Drug News

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
One addict’s story of prescription drug dangers – NCPR

Jennifer Smith’s addiction severely strained her relationship with her family, forced her to quit her job as a nurse, lead to several stints in drug rehabilitation programs and eventually landed her in jail.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – UK
Alcohol Abuse: Young People Should Be Educated At Sexual Health Clinics, Say Experts – Huffington Post UK
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Young people should be educated on the dangers of alcohol abuse when they attend sexual health clinics, experts have said. With more than 1.5million young people attending the clinics every year, the NHS has been told it is missing “key opportunities” to tackle the “growing problem” of sexually transmitted diseases and hazardous drinking.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Authorities see rise of prescription drug abuse – NCPR

“Spiraling out of control.” And, “Almost an epidemic.” That’s how police, prosecutors, doctors, pharmacists and drug counselors describe the rise of prescription drug abuse in communities across the North Country.

MARIJUANA – USA
Marijuana use up, alcohol use down among US teens – CBS News
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“One thing we’ve learned over the years is that when young people come to see a drug as dangerous, they’re less likely to use it. That helps to explain why marijuana right now is rising.” It’s the fourth straight year marijuana use grew among teens compared with last decade when pot use declined among teens.

CLUB DRUGS – USA
Club Drugs; A Good Time Or A Death Sentence? – Official Wire
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Since the 1980’s there have been dance parties going on called “Raves”. They first became popular in England and have since gained popularity in the U.S. as well. These parties usually consist of many people coming together to dance to electronic music while neon colored lights flash around the dance floor. These parties are often held in remote location such as barns or warehouses so as to avoid raiding. Aside from dancing, most of the people who attend also use drugs.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Three homes in methamphetamine raid deemed unsafe – Daily Press

Three of five homes where 10 people allegedly produced methamphetamine have been deemed unsafe for habitation because of chemicals found inside the homes that were presumably used to make the drug. The new charges are a result of an “analysis of her other children’s rooms” where trace amounts of meth were found.

HEROIN – USA
Alaska teen who was injected with heroin dies – CBS News

‎An Alaska teenager allegedly injected with heroin by a 26-year-old man died Thursday, almost a week after suffering the drug overdose.

CLUB DRUGS – CAFFEINE MIST – USA
Caffeine Mist Is a ‘Club Drug,’ Says Schumer – ABC News
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A caffeine mist marketed as “breathable energy” may become a health hazard for teens and young people. Aeroshot Pure Energy, made by Breathable Foods in Cambridge, Mass., comes in a lipstick-size tube designed to spray a mist of caffeine and B vitamins that dissolve in the mouth, according to the company. The availability and the company’s marketing could sway teens and young adults to mix it with alcohol, creating a potentially dangerous combination. In a statement, Schumer called the product a “club drug” that is “designed to give users the ability to drink until they drop.”

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Methamphetamine tied to schizophrenia: What explains link? – CBS News

Can crystal meth cause madness? Maybe so. Heavy use of methamphetamine is associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia, Canadian researchers say.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin takes heavy toll on users – Seattle Today

Ann Seebeck of Kirkwood visits a tree planted in memory of her son, Chris Seebeck, on Monday Oct. 17, 2011, in Kirkwood Park. Chris Seebeck overdosed in the basement of his parents’ Kirkwood home in 2010 at the age of 27. St. Louis is in the third year of a heroin epidemic that is killing at unprecedented rates.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
November is Alcohol Awareness Month – The Daily Reporter

Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions. In common and historic usage, alcoholism is any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverage, despite health problems and negative social consequences.

HEROIN – USA
Heart attack was really a heroin overdose – WDEL
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Once she was revived, it was discovered the Pennsylvania woman drove her car into the CVS on Delaware Avenue as the result of a heroin overdose.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS/HEROIN – USA
Connecting problems: Heroin and abuse of prescription drugs – Twin Cities Pioneer Press

Before 2000, heroin was a “non-issue” in the state, she says. That’s changed over the last decade, spurred by a “perfect storm” that includes availability here of purer, cheaper heroin and the increased use of prescription painkillers.

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ADDICTION – USA
My Teenager Is A Drug Addict – A Father’s Story – The Patch

“These are not street drugs that have stolen the last two years of my son’s life and put him near death – they are drugs in everyday, ordinary people’s homes that they are leaving exposed and available to our youth in town.”

ALCOHOL ABUSE – UK
Alarm at growing addiction problems among professionals – The Guardian

Experts are calling for urgent action to tackle the “significant challenge” of rising levels of alcoholism and substance abuse among professionals including doctors, dentists and lawyers. Doctors are three times more likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver than the general population.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription meds are becoming stimulants of choice on college campuses – Memphis Commercial Appeal
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Drug abuse on college campuses is no longer limited to binge drinking and illegal drugs. Across the nation, prescription drugs are now the second most-abused drug after marijuana, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription Drug Abuse: The New Killer on the Block – Huffington Post

Every 14 minutes a person dies of a drug overdose in the United States. This means more than 35,000 deaths every year, exceeding motor vehicle crashes, homicides and suicides! What once dominated the world of overdoses in the U.S., namely heroin, has been eclipsed by the prescription painkillers.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Doctor labeled ”candy man” – TheDay

Drug addicts called Dr. Scott W. Houghton “the candy man” because he readily wrote out prescriptions for the controlled substances they sought.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – CANADA
Addicts getting desperate – TheChronicleHerald

KENTVILLE — Members of the group fighting drug addiction in the Annapolis Valley are warning of a possible rash of crimes as increased pressure from police, doctors and the provincial prescription monitoring program reduces the supply of pills on the street.

ALCOHOL – USA
Substance-abuse program helps pregnant women deliver healthy babies – Daily Press

Fetal alcohol syndrome can include mental retardation, abnormal facial features and growth, memory, hearing vision, behavioral and central nervous system problems. There is no cure. The lifetime cost for one person with fetal alcohol syndrome in 2002 was an estimated $2 million.

ALCOHOL – USA
Keep Booze in Bars, Not at the Pit – Daily Lobo

Scott Owens, the guy who killed four teens near Santa Fe last summer was acquitted. His attorney never disputed Owens’ 0.16 blood-alcohol level — twice the presumptive legal intoxication limit. He only disputed reasonable certainty that Owens was solely responsible for the crash. The reasonable doubt was created by the teens’ erratic driving before the crash.

METHAMPHETAMINE – NEW ZEALAND
Fake tour group busted in New Zealand with $8 million of meth stashed in their shoes – New York Daily News

A group of Malaysians posing as tourists was busted in New Zealand after authorities found nearly two pounds of methamphetamine stashed in each of their shoes. Officials said the 10 traffickers were posing as an innocent tour group in order to try to …

HEROIN – USA
Portsmouth man sentenced for giving roommate fatal heroin dose – Daily Press

A Portsmouth man who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after giving heroin to his friend was sentenced to 4 years.

ECSTASY/COCAINE – USA
Authorities charge 27 people in cocaine, ecstasy ring in Somerset, Middlesex Counties – The Star-Ledger

Baillie, 28, was one of 27 people recently snared in a three-month investigation that unearthed a cocaine and ecstasy ring in Somerset and Middlesex Counties.

ALCOHOL/DRUG ADDICTION – USA
Summit reveals the devastation of one bad decision – NorthJersey.com

“I brought alcohol, weed and pills to the party,” he said. Dean and his friends got drunk and took the drugs he had brought. Dean passed out. When he woke up he found out that his best friend had died from an overdose.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Road to OxyContin Addiction – Opposing Views‎

Narconon Trois-Rivieres helped Cliff to end his life of OxyContin addiction by providing holistic treatment which did not involve the use of other drugs. Others are not so fortunate. There are many rehab centers which substitute one drug for another …

DRUG TREATMENT – USA
Bills aim to cut prison costs, improve drug treatment – Louisville Courier-Journal‎

After months of study, the General Assembly will begin considering proposals next week aimed at reducing Kentucky’s soaring prison population and thereby curbing costs through such things as better drug treatment and alternatives to incarceration.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – WORLDWIDE
WHO: Alcohol Abuse Kills 2.5 Million People Each Year – VOANEWS.com

The World Health Organization is calling for action to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, which kills 2.5 million people every year.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE – USA
NASCAR Needs Ounce of Prevention in Substance Abuse Policy – SpeedwayMedia.com‎

They are also stunned when they learn of the amount of alcohol that it takes for their particular body type to be considered legally and functionally impaired. NASCAR must consider being more proactive when it comes to prevention of substance abuse in …

PARTY DRUGS – USA
Husband Slips Ecstasy Into Wife’s Dinner – Cleveland Scene Weekly ‎

Who knows what would drive a man to slip some Ecstasy into his wife’s food. Maybe he thought she’d be more fun high. Maybe he thought it would kick up her sex drive. Maybe he wanted to have a dance party later in the night. …

HEROIN – USA
Heroin overdoses soar in Boston – Boston Herald‎

An apparent spike in heroin overdoses in the Hub has health officials deploying resources to keep the number from rising higher. Heroin overdoses have killed five people in Boston so far this year, said Rita Nieves, Substance Abuse

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Jefferson County sheriff: Several children taken from meth lab home – KMOV.com ‎

The Jefferson County sheriff’s department discovered a meth lab inside a home early Tuesday morning. Residents called the authorities after smelling a strange odor coming from a home on Meadow Drive at Jarvis Road in Joachim, Missouri.

COCAINE/METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Synthetic cocaine, methamphetamine being sold as “bath salts” – WJHG-TV‎

“I saw us go through this years ago with GHB. It started with GHB and then you know other forms of chemicals you could buy at the hardware store. …

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
More people dying from drug overdose – HealthCanal.com

A study from the University of Colorado Denver has found a substantial increase in US rates of death due to drug overdoses.

HEROIN – USA
Clinics treating more heroin addicts – Austin News ‎

Local treatment centers blame prescription drug addictions that are opening the doors to heroin addictions. As a rodeo clown in his 20′s, Jack Housworth …

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Sheriff: New prescription law is hindered by state border – Natchez Democrat ‎

Bordering Louisiana, which does not have such a law, makes the new law only a minor inconvenience to those looking to get pseudoephedrine-based medicine such as Sudafed.

DRUG ABUSE – USA
Woman with curtain rod fights levitating God – Detroit Free Press
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“She told police that her friend uses steroids and GHB … Later, she reported that he was texting her from the hospital that he was not sorry for what happened.

ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE – USA
School calls mandatory substance abuse meeting for parents – NECN‎

Almost all schools have concerns over drugs and alcohol abuse, but Swampscott High School’s new principal is trying to tackle the problem head on. And it’s raising some eyebrows.

ALCOHOL ABUSE – USA
Pacific Beach residents take new tack to regulate bars – San Diego Union Tribune ‎

Alcohol abuse has long been a simmering issue in Pacific Beach, which has been ground zero in San Diego’s crackdown on booze. It was a drunken Labor Day …

COCAINE – UK
Border Agency Reveals Varied Methods of Drug Smuggling – BBC News

Officers in Kent found £500000 worth of cocaine packed into yams, which had been cut open and glued back together again.