Drug News

DRUGS – UK
Last Call for Tackling Drugs, Changing Lives Awards – Home Office

Anyone who wishes to nominate a drug treatment team, police officer or volunteer who has gone that extra mile to tackle drugs has just ten days to make their local hero an example for the nation.

METH – ASIA
Methamphetamine usage rising – IRIN

Typically smoked, the potent central nervous system stimulant is highly addictive, causing paranoia, delusions and hallucinations.

DRUGS – USA
NJ Launches Campaign Against Medicine Abuse – Evening Bulletin

The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ) announced Monday a statewide public service campaign titled “Grandma’s Stash,” to raise awareness that misuse of prescription drugs is second only to marijuana as America’s most prevalent drug problem.

DRUGS – USA
WLPD teams with site to offer free drug tests – Journal and Courier

The urinalysis test recognizes the 10 most common illegal drugs: cocaine, amphetamine, marijuana, opiates, methamphetamine, benzodiazepine, oxycodone, propoxyphene and MDMA, more commonly known by its street name, ecstasy.

ALCOHOL – UK
BMA Scotland Response To The Scottish Government’s Proposed Strategy To Tackle Alcohol Misuse – Medical News Today

Doctors called for action, not words, to tackle alcohol misuse in Scotland.

ALCOHOL – USA
Underage, drunken fans can buy alcohol at stadiums – Dallas Morning News

Actors posing as drunken sports fans successfully bought alcohol from U.S. stadium vendors almost nine out of 10 tries, according to a University of Minnesota study.

ALCOHOL – USA
Even if you look drunk at a game, you can likely keep buying booze – Chicago Tribune

The stadiums and arenas of Chicago have seen untold amounts of alcohol-fueled mayhem, from obscene yelling to savage, bare-knuckle brawls. But according to a study released Wednesday, sports venues could be bringing some of this chaos on themselves.

ALCOHOL – USA
Study Finds Sports Stadiums Serve Alcohol to Intoxicated, Underage Fans – Join Together

An undercover operation conducted as part of research sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Research Program (SAPRP) found that apparently underage and intoxicated fans have a relatively easy time purchasing alcohol at professional sports events.

METH – UK
‘Meth’ adverts to scare US teens – BBC News

Advertisement: An advertising campaign designed to scare teenagers away from using the drug ‘meth’ has been launched in the US.

METH – UK
Montana meth ads winning drug battle – BBC News

They call Montana “Big Sky Country” or “The Last Best Place” – and it is easy to see why with its wide open spaces, majestic mountains and meandering rivers. But there is a far less wholesome side to this wilderness, a problem more associated with grim urban despair – drugs.

ADDERALL – USA
Students depend on study aids for cram sessions – The Daily Collegian

Pressured for time, many students turn to study aids such as coffee, energy drinks and Adderall to help them through finals week.

ADDERALL – USA
The Other Side of Adderall – BU Today

The stress of keeping up with academic life, especially around finals time, can be challenging, even for the best of students.

METHADONE – USA
Methadone overdoses continue to climb in state – Fay Observer

Methadone, a painkiller, has been used for years to help wean addicts off heroin and similar drugs. But in recent years, medical officials and lawmen have seen increases in overdoses of the drug.

CANNABIS – GERMANY
German Youths Choose Alcohol Over Cannabis, Drug Czar Says –

German youths are turning away from tobacco and cannabis. But there’s been an “alarming” rise in binge-drinking, according to the annual report released by the government’s commissioner on drug abuse.

CANNABIS – UK
Smoking, cannabis-use down among German youth, but drinking up – Earth Times

German youths are turning away from tobacco and cannabis, but there is an “alarming” rise in binge drinking, according to the annual report released by the government’s commissioner on drug-abuse Monday.

METH – USA
Some Former Meth Houses Sold Without Being Cleaned – CBS Denver News

Some Coloradans may be living in a home that once contained a drug lab and not even know it.

COCAINE – UK
Cocaine found at university bars – BBC News

Drugs testing by students at the University of Bristol has suggested cocaine is used at most of its bars.

ALCOHOL – USA
College Party Characteristics Related to Likelihood of High-Risk Drinking – Join Together

High-risk drinking among college students is related to the types of parties they attend, according to a recent web survey of undergraduate students attending two large urban universities.

METH – USA
New Anti-Meth Campaign for American Indians/Alaska Natives – Join Together

T he Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and the National Congress of American Indians to launch the first ever anti-meth public service campaign targeted toward American Indian and Native Alaskan populations.

METH – USA
Tweaked Anti-Meth Campaign Posters – SFist

Addendums to the anti-drug campaign posters have reflected all kinds of sentiments to the most recent effort to get the homosexuals off the crazy crack. Here are just a few.

COCAINE – USA
Dangerous Addictions: Cocaine – Channels Online

Coke, blow, snow-the fun nicknames may help cocaine pass as a party drug, along with its ability to produce feelings of euphoria, sociability, alertness, and omnipotence in users. However, its dangers loom as strongly as ever, and its addictive quality is undeniable.

ALCOHOL – AUSTRALIA
Booze-fuelled violence doubles in decade – The Sydney Morning Herald

NSW authorities have defended their efforts to tackle drunken crime after a report showed the number of booze-fuelled attacks had doubled in under a decade.

ALCOHOL – USA
One in six drivers drink sometimes: report – Reuters

About 15 percent of U.S. adults have driven under the influence of alcohol in the past year and in some states as many as 25 percent did, according to a government study released on Wednesday.

ALCOHOL – IRELAND
New laws will clamp down on sale and advertising of alcohol – Irish Independent

The Government will launch a double-whammy assault on the alcohol industry this week with a clampdown on sales and advertising of drink.

METH – USA
State needs long-term meth solution – Tucson Citizen

In an effort to educate Arizona residents about the horrible impact meth has on people, lives and our community, a 30- minute documentary, “Crystal Darkness,” was shown on virtually every television station across our state April 15.

DRUGS – UK
Rat Study Suggests Why Teens Get Hooked On Cocaine More Easily Than Adults, And Find It Harder To Quit – Medical News Today

New drug research suggests that teens may get addicted and relapse more easily than adults because developing brains are more powerfully motivated by drug-related cues.

PRESCRIPTION – USA
Prescription Drug Abuse – WTJA News

It’s a phenomenon that’s becoming more and more prevalent throughout the state – people turning to prescription medications for a quick fix.

CANNABIS – UK
Cannabis changed me from a happy confident teenager into a total wreck – Coventry Telegraph

CANNABIS use is soaring according to reports – and its popularity has been exaggerated by its reclassification as a ‘soft’ drug.

ALCOHOL – UK
Acting Surgeon General Kicks Off 1,600 Town Hall Meetings Throughout The Nation To Address The Underage Drinking Problem – Medical News Today

In response to the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to prevent and reduce underage drinking, more than 1,600 town hall meetings will take place all across the country in March and April 2008.

METH – USA
Recent survey gauges student drug use – Northwest Arkansas News

In a survey, revealed that 68. 8 percent of 12 th-graders, compared to 15. 5 percent of sixth-graders, admitted to using alcohol at some point during their lifetime. In addition, less than 5 percent of students in sixth through 12 th grades admitted to using methamphetamine during their lifetime or in the past 30 days.

METH – USA
Conference to address effects of drugs on kids – Daily Vidette

University faculty, social workers, Drug Enforcement Administration representatives and other volunteers will come to a head on Thursday at “Living in Danger.”

PRESCRIPTION – USA
Prescription painkiller deaths in state surpass deaths from illegal drugs – The Seattle Times

Every day, 2,500 kids age 12-17 abuse a prescription painkiller for the first time, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Police.

CANNABIS – UK
‘Month of cannabis terrified me’ – BBC News

A mother-of-three who smoked cannabis for a month as part of a BBC documentary has described how the drug left her paranoid and frightened.

PRESCRIPTION – SOUTH AFRICA
New trend in teen prescription drug abuse – Money Web

Parents have long worried whether their kids at college are drinking too much or getting stoned. But alcohol and marijuana aren’t the only substances they should be concerned about: In recent years, a growing number of young people have begun abusing prescription opiates.

METH – USA
I Lost Me (and Interest In Anti-Drug Awareness Campaigns) to Meth – SFist

The most recent ad campaign–a four-month media blitz produced by the California Methamphetamine Initiative called “Me, Not Meth”–can been seen throughout the city.

HEROIN – USA
‘Cheese’ Heroin Hooking Young Users in Dallas – NPR

Cheese heroin is Mexican black-tar heroin that has been diluted with crushed tablets of over-the-counter sleep medication such as Tylenol PM.