Drug News

DRUG REHAB – USA
From drug user, dealer to mentor – NewsLeader

Hillcrest student Jacquline Lane, 17, with the support of her great-aunt and legal guardian Lulu Washington, has worked hard to turn her life around. After getting in trouble with drugs and alcohol and realizing she wanted to take a different path, she now volunteers at Boys and Girls Clubs and strives to be a positive role model.

OXYCONTIN / HEROIN – USA
Bill aimed at making opiates tougher to alter, abuse – Wicked Local‎

Ever since OxyContin hit the market more than 15 years ago, drug abusers have found ways to beat the time-release nature of the prescription painkiller to get a fast, powerful high. So many followed the recipe that OxyContin abuse created a new wave of addicts, and fueled an epidemic that led to a resurgence of heroin use. The result – thousands of overdose deaths.

ALCOHOL – USA
Alcohol problems not uncommon among surgeons: study – Reuters
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About 15 percent of surgeons have alcohol abuse or dependency problems, a rate that is somewhat higher than the general population.

HEROIN – USA
‘There is hope’: Local woman tells tale of her heroin addiction – BND.com

She is blonde, pretty and dresses as normal as an elementary school secretary. But just a couple of years ago she was living on the streets with one thing on her mind — heroin. “I can honestly say I loved it from the very beginning,” said Jamie, of Alton.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
How prescription drug abuse costs you money – Money.CNN.Com

More than 36,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2008, the most recent year for which data has been analyzed, according to the CDC, only a few thousand shy of the total killed by car crashes. Of those drug overdoses, prescription drugs were involved in over 20,000 cases.

ALCOHOL – USA
George Huguely trial highlights alcohol abuse among college students – Washington Post
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There’s little question that George Huguely V, the former University of Virginia student on trial for murder, had a problem with alcohol. The alcohol abuse starts in high school, with kids imbibing on the weekends, and frequently grows out of control once they’re out from under their parents’ supervision.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Teens may be boozing less but now they’re abusing the prescription drugs found in home medicine cabinets – CultureMap Austin
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Hey parents, I have some good news and bad news. First, the good news. Your teenagers are boozing less and using fewer street drugs like cocaine and Ecstasy than previous generations. Now the bad news, they’re getting high on prescription painkillers like Oxy and Vicodin.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS / ALCOHOL – USA
Deadly Duo: Mixing Alcohol and Prescription Drugs Can Result in Addiction or Accidental Death – Scientific American
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Prescription drugs and alcohol can be a dangerous combination. Painkillers and booze are perhaps the worst to mix, because both slow breathing by different mechanisms and inhibit the coughing reflex, creating “a double-whammy effect” that can stop breathing altogether. Alcohol also interacts with anti-anxiety drugs (including Xanax), antipsychotics, antidepressants, sleep medications and muscle relaxants—intensifying the drugs’ sedative effects, causing drowsiness and dizziness, and making falls and accidents more likely.

HEROIN – UK
Pete Doherty: who will stop the Pied Piper of heroin? – Telegraph.co.uk

Three children, three bright futures, three pairs of grief-stricken parents. And one man linking them all: Pete Doherty, the singer – the not-so-angelic singer. Thirty-two years old, 15 court appearances in eight years, 25 drugs convictions, plus three more for burglary, driving without insurance and assault.

METHADONE/HEROIN – UK
Failure to help drug addicts is costing Britain £3.6bn a year – The Independent

Its author, Kathy Gyngell, said: “By sponsoring addiction, drug treatment has entrenched a costly dual dependency – on drugs and on welfare.” Three-quarters of those in treatment programmes are on methadone, amounting to 150000 people.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS/HEROIN – USA
Atlantic County narcotics officer says teen drug use rising – Press of Atlantic City

An Atlantic County narcotics investigator told a state commission investigating the rise in drug use among teenagers that he has seen many high school students progress from getting drugs from their parents to buying heroin on the streets.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Local drug addict speaks out about success of Georgia Meth Project – WRDW TV

They are graphic commercials, showing drug use at its worst, but
new research shows The Georgia Meth Project is working. Information released by Governor Deal today shows, more teenagers believe meth is dangerous, and they say the ads are sending a message loud and clear.

ALCOHOL – USA
Alcohol is teen drug of choice – Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Teens reported consuming alcohol more than any other drug. They also reported having the lowest levels of perceived harm from drinking alcohol.

ALCOHOL – USA
Gun Owners More Likely to Abuse Alcohol – Laboratory Equipment

Binge drinking, chronic heavy alcohol use and drinking and driving are all more common among gun owners than among non-owners, even after adjusting for age.

DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Teens’ toxic combo: Boredom, alcohol and drugs – St. Augustine Record

Summer is often a point of concern for parents as their young people tend to have more free time and less adult supervision. These two factors can be a toxic combination fueled by boredom and risky decision making when it comes to alcohol and other drug use.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
A County Takes Down Prescription ‘Pill Mills’ – NPR

Behind her is a memorial to victims of prescription drug abuse. Many of the clinics are blamed for prescription drug abuse in a state where the leading cause of accidental death is unintentional drug overdose.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
A Real Debate About Drug Policy – ‎Wall Street Journal

Drug use in the US is no lower than in countries with different approaches. We believe that drug addiction is harmful to individuals, impairs health and has adverse societal effects. So we want an effective program to deal with this problem.

SYNTHETIC DRUGS – USA
Police, counselors, hold breath for July 1 law effect – Winona Post

A local 16-year-old boy suffered a seizure after combining his medications with synthetic marijuana often called “K2.” A woman in Kentucky high on “Plant Food” hallucinated that her two-year-old son was a demon, knocked him unconscious with a folding chair and then threw him onto the passing lane of a major highway. In Louisiana, a man seeing visions when using Plant Food opened a skinning knife and repeatedly slit his face and stomach, but he survived.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Former Psychiatrist Gets Probation In ‘Pill Mill’ Case – The Beverly Hills Courier

A former West Hollywood psychiatrist who wrote prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose to make money to pay for his methamphetamine addiction was sentenced today to three years probation.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription pills blamed for ‘Pharmageddon’ in Kentucky – BBC News

In Kentucky 978 people died from prescription drug overdoses in 2009. It’s hard to meet a family in the state which hasn’t been affected in one way or another. Across the state, a number of treatment and rehabilitation centres are trying to deal with the huge numbers of addicts.

HEROIN/PRESCRIPTION PAINKILLERS – USA
Heroin all too easy to get, DEA agent tells Colchester forum – Norwich Bulletin

But there’s something else in town not so easily seen, and not celebrated: a supply of heroin and prescription painkillers like oxycontin and vicodin. “It’s not that they get these drugs on the street. They get them from grandma’s house,” Hoffman said.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
‘Silk Road’ website called the Amazon, eBay of heroin, cocaine, drug trafficking – ABC Action News

You can get anything on the internet nowadays — cars, homes, and now, black tar heroin. It’s a website boasting thousands of members that was created in February, according to its administrators. On the main page, they proudly and openly sell LSD, marijuana, ecstasy, and most any other drug you can name.

ECSTASY – CANADA
Strathmore teen charged with trafficking after 15-year-old overdoses on ecstasy, dies – Calgary Herald

Herrmann went into “medical distress” and died in hospital last Friday after taking the yellow pills, each bearing a Mickey Mouse design. His friend, 19-year-old Richard Mulvihill, was also taken to hospital after taking up to four pills.

ALCOHOL – USA
Duncan Sheik Postpones Concert Tour to Deal With Alcohol Abuse – Wall Street Journal

Facing an alcohol problem, Duncan Sheik postponed the first week of a concert tour that was scheduled to start on June 8 in New York.

MARIJUANA – USA
In Connecticut, Carrying A Small Amount of Marijuana Downgraded from Misdemeanor to Fine – Foxnews.com
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The Connecticut Senate narrowly approved legislation on Saturday that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Oscar De La Hoya Enters Drug Rehab for Substance Abuse – Larry Brown Sports

Former boxer and current promoter Oscar De La Hoya has reportedly entered drug rehab to address a substance problem.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Whitney Houston — 30 Days of Rehab Ain’t Enough! – TMZ.com

Whitney Houston is voluntarily seeking additional treatment for drug and alcohol … TMZ has learned — after completing a 30-day out-patient rehab program earlier this week.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Jeff Conaway Tragedy: Does Dr. Drew Pinsky’s ‘Celebrity Rehab’ Help or Hurt? – foxnews.com

“As usual, Jeff was most likely taking too many medicines. He probably got pneumonia and sat at home too long and was intoxicated by the prescription drugs and didn’t realize he was so sick, and by the time he got to hospital he was in shock. At one point he looked like he was going to make it, but his kidneys shut down.”

DRUG ADDICTION/DRUG COURT – USA
‘I wanted to get off drugs, I just didn’t know how’ – Annapolis Capital

Sharon and Wes Sudduth spent a decade watching as their daughter Melissa Sudduth abused cocaine and heroin and cycled through the county detention center on misdemeanor drug and theft charges.

ALCOHOL – USA
Alcohol abuse and teens – OneNewsNow

11% of the alcohol consumed in the United States is consumed by underage kids. That’s a staggering statistic.

ALCOHOL – SCOTLAND
AFS fears over alcohol abuse in parents – Alcolim

Campaigners in Scotland have raised concerns over the number of parents engaging in high levels of alcohol abuse, it has been revealed. Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) has called for action against the 330,000 children under 16 living with a binge-drinking parent.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Sen. Schumer wants drug website shutdown – YNN

Senator Charles Schumer is asking the government to shutdown a website he calls a digital black market for drugs. Heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine are among the drugs being anonymously sold and bought on the site known as Silk Road. The Senator says the site launched in February and uses restricted access and several layers of secrecy to avoid detection.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Waukomis woman pleads guilty to contributing to death of her daughter – NewsOK.com

Linda Tucker had 10 times the lethal dose of the drug in her system when she died, a state medical examiner reported. Authorities said she had taken the drug with her mother, older brother and her mother’s boyfriend. She lay unresponsive in the back seat of a vehicle for several hours before her mother went for help, but it was too late.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Michael Jackson accused of drug addiction: ‘It was his milk’ – Examiner.com

Michael Jackson is being accused of drug addiction in the involuntary manslaughter case against Dr. Conrad Murray. While the doctor has pled not guilty to …

DRUG COURT REHAB – USA
Addict says drug court got her sober – Philadelphia Neshoba Democrat

Denise Tubby of Philadelphia said that when she started Drug Court she desperately needed help because of her addiction to drugs. She told those gathered in …

HEROIN – USA
Heroin, Rx pain-killer deaths high in 2009 – Zanesville Times Recorder ‎

Orman Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, said the data reinforces only the widespread belief that heroin and …

DRUG OVERDOSE – SCOTLAND
Report: Drug users given no help – Herald Scotland ‎

More than a third of Scots who died from illegal drug use did not get any help for their addiction, a report showed yesterday. The analysis of 432 deaths …

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Up to 35% of wounded soldiers addicted to drugs – USAToday

Medical officials estimate that 25% to 35% of about 10,000 ailing soldiers assigned to special wounded-care companies or battalions are addicted or dependent on drugs

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drugs: Abuse can be lethal – Danville Weekly

“Addiction can happen quickly and recovery can be extremely difficult and costly.” The latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 56 …

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Count of children affected by methamphetamine up – Jackson Sun

In a record year for meth lab busts in Tennessee, the illegal drug making also affected a substantially higher …