There's
an emerging branch of research called Paleogenetics that tries to answer the
questions of the present by scrutinizing the genetic material of the past.
And when it comes to figuring out when drinking alcohol began - igniting both
merriment and alcoholism - you need to go pretty far back: 10 million years.
That was when some curious primate stumbled across a rotting piece of fruit
and thought, "Why not?" And boom, drinking was born. Please click here to continue
reading.
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The Campus Alcohol
Problem That Nobody Talks About - Worried about binge drinkers? Start at the
faculty club.
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This
week the Chronicle of Higher Education is running a series of long-form
investigations about drinking culture on American campuses. I'm as concerned
about the overdoses, assaults, and general idiocy of liquored-up undergrads
as anyone-perhaps even more so, given the time one of my old Ohio State
students, a 90-pound junior, proudly declared her intention to down 21 shots
on the upcoming birthday that made it legal to do so. When I mentioned that
this could result in her actual death, she just rolled her eyes like I was a
neurotic off-duty German shepherd police dog: Oh, isn't that cute; the Old
thinks it's people and it knows something. Please click here to continue
reading.
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Alcohol - The Biology
behind the Buzz
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Our
relationship with alcohol is complicated - to say the least. Not everyone can
hold their drink, some hold one way too often, and some don't even get a
buzz. Truth be told, we're only just starting to get the gist of how alcohol
"works".
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'Designer strains' of
cannabis could cure more ills
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Doctors: Painkillers
Overprescribed, But Not by Me
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Doctors
agree that prescription drugs are overused to treat pain, saying it is a
significant problem. Click
here to read more.
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Heroin treatment
Suboxone exposes divide between medical community, policy makers
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There
is a quiet barrier between the medical community and much of the state when
it comes to medication-based substance abuse treatment, one that underscores
the difficulties in addressing the state's ever-growing battle with heroin
and prescription opioid addiction. Click
here to read more.
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Does educational
attainment affect risk of opioid and stimulant abuse?
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Young
adults who do not attend college are at high risk for non-medical
prescription opioid use, while college-educated young adults are more at risk
of prescription stimulant abuse. These are the findings of a new study
published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. Click
here to read the rest of this story.
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Nursing Homes
Rarely Penalized For Oversedating Patients
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Antipsychotic
drugs have helped many people with serious mental illnesses like
schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. But for older people with Alzheimer's or
other forms of dementia, they can be deadly. The Food and Drug Administration
has given these drugs a black box warning, saying they can increase the risk
of heart failure, infections and death. Yet almost 300,000 nursing home
residents still get them. Please
click here to read more.
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The marijuana
industry is following the trail blazed by Big Tobacco
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Last
month, people voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Oregon,
Alaska and the District. As the movement toward marijuana legalization
continues, lawmakers and policy experts are looking to the experiments in
Colorado and Washington for guidance. We should not overlook, however,
valuable lessons from our experience with another legal drug: tobacco. Click
here to read the rest of this story.
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Painkiller Abuse
More Likely for Those Who Skip College
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Less mental
illness among southerners, less access to treatment, too
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You'd
expect the socially progressive states of the Northeast and Midwest to score
well in a new state-by-state ranking of mental health services, and indeed,
by some measures they do. When the advocacy group Mental Health America released
the first-ever such rankings Wednesday, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, North
Dakota, and Delaware received the highest overall scores when prevalence of
mental illness is compared to access to care. Arizona, Mississippi, Nevada,
Washington, and Louisiana received the lowest marks. Click
here to continue reading.
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Marijuana shouldn't be legalized because of the potential harm it can
cause children and teens, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.
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