Popular Synthetic Drug Simple to Obtain From China, Experts Say The popular synthetic drug methylone, a key ingredient in “bath salts,” is simple to order online from China, experts tell The Virginian-Pilot. In one recent case that ended up in federal court, two Virginia men emailed a lab in China, wired several thousand dollars to an English-speaking customer service representative and received 100 pounds of the drug in the mail, according to the newspaper.“It’s probably easier than buying a case of wine online,” said Richard Yarow, an attorney for a man who pleaded guilty to assisting one of the importers wire money to China. “When you buy wine you at least have to show ID” upon delivery, he added.Methylone is a white crystalline powder. In addition to being used to make bath salts, it also can be snorted, swallowed or mixed into drinks. The drug costs about $350 per ounce on...

NJ Governor Signs Measure Requiring Treatment for Low-Level Drug OffendersNew Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Thursday signed a measure that requires treatment for low-level drug offenders who otherwise would go to prison, according to The Star-Ledger. The law establishes a $2.5 million pilot program that will expand drug courts in three New Jersey counties. It also expands the types of crimes that make inmates eligible for drug court, which will now be mandatory for those inmates. The article notes drug court programs require inmates to undergo intensive outpatient or inpatient treatment. In order to qualify, inmates must have a drug addiction, be receptive to treatment and be deemed able to be helped by treatment. The inmates appear regularly before judges, who determine whether they are meeting the terms of the five-year program. New Jersey spends $42,000 to house an inmate for one year, compared with $11,300 for drug courts, according to...

Addiction Treatment Falls Woefully Short – Can’t We Do Better?By David Sack, M.D. Millions of people know what it’s like to lose everything to addiction. Millions more know what it’s like to live with a parent or family member who abuses drugs or alcohol. What too many don’t know is how to get better. In spite of a large body of research showing that addiction is a chronic disease, only one in 10 addicts receives any form of treatment – often, treatment that falls woefully short of what we know works, according to a five-year study by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.The Desperate State of Addiction TreatmentRather than helping, most forms of addiction treatment are hindering recovery and costing the public in the process. The CASA report identified the following specific problem areas:Stigma – One-third of Americans still regard addiction as a moral failing...

Popular belief does not expect women to "hold their liquor" as well as men, and this is one of those instances when science agrees with popular belief. If a man and a woman drink the same amount of alcohol, even if they are equal weight, the woman will have a higher concentration of alcohol in her blood. That's because a greater proportion of the man's body weight is water, which dilutes the alcohol; and also because the stomach walls of women compared to men contain less alcohol dehydrogenase, an enzyme that breaks down alcohol.Therefore, repeatedly drinking the same quantity of alcohol is likely to damage a woman's organs—liver, heart muscle, brain—more quickly than a man's. (Alcohol Metabolism) Published dietary guidelines reflect these differences and, for example, define moderate drinking as up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men. (Dietary Guidelines) ...Original linkOriginal author:...

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} Is the field's historical record fading away? Asking “How is it that an academic field can come so far and then erase itself?”, a dwindling group of substance abuse research librarians is seeking to call the addiction field into action before their organizations tumble into extinction. A strongly worded editorial published online June 12 in the journal Addictionmakes a compelling case for addiction field libraries’ role in furthering knowledge among treatment professionals and researchers, but the editorial’s appearance also comes with some disappointing irony. Since the first drafting of the article text more than four years ago, more libraries have shut operations as the article underwent revisions and its authors experienced...

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} More High School Students Using ADHD Drugs to Get Better Grades A growing number of high school students are using attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs, such as Adderall and Ritalin, to help them get better grades, The New York Times reports. Teens get them from friends, buy them from student dealers, or pretend to have ADHD in order to get prescriptions.Gary Boggs, a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), told the newspaper it is a nationwide problem.Prescription stimulant drugs being abused by teens also include Vyvanse and Focalin. The DEA considers these drugs Class II controlled substances, along with cocaine and morphine, because of their high potential...

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} Will New Jersey Make Legalize Marijuana? Chris Christie Says Probably Not A measure is working its way through the Legislature that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana – but it now seems unlikely that Governor Christie will sign it if it passes.Speaking at his latest town hall meeting in Piscataway, the Governor said “I don’t think you will see me sign a bill that legalizes marijuana in this state – and for people who disagree with me that’s fine- you’re welcome to disagree…I’m the Governor and I get to make those calls – when those bills come to my desk, and if that bill comes to my desk...

Many individuals with a personal or professional stake in addiction recovery consider recovery a spiritual process and diligently defend the right of everyone in need of recovery to practice spirituality in whatever non-hurtful ways are meaningful for them. When it comes to how these people in need practice "recovery" itself, there is no such unanimity among stakeholders—except for possible agreement that the process won't go very well if everyone pursues their recoveries with the same diversity as their spiritualities.Decades of accumulated practical wisdom and medical-scientific knowledge inform how various stakeholders think about addiction and recovery. But their individual knowledge bases and points of view differ as well as overlap. They debate definitions of recovery and what the willing person must do or not do to achieve recovery. For a generous sample of discourse on these matters, look at the consensus document from the Betty Ford Institute Consensus Panel, the updated...Original linkOriginal...

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Report reveals that U.S. teens are sending and receiving more mobile phone texts than in 2009The volume of texting among teens has risen from 50 texts a day in 2009 to 60 texts for the median teen text user. In addition, smartphones are gaining teenage users. Some 23% of all those ages 12-17 say they have a smartphone and ownership is highest among older teens: 31% of those ages 14-17 have a smartphone, compared with just 8% of youth ages 12-13. This report, sponsored by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project examines the tools teens use to...

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} Throwing Unused Prescription Drugs in Trash May Be Best for Environment: Study A new study concludes that throwing away unused prescription drugs in the trash may be the most environmentally friendly option. The study appears shortly after the Drug Enforcement Administration’s fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, which collected 276 tons of unwanted or expired prescription medications. The researchers compared the environmental impact of flushing medication, throwing it in the trash, and burning it. Drugs collected through take-back programs are incinerated. The study took into account how much of the drugs would enter the environment, as well as emission impacts from water treatment, transportation and burning of waste materials,...