Drug News

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Authorities raid suspected ‘prescription mills’ – Los Angeles Times

Federal and local law enforcement officials close four medical clinics in the San Fernando Valley suspected of catering to addicts seeking heroin-like painkillers and other drugs.

ALCOHOL – USA
Online Course Helps Reduce Harmful College Drinking – Kansas City infoZine

Researchers found that students who took the online course reported significantly reduced alcohol use and binge drinking during the fall semester, compared with control students. These beneficial effects, however, did not persist into the spring semester.

DRUG REHAB – RUSSIA
In Russia, Harsh Remedy for Addiction Gains Favor – New York Times
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The treatment center does not handcuff addicts to their beds anymore. But caged together on double-decker bunks with no way out, they have no choice but to endure the agonies of withdrawal, the first step in a harsh, coercive approach to drug treatment that has gained wide support in Russia.

ALCOHOL – USA
Government Sues Trucking Company for Taking Keys Away From Alcoholic Driver – FOX News

Citing a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Obama administration is suing a trucking company for taking the keys away from an Arkansas driver

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Workplace methamphetamine use is higher in West – Los Angeles Times

Overall, positive methamphetamine screens in the workplace stands at 0.10% nationally. Hawaii ranked first in the highest rates of positive screens for methamphetamine–410% greater than the national average. The rates in Arkansas and Oklahoma were also high, 280% and 240% above the national average, respectively. California’s rate was 140% above the average.

ECSTASY – USA
Ecstasy drug transported through Utah – StandardNet

OGDEN — The Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force seized 79,321 pills of the party drug Ecstasy during 2010. The total is four times the average taken off the street annually for the entire state of Utah, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription Drug User Fee Act: New Fee Agreement Led By FDA – Third Age

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act may include a new fee agreement, after the FDA agreed to work toward faster, more predictable reviews of new prescription drugs. Under the draft agreement unveiled by the agency Thursday, the FDA will, in turn, receive millions of dollars in additional fees from drugmakers.

COCAINE – USA
Oscar de la Hoya Admits to Cheating, Cocaine and Cross-Dressing – International Business Times
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Oscar de la Hoya publicly admitted to cheating on his wife, using cocaine and cross-dressing in a recent interview about his ongoing treatment for alcohol abuse and thoughts of suicide. “I am tired now of lying, of lying to the public and of lying to myself.”

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.

DRUG ADDICTION – UK
The Life of Amy Winehouse: A Timeline (Sept. 14, 1983-July 23, 2011) – E! Online

June 17, 2009: Winehouse’s parents, Janis and Mitch, make a public plea to try to get their daughter the help she needs, saying that she was still drinking while in a drug treatment program.

HEROIN – USA
Heroin’s siren song: Son achieves stability after years of addiction – Pittsburgh Post Gazette

We didn’t find it in the same route; we both ended up drug addicts by our own means, but we used together. I snorted it a couple of times. I went intravenous pretty quickly. We’re all good at hiding it for an extended period of time.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Robbery case, toddler’s death highlight Florida’s prescription drug problem – Tampabay.com

Prescription drug abuse remains rampant in Florida, even as local and state officials continue their crackdowns. So-called pill mills, the unscrupulous pain management clinics with on-site pharmacies accepting cash payments, have been the main supply line for oxycodone and other prescription painkillers flooding the streets in a state where an average of seven people die each day from prescription drug overdoses.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Northern California woman to stand trial in meth breast milk death – San Jose Mercury News

A Humboldt County judge has ordered a woman to stand trial in the death of her newborn son after he drank her methamphetamine-laced breast milk.

ECSTASY – USA
Some say ecstasy may be to blame for psychotic behavior – ABC Action News

Now, one of Hadley’s best friends says he admitted to taking three ecstasy pills around the time of the murders. Ecstasy is a drug typically used at raves or concerts.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Prescription drug abuse in Vermont ‘a problem of epidemic proportions’ – BurlingtonFreePress.com

The overview: Vermont’s prescription drug abuse problem is getting worse. Monday: The medical angle: Doctors have become a source of opiates for the state’s addicts.

ALCOHOL – USA
Adults who allow underage alcohol consumption face stiff consequences – Livingston Daily

Teens often take their cues about acceptance of alcohol consumption from their parents, who may adopt the attitude that they drank alcohol as teens and survived.

LSD – CANADA
Teens and LSD – Patch.com

It is this lack of inoculation of the current generation with regard to the risks of LSD that makes them vulnerable if the drug returns to popularity. The controversial psychedelic drug LSD may soon leave the underground world of illegal self-discovery.

DRUG REHAB – CHINA
Teenage drug abusers fight addiction, seek rehab – China Daily

Eji Lhaze was 14 when he first took “ice”, thinking it was no different from cigarettes. “I was curious how it tasted, because my pals seemed to enjoy every bit of it and sleep like babies after a dose,” he said. “So I just tried a sip.”

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – USA
Florida laws get tougher to crack down on prescription drug abuse – Wink News

Today’s declaration that Florida’s prescription drug abuse crisis is a public health emergency is an aggressive launch of the strong criminal and administrative penalties that are now in effect and will crack down on pill mills in Florida. This ban along with the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program will strengthen the oversight of the prescribing of highly addictive drugs and save lives.

DRUG REHAB – USA
U.S. Supreme Court rules longer prison terms not allowed for drug rehab – Sacramento Bee

This was longer than it might have been, but the judge noted that it was long enough to make Tapia eligible for a drug treatment program at a federal prison.

ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE – USA
Nearly Half of US Teens Smoke, Drink Alcohol, or Use Drugs – WebMD

Nearly half of all American high school students smoke, drink alcohol, or use illicit drugs, according to a new report.

METHAMPHETAMINE – USA
Hope and recovery – Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Thierry Wood said she was devastated when she called police in 2007 to arrest her 14-year-old daughter, Nina, whose behavior had become erratic and violent because of her methamphetamine addiction.

ECSTASY – SCOTLAND
Two men die after taking extra-strong ecstasy pills – Herald Scotland

Ecstasy tablets six times stronger than normal may have caused the death of two men in the west of Scotland.

HEROIN – MEXICO/USA
As poppy fields flourish in Mexico, heroin use surges in US – MiamiHerald

What was once a problem largely confined to hubs in California and Texas, Mexican traffickers have expanded into the Midwest and the Atlantic Seaboard. Using savvy marketing tactics, they’ve also repositioned heroin commercially, revamping its image from the inner-city drug of yore, with its junkies and needles, into a narcotic that can be snorted or smoked, appealing to suburban and even rural high school youth.

MARIJUANA – USA
Marijuana Driving Accidents On The Rise – Slate Magazine

Driving while under the influence isn’t just for drunks anymore. There’s a largely unrecognized group causing a growing number of accidents — minor and fatal — across the country: drugged drivers. And many of them may be causing accidents with their use of pot.