While needle exchange advocates claim that such programs effectively prevent the spread of blood borne diseases such as HIV and hepatitis, the latest report from Vancouver, which boasts the largest needle exchange program (NEP) in North America, suggest otherwise. In fact, this report’s ‘smoking gun’ is its finding that both HIV and Hepatitis C have reached ‘saturation’ among the injection drug using population, meaning few if any of who are not already infected are left to become newly infected.
Here are some of the reports specific findings: In 2002, nearly 3 million needles were distributed by NEPs in the City. Injection drug use was the main mode of HIV transmission in British Columbia from 1994 to 2000. Today injecting drug use and men having sex with men tie as the top risk factors for new HIV cases.

Vancouver began its NEP in 1988, and the number of new HIV infections among injecting drug users (IDUs) increased every year thereafter until peaking in 1996. A 1997 study of more than 1,400 Vancouver IDUs revealed an annual HIV infection rate of 18 percent– the highest level anywhere in the developed world and one of the highest incidence rates reported anywhere worldwide The number of new positive tests began to increase again in 2002 and estimates for 2002 anticipate a further increase. This report notes that many infected injecting drug users have not been tested, so these rates are likely to be higher. The current HIV prevalence among Vancouver IDUs is 35 percent.
The report attributes the HIV incidence peak in 1996 not to the success of needle exchange, but rather to ‘the near saturation’ of HIV infection among IDUs, meaning after 1996 there were few drug addicts left to become newly infected. Needle exchange not only failed to prevent HIV from reaching a saturation point among Vancouver IDUs, but also had the same lack of effectiveness if preventing the spread of hepatitis C (HCV). This report notes that like HIV, HCV has also reached a saturation point among Vancouver IDUs with over 80 percent infected with the incurable and deadly blood borne disease. Nearly two-thirds of Vancouver HCV cases are attributable to injection drug use with Vancouver’s HCV rate being nearly four-times higher than the rate for Canada as a whole.

In 1997, the reported rate of newly identified hepatitis B infections another blood born disease often spread by needle sharing– in Vancouver was eight times the rate for the rest of British Columbia and the highest rate in Canada. The leading cause of death of Vancouver drug addicts is overdose, accounting for 25 percent of deaths among those who are HIV-positive and 42 percent among those who are HIV-negative. Although the overall British Columbia crime rate has decreased over the past decade, drug offenses have increased by 63%. A study by the Canadian centre on Substance Abuse estimated that half of gainful crimes such as theft, break and enter, and robberies were attributed to substance abuse.
Source: Vancouver drug Epidemiology report 2003, Posted on www.ccsa.ca/ccendu/pdf/report

Marijuana use and Trends

What’s Down with Marijuana?

What has the latest research shown us about marijuana? Among other things, marijuana has now been linked to violent teen behaviour, may be responsible for youth tongue cancer, and has been shown in weekly users to trigger suicidal depression. For those with a disposition toward other serious mental illness, marijuana has been found to unleash it.

Marijuana usage up somewhat

The myth among youth is that ‘everyone is doing it.’ In fact, the majority is not – 51 percent of high school seniors have never tried marijuana even once. However, 22 percent of seniors are ‘current’ (past month) users of marijuana. The hard-core, or daily marijuana users (20 or more times in the past 30 days) remain a small portion of youth: 5.8 percent of seniors, 4.5 percent of sophomores, and 1.3 percent of eighth graders.

New use and historical patterns

There have been ebbs and flows in use of marijuana over the past 40 years. About 2.4 million Americans tried marijuana for the first time in 2000. This was a substantial increase from 600,000 new users in 1965, However, initiation in the marijuana world peaked in 1976-1977 at 3.2 million, and dipped to its lowest figure in decades at 1.4 million in 1990. New users rose from there until hitting 2.5 million in 1996, where it has remained for half a decade.

Marijuana has been on the American scene for at least a century. In 1906, it was proscribed under the Pure Food and Drug Act. In 1914, Utah was the first state to pass anti marijuana legislation; by 1931, 29 states had prohibited the medical use of marijuana. In 1936, the government film, ‘Reefer Madness’ was released; it is still a cult film. In 1970. the Federal Government eliminated mandatory sentencing for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The peak year for teen use of marijuana was 1979. In 1985, synthetic THC, or Marinol, was produced to relieve the nausea of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously voted down medical marijuana laws. That same year, the #1 rap song “Because I Got High” by Afroman spoke about the destructive effects of marijuana

ccording to the results of a national survey in America 34% of parents of teens thought their child had been offered drugs, while over one-half (52%) of the teens reported being offered drugs. This disparity is even greater for youth–7% of parents thought their preteen had ever been offered drugs, while 23% of the youths said they actually had. Parents perceptions of their children’s drug use is not much better. While parents of preteens had fairly accurate perceptions of their children’s experimentation with marijuana and cocaine, they underestimated their children’s use of inhalants. Parents of teenagers seriously underestimated their children’s use of all three of these substances. According to the authors, “parents need to understand the true vulnerability of their kids to drug experimentation today, and to educate themselves about drug use so that they can have greater confidence in listening to, talking with, and educating their children”.

Drug Availability and Use Among U.S. Students, Grades 4-12,
Parents Perceptions Versus Students’ Self-Reports, 1995*

Pre-teens Teenagers
(Grades 4-6) (Grades 7 – 12)

Parents’ Youth Parents’ Teens
Student’s Experiences Perceptions Reported perceptions Reported

Anyone ever tried to sell or give drugs 7% 23% 34% 52%
to student
Student tried marijuana at least once 1 2 14 38
Student tried cocaine/crack at least once 1 1 3 8
Student tried inhalants at least once 1 6 3 24

*This national survey was conducted by Audits & Surveys Worldwide, Inc. on behalf of the Partnership For a Drug-Free America. Self-administered questionnaires were given to a randomly selected sample of 2,424 youth (grades 4-6). 6,096 teenagers (grades 7-12) and 822 parents (adults aged 18 and older who were parents of children under 19). The survey was conducted in May and June of 1995.
Source: CESAR from Partnership, for a Drug-Free America. Attitude Tracking Study. February 1996.

A new health education campaign launching in the Phoenix area seeks to respond to data from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) that finds usage rates of methamphetamine and Ecstasy among Phoenix-area teens are above national averages. The campaign unveiled today by the Partnership – with support from the Partnership for a Drug-Free Arizona, the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AzAAP) and Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) – is dedicated to reducing methamphetamine and Ecstasy use among teens in the Phoenix area. The campaign consists of a pediatrician-driven media outreach effort designed to educate parents and teens about the dangerous health consequences of these drugs, and includes an intensive public service advertising campaign in the Phoenix market. Phoenix is one of two U.S. cities where the campaign is being introduced.

“The disturbing number of teens in the Phoenix area who already are experimenting with these drugs makes this a health problem that must be addressed,’ said Dr. Peggy Stemmler, president of the AzAAP, a key partner in the new health education campaign. “Paediatricians are in a unique position to help close the gap between perception and reality about the real consequences of these drugs.”

In the Phoenix area, 14 paediatricians will serve as primary spokespeople for the media communications effort. Campaign coordinators believe the voice of the medical community will resonate with parents in particular in order to motivate them to take an active role in persuading their teens not to use these drugs. HMA Public Relations, a local public relations agency, will coordinate media efforts for paediatricians participating locally.

“More than one of every three teens in the Phoenix area has been offered Ecstasy or ‘meth,’ and teen use of both drugs is above national averages,” said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the Partnership, the national non profit organization best known for its media-based drug education campaigns. “Phoenix needs the facts about the real risks of using these drugs if we’re going to turn those numbers around.” The Partnership is providing the local effort with hard-hitting public service ads for television, radio, print and Internet, as well as with research to measure the impact of the effort.

Top-line findings of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s study include:

* 13 percent of Phoenix-area teenagers report having used methamphetamine (meth), compared to nine percent of all teens nationwide; 13 percent report having used Ecstasy, compared to 11 percent of all teens nationwide;
* 33 percent of teens report having been offered methamphetamine, and 35 percent report being offered Ecstasy;
* 61 percent of teens report knowing someone who uses Ecstasy, and half (50 percent) report knowing someone who uses methamphetamine; and
* Just one to two percent of Phoenix-area parents surveyed (one percent for Ecstasy, two percent for meth) agree that it’s possible their kids may have tried these drugs.

“Survey data also show parents and teens underestimate the specific health risks of these drugs,’ said Pasierb. “Risk-related attitudes correlate strongly with trends in drug use; for example, when teenagers see greater risks associated with a particular drug, use of that drug declines, Unfortunately, the opposite holds true as well, so the time is right for a concerted intervention to reverse the trends were seeing in Phoenix.”

Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant. Often called ‘speed’ or ‘crystal’, meth is a crystal-like, powdered substance that sometimes comes in large rock-like chunks. Meth is usually white or slightly yellow, depending on the purity. The drug can be taken orally, injected, snorted or smoked. Once a threat largely in the American southwest, production and use of the drug, which is cheaper and longer lasting than cocaine, has moved steadily eastward in recent years, finding willing users in a generation unlikely to remember the phrase, ‘speed kills’. Long-term use and/or high doses of methamphetamine can bring on full-blown toxic psychosis, often exhibited as violent, aggressive behaviour. Ecstasy–chemically known as 3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA – is a psychoactive drug with amphetamine-like and hallucinogenic properties. It can be extremely dangerous, especially in high doses. Usually taken orally in pill form, the drug accelerates the release of serotonin in the brain and provides users with an intense high, characterized by feelings of love and acceptance, as well as a general sense of well being, decreased anxiety and enhanced sensitivity to touch. Ecstasy can cause dramatic increases in body temperature, muscle breakdown, and kidney and cardiovascular system failure, as reported in some fatalities.
Source: Press release, Partnership For Drug Free America June 200

A new federal report says that adolescents who are first-time marijuana users are at risk for becoming addicted to harder drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. While the report indicated a decline from previous years in the number of adolescents who are first-time marijuana users, it also found that marijuana users are at risk for long-term drug addiction. The study found that 62 percent of cocaine users aged 26 or older were first-time marijuana users by the age of 14.

“Marijuana is not a soft drug, said John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The study, which is based on the 1999 and 2000 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse, found that two million American youth aged 12 or older used marijuana for the first time in 1999, a drop from 2.5 million in 1998.
Source: National Household Survey 1999/2000, Reported by associated Press 2001

People who smoke heavily seem to suffer memory loss in middle age according to a new study from Great Britain. Researchers found that people in their 50s who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day had poorer verbal- memory and visual-speed skills. Researchers said the participants were too young to determine whether the declines would lead to serious cognitive problems in old age. But smoking has been identified as a risk factor for dementia because it restricts blood flow in the brain and raises the risk of narrowed arteries and mini-strokes. The researchers plan to continue to measure the memory skills of this group as they get older.
Source: Richards, M., Jarvis, M., et al American Journal of Public Health June 2003

Sustained attention to timing-tasks was substantially altered in laboratory rats when they were given a synthetic cannabinoid – a compound similar to the naturally occurring one in marijuana, according to a just published study by scientists at the University of Georgia. The research team, headed by psychologist Jonathan Crystal, showed that rats ‘under the influence’ had difficulty distinguishing between long and short periods of time during tasks for which they were trained. “In the real world, this suggests that someone smoking marijuana might well be able to do a task briefly, but overtime there could be serious attention problems, said Crystal. The implication is that users of marijuana could be lulled into thinking they are capable of using the motor skills for such actions as driving when in fact there could be serious long-term attention-span problems.

The study used rats that were placed in a box equipped with a speaker and two retractable levers. A sound was presented to the rats for either a short period or a long period. For example, the rats were required to distinguish between four and 16 seconds. If the duration of the sound was short, the rat had to press one of the levers to obtain a pellet of food. The rat had to press the other ever to receive food if the sound was long. “Under these circumstances, animals will typically learn to press the correct lever with high accuracy,” the authors said. The research team then played sounds of intermediate length to find a midpoint at which rats were equally likely to respond as if the sound were ‘short’ or ‘long’. After the rats learned the right levers to press, they were injected with a synthetic cannabinoid, and their sensitivity to time was measured, Cannabinoids produced a substantial decline in sensitivity to time through a specific brain receptor mechanism. Crystal’s team used a synthetic compound rather than tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ‘active’ ingredient in marijuana, because the synthetic cannabinoid is more powerful and easier to use in laboratory settings. It is so close chemically to THC, however, that the findings can be equated with the effects of THC. Using computer models to interpret the data, the scientists found that the general ability to maintain attention was altered by exposure to the cannabinoid, The cannabinoid disrupted performance of the task by producing a disorder of attention.The research was just published online in the journal Behavioural Brain Research and will be published soon in its print version. Co-authors of the paper are Andrea Hohmann and laboratory research coordinator Kenneth Maxwell, both also of UGA. The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The raw data from the study are available at http://www.uga.edu/animal-cognition-lab.
Source: Ascribe newswire, Athens, Ga June 03

People who drink, smoke and take drugs could be more at the mercy of their genes than was previously realised, research showed . A study involving more than 20000 people has suggested that particular genes can influence personality traits linked to unhealthy behaviour.

Cancer Research UK scientists at Oxford University pooled data from 46 separate studies looking at the link between human behaviour and inheritance. The research focused on genes that control chemicals used to transmit signals between brain cells. Researchers found that one version of the human serotonin transporter gene (5HTT-LPR) was strongly associated with anxious personalities. Individuals with this gene variant were the sort who find social interaction stressful and may take refuge in substance abuse. The scientists found a weaker link between a variant in a second gene, the dopamine D4 receptor, and extrovert personality traits. Such people are more likely to smoke or take drugs because of a tendency to gamble with their health and seek out novelty.

The chief researcher, Dr Marcus Munafo, said: “Our study suggests that there is a genetic basis to certain kinds of personality trait, which may be important in influencing whether people take up habits like smoking or whether they can subsequently give them up. Understanding genetic influences on personality is important if we are to design health campaigns that are effective for the widest possible range of people. “We also know, through drugs such as antidepressants, that is possible to influence these behaviours, and our research may open the way to new types of medication to help people overcome cancer-causing addictions.”

Scientists do not know precisely why particular genetic variants may influence personality, but have some clues. The 5HTT-LPR variant appears to reduce levels of the serotonin transporter molecule, in turn influencing levels of serotonin activity. Serotonin helps to control emotions such as anxiety and depression. Variations in the dopamine D4 receptor seem to alter the brains response to dopamine, which is thought to be associated with novelty seeking behaviour and pleasure, and may have a role in substance abuse.
Source: Journal of Molecular Psychiatry June 2003

A new study finds that high school students who smoke marijuana are likely to see lower math scores, and ultimately, lower wages, than peers. Poets and literary types may have less to fear however. Scores showed no difference on reading scores between potheads and those who abstained from the weed.
Economist Rosalie Pacula from the public policy group RAND presented her findings at a conference on global health economics in San Francisco this week. It makes a lot of sense that it (marijuana) would affect certain types of cognitive functioning, particularly things that are hard to grasp like math,” she said. Her study looked at 6,000 standardized test scores of those who started using marijuana after the 10th grade in 1990 and compared with results when they were in the 12th grade in 1992. Those who started smoking marijuana had 15 percent lower scores in math than non-smokers but no difference in the reading test, Pacula said. That lower math score could result in a salary 2 percent lower later in life, her research found.Source: Reuters June 2003.

Very heavy use of cannabis could be a cause of psychosis, according to a leading psychiatrist who believes that society should think carefully about the potential consequences of its increasing use. Robin Murray, professor of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley hospital in London, says that in the last 18 months, there has been increasing evidence that cannabis causes serious mental illness. In particular, a Dutch study of 4,000 people from the general population found that those taking large amounts of cannabis were almost seven times more likely to have psychotic symptoms three years later.
“This research must not be ignored,” said Prof Murray, speaking at the annual general meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Edinburgh. Writing in the Guardian last August, Prof Murray said he had been surprised that the discussion around cannabis had skirted around the issue of psychosis. Psychiatrists had known for 150 years that very heavy consumption of cannabis could cause hallucinations and delusions.
“This was thought to be very rare and transient until the 1980s when, as cannabis consumption rose across Europe and the USA, it became apparent that people with chronic psychotic illnesses were more likely to be regular daily consumers of cannabis than the general population.”

In the UK, he said, people with schizophrenia are about twice as likely to smoke cannabis. The reason appears to be the effect that the drugs have on chemicals in the brain. “In schizophrenia the hallucinations and delusions result from an excess of a brain chemical called dopamine. All the drugs which are known to cause psychosis – amphetamine, cocaine and cannabis -increase the release of dopamine in the brain.” Cannabis had been the downfall of many a promising student, he suggested. “Like any practising psychiatrist, I have often listened to the distraught parents of a young man diagnosed with schizophrenia tell me that as a child their son was very bright and had no obvious psychological problems. Then in his mid-teens his grades began falling. He started complaining that his friends were against him and that people were talking about him behind his back.“After several years of increasingly bizarre behaviour he dropped out of school job or university; he was admitted to a psychiatric unit overwhelmed by paranoid fears and persecution by voices. The parents tell me that, at some point, their son was heavily dependent on cannabis.”
It used to be thought that the high numbers of psychotic patients taking cannabis could be explained because they used it to alleviate their symptoms. The recent studies, however have looked at large populations without mental illness and studied the numbers of cannabis takers within them who have developed psychosis.
Source: The Guardian July 2003

Amsterdam’s coffee shops, where cannabis and alcohol top the menu, suffered a knockout blow on Wednesday when the city council announced the cafes will in future have to decide which ‘drug of choice’ to sell. In other cities and towns in the Netherlands, cannabis cafes are tolerated as long as they do not sell alcohol on the same premises. Cafes in the capital have an exemption from this regulation, but Amsterdam City Council said this privilege would be withdrawn in the next three years. From now until 2006, coffee shop owners in Amsterdam will be given the opportunity to continue business as an alcohol-free cafe or to stop selling soft drugs. The new plan is the latest in a string of blows to hit the Dutch cannabis industry. On 5 May, the Justice Ministry said it was considering imposing restrictions on the active THC content in locally produced cannabis. A few days before that, the Health Ministry seemed to put the future of all coffee shops at risk when it said they would have to provide a smoke-free environment for staff by the beginning of 2004.
Source: Dutch associated Press. June 2003

The prevalence of marijuana use among young people has risen rapidly in recent years, causing concern over the potential impact on academic performance of such use. While recent studies have examined the effect of alcohol use on educational attainment, they have largely ignored the potential negative effects of other substances, such as marijuana. This paper examines whether the relationship between the initiation of marijuana use and the decision to drop out of high school varies with the age of dropout or with multiple substance use. Data are from a longitudinal survey of 1392 adolescents aged 16-18 years. The results suggest that marijuana initiation is positively related to dropping out of high school. Although the magnitude and significance of this relationship varies with age of dropout and with other substances used, it is concluded that the effect of marijuana in on the probability of subsequent high school dropout is relatively stable, with marijuana users odds of dropping out being about 2.3 times that of non-users. Implications of these conclusions are considered for both policy makers and researchers.
Source: Author Bray, Zarkin et al Research Triangle Institute NC USA July 1999

According to a survey, based on interviews With 108 marijuana users aged between 13 and 31 and released by the Caritas Youth and Community Service in Aberdeen (Hong Kong) almost one in five young marijuana users said the Body Shop’s hemp promotion influenced someone they know to experiment with the drug. 44% said the products lowered their psychological resistance to experimenting, while 48% said they led people to believe that the drug had no adverse health effects. 18.7% said they knew who someone who started using marijuana as a direct result of the – promotion of commercial hemp products.
The Body Shop was not named in the report but according to the South China Morning Post on Sunday, Caritas social worker Fung Hing-kau identified the company after the report was released. Caritas Youth and Community Service supervisor Lam Wai-fan criticized the company for using the drug to promote its products.
Source: HNN Press Release Feb 1999

For 10 years the national Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program (recently renamed ADAM—Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring) has been reporting high drug-positive rates among arrestees tested for illicit drugs in major cities across the US. Earlier this year, researchers in England released the main findings of the first DUF/ADAM pilot program outside the U.S. Research was conducted in custody suites in 5 police force areas (Cambridge, London, Manchester, Nottingham, and Sunderland) over an 18-month period beginning in January 1996. Male and female arrestees were interviewed using a questionnaire based on those used in the DUF/ADAM program. Voluntary and anonymous urine specimens were also collected.
An average of 61% of English arrestees tested positive for at least one illicit drug. 46% of English arrestees tested positive for marijuana, outranking all other drugs including cocaine. This study demonstrates the feasibility of conducting DUF/ADAM studies outside of the U.S.

It’s findings also suggest the hypothesis that about 50% of criminals throughout the world are likely to be using illicit drugs.
Source: CESAR FAX, Sep 7.1998, Vol 7 Issue 36, Center for Substance Abuse Research ,University of Maryland.

* Smoking marijuana can lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissue injured or destroyed by marijuana smoke. Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems as tobacco smokers. These individuals may have daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds.
* Regardless of the THC content, the amount of tar inhaled by marijuana smokers and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed are three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers. This may be because marijuana users inhale more deeply and hold the smoke in the lungs and because marijuana smoke is unfiltered.
* Smoking any substance—including marijuana—increases the risk of developing bacterial pneumonia and other infections of the lungs.
* Smoking marijuana appears to damage or paralyze the cilia, the hair-like projections in the lungs that sweep out microbes and other matter that can cause disease. Damaging the lung’s cilia, the respiratory system’s first line of defense, can have severe consequences for people with weak immune systems.
* Among smokers of both marijuana and tobacco, it appears that the effects of marijuana add to the damaging effects of tobacco, and vice versa. The damage to the ciliated cells in the lining of the airways caused by smoking tobacco and/or marijuana weakens the ability of the lungs to remove inhaled particles, making the lungs more vulnerable to infection.
* Smoking marijuana can cause precancerous changes in lung tissue similar to those seen in cigarette smokers.

Source: www.health.org/reality Nov 2

According to a new study by Dr. Zuo-feng Zhang of the Johnson cancer center at the university of California Los Angles, smoking marijuana can cause cancer.“many people may think marijuana is harmless, but it is not”, Zhang said in a statement. “The carcinogens in marijuana are much stronger than those in tobacco. the big message here is the marijuana, like tobacco, can cause cancer.”Zhang studied 173 patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer, and compared them to 176 cancer free control patients. Those who said they habitually smoked marijuana were more likely to be in the group with head and neck cancers. And the more they smoked , the bigger the risk.
Source: Dr Zhag , Jonsson cancer center University of California,Reported in
journal of cancer Epidemiology Biomarker and prevention Dec 1999.

Dutch cannabis which contains over 10% of the active ingredient THC should be classed as a hard drug and banned, according to a Rotterdam police drugs expert and a Groningen toxicology professor. High THC concentrations can cause heart palpitations and high blood pressure, the experts claimed.
Source: Reported in Het Financieele Dagblad Nov 1999.

Two 11-year-olds in every classroom are using drugs, according to official figures which show a rise’ in cocaine use among school leavers. Amid controversy about David Blunkett’s drugs strategy, data published by the Government’s statistical service showed that six per cent of 11-year-olds used drugs during 2001. The figure rose to 39 per cent among 15-year-olds, while a fifth of 11- to 15-year-olds in England used drugs in 2001 Cannabis was the most frequent drug used, with 13 per cent of 11- to 15-year-olds smoking.
Peter Walker, adviser on drugs to the National Association of Head teachers, said, You show me a head teacher that says they haven’t got a drug problem and I will show you a liar. I mean infant schools, primary schools and secondary schools.
Source: Daily Telegraph, Womack, July 2002

Youngsters who smoke cigarettes are more likely to use marijuana than those who don’t smoke, according to a study released Tuesday. The report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University and the American Legacy Foundation said young cigarette smokers are 14 times more likely to try pot. Eighty-four percent of the kids who have tried marijuana have smoked cigarettes within the past 30 days. The study focusing on 12- to 17-year-olds also found those who smoke cigarettes are six times likelier to be able to buy marijuana in an hour or less and 18 times likelier to say most of their friends smoke pot.

“Pot is a significant presence in the lives of teenage smokers,” said Joseph Califano Jr., president of the addiction center. “If kids are regularly smoking, you should be concerned they are smoking pot.” Califano said anti-tobacco campaigns can make help reduce pot smoking among young Americans and urged the Bush administration to educate people on the dangers of tobacco use.Young people perceive a link between cigarette smoking and pot use: When asked whether they think that a kid who smokes cigarettes is more Likely to use pot, 77 percent responded yes.

The study found:

–Among those who acknowledge having tried marijuana, those who do not smoke cigarettes are likelier to have tried pot only once.
–Teens who have tried pot and are current cigarette smokers are 60 percent likelier to be repeat marijuana users.
–Fifty-five percent of those who are current cigarette smokers report more than half their friends use marijuana.
–Among the kids who have tried pot, 57 percent first smoked cigarettes; 29 percent never smoked cigarettes; and 13 percent either tried pot and cigarettes at the same time or tried pot before cigarettes.

In the survey by QEV Analytics, 1,987 teenagers and 504 parents of teenagers were interviewed between April 30 and July 14 over the telephone. The margin of error for the 2003 survey is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Source: Report by National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia university.
Reported by association press Sept 2003

Augusta, June 3,2003… Main’s House of Representatives voted 95-47 to join California, Delaware, New York, and Connecticut in passing smoke free workplace legislation for ALL workers. The bill now goes to the full Senate where it’s expected to pass. Earlier this month the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee voted 12-1 in favour of the legislation.

Gov. John Baldacci, director of communications, has also indicated support for the measure. Having already passed smoke free restaurant legislation four years ago, Maine has seen the benefit of smoke free laws. Consequently, opposition to this years smoke free bar proposal has been minimal.

“We’re tired of working in an environment that is not safe or healthy,” said Rep. Leila Percy, a Phippsburg Democrat who works as a singer and bandleader in the haze of clubs that serve alcohol.Rep. Roger Landry said that after his decade-long battle against cancer, he puts health concerns over personal freedoms cited by the bill’s opponents.

To become the 5th smoke free state, Maine will have to compete with Massachusetts and Rhode Island which are also in final stages of smoke free workplace legislation for ALL workers (including restaurant and bar workers).

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
Source: www.smokefree.org

The greatest cause of disease and death in every developed country and most developing countries is tobacco addiction. The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco addiction kills 5 million people worldwide each year, including more than 400,000 Americans. In effort to combat this worldwide plague, the World Health Organization (made up of 192 member countries) voted unanimously last week to adopt the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The Convention urges countries to eliminate tobacco advertising, establish bigger/stronger warning labels, raise cigarette prices, and adopt smoke free workplace laws.

France announced that it is raising cigarette prices by 25% and will continue to do so until prices reach 7 euros ($8.40) per pack. Currently, cigarettes cost about 4 euros ($4.80) per pack. The last price hike resulted in a 10% decline in youth smoking. In addition new cigarette warning labels have gone into effect in Europe covering 1/3 of both the front and back of a pack of cigarettes. Canada and Brazil have strong picture based warning labels. Ireland and Norway have announced that restaurants and bars will be smoke free next year. Finland currently has smoke free casinos.

In the U.S., four entire states— CA, DE, NY, and CT– have gone totally smoke free (including restaurants, bars, and casinos). Hundreds of cities have also gone totally smoke free, including four of the most popular tourist destinations— New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and San Francisco. Canada and Australia continue to lead the world in smoke free workplace legislation.

In Japan the densely populated Chiyoda Ward went smoke free outdoors last year in response to growing complaints from residents about sidewalks and roads littered with cigarette butts and clothes being burned by cigarettes. Mayor Masami Ishikawa himself a smoker backed the ordinance, saying he believes it is no longer possible to rely on smokers to voluntarily stop throwing cigarette trash on the street.

Although there is much to be done, it is obvious that the world is taking action to prevent another generation of tobacco addiction and disease. Five million deaths a year are simply too much to ignore.
Source: smoke Free Educational services, www.corpwatch.org, June 2003

Ads warning about the dangers of smoking pot or taking Ecstasy can persuade young people stay away from drugs, according to a study released by an advocacy group.A survey of teens conducted for the Partnership for a Drug Free America found kids who see or hear anti drug ads at least once a day are less likely to do drugs than youngsters who don’t see or hear ads frequently. Teens who got a daily dose of the anti drug message were nearly 40 percent less likely to try methamphetamine and about 30 percent less likely to use Ecstasy, the study found. When asked about marijuana, kids who said they saw the ads regularly were nearly 15 percent less likely to smoke pot.

The partnership produces most of the anti drug messages for the White House. Among them: one featuring a young man visiting the site where his brother was killed by a driver under the influence of marijuana. The difficulty is getting kids to see the ads and pay attention to them. A University of Pennsylvania study released last year found the ads are largely ignored by teens.

A spokesman for the government’s drug policy office, Tom Riley said the partnership changed the tone of the ads in the last year to make them harder hitting and punchier. The ads also play up the negative consequences of drugs more, he said.
“These ads have taught millions of teens the truth that marijuana is a harmful drug,” said Riley.

Barry McCaffrey drug czar during the Clinton administration said the anti drug ads are having a profound impact in a fundamental way, affecting not just adolescents but adults” as well including parents, pediatricians and teachers. The drop in drug use proves the ads are a key part in the battle, he said.
Source: Sunday Partnership for Drug free America 2003

Thousands of cocaine-abusers are putting hospital casualty wards under strain by turning up with serious chest pains caused by taking the drug, according to a study by one of Britain’s leading authorities on drug abuse. Hospital staff have to drop other cases to deal with the drug-takers – all young men under 30 – as potential medical emergencies because the symptoms are so serious.

The research, by John Henry, a professor of medicine at Imperial College London School of Medicine, found that one in three such visits to occident and emergency departments in inner-city hospitals may be due to cocaine abuse. Prof Henry conducted anonymous urine tests on 450 men who came to his A&E department with chest pains over several months and found that a third tested positive for cocaine. The study, provides worrying evidence that the surge in cocaine use will result in a tide of heart disease in young people. Prof Henry, a former director of the National Poisons Unit who is based at St Mary’s Hospital, London, said: ‘This is a lower rate than some American studies have found, but higher than we expected, and very worrying.’ He said that the number of deaths from cocaine had been seriously underestimated. Government figures show that the number of cocaine-related deaths reported by coroners offices rose by 42 per cent last year, to 95. Prof Henry believes that the official figures are “the tip of the iceberg” because many go unrecorded as cocaine-related deaths. “They do not include all the trauma; people shooting other people or when someone gets a knife in the chest,” he said.

Casualty departments in other inner-city hospitals are experiencing a similar rise in numbers of men complaining of chest pains that are probably cocaine-related. Mr Manolis Gavalas, an A&E consultant at University College Hospital, said; ‘We frequently get people coming in with cocaine-induced chest pains. The drug is constricting the coronary circulation, so of course its dangerous – and it can lead to heart attacks. “Ten years ago it was unheard of, but now we see lots of young male patients in their 20s or 30s with this, especially on Friday and Saturday night,” he said. “If you see one of these young patients with these symptoms you know its cocaine, but its still very serious and you have to take it very seriously.’ That means the patients are given priority treatment, have medical histories taken and often have electrocardiogram readings.

Dr Carole & Gavin, a consultant at the Hope Hospital in Salford, Manchester, said: “We do seem to see more young men with these symptoms. There have been a couple in the last six months who’ve had serious chest pains and who’ve admitted using cocaine. But of course there may be many who don’t admit they’ve been using it.”

Cocaine induces a feeling of well-being by raising dopamine levels in the brain, but also increases blood pressure and causes blood vessels to contract. Sometimes the arteries feeding the heart go into spasm, causing the severe chest pains which make users go to hospital. If the spasms are particularly severe the patients may need drugs such as nitrates to force their vessels open and prevent a heart attack. Four years ago the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the risk of death from a heart attack rose 24-fold in the first hour after cocaine use. “There’s also the risk of cerebral haemorrhage and stroke” Dr Gavin added. We’ve seen one 40-year-old in the last year who had a stroke on cocaine.”

Some researchers even fear that cocaine, along with ecstasy, could spark the early onset of Parkinson’s disease, by causing the body to exhaust its supply of dopamine prematurely. Prof Henry was so concerned about the more immediate ill-effects of cocaine that he persuaded his medical ethics committee to allow him to test urine samples from young men appearing in his hospital with chest pain in such a way that they were anonymous and could not be traced. He hopes to do follow-up research on the cost implications for the NHS.
The study comes as the Home Office prepares to publish research suggesting that the number of cocaine users in Britain has been radically underestimated. Current figures show that the number of users has risen fivefold in the past 10 years, from one in 100 to one in 20 of the 16 to 59 age group. Research it commissioned from National Economic research Associates warns, however, that many users go unnoticed. Edward Bramley-Harker, who led the research, said: “The current estimate came from looking at people arrested for cocaine abuse. But there are many affluent users who are not likely to be arrested, so the figure of 475,000 users is a considerable underestimate.’
Neither do these figures include the growing, 200,000-strong group of crack cocaine users who are at risk from the same physical side effects as users of ordinary cocaine.
Source: Daily telegraph Oct 2003

British scientists have found more evidence to show that people with asthma should not smoke. Researchers at the University of Glasgow say smoking can interfere with asthmatics’ medication.Speaking at a European Respiratory Society conference in Vienna, they said it can increase the risks of breathing problems or an asthma attack. The researchers said the findings highlight the need to encourage asthmatics who smoke to quit.
Figures suggest that 40% of people with asthma aged between 16 and 44 smoke. This is much higher than the general population, where 32% of people in this age group smoke.
Source: BBC Online, 30 September 2003

Bristol has the highest number of lung cancer deaths in the south west attributable to smoking, according to a new report. Figures issued by South West Public Health reveal the area has the highest figure in the region for premature deaths in men aged 36-69, from lung cancer which is likely to be linked to smoking.

Some 91% of lung cancer deaths in men are blamed on smoking, while for women the figure is 80%. One doctor said the high figure might be a direct result of Imperial Tobaccos decision to offer 40 free cigarettes a week to its employees in the city until production ended in the 1980s.

Dr Julia Verne of South West Public Health said: A proportion of these lung cancer deaths n well be attributable to that .But we also see high rates of death due to lung cancer in all inner city areas and we need a comprehensive programme to try and help people give up smoking.”
A spokesman for Imperial Tobacco said the company would not comment on what it took to be speculation.
Source: BBC Online, 25 September 2003

Pollution inside homes and offices can be up to double the level recorded outdoors, new research has revealed. Tests carried out for the European commission show that levels of the chemical Benzene are twice as high indoors as outside. The toxin, found in both fitted carpets and cigarette smoke, is a major cause of leukaemia.
It is thought the chemical could be responsible for up to six million cases of the disease across Europe. Despite fears that industrial pollution and fumes produced by heavy traffic pose the biggest environmental threat to health, the study by the commission found that plastics, furniture, computers, carpets and cigarette smoke are causing an increase in the number of people suffering from allergies. The research suggests a combination of tobacco smoke, asbestos, radon and benzene released in buildings could be causing an increase in cancer rates.
Source: Daily Mail, Evening Standard, 1 October 2003

The impact of smoking on the risk of developing coronary heart disease
(CHD) has been hugely underestimated, a 20 year landmark study has found. Researchers said the risk was nearly four fold higher in non smokers with high exposure to passive smoke, such as cigarette smoking by a partner, compared with non smokers with low exposure.

Study lead Professor Peter Whincup, professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at St Georges Hospital Medical School, London, said the effect of passive smoking by someone you live with was originally thought to increase the risk of CHD by 30 percent. The study followed 2,105 non smoking men from the British Regional Heart Study and measured levels of cotinine in their blood, Of these, 308 suffered a major CHD event during follow up.

During the first five years of follow-up, patients with the highest level of cotinine in the blood had nearly 4 times the risk of having a cardiac event compared with those who registered the lowest levels of nicotine.

Dr Mike Kirby, a GP and member of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society, said GPs and practice nurses could use the results to call passive smokers in for a cardiac risk assessment. “The results are quite useful because it gives us something definite to tell the patients and in this evidence-based environment, it could be used to focus our resources, he added.

Source: Pulse, 29 September 2003

New food products and cosmetics made from cannabis hemp- the same plant as the marijuana plant-pose an acceptable risk to the health of consumers. Those most at risk are children exposed in the womb or through breast milk, or teen-ages whose reproductive systems are developing. THC and the other cannabiniods are fat soluble and accumulate in the body.

On the basis of currently available data it is concluded that the present Canadian limit of 10ppm THC in raw materials and products made from industrial hemp (cannabis sativa cultivars with less than 0.3% THC) would likely not protect the Canadian consumer using industrial hemp-based food, cosmetic, and neuroendocrine (hormone) disruption associated with low-level exposure to THC and other cannabiniods.
THC (and other cannabinoids) are fat soluble and build up in body cells.

Source:Risk Assessment of HEMP Based Food ,Nutraceutical, & cosmetic products Health Canada Nov 1999.
(The Europian Union (EU) made the following statement their HEMP PRODUCTS FOOD REGULATIONS: 1999:“The health effects of these (hemp) products have not been adequately researched so the uses to which (hemp) is put must NOT include human nutrition.”)

This result provides genetic evidence that marijuana use can result in schizophrenia or a significantly increased risk of schizophrenia. Lead researcher Hiroshi Ujike, a clinical psychiatrist at Okayama University, told United Press International.
Schizophrenia is one of the greatest mental health challenges in the world, affecting roughly one of every 100 people and filling about a quarter of all hospital beds in the United States. For years, clinical scientists have known that abusing marijuana, also known as cannabis, can trigger hallucinations and delusions similar to symptoms often found in schizophrenia. Prior studies also show that cannabis used before age 18 raises the risk of schizophrenia six-fold.The hallucinogenic properties of marijuana, the researchers explained, are linked to a biochemical found abundantly in the brain. The chemical, called cannabinoid receptor protein, studs the surfaces of brain cells and latches onto the active chemical within marijuana known as THC.“These sites are where marijuana acts on the brain,” Ujike said.

Ujike and his team examined the gene for the marijuana receptor in 121 Japanese patients with schizophrenia and an average age of 44. when they compared this gene in schizophrenia with the same gene in 148 normal men and woman of the same average age, they found distinct abnormalities in DNA sequences called nucleotides among the schizophrenics. Some of their nucleotides in the marijuana receptor gene appeared significantly more often than normal while others appeared less frequency.

“This finding is the first to report a potential abnormality of the cannabinoid system in schizophrenia,” said clinical neuroscientist Carol Tam Minga at the University of Maryland in college Park. “The importance of a finding here cannot be overstated, in that it would form a tissue target for drug development and allow targeted treatments to emerge for the illness.”

It appears malfunctions in the brain’s marijuana—linked circuitry may make one vulnerable to schizophrenia, Ujike said. This holds especially true for a condition called hebephrenic schizophrenia, which is marked by deterioration of personality, senseless laughter, disorganized thought and lack of motivation. These symptoms are similar to psychotic behaviour sometimes triggered by severe cannabis abuse, which could mean the marijuana receptors in schizophrenics are far more active than they should be.

Ujike stressed there is no evidence yet these genetic abnormalities can affect how the marijuana receptor actually acts in the brain. “We would also like to replicate our findings with different ethnic populations and more people,” he added.
The researchers described their findings in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Source:Hiroshi Ujike,Okayama university Japan- Reported in UPI Science News, New York 2002

A new study shows that heavy users of marijuana are at elevated risk for depression. According to the 15-year study by Dr. Gregory B. Bovasso, adults who abused marijuana were four times more likely to report symptoms of depression compared to those who never used the drug.
Marijuana smokers were more likely to have suicidal thoughts and a lack of interest in things that once held their interest. ‘Treatments or other interventions that prevent the abuse of cannabis from occurring in the first place are important, Bovasso said. “On a general policy level, marijuana may not be as harmless as many believe,”
Bovasso said additional research is needed to determine how excessive marijuana smoking leads to a higher risk of depression, and how much marijuana put people at risk of becoming depressed.Source: Dr G B Bovasso American journal of Psychiatry December 2001.

This result provides genetic evidence that marijuana use can result in schizophrenia or a significantly increased risk of schizophrenia. Lead researcher Hiroshi Ujike, a clinical psychiatrist at Okayama University, told United Press International.
Schizophrenia is one of the greatest mental health challenges in the world, affecting roughly one of every 100 people and filling about a quarter of all hospital beds in the United States. For years, clinical scientists have known that abusing marijuana, also known as cannabis, can trigger hallucinations and delusions similar to symptoms often found in schizophrenia. Prior studies also show that cannabis used before age 18 raises the risk of schizophrenia six-fold.The hallucinogenic properties of marijuana, the researchers explained, are linked to a biochemical found abundantly in the brain. The chemical, called cannabinoid receptor protein, studs the surfaces of brain cells and latches onto the active chemical within marijuana known as THC.“These sites are where marijuana acts on the brain,” Ujike said.

Ujike and his team examined the gene for the marijuana receptor in 121 Japanese patients with schizophrenia and an average age of 44. when they compared this gene in schizophrenia with the same gene in 148 normal men and woman of the same average age, they found distinct abnormalities in DNA sequences called nucleotides among the schizophrenics. Some of their nucleotides in the marijuana receptor gene appeared significantly more often than normal while others appeared less frequency.

“This finding is the first to report a potential abnormality of the cannabinoid system in schizophrenia,” said clinical neuroscientist Carol Tam Minga at the University of Maryland in college Park. “The importance of a finding here cannot be overstated, in that it would form a tissue target for drug development and allow targeted treatments to emerge for the illness.”

It appears malfunctions in the brain’s marijuana—linked circuitry may make one vulnerable to schizophrenia, Ujike said. This holds especially true for a condition called hebephrenic schizophrenia, which is marked by deterioration of personality, senseless laughter, disorganized thought and lack of motivation. These symptoms are similar to psychotic behaviour sometimes triggered by severe cannabis abuse, which could mean the marijuana receptors in schizophrenics are far more active than they should be.

Ujike stressed there is no evidence yet these genetic abnormalities can affect how the marijuana receptor actually acts in the brain. “We would also like to replicate our findings with different ethnic populations and more people,” he added.
The researchers described their findings in the scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Source:Hiroshi Ujike,Okayama university Japan- Reported in UPI Science News, New York 2002

Study finds cannabis and tobacco equally bad

 Smoking cannabis is as bad for your lungs as smoking cigarettes.
Smoking both cannabis and tobacco narrowed people’s airways even more than smoking only one of the substances. The study involved examining how much breath about 900 people aged 18 to 26 could expel forcefully from their lungs. People who smoked cannabis and tobacco expelled less air in a second than non-smokers and took longer to expel all the air from their lungs because their airways had narrowed slightly.
Airflows decreased even more when people smoked both cannabis and tobacco. Smokers breathing and airways were effected by the tar in tobacco. Cannabis had similar levels. The study group members were examined three times in eight years. While all were healthy and differences in their airflows subtle, the figures highlighted a trend , professor Taylor said.
The researchers interest was sparked by cannabis use increasing significantly in most developed countries in the past three decades and people increasingly questioning if it was worse than smoking tobacco.
Professor Taylor said the study was complex because group members lung development was at different stages. Lungs grew and became more efficient during childhood and adolescence , then efficiency started naturally declining in the mid 20s.
The study would continue when the people were aged 32-37.

Source: Professor Robin Taylor, Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development
study reported in New Zealand Herald Aug 2002

The highest all-time THC in a marijuana sample was 33.125 from the Oregon State police. This report covers only 2002 May 8 year-to-date. So far, the THC average has shot way up this year. For example, all 46,000+ cannabis samples ever tested at the University of Mississippi have averaged a THC of 3.63%. However, between February 8 and May 8 of 2002. The 1200+ cannabis samples have averaged 5.8% THC.
Marijuana tested there gradually increased in the 3%+ THC range from 1991-1996. Then, from 1997-1999, its THC was in the low 4% + area. The year 2000 saw an average THC for marijuana of 4.69%, and in 2001 it was 5.01%. so far thus year, THC in commercial has averaged 7.79%.
Sinsemilla shows a similar trend. It averaged 6-9% THC per year during 1992-1996. The average was 12-13% in each year 1997-2000, but then dropped to only 9% in 2001. However, so far in 2002 the average THC found in Sinsemilla was 16.09% .That is , the THC in Sinsemilla has close to doubled so far this year versus 2001.

Source: University of Mississippi (Marijuana) potency Report 2002

Japan Tobacco, the worlds third largest tobacco group, will launch six new cigarette brands in Japan next month as it prepares for increasing
competition from rival Philip Morris.It will be. the first time JT has launched so many products at once, reflecting its new strategy of aggressively launching products and premium brands to increase its share in its mainstay market. JT commands 73 per cent of the Japanese market but its share is steadily declining.

Source: www.search.ft.com

A smoking ban was today introduced on long-distance commuter services between Waterloo, Hampshire and borset following a “serious safety
incident’ involving a discarded cigarette.The ban, however, while popular with the majority of commuters will infuriate others, many of whom have pledged defiance and say they will continue to light up.
Stagecoach-owned SWT, one of the busiest commuter operators, is among the few remaining which permit smoking on trains. It is only allowed on
certain long-distance routes.

Source: Evening Standard, 1 December 2003

Women are twice as likely as men to devdop lung cancer from smoking, scientists have found.New research has suggested that gender can determine whether a smoker contracts the disease – which kills 80 per cent of sufferers within a year of diagnosis.
A woman smoker’s risk of lung cancer is just over double that of a man, once age and cigarette consumption are taken into account, according to preliminary results from Cornell University, New York.
But some experts, however, were sceptical of the figures. which are based on 77 cases. Sir Richard Peto, of Cancer Research UKs Cliinical Trials Service Unit in Oxford, said: “This is a very small study and its conclusions may well be wrong, Its simply not true that men and women who smoke have very different lung cancer rates.”Women have been smoking almost as much as men for some time in Britain and North America, but while the national death rates from lung cancer early middle age are now nearly as high among women as among men, they are not higher”
In 2001, 2O,350 men and 13040 women died of lung cancer. It is the second most common male cancer (after prostate) and the third most common female cancer (after breast and bowel), and the biggest killer of both sexes.

Source: The Times, 2 December 2003

More than half of non-smoking employees are exposed to tobacco smoke in UK workplaces, new research suggests.Pressure group ‘Smoke Free London’ said around eight million non-smokers, many working in bars and restaurants, breathed in tobacco smoke at work. Three million of these worked every day in premises where smoking was permitted.The survey, of 2,000 people, found 88% of those asked – including 91% of non-smokers – want legislation to regulate workplace smoking.At present there is no statutory legislation that directly regulates smoking during working hours. But employers do have a statutory duty to maintain and provide a working environment which is safe and free from health risks.
Judith Watt, a spokeswoman for SmokeFree London, said legislation was needed to protect employees. She said “Second-hand smoke is the only proven human carcinogen that is unregulated during working hours.
“Thanks to a 1992 EU Directive, all workers are entitled to breathe smoke-free air during breaks, but are not protected while actually working. This is a crazy situation and one that needs tackling urgently.”

Source: Financial Times BBC Online, November 2003

The Government should introduce ‘shooting galleries’ where drug addicts can safely inject themselves with heroin, according to a new report.
Crime reduction charity Nacro said the move would tackle the problem of users injecting in public and scattering old needles, as well as making it less dangerous to themselves.Home Secretary David Blunkett rejected the idea last year even though a cross-party group of MPs suggested they should be considered as a possible tool in the war on drugs.
The new report, Drugs and Crime: From Warfare to Welfare, also called for the dance drug ecstasy to be downgraded from class A, where it is ranked alongside heroin and crack, to class B. It said Britain’s ‘overly punitive’ drugs laws were undermining the creation of strategies to support and treat crack and heroin addicts. It said that in the UK three-quarters of spending to tackle drugs went on policing, courts, prisons, Customs and other law enforcement, With a global annual drugs trade of £300 billion, the biggest market after oil and arms and which is worth between £10 billion and £20 billion each year in the UK alone, the emphasis on law enforcement had ‘conspicuously failed’, the report added.
Author Dr Marcus Roberts said; “However undesirable drug taking may be, it is a feature of modern British life. “Most drug use has little serious impact on the community. “At the same time, a minority of hard drug users are responsible for a lot of crime,“Whether it is the teenager experimenting with cannabis or the heroin addict committing burglary to get money for drugs, one thing we know is that these problems are not going to be sorted out by the police, courts, Customs and prisons alone, We’ve tried that and it hasn’t worked,” He added: “Everyone who looks at this problem now agrees that the ‘war against drugs’ is over, but now it is time to decide what as a society we want to take its place.
“We need to provide drug addicts with help and support and to look at the social and personal problems that often lie behind the most damaging kinds of drug use.”Dr Roberts added that drug crime sentences were ‘disproportionately tough’ supply of class B drug carries a maximum of 14 years in jail, more than illegal possession and supply of firearms or wilful neglect of a child.The law also fails to distinguish between criminal gangs operating multi-million pound drug dealing operations and young people buying small quantities of drugs for their friends, it added.

Source: www.itv.com/news.May

Helsinki City has trained 40 drug addicts to assist their drug colleagues with supplying clean needles and giving first aid. This idea is from Belgium where it all started already in 1987. These addicts are called ‘jobist’ and their activities are funded by the support from the European Union. After their training. 5 evenings, they also get a small reward of abt US $200. The work is otherwise on a voluntary basis and they get 100 needles/day when looking for their friends. These jobists seem to be well motivated which is of course might be a first preliminary step towards seeking rehab. On the other hand it shows how cheap the society wants treat seriously ill people. This all seems again to fall under the popular theme of harm reduction.
The authorities are scared of next year when Estonia will join EU and the Estonians have a very serious HIV and Hepatitis problem. As you know the drug smuggling is taken care by the Estonians, who today even transport drugs to Finland via Sweden.

Souce: Botho Simolin, Drug Watch International delegate, Finland.

Smoking cannabis is not the harmless recreational activity it may seem because it can cause lung damage, researchers say. Regularly smoking three or four joints a week, even for less than six years, can impair lung function and rob the body of antioxidants that protect cells against damage that can lead to heart disease and cancer.
“Smoking cannabis on a regular basis actually depletes your lung of protective antioxidant substances…and this may have chronic long-term implications for young individuals,” said Dr Sarah Nuttall of the University of Birmingham in central England.
In a small study involving 20 people aged 19 to 30, including non-smokers and those who smoked tobacco and cannabis, Nuttall and her team took blood samples, measured lung function and tested for antioxidant markers. She presented the finding at a meeting of the British Thoracic Society in London. “We found that smokers, compared to non-smokers, had impaired lung function,” Nuttall said in an interview on Friday. Cannabis smokers also had significantly lower levels of a protective antioxidant and nitric oxide, which is involved in lung function,than non-smokers. “These findings are important in young individuals in which the use of cannabis is increasing and may have serious long-term implications for what is currently regarded as a relatively harmless recreational habit,” she said.
Dr John Harvey, of the British Thoracic Society, called for more research into the effects of smoking on the lungs. “It is vital that young people understand the dangers of both cigarette and cannabis smoking since these habits can start having a serious impact on their lungs at an early stage,” he said in a statement.
Some European countries have taken a relaxed approach to cannabis use. Although it is technically illegal in the Netherlands, the drug can be bought and used in cannabis coffee shops in the country. The Netherlands was also the first nation to make cannabis available as a prescription drug in pharmacies for chronically ill patients.

Source:Interview with Patricia Reaney,December 05, 2003

The secret and ‘sleazy’ world of tobacco advertising was exposed yesterday by documents revealing the tactics used to ensnare the young and manipulate adults. In a unique initiative, the Cancer Research UK centre for tobacco control at Strathclyde University, in Glasgow, has created the first internet database of ‘evidence’. It reveals how the tobacco industry ‘cynically’ promotes products that kill 13,000 Scots each year. The launch of tobaccopapers.com provoked a scathing attack on advertising agencies, condemning them for ‘their weasel words’. Documents reveal strategies to ‘grab them young’.
David Hinchcliffe MP, the chairman of the Commons Health Select Committee, said: “These papers show what the industry thinks of its customers in its own words. It’s damning.” The 14,000 documents – briefings, brainstorming sessions, memos and outlines – were written by staff promoting brands such as Benson & Hedges, Hamlet cigars, Silk Cut, and low-tar cigarettes.
Professor Gerard Hastings, the director of the centre for tobacco control research at Glasgow, said: “The tobacco industry maximises commercial success at any cost.The documents can be viewed at: www.tobaccopapers.com

Source:The Scotsman, 17/12/03, Also reported in FT, Morning Star, BBC Online

Laboratory studies have shown that animals exhibit symptoms of drug withdrawal after cessation of prolonged marijuana administration. Some human studies have also demonstrated withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, stomach pain, aggression, and anxiety after cessation of oral administration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana’s principal psychoactive component. Now, NIDA-supported researchers at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and Columbia University in New York City have shown that individuals who regularly smoke marijuana experience withdrawal symptoms after they stop smoking the drug.
“These studies suggest that in real-world situations abstinence from daily marijuana smoking creates withdrawal symptoms similar to those of other drugs of abuse,” says Dr. Jag Khalsa of NIDA’s Center on AIDS and Other Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse. “Marijuana smokers may continue to use the drug to prevent the irritability and discomfort they experience when they stop.”

Aggression
Dr. Elena Kouri and her colleagues at the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at McLean Hospital found that long-term heavy marijuana users became more aggressive during abstinence from marijuana than did former or infrequent users. Previous studies of withdrawal symptoms have relied largely on patients’ subjective reports of a range of symptoms, Dr. Kouri notes. “We studied measurable changes in one specific symptom-aggression,” she says.

The researchers recruited two groups of male and female volunteers: 17 current long-term users of marijuana and a control group of 20 infrequent or former users. Current long-term users were smoking marijuana daily at the time of recruitment and had smoked marijuana at least 5 000 times – the equivalent of smoking once each day for more than 13 years. The infrequent or former users had not smoked more than 50 times in their life and had smoked less than once per month in the past year, or had formerly smoked at least daily but had not smoked more than once per week for the past 3 months.

“The results demonstrate that abstinence is associated with unpleasant behavioral symptoms that may contribute to continued drug use.”
At the beginning of the study, all participants were instructed to refrain from any marijuana use for 28 days. Abstinence was monitored by analysis of daily-observed urine sampling. Cigarette smokers were allowed to continue their usual tobacco use.
Aggression was measured on the first day of the study and after 1, 3, 7, and 28 days of abstinence. To measure aggression, the researchers used a 20-minute computerized test that participants were told would measure motor skills and other physiological characteristics. Participants were told that pressing one button in a certain pattern would add points to their score and that pressing another button would subtract points from the score of their opponent, who could similarly add or subtract points.

In fact, Dr. Kouri says, there was no human opponent; the computer was programed to subtract points randomly in order to give the illusion of a human opponent. At the end of each session, aggressive responses – those that subtracted from the supposed opponent’s points – were compared with non-aggressive responses – those that added to the participant’s points. Dr. Kouri notes that studies involving parolees with a history of violent behavior have shown a close correlation between performance on this game and actual aggression.

After 1, 3, and 7 days of abstinence, current marijuana users registered significantly more aggressive responses – more than twice as many on days 3 and 7 – than the control group. By the 28th day, there was no significant difference between groups. Aggressive behavior was limited to responses in the test situation, Dr. Kouri notes; participants did not display overt hostility. “At this point we do not know exactly how these findings reflect changes in aggressive behavior outside the laboratory,” Dr. Kouri says. “But the results demonstrate that abstinence is associated with unpleasant behavioral symptoms that may contribute to continued drug use.”

Other Withdrawal Symptoms
Studies at Columbia University in New York City have demonstrated that, in addition to aggression, marijuana smokers experience other withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, stomach pain, and increased irritability during abstinence from the drug. “These results suggest that dependence may be an important consequence of repeated daily exposure to marijuana,” says NIDA-supported researcher Dr. Margaret Haney.

Dr. Haney and her colleagues investigated the effects of abstinence on 12 adult males with an average age of 28 years who, in the laboratory, smoked marijuana with THC concentrations of 3.1 percent or 1.8 percent, or marijuana cigarettes containing no active THC. All participants smoked inactive marijuana during the first 4 days of the study followed by either the high concentration, low concentration, or inactive marijuana on alternating 4-day periods. Three times each day, the participants completed a 50-item checklist that rated physical conditions such as hunger, dizziness, and headache and aspects of their mood, for example, anxiety, talkativeness, friendliness, or depression.

“The withdrawal symptoms are not as dramatic as those associated with withdrawal from opiates or alcohol, but are still significant.”
Abstinence from either high or low-concentration marijuana resulted in reduced hunger, decreased ratings of “friendly” and “content,” and increased ratings of “irritability,” “stomach pain,” and “anxiety.” Moreover, Dr. Haney notes, participants receiving high-concentration marijuana rated the drug’s effects higher (“good drug effect,” “stimulated,” “high”) on the first day of exposure than on the fourth day, indicating the development of tolerance to THC.
“It appears likely that the onset of the withdrawal symptoms we observed in this study may contribute to maintaining chronic marijuana use,” Dr. Haney says. “The withdrawal symptoms are not as dramatic as those associated with withdrawal from opiates or alcohol, but are still significant to the individual marijuana user. These symptoms must be taken into account in order to develop effective treatment programs for marijuana abuse.”

Kouri, E.M; Pope, HG.; and Lukas, S.E. Changes in aggressive behavior during withdrawal from long-term marijuana use. Psychopharmacology, 143:302-308, 1999.
Haney, M; Ward, A.S.; Corner, S.D.; Foltin, R. W.; and Fischman, M W.
Abstinence symptoms following smoked marijuana in humans.
Psychopharmacology,141:395-404, 1999.

Study Finds Marijuana Ingredient Promotes Tumour Growth, Impairs Anti-Tumour Defences

What is preventive education for adolescents or children?
One of the most popular forms of ATOD (Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs)prevention is preventive education for adolescents or children. Youth in classrooms or other community settings are presented with preventive lessons by a teacher, preventionist, trained police officer, or other authority. Often, trained teen volunteers may co-present a lesson. Lesson content may include ATOD information, life skills, or other components. (Note: Preventive education is just one way that schools play a prevention role. See the U.S. Dept. of Education’s list of “Characteristics of a Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free School,” in Appendix E of this Best Practices Handbook.)

Why does preventive education work?
Different kinds of curricula are based on different premises. Some seek to remedy a lack of drug information. Some seek to develop decision-making and resistance skills. Some seek to help adolescents counter pro-drug social influence as the youth establish their attitudes about ATOD. Research indicates that only some of these premises are valid.

How effective is preventive education for adolescents or children?
Preventionists have long been aware that preventive education alone is inferior to a more comprehensive approach that includes a focus on parents and community. Even so, preventive education as a sole approach has been one of the most heavily researched approaches to ATOD prevention. As a result of cumulative research, particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s, the evolving consensus of researchers in the field is that:

1. Given the correct curriculum, implementation support, and teaching approach, preventive education can have a significant positive effect in terms of delaying or preventing youth ATOD use.
2. Most currently used preventive education materials are NOT among the effective ones. But, they continue to be used due to political support, low cost, or other factors.
What else does research tell us about preventive education?
For adolescent education, two key research sources are Tobler and Stratton (1997) and Hansen (1996). Following earlier (1986 and 1992) meta-analysis studies of drug prevention programs, researcher Nancy S. Tobler conducted a meta-analysis of 120 experimental or quasi-experimental school-based adolescent drug prevention programs (5th-12th grade) that evaluated success on self-reported drug use measures. Each program was classified as either interactive (included guided discussion among students) or non-interactive (included only a lecture and discussion with the class facilitator).
Tobler found a tremendous difference in effectiveness, with non-interactive programs having little impact but the interactive programs having a substantial impact. Surprisingly, this impact on drug use occurred even when the average program length was only 10 contact hours.

Content categories of the various programs also played a role in effectiveness. Programs that focused only on intrapersonal skills such as decision-making, goal setting, and values clarification were ineffective. Effective programs may have had some intrapersonal skills, but included a strong interpersonal skill component focused on dealing with peer influence. Even with this content, programs delivered in a non-interactive way were substantially less effective, and frequently ineffective.

Another attribute, program size, was unexpectedly found to play a significant role in effectiveness. ‘Small” interactive programs did much better than “large” interactive programs, even though the latter did better than small non-interactive programs. The Tobler article does not define “small” and “large”, but a sub-analysis with “extremely large programs” may be used to infer a cutoff of about 1,000 students between the two categories.

Tobler’s meta-analysis used self-reported drug use as the sole measure of effectiveness, but “mediating variables” including knowledge and attitudes were also measured. An interesting point about the pattern of results on these measures is that interactive and non-interactive programs were approximately equal in producing knowledge gain, but interactive programs were superior in changing attitudes and decreasing use.

William Hansen’s summary of work in progress indicates that the three most powerful curricular elements in ATOD prevention are:

1. Normative Beliefs. Youth tend to greatly overestimate the percent of peers who use drugs. When given actual numbers, they apparently feel less deviant in their non-use.

2. Life Style Compatibility. In spite of hearing about the negative effects of drugs, many adolescents don’t necessarily see any threat by drug use to their desired lifestyle. When these connections are explicitly made, it has an impact.

3. Commitment. Opportunities for adolescents to make a personal, public commitment to avoiding ATOD use can lead to lower use rates.

For preventive education of younger (elementary school) children, the National Structured Evaluation indicates that a “Psychosocial Skill” approach is best. The approach is congruent with a “youth development” model, emphasizing affective, social, and other skills. It includes no didactic ATOD education. Examples of beneficial life skills for prevention include resistance skills, assertiveness, social problem solving, and decision-making.

Source: Best practices in ATOD prevention: US Dept. of Health & Human Services, National

Data from the past 20 years show that prevention has succeeded in substantially reducing the incidence and prevalence of illicit drug use. Successful substance abuse prevention also leads to reductions in traffic fatalities, violence, unwanted pregnancy, child abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, injuries, cancer, heart disease and lost productivity.

Substance Abuse Prevention can be shown to be effective. In 1979, 25 million Americans used an illegal drug during the preceding month. (SAMHSA National Household Survey) In 1995, 12.8 million Americans used an illegal drug in the past month, a decrease of nearly 50 percent. In the 1980s, complete abstinence from drugs was claimed by fewer than one in thirteen high-school seniors. (NIDA–Monitoring the Future Survey) In 1995 nearly one out of five seniors reported complete abstinence, an increase of nearly 250 percent. Examples of Prevention Findings from CSAP national cross-site evaluations, CSAP grantee evaluations, and other programs.

FINDING:
Prevention programs can encourage change in youth behavior patterns which are indicative of eventual substance abuse.

Cornell University researchers in a study of 6,000 students in NY State found that the odds of drinking, smoking, and using marijuana were 40% lower among students who participated in a school-based substance abuse program in grades 7-9 than among their counterparts who did not.
Forty-two schools in Kansas City, MO reported less student use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana than control sites as a result of Project Star, a prevention program.
In Nashville, the proportion of students who achieved perfect attendance for 20-day attendance periods increased from 27% to 60% as a result of a CSAP-funded community partnership school incentive prevention program.
FINDING:
Substance abuse prevention programs can improve parenting skills and family relationships.
A CSAP-funded study at CO State University found significant and enduring enhancement of successful parenting skills including: increased parental satisfaction, decreased harsh punishments for children, increased positive attitudes towards parenting, and increased appropriate control techniques.
FINDING:
Drug abuse prevention programs are effective in changing individual characteristics which are predictive of later substance abuse.
In Oakland, CA and other sites across the country, the Child Development Project found significant decreases in incidents of weapons possession and gang fighting among program participants in comparison to control groups.
FINDING:
Substance abuse prevention programs reduce delinquent behaviors among youth which are frequently associated with substance abuse and drug-related crime.
The Mexican-American Unity Council found significantly fewer conduct problems, less hyperactive behavior, and reduced passivity among children participating in a CSAP-funded prevention program. A similar study in Denver, CO replicated these results.
The Safe Streets Prevention Partnership in Tacoma, WA has been instrumental in closing 600 drug selling locations since 1990 and in reducing crime by more than 40%.
The Miami Coalition Community Partnership program has spurred Dade County community officials to demolish more than 2000 crack houses. Crime in the area has been reduced 24% and annual drug use has decreased by more than 40%.
FINDING:
The transmission of generic life skills is associated with short-term reductions in substance abuse among adolescents.
In DE, the Diamond Deliveries program which targets pregnant adolescent alcohol and drug users resulted in a 60% lower incidence of low-birth-weight babies and significantly lower neonatal costs than a matched control group.
CSAP’s High Risk Youth projects confirm that prevention efforts incorporating “life skills” such as problem-solving, decision-making, resistance against adverse peer influences, and social and communication skills are associated with reduced incidence of substance abuse among adolescents.
Source: CSAP (Center for Substance Abuse Prevention) – www.health.org – Apr/1999

The Prevention Works : Vol.2 Issue 3

Neighborhood revitalization

‘Project Revitalization’ in Vallejo, California, has developed a comprehensive strategy to address alcohol and other drug related crime in the city’s worst areas. The project relies on a strong community partnership comprised of Vallejo Fighting Back Partnership, Vallejo Code Enforcement, Vallejo Chamber of Commerce, Vallejo Police Department, Vallejo Neighborhood Housing, California Employment Department, the Private Industry Council, and neighborhood associations.
By integrating neighborhood revitalization, alcohol policy, neighborhood safety, job training, and coordination of human services into a comprehensive effort, the project aims to reduce code violations and police calls for service and to improve safety and the quality of life of residents in deteriorating crime-ridden neighborhoods.

Project Revitalization is based on the following four complementary premises:

• The physical makeup of a community has an important influence on its vulnerability to crime. Physical signs of disorder and illegal activities in a neighborhood such as abandoned cars, problematic liquor stores, drug dealing, and deteriorating housing invite crime and disorder if left unchanged.
• Neighborhoods where residents have some level of commitment and shared interest in improving their environment can influence the level of crime.
• Individuals and families must personally gain from the revitalization of an area. When people are drowning in problems such as unemployment, addiction, lack of childcare, and other social service needs, it is unrealistic to expect their engagement in improving their neighborhoods.
• Problems with alcohol can and do contribute to the overall level of area deterioration and require appropriate enforcement and policy interventions.

A Five-Step Process
Revitalization is a five-step process beginning with assessment and ending with ongoing evaluation. While the following steps are presented somewhat in sequence, overlap and intentional repetition is inherent in the process.

Initial problem assessment
The project relies on a block-to-block component, which is designed to accurately determine which areas of the city are the worst hot spots for crime, violence, and physical deterioration. To accomplish this, we rely on the use of the Alcohol/Drug Sensitive Information Planning Systems (ASIPS), coupled with a Geographic Information System (GIS).
ASIPS, a planning tool developed by CLEW Associates in Berkeley, CA, engages the Vallejo Police Department to identify alcohol and drug involvement in every call for service. Officers end their calls to dispatch with a three digit alpha numeric indicator that identifies whether alcohol or drugs – both or neither – was involved in the call for service. For example, the code A11 means “alcohol in a single family detached residence.”
This simple process yields a tremendous amount of information about the nature of the call, as well as the location and setting of the event. Calls for service that are alcohol or other drug-involved are then mapped through the GIS. These maps graphically depict where crimes occur and provide project workers with the locations in the city to move to the next phase of assessment.

Additional assessment
After identifying potential hot spots, project workers visit each of the areas to assess the level of physical deterioration of housing in the surrounding environment, which often acts as a magnet for certain criminal and social problems. In the final assessment stage to select target neighborhoods, project staff speak with residents to see if they are interested in working in a revitalization process.
Staff members contact neighborhood associations – if they exist – to discuss the project. Areas are not selected unless residents invite the project in and are committed to participating in the process.

Initial intervention
Once areas are selected, the intervention phase begins. It includes the following components:

• Law Enforcement. Often, problem residences where illicit activity occurs are part of neighborhoods that suffer from crime and physical deterioration. These locations have an effect on the willingness of neighbors to interact socially and form the social structures that can be effective in reducing problems. Therefore, it is important for law enforcement, as part of the early stages of the project, to weed out these locations and create a safe environment for residents. Part of this weeding effort involves the police in towing abandoned vehicles. This action alone creates a significant improvement in the quality of the neighborhood and begins to prove that the revitalization effort is serious about improving the quality of life for residents.

• Code Enforcement. Concurrent with the law enforcement effort, code enforcement staff engages in a residence-by-residence appraisal of building code violations.

• Community Organizing. During this stage, community organizers begin to establish relationships with residents in order to better understand each individual’s social service and employment needs.

Full implementation
As the police engage in various law enforcement activities to address crime and violence in project neighborhoods, streets become safer. This transition slowly increases the feeling of safety on the part of residents and work on forming a neighborhood association or block watch can proceed. In addition, the community organizer can deepen personal relationships with residents and begin the social service work in earnest. Residents are organized to create political pressure for stores to clean up their acts.
_________________________________________________________________
‘Project Revitalisation’ – Vallejo – Project elements:

Residents Code Enforcement
Industry Community
Employment Housing
Police Commerce
________________________________________________________________
Code enforcement staff work with homeowners and renters to bring property up to city standards. Together, they form plans about how homes can improve beyond minimum city requirements. Code enforcement is critical in this process for it holds the legal tools to cite owners that refuse to voluntarily cooperate with the revitalization process. During this stage of the intervention, all project agencies and organizations are also organizing a clean-up day during which large numbers of volunteers from all over the city work with residents to paint, haul debris, build fences, do carpentry, and cut and trim landscaping – performing essentially a neighborhood make-over. Clean-up days include a barbecue to further cement relationships between neighbors, volunteers, and project workers.
Neighborhood stability
The final phase can last from 6 to 9 months. After the clean-up, the community organizer steps up efforts to work with the residents to form a neighborhood group and to adopt a set of community standards to serve as the basis of how the area should be maintained in the future. The organizer also continues to work with the residents to help them get whatever services they need to improve the quality of their lives.

Project results
How is this process working? To date, work has begun in two areas of Vallejo (Alabama Street and Springs Road) and the results look promising. The first project area – Alabama Street – was a test to determine if the process was viable. The neighborhood experienced a reduction in police calls for service and improvement in the perception of safety on the part of residents.

The second neighborhood revitalization project in Springs Road was much larger in scope than the first project. Started in November 1997, the Springs Road project is in the final stages of implementation. This ambitious and far-reaching project featured joint efforts of many partners. On its clean-up day, streets were blocked off as teams of volunteers painted, trimmed trees, rebuilt fences, swept and hauled away debris and weeds. More than 225 people signed up to work during the day. Highlights included the live broadcast of music and interviews of residents by Radio KDIA and a barbecue for all participants. In all, 22 dumpsters of trash were hauled away, totaling over 37 tons; 6 old vehicles were towed; and more than 50 residences were worked on. But the day is as much about bringing neighbors and volunteers together as a real community as it was about a clean up.

The role of policy
Alcohol policy and other policy development are critical to the long-term success of this effort. Helpful policies include:

• A conditional use permit for alcohol outlets to regulate new outlets
• An approved ordinance for alcoholic beverage establishments to regulate existing outlets
• A teen party ordinance to reduce non-commercial access of alcohol to minors
• A social nuisance ordinance to hold non-compliant property owners accountable to a standard of property maintenance and resident conduct
• A rental inspection ordinance.

These policies help neighborhoods proactively address problem properties before they become nuisances and are part of the structural changes required to sustain the positive neighborhood changes that result from the revitalization process. Based on early results, the revitalization project is about to move into its third and fourth neighborhoods. Ultimately the project will engage between 10 and 15 neighborhoods. Real, sustained improvements in people’s lives are the mark of success for this project. Will residents assume long-term responsibility for their environments? Can this effort reduce crime citywide? And can the project continue with the broad base of support it currently enjoys? In perhaps a year, these and other important questions will be answered.

Source: Michael Sparks – Michael is the director Of Project Revitalization. He can be reached by e-mail at SPARKS@SONJC.NET – Reported in Prevention Pipeline Sep/Oct 1998

Prevention Works!

Data from the past 20 years show that prevention has succeeded in substantially reducing the incidence and prevalence of illicit drug use. Successful substance abuse prevention also leads to reductions in traffic fatalities, violence, unwanted pregnancy, child abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, injuries, cancer, heart disease and lost productivity.

Substance Abuse Prevention can be shown to be effective. In 1979, 25 million Americans used an illegal drug during the preceding month. (SAMHSA National Household Survey) In 1995, 12.8 million Americans used an illegal drug in the past month, a decrease of nearly 50 percent. In the 1980s, complete abstinence from drugs was claimed by fewer than one in thirteen high-school seniors. (NIDA–Monitoring the Future Survey) In 1995 nearly one out of five seniors reported complete abstinence, an increase of nearly 250 percent. Examples of Prevention Findings from CSAP national cross-site evaluations, CSAP grantee evaluations, and other programs.

FINDING:
Prevention programs can encourage change in youth behavior patterns which are indicative of eventual substance abuse.

Cornell University researchers in a study of 6,000 students in NY State found that the odds of drinking, smoking, and using marijuana were 40% lower among students who participated in a school-based substance abuse program in grades 7-9 than among their counterparts who did not.
Forty-two schools in Kansas City, MO reported less student use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana than control sites as a result of Project Star, a prevention program.
In Nashville, the proportion of students who achieved perfect attendance for 20-day attendance periods increased from 27% to 60% as a result of a CSAP-funded community partnership school incentive prevention program.
FINDING:
Substance abuse prevention programs can improve parenting skills and family relationships.
A CSAP-funded study at CO State University found significant and enduring enhancement of successful parenting skills including: increased parental satisfaction, decreased harsh punishments for children, increased positive attitudes towards parenting, and increased appropriate control techniques.
FINDING:
Drug abuse prevention programs are effective in changing individual characteristics which are predictive of later substance abuse.
In Oakland, CA and other sites across the country, the Child Development Project found significant decreases in incidents of weapons possession and gang fighting among program participants in comparison to control groups.
FINDING:
Substance abuse prevention programs reduce delinquent behaviors among youth which are frequently associated with substance abuse and drug-related crime.
The Mexican-American Unity Council found significantly fewer conduct problems, less hyperactive behavior, and reduced passivity among children participating in a CSAP-funded prevention program. A similar study in Denver, CO replicated these results.
The Safe Streets Prevention Partnership in Tacoma, WA has been instrumental in closing 600 drug selling locations since 1990 and in reducing crime by more than 40%.
The Miami Coalition Community Partnership program has spurred Dade County community officials to demolish more than 2000 crack houses. Crime in the area has been reduced 24% and annual drug use has decreased by more than 40%.
FINDING:
The transmission of generic life skills is associated with short-term reductions in substance abuse among adolescents.
In DE, the Diamond Deliveries program which targets pregnant adolescent alcohol and drug users resulted in a 60% lower incidence of low-birth-weight babies and significantly lower neonatal costs than a matched control group.
CSAP’s High Risk Youth projects confirm that prevention efforts incorporating “life skills” such as problem-solving, decision-making, resistance against adverse peer influences, and social and communication skills are associated with reduced incidence of substance abuse among adolescents.
Source: CSAP (Center for Substance Abuse Prevention) – www.health.org – Apr/1999

Preventive education for adolescents or children

What is preventive education for adolescents or children?
One of the most popular forms of ATOD (Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs)prevention is preventive education for adolescents or children. Youth in classrooms or other community settings are presented with preventive lessons by a teacher, preventionist, trained police officer, or other authority. Often, trained teen volunteers may co-present a lesson. Lesson content may include ATOD information, life skills, or other components. (Note: Preventive education is just one way that schools play a prevention role. See the U.S. Dept. of Education’s list of “Characteristics of a Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free School,” in Appendix E of this Best Practices Handbook.)

Why does preventive education work?
Different kinds of curricula are based on different premises. Some seek to remedy a lack of drug information. Some seek to develop decision-making and resistance skills. Some seek to help adolescents counter pro-drug social influence as the youth establish their attitudes about ATOD. Research indicates that only some of these premises are valid.

How effective is preventive education for adolescents or children?
Preventionists have long been aware that preventive education alone is inferior to a more comprehensive approach that includes a focus on parents and community. Even so, preventive education as a sole approach has been one of the most heavily researched approaches to ATOD prevention. As a result of cumulative research, particularly in the 1980s and early 1990s, the evolving consensus of researchers in the field is that:

1. Given the correct curriculum, implementation support, and teaching approach, preventive education can have a significant positive effect in terms of delaying or preventing youth ATOD use.
2. Most currently used preventive education materials are NOT among the effective ones. But, they continue to be used due to political support, low cost, or other factors.
What else does research tell us about preventive education?
For adolescent education, two key research sources are Tobler and Stratton (1997) and Hansen (1996). Following earlier (1986 and 1992) meta-analysis studies of drug prevention programs, researcher Nancy S. Tobler conducted a meta-analysis of 120 experimental or quasi-experimental school-based adolescent drug prevention programs (5th-12th grade) that evaluated success on self-reported drug use measures. Each program was classified as either interactive (included guided discussion among students) or non-interactive (included only a lecture and discussion with the class facilitator).
Tobler found a tremendous difference in effectiveness, with non-interactive programs having little impact but the interactive programs having a substantial impact. Surprisingly, this impact on drug use occurred even when the average program length was only 10 contact hours.

Content categories of the various programs also played a role in effectiveness. Programs that focused only on intrapersonal skills such as decision-making, goal setting, and values clarification were ineffective. Effective programs may have had some intrapersonal skills, but included a strong interpersonal skill component focused on dealing with peer influence. Even with this content, programs delivered in a non-interactive way were substantially less effective, and frequently ineffective.

Another attribute, program size, was unexpectedly found to play a significant role in effectiveness. ‘Small” interactive programs did much better than “large” interactive programs, even though the latter did better than small non-interactive programs. The Tobler article does not define “small” and “large”, but a sub-analysis with “extremely large programs” may be used to infer a cutoff of about 1,000 students between the two categories.

Tobler’s meta-analysis used self-reported drug use as the sole measure of effectiveness, but “mediating variables” including knowledge and attitudes were also measured. An interesting point about the pattern of results on these measures is that interactive and non-interactive programs were approximately equal in producing knowledge gain, but interactive programs were superior in changing attitudes and decreasing use.

William Hansen’s summary of work in progress indicates that the three most powerful curricular elements in ATOD prevention are:

1. Normative Beliefs. Youth tend to greatly overestimate the percent of peers who use drugs. When given actual numbers, they apparently feel less deviant in their non-use.

2. Life Style Compatibility. In spite of hearing about the negative effects of drugs, many adolescents don’t necessarily see any threat by drug use to their desired lifestyle. When these connections are explicitly made, it has an impact.

3. Commitment. Opportunities for adolescents to make a personal, public commitment to avoiding ATOD use can lead to lower use rates.

For preventive education of younger (elementary school) children, the National Structured Evaluation indicates that a “Psychosocial Skill” approach is best. The approach is congruent with a “youth development” model, emphasizing affective, social, and other skills. It includes no didactic ATOD education. Examples of beneficial life skills for prevention include resistance skills, assertiveness, social problem solving, and decision-making.

Source: Best practices in ATOD prevention: US Dept. of Health & Human Services, National Inst. Of Health. 1997
Evidence Accumulates That Long-Term Marijuana Users Experience Withdrawal

Laboratory studies have shown that animals exhibit symptoms of drug withdrawal after cessation of prolonged marijuana administration. Some human studies have also demonstrated withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, stomach pain, aggression, and anxiety after cessation of oral administration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana’s principal psychoactive component. Now, NIDA-supported researchers at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and Columbia University in New York City have shown that individuals who regularly smoke marijuana experience withdrawal symptoms after they stop smoking the drug.
“These studies suggest that in real-world situations abstinence from daily marijuana smoking creates withdrawal symptoms similar to those of other drugs of abuse,” says Dr. Jag Khalsa of NIDA’s Center on AIDS and Other Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse. “Marijuana smokers may continue to use the drug to prevent the irritability and discomfort they experience when they stop.”

Aggression
Dr. Elena Kouri and her colleagues at the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at McLean Hospital found that long-term heavy marijuana users became more aggressive during abstinence from marijuana than did former or infrequent users. Previous studies of withdrawal symptoms have relied largely on patients’ subjective reports of a range of symptoms, Dr. Kouri notes. “We studied measurable changes in one specific symptom-aggression,” she says.

The researchers recruited two groups of male and female volunteers: 17 current long-term users of marijuana and a control group of 20 infrequent or former users. Current long-term users were smoking marijuana daily at the time of recruitment and had smoked marijuana at least 5 000 times – the equivalent of smoking once each day for more than 13 years. The infrequent or former users had not smoked more than 50 times in their life and had smoked less than once per month in the past year, or had formerly smoked at least daily but had not smoked more than once per week for the past 3 months.

“The results demonstrate that abstinence is associated with unpleasant behavioral symptoms that may contribute to continued drug use.”
At the beginning of the study, all participants were instructed to refrain from any marijuana use for 28 days. Abstinence was monitored by analysis of daily-observed urine sampling. Cigarette smokers were allowed to continue their usual tobacco use.
Aggression was measured on the first day of the study and after 1, 3, 7, and 28 days of abstinence. To measure aggression, the researchers used a 20-minute computerized test that participants were told would measure motor skills and other physiological characteristics. Participants were told that pressing one button in a certain pattern would add points to their score and that pressing another button would subtract points from the score of their opponent, who could similarly add or subtract points.

In fact, Dr. Kouri says, there was no human opponent; the computer was programed to subtract points randomly in order to give the illusion of a human opponent. At the end of each session, aggressive responses – those that subtracted from the supposed opponent’s points – were compared with non-aggressive responses – those that added to the participant’s points. Dr. Kouri notes that studies involving parolees with a history of violent behavior have shown a close correlation between performance on this game and actual aggression.

After 1, 3, and 7 days of abstinence, current marijuana users registered significantly more aggressive responses – more than twice as many on days 3 and 7 – than the control group. By the 28th day, there was no significant difference between groups. Aggressive behavior was limited to responses in the test situation, Dr. Kouri notes; participants did not display overt hostility. “At this point we do not know exactly how these findings reflect changes in aggressive behavior outside the laboratory,” Dr. Kouri says. “But the results demonstrate that abstinence is associated with unpleasant behavioral symptoms that may contribute to continued drug use.”

Other Withdrawal Symptoms
Studies at Columbia University in New York City have demonstrated that, in addition to aggression, marijuana smokers experience other withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, stomach pain, and increased irritability during abstinence from the drug. “These results suggest that dependence may be an important consequence of repeated daily exposure to marijuana,” says NIDA-supported researcher Dr. Margaret Haney.

Dr. Haney and her colleagues investigated the effects of abstinence on 12 adult males with an average age of 28 years who, in the laboratory, smoked marijuana with THC concentrations of 3.1 percent or 1.8 percent, or marijuana cigarettes containing no active THC. All participants smoked inactive marijuana during the first 4 days of the study followed by either the high concentration, low concentration, or inactive marijuana on alternating 4-day periods. Three times each day, the participants completed a 50-item checklist that rated physical conditions such as hunger, dizziness, and headache and aspects of their mood, for example, anxiety, talkativeness, friendliness, or depression.

“The withdrawal symptoms are not as dramatic as those associated with withdrawal from opiates or alcohol, but are still significant.”
Abstinence from either high or low-concentration marijuana resulted in reduced hunger, decreased ratings of “friendly” and “content,” and increased ratings of “irritability,” “stomach pain,” and “anxiety.” Moreover, Dr. Haney notes, participants receiving high-concentration marijuana rated the drug’s effects higher (“good drug effect,” “stimulated,” “high”) on the first day of exposure than on the fourth day, indicating the development of tolerance to THC.
“It appears likely that the onset of the withdrawal symptoms we observed in this study may contribute to maintaining chronic marijuana use,” Dr. Haney says. “The withdrawal symptoms are not as dramatic as those associated with withdrawal from opiates or alcohol, but are still significant to the individual marijuana user. These symptoms must be taken into account in order to develop effective treatment programs for marijuana abuse.”

Kouri, E.M; Pope, HG.; and Lukas, S.E. Changes in aggressive behavior during withdrawal from long-term marijuana use. Psychopharmacology, 143:302-308, 1999.
Haney, M; Ward, A.S.; Corner, S.D.; Foltin, R. W.; and Fischman, M W.
Abstinence symptoms following smoked marijuana in humans.
Psychopharmacology,141:395-404, 1999.

Study Finds Marijuana Ingredient Promotes Tumour Growth, Impairs Anti-Tumour Defences

Researchers report in the July 2000 issue of the “Journal of Immunology” that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive component of marijuana, can promote tumor growth by impairing the body’s anti-tumor immunity system. While previous research has shown that THC can lower resistance to both bacterial and viral infections, this is the first time that its possible tumor-promoting activity has been reported.
A team of researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found in experiments in mice that THC limits immune response by increasing the availability of two forms (IL-b and TGF-13) of cytokine, a potent, tumor-specific, immunity suppresser.
The authors also suggest that smoking marijuana may be more of a cancer risk than smoking tobacco. The tar portion of marijuana smoke, compared to that of tobacco, contains higher concentrations of carcinogenic hydrocarbons, including benzapyrene, a key factor in promoting human lung cancer. And marijuana smoke deposits four times as much tar in the respiratory tract as does a comparable amount of tobacco, thus increasing exposure to carcinogens.
Dr. Steven M. Dubinett, head of the research team that conducted the study, says, “What we already know about marijuana smoke, coupled with our new finding that THC may encourage tumor growth, suggests that regular use of marijuana may increase the risk of respiratory tract cancer and further studies will be needed to evaluate this possibility.”
The UCLA researchers examined the effects of THC on the immune response to lung cancer in mice. Over a two-week period, the animals were injected four times per week with either THC or a saline solution. Fourteen days after the injections were started, murine Lewis lung cancer and line 1 alveolar cell cancer cells were implanted in the mice. The mice continued to receive THC or saline injections after the tumor cells were implanted, and tumor growth was assessed three times each week. To test the hypothesis that THC impairs tumor-specific immune system response, a group of mice with compromised immune systems was also studied.
The researchers found that in the mice with normal immune systems there was significant enhancement of tumor growth, but THC had no effect on tumor growth in the immunodeficient mice. The study also showed that when lymphocytes from the THC-treated mice were injected into untreated mice, the immune deficit was transferred and tumor growth was accelerated in the normal controls.
Additionally, the UCLA research team demonstrated that when anti-IL-10 and anti-TGF-B were administered, there was no acceleration of tumor growth in THC-treated mice. These results suggest that enhanced tumor growth is prompted by THC’s ability to stimulate production of IL-10 and TGF-B, which inhibits anti-tumor immune response.

Roun et al. Biological Psychology Laboratory at Maclean Hospital Limited in haemorrhage Notes Vol. 15, No. 1

Cocaine Use, Hypertension Major Risk Factors For Brain
Haemorrhage In Young African Americans

Young African Americans who use cocaine are six times more likely to suffer a potentially lethal episode of bleeding inside the brain than non-users, a case-control study of major risk factors for intracerebral haemorrhage in this population conducted by researchers at the University of Buffalo and Emory University has found. The study, published in the July issue of Ethnicity and Disease, also shows twice the incidence of hypertension and five times the number of people with hypertension who weren’t taking their blood-pressure medicine among those who had had an intracerebral haemorrhage, compared to healthy, age-matched controls. Alcohol use also was associated with an increase in risk.

“African-American patients experience a two-fold higher risk of intracerebral hemorrhage compared to white patients,” said Adnan I. Qureshi, UB assistant professor of neurosurgery and lead author on the study. “This high incidence of intracerebral haemorrhage contributes significantly to death, disability and loss of productivity in young populations.

“In the absence of any definitive treatment for intracerebral haemorrhage, significant stress needs to be placed on primary prevention and understanding of factors that predispose to a higher risk in young African Americans,” he said.

Internal bleeding, also known as intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), can occur in any part of the brain. Blood may accumulate in the tissues as well as in the space between the brain and the membranes covering the brain, a subarachnoid haemorrhage. Bleeding may be isolated in a part of one cerebral hemisphere (lobar intracerebral haemorrhage) or occur in other brain structures, such as the thalamus, basal ganglia, pons, or cerebellum (deep intracerebral haemorrhage).

ICH occurs in about 20 out of 100 000 people, statistics show, and can affect any person regardless of age, sex or race, but appears to occur more frequently in African Americans, striking the young and middle-aged disproportionately. The incidence of intracerebral haemorrhage in African Americans reaches nearly 50 out of 100 000 persons, Qureshi noted.

Since there is no effective treatment for ICH, prevention takes center stage, but little information has been available on the factors that put this population at higher risk. This study is the first to use a case-control approach to tease out these risks. It assessed health and lifestyle histories of 122 African Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 admitted to a public hospital in Atlanta with ICH between December 31, 1997, and January 1, 1990. This information was compared with data from 366 African Americans in the same age group without the condition who took part in the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES Ill).

Researchers included data on hypertension, diabetes, smoking, cocaine use, alcohol use, and stroke or heart disease from all participants, as well as the record of prescriptions for hypertension medication and compliance with their use.

Results showed that cocaine use was the strongest risk factor associated with ICH in this population, even higher than hypertension, Qureshi said. “While the mechanism for this association isn’t clear, we suspect that the sudden elevation in blood pressure that occurs immediately after using cocaine may cause an existing aneurysm or artenovenous malformation (AVM) in the brain to rupture.” Several clinical studies of stroke among cocaine users have found a high frequency of aneurysm or AVM, he noted.

Hypertension, particularly in those who had been prescribed medication but took it irregularly, also was shown to be an important high-risk factor for ICH. These findings suggest that physicians should focus more on compliance than on screening, Qureshi said.

“In chronic hypertension, the body develops a certain protective response in an effort to counter high blood pressure’s effects. Taking blood-pressure medication intermittently may impair the development of this response and may make patients more vulnerable to blood pressure fluctuations.”

The bottom line, Qureshi said, is that a reduction in the high rate of death and disability associated with intracerebral haemorrhage can’t occur without effective preventive measures.

“The study demonstrated the presence of factors in the community that easily can be modified to reduce this risk. These include avoidance of cocaine use and regular use of blood pressure medication as prescribed.”

Fareed et al, Dept. Neurosurgery, UB Sch. Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and Mohammad et al, Dept. Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine.

Drug that curbs Nicotine Craving may do same for Cocaine

A drug that Duke University Medical Center researchers have successfully used to help some people quit smoking may also help curb cocaine cravings, according to studies conducted in rats.

The drug mecamylamine, used in combination with nicotine to help reduce the urge to smoke cigarettes, has now been shown in animal studies to reduce their self-administration of cocaine. Rats that were trained to press a lever in order to get cocaine no longer pressed it with the same frequency after they were given mecamylamine, said Edward Levin, lead author of the study. When injected with mecamylamine, the mice infused cocaine 11 times per hour, versus 19 times per hour when they received a placebo injection of saline – a reduction of more than 40 percent. “It’s always very exciting when a drug used for one addiction has implications for a broader range of addictive drugs,” said Levin, whose study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Mecamylamine is an older medication originally used to treat high blood pressure. Researchers now know it blocks some of nicotine’s ability, and potentially that of other drugs, to generate feelings of pleasure in the brain. Levin said it works by occupying specific sites, called “nicotinic receptors,” on nerve cells where nicotine would normally act. When mecamylamine blocks these receptors, nicotine can no longer exert its full action, that of stimulating the release of dopamine. Dopamine is the primary brain chemical involved in generating pleasure. Drugs like nicotine, alcohol and cocaine all increase available amounts of dopamine and thereby increase the pleasure sensation, said Jed Rose, chief of the Nicotine Research Program at Duke and study co-author. Eventually, the brain may prefer the drug over natural rewards like food or sex, and hence, the person can become addicted. Mecamylamine blocks the action of nicotine, and potentially cocaine, by lowering the net amount of dopamine available in the brain. While cocaine still boosts available levels of dopamine, its overall amount is decreased because mecamylamine has plugged up some of the nicotinic receptor sites where the brain would naturally be activating its own dopamine. “In other words, the brain has its own chemical, acetylcholine, that stimulates the release of dopamine. Mecamylamine comes along and occupies some of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor sites and prevents them from activating dopamine,” Rose said. “So the net effect is that less dopamine is being produced, even when cocaine comes along and boosts dopamine levels through a different pathway.” Rose said the person still desires nicotine or cocaine, but the desire is weakened because the brain is no longer being flooded with dopamine. “Mecamylamine reduces desire, but it doesn’t quench it,” he said. “Yet given how few medications there are to combat serious addictions, even a medication that reduces craving can be of significant benefit.” Already, mecamylamine has proven to be of significant benefit in helping people quit smoking.

In earlier Duke studies, Rose demonstrated that using a patch with nicotine and mecamylamine together helped 40 percent of smokers quit for at feast one year, while only 15 percent of smokers were able to do so using the patch alone. The researchers expect mecamylamine to be approved for smoking cessation sometime this year.

Rose et al. International Behavioural Neuro Science Society, April, 2000.

Trauma and stress in early life increases vulnerability to cocaine addiction in adulthood.

The trauma that a majority of drug addicts suffer in early life has now been shown to increase their vulnerability to drug addiction, Yale researchers report in a new study. “Using well-established animal models, we’ve found strong evidence that early life stress enhances vulnerability to drug addiction,” said Therese A. Kosten, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. “This study demonstrates the need to target drug abuse prevention strategies to children with early life traumas.”
Rat pups that were separated from their mothers for one hour per day during the first week of life learned to self-administer cocaine more readily when they were adults compared to rats that had not had this early life stress. This effect was not due to differences in learning or general activity levels. “Previous studies show that most drug addicts have had early life trauma,” said Kosten, principal investigator on the study. “Given that 1.8 million Americans are currently using cocaine, this information will be valuable in directing future research toward potential interventions for children with early stress experiences in order to reduce the risk of developing drug addiction in adults.”
Kosten and her team tested 14 adult rats, eight of which had experienced the stress of isolation from their mother, siblings and nest three months earlier. Compared to six rats that had not experienced this stress, isolated rats learned to press a lever to receive a cocaine infusion in two-thirds the number of days, and at half the dose needed for the non-isolated rats. Kosten said the groups did not differ in the number of days to learn to press a lever to receive food pellets, demonstrating that the isolation effect was specific to cocaine.

(Source: Kosten et al. Yale School Medicine
Published in Brain Research Journal 2000)

Opiate and Cocaine Exposed Newborns: Growth
This investigation examined growth parameters at birth in 204 infants born to mothers who used cocaine and/or opiates during pregnancy. Analyses considered both type (cocaine, opiate or both) and pattern of in utero drug exposure. A unique feature of the investigation was the large group of opiate exposed infants. Singleton newborn infants born to cocaine and/or opiate using mothers, were recruited. Using a structured interview and urine toxicology screens, information was obtained on the type and pattern of in utero drug exposure for each infant. Outcome measures included birth weight, length, and head circumference. Birth weight and length were significantly different by type of drug exposure with the opiate only infants the largest (p=.0001) and longest (p=.008). Differences in head circumference size were not statistically significant (p=.58). Mean Z-scores were I S.D. lower for birth weight and length and 1.5 S.D. lower for head circumference when compared to National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth standards. This study provides support that in utero cocaine exposure may confer more risk for somatic growth retardation at birth than opiate exposure even when controlling for nicotine and alcohol exposure, amount of prenatal care, gender, maternal age, education and marital status.

(Source: Butz et al. “Opiate and Cocaine Exposed Newborns: Growth Outcomes”, ‘Child & Adolescent Sub. Abuse’, 1-16, 1999)

Vaccine Against Effects Of Cocaine Nearly Ready For Clinical Trials

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a second-generation, long-lived cocaine immunoconjugate that blocks cocaine passage into the brain of rats.
The new immunoconjugate displays two amide groups in the stereochemical configuration found in the cocaine framework, so that antibody affinity to cocaine is optimized, Dr. Janda and associates report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Rats were immunized with the vaccine and challenged with systemic cocaine. Compared with unimmunized controls, locomotor activity was significantly reduced, as were stereotypic patterns of behavior, such as sniffing and rearing. Effects were sustained throughout the 12 days of the study.
“We have been able to tap into the immune system to immobilize antibodies to recognize cocaine as foreign and remove it from the body,” Dr. Janda said. “The current vaccine provides a much longer lasting effect than our previous vaccines, suggesting that boosting requirements would be minimal and the antibody circulation time would be increased.”
Dr. Janda added that the vaccine would be of most use in addicts who are motivated to stop using cocaine. “Typically an addict will relapse several times before he or she will ‘kick’ the drug,” he said. “We believe the vaccine will protect addicts at weak moments when they have the urge to get high. If we can prevent the high we can prevent relapse and this would speed the process of kicking the addiction.”

(Source: Proc National Academy of Science, USA 2001;98:1988-1992.)