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 South Carolina Supreme Court threw out the conviction of a woman charged with homicide in the stillborn death of her child because she used cocaine during her pregnancy.
Date: 05/13/2008
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
Only certain East Asian populations have a high prevalence of a gene that protects against alcohol overconsumption, and researchers speculate that some event must have occurred over the past few thousand years to make this genetic protection advantageous.
Date: 04/29/2008
There have been few instances where addiction recovery and drug-reform groups have united in praise for federal drug policy, but President Bush earned kudos earlier this month for signing into law the Second Chance Act, which provides for addiction treatment and other services for offenders reentering the community.
Date: 04/28/2008
Medical-marijuana is legal in some states, but a number of organ-donation programs bar users from getting transplants even though marijuana does not have direct negative effects on most organs.
Date: 04/28/2008
Federal law-enforcement officials seeking to stem the growth of indoor marijuana cultivation in the Seattle area have filed charges on a pair of gardening supply stores and a mortgage broker thought to be facilitating the illicit grow operations.
Date: 04/28/2008
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed into law a measure that criminalizes the possession, use and sale of salvia divinorum, a hallucinogenic herb.
Date: 04/28/2008
After meeting with MADD officials and parents, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley backed off plans to sign a bill that would have allowed so-called alcopop drinks to continue to be taxed at the same rate as beer.
Date: 04/25/2008
A new policy aimed at equalizing crack and powdered cocaine sentencing has resulted in reduced sentences for about 3,000 crack offenders.
Date: 04/25/2008
A bill that would decriminalize marijuana passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives but received a chilly reception in the state Senate.
Date: 04/25/2008
The Canadian Supreme Court ruled that using drug-sniffing dogs in public places is a violation of privacy rights.
Date: 04/25/2008
Some of the estimated 20,000 crack-cocaine offenders eligible for sentence reductions under a new federal policy may have to argue their cases without the aid of a lawyer.
Date: 04/25/2008