What Addicts Need
Addiction isn't a weakness; it's an illness. Now vaccines and other new drugs may change the way we treat it.
By Jeneen Interlandi | NEWSWEEK
Date 03/08/2008
U.N. Paints Bleak Picture of Indigent Addicts' Life
Poor drug addicts around the world face a host of problems from stigma and imprisonment to lack of treatment, according to the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Date: 03/09/2010
Washington Bill Makes Medical Marijuana More Available
Physicians' assistants, nurse practitioners and naturopathic physicians would join doctors in being able to prescribe marijuana for medical use under a bill that's close to becoming law in Washington state.
Date: 03/08/2010
Impairment in 'Cocaine Babies' More Likely Driven by Environment, Study Says
Children exposed in-utero to cocaine often have lower IQs and do poorly in school and with language, but a new research review concludes that these impairments can usually be traced to the troubled environment the children of cocaine users live in and not directly to the effects of the drug itself.
Date: 03/05/2010
Poll: Maryland Residents Support Alcohol Tax Increase to Support Treatment
A poll commissioned by the Maryland chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence found that 72 percent of state residents back a proposed 10-cent-per-drink tax if the revenues were used to pay for addiction treatment, services for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, and healthcare for uninsured residents.
Date: 03/05/2010
Few Drug Users Get AIDS Prevention Help, Global Report Says
Only a fraction of the world's injection-drug users receive education or other assistance in preventing contraction or spreading of the AIDS virus, according to a new study that says government health officials often overlook a key vector for the disease.
Date: 03/04/2010
Psychosis More Common Among Teen Marijuana Users: Study
Smoking marijuana as a teenager could raise the risk of developing schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms as a young adult, according to a new study that compared the prevalence of mental illness among marijuana users and non-users.
Date: 03/03/2010
New Survey Again Raises Alarm About Teen Drug Use, Attitudes
A new report finds that more kids say they are using alcohol and other drugs, but many parents are unable or unwilling to deal with the issue -- a bad combination when declining support for prevention and cultural apathy about the issue leave parents as the last and sometimes only line of defense against adolescent drug use.
Date: 03/03/2010
U.S. and Mexico Pledge to Cut Drug Demand
The governments of Mexico and the United States have signed a pledge to cut demand for illicit drugs by stepped up treatment and prevention efforts.
Date: 03/02/2010
W. Va. Alcohol Tax Bill Dies in Legislature
A measure that would have raised the alcohol tax in West Virginia and used the revenues to pay for addiction treatment and prevention programs has been killed.
Date: 03/01/2010
U.N. Report Slams Drug Decriminalization in Latin America
Recent moves to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and other drugs in Latin American nations could "undermine national and international efforts to combat the abuse of and illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs," according to the annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
Date: 02/26/2010
Marijuana School Attracts Thousands of Students
California-based Oaksterdam University's classes on growing and marketing marijuana have attracted nearly 7,000 students and have a waiting list with hundreds of more potential enrollees.
Date: 02/22/2010
Olympics Puts Spotlight on Vancouver's Liberal Drug Policies
The Olympic host city of Vancouver has adopted a series of liberal drug policies that are on full display to any visitors who venture into the Downtown Eastside neighborhood, less than a mile from the waterfront epicenter of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Date: 02/19/2010
WHO Advances Report Endorsing Tax Hikes on Alcohol
Alcohol prices should be increased via taxation and stricter controls clamped on advertising in order to control binge drinking and other harmful drinking, according to a draft global alcohol-control strategy recently endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) executive board.
Date: 02/18/2010
Parity Bill Approved by Wisconsin Senate
A bill that would require insurers to cover addiction and mental health services on par with other health conditions has been approved by the Wisconsin Senate.
Date: 02/16/2010
DSM-V Draft Includes Major Changes to Addictive Disease Classifications
The first draft of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) eliminates the disease categories for substance abuse and dependence and replaces it with a new "addictions and related disorders" -- just one of several major changes to the "Bible" used almost universally to diagnose (and get insurance reimbursement for) behavioral-health problems.
Date: 02/12/2010
This page was last modified on : 08/21/2009
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