Make more noise against drug abuse

Last Thursday night I attended a meeting regarding drug addiction awareness. A small group of mothers with a special bond decided to start up this group (never underestimate the power of a mother). There were approximately 60 people in attendance all with the same goal - to have our town and schools drug free and safe, to offer more facilities in Parry Sound to help people in recovery, to work together as a community with existing services, to offer education and prevention and to lobby politicians to make changes to existing laws. This seems like a tall order for 60 voices. When the next meeting is announced let us have hundreds of voices in attendance. We live in one of the most beautiful towns in the country, however, within our community an ugly and dangerous world of drugs exists.

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Article - The lesson of Justice Rehniquist's drug addiction - US ...

Newly released FBI records reveal that a physician prescribed a powerful sleeping pill for the late William Rehnquist when he was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. According to these records, the doctor prescribed 500 milligrams of Placidyl every evening. Instead, the justice popped 1500 milligrams every night before bed. The problem apparently came to a head in 1981 when, according to a shrink interviewed by the FBI, the family admitted awareness of long-standing slurred speech which seems to coincide with the administration of Placidyl. A month-long detox program weaned His Honor off the addiction in 1982, we are told. Its instructive to ask what sorts of decisions the Justice was rendering at the peak of his drug addiction in 1981. While hardly an exhaustive review of the cases in which Justice Rehnquist weighed in, here are a couple of quick examples: In Robbins v.

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Editorial: Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration drunk at the wheel

BALTIMORE - A new audit shows the state agency charged with overseeing substance abuse programs needs treatment — for financial misfeasance, at least. And it's not the first time. Two audits in a row of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration, covering six years ending in March, criticized its mismanagement of taxpayer funds. Among the reports' findings are that the ADAA did not properly monitor whether agencies under its supervision provided services they claimed and that it did not manage its cash receipts in a timely fashion. The ADAA does not handle pocket change — it granted about $125 million last year for substance abuse programs. How much of that is not accounted for? The audit found that 80 of the 265 care providers it serves never received a site visit. The agency's response to each of the audit's recommendations was “procedures are being implemented," to fix this or that problem.

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Abu Dhabi to host global conference on drug addiction

Abu Dhabi: The emirate will initiate a global campaign against drug addiction when it hosts the first UAE International Conference on Addiction (UICA) next year, officials announced yesterday. With the motto "Yes...to Life", the UICA is organised by the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) in Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with the National Addiction Centre in London. Over 300 speakers from various countries will participate in the first campaign of its kind, including Queen Silvia of Sweden, president of the Mentor foundation, a non-government drug prevention organisation. "Prevention is better than cure," said Abdul Aziz Nasser Al Raisi, NRC Chairman. "The best strategy is to address drugs. We want to develop rehabilitation and treatment inside the country, and be a support for other centres worldwide by exchanging expertise." The UICA will cover all kinds of addictions, including alcohol, prescribed and illegal drugs.

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Decline In Drug Abuse Hopeful, But More Research, Education Needed

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry applauds the 23.2 percent decline in drug use by young people reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), but calls for more research and education on the impact of youth drug abuse. The Monitoring the Future Study survey of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders shows an illicit drug use decline by 23.2 percent over a five-year period. It also showed that youth prescription drug, and over-the-counter medicine abuse remains high. "This illustrates that education is driving prevention," says Thomas F. Anders, M.D., President of AACAP. "Continued collaboration among parents, teachers, physicians, and mental health professionals is essential to show youth the long-term consequences of using drugs." The AACAP emphasizes the need for the identification and treatment of mental illnesses that often are present in youth who use drugs and/or alcohol.

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Youths can take different routes to drug addiction

Drug policies in the United States have long been influenced by the idea of a "gateway progression" in drug use, where the use of one substance eventually leads to "harder" drugs. Marijuana is often called a "gateway drug" because many young people who use it later move on to substances such as heroin and cocaine, and the gateway progression has been considered a strong predictor for drug dependency. A new study from the University of Pittsburgh, however, suggests that teens who follow a reverse sequence -- using harder drugs without having first tried "softer" ones, such as cigarettes and alcohol -- are just as likely to develop a drug dependency. In a study of 214 boys, researchers monitored participants' use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana over a 10-year period, until they reached the age of 22.

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Report ties teen smoking to drug abuse

Young people who smoke cigarettes are much more likely to use drugs and abuse alcohol than non-smoking youth, a new study says. A study of 15- to 19-year-olds by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse found a "very strong" association between tobacco use and hazardous drinking, use of marijuana, and other drugs. "What surprised me was the strength of the association," said Chris Davis, one of the researchers for the study. The study found 91% of smoking youth used marijuana some time in the year before the study, compared to 29% of non-smoking youth. Young people who smoke were more likely to binge drink and more than twice as likely to be hazardous drinkers than non-smokers. .

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