Drug News You Can Use

One-Fourth of Deadly Auto Crashes Involve Drugs

Everyone knows the dangers of drunk driving, but alcohol isn’t the only drug that poses a threat on the road. Among U.S. drivers who died in a car crash, about one in four tested positive for drugs such as marijuana, cocaine or amphetamines, a new study shows.

Researchers looked at a government reporting system that collects data on all U.S. traffic deaths. The data was limited to the 20 states that require drug tests for drivers involved in crashes, which, between 1998 and 2009 included 44,000 fatal auto crashes with available drug-test information for drivers.

Most men arrested in Atlanta test positive for drugs

Most men arrested in Atlanta test positive for illegal drugs at the time of their arrests, according to a new federal study.

About 62 percent of men arrested in the city in 2010 tested positive for at least one drug, according to the National Drug Control Policy’s Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Annual Report.

“Drug addiction is too often the root of crime in our communities,” said Gil Kerlikowse, director of the National Drug Control Policy. He said the report’s findings illustrate why the nation’s drug problem should be approached as a public health and safety problem.

Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem

Nine out of 10 Americans who meet the medical criteria for addiction (1) started smoking, drinking, or using other drugs before age 18, according to a national study released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA*) at Columbia University.

Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem reveals that adolescence is the critical period for the initiation of substance use and its consequences. The CASA report finds 1 in 4 Americans who began using any addictive substance before age 18 are addicted, compared to 1 in 25 Americans who started using at age 21 or older.

“Teen substance use is our nation’s number one public health problem. Smoking, drinking and using other drugs while the brain is still developing dramatically hikes the risk of addiction and other devastating consequences,” said Jim Ramstad, Former Member of Congress (MN-3) and a CASA board member who also chaired the report’s National Advisory Commission.

Cocaine Laced With Veterinary Drug Levamisole Eats Away at Flesh

Eighty-two percent of seized cocaine contains levamisole, according to an April 2011 report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Why dealers would stretch their stash with levamisole instead of the more traditional fillers, like baking soda, is unclear, although studies in rats suggest the drug acts on the same brain receptors as cocaine. So it might be added to enhance or extend the cocaine’s euphoric effects on the cheap.

Despite the widespread contamination, not all of the country’s cocaine users experience the flesh-rotting reaction. It appears that some are more vulnerable to the tainted cocaine’s effects.

“We don’t know who this is going to happen to,” said Dr. Lindy Fox, the University of California, San Francisco, dermatologist who first connected the gruesome lesions on cocaine users to levamisole. Similarly, some patients have more extreme reactions than others. Fox said she once saw a photo of a man whose entire body, face included, was black with dying flesh.

Majority of Adult Males Arrested in 10 U.S. Cities Test Positive for Illegal Drugs At Time of Arrest

The 2010 report reveals that in the 10 participating cities/counties, more than half of adult males arrested for crimes ranging from misdemeanors to felonies tested positive for at least one drug. Positive test results ranged from 52 percent in Washington, DC, to 83 percent in Chicago, Illinois, illustrating the link between drug use and crime and highlighting the importance of Obama Administration drug policies designed to break the cycle of drug use, arrest, incarceration, release, and re-arrest.

Some key findings from the report:
•The percent of arrestees testing positive for any drug ranged from a low of 52 percent in Washington, DC, to a high of 83% in Chicago.
•Fewer adult male arrestees are testing positive for cocaine. Nine of ten sites showed a significant decrease in 2010, compared to 2007.
•Sacramento (33 percent) and Portland (20 percent) showed the highest rates of adult males testing positive for meth in 2010.
•An increasing number of arrestees are testing positive for marijuana in Charlotte, New York City, and Sacramento in 2010, compared to 2009.
•Four of ten cities surveyed (Charlotte, Indianapolis, Portland, and Sacramento) showed significant increases in the percentage of arrestees testing positive for opiates in 2010, compared to 2008, while Chicago dropped by nearly half over the same period. Two of these cities (Indianapolis and Portland) also showed significant increases in oxycodone/hydrocodone positive rates.