3/1/2009
Michael Phelps' Marijuana Use Puts Focus On Debate Over The Drug
And so suddenly here's marijuana -- yep, marijuana -- hogging itself another heyday, bolting into the spotlight, all but sashaying back into dialogue and shouting, "Hey, I'm still here." Shadowed in cycles through recent decades while other legal or illegal or performance-enhancing stimulants took turns getting all the hype, marijuana has just hollered in the case of merely the most-decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps. It has tried to yell from the recent past of the Super Bowl most valuable player, who alighted at Disney World only four months after a forgotten arrest. Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Foundation Finds Support For Clinical Heroin Programs
A new study done for Baltimore's Abell Foundation concludes that programs that give heroin to hard-core addicts can reduce crime and improve public health - findings some hope will spur renewed debate about whether such an effort could help combat the city's unrelenting drug problem. Peter Reuter, a drug policy expert at the University of Maryland, College Park, analyzed heroin maintenance programs in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Vancouver, Canada. He found some positive results. In Germany, for instance, participants were less likely to commit crimes, and in Switzerland, many addicts moved from the heroin distribution program to drug treatment aimed at helping them kick their habit. While Reuter notes there are drawbacks as well - including high costs and low rates of participation - he says public health officials and city leaders should at least discuss the concept. The Baltimore Sun, February 8, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Mexican Drug Violence Spills Over Into The US
Just as government officials had feared, the drug violence raging in Mexico is spilling over into the United States. U.S. authorities are reporting a spike in killings, kidnappings and home invasions connected to Mexico's murderous cartels. And to some policymakers' surprise, much of the violence is happening not in towns along the border, where it was assumed the bloodshed would spread, but a considerable distance away, in places such as Phoenix and Atlanta. Investigators fear the violence could erupt elsewhere around the country because the Mexican cartels are believed to have set up drug-dealing operations all over the U.S., in such far-flung places as Anchorage, Alaska; Boston; and Sioux Falls, S.D. "The violence follows the drugs," said David Cuthbertson, agent in charge of the FBI's office in the border city of El Paso, Texas. Associated Press, February 9, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Marijuana May Raise Testicular Cancer Risk: Study
Marijuana use may increase the risk of developing testicular cancer, in particular a more aggressive form of the disease, according to a U.S. study published on Monday. The study of 369 Seattle-area men ages 18 to 44 with testicular cancer and 979 men in the same age bracket without the disease found that current marijuana users were 70 percent more likely to develop it compared to nonusers. The risk appeared to be highest among men who had reported smoking marijuana for at least 10 years, used it more than once a week or started using it before age 18, the researchers wrote in the journal Cancer. Stephen Schwartz of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, one of the researchers, said the study was the first to explore marijuana's possible association with testicular cancer. Reuters, February 9, 2009.
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3/1/2009
U.S. Drug Agency Finds 'Natural' Diet Pills Laced With Drugs
Grady Jackson, a defensive tackle with the Atlanta Falcons, said he used the weight-loss capsules. Kathie Lee Gifford, a former talk show host, was enthusiastic about them on the "Today" show. Retailers like GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe sold them, no prescription required. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now says those weight-loss capsules, called StarCaps and promoted as natural dietary supplements using papaya, could be hazardous to your health. In violation of the law, the agency has found, the capsules also contained a potent pharmaceutical drug called bumetanide which can have serious side effects. International Herald Tribune, February 10, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Young Man Paralyzed After Underage Drinking Party Settles Lawsuit
A Lake Forest woman's homeowners insurance will pay $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a young man who was paralyzed in a crash that occurred after an underage drinking party in her home. The settlement between Lauralee Pfeifer, whose teenage daughters hosted the party, and George Baldwin, 22, was approved Wednesday by Judge Christopher Starck in Lake County Circuit Court. In 2006, Baldwin, then a 19-year-old Lake Forest High School graduate, went to Pfeifer's home with a friend, William Klairmont, then 18 and also from Lake Forest. They were visiting Pfeifer's daughters, and all drank beer in the girls' bedroom. Klairmont was intoxicated when he drove home and lost control of his car in Lake Bluff, said Patrick Salvi, Baldwin's lawyer. Baldwin, a passenger, was injured. The case is an unusual twist on adult liability for injuries that result from teenage drinking, lawyers said. Chicago Tribune, February 12, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Vancouver Grapples With Drug Gangs Before Olympics
Officials vowed on Friday to crack down on the drug gang violence that has erupted in the Vancouver area just as the West Coast Canadian city is celebrating the one-year countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Gordon Campbell, premier of the province of British Columbia, where Vancouver is located, said nearly 170 police officers will be added to the province's anti-gang operations, and the government will crack down on illegal guns and the use of armored vehicles and body armor. "We will use every tool at our disposal," Campbell said, calling the recent violence "shocking and appalling". There have been nine shootings in the past 11 days involving members of various gangs related to the drug trade in the Vancouver area, home to both importers and exporters of illegal drugs. Police have stopped short of calling the eruption of violence a "gang war", saying not all the incidents are directly linked to each other. , February 13, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Texas Homebuyers Encountering Meth Contamination
Homebuyers in Texas are increasingly encountering unexpected problems - methamphetamine contamination - that may lead to changes in state law. Experts say meth contamination of apartments, hotel rooms, houses, storage sheds and even cars is more common than people may imagine. Meth-making or heavy use can leave chemicals in carpets, air ducts and attics. And without proper cleanup, experts say, the chemicals linger and expose people to health risks. "We get calls once a week from people who are the innocent victims - who have nothing to do with drugs or dope," said Kirk Flippin, owner of Texas Decon, a New Braunfels company that tests for meth labs and does cleanups. Although Texas home sellers are required by law to disclose knowledge of a house being used as a meth lab, experts said the law is not strong enough to protect buyers. Flippin said Texas needs laws requiring complete disclosure of places contaminated by the manufacture of meth or heavy use. Experts said Texas also needs clearer guidelines on cleanup. Associated Press, February 24, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Northwestern U. Study Says Caffeine Is Often-Abused Drug
A recent Northwestern University study showed that people are now getting high on and abusing a legal substance -- caffeine. "The study was a retrospective review of poison center cases of all caffeine ingestions," said Dr. Danielle McCarthy, who conducted the study. "We collected the information on all cases mentioning caffeine products and analyzed it to look for trends regarding the type of caffeine ingested, the co-ingestants and the outcomes of the patients." With more than 500 new energy drinks launched last year, caffeine has become the most widely used drug in the world, according to the study. "One of the many reasons we found this topic interesting is because caffeine is ubiquitous, and many people do not consider it a drug," said McCarthy, a third-year emergency medicine resident. "Caffeine is a drug." The Daily Northwestern, February 23, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Meth Makers Turning Motels Into Drug Labs
Methamphetamine "cooks" are secretly converting hundreds of motel and hotel rooms into covert drug labs — leaving behind a toxic mess for unsuspecting customers and housekeeping crews. They are places where drug-makers can go unnoticed, mixing the chemicals needed for the highly addictive stimulant in a matter of hours before slipping out the next morning. The dangerous contaminants can lurk on countertops, carpets and bathtubs, and chemical odors that might be a warning clue to those who follow can be masked by tobacco smoke and other scents. Motels can be an attractive alternative for drug makers seeking to avoid a police raid on their own homes. "They can seize the trailer or seize your house but they can’t seize a motel room," said Dr. Sullivan Smith, director of emergency services at Cookeville Regional Medical Center in north-central Tennessee. Associated Press, February 23, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Top Mexico Drug Cop Charged With Working For Cartel
The former head of Mexico's special organized crime bureau has been charged with selling information to one of the country's most powerful drug cartels, the attorney general's office said on Sunday. Noe Ramirez, who stepped down as chief of the SIEDO federal investigation unit in July last year, was detained in November for allegedly receiving $450,000 for passing secrets to the Sinaloa cartel, headed by Mexico's top drug fugitive Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. Mexico's police force is riddled with corruption and the arrest of the country's top drug prosecutor has been the biggest catch so far in a sweeping probe to smoke out cops and government officials working for drug smugglers. Reuters, February 15, 2009.
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3/1/2009
U.S. Latin American Drug War Fails, Ex-Presidents Write in WSJ
The U.S.-led war on drug crime in Latin America has failed and should be replaced by more humane and efficient ways of dealing with the problem, three former presidents from the region wrote in today's Wall Street Journal. In an opinion-page article, former Brazilian leader Fernando Henrique Cardoso, ex-Colombian president Cesar Gaviria and Mexico's Ernesto Zedillo said the policy based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumers hadn't been effective and the violence and organized crime linked to drug trafficking remained. Bloomberg, February 23, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Stouffer Doesn't Want State Money Spent On Illegal Drugs
Missouri lawmakers are considering a bill that would require anyone applying for state aid to take a drug test. State Sen. Bill Stouffer said those who receive state money should be no different than people who have to pass a drug test at work. Stouffer said he wants to make sure state money is not being used to buy illegal drugs. "One of our biggest concerns is that the state becomes an enabler with cash advances for drug use," Stouffer said. "The whole idea of a social system is to have a safety net when people are struggling, and if it's harder and harder to access that safety net when most need it, then it's really kind of working against the principles that the state set in the first place," said Darin Preis, executive director of Central Missouri Community Action. KMBC, February 23, 2009.
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3/1/2009
Boston Bans Cigarette Sales In Drug Stores
Boston will become the nation’s second city to ban the sale of cigarettes by pharmacies on Monday, as new rules approved by the city’s public health commission take effect. The regulations passed by the commission two months ago also ban colleges from selling tobacco products on campus and will force smoking bars to shut their doors within a decade, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston. “In 10 years, all smoking bars in Boston should be gone,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the commission’s executive director, tells CBS News. There are only 11 left, and the city vows not to license any more. Health officials are especially perturbed at the emergence of half a dozen of hookah bars, which cater to college students and young adults. CBS News (with contributions from the Associated Press, February 8, 2009.
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2/3/2009
Officials: Vigilantes Will Worsen Violence
A potential rise in vigilante justice in Juárez would escalate an already dangerous situation, elected officials and researchers said Friday, the day after the so-called Juárez Citizens Command issued a threat to kill one criminal every 24 hours. As of Friday evening, no deaths had been linked to the previously unheard of organization, which stated in an e-mail news release on Thursday that it would issue a manifesto in a few days with its goals for restoring order in Juárez. "There is a call for the public to remain calm," said Andres Andreu, a Juárez representative in the Chihuahua state congress. "In anger, this could start an uncontrollable wave of unjust deaths," Andreu said in a statement condemning vigilantism and urging authorities to do more to stop the violence. "Movements of this nature are directed more by a sense of vengeance than of justice." El Paso Times, January 16, 2009.
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2/3/2009
Officials Struggle To Fund Treatment For Those With Drug Addictions
Most crime comes down to drugs, criminal justice professionals say. Beyond the crime of illicit drugs, the vast majority of people who commit crimes have problems with drugs or alcohol, and locking them up without trying to address those problems would be a waste of money, the National Institutes of Health suggests. New Hampshire corrections officials try to strike a balance between penny pinching and public policy. Some 85 percent of inmates arrive at the state prison with a history of substance abuse, and the New Hampshire Department of Corrections has long recognized that the state doesn't do enough to treat addiction, spokesman Jeff Lyons said. "This is an area that needs a lot more attention by the state, not only in this facility, but in the communities," Lyons said. Nashua Telegraph, January 11, 2009.
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2/3/2009
2,000 Fresh Troops Sent to Juarez as Violence Continues
The Mexican army has sent an estimated 2,000 troops to Juárez as part of a rotation even as the death toll surpassed 35 so far this year. Two men were killed Tuesday evening, shot multiple times in separate attacks in which nearly 70 rounds were fired. About 5 p.m., Hector Ramiro Guardado Pereira, 34, was slain in colonia Infonavit Tecnologico, said Chihuahua state police. Investigators counted 40 casings of three calibers. About 10 minutes later, Agapito Aguirre Leyva, 36, was shot in the 1500 block of Acuario, where 29 casings of three calibers were found, police said. Tuesday morning, Guillermo Pizarro Marceleño, 35, died at a hospital after being shot inside El Trebol restaurant on Avenida 16 de Septiembre, police said. Three unidentified men were killed Monday. In one case, a man, who had a gag on his mouth and an electrical cord tied to a wrist and who might have been stabbed, shot and run over by a vehicle, was found at about 9:30 p.m. on Viaducto Diaz Ordaz road west of downtown, police said. El Paso Times, January 13, 2009.
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2/3/2009
Problem Among African-American Women In NYC And Alcohol Advertising
New research conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health indicates that the advertising of alcohol in predominantly African-American neighborhoods of New York City may add to problem drinking behavior among residents. Prior studies have shown that alcohol advertisements are disproportionately located in African- American neighborhoods, but the impact of such advertising on alcohol consumption has been unclear. The study is currently published online by the American Journal of Public Health. Participants were 139 African-American women between the ages of 21-49 who resided in Central Harlem. Medical News Today, January 13, 2009.
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2/3/2009
U.S. Military Report Warns ‘Sudden Collapse’ Of Mexico Is Possible
Mexico is one of two countries that "bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse," according to a report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command on worldwide security threats. The command's "Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)" report, which contains projections of global threats and potential next wars, puts Pakistan on the same level as Mexico. "In terms of worse-case scenarios for the Joint Force and indeed the world, two large and important states bear consideration for a rapid and sudden collapse: Pakistan and Mexico. The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone. El Paso Times, January 13, 2009.
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2/3/2009
Demolition Bylaw Urged For Marijuana Grow Homes
A Hamilton councilor is calling on police to help the city develop a bylaw to allow the bulldozing of homes used to grow marijuana. Terry Whitehead said one such home on Elena Court in his west Mountain ward has been boarded up for years and become a neighbourhood “blight,” driving down the value of surrounding houses that sell for more than $400,000. He said Niagara region has enacted a bylaw allowing demolition in such cases and Hamilton should consider following suit because mould and other internal damage from grow-operations often make the homes unlivable. “These buildings could sit in any neighbourhood for an indefinite period of time and I don’t that’s a good thing for anyone,” said Mr. Whitehead, who raised the issue at Monday’s police services board meeting. Hamilton Mountain News, January 21, 2009.
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2/3/2009
Germany Bans Marijuana-Like Drug “Spice”
Germany's health minister says the government has banned the production, sale or possession of a synthetic marijuana-like drug known as "Spice." Health Minister Ulla Schmidt says Spice must "quickly be taken out of circulation." Wednesday's ban takes effect Thursday and comes weeks after German health officials found the drug contained a synthetic ingredient similar to marijuana. Germany is the fourth nation to ban the substance, marketed as an herbal room-freshener, after Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Officials say Spice is typically rolled into cigarettes and smoked. It is usually sold in 3-gram packages for around euro30 ($39). Yahoo, January 21, 2009.
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2/3/2009
Drug Rehabilitation Or Revolving Door?
Their first love might be the rum or vodka or gin and juice that is going around the bonfire. Or maybe the smoke, the potent marijuana that grows in the misted hills here like moss on a wet stone. But it hardly matters. Here as elsewhere in the country, some users start early, fall fast and in their reckless prime can swallow, snort, inject or smoke anything available, from crystal meth to prescription pills to heroin and ecstasy. And treatment, if they get it at all, can seem like a joke. “After the first couple of times I went through, they basically told me that there was nothing they could do,” said Angella, a 17-year-old from the central Oregon city of Bend, who by freshman year in high school was drinking hard liquor every day, smoking pot and sampling a variety of harder drugs. “They were like, ‘Uh, I don’t think so.’ New York Times, December 23, 2008.
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2/3/2009
Why I Would Vote No On Pot
Maybe it's because I was born a couple of months after Woodstock and wasn't around when marijuana was as common as iPods are today, but I'm constantly amazed that after all these years--and all the wars on drugs and all the public-service announcements--nearly 15 million Americans still use marijuana at least once a month. --- Why do I care? ... "Numerous deleterious health consequences are associated with [marijuana's] short- and long-term use, including the possibility of becoming addicted." California and 10 other states have already decriminalized marijuana for medical use. Now two of those states--Colorado and Nevada--are considering ballot initiatives that would legalize up to an ounce of pot for personal use by people 21 and older, whether or not there is a medical need. What do voters need to know before going to the polls? Time Magazine, January 8, 2009.
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2/3/2009
Heroin Program’s Deadly Toll
Pete Morse devoted his life to saving the lives of heroin users. A dreadlocked community activist with a Ph.D in history, he bore a tattoo that read: "Injury to one is an injury to all." So his friends and colleagues were shocked when he was found unconscious in 2007 on a bathroom floor with a needle by his side. Doctors pronounced the 36-year-old Mr. Morse dead from an overdose of heroin, alcohol and cocaine. Mr. Morse spent more than 10 years working in drug-addiction programs that follow the principle of harm reduction. This philosophy argues that the best way to save users' lives isn't to force them off illegal drugs. Instead, its adherents teach safer ways to use drugs -- supplying clean needles to prevent the spread of disease, for example, or teaching how to avoid overdosing. The programs are credited with saving lives in cities across the U.S. Friends and family say Pete Morse tried heroin after working at exchanges. Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2009.
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2/3/2009
NY Reforms Treatment Of Addiction, Mental Illness
The vast majority of New Yorkers struggling both with mental illness and substance abuse don't get treatment for both conditions at the same time _ a barrier that can result in relapse, discontinued treatment and, in some cases, suicide. It's a problem that's gone on for years because of a flawed Medicaid coding system, and now a joint effort of the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services and the Office of Mental Health is trying to help the 90 percent of people who couldn't get simultaneous treatment. Health officials say 1.4 million New Yorkers experience both mental illness and substance abuse. "We'll save lives," said Michael Hogan, commissioner of the state Office of Mental Health. "We have roughly three suicides a day in New York of people, 90 percent of whom we know from psychological autopsies had a mental illness at the time. And it's not just mental illness, it's very often drinking or drug use." News Day, January 11, 2009.
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2/3/2009
Texas To Reconsider $6M Steroid Testing In Schools
By the tens of thousands, Texas student-athletes have been pulled out of class to urinate in a cup for the nation's largest high school steroids testing program. Boys and girls in all sports, from football to tennis to cross country, have been randomly selected. The results so far have found little to confirm fears that steroid use is a rampant problem. When the first 10,000 tests found only four positive results, critics declared the two-year program a waste of time and money. Now state lawmakers must decide whether to keep the $6 million program chugging along, scale it down or eliminate it. The 2009 legislative session starts Tuesday. The Texas legislator who sponsored the testing bill in 2007 calls it an "incredible success." Associated Press, January 10, 2009.
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2/3/2009
In New Tactic, L.A. Goes After Gang’s Money
The gang capital of the world is taking a new tack against them: cash damages. The city of Los Angeles, plagued by 23,000 violent gang crimes since 2004, including 784 murders and 12,000 felony assaults, announced Tuesday that it had won its first civil judgment, for $5 million, against a criminal gang that had dominated the heroin trade downtown for decades. The verdict could bode well for another first-of-its-kind lawsuit the city filed last month that goes after all assets of gang leaders, not just those associated with their criminal activity. Both suits seek to plow the money back into improving the neighborhoods affected by the gangs through a fund. "By giving prosecutors more tools to fight gang activity at the local level, we are protecting our communities at the same time [that] we're able to strengthen our statewide anti-gang efforts," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a statement released with the announcement of the $5 million verdict against the 5th and Hill gang in L.A. Christian Science Monitor, January 15, 2009.
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