Studying
Marijuana and Its Loftier Purpose
Among the
rows of plants growing at a government-approved medical marijuana farm in the
Galilee hills in northern Israel, one strain is said to have the strongest
psychoactive effect of any cannabis in the world. Another, rich in
anti-inflammatory properties, will not get you high at all. Marijuana is
illegal in Israel, but farms like this one, at a secret location near the city
of Safed, are at the cutting edge of the debate on the legality, benefits and
risks of medicinal cannabis. Its staff members wear white lab coats, its
growing facilities are fitted with state-of-the-art equipment for controlling
light and humidity, and its grounds are protected by security cameras and
guards. But in addition to the high-tech atmosphere, there is a spiritual
one. The plantation, Israel’s largest and most established medical marijuana
farm — and now a thriving commercial enterprise — is imbued with a higher sense
of purpose, reflected by the aura of Safed, an age-old center of Jewish
mysticism, as well as by its name, Tikkun Olam, a reference to the Jewish
concept of repairing or healing the world. There is an on-site synagogue
in a trailer, a sweet aroma of freshly harvested cannabis that infuses the
atmosphere and, halfway up a wooded hillside overlooking the farm, a blue-domed
tomb of a rabbinic sage and his wife. In the United States, medical
marijuana programs exist in 18 states but remain illegal under federal law. In
Israel, the law defines marijuana as an illegal and dangerous drug, and there
is still no legislation regulating its use for medicinal purposes. The rest of
the article is available
here.
Opioid-Overdose
Antidote Can Save Lives and Money, Study Concludes
The
opioid-overdose antidote naloxone can save lives and money when distributed to
heroin users, a new study finds. Researchers at the San Francisco Department of
Public Health concluded that one death may be prevented for every 164 naloxone
injection kits given to heroin users, Reuters reports. They estimate the kits would cost approximately
$400 for every year of healthy life gained. Rest of the article is available
here.
Drug Companies Want Ban on Generic Painkillers, Arguing
Safety is at Stake
Drug
companies that manufacture the painkillers OxyContin and Opana are trying to
block generic drug makers’ efforts to produce cheaper versions of the drugs.
They argue these newer drugs will not have the tamper-resistant designs used in
making the brand-name pills, according to The New York Times. Generic versions
of the two painkillers are expected to be significantly less expensive than the
brand-name drugs. Read
the rest of the story here.
Energy Drinks Provide Little or No Benefit, Experts Say
Energy
drinks, under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after
reports of deaths and serious injuries, offer little or no benefit to
consumers, experts say. According to The New York Times, energy drinks sales
topped more than $10 billion in 2012 in the United States. While the companies
that make the drinks advertise their products as providing a mental and
physical edge, a cup of coffee has the same effect, experts told the newspaper.
The drinks, such as Red Bull, Monster Energy and Rockstar Energy, claim the
drinks are specially engineered. U.S. Representative Edward Markey of
Massachusetts has asked the federal government to investigate the industry’s
marketing claims. “These are caffeine delivery systems,” Dr. Roland Griffiths
of Johns Hopkins University, who has studied energy drinks, told the newspaper.
“They don’t want to say this is equivalent to a NoDoz because that is not a
very sexy sales message.” In 2011, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration issued a report that found a sharp rise in the number
of emergency department visits linked with the use of non-alcohol energy
drinks, from 1,128 visits in 2005, to 13,114 in 2009. The report noted that
energy drinks are marketed to appeal to youth, and are consumed by up to half
of children, teenagers and young adults. The FDA said it has not established a
connection between energy drinks and the reported deaths. The FDA can regulate
caffeine levels in soft drinks. The limit in a 12-ounce soda is about 71
milligrams. The caffeine levels in most energy drinks exceed that level,
because they are labeled dietary supplements.
Addiction
on the Streets: Frequently Asked Questions
This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my
writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty and
prostitution in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look
here.
I’ve become
more tied to street-level addiction in 2012, and I often get many queries in life
and in email– some good, insightful questions, some woefully uninformed and
some offensive. It’s odd for one’s thoughts and time to be dedicated to
something so out of the mainstream, so here’s my attempt at answering. Click
here to read the rest of Chris’ blog.
Pill Mills &
The Endless Game of Whac-A-Mole
I was
troubled, but not surprised to read that the crackdown on ‘pill mills’ in my
state of Florida has set off a boom in Georgia. Now that Florida has
established tougher regulations, ‘pill mill’ operators are simply opening
businesses elsewhere—and taking customers with them. As Ohio Senator
Sherrod Brown put it, efforts to shut down sham pain clinics have “become like
a game of Whac-A-Mole—as soon as one disappears, another one pops up.” Rest
of the story is available here.
A
lifeline for parents concerned about a child's mental health
NAMI is a valuable resource for parents
searching for help in a labyrinthine and bewildering mental health care system.
Lynn
Goodloe saw her son's grades begin to fall as he developed a knack for getting
into mischief at a private Westside high school. Was it a phase, drugs or
something more troubling? Harold Turner didn't know what to make of his
daughter's disorganized thinking and erratic behavior at Loyola Marymount
University. Was her high level of stress typical of the college experience, or
was something wrong? "Being a teenager is by definition a crazy
time," said Turner, so it can be hard for parents to know whether to be
patient or persistent. The eventual diagnosis for Goodloe's son and Turner's
daughter was severe mental illness, and both are now in treatment. And for the
past several years, Goodloe and Turner have devoted themselves to helping
others identify mental health problems and begin the daunting task of figuring
out how to get help. Click
here to read the rest of the story.
Alcohol
detecting technology could save 10,000 a year from drunk-driving death
Scientists outside Boston are developing a technology that could bring
drunk driving to a halt.
The federal government and the 16 major automobile makers are funding QinetiQ
North America's $10 million Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS)
project.
"This is the single best opportunity we have to prevent 10,000 people from
dying a year - the equivalent of the seat belt of our generation," project
leader Bud Zaouck told CBS This Morning. The breath-based approach,
called distant spectrometry, would detect the alcohol on a driver's breath
before allowing that person to operate the car.
The researchers have narrowed down the solution to two technologies - one
breath-based, the other touch-based - that evaluate a person's blood alcohol
content. Both approaches will require the driver to pass a sobriety test
before starting a vehicle. One is a sensor mounted close to the steering wheel
that assesses whether the driver's breath is above the U.S. legal limit of
0.08. The other is a start and stop button that will gauge each driver's
alcohol level with infrared light sent into the fingertip. The sensor will also
detect whether someone from the passenger seat is leaning over to press the
button, Zaouck said. The touch-based approach, called tissue spectrometry,
would estimate a driver's alcohol level when he or she presses the vehicle's
start-stop button.
The American Beverage Institute (ABI), however, strongly opposes placing
alcohol detectors in all cars. The institute, which represents more than 8,000
U.S. restaurants, claims to be worried that even if the technology is accurate
over 99.9 percent of the time, it could still result in preventing thousands of
sober drivers from operating their vehicles. "DADSS supporters claim
the alcohol detectors would be voluntary and set at 0.08," said Sarah
Longwell, managing director of ABI, "but there is a growing mountain of
evidence showing that their true goal is to put alcohol-sensing technology in
all cars as original equipment, set well below the 0.08 level." The
DADSS project started in 2008 but the organization says that the technology
will not be implemented for about eight to 10 years.
Do
alcohol and marijuana mix? Colorado is about to find out
In the
debate over what marijuana legalization means for Colorado, the best
drug-policy brains in the nation say there is one question getting short
shrift: If people can more easily toke, does that mean they will drink less? It
is, for now, a question without an answer. But what that answer is, the experts
say, will be a big factor in determining whether marijuana legalization is
worth it. Read more: Do alcohol and marijuana mix? Colorado is about to find
out - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/marijuana/ci_22300820/do-alcohol-and-marijuana-mix-colorado-is-about#ixzz2Gv3vKjOl
DEA Proposes New Regulations to Dispose of Unwanted Prescription Drugs
The Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) has proposed new regulations to give the
public more options for disposing of unwanted prescription drugs, such as
painkillers and sedatives. The new rules are designed to reduce the amount of
highly abused prescription drugs on the streets, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
The DEA wants law enforcement agencies and pharmacies to maintain collection
boxes for certain medications. The agency also recommends implementing
mail-back programs to safely dispose of the drugs. Under the proposed rules,
for the first time, groups outside of law enforcement would be allowed to
collect unused drugs for disposal, the article notes. According to a DEA news
release, the proposal would allow authorized retail pharmacies to voluntarily
maintain collection boxes at long-term care facilities. The DEA also calls for
continued use of prescription drug “take-back” events. The public can comment
on the proposed regulations until February 19. Congress subsequently will vote
on the measure.
Anonymity Of Addiction Hurts More Than
It Helps
I often
wished that state legislators who knew the most about addiction would band
together and speak out as one during budget debates. Who better to advocate for
treatment and chip away at public denial than the recovering alcoholics I knew
who were also members of the General Assembly? Yet the answer was as close as
my nearest mirror. Despite being a journalist and writing opinion for years, I
was no more likely to publish a column about my own 20-plus years' recovery
from alcoholism than lawmakers were prepared to out themselves on the floor of
the legislature. Whether springing from shame or shyness, my decision not to
write about my addiction was a mistake. The same goes for most of my 20
million-plus fellow citizens who are in sustained recovery from addiction. Rest
of the article is available here.
Study: No Added Benefit From Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy for Opioid Dependence
People who
are dependent on opioids and are being treated with buprenorphine do not
receive additional benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, a new study
finds. The study could change how opioid dependence is viewed and treated,
according to MedicalXpress. Buprenorphine is the most commonly
prescribed drug of its kind to treat opioid dependence, the article notes.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is used to treat many psychiatric conditions and
substance use disorders. The researchers from Yale University studied 141
people with opioid dependence. They were divided into two groups. One group
received buprenorphine treatment alone, and the second group received the drug
treatment plus cognitive behavioral therapy. Both treatments were similarly
effective. Patients in both groups had a significant reduction in self-reported
frequency of opioid use. Those receiving cognitive behavioral therapy did not
have a greater reduction in use than those receiving buprenorphine treatment
alone. The findings appear in the American Journal of Medicine. “This study
demonstrates that some patients can do very well with buprenorphine and minimal
physician support,” lead author Dr. David A. Fiellin noted in a news release. “This treatment represents an important tool
to help reduce the adverse impact of addiction, HIV, and overdose due to heroin
and prescription opioids.”
Privacy factors
contribute to success of online treatment program
The
co-founders of the online treatment program Lionrock Recovery knew about
addiction (from family experience) and knew about technology (they routinely
used videoconferencing in their previous lines of work) as they embarked on
their new venture. What they didn’t quite anticipate was the mechanism by which
the marriage of treatment and technology could have such a great impact on
individuals for whom conventional care might prove ineffective. What Peter K. Loeb and Iain D. Crabb originally envisioned
as an addiction treatment alternative emphasizing convenience has developed
more as an option guaranteeing privacy. Loeb, Lionrock’s president and CEO,
says the confidential nature of Lionrock’s services has been the attraction for
numerous individuals, such as the woman in her 60s who said, “If my daughter
found out I was in treatment, I would never get to see my grandchild again.”
“We focus on being a safe haven,” says Loeb, who with
Crabb launched Lionrock about a year ago. Read
the rest of the story here.
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