WEEKLY DRINKING
Weekly drinking is reported among even the youngest children in the survey. At age 11, 3% of young people report drinking alcohol every week (4% of boys and 2% of girls)). One in ten 13-year olds (10%) and more than a quarter of 15- year olds (27%) are weekly drinkers. Among 13 and 15-year olds, there is no gender difference in weekly drinking.
In all six surveys since 1990, young people have been asked about their alcohol consumption frequency2. The highest rates of weekly drinking were found in 1998 (45%of girls and 44% of boys). Reporting of weekly drinking in 2010 is similar to that in 1990, with a particularly large decline since 2006 among both boys and girls (29% of boys in 2010 compared with 39% in 2006 and 25% of girls in 2010 compared with 36% in 2006) .

TYPES OF ALCOHOL DRINKS
Young people were asked to report how frequently they drink each of seven listed alcoholic drinks. They were instructed to include those times when they only drink a small amount. Beer is the alcoholic drink most commonly consumed at least once a week by 15-year old boys, whereas, for 15-year old girls, spirits and alcopops are the preferred drinks. Boys are almost 5 times more likely to drink beer weekly than girls. Girls are 1.5 times more likely to drink alcopops.

DRUNKENNESS
Overall, a fifth of young people (20%) have been drunk on at least two occasions. Prevalence of drunkenness is much higher among older adolescents; 43% of 15-year olds report having been drunk at least twice compared with 15% of 13-year olds and 2% of 11-year olds .
At age 15, girls are more likely than boys to report drunkenness (47% of girls compared with 40% of boys).
Reporting of drunkenness among 15-year olds increased in the 1990s and then subsequently declined
Among boys, prevalence in 2010 (40%) is similar to that in 1990 (44%). Among girls, rates of drunkenness have declined slightly since the late 1990s, but have not changed since 2006 (48%), and remain higher in 2010 (47%) than in 1990 (36%).

FREQUENCY OF CANNABIS USE
Nineteen percent (19%) of 15-year olds and 4% of 13-year olds have used cannabis at least once in their lives
Boys are more likely to have ever used cannabis than girls. Sixteen percent (16%) of 15-year olds and 3% of 13-year olds reported cannabis use within the previous year (Figure 12.13), with 15-year old boys being more likely to have used cannabis in the previous year than 15-year old girls (19% and 13% respectively). Nine percent (9%) of 15-year olds used cannabis in the previous month, compared to just 2% of 13-year olds. Among 15-year olds, boys are more likely than girls to report cannabis use in the last month (12% of boys and 6% of girls).
Between 2002 and 2010, there has been a decrease in lifetime cannabis use among 15-year olds, from 39% to 23% among boys and from 35% to 15% among girls (Use of cannabis in the previous year has also decreased since 2002, from 31% to 19% among boys, and from 30% to 13% among girls .

CANNABIS USER GROUPS AMONG 15-YEAR OLDS
Six percent (6%) of 15-year olds are classified as ‘experimental’ cannabis users (once or twice in the past 12 months), 7% as ‘regular’ users (between 3 and 39 times in past 12 months) and 2% as ‘heavy’ users (40 times or more in past 12 months) A small number (3%) report using cannabis, but not in the previous 12 months and were therefore classified as ‘former’ users. Boys are more likely to be heavy users, but there is no gender difference among other user groups. The proportion of young people in each category of cannabis use is lower than in 2002

Source:THE HEALTH BEHAVIOUR IN SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN: WHO COLLABORATIVE CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY (HBSC) SCOTLAND NATIONAL REPORT 2010 SUBSTANCE USE

Half of all U.S. children live in a house where a parent or other adult uses tobacco, drinks heavily or uses illegal drugs, according to a report released on Tuesday.
These adults are three times more likely to abuse their children and four times more likely to neglect them than parents who do not abuse alcohol or drugs or use tobacco, said the report from Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.
“Children of alcohol and drug abusers are at increased risk of accidents, injuries and academic failure. Such children are more likely to suffer conduct disorders, depression or anxiety, conditions that increase the risk children will smoke, drink and use drugs,” the center said in a statement.
The report is an analysis of the center’s own research as well as dozens of reports from groups ranging from Alcoholics Anonymous, U.S. government surveys on families and health behavior and the Children’s Defense Fund, a nonprofit social welfare organization. It found that 35.6 million U.S. children, about half of all children in the country, live in a home where a parent or other adult uses tobacco, drinks heavily or uses illicit drugs.
More than 37 percent of U.S. children live with an adult who uses tobacco, nearly 24 percent live with a binge or heavy drinker and 12.7 percent live in a household where a parent or other adult uses illicit drugs, the report found.
Several studies show that children exposed to household cigarette smoke have a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome, asthma and ear infections. They are more likely to have their tonsils or adenoids surgically removed and recent studies show they have a bigger risk of cancer and heart disease.
“If substance abusing parents are not concerned about what drugs, alcohol and tobacco are doing to themselves, they should be concerned about the ill effects they have on their children,” center Chairman Joseph Califano said.
“Children of substance abusing parents are much likelier to become substance abusers themselves,” he added.
“A child who gets through age 21 without smoking, using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so.”

Source: WASHINGTON (Reuters) Mar 29, 2005

BABIES born to mothers who take methadone during pregnancy have developed a range of visual problems, according to a report by medical experts in Glasgow.

The study discovered that the mothers of all 20 infants referred to a specialist clinic for vision defects had taken opiates during pregnancy.  The problems included blurred vision, nystagmus (rapid and involuntary eye movement from side to side), squints, short-sightedness and cerebral visual impairment – signs that the brain was not processing the signals from the eyes correctly.  The results of the study are likely to add to the controversy surrounding the prescription of the heroin substitute methadone to drug users.The latest official statistics show that 572 babies were born to drug misusers in 2006-7, including 370 births to users of opiates such as methadone and heroin. The study, published in the Scottish Medical Journal, was carried out by doctors at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill and Princess Royal Maternity. It is the first major investigation into how the use of opiates during pregnancy affects the development of vision in babies.

Researchers said there were “growing concerns” about the scale of the vision problems being picked up by eye examinations and about how long they would persist.

Neonatal consultant Helen Mactier said: “We were seeing a disproportionate number of babies who had visual difficulties whose mothers had a history of drug abuse.”
Ruth Hamilton, a consultant clinical scientist and an expert in vision who is involved in the research project, said: “This is about the long-term outcomes for these children. It may be that these babies will go on to develop problems later in life, and it is very important that we discover if there is something we can do.”

In the study, 19 babies had blurred vision, 14 nystagmus, six had squints, six were short-sighted and five had cerebral visual impairment.

A preliminary summary of the research has been presented to the Scottish Paediatric Society. It suggests routine eye examinations for children who were exposed to methadone in the womb, saying: “Children with a history of in-utero opiate exposure may benefit from a vision screening programme.”

Mactier said: “We deliver 150 babies a year to drug-using women and around 45 per cent of them are treated for withdrawal. These babies stay in hospital for a longer period, they are often sick and small. Their mothers are often heavy smokers, they may be from very socially deprived backgrounds, they have a high risk of depression.

“There is an increasing amount of evidence that babies born to drug-addicted mothers have a whole range of health problems.”  She said that, because of the often chaotic lifestyle of drug users, it was hard to single out methadone or any other factor as the principal cause of eye problems.

“Between two-thirds and four-fifths of women on prescribed methadone are also using illicit opiates, valium or similar drugs.” A secondary study will try to pinpoint which factors were most likely to cause of eye problems in the babies of drug-abusing mothers.

There are now 22,000 addicts in Scotland on a methadone programme. A study by Glasgow University’s Centre for Drug Misuse Research found that people on methadone programmes still take heroin. There are concerns the programme replaces one addictive drug with another, and that people are “parked” on methadone for years. There have also been cases of addicts’ children gaining access to methadone.

Earlier this month, the £50 million policy was criticised when an addict’s free supply was cut after almost 20 years.  A Scottish Government spokesman said official policy was to recommend methadone treatment for pregnant drug users on the grounds that prescribed drugs carried a lower risk than continuing to use illegal drugs.  He said: “Pregnant women who misuse drugs receive extra support and care suited to their personal needs.”

Source: ScotlandonSunday  28^th Feb 2010

●● At the national level, 20,934 Class A drug-misusing individuals in England and Wales were identified between 1 January 2008 and 31 March 2008 to form the national cohort.

●● During the 12 months following identification, individuals in the cohort were

convicted of a total of 54,462 proven offences. This equates to a baseline rate of

offending of 2.60 offences per individual.

●● Sixty-one per cent of the national cohort were convicted of at least one offence in the 12 months following identification. Twenty-five per cent were convicted of either one or two offences, while 16 per cent were convicted of more than five offences.

●● Comparing proven offending rates by different ways in which drug-misusing

offenders were initially identified reveals that those individuals identified as drug

misusers on release from prison and who also tested positive for Class A drugs on

arrest, had a rate of proven offending that was markedly higher than any other group of offenders in the cohort (5.59 proven offences per individual).

Source: Home Office ‘Drug Misusing Offenders Cohort 2008’  published March 2010

• Compared to 12- and 13-year olds who have frequent family dinners, those who have infrequent family dinners are six times likelier to use marijuana, four times likelier to use tobacco, and three times likelier to use alcohol.
• Compared to teens who attend religious services at least weekly, those who never attend services are more than twice as likely to try cigarettes, and twice as likely to try marijuana and alcohol.
• Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners, those who have infrequent family dinners are one and a half times likelier to report getting grades of C or lower in school. 

Source: www.casacolumbia.org   Sept.2009

Calls for Britain to liberalise existing drug laws are based on dishonest assertions

‘Prevention Doesn’t Work’

‘Cannabis is not very harmful’

Cannabis in the l960s had a THC content of 0.5% and cannot be compared to today’s substance which averages 6% THC and can reach 27-30%. It is fat soluble with a half-life of 7 days and traces can be found in the body for up to 10-12 weeks. It affects body systems at the cellular level.

‘There’s no such thing as a Gateway drug’

There is now ample research that shows that the use of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis by young people predicts the use of other illegal substances. Only 2% of non smokers also used cannabis compared to 56% of smokers (PAT survey 1991). Young people who use tobacco, alcohol and marijuana are up to 266 times more likely to use cocaine than those who don’t use any gateway drug. (CASA research l994). 20% of those who used marijuana 3-10 times went on to use cocaine.

‘Everybody’s doing drugs so we might as well legalise them’

Reliable surveys (for example, the Health Related Behaviour Survey from Exeter University) show that whilst 50% of young People under the age of 18 may try cannabis once or twice, only 20% use more often – and of those only half use regularly. Thus 80% of our youth are not involved with drugs. Research shows that drug users were more likely to support the legalisation of drugs and that ‘research on drug legalisation may be biased if the respondent is a drug user’.

‘Young people are getting criminal records just for smoking a joint’

This is simply not true. See Justice records for the UK, Sweden and the USA.

‘Cannabis can be smoked as a medicine so it can’t be harmful’

No medical authority has ever suggested that any substance could be used medicinally by smoking. Extracts of cannabis have yet to be shown to be useful adjuncts to existing medicines in which case they would be prescribed by doctors as pills, inhalants or injections, and then only after safety and efficacy were proven.

Supporting research references for all the above statements can be provided. Please send an A4 SAE (2 stamps) to: National Drug Prevention Alliance, PO Box 594, Slough SL1 1AA Check out our Award winning website at: www. drugprevent.org.uk

In 2001, there were over 638,000 ED visits related to drug abuse in the coterminous U.S. This translates to 252 visits per 100,000 population or 0.6 percent of all ED visits.
Seven categories of drugs accounted for 85 percent of ED drug mentions in 2001. The ED visits related to drug abuse most frequently involved alcohol (34% of mentions), cocaine (30%), marijuana (17%), benz-diazepams (16%), narcotic analgesics/combinations (16%), heroin (15%), other analgesics/combinations (12%), and antidepressants (10%).
From 2000 to 2001, there were significant increases in ED mentions of marijuana (15%, from 96,426 to 110,512) and cocaine (10%, from 174,881 to 193,034). Mentions of most other major substances of abuse were unchanged from 2000 to 2001.

Afghans opium poppy cultivation has soared, and this year’s harvest could be twice as large as last year’s near-record crop unless eradication efforts are immediately stepped up. According to Robert Charles, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the heroin business is “almost definitely” filling the coffers of the Taliban and another Afghan group linked to Osama bin Laden and “possibly” enriching al-Qaeda fighters as well.
SOURCE:Baltimore Sun, April 2, 2004.

WASHINGTON – Narcotics are easily purchased over the Internet from U.S. pharmacies with no prescription, congressional investigators maintained Thursday at a Senate hearing on the dangers of buying medications online.

Investigators said they purchased the painkiller hydrocodone from eight Web sites. “It seems that the key thing here is having your credit card,” Robert Cramer, a senior investigator with the General Accounting Office, said.

In no instances were GAO employees who posed as patients asked to see a doctor or provide a prescription, Cramer said.

Despite safety concerns voiced by opponents of prescription drug imports, investigators said, however, they encountered few problems with medicines purchased from Canadian Web sites.

In some instances, Canadian online pharmacies had stricter standards than those in the United States, the GAO said in new report.

Canadian pharmacies appeared to be more reputable than Internet pharmacies in other countries, it said.

Investigators who filled prescriptions on the Web in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Thailand and seven other countries were testifying Thursday to a Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee. Prominent opponents of imported drugs also were to testify.

In contrast to orders filled in Canada, some of the drugs received from other foreign pharmacies were counterfeit and many came with no instructions or warnings, said the report by the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress. Others arrived in damaged or unconventional packaging.

A shipment of the narcotic OxyContin arrived in a plastic compact disc case, investigators said. A bottle of pills of the AIDS drug Crixivan came inside a sealed aluminum can that was itself enclosed in a box labeled “Gold Dye and Stain Remover Wax.”

All 18 Canadian sites required consumers to supply a physician-written prescription before filling orders. That was the case for five of 29 U.S. pharmacies; no other foreign pharmacies did.

Prescriptions filled in Canada and the United States came with labels from the dispensing pharmacy and generally included patient instructions and warnings, the report said.

The biggest problem investigators noted was that drugs shipped from Canada did not have FDA approval for use in the United States for reasons such as production in unapproved plants or carrying different labels.

But the medicines had a comparable chemical composition to approved pharmaceuticals, the report said.

“The samples from U.S. and Canadian pharmacies exhibited few problems otherwise,” the report said.

Food and Drug Administration officials long have complained that it is misleading to say drug products are equivalent without subjecting them to extensive tests.

“Whether a foreign product contains the same active ingredient is no guarantee that it is identical to the FDA-approved product,” the agency’s acting commissioner, Lester Crawford, wrote in comments included with the report.

Tom Steward, a spokesman for Sen. Norm Coleman, the subcommittee chairman, said Canadian pharmacies came off well in the report.

“It gets down to strengthening Customs and FDA agents’ ability to license and hold accountable these Internet Web sites wherever they are,” Steward said.

Coleman, R-Minn., is among the lawmakers who recently abandoned opposition to importing drugs.

Lawmakers who advocate drug imports from Canada and elsewhere are trying to force a Senate vote to legalize the practice. The FDA has said it cannot guarantee the safety of the foreign products.

Older Americans have flocked to Canada for prescription medications as drug prices in the United States have soared and fixed incomes have not kept up, advocates say.

Several bills would strengthen federal regulation of Internet pharmacies and inspections of pharmaceutical manufacturing plants abroad.
Source:MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press ; Miami Herald

A new research program established at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., will focus on genetics to give health professionals the ability to predict and prevent alcohol and other drug addictions.

The first part of the genomics research project will be the identification of human genes that contribute to vulnerability to alcoholism. The next step will be to develop ways to use the genetic information to protect individuals from becoming addicted. The goal: to enable people at increased risk of becoming addicted to receive personalized therapy that could change their lives.

“We have known for years that alcoholism runs in families and that children of alcoholic parents are at very high risk of developing the problem,” said David Mrazek, M.D., chair of the Mayo Clinic department of psychiatry and psychology who will direct the research program. “We also know that a deep craving for alcohol is a core component of the problem, and that there is good evidence that these cravings have a genetic basis.

“Some genes already have been linked to alcoholism, but every relevant gene must be identified so we can learn how they interact,” said Mrazek. “This can lead to personalized therapies for people at risk for developing alcoholism and other addictions, involving effective methods of prevention and innovative treatments

On-the-job exposure to low doses of powerful medications commonly administered to patients intravenously in the operating room may be a factor leading some anesthesiologists to abuse drugs, a theory University of Florida researchers will present Saturday at the 34th annual Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego.

Dr. Mark Gold, a distinguished professor with UF’s McKnight Brain Institute, said anesthesiologists who sit near a patient’s head during surgery are exposed secondhand to anesthetic drugs as they are exhaled by the patient.

Blood sampling and further studies are necessary to determine if anesthesiologists truly suffer ill effects from inhaling trace amounts of the drugs just as nonsmokers are adversely affected by secondhand smoke, Gold said.

“Most people thought that in the evolution of anesthetic practice from inhaled gases * nitrous and ether, and so forth * to drugs that are administered intravenously, there wouldn’t be secondhand exposure,” Gold said. “[Now we see] that those narcotics, which may be 1,000 times more potent than heroin, get into the air, may reach their brain, may change their brain and make it more likely that they’ll crave and want drugs, [become] depressed, and may be more likely that they’ll have a host of behavioral problems.”

Gold said the unintentional exposure may one day be determined to be an “occupational hazard” for anesthesiologists.

Anesthesiologists — who as a group are up to four times more likely to be treated for drug addiction than other physicians — may become sensitized to the intravenous drugs fentanyl and propofol after repeated exposure during long surgical procedures, said Gold, chief of the Division of Addiction Medicine and a professor in the departments of psychiatry and neuroscience.

In 2003, anesthesiologists represented only 5.6% of physicians in Florida but accounted for almost 25% of physicians monitored for substance abuse, according to Gold’s research. National statistics show a similar overrepresentation for anesthesiologists among drug-abusing physicians.

Gold theorized reasons other than access to drugs caused anesthesiologists to be overrepresented among addicted physicians, and that the presence of analgesic and anesthetic agents in the air in operating rooms might be one of them.

To test the theory, UF researchers initially used sensors developed for the military for detection of nerve gas and explosives. They also used standard analytical equipment called gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy to identify minute quantities of propofol in the exhaled breath of subjects in a clinical trial.

Next, using an analytical device called liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy-mass spectroscopy, Gold worked with UF anesthesiologists Drs.

Donn Dennis, Timothy Morey and Richard Melker to measure and analyze multiple operating room air samples for fentanyl and propofol molecules.

They found the drugs present throughout the operating room, with the largest concentrations over the patient’s mouth. The amounts are so low they can only be detected with recently developed, ultra-sensitive instruments.

“We don’t know what doses they are exposed to at this time,” Gold said. “We will do blood sampling of anesthesiologists to learn that. But fentanyl and related analgesics are very powerful opiates, given in very large doses during cardiac surgery. Anesthesiologists may become sensitized.

“It has been shown that children of smokers are more likely to smoke,” Gold added. “It is currently understood that they have been smoking their whole lives secondhand. So their brain is changing and they are de facto smokers.

I believe the same thing happens with anesthesiologists. They had no intention to become addicts, their brains changed, they don’t feel right and they do come to associate the drug with relief.”

Until now, reasons such as family history and access to drugs were considered the main factors leading some anesthesiologists to drug use and addiction, Gold said, but the new findings may change that perception, as well as how recovering anesthesiologists are perceived. It may also lead to changes in air-handling systems, masks and length of shifts in the operating room.

Dr. Mark Aronson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the current theory of easy access to drugs provides a simple explanation for higher levels of addiction among anesthesiologists. However, hospitals monitor drug usage more rigorously now, making access more difficult and the access theory less plausible.

“Gold’s study offers an interesting and certainly plausible alternative explanation and makes the operating room a potentially dangerous occupational hazard for anesthesiologists,” Aronson said. “Obviously this needs further research, but I found this work quite intriguing.”
Source:Mark S. Gold, M.D. Distinguished Professor & Chief;McKnight Brain Institute. October 2004

The State Government figures show that out of 4619 drivers pulled over, one in 73 tested positive to either cannabis or methamphetamines. This compared to an average of one in 250 drivers testing positive for alcohol. The results surprised police.

The results come just two days after research by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre showed 57 per cent of clubbers admitted driving under the influence of alcohol and 52 per cent under the influence of cannabis. The VicRoads-commissioned study reported that just under half of those surveyed admitted driving soon after taking other drugs.

43% said they had taken ecstasy and 42 % speed.

Parents give support to school’s plans to introduce random drug testingColne Community School, in Brightlingsea, could now bring in the scheme in September after questionnaires were sent to parents last month. Principal Terry Creissen said more than 90 per cent of parents who responded were in favour of the proposed scheme, which would cost about £10,000 a year to run, with funding planned through sponsorship. Governors will make a final decision about whether to give the go-ahead later this month and, if so, the first drugs tests will be taken in September. Students will also be surveyed about the issue. [East Anglican Daily Times, 23 June]

Children at playschool in Austria are having their toys taken away

Children at playschool in Austria are having their toys taken away in the belief it will help them fight drug addiction and alcoholism later in life. Pilot tests have shown that taking away children’s toys encourages them to think more about how to entertain themselves. They become more social and even those on the outside of the group find a positive role. The campaign comes after recent studies in Austria found more and more children are growing up in families in which one or both parents drink too much alcohol and the number of teenagers developing problems with alcohol and drugs is growing. [Ananova, 24 June]

Research finds that young drug users can suffer brain damage similar to the early stages of Alzheimer’s

New research by scientists at Edinburgh University has found that young drug users can suffer brain damage similar to the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The research claims that young injecting drug users are up to three times more likely to suffer brain damage than non-users. The studies suggest that intravenous use of heroin or methadone can be linked to premature ageing of the brain. It revealed that some drug users sustained a level of brain damage normally seen only seen in much older people and similar to the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. [The Scotsman, 22 June]

Doctors attack government drug strategy for failures on drinking and smoking

Doctors have attacked the government’s National Drug Strategy for failing to tackle drinking and smoking in early life. ‘[The strategy] was set up with crime-reduction on mind – and for that reason it’s designed to tackle illegal drug use only,’ Dr Vasco Fernandes, consultant physician in alcohol and drug addiction, told public health doctors at a British Medical Association conference. Delegates voted for the government to set up accessible addiction services for young people and to focus on smoking prevention. Most drug addicts did not progress straight to heroin or crack cocaine, but began with the ‘gateway drugs’, smoking and drinking – problems which the government was leaving to other agencies, according to Dr Fernandes. ‘If we are serious about preventing addiction to both legal and illegal drugs, we must have better services to tackle these problems among young people, and they must be co-ordinated into the national drug strategy,’ he said. To do otherwise was to spend time ‘locking the door after the horse has well and truly bolted’. The conference called for a review of 24-hour drinking, including public debate.

Heroin scripts

Heroin prescribing treatment has gained new backing by a research team from the University of Amsterdam. Revealing their findings in the British Medical Journal, researchers said the treatment was expensive - but that the cost to health services was offset by savings linked to reduced levels of crime. The study was based on 430 heroin addicts on methadone maintenance in the Netherlands

Scientist developing portable sensor that can identify and trace tiny particles of heroin and cocaine Yorkshire research scientist Dr Deborah Rathbone is developing a portable sensor device that can identify and trace tiny particles of heroin and cocaine by ‘hoovering’ the air around a suspect. Apart from hoovering people, Ms Rathbone said the device could also be used on cars at roadside checkpoints, suitcases at airports and container lorries. The detector will be much more sensitive than sniffer dogs, and since it is portable it could be used to catch drug smugglers at any border. [Yorkshire Evening Post, 8 June]

Researchers identify critical gene that appears to control craving and relapse behaviour in heroin addicts

By examining the neurons of heroin-hooked rats, Ivan Diamond and colleagues at CV Therapeutics in California found that the AGS3 gene can increase the output of pleasure and addiction signals from a region of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens. This region was already known to be important for pleasure and reward, and central to heroin addiction. The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows exactly which gene triggers the pleasurable response. [The Guardian, 2 June]

Study into alcohol use in Blackpool reveals one in six people has been hospitalised through alcohol since 2000

A new study into alcohol use in Blackpool has revealed one in six people in the resort has been hospitalised through alcohol since 2000 and there are up to 90 preventable deaths a year through drink abuse. Problems are also gripping the emergency services – figures show more than a third of arrests made in Blackpool involve drunks. Director of Public Health for Blackpool Fylde and Wyre, Dr Andy Howe, said: ‘alcohol harm has become a priority due to the high levels of drink-related crime, injury and alcohol-related disease experienced in Blackpool’. [The Blackpool Gazette, 7 July]

Kids as young as 15 signing up for self-help meetings in a bid to kick their cocaine habits

Cocaine Anonymous Scotland has revealed how a growing number of youngsters are becoming addicted to the drug and they claim that cocaine abuse has reached ‘epidemic’ proportions. Experts blame the falling cost of the drug.

Profit margins for heroin traffickers into Britain

Profit margins for heroin traffickers into Britain are so high that they outstrip luxury goods companies such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, according to half of a study that Downing Street has withheld from publication under freedom of information legislation. The report delivers a scathing verdict on efforts to disrupt the drugs supply chain and was leaked to the Guardian, which speculated on the government’s refusal to publish less than favourable news on the eve of the Live 8 concert. [The Guardian, 5 July]

Beer made with a caffeine additive to be launched in the UK

A beer made with a caffeine additive is to be launched in the UK – amid fears that it might fuel binge drinking. A spokesman for BE – Beer with Extra – which also contains guarana, and ginseng said ‘it will be marketed at people aged 18 to 34 who like drinking in bars and nightclubs’. Andrew McNeill, the director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said he was concerned that the caffeine content might encourage people to drink alcohol for longer periods. [The Scotsman, 4 July]

In a study conducted in Liverpool and Manchester in 1992, 33% of 14-15 yr. olds in North West England had tried drugs – 59% had been offered drugs.

In rural East Sussex, a study of 2,000 children showed that 25% of the boys and 17% of the girls had tried drugs by the age of 15 years.

In England and Wales over 50% of the 45,000 people in prison are addicted to drugs.

In the UK, 450 children start smoking every day.

Between 9,000 and 13,000 practising doctors may be addicted to drugs and/or alcohol

The total cost to the National Health Service (GP consultations, outpatients visits, inpatient visits, prescriptions) for smokers is £6l0 million plus, per annum. Prescriptions alone account for £1 million per week.

Reference: Attitudes Towards Drug Legalization Among Drug Users, Trevino & Richard, American Journal of Drug & Alcohol Abuse (2002)

Child abuse can lead to substance abuse

Carl Anderson, a Harvard instructor in psychiatry and a research associate in McLean Hospitals Developmental Biopsychiatry Research Laboratory and Brain Imaging Center, and his colleagues found that repeated sexual abuse affects the blood flow and function of a key brain region related to substance abuse, the cerebellar vermis. This part of the brain has been recently implicated in the coordination of emotional behavior, is strongly affected by alcohol, cocaine, and other drugs of abuse, and may help regulate dopamine, a neurotransmitter critically involved in addiction.
‘Damage to this area of the brain may cause an individual to be particularly irritable, and to seek external means, such as drugs or alcohol, to quell this irritability,” said Anderson.
Anderson said the teams findings enhance understanding of the developmental mechanisms of childhood sexual abuse, which may result in new methods of treatment for child-abuse survivors.

The article “Study: Jobs Don’t Prevent New Drug Offenses After Prison” is somewhat misleading and does not mention our most important findings. The former prisoners in our study were followed for only a few months after coming home to Baltimore, insufficient time to conclude that employment doesn’t prevent recidivism. Our more important, policy-relevant findings have to do with how released prisoners obtain jobs and stay off drugs.

The study documented that men and women who participated in work release programs while in prison were more likely to be employed after their release — despite poor job records, limited education, and few vocational skills — suggesting that much can be done to improve their employment prospects.

We also learned that those who made use of in-prison substance abuse treatment were less likely to take drugs after returning to Baltimore. In addition, former prisoners who received valuable housing, financial assistance, and emotional support from their families were more likely to get a job and stay off drugs.

The report’s implications are clear: expanding employment, substance abuse, and family reunification programs, both behind the prison walls and in the community, can make a difference. We encourage readers to view the full report, Baltimore Prisoners’ Experiences Returning Home.

Individuals who are addicted to the nicotine in smokeless tobacco can find help on a new website called Chewfree.com, the East Carolinian reported Sept. 2.

Created by the Oregon Research Institute (ORI) and funded by the National Institute of Health, the website provides smokeless-tobacco users with information and resources. Visitors looking for help can submit an e-mail to Chewfree.com and an ORI representative will e-mail back a password that provides access to the site’s many resources.

“The neat thing about Chewfree.com is that it’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Herb Severson, a member of the ORI.

The website provides quit plans, information on smokeless tobacco, and access to chats with other users trying to quit.

The website is also part of a study into whether the Internet can be used as a smoking-cessation tool; it hosts smokeless tobacco programs that have been effective in other formats.

Objective: to describe prevalence and incidence of HIV-1, hepatitis C virus (HCV) and risk behaviours in a prospective cohort of injecting drug users (IDU).

Setting: Vancouver, which introduced a needle exchange programme (NEP) in 1988, and currently exchanges over 2 million needles per year.

Design: IDU who had injected illicit drugs within the previous month were recruited through street outreach. At baseline and semi-annually, subjects underwent serology for HIV-1 and HCV, and questionnaires on demographics, behaviours and NEP attendance were completed. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify determinants of HIV prevalence.
Results: Of 1006 IDU, 65% were men, and either white (65%) or Native (27%). Prevalence rates of HIV-1 and HCV were 23 and 88%, respectively. The majority (92% had attended Vancouver’s NEP, which was the most important syringe source for 78%. Identical proportions of known HIV-positive and HV-negative IDU reported lending used syringes (40%) Of HIV negative IDU. 39% ,.. borrowed used needles within the previous 6 months. Relative to HIV-negative lDU, HIV-positive IDU were more likely to frequently inject cocaine (72 versus 62%; p <0.001). Independent predictors of HIV-positive serostatus were low education, unstable housing, commercial sex, borrowing needles, being an established IOU, injecting with others, and frequent NEP attendance. Based on 24 seroconversions among 257 follow-up visits, estimated HIV incidence was 18.6 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval, 11.1—26.0).

Conclusions: Despite having the largest NEP in North America, Vancouver has been experiencing an ongoing HIV epidemic. Whereas NEP are crucial for sterile syringe provision, they should be considered one component of a comprehensive programme including counseling, support and education.

In the first such case in New Jersey, federal authorities yesterday charged an Atlantic County man with possessing a large amount of the hallucinogen ‘Foxy Methoxy,’ which is said to be similar to ecstasy.
It was one of the largest such seizures in the nation. Foxy is so new and seizures so rare that nationwide statistics are not readily available, Ed Childress, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, said yesterday. Every bit as rare, authorities said, is the manner in which they got hold of the drugs: The defendant, from Absecon, notified them and led them straight to the stash. The man is in federal custody and undergoing psychiatric evaluation.
Foxy began appearing at all-night dance parties in 1999, and municipal police departments began seize amounts in 2001 Only a handful of large seizures have followed.

Source: www.momstell.com, Oct 2003

In 1996 U.S. Federal legislation ended paying disability benefits for drug addiction because it was thought that addicts were using most of the money to purchase drugs. Scott D. Halpern, BS, and C. Crawford Mechem MD. has found that the drug related death rate for those receiving welfare disability and military benefits, is highest at the beginning of the month when these individuals receive their cheques, and tapers off as they use up their allotment.

In the same publication, a commentary on the study by Jeffrey Samet, MD MA, MPH, begins by stating, ‘Any physician who has spent even a short period of time caring for patients in an emergency department recognizes how common substance abuse is among these patients. This phenomenon has been documented in the emergency medicine literature for both psychiatric and medical problems’. Dr. Samet wrote further that the Halpem-Mechem study provided more credibility to the hypothesis that disposable income in the hands of someone with alcohol or drug problems may result in greater consumption of problem substances and stated that he believed “This work raised the possibility of new ways to minimize the harmful consequences of substance abuse by addressing a potential relapse trigger or exacerbating factor, the monthly federal cheque,” thinking, perhaps, about the use of vouchers or a debit card which would work only for specific purchases, a strategy that has been used to curb the misuse and trafficking in food stamps.

Drug use is accompanied by poor decision making, irresponsible behaviour, violence, increased illness, unemployment, and poverty. It is, therefore, understandable why the vast majority of those serving time in jails and prisons are there for crimes committed under the influence of mind-altering and addictive substances.

Source: Scott D. Halpern, BS, and C. Crawford Mechem MD, The American Journal of Medicine, Vol. 110 Apr 1, 2001

Research published in the journal, Forensic Science International (2001), noted that the profile of individuals dying from the use of illicit substances has changed considerably since the 1960’s, when the use of psychoactive and addictive substances began to find its way into the mainstream population.

The researchers looked at the physical condition of IO individuals whose deaths, attributable to the use of illicit drugs, occurred consecutively from 1995 to 1997, as we as the circumstances at the scene of death. They noted that though the general public and scientific literature has tended to believe that drug users are always neglected, untidy, down-and-outs, found mainly in public restrooms after having died from intoxication, that was not the case with most of these 100 victims. The researchers found that often signs of drug use are not present at death and suggested that ‘Death from drug consumption should be taken into account even it there are no drug-addiction utensils found at the scene, no visible injection marks and no signs of physical neglect.’
On autopsy, 86% were found NOT to be undernourished, and only 11% were found in public places. Interestingly, 63% were tattooed, including seven depicting cannabis leaves, and 95% showed signs of previous injection drug use.

Source: Authors: Michael Bohnert, Minou Hafez Stefan Pollak. Institute Forensic Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany. ‘The changing phenomenology of drug death over the year’. Forensic Science International 124(2001) 117-123

Nico, a mineral water drink laced with nicotine is being launched in the US, reports the Daily Express. Increasing restrictions on smoking in the was the inspiration behind the product say its manufacturers. The water has eight milligrams of nicotine – the equivalent of about four cigarettes – in every litre. The makers say it is intended as a crutch for smokers trying to quit and as an alternative nicotine hit for those who cannot smoke due to restrictions. However, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids warned that Nico could have the potential for being both hazardous and serving as a first step into addiction for children.

Source: Daily Express, 27 May 2002

Italy: Now has the highest heroin addiction rate in Europe and attributes 70% of all AIDS cases to IV drug users. Italy decriminalised possession of heroin in 1975. Within the European Parliament the Italian Radical Party has been one of the leading promoters of drug law relaxation; the Radicals former leader Marco Tarradash has moved on into the media empire of Berlusconi.

Amsterdam: Where marijuana was decriminalised and sold or distributed under city auspices, citizens in April 1995 successfully pressured authorities to close many coffeehouses (where drugs were openly sold), and reduce the amount of cannabis allowed on premise. Subsequently permitted individual possession was reduced from 30 grams to 5 grams.

Alaska: In 1972, with financial and legal support from NORML (the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), a young lawyer, Raven appealed to the Alaskan Supreme Court following arrest for possession of marijuana; he declared his arrest violated his private rights.  In 1975 the Supreme Court ruled by five to one in favour of Raven.  Raven and his supporters had declared that decriminalisation would not result in greater use, the use of other drugs would not be affected since there is no such thing as a ‘Gateway Drug’ and there would be no increase in problem use.  The police force supported the appeal – having been persuaded that there would be no increase in crime.

By 1990 there had been a major increase in the use of marijuana – to twice the national average, similarly a huge increase in problem drug use, heavy increase in health and social costs, use of all other drugs had increased, crime overall went up.  The law was later rescinded with the support of the police who had changed their minds in the face of this unequivocal evidence.

Armed forces: Compulsory drug tests introduced in December 1993 for Army personnel in the UK and Germany showed 0.5% tested positive for illegal drugs.  (3,619 men tested between January and May 1995.)

“Youthful drug use violates both formal law and informal norms for conventional behaviour. Analyses of influences on permissive drug attitudes and behaviours among adolescents should, therefore, focus on both attitude towards the law and the informal normative climate of these youths. Legal attitude and norm qualities, however, can vary depending on the cultural and situational context. The authors examined the effect of legal attitude and norm qualities on drug permissiveness attitudes, as well as actual alcohol and cannabis use of 196 adolescents comprising three cultural groups: American Indian residents of a rural community, non-Indian residents of the same community, and transient Indians attending a job-training programme in the community. In general, for all three groups, legal attitude primarily affects permissiveness towards drug use, while norm qualities of peers and personal permissiveness influence actual substance use. However, the three cultural groups vary in the relative salience of these variables”.

Scientist have found powerful evidence suggesting that genetics plays a dominant role in making some people particularly susceptible to nicotine addiction.

A comparison of the smoking habits of more than 2,000 pairs of twins, showed much greater similarity on smoking behaviour between identical (same gene) twins than non-identical twins.

A member of the team, Dr. Pamela Madden said “Our evidence indicates that strong genetic effects are responsible for both starting smoking and for long-term smoking.  Innate differences in initial sensitivity to nicotine may play an important role, with many individuals who experience a strong adverse reaction  giving up smoking after the first or second attempt”. The Health Education Authority said “If convincing evidence of a genetic effect emerges, then we may consider targeting children of smoking parents”.

Madden, P et al.Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri.
Report ‘Behaviour Genetics’ June95