” policy for the pill-mill doctors? Let’s levy a fine closer to $100,000 than $10,000, permanently revoke their medical license, and deliver a mandatory prison term for homicide. In the “war against drugs,” these doctors are the worst kind of war criminal.

BATH SALTS – USA
Bath salts: America’s newest drug addiction – Examiner.com

Synthetic drugs, being sold under the facade of “bath salts,” have quickly become a cause for alarm with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and federal authorities.

COCAINE – BRAZIL
Outrage: Rio Drug Dealers Sell Amy Winehouse Brand Cocaine‎ – Student Operated Press

Drug dealers in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro are packaging their product with pictures of Amy Winehouse in a bid to make the drug more attractive to younger users.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Campus Life 101: Staying Sober – Fox News

As a high school senior, Aaron Weir decided to attend Texas Tech University in Lubbock, not for any particular academic program but for the hospitality that school extends toward students in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. “I was 16 years old when I got clean and sober and I want to stay that way in college.”

HEROIN – USA
Heroin ‘lamp shades’ lead to arrest – Washington Post

Upon closer inspection, the officers noticed that the frames contained a “brown powdery substance” that tested positive for heroin. A lot of it.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Arrests won’t solve prescription drug problem, leaders say‎ – Charleston Gazette

“Law enforcement cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” Smithers said. “It’s way beyond that.” West Virginia has the nation’s highest rate of drug overdose deaths. More than 90 percent involve prescription drugs.

ALCOHOL AND DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Teens take road to addiction early in life – Times Free Press

The road to teen addiction often begins when children are still young enough to climb into their parents’ laps. The majority of alcohol and drug abuse begins right before adulthood, Columbia researchers said, but small children who see their parents smoking, drinking or pill-popping are more likely to give it a whirl during their teenage years.

HEROIN – USA
Richland man charged in 3rd heroin-related death – The News Tribune

A 35-year-old alleged drug dealer now is charged with the deaths of three Tri-Citians who overdosed after using his heroin. In the newest case filed against Brian Haney Burt, the Richland man reportedly found the victim in a poor condition but panicked and left without getting help.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin exacting a toll on suburbia – Chicago Sun-Times
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Heroin maintains a choke hold on many of those who abuse illegal substances, particularly young Chicago suburbanites. And it is deadlier than ever.

BATH SALTS/HEROIN – USA
Battle Against Bath Salts & Synthetic Marijuana Gains Ground – FOX43.com

Bath salts are power synthetic stimulants designed to rival cocaine or methamphetamine. Those who use bath salts often feel agitated, paranoid, may hallucinate and commit violent acts. “Bath salts may represent the most dangerous drug crisis we face.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Fact-checking claims about the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program – The Florida Independent

The evidence suggests that states which are proactive in their approach to regulation are more effective in reducing the per-capita supply of prescription pain relievers and stimulants.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Suspect: Drug sale was April Fools’ joke – UPI.com
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The task force said Medeiros told the agents she had to take the money to another location to get the drugs from a third-party dealer and she left the scene with $525. Agents said the woman never returned. Medeiros was later located inside a vehicle.

COCAINE – USA
Councilman Arrested, Facing Drug Charge – WSMV Nashville ‎

According to a detective, the arrest came after deputies recently observed Pyrdom as he sold a gram of cocaine in a Walmart parking lot in Shelbyville. “It was a jaw-dropper,” said Moore County Mayor Sloan Stewart.

ECSTASY – USA
Experts study, fear long-term effects of ‘Ecstasy’ – Deseret News

Addiction is not the big concern with MDMA or “Ecstasy”; it’s mostly a weekend party drug, experts said. But evidence of a probable bad long-term impact is growing as researchers delve deeper into MDMA.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE – UK
Drug runners to avoid prison under sentencing guidelines – Telegraph.co.uk

Drug runners and small–scale dealers could escape prison even if caught with a 50–gram bag of cocaine or heroin or dozens of Ecstasy pills, under planned new guidance for courts.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Meth Labs Multiply as Cleanup Dollars Shrink – ABC News

Last year, Sheriff Joe Guy’s department busted 161 meth labs in McMinn County in eastern Tennessee — at an average cost to the federal government of $3250 per lab. This year, he’s expecting at least as many labs as in 2010.

BATH SALTS – USA
N.J. Legislators Sponsor Bill To Ban ‘Bath Salts’ – Patch.com ‎

Everyone knew he was a drug addict, everyone that knew him.” Laface said he saw Parisio last on March 9, and said he was very edgy. “Bill wasn’t his usual self, he seemed paranoid. I suggested that he’d check himself into a hospital.”

DRUG ADDICTION – INDIA
Chidambaram Expressed Concern Over Drug Addiction Among Indian Youth – MedIndia ‎

Union Home Minister P. Chidamabaram expressed concern over the growing drug addiction among the youth, saying that India has turned into a big market of narcotics.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Charlie Sheen’s rants and the early symptoms of drug addiction – Tulsa World‎

Sheen has convinced himself that he is his own higher power, on a drug called Charlie Sheen, which is a symptom I have seen all too often in drug addicts. Sheen’s tirades might be caused by his long-term drug use.

DRUG ADDICTION – UK
Bid to sterilize drug addicts sparks fury – Herald.ie ‎

She has already paid more than 1200 American female drug addicts to be sterlized and 26 British addicts to have contraceptive coils fitted. She has now turned her attention to Ireland and says she is looking for donations to expand into this country.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Md. health official decries prescription drug abuse – Washington Examiner‎

According to Dr. Fran Phillips, there is ample evidence of a major public health concern from prescription drug abuse. If the bill is passed, a database would be created to track prescriptions of potentially dangerous drugs like OxyContin.

DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE – SOUTH AFRICA
Poverty fuelling drug and alcohol abuse – Times LIVE

The widespread poverty and unemployment in South Africa is fuelling drug and alcohol abuse. “Unless we can offer hope to our youth, we will never to able to wean them away from practices which promise some short-term escape, but inflict deadly long-term damage to their bodies and minds.”

ALCOHOL ABUSE – UK
Early drinkers more likely to use booze to cope – Independent

“We found that the impact of stressful life events on drinking behavior depends on the age at first drink. The earlier they start with alcohol use, the stronger the association between life stress and drinking.”

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Federal sting nets 25 in meth-distribution ring – Salt Lake Tribune

Two indictments unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court name 25 people connected to a methamphetamine distribution ring that investigators believe has been operating in Utah since 2009.

BATH SALTS – USA
“Bath Salts” new drug trend – Anahuac Progress ‎

Narconon Arrowhead drug rehab takes a look at the newest street drug of concern, bath salts, which are quickly becoming a second to methamphetamine. All around the country, a white powdered substance with names like Vanilla sky, Ivory Wave, …

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Charlie, The Sheen Is Gone: No amount of rehab — drug, image, or otherwise — can repair his reputation … – Entertainment Weekly ‎

And except for the occasional arrest or stint in rehab, he always ended up back on our TVs, hitting his marks on his top-rated series, playing a PG-13-rated version of himself. But the Good Time Charlie we believed in was laid to rest by his …

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Health Watch: Meth Addiction – MyFox Atlanta ‎

Most teenagers don’t think drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana could possibly lead them down the road to drug addiction and jail time, but Deputy King says that’s exactly how many of these young people started out. “I have never met a hard core meth …

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Graphic photos of drug addicts won’t stop teens from trying – Medill Reports: Chicago ‎

In Oregon, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office released a recent follow-up to its 2004 documentary titled “Faces of Meth” showing how methamphetamine addicts deteriorated over time.

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE – USA
Pill problems plague Georgia – Atlanta Journal Constitution ‎

Prescription drug abuse represents a unique challenge for law enforcement for several reasons. The face of prescription drug dependency, for instance, is primarily white, middle-aged and male. The site of the problem is also more often rural than urban.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Sheen’s actions raise concerns addicts won’t seek help – KATU ‎

Sheen has downplayed his drug use during television interviews. “I am on a drug – it’s called Charlie Sheen,” he said to ABC’s Andrea Canning on a special edition of 20/20. During a CNN interview he said: “I don’t believe myself to be an addict.”

HEROIN – USA
Major Heroin Pipeline Busted – WKBW-TV ‎

(Buffalo, NY) They’re calling it the biggest heroin bust in Western New York history. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced in Buffalo that agents from the Organized Crime Task Force, working with New York State …

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Meth lab seizures up, meth users know why – TriCities.com ‎

Tennessee ranks tops in the nation when it comes to meth lab seizures and people who have used methamphetamine say there are a few reasons why. Tennessee knocked off the long-standing top spot Missouri held since 2003.

BATH SALTS – USA
Mom says ‘bath salts’ almost killed my son – KTVB ‎

“He was flailing, he had no control over his own body, he was flailing horribly, his blood pressure and his heart rate and everything were just off the charts,”

DRUG ADDICTION – CANADA
Health professionals denounce Bill S-10 – Metro Canada ‎

… public health are more effective at curbing drug use than increased enforcement. “Jail is an inappropriate response (to addiction),” Boyd said. …

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Whoopi gets graphic on The View about her drug addiction – Examiner.com‎

It was abundantly clear that Whoopi was both authentic and knowledgeable about drug addiction. While the other ladies of The View were dropping their usual …

DRUG REHAB – SCOTLAND
Drug programme gave me a future – Scotsman‎

A MOTHER-of-three who beat a decades-long drug addiction thanks to a city rehabilitation project is backing a new multi-million-pound scheme …

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Gil Kerlikowske on the Drug War – Drug WarRant‎

It is born out of the recognition that our drug problem is a major public health threat, and that drug addiction is a preventable and treatable disease. …

ALCOHOL ADDICTION – USA
Call for prison alcohol screening – The Press Association ‎

A study of prisoners’ health needs has found that up to three quarters of male inmates have a problem with alcohol.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Police: Driver’s blood alcohol level more than 5 times legal limit – Tbo.com ‎

Pinellas forensic toxicology expert Ron Bell said a blood alcohol level of .430 can be enough to kill someone. …

DRUG REHAB – USA
‘Golden voice’ Ted Williams departs drug rehab – CNN International

Ted Williams, the homeless “golden voice” sensation on the internet, checked himself out of drug rehab 12 days after …

ALCOHOL AND DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Overhaul proposed in treatment of area alcohol and drug addicts – Dayton Daily News

A two-year study of Montgomery County’s alcohol and drug addiction services recommends an overhaul of the system, making treatment more individualized and immediate.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Alcohol delays, breaks marriages, study finds – CNN‎

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) says 17.6 million adults in the United States abuse alcohol or are dependent on alcohol.

OPIUM – AFGHANISTAN
Opium addiction in Afghanistan includes infants – Malaysia Sun‎

Afghanistan is a major producer of the world’s opium and is facing an ever-increasing epidemic of drug use at home as well, with infants in some areas being …

BATH SALTS – USA
Officials fear bath salts are growing drug problem – AllVoices

Bath salts is an innocuous household item that most of us have in our homes, most likely, our bathrooms. Used to soak aching muscles, we would think nothing of leaving them stored, unsecured in our cabinets, right?

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Senator committed to attacking drug abuse – Marietta Times‎

… we can better educate Ohioans about the dangers of prescription drug abuse. And save Ohio families while rebuilding our communities. The drug addiction …

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
PR firm with past ties to drugmakers to run Ohio’s anti-overdose program – Chillicothe Gazette‎

It also showed most doctors were not taking advantage of a statewide database designed to curb addicts’ prescription drug abuse. Fleishman, which had the …

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Drinking is growing problem on campus – Texas A&M The Battalion

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said that binge drinking is defined as a pattern of drinking that brings one’s blood alcohol …