News
Alcohol and Drug news provided by JoinTogether.org, a program of the Boston University School of Public Health
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CBS Evening News: Generation Rx: Fighting Addiction with a PillExperts say nearly five million Americans are abusing prescription drugs. But a new pill may help them kick the habit, and it can be prescribed by your family doctor. Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports. |
The acting director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other officials say that cuts to federal grant programs for local law enforcement has helped spark an increase in violent crime in some communities.
Date: 05/16/2008
Men who drink more than 21 units of alcohol weekly and women who drink more than 14 units weekly are at higher risk of heart disease, heart failure and stroke, according to Irish researchers.
Date: 05/16/2008
People who are light sleepers tend to smoke more, exercise less, and use more alcohol than those who enjoy more restful nights, researchers say, and people who sleep less than six hours a night or more than nine hours are more likely to be obese.
Date: 05/16/2008
A study of heavy marijuana users found that about one-third reported resuming use of the drug to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms, according to researcher David Gorelick, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Date: 05/15/2008
A Florida woman arrested for possession of marijuana and ecstasy was pressed into service as a drug informant, then murdered during a sting operation where she was told to purchase 1,500 ecstasy pills, cocaine, and a gun from a pair of drug dealers.
Date: 05/15/2008
A new Canadian study finds that the risk of being hospitalized because of a violent assault is higher among individuals who live near alcohol outlets with rising sales.
Date: 05/15/2008
A recent hearing in New York City brought out both tough critics and staunch defenders of the state's harsh Rockefeller-era drug laws.
Date: 05/15/2008
The South Carolina Supreme Court has thrown out the conviction of a woman charged with homicide after she used cocaine during her pregnancy and gave birth to a stillborn child.
Date: 05/15/2008
Depressed men are more likely than women to crave alcohol and develop alcohol-related disorder, according to researchers at Yale University.
Date: 05/14/2008
Heavy marijuana use may be related to an increase in a blood protein linked to heart disease, although researchers did not look at whether study subjects actually had heart problems.
Date: 05/14/2008
A U.K. supermarket chain is going high-tech in order to prevent youths from illegally purchasing alcohol and tobacco.
Date: 05/14/2008
Gunmen suspected of ties with Mexican drug cartels assassinated the acting head of the country's federal police in an ambush at his home in Mexico City.
Date: 05/13/2008
Researchers say that homeless youth who attended drop-in centers that provided a comprehensive intervention program significantly reduced their addiction and mental-health problems and enjoyed increased social stability.
Date: 05/13/2008
Getting homeless kids off the streets requires a broad array of services including addiction and mental-health care, work opportunities, education, and medical care -- with the latter three the most important factors -- according to researchers.
Date: 05/13/2008
Drinking just two glasses of wine daily can cause a 75-percent increase in the risk of developing mouth cancer, according to Australian researchers.
Date: 05/13/2008
Hazelden is one of the most famous addiction-treatment programs in the U.S., but its top executives have been leaving in droves despite the program's apparently good fiscal health.
Date: 05/12/2008
Adolescents with addictions, sexually transmitted diseases or other embarrassing problems can now get anonymous advice from doctors who have created avitars in the role-playing game Second Life.
Date: 05/12/2008
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released a report last week saying that teens who use marijuana to self-medicate for depression could be hurting themselves more, that weekly marijuana use doubles the risk of depression and anxiety for teens, and that depressed teens are more than twice as likely as their peers to become dependent on marijuana.
Date: 05/12/2008
Deaths from alcohol and other drugs rose 32 percent in 2006 in Boston, and officials are blaming the trend on factors like greater availability of cheap heroin, the rising popularity of methamphetamine, and widespread legal and illicit use of powerful painkillers.
Date: 05/12/2008
Parents are less likely to be aware of a younger child's cigarette and alcohol use than that of an older child, according to analysis of multiyear data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Date: 05/09/2008
Marijuana has been reclassified from a Class C drug to Class B in the U.K. -- a move that carries more restrictions and higher penalties for offenses involving the drug.
Date: 05/09/2008
Advocacy groups and parents of teens killed by drunk drivers sent a pair of Mother's Day appeals to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley urging him to veto a bill that would treat sweetened "alcopop" drinks the same as beer for regulatory and tax purposes.
Date: 05/09/2008
Harm-reduction advocates have long worried that the conservative government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper would shut down Vancouver's safe-injection site for drug users, and a new report is unlikely to do much to assuage those fears.
Date: 05/09/2008
Drug cartels in Mexico are actively encouraging desertions among Mexican soldiers engaged in an extended battle over the drug trade.
Date: 05/08/2008
Having open containers of alcohol in a motor vehicle is prohibited in most states, but Connecticut lawmakers recently failed in an attempt to add the Constitution State to that list.
Date: 05/08/2008
Products like "Kronic Kandy" and "Pot Suckers" can no longer be sold to minors in Georgia, under a measure signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue this week.
Date: 05/08/2008
A new Australian study concludes that violence rose in Melbourne communities as the density of alcohol outlets increased.
Date: 05/08/2008
A new study finds that patients given mild doses of marijuana can experience relief from neuropathic pain -- often related to spinal-cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, and other never injuries -- without becoming intoxicated.
Date: 05/07/2008
Five women have launched a national campaign to raise awareness of the problem of cough-medicine abuse, aided by a manufacturer's association.
Date: 05/07/2008
Use of illicit drugs is about the same among black and white Americans, but a pair of new studies shows that blacks are still more likely to be arrested and imprisoned for drug offenses despite widespread awareness of the disparity.
Date: 05/06/2008
Alcohol dependence was once much more common among men than women in the U.S., but the gender gap is closing.
Date: 05/06/2008
Addicts in Canada have figured out how to get around the new safety features of narcotic pain patches so they can use the drugs to get high.
Date: 05/06/2008
Drugmaker Purdue Pharma says that it has made the painkiller OxyContin harder to abuse by adding a plastic-like coating to the pills, but a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel said that more testing is needed before the drug can be brought to market.
Date: 05/06/2008
High-risk drinking among college students is related to the types of parties they attend, according to a recent web survey of undergraduate students attending two large urban universities.
Date: 05/05/2008
A medical-marijuana user who was denied a liver transplant because of his use of the drug has died.
Date: 05/05/2008
Frances M. Harding, a former New York state addiction official, has been named the new director of the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP).
Date: 05/05/2008
Ketamine, a drug that started out as a tranquilizer for horses and ended up as a popular club drug, could be useful as a treatment for depression, researchers say.
Date: 05/05/2008
A Michigan man temporarily lost custody of his son after mistakenly buying the 7-year-old an alcoholic Mike's Hard Lemonade at a Detroit Tigers game last month.
Date: 05/02/2008
The Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco Products recently conducted a series of statewide sting operations targeting sales of alcoholic energy drinks to underage youth and found that about one in four visits resulted in sales to buyers under age 21.
Date: 05/02/2008
A new study shows that therapists can effectively use virtual-reality (VR) technology to stimulate alcohol craving in order to train patients in coping and resistance skills.
Date: 05/02/2008
Gamers playing the new "Grand Theft Auto IV" have the option of switching to drunk-driving mode, a gimmick condemned by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Date: 05/02/2008
Adolescent rats given cocaine were more likely to return to the place where they got the drug than adult rats, suggesting that younger drug users may be more likely to be motivated by drug-related cues than older users.
Date: 05/02/2008
A new study finds that Canadian heroin addicts may be switching to prescription opiates like OxyContin.
Date: 05/01/2008
Drunken bravado has biological roots, according to a brain-scan study that finds that alcohol inhibits the ability to feel fear.
Date: 05/01/2008
A new report from the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) says that the New York Police Department intentionally targeted blacks and Hispanics in a campaign to crack down on minor marijuana crimes.
Date: 05/01/2008
The city of Seattle has saved more than $2 million annually by providing housing for formerly homeless alcoholics.
Date: 05/01/2008
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has refused to reinstate a lawsuit that claimed that a federal law stripping student aid from individuals with drug convictions represented unconstitutional double jeopardy.
Date: 04/30/2008
A randomized controlled trial has found that addiction patients who received a computer learning program in addition to traditional counseling remained abstinent longer than those who received counseling alone.
Date: 04/30/2008
Some states and the federal government are considering banning the hallucinogenic herb salvia divinorum, but that could snuff out promising research into the plant's potential medical uses.
Date: 04/29/2008
Going down to the pub on Friday night has long been a traditional part of British culture, but more Brits are now buying cheap alcohol at the supermarket and drinking it at home, causing many pubs to shut down.
Date: 04/29/2008