Drug Abuse

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The majority of North American cocaine is now spiked with levamisole, which can cause a dangerous or fatal blood disorder called neutropenia. Public health officials in Canada who are monitoring the situation say that over 15 months, 42 people in 2 provinces contracted the condition from tainted cocaine.

• 50% of Jailed Scots Were Drunk While Committing Their Crime
• Spanish Grocery Chain Stocks Cocaine in Produce Section
• Researchers Looking to Connect Malt Liquor Sales to Homicides.

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British researchers followed 150 subjects for a year, and found that heavy ketamine use results in substantial cognitive impairments.

• Environment: Smog Linked to Depression and Cognitive Declines

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Innovative NYC drug dealer arrested for selling marijuana juice; a mixture of distilled marijuana resin and grain alcohol.

• Afghani Town Banishes Drug Users – Burns Homes of Dealers
• Michael Douglas’s Son, Cameron Douglas, Arrested in Major Drug Dealing Sting
• Felony Charges For Swallowing A Joint

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Mass. state drugs commission calls opiate use in the commonwealth an “epidemic” and to emphasize the point, compares the numbers of state citizens that die in overseas combat with those that die from drug overdoses – saying that drug overdoses cause 42 times more deaths.

• OxyContin: OxyContin Overwhelming Rural Ohio
• Anthrax Tainted Heroin Kills 3 in Scotland
• Oregon Man Indicted on Manslaughter Charges After Friend Dies from Heroin Overdose

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Canadian researchers say that daily crack users are four times more likely to contract HIV than non crack smoking drug users.

• Crack Cocaine: Congress Votes Down Crack Cocaine Sentencing Laws
• Caught Smoking Crack on Video - Amy Winehouse Checks into Drug Rehab

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Research doctors who administered IV ketamine to depressed patients struggling with suicidal thoughts say that the drug significantly reduced suicidal ideation for 24 hours and that repeated ketamine treatment maintained this result over a period of weeks.

• Robin Williams: Robin Williams Tragedy - Middle Aged Suicides on the Rise
• Legal Minimum Drinking Age: Legal Teen Drinking Ups Suicides and Murders
• Suicide: Low Omega 3 Levels Linked to Military Suicides

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It's known as shake and bake. It’s a new way to make methamphetamine that doesn’t require a lab set up or hard to find ingredients, and which allows meth users to cook up their own drugs in about 45 minutes.

• Andre Agassi Admits to Using Crystal Meth as a Player
• Pregnant Meth Users in Arizona May Face Involuntary Commitment
• Mom Does Meth – Saving Tax-Payer Money

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Oakland voters supported legislation to tax medical marijuana with 80% of a popular vote. America’s first marijuana taxation measure will raise at least $300 000 annually for the city.

• Marijuana Legalization: NAACP Supports Marijuana Legalization
• Marijuana: Americans Still Against Marijuana Legalization
• Chinese Government Holds Half Million Drug Users in Slave Labor Camps

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A team of researchers in Oregon spent a day collecting wastewater from around the state to see which communities are using what drugs – and in what quantities!

• Alcohol Abuse Pulls Russian Male Life Expectancy Down to 60 Years of Age
• Philanthropy: Bill Gates Fights Global Tobacco Addiction
• Insurance Companies Could Save Money By Funding More Addiction Treatment

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Rats that grow up in stressful environments get addicted to opiates more easily than rats that grow up under normal conditions. However, if "stressed" rats are given high doses of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) during adolescence they become far less addicted to opiates given later in life.

• Drug Cravings: The Sex Differences of Drug Cravings
• PTSD: Researchers Identify Hormone Linked to PTSD Risk
• Stress: Stress Causes Overeating

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Hospital Emergency departments receive over 1.7 million visits a year as a result of substance abuse or misuse, according to a report just released by the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). Cocaine use was involved in more of those visits than any other substance.

• New Study Says ER Docs Should Test All Patients for Alcohol

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MI state police is asking outdoor enthusiasts to watch out for cultivated marijuana plants.

• Bangkok Police Raid Treatment Centre to Extort Money from Drug Users
• Prescriptions: Michael Jackson Doctors Investigated
• Mexican Cartel Leader Threatens Violence against Law Enforcement

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In a new report, the WHO has released statistics that show how little effect punitive drug laws seem to have on drug experimentation rates.

• Researchers Say that More than Half of Adults Will Experience Mental Illness before the Age of 32
• Worldwide, Alcohol Leads to Early Death for 1 in 25. In Europe, It’s 1 in 15

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Australian researchers have found that heavy marijuana smokers exhibited significant brain shrinkage in the hippocampus and the amygdala.

• Alcoholic Drinking Can Damage the Brain’s Ability to Decode Facial Expressions
• Greater Knowledge of the Brain May Lead to Super-Soldiers and Mind Controlled Weapons, Says DIA Report

© Photo: Gaetan Lee

Australian researchers have found that heavy marijuana smoking men exhibited significant brain shrinkage in the hippocampus and the amygdala.