Don’t Blame Legal Medical
Marijuana for Increasing Teen Use
Legalizing medical marijuana doesn’t lead to a rise in use
among teens, according to a new study. Contrary to a widespread assumption that
legalizing medical marijuana will increase substance use among teenagers, a
recent study conducted by D. Mark Anderson, Benjamin Hansen and Daniel I. Rees
and published by National Bureau of Economic Research found that the rising use
of marijuana by high school students can be explained by other factors. Click
here to continue reading.
Researchers look at
prescription opioid abuse among young adults in NYC
The prevalence of heroin use has been rising steadily in the
U.S in recent years. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health,
the number of individuals reporting past year heroin use almost doubled between
2007 (373,000) and 2012 (669,000). Emerging evidence suggests the increase may
be linked to prescription opioid (PO) users who transition from oral and/or
intranasal PO use to heroin use, with POs providing the entryway to regular
opioid use, and ultimately, heroin injection. This drug-use trajectory appears
to have become increasingly common over the past ten years; in one study, 77.4%
of participants in a 2008-2010 cohort reported using POs nonmedically prior to
initiating heroin use, as compared to 66.8% in the 2002-2004 cohort. Click
here to continue reading.
Obamacare Leads to Surge
in Mental-Health Treatment
A provision in the health care reform law allowing parents
to keep their adult children on their health-insurance plans has led to
millions more young people with mental-health and substance-abuse problems
getting treatment, according to a new study. Click here to
continue reading.
California Asks: Should
Doctors Face Drug Tests?
At a time when random drug testing is part of the job for
pilots, train operators, police officers and firefighters — to name a few — one
high-profile line of work has managed to remain exempt: doctors. Click
here to continue reading.
Dealing With Opioid Abuse
Would Pay for Itself
Once championed as the answer to chronic pain, opioid
medications and painkillers have become a large and costly problem in the
United States. Fatal overdoses have quadrupled in the last 15 years, and
opioids now cause more deaths than any other drug, over 16,000 in 2010.
Prescription opioid abuse is also costly, sapping productivity and increasing
health care and criminal justice costs to the tune of $55.7 billion in 2007,
for example. Click
here to continue reading.
Your liver walks into a
bar: The science of alcohol
How does alcohol affect your liver and heart?
Alcohol, the presumed panacea of low confidence, bad days in
the office, and social cohesion, has built-up quite the reputation. The social
drinkers, binge drinkers, occasional drinkers, and abstainers, after-all, all
share an opinion on this 21 Century drug. Yet I am going to actively side-step
these psycho-social issues and take you on a journey of a different kind. It
begins with that infamous phrase, “Fancy a drink?” Click
here to continue reading.
“New Paradigm” Addiction
Recovery Model Takes Long-Term View
People in recovery from substance use disorders who have had
repeated relapses can benefit from being monitored for at least five years
after treatment, according to a former head of the National Institute on Drug
Abuse. Click
here to continue reading.
Drug overdose rate among
women skyrockets
The rate of Ohio women dying from a drug overdose has
skyrocketed by more than 440 percent in the past 14 years.
State and federal lawmakers, as well as regional hospitals
and treatment facilities, continue to move more resources toward not only the
treatment of drug addiction, but also developing an approach to treat the whole
person and the root causes of their addictions. Click
here to continue reading.
Where Americans smoke
marijuana the most
Forget Colorado or Washington — tiny Rhode Island is the
marijuana capital of the United States, at least as measured by the percent of
state residents who regularly use marijuana. Click
here to continue reading.
What's The Harm? On Having
a Drink Then, And Now
Not much has changed in the world of booze and young people
over the centuries. In the fall that I helped my daughter move into her room at
college, I noticed a young man in the driveway of the house next door wrestling
an empty beer keg onto the back seat of his car. As so often happens whenever I
visit a college campus, I recalled my own youthful struggles with alcohol. Click
here to continue reading.
Marijuana Legalization:
Pharmaceuticals, Alcohol Industry Among Biggest Opponents Of Legal Weed
Opponents of marijuana legalization argue that
decriminalizing pot increases crime, creates juvenile delinquents and can even
lead to more marijuana-related deaths. But there is another reason for the
crusade against marijuana that involves some people losing lots of money as the
country becomes increasingly pot friendly, according to a recent report from
The Nation and a study by the Center for Responsive Politics. Click
here to continue reading.
Brief Counseling May Not
Help With Most Drug Problems
Beating a drug habit is usually a long process that includes
talk therapy and, sometimes, medicine. Checking into a rehab facility can help
many people, too. But it can be hard to persuade someone to commit to that
long-term treatment. So public health officials lately have been cutting to the
chase — urging doctors in primary care and in hospital emergency rooms to
question all patients regarding drug use, then offer those with a drug problem
a 10- or 15-minute counseling session, right then and there. Click
here to continue reading.
Rules for the Marijuana
Market
As voters and lawmakers in more states decide to legalize
marijuana, policy makers will have to answer a fresh and difficult question:
How should governments regulate the production and sale of the drug? Click
here to continue reading.
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