College freshman alcohol
interventions effective
Intervention is an effective ways for colleges to mitigate
common drinking patterns -- binge drinking -- among freshman, U.S. researchers
say. Lead author Lori Scott-Sheldon, an assistant professor at Brown University
and researcher at the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The
Miriam, and colleagues recommended colleges screen all freshmen within their
first few weeks for alcohol risk and offer interventions for those who reported
drinking. The team examined the efficacy of 62 interventions delivered in
randomized, controlled clinical trials involving more than 24,000 freshmen
around the country during the last decade. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
Marijuana and Patients:
It’s time for another conversation
The whole world is watching how state-legalization experiments
work out in Washington and Colorado. Of great interest must be how we
reconcile our previously existing medical marijuana landscapes with our new
recreational landscape, made possible by the will of the voters through
Initiative 502. Although I-502 made no mention of medical marijuana, the
process of creating regulatory frameworks for its implementation has arrived at
a key crossroad that will undoubtedly be faced elsewhere: how to reconcile
medical marijuana patient access with a strongly regulated “recreational”
cannabis consumer system. Currently, the road ahead appears to favor
recreational cannabis markets at the expense of medical marijuana patient
rights to health and safe, reliable access to medicine. At the same time
that medical marijuana research, practice, and patient access are being enabled
across the nation and in diverse countries such as Israel and Uruguay, patients
in Washington State face the absurd possibility that our new legal cannabis
system will conflict with rather than complement emerging medical paradigms. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
Drinking During Pregnancy:
Even a Little Impairs Childhood Academics
There is conflicting advice out there about drinking a small
amount, particularly of wine, during pregnancy. Some research has said it may
even be beneficial. Today the National Bureau of Economic Research says that's
wrong. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
Cannabis Legal, Localities
Begin to Just Say No
The momentum toward legalized marijuana might seem like an
inevitable tide, with states from Florida to New York considering easing laws
for medical use, and a full-blown recreational industry rapidly emerging in
Colorado and here in Washington State. But across the country, resistance to
legal marijuana is also rising, with an increasing number of towns and counties
moving to ban legal sales. The efforts, still largely local, have been fueled
by the opening, or imminent opening, of retail marijuana stores here and in
Colorado, as well as by recent legal opinions that have supported such bans in
some states. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
Parity law has little
effect on spending for substance abuse treatment
Despite predictions that requiring health insurers to
provide equal coverage for substance use disorder treatment would raise costs,
a Yale study finds that the economic impact so far has been minimal. The study
is published online in The American Journal of Managed Care. A team of
researchers led by Susan Busch of the Yale School of Public Health studied the
first year of the federal parity law's implementation and found that it did not
result in an increase in the proportion of enrollees seeking treatment for
substance use disorders (SUDs). Their analysis also identified only a modest
increase in spending for substance use disorder treatment—$10 annually per
health plan enrollee. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
Why It’s Still a Big Deal
If Your Teen Smokes Pot
With the president coming out in favor of legalization,
parents are wondering whether telling their kids not to use marijuana is
futile. But some sobering data about the effects of pot on developing brains
can help make the case. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
The blunt truth — White
house drug czar contradicts Obama on marijuana
White House docs say pot causes brain damage and lower IQ in
teens, alcohol does not. President Obama’s latest claims about marijuana are
contradicted by research and official positions of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, which is part of the White House. And Mr. Obama’s words have
anti-drug leaders worried about negative repercussions among youth. Mr. Obama
claimed to The New Yorker magazine that marijuana is no worse than cigarettes
or alcohol and he promoted state efforts by Colorado and Washington to legalize
marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
Alcohol linked to skin
cancer risk
Scientists believe drinking too much alcohol could set off a
chain of reactions in the body that makes the skin more vulnerable to cancer.
Ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde soon after ingestion and this compound may
render the skin more sensitive to harmful UV light, they say. Please click here for the rest
of the article.
War on drugs meets rule of
law at Supreme Court
Justices strike down additional 20-year sentence given to
heroin dealer because the client died. The war on drugs ran afoul of the
Supreme Court on Monday. The justices ruled unanimously that a heroin dealer
cannot be held liable for a client's death and given a longer sentence if the
heroin was only a contributing factor, and not necessarily the sole cause. Not
only does that likely mean a reduced sentence for Marcus Burrage, who received
20 additional years in prison because of the death, but a tougher time for
prosecutors in general when it comes to extending drug sentences -- something
the Obama administration had argued in November. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
Studies suggest that
alcohol use more likely to cause violence between partners
Alcohol use is more likely than marijuana use to lead to
violence between partners, according to studies done at the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville. Research among college students found that men under the
influence of alcohol are more likely to perpetrate physical, psychological or
sexual aggression against their partners than men under the influence of
marijuana. Women, on the other hand, were more likely to be physically and
psychologically aggressive under the influence of alcohol but, unlike men, they
were also more likely to be psychologically aggressive under the influence of
marijuana. The research has implications for domestic violence intervention and
prevention programs. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
There’s something about Molly - How a supposedly safe party
drug turned lethal.
MULTICOLORED LASER LIGHTS search the darkness, picking out
bodies crowded into the tight, hot space of Rise. Located in the Theatre
District, the city’s only after-hours dance club is packed at 3 a.m., full of
people swaying to a pounding bass line, music you can feel in your chest. Most
are in their late teens or 20s, and many are clearly rolling — they’re under
the influence of a drug called MDMA, sometimes called Molly, that causes a
flood, or “cascade,” of serotonin and other neurotransmitters to the brain. Please
click here for the rest of the article.
Attorney General Holder:
All Drugs, Including Alcohol, Are “Potentially Harmful”
Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate committee
Wednesday that all drugs, including alcohol, are “potentially harmful.” He was
responding to a question about whether he agreed with President Obama’s recent
comment that smoking marijuana was less dangerous than alcohol “in terms of its
impact on the individual consumer.” Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, in a
hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “It’s difficult for me to
conceive how the President of the United States could make such a statement.”
President Obama made his comment about marijuana in an interview with The New
Yorker. He told the magazine he does not think marijuana is more dangerous than
alcohol. He added smoking marijuana is “not something I encourage.” He
acknowledged he smoked marijuana in his youth. “I view it as a bad habit and a
vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up
through a big chunk of my adult life,” he said. Obama added he has told his
daughters he thinks smoking marijuana is “a bad idea, a waste of time, not very
healthy.” CNN reports Holder told the Senate committee, “I think that any drug
used in an inappropriate way can be harmful. And alcohol is among those.”
Marijuana is illegal under federal law. Colorado and Washington state have
approved the recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 and older. At the
hearing, Holder reaffirmed that the federal government will not challenge state
laws legalizing marijuana, and will focus enforcement efforts on preventing
marijuana use in minors.
Study: Liberals drink more
alcohol than conservatives
A sobering new study published by the Journal of Wine
Economics — yes, there is a Journal of Wine Economics — finds that alcohol
consumption in American states rises as the population’s politics becomes more
liberal. The study by Pavel Yakovlev and Walter P. Guessford of Duquesne
University in Pennsylvania shows a direct correlation between political beliefs
and the demand for alcohol. The study compares sales of alcoholic beverages
against the political leanings of a state's members of Congress, as ranked by
liberal organizations Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) and the AFL-CIO
Committee on Political Education (COPE). Please
click here for the rest of the article.
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