Pennsylvania Colleges Take Steps to Reduce Alcohol Use
A number of colleges in Pennsylvania are taking steps to
reduce alcohol use among students, according to the Associated Press. Bucknell
University in Lewisburg has cancelled its annual House Party, a weekend of
music, food and partying. In a letter to the campus community, Bucknell
President John Bravman said 15 students at last year’s event were hospitalized
with blood alcohol levels over 0.239—almost three time the legal definition for
drunk driving. Two students had levels higher than 0.30. “Quite frankly, it was
a disaster from my point of view,” he told the AP. “I just can’t believe that
anyone would actually argue that this has a mission purpose for this
university.” Temple University in Philadelphia has cancelled its Spring Fling,
a decades-old event. Temple’s Dean of Students, Stephanie Ives, said many
students used the event as an opportunity to skip class and drink. “Our
academic mission was being undermined” by the behavior, she said, adding that
student health was also a major concern. This year, a female student visiting
Temple during Spring Fling died after falling from a rooftop party, in what
appeared to be an accident. Pennsylvania State University paid 34 bars and
restaurants $167,000 to not serve alcohol during last spring’s
student-organized “State Patty’s Day.” A task force at the University of
Pennsylvania is evaluating the school’s alcohol and safety policies. According
to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, among full-time college
students in 2012, 60.3 percent were current drinkers, 40.1 percent were binge
drinkers, and 14.4 percent were heavy drinkers.
The Rise of
Marijuana-Loving Moms
Newborn drug tests, surprise home visits, forced
adoptions—how the quiet war against mothers who smoke has rallied pro-women,
pro-weed groups.
This article continues here.
Smarter Kids Are Smart
Enough to Avoid Alcohol and Drugs, Right?
Maybe not. The latest study of twins shows that early
bloomers may become heavier drinkers who start chugging earlier in life. The
research is part of an emerging but counterintuitive body of work that suggests
kids who develop language and intellectual skills earlier are more likely to
drink and take other drugs than their less intelligent peers. In 2011, for
example, British researchers found that women who were in the top third of the
IQ range when tested in elementary school were more than twice as likely as
those scoring in the bottom third to have used marijuana or cocaine by age 30;
for men, the top-ranked boys were almost 50% more likely to have taken
amphetamine and 65% more likely to have used ecstasy (MDMA) by adulthood. Continue
here.
It's not just college: 1
in 10 high school seniors engage in 'extreme' binge drinking
It just got harder to be a parent. New research shows that
‘extreme’ binge drinking -- defined as downing 10 or more drinks in a row --
isn’t relegated to the college fraternity party. Plenty of high school seniors
are taking part in this kind of alcohol abuse, as well. The research out Monday
shows one in 10 high school seniors have engaged in this kind extreme binge
drinking, while 5.6% have upped the ante even further, consuming 15 or more
drinks in a single drinking event. Story
continues here.
New App That Measures
Blood Alcohol Levels to be Released in October
A new app that measures a person’s blood alcohol level will
be released in October, Reuters reports. The app works through a device that
plugs into the headphone jack of a smartphone. After a person blows into the
device, an ethanol sensor embedded in the Breathometer app detects alcohol on
the breath and converts it into a signal, which the app processes. It displays the
person’s blood alcohol level within seconds on the device, which can fit in a
pocket or on a keychain. The app, which will cost $49, will work with iPhones
and Android smartphones. It works with iPhones through a Bluetooth link.
Charles Michael Yim, Chief Executive of Breathometer, told Reuters the product
is designed to prevent drunk driving, by allowing a person to be aware of their
blood alcohol levels and make smarter decisions. The app also can detect a
person’s GPS location, and call a cab if the person cannot drive home. It will
estimate how long it will take for a person to become sober. The Breathometer
is one of a growing number of small, inexpensive personal devices that measures
a person’s blood alcohol level, providing drivers with an easier way to assess
their fitness to drive. Experts warn the devices do not guarantee a person can
drive safely. Critics of the devices note they aren’t necessarily accurate, in
part because impairment from alcohol varies among people. Proponents note they
could be useful for parents who want to check whether their teens have been
drinking. Another such device, BACtrack, is a hand-held unit that displays a
graph predicting a person’s blood alcohol levels in the hours to come on an
iPhone, through a Bluetooth link.
Naloxone Stopped 2,000
Overdoses in Massachusetts in Six Years: Report
Naloxone, a drug that blocks the effects of opioids
including heroin and oxycodone, has stopped 2,000 overdoses in Massachusetts in
the last six years, state officials announced. Naloxone, also called Narcan, is
a nasal spray. Naloxone kits are distributed in 15 communities in Massachusetts
for free to people who use opioids, and to their family and friends, the
Associated Press reports. The Narcan program also offers education and
referrals for addiction treatment. Ambulance crews and emergency rooms have routinely
used Narcan for decades. During the past few years, public health officials in
a growing number of communities around the country have begun distributing it
to people addicted to opioids, and to their loved ones. Some police and
firefighters have also received the kits. In February 2012, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention reported that naloxone has successfully reversed
more than 10,000 opioid overdoses since 1996.
Emergency Rooms Reported
23,000 Bath Salts-Related Visits in 2011
U.S. emergency rooms reported almost 23,000 visits for
synthetic drugs known as “bath salts” in 2011. The findings come from the first
national study to look at bath salts-related emergency room visits, according
to HealthDay. It was conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA). The report found 33 percent of these visits
involved bath salts only, 15 percent involved bath salts combined with
marijuana or synthetic marijuana, and 52 percent involved bath salts in
combination with other drugs. “Although bath salts drugs are sometimes claimed
to be ‘legal highs’ or are promoted with labels to mask their real purpose,
they can be extremely dangerous when used,” Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, Chief
Medical Officer of SAMHSA, said in an agency news release. Bath salts can be
taken by mouth, inhaled, or injected. Adverse effects of bath salts include
heart and blood vessel problems, depression, suicidal thoughts, psychosis, and
death, according to SAMHSA. In 2011, there were almost 2.5 million U.S.
emergency department visits involving drug misuse or abuse.
Study: Chronic Care
Approach to Substance Abuse Treatment No Better Than Usual Care
A new study finds a substance abuse treatment program that
approaches addiction as a chronic disease is no more effective than a single
medical visit and a referral to addiction treatment resources. People treated
for drug and alcohol addiction were assigned to receive chronic care management
or usual addiction care. Chronic care management included intensive medical
care at a primary care clinic, counseling to prevent relapses, and addiction
and psychiatric treatment. Usual care included one medical visit, in which
patients received a list of resources for addiction treatment. The year-long
study of almost 600 adults found that 44 percent of patients who received
chronic care management had stopped drinking or using drugs, compared with 42
percent of those who received usual care, HealthDay reports. Lead researcher
Dr. Richard Saitz of Boston University says he has not given up on chronic care
management for addiction, but acknowledged it will not be effective for
everyone. He added more studies are needed to identify the best way to use
chronic care management, and who will receive the greatest benefit. “We have to
recognize that people with drug or alcohol addictions may be different and it’s
not one monolithic disorder,” he said. “I do think that integrated chronic care
management, in the future, is going to be efficacious for people with
addictions.” The findings are published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
What you need to know
about synthetic drugs
Spice, bath salts, herbal incense.
They sound like something you might find on the fragrance
aisle at Target, but these are actually dangerous drugs masked as harmless
fragrances, sold in convenience stores and online. Innocent names such as Mr.
Smiley hide the dangers. No one really knows what's in these so-called synthetic
drugs. Manufacturers play a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with law enforcement
by constantly changing the chemical compounds of the drugs to circumvent
existing laws. Rest
of this story is here.
Taxes Are Not a Sober
Response to Alcohol Abuse
On the heels of a recent Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention study that sent shockwaves through the media by declaring that
alcohol abuse costs America more than $200 billion in "lost
productivity" each year, a task force is recommending that states increase
taxes and restrictions on alcohol sales. Although the CDC's numbers look scary,
the science behind them is even scarier, and new sin taxes would be a gross
overreaction to some questionable data. The CDC study at the center of the
uproar relies on lost productivity metrics, a dubious field of statistics that
many analysts believe grossly overstates the impact of common behaviors. By
these same measures, "disengaged employees" cost the economy about
twice as much as alcohol abusers, and parents pull more than $300 billion from
the economy when they are stressed about child care.
Please click here to continue reading.
Justice Department
Broadens Changes in Federal Drug Sentencing Policy
Attorney General Eric Holder has announced the Justice
Department will broaden a plan to change how some non-violent drug offenders
are prosecuted. Last month, Holder said low-level, nonviolent drug offenders
who are not tied to large-scale drug organizations or gangs will not face
mandatory minimum sentences. On Thursday, he said the new policy will cover
defendants who have not yet been convicted in drug cases that could involve
long mandatory prison sentences, the Associated Press reports. Prosecutors will
also have the discretion to apply the policy to defendants who have entered a
guilty plea, but have not yet been sentenced. Certain laws mandate minimum
sentences regardless of the facts of the case. Holder said the longest prison
terms should be reserved for serious, high-level or violent drug traffickers.
“Some federal drug statutes that mandate inflexible sentences — regardless of
the individual conduct at issue in a particular case — do not serve public
safety when they’re applied indiscriminately,” Holder said at a criminal
justice issues forum of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. The federal
prison population has grown by about 800 percent since 1980, while the U.S.
population as a whole has increased by about one-third during that time.
Although 5 percent of the world’s population resides in the United States, the
nation’s prisons house almost 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, according to
the Justice Department. More than 219,000 federal inmates are incarcerated.
Almost half are serving time for drug-related crimes.
Opioid Prescribing for
Non-Cancer Pain Almost Doubled Between 2000 and 2010
Opioid prescribing for non-cancer pain almost doubled
between 2000 and 2010, while prescriptions for non-opioid pain relievers
remained relatively stable during that period, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studied
federal government data on treatment of non-cancer pain from 2000 to 2010. Of
the 164 million pain-related visits to doctors in 2010, about half of patients
were treated with some type of pain reliever, according to HealthDay. They
found while prescriptions of non-opioid painkillers remained relatively stable
at between 26 percent and 29 percent, prescriptions for opioids nearly doubled,
from 11 percent to 19 percent. The researchers also analyzed visits for new
musculoskeletal pain. They found a significant decrease in prescriptions of
non-opioid pain relievers, from 38 percent in 2000, to 29 percent in 2010. They
note there is a lack of evidence that opioids are more effective or safer than
non-opioid treatment for this type of pain. The findings are published in the
journal Medical Care. “We found that not only have the rates of treated pain
not improved, but in many cases, use of safer alternatives to opioids, such as
medicines like ibuprofen and acetaminophen, have either stayed flat or
declined,” researcher Dr. G. Caleb Alexander said in a news release. “This
suggests that efforts to improve the identification and treatment of pain have
backfired, due to an over-reliance on prescription opioids that have caused
incredible morbidity and mortality among patients young and old alike.”
New “Crazy Clown” Drug
Hits Streets Of Georgia
A scary new drug known as "Crazy Clown" is sending
some users to the hospital. The synthetic incense is causing authorities to
sound the alarm. Amanda Warford reports. Jason Hedegard heard the terrifying
screams from down the street. "Three girls foaming out the mouth.
One rolling around on the ground and my nephew couldn't walk," says Jason
Hedgeard, whose nephew used "Crazy Clown." Click
here to read more.
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