Drug News You Can Use
The quiet epidemic
There isn’t much attention paid to prescription drug abuse, except perhaps when a Hollywood star dies from an overdose. However, it is estimated that nearly one in five Americans has used prescription drugs for nonmedicinal reasons, and 15 percent may be abusing prescription drugs. This silent epidemic has become the leading cause of addiction.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-prescription-drug-abuse-20100421,0,6657110.story
Medical marijuana business is on fire
It’s been 10 years since Colorado voted to allow the use and sale of marijuana for medical reasons. But in the past six months, the number of patients and dispensaries has skyrocketed.
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Dispensaries, however, are far more than smoking dens. Marijuana is bought and sold in an array of edible forms, such as caramel corn made with marijuana-laced butter, chocolate-covered cherries, rice cake treats and frozen pizzas.Mile High Ice Cream in Denver makes dozens of flavors with marijuana. There are bottled soft drinks, pills and tinctures.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2010-04-20-medical-marijuana_N.htm
Drug raid nets 16 students at Columbia High
In a scene reminiscent of the old TV show 21 Jump Street, police on Friday arrested 16 students accused of delivering drugs on Brazoria County’s Columbia High School campus after an undercover officer posing as a student named “Victor” allegedly bought the goods from them.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6962267.html
Fake Urine Bill Goes To Senate Floor
The proposed bill would make selling synthetic urine illegal and is an effort to help drug testing companies combat the problem of falsified drug tests.
“I’ve always said out of thirty people who walk into my office, at least 5 people have someone else’s urine, and I think that number varies but increases daily,” said Kelly Dobbins with Mid-South Drug Testing. Conn says while he thinks the fake urine bill is a step in the right direction, “synthetic urine we just don’t see as that big of a problem in this office,” he thinks making it harder for people who take the inexpensive way out, and use substitute urine, would have a greater impact.
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/041510-fake-urine-bill-goes-to-senate-floor
Prescription drug overdoses on the rise
Data released by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine show that hospital visits caused by accidental and unintentional prescription drug overdoses went up 37 percent from 1999 to 2006. That amounted to 741,425 people needing emergency care.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/health/6958326.html
