Drug News

DRUG REHAB – USA
Kelly Osbourne regrets putting parents through drug hell – San Francisco Chronicle
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The singer-turned-reality TV star battled an addiction to painkillers for more than five years and she endured three stints in rehab before finally kicking her habit in 2009. She has since managed to turn her life around and restore her image, but Osbourne admits she is ashamed of her rebellious behavior and will always feel bad for putting her mom Sharon and dad Ozzy through so much torment.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Probe is needed connect-the-dots in pharmaceutical industry – Kansas City Star
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The latest was an 18-year-old Shawnee girl who began taking OxyContin at 13. Each pill cost $20 to $40, explaining why this is predominantly a middle-class addiction. That’s also how heroin entered the picture as the teen’s addiction increased. It’s cheaper. The girl is now in her second week of rehab. “I don’t think the drug companies necessarily care, nor do they see my end of this. It needs to be exposed.”

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
One teen’s story of breaking free from addiction – Buffalo News
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Some teens become addicted to drugs in high school and spend their whole lives dependent on them.

ALCOHOL – USA
Our View: Deaths bring us, again, to alcohol culture – Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
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Changing a statewide propensity for alcohol abuse is a big, long-term matter that requires a combination of efforts to move things forward. The biggest part of making a change, as ever, has to come from culture. There’s no magic new law or program and no perfect public health campaign that will cause us all to recognize the serious risks that come from the culture of binge drinking.

DRUG TREATMENT – USA
LA House considers welfare drug testing again – WAFB.com
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Sherman Mack would mandate that 20 percent of all recipients should be tested, and if they fail they would have to go to drug treatment in order keep getting benefits.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Obama declares war on drugs, state cuts rehab programs – WGAL.com

In light of Obama’s recommendation, proposed cuts to treatment programs in Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget have some worried about drug treatment programs in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of people in need of human services urged Corbett to not cut their funding Tuesday evening in a packed Community Center in Silver Spring Township. “I believe I would have been in jail or dead.”

ALCOHOL – AUSTRALIA
Children pay cost of family alcohol abuse – Sydney Morning Herald
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Children are the victims of alcohol-related harm in more than one-fifth of Australian households. Most were harmed by family members or by other relatives, and the rest by the drinking of family friends, neighbours, coaches, religious leaders or others, according to the study published in the latest edition of the international journal Addiction.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Addiction Diagnoses May Rise Under Guideline Changes – Pittsburgh Post Gazette‎

In what could prove to be one of their most far-reaching decisions, psychiatrists and other specialists who are rewriting the manual that serves as the nation’s arbiter of mental illness have agreed to revise the definition of addiction, which could result in millions more people being diagnosed as addicts and pose huge consequences for health insurers and taxpayers.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Suncoast Rehabilitation Center Takes Narconon Drug Rehab Program To RX Drug Abuse Summit – PRWeb

Suncoast Rehabilitation Center took the Narconon Drug Rehab Program information to the National RX Drug Abuse Summit in Orlando where over 700 participants from around the country meet to address the prescription drug abuse epidemic.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Drug use, abuse or addiction? – Wicked Local

My parents own pharmacies (my father’s is in Attleboro and mother’s is in Plainville). Both have had their share of robberies from persons suffering from drug addiction.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Son of addicts, Malone grad turned life around – Canton Rep

At 13, Rodney Long Jr. had priorities. He made sure his younger sister, 4, and brother, 8, had cereal to eat. He often ushered drug dealers and partiers out of his house. And, when a visit from Summit County Children’s Services was pending, he cleaned.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Maine’s Drug Abuse Epidemic Poses Dilemma for Pharmacists – MPBN News
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Escalating diversion and abuse of prescription drugs has put the state’s pharmacists in a tough position. Customers with legitimate chronic pain problems depend on them for timely, reliable access to their medications. But these days, keeping powerful narcotics in stock puts pharmacists at risk of being robbed or duped by fraudulent prescriptions.

ALCOHOL REHAB – USA
Saint Jude Announces The Number One Reason People Fear Alcohol Rehab – PRWeb

“Fear of Failure–This is probably one of the greatest fears regarding rehab.” One of the first steps of the commonly known 12 step program, that are taught at majority of alcohol and drug rehabs in the United States is, “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol–that our lives had become unmanageable.” In addition, these individuals entering treatment are taught that relapse is part of recovery. This negative message gives substance users the expectation they will fail.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS/HEROIN – USA
Prescription drug, heroin abuse growing in Montgomery County – Washington Examiner
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Heroin and prescription drug abuse is soaring in Montgomery County, particularly among school-age kids, according to county police. The most popular party pills are painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, which many kids are swiping from their parents’ medicine cabinets.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Portable Methamphetamine Lab Blows Up In Suspect’s Pants – The Inquisitr

An Oklahoma state trooper stopped an SUV for speeding in Okmulgee County. When the trooper gave the driver a ticket, he caught a whiff of a chemical smell. When the trooper attempted to question the passenger about the smell, he bailed, apparently with meth leaking down his leg. After a brief struggle it was determined there was an active meth lab in his pants that burst during the struggle and got all over his body.

COCAINE – USA
TSA screeners charged in LA drug trafficking probe – Times Union

Two former and current Transportation Security Administration employees have been arrested and indicted on drug conspiracy charges for allegedly allowing large amounts of cocaine and other drugs to pass through security screening at Los Angeles International Airport. Seven people face drug-related charges in a 22-count indictment.

DRUG ABUSE – USA
Demi Lovato Opens Up About Drug Abuse: ‘Being A Celebrity Can Be Dangerous – ‎Huffington Post

But the part-Mexican singer, who spent three-months in rehab in November 2010 … how peer pressure and loneliness led her to experiment with drugs in 2010.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug abuse bill wins final passage – WSLS

Kentucky lawmakers have passed a measure that’s intended to curb prescription drug abuse in a state where more people are dying from overdoses than car wrecks. A compromise passed by the House and Senate would require all physicians in the state to use a prescription drug monitoring system so they can more readily spot addicts seeking painkillers.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Saint Jude Retreats Announces Length Of Stay In Drug Rehab Does Matter – PR Web
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The amount of time a guest stays in an alcohol or drug treatment center greatly impacts the outcome of the individuals success in that program.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Experts say communication key to preventing alcohol abuse among teens – Tri Cities
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Communication is the key to preventing alcohol abuse among teenagers. Many teens are exposed to the temptation of underage drinking at an early age, 40 percent of eighth-graders have tried alcohol and one in four is a binge drinker. Around 20 students, school staff and community members gathered for an evening town hall forum entitled “Start Talking, Before They Start Drinking” at Tennessee High School.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Free from drug addiction, former Menard High star returns to baseball – The Town Talk

The young man whose life on drugs careened and collapsed to such a degree that, at one time, he was homeless and nearly committed suicide, has shaken the addiction.

COCAINE – USA
Rihanna Showcases Drug Use, Refuses Rehabilitation? – Christian Post

Rihanna, 24-year-old Barbadian pop singer, recently posted pictures to her Twitter account that showed her breaking down what appeared to be drugs on the head of a man whose shoulders she was seated on in order to see above the crowd

DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT – USA
Veterans who complete intense treatment can have court charges expunged – Post Gazette

Together there are now 80 veterans treatment courts nationwide. In Pennsylvania, recidivism among program participants is just 1 percent. The statistics are even better in Allegheny County, where Judge Zottola can brag about having no recidivism among veterans whose cases he’s heard in treatment court.

DRUG ABUSE – USA
Early-intervention program helps teens with alcohol, drug abuse – Longmont Daily Times Call
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Through the clear eyes of sobriety, John Vandegrift looks back on his drug use and sees it for what it was: a coping mechanism. The 21-year-old Littleton resident said he began smoking marijuana as a high school freshman, and two years ago he moved to heavier substances. Heroine became his drug of choice.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Teen Deaths Related to Prescription Drug Abuse Skyrocket – Madison Patch
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Although many teens might otherwise shy away from illegal street drugs, more and more teens are turning to prescription drugs and over the counter medicines to get high.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Kentucky Doctors Must Join Pill Abuse Fight – Kentucky.com

There has been a 900 percent increase in people seeking treatment for substance addiction in Kentucky in the past decade. More than 25,428 Kentuckians were admitted to drug and alcohol rehab programs in 2010.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Drugs, Rehab and Bar Mitzvahs: An Afternoon Chat with Author Moshe Kasher – Laist.com

When I got to middle school I felt even more different, but then I found the fuck-ups at the school and started doing drugs and I forgot that I felt different. That was part of the great seductiveness of drugs at that age – it was not recreational, it was therapeutic.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin ring smuggled drugs from Africa to Maryland, feds say – Washington Examiner
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Four men have been arrested in connection with a heroin-distribution ring that allegedly smuggled the drug from Africa and sold it in Maryland.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Painkillers alter how addicts relate to themselves, others – Seattle Times
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Calling them painkillers is almost a misnomer. They don’t actually relieve the pain so much as they affect the way the brain perceives pain, and their extended use can result in the distortion of the brain’s pain/pleasure responses.

HEROIN – USA
As heroin death toll rises, antidote is available — but hard to find – Seattle Times
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Heroin-overdose deaths are rising in the Northwest, and a prescription opiate antidote was made legal in 2010. Unfortunately, authorities say, almost no pharmacies stock it.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – GLOBAL
Alcohol Abuse Screenings at the Dentist – World Dental

Health experts have warned that people who consume alcohol excessively are exposed to an extremely high risk of developing dental disease and mouth cancer.

HEROIN – USA
New, Deadly Heroin Mix Kills Dozen-Plus in NW – KTVZ
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A new, deadly mix of heroin has been sweeping through the Northwest in the past month, causing numerous deaths in Washington state, while Central Oregon police and fire medics said Friday they also have been grappling with a rising number of heroin overdoses.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
System to Curb Abuse of Prescription Painkillers Goes Unused – The Bay Citizen
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Byung Sik Yuh, the owner of Nichols Hill pharmacy in Oakland, filled more than 5,000 online prescriptions for addictive painkillers before the California State Board of Pharmacy moved last year to revoke his license. The patients who picked up the prescriptions at Yuh’s pharmacy had never met their doctors, nor had physical examinations. They filled out a brief online survey and paid an anonymous doctor to write prescriptions over the Internet.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Drug rehab better option than prison – Vineland Daily Journal‎

Drug addicts who go to prison and don’t get treatment to break their habit come out still addicted and inevitably fall back into crime.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Oklahoma tops in prescription painkiller abuse – New England Cable News

Sherri Carwithin was lying on the hardwood floor of her south Oklahoma City home when police found her body, clad in pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. Perched on her chest was her small dog, Patches, who growled at the arriving officers. The 51-year-old woman, who had a history of chronic back pain and prescription drug abuse, last was seen alive four days earlier, when she asked a neighbor to give her a ride to the pharmacy.

DRUG ADDICTION – MEXICO
Children Hired to Work as ‘Mules’ by Mexican Drug Gangs – Fox News

Mexican drug gangs have found a new way to transport drugs across the border. Children are being used as “mules” to ferry drugs across the border into the United States or sell them in a nearby Mexican town. Luis Alberto is only 14 but has the wizened gaze of a grown-up hardened by life. He never met his father, worked as a child, was hired by a gang to sell drugs and then got addicted to them.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug abuse efforts under way in county schools – Mount Airy News

The national statistics are alarming: One in four teens will abuse some form of prescription drugs before graduating high school. Nationwide, 100,000 Americans will die this year from prescription drug abuse. That number translates to 270 per day, or twice the number who will be killed in a car accident. With statistics like these, it’s easy to see why the Surry County Schools has become involved in a county-wide task force to raise awareness of prescription drug abuse.

DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Workshop aims to disable those enabling drug use – Naperville Sun
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Why won’t Johnny quit using drugs? Don’t ask his family. … factors can keep loved ones from stepping in to start the process of treatment and recovery.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug dependence an epidemic in East Central Indiana – Muncie Star Press
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Since 2009, drug overdoses have caused or contributed to 62 deaths in Delaware County. Add Henry County to the mix, and the two counties have seen a combined total of 77 overdose-related deaths in the past three years. “That’s a significant number, and I think there’s probably a bigger problem than we’re seeing. We’re just seeing the tip of it.”

MARIJUANA – USA
New wrinkle in pot debate: stoned driving – The Seattle Times
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Authorities envision a legal threshold for pot that would be comparable to the blood-alcohol standard used to determine drunken driving. But unlike alcohol, marijuana stays in the blood long after the high wears off a few hours after use, and there is no quick test to determine someone’s level of impairment.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Liquor Law Changes Encourage Alcohol Abuse – Hartford Courant‎

Liquor law reform advocates say liquor stores in Connecticut’s border towns would better be able to compete with stores from neighboring states that are not restricted by our laws. They say expanding store hours, lifting the ban on Sunday sales and repealing minimum price barriers would help Connecticut stores. But the reforms also run counter to countless health initiatives aimed at lowering alcohol consumption. Expanding alcohol availability is a step in the wrong direction when it comes to combating alcoholism and drunken driving.

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.

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.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
A Timeline Of Whitney Houston’s Battle With Drug Abuse – RAPFIX.MTV

Whitney Houston was found dead at the age of 48 on Saturday (February 11) but her legacy will live on, thanks to a celebrated discography. Outside of her success, however, Houston fought a long, public battle with addiction that made her a prime target for tabloid scrutiny over the past few years.

DRUG REHAB – THAILAND
Want to be drug-free? Thai monks prescribe projectile vomiting – WorldBlog

Carrie Jeffers feared she would never kick her heroin addiction after relapsing repeatedly in her native Michigan. Then she flew to Thailand, and her life changed. The rigorous regime includes meditation and the daily ingestion of a foul-tasting herbal drink that induces projectile vomiting to cleanse the body of toxins.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Rx drugs reportedly killed Houston, but officials still probing possible drowning – Fox News

Relatives of late pop icon Whitney Houston have reportedly been told by coroner officials that the singer died from what appears to be a combination of Xanax and other prescription drugs mixed with alcohol rather than drowning.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Alcohol abuse help unused by some students – MSU State News
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Drinking, partying and hanging with friends was the norm for psychology senior James Dodge when he first arrived at MSU. Since then, he said he’s realized there are other, healthier ways to enjoy the college experience. But for many college-aged people, seeking help might not be a priority.

HEROIN – USA
Experts share horrors of heroin addiction – Seattle Today

On a big screen at Granite City High School was the face of a mother expressing the worst fears any mom could have. “It makes you feel hopeless seeing there’s nothing you can do,” said Sharon Hosford, of Alton, during a video shown during a Feb. 1 forum about drug use.

METHAMPHETAMINE – MEXICO
Mexican army finds 15 tons of pure methamphetamine – CBS News
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The historic seizure of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine in western Mexico, equal to half of all meth seizures worldwide in 2009, feeds growing speculation that the country could become a world platform for meth production, not just a supplier to the United States.

ECSTASY – UK
Ecstasy and drink warning after Manchester clubbers taken to hospital – BBC News
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Four clubbers were taken to hospital after mixing alcohol with the illegal drug ecstasy in Manchester.

ALCOHOL – USA
Tribe suing beer companies for alcohol problems – Fox News
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An American Indian tribe sued some of the world’s largest beer makers Thursday, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

DRUG REHAB – USA
Christie tells why rehab trumps jail – Philadelphia Inquirer

Gov. Christie says his plan to send more nonviolent drug offenders into treatment rather than to prison is motivated partly by the successes of smaller-scale versions of the program.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription Drug Abuse – Medline Plus

Most people take medicines only for the reasons their doctors prescribe them. But an estimated 20 percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons. This is prescription drug abuse. It is a serious and growing problem. You can develop an addiction to narcotic painkillers, sedatives and tranquilizers, stimulants.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Methamphetamine Use Increasing Again, Researchers Find – University of Texas at Austin News

‎Use of methamphetamines is on the rise nationally after a decrease a few years ago, according to university researchers.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Ohio using stories of those affected in campaign against prescription drug abuse – The Republic

Ohio’s governor is launching a campaign aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse by highlighting the stories of those who have been impacted by addictions.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin makes inroads – Charlotte Observer
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“They were 15- and 16-year-olds, and they had heroin at the pool,” he said. “And these are well-off kids in a nice neighborhood. A good environment.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Push to end prescription drug addiction continues in Southwest Florida – Wink News

The battle to end prescription drug abuse in Southwest Florida is ongoing. We’re learning addicts are taking desperate measures to get what they want: even faking illness and going to emergency rooms and making long lines even longer.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Illinois Alcohol Abuse: Midwest ‘Binge Drinking Belt,’ By The Numbers – Huffington Post

The Atlantic’s Richard Florida on Monday dug into data released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The research showed that binge drinking — or consuming five or more drinks for men and four or more for women on one occasion — continues to be a problem impacting many Americans and contributing to many associated health concerns.

ECSTASY – CANADA
Ecstasy threat real say Nelson police – Nelson Star
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A new form of ecstasy sweeping across British Columbia and Alberta has users in critical condition and has even caused death.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Meth fills hospitals with burn patients – Atlanta Journal Constitution

A crude new method of making methamphetamine poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment — a burden so costly that it’s contributing to the closure of some burn units.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription for abuse: difficulties for reform effort – Crosscut

Too many people are abusing painkillers, many of them young. Very few abusers are in treatment. And it won’t be easy reversing a history of lax oversight. Washington State has made an aggressive attempt to crack down on the prescription drug epidemic by passing strict new rules governing pain management. But even those may not be enough to stanch the flood of deaths from prescription opiates in this state.

DRUG REHAB – USA
A Bridge to Recovery on Campus – New York Times

In their undergrad uniforms of fleece and sweats, a clutch of Rutgers students gathered on the worn red couches of their dorm’s common room and told their stories. A good-looking, fun-loving 23-year-old described arriving at college freshman year with a daily pot-smoking habit and a close relationship with alcohol. He soon followed the lead of his alcoholic father and was binge drinking. For his self-diagnosed anxiety and depression, he secretly began taking Klonopin, which he bought from another student. By sophomore year, he was taking six a day. And when it ran out, he wound up in a hospital to manage withdrawal, followed by nine months of rehab.

ALCOHOL/DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Army report: Suicide rate sets record; some alcohol abuse up 54 percent – Christian Science Monitor

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars make up the longest period of conflict in US history. “There are second- and third-order effects that have grown out of this that our nation has never experienced before.” As much as 43 percent of active-duty soldiers reported binge drinking within the past month. 25-35 percent of wounded soldiers are addicted to prescription or illegal drugs while they await medical discharge. Oxycodone accounts for 95 percent of those prescriptions.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Top-ranked, with policies making it worse: Wisconsin once again is first in binge drinking – Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

Once again, Wisconsin is No. 1. But this time, we’re No. 1 in binge drinking. This isn’t just embarrassing; it borders on social pathology. A fourth of all adults report they are binge drinkers. That’s 50% higher than the national average. These statistics seem substantially underreported because Wisconsin purchases much more alcohol than it reports drinking. The fact is, we don’t take binge drinking and the alcohol-related problems it creates seriously. It’s cultural. Alcohol abuse and problems associated with alcohol have long been accepted or tolerated in this state.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin’s siren song: A force that’s stronger than will or reason – Post Gazette

Their life circumstances, by many measures, couldn’t be more different — he’s a middle-aged black man from a hardscrabble Mon Valley steel town; she’s a young white woman originally from an affluent suburb of Austin, Texas. But what they have in common — heroin addiction early in life — trumps what they don’t. That’s because heroin is as nondiscriminatory as it is destructive.

CLUB DRUGS – USA
Popular club drug replaced by a more toxic one: Cloud Nine – Pocono Record

A popular club drug has been replaced by a more toxic one — one that’s cheaper, more potent and deadlier. Cloud Nine or C-9 is the newest brand in a category of designer drugs that can cause erratic behavior, serious injuries and addiction. It’s among the newest replacement drugs for Ecstasy. Cloud Nine, based on similar chemicals as so-called “bath salts,” is a hallucinogen and stimulant. It’s sometimes marketed as plant food, insect repellent or fertilizer.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Horror no surprise in the U.S. meth capital; Pure ‘poor man’s cocaine’ blamed in wave of domestic slayings – Bend Bulletin

Chronic use of the harsh chemical compound known as speed or crank can lead to psychosis, which includes hearing voices and experiencing hallucinations. The stimulant effect of meth is up to 50 times longer than cocaine, so users stay awake for days on end, impairing cognitive function and contributing to extreme paranoia. “Once people who are on meth become psychotic, they are very dangerous. We’re talking about very extreme alterations of normal brain function. Once someone becomes triggered to violence, there aren’t any limits or boundaries.”