Drug News You Can Use

Concerns grow with more workers impaired by prescription drugs

When Jacobsen Construction Co. Inc. started an opioid drug testing program last year, the firm gained a tool to help its 400 workers avoid accidents.

Mat Guerrero, safety manager for the Salt Lake City company, said Jacobsen has long conducted employee drug tests. But with opioid use on the rise among construction workers in the area, Jacobsen expanded its program to keep impaired workers out of hazardous work sites.

“It used to be everyone was concerned about illegal drugs, and now the ones we worry about are in people’s medicine cabinets,” said Mr. Guerrero, whose company does pre-employment, random and post-accident testing.

Opioid testing is becoming more common among employers looking to increase job safety and reduce workers compensation costs, experts say.

“Avoiding one really serious claim due to an impaired worker basically pays for your drug testing program,” said Mark Semonisck, senior loss control consultant for Kansas City, Mo.-based brokerage Lockton Cos. L.L.C.

Drugged driving report shows high toll among young

(CBS) Drunk driving may get more attention, but driving while drugged also takes an enormous toll in the U.S. That’s the word from the nation’s drug czar, who along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving today launched a public awareness campaign to draw attention to drugged driving.

“Research shows that drugs have adverse effects on judgment, reaction time, and motor skills – all vital requirements for responsible driving,” Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy, said in a written statement.

Maybe that’s stating the obvious. But a new report Kerlihowske pointed to includes a stark and surprising fact: In 2009, 3,952 drivers fatally injured in car crashes tested positive for drugs. That represents 18 percent of all fatally injured drivers.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20119985-10391704.html

Dr. Drew On Teen Prescription Drug Abuse

If you have teenagers, you may have established a system to keep them out of your liquor cabinet or wine fridge. But experts are now saying you should lock up something else — your medicine cabinet.

The painkillers you take when your back pain flares up? It’s no secret that teens are popping those for fun. The Xanax you take to calm down before a long plane ride? They’re into that too. And let’s not forget the Ritalin your younger child with ADHD takes, because that’s another popular one among the adolescent and college set.

While prescription drug abuse isn’t new, it’s on the rise. One in every five teens were using them in 2009, then one in every four teens were in 2010, according Dr. Drew and Smart Moves, Smart Choices, an awareness initiative.

The organization has paired up with the man on the frontlines of battling addiction, Dr. Drew Pinsky.

Pot smoking may more than double crash risk

Drivers who get behind the wheel after using marijuana run more than twice the risk of crashing compared to others, a new study finds.
The risk rises even higher if the driver has also been drinking alcohol. The authors of a study published online Oct. 4 in Epidemiologic Reviews believe the findings are especially relevant in light of recent moves to legalize medical marijuana in many states.

“As more and more states consider medical use of marijuana, there could be health implications,” said study senior author Dr. Guohua Li.

Even as alcohol use has decreased over the past four decades, illicit use of non-alcoholic drugs, such as prescription medications and marijuana, has increased, said Li, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

A large U.S. survey in 2009 estimated that more than 10 million people aged 12 and over had driven while under the influence of illicit drugs in the previous year. And testing has revealed that 28 percent of drivers who die from a crash and more than 11 percent of drivers in general test positive for drugs other than alcohol. Marijuana is the most commonly detected drug in drivers after alcohol.

Teens abusing prescription drugs

Parents and law enforcement officials are speaking out on teens using prescription drugs to get high.

The concern comes after at least three students in the capital city had “adverse reactions” to prescription pills they took during the school day at the Simonsen 9th Grade Center. Two students admitted to taking the prescription pills while being treated at the hospital.

The investigation is ongoing as to what medication the students took but we do know that the students were treated and released and are doing okay. But parents said the use of prescription drugs among our youth is a problem. They are found in almost every home and are as easy to get as opening up the kitchen medicine cabinet but prescription drugs can be just as dangerous as any street drug.