Border seizures of methamphetamine are surging after years of decline, indicating that the drug once seen as a poor man’s cocaine drummed up in backwoods U.S. kitchens are becoming a key export of Mexican drug traffickers. The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates the vast majority of all U.S. meth seized now originates in Mexico, with increasing … Read more
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia allow people to use medical marijuana to treat a wide variety of ailments. Each medical marijuana law is different — but if you look at them in chronological order, a pattern emerges: The laws are becoming stricter. The states passing laws today include more regulation than the early … Read more
Two people died and three others became ill after using tainted cocaine now making its way into the Twin Cities, state health officials said Monday. And, experts say, it may only be the beginning of a more widespread problem in Minnesota. The deadly addition to the cocaine was Levamisole, an anti-worm veterinary medication added to … Read more
One high school student in five has taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s order, according to a nationwide survey. Abuse of a prescription drug was most common among white students (23 percent), followed by Hispanics (17.2 percent) and blacks (11.8 percent), according to Danice Eaton of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health … Read more
“Cocaine abusers — already at risk for an abnormal heartbeat, blood pressure problems, hallucinations, convulsions and stroke — can add another potential health complication to the list: rotting flesh.” https://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/infectious-diseases/articles/2010/06/01/contaminated-cocaine-can-cause-flesh-to-rot.html
Yes, a tourist might be approached to buy pot. But on the beaches or in the markets, it’s usually fun, fun, fun, and then fly or cruise away. But this week tourists would have seen something very different in the Jamaican capital of Kingston, similar to what has been happening in parts of Mexico since … Read more
WASHINGTON — Could a once-a-month alcoholism shot keep some of the highest-risk heroin addicts from relapse? A drug that wakes up narcoleptics treat cocaine addiction? An old antidepressant fight methamphetamine? This is the next frontier in substance abuse: a Better understanding of how addiction overlaps with other brain diseases is sparking a hunt to see … Read more
WINFIELD, Mo. — Mexican drug smugglers are increasingly peddling a form of ultra-potent heroin that sells for as little as $10 a bag and are so pure it can kill unsuspecting users instantly, sometimes before they even remove the syringe from their veins. An Associated Press review of drug overdose data shows that so-called “black … Read more
Rationalization and denial are key concepts in addiction treatment. To recover, addicts admit they have rationalized their habit (“I use so much less than my friends.”) and denied they have a problem (“I can handle it. It’s not affecting my job.”) Here’s another barrier to recovery from addiction: “I’m too smart for this to become … Read more
Results of a study on sudden death show there is no such thing as safe recreational cocaine use, the researchers said, and suggest the 12 million Europeans who use cocaine are putting their lives on the line. “The notion that recreational cocaine use is ‘safe’ should be dispelled, since even small amounts may have catastrophic … Read more