If drug problems are greater in African American communities, providing more of the poison that serves as the root cause of the problem is not the answer. Marijuana causes the following:

Crime

According to ONDCP[1] 64 – 87% of people arrested test positive for drugs, depending on location. Marijuana is the most prevalent drug of abuse. Making marijuana more readily available will increase crime, as it has been the case in Sacramento, Stockton, Oakland and other cities which are witnessing record number of murders. According to African American Bishop Ron Allen, 90% of the black homicides are committed by blacks. Many of the crimes are directly related to drug deals or burglaries involving marijuana.

Permanent Brain Damage

A recent study in Australia[2]of 59 people who had been using marijuana for 15 years proved that marijuana interrupts the development of white matter in the brain, the complex wiring system. “Unlike grey matter, the brain’s thinking areas which peak at age 8, white matter continues developing over a lifetime.” (Dr. Marc Seal) There were disruptions and reductions in white matter of as much as 80%. The hippocampus, the area of the brain involved in memory, shrank in heavy users causing memory impairment and concentration. The average age of first use was 16, but as young as 10 or 11. The younger they started, the worse the damage.

Insanity
Marijuana’s impact on white matter has also been related to development of psychosis, including schizophrenia, paranoia and suicidal depression.. Age 14 – 16 is a critical period because the brain is going through a major development period, and cannabis can cause permanent damage.[3] A Dutch study showed teenagers who indulge in cannabis as few as 5 times in their life significantly increase their risk of psychotic symptoms.[4]

Still Births And Deformities[5]

Because today’s pot is 20 times stronger than decades ago, brain damage and physical deformities can occur to a fetus even two weeks after conception, before the mother even knows she is pregnant. The mother can quit but it’s too late for the unborn child. Studies from the 1973 done by Dr. Akira Miroshima showed that even low potency marijuana caused “more DNA damage than even heroin.” [6] While normal cells have 46 chromosomes, he discovered that one-third of “weekend smokers” who averaged two joints a week had only 20 to 30 chromosomes, about the same as a frog, which can cause mutations in sperm and ova and result in fetal damage. What’s worse, another study showed it is mutagenic, meaning it can skip one generation and affect the next.[7] Numerous studies confirm fetal damage by marijuana is a causal factor in physical deformities and behavioral problems of young people.

Addiction, Destruction and Death

According to the ONDCP, 17% of those under 18 and 9% of those over 18 years old who use marijuana will become addicted to it. Addicts either can’t work as well, or at all, so many turn to crime to feed their habit. More people are in treatment for marijuana that all other drugs combined. It doesn’t kill by overdose, but it is a major factor in suicides and a gateway to hard drugs that kill 3,400 Americans a month.

Adverse Impacts On Education

Impact on memory, motivation and ability to learn is a major factor in the 1.2 million high school drop outs nationally. America has declined to 26th in the world academically and going downhill. Preventing marijuana use by kids is of paramount importance.

Traffic Injuries and Death

33% of traffic deaths are related to drugged driving.[8] Marijuana, being fat soluble, stays in the brain for a month, compounding with each additional joint, adversely effecting memory, cognition, motor skills and reaction time. Nobody is in prison for simple possession, but rather for committing crimes while under the influence. Making marijuana more readily available will only exacerbate the problem. Black markets for those 21 and under will still exist, and drug dealers will relish the opportunity to advance marijuana users to the hard drugs. The focus should be on prevention, and keeping ALL kids in the system, safe and drug free.

——————————————————————————–

[1] Office of National Drug Control, The White House

[2] Seal, Dr. Marc 08/09/21012 Melbourne Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Marijuana Causes Brain Damage.

[3] Dr. McGrath. University of Queensland.

[4] Patton, G.C. et al (2006) Cannabis use and mental health in young people. British Medical Journal.

[5] Science Daily (Aug 15, 2012) Study By Dr. Delphine Psychoyos, Texas A & M University

[6] Miroshima, Dr. Akira)

[7] Daliterio, Dr. Susan, U of Texas Medical School, San Antonio.

[8] DuPont, Dr. Robert – Institute of Behavior and Health www.stopdruggeddriving.com

Source: ROGER MORGAN rogermorgan.339@gmail.com 24th August 2012

Founder and Director of the Take-Back America Campaign, prior Chairman and Executive Director of the Coalition for A Drug-Free California. He is author of two books published on digital sites Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, called MARIJUANA: Brain Damage. Birth Defects. Addiction and SOROS. The Drug Lord. Pricking the Bubble of American Supremacy. CEO of Steelheart International LLC, engaged in international business development, and an entrepreneur and businessman in California for 30 years He was Founding Chairman of the Coronado SAFE Foundation (1997), a non-profit dealing with drug prevention; prior Board Member of the San Diego Prevention Coalition; member of the National Coalition for Student Drug Testing, and Special Advisor to the Golden Rule Society in Coronado. His passion for drug prevention stems from two step-children who became drug addicted at age 12 and 14 roughly 30 years ago, and two nephews who died from drug related causes. He is a Rotarian; a charter member of the Coronado Community Church; two adult children, three grandchildren; and currently lives in Lincoln, Ca.

Roger Morgan

Steelheart International LLC

(916) 434 5629

WHILE some still want marijuana made legal, there are signs that use of Australia’s most popular illicit drug is already falling.

MORE than 30 years after the peace and love revolution when marijuana was the hippy’s drug of choice, everything has changed. It is grown differently, it is stronger and more dangerous and – despite South Australia’s reputation as the pothead state – its use is falling.

It was once thought rather daring to raise over-cultivated “pot” plants for private use. The flowering head of the plant was mixed with cannabis leaf and ordinary tobacco and smoked in an elaborately rolled joint. Today, no one bothers with anything but pure head. Police drug squads often find dumped bags of cannabis leaves that no one can be bothered with. “They (dealers) throw it out. They can’t sell it, no one will buy leaf,” says Professor Jan Overton, who directs the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre.

Some experts believe this preference for only the strongest part of the plant explains why the drug is more potent. Others say the hydroponically grown plant is simply stronger. “That’s the widely held urban myth,” says Robert Ali, who heads Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia. “I think what has changed over time is the quantities people consume, and what they consume. In the 1960s and ’70s, when people passed a joint around, that joint typically had leaf, it might have had a little bit of head, it may have had stalk.”

But there is evidence that cannabis itself is becoming stronger in Australia. The Australian Federal Police is working with NCPIC to compile data on the comparative strength of cannabis seized in Sydney and the NSW North Coast. Overton says the study is not final but it is confirming the relative strength of hydroponically grown marijuana. “I think it is certainly revealing what we expected: that growers here get their seeds from Europe where the potencies are higher, and as a result they are growing high-potency cannabis in Australia as well,” she says.

A recent study published in the Lancet medical journal all but named Australians as the biggest cannabis users in the world. The report says that in 2010, almost 15 per cent of 15 to 64-year-olds in the Oceania region – which includes Australia, PNG and New Zealand – used cannabis the previous year, double the rates of North and South America. That would put South Australians among the heaviest users of a drug with links to mental illness.

According to Overton, the World Drug Report figures on which the Lancet report was based were distorted. While Australian usage rates are high, other countries are higher, like North America where 35 per cent of 17-year-olds had used cannabis in the past year compared with 21.6 per cent here. The trend among young people is slowly – if irregularly – falling.

Even on a national level, South Australians are not the worst offenders. SA’s 11.3 per cent rate was well behind Western Australia (13.4 per cent) and the Northern Territory (16.5 per cent). This compares with 1998 when 17.6 per cent of South Australians used cannabis in the previous 12 months. SA is no longer the marijuana state.

Marijuana is still the most widely used illicit substance in the world. The number of people who had used cannabis at least once in 2008 was between 129 and 191 million, or 4.3 per cent of the world’s population. While many people experiment and move on, marijuana has been convincingly connected to mental illness, particularly schizophrenia. A single bad cannabis episode can trigger lifelong schizophrenia, particularly in teenage boys.

“Certainly it’s not for everyone,” says Michael Balderstone, who heads the Hemp Embassy in Nimbin, NSW. “If you’ve got mental health problems you should be careful with every drug, although historically cannabis was used for mental health problems.”

There is hard evidence that in some circumstances, cannabis destroys lives. An Australian and a New Zealand study that followed babies for almost three decades found that young people who use cannabis before the age of 15 increase their risk of schizophrenia six-fold. Later in life, the risk is doubled. The teenage drop-out syndrome has also been verified, with a causal connection established between cannabis use and school failure. “It accounts for about 17 per cent of the risk of someone leaving school without any qualifications,” says Overton. “That is over and above everything else – the unique contribution of cannabis use.”

The one aspect of drug culture that seems not to have changed is the polarity between anti-drug campaigners who oppose cannabis in any form, and those who want it legalised. According to Family First MP Robert Brokenshire, cannabis is a gateway drug to more serious drug abuse, and trafficking. Random dog searches at Adelaide’s Franklin St bus depot frequently turn up small-time dealers taking advantage of the absence of bag screening to traffic across the border, he says.

In the other corner, cannabis activist and blogger “Ree Hash” wants cannabis use made legal. She argues there will always be people who use it and they should not be treated as criminals for choices that affect no one but themselves. She says the link with mental health can work both ways, and cannabis can help as well as harm. Besides, she says, legalisation does not mean that more people would use it. “If heroin was legal tomorrow, does that mean you would go out and try it?” says Ree Hash “Most people would probably say no.”

And more people are saying no. Robert Ali says the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s national household survey on drug use showed substantial and persistent reductions since the 1990s. Why this is happening no one is quite sure, although it may mirror a health-related shift away from smoking in general. Ali says awareness of the risks may have risen. “I think those harms were dismissed by many people throughout the 2000s, but in recent times the mental health disorders associated with heavy, intensive cannabis use have become a lot clearer,” he says.

NCPIC says it has had “incredible success” aiming its mental health messages at 14 to 19-year-old boys. The campaign in Australia seems to have worked, while the cannabis lobby in the US has moved the other way by persuading authorities of the benefits of “medical marijuana”, effectively legalising its use for some people. So while rates among young people in Australia are going down, those in the US are going up.

“It’s a public perception issue,” says Overton. “In Australia, the mood has switched against cannabis.”

Source: The Advertiser, Australia May 19th 2012

Now 14, this girl from Maidenhead began using mephedrone at the age of 12. She is currently getting help at Turning Point

I was the “it” girl at school and had a lot of friends. I have an older sister who is two years older than me and was also known as the “it” girl. She went to parties with her friends and I knew that she got drunk and used drugs like weed. Her use of drugs scared me a bit because I knew so little about drugs and alcohol, but I just got with it hiding it from my mum because I didn’t want her to get into trouble.

I remember one day in particular when my sister came home and told me that she had been to a party and tried this thing called “mephedrone”. She told me she snorted it and that really scared me. Being so young I thought she was going to die, but time went on and she kept doing it and I got used to her doing it and it started not to bother me that much. In my world everything was still fine.

I remember that day. It was boiling hot and I was on my way to the river to meet my friends when I got a phone call from my sister. I answered it and I could tell she was high; she invited me to go to her friend’s house. As I got there I could see that they were all on something, but it didn’t bother me, I was used to seeing it and they all seemed so happy. I got to known to everyone that day as “the little one” by all of my sister’s friends. They had set tents up in the back garden and listening to music and dancing. I remember one of my sisters friends called me over to the tent; I remember so clearly the words she used: “Hey lil sis, wanna try a bit?” I had never done drugs before and I remember the adrenalin running through my body. My heart started racing with excitement and nerves, and I remember looking over to my sis to make sure she was OK with it. Because she was high she didn’t mind and gave me a wink. I took the tooter to my nose and sniffed hard. That was possibly the worst mistake I ever made. I fainted and remember my sister holding me up with the sun blasting on my face. A few seconds later I got up and felt amazing. Because I was gymnastic I started doing flips everywhere and was having the time of my life. The day went on and I done more and more, so I can’t remember the rest until I got home and felt like death had just stabbed me in the back. My sister and her friends hadn’t warned me about the comedown and I was crying my eyes out feeling like I wanted to die. It was so horrible and because I didn’t even smoke weed or cigarettes I couldn’t do anything to calm me down. I was young and panicking. I was 12. For about a month afterwards I remember that every time I heard a particular song that we had listened to that day I started feeling down.

On another day it was snowing, my friends and I decided to go to a local venue in town where we met another girl I suggested we should try mephedrone. She had never sniffed anything before. We loved it so much we done it the week after, and the week after and the week after that. For about four or five months we were on it every weekend and became very close with this boy who was 18 at the time and he done it with us. Every weekend I would buy at least 3-4 grams (£20 a gram). It got so bad we started stealing money from our parents and one time my friend even stole £100 from her dad’s bank account. We were hurting everyone around us, but we couldn’t care less as long as we were having a good time. I was so unhealthy; being awake from Friday morning till Sunday night was not good for a small 13-year-old girl’s body. My face was grey and I had constant bags under my eyes. I would chew my lips so much from gurning it would bleed.

Over these few months I lost most of my friends and I became known as one of the druggies which didn’t bother me so much. I found hanging out with my old friends was boring, I mean, why would you want to hang out with a bunch of 13-year-olds when you could be hanging our with 16-to-20-year-olds? In between doing all this drone, I had tried coke, speed, MDMA, mushrooms, ketamine and some prescription drugs. By this time I had travelled down a long dark road, always isolated or excluded from smoking, swearing, arguing, fighting etc. I was the definition of a rebel, and it made me stand out in school. I was the class clown and all my classmates used to tell me how funny and brave I was to get into massive arguments with teachers. I blamed it on partly entertaining myself and partly on the drugs always making me hot headed. I wasn’t just getting into trouble in school, I was arguing at home too. I didn’t care what anyone thought, and I didn’t listen to anyone. We bunked a lot, and walked out almost every day. I remember on my 14th birthday we walked out of school and went and bought a gram of drone and did a half-gram line. We did the same the week after because it was my friend’s birthday.

I looked back at the last year and half of my life, most of it I couldn’t remember but the bits I could, I had nothing to show for it. I started becoming depressed and was like this for a few months. I didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. A big argument with my best friend gave me some space away from each other which is what I really needed. I met up with the few friends that had stuck by me even though I totally ditched them for a few months. When I caught up with them I found out how much they had all changed. Even though I had seen them for the little time I was actually in school, when I went out with them I could see how much they had grown up. Months passed and life was getting easier, but I remember when I saw someone sniffing drone I would still get butterflies and think of a way I could have a sneaky line. Sometimes I gave in, other times I didn’t but as time went on it was getting harder to say no.

I started year 10 and wanted it to become a clean slate. I stopped smoking weed before school so I could concentrate and I slowly decreased the number of days I went out in the week. I met with “T2”; a local charity which works with young people who have substance misuse problems through my school. My key worker helped me clear things in my head. I started to finally see what was good for me, what was right and wrong, because up to now all the drugs had mushed my brains and changed my perceptions of life. T2 got me back on track, heading up the right path. This had felt like I had broken through my first barrier. I was starting to become a normal teen again and I loved it.

I have reached a crossroads in my life. I could carry on the way I was and achieve nothing in my life or I could stop all of it and be somebody. Obviously I don’t want to waste my life away and I wanted to stop and become someone. I find it hard for a 14-year-old girl to choose between partying, having fun and staying in revising to become successful. I know what I want in life and I am not going to let alcohol, drugs or wrong crowds stop me. I’m not “innocent yet” so to speak but I ‘m a lot further along this road than I was a year ago. Whoever is reading this, and might be in a situation like I was/am, it so hard to snap yourself out of that lifestyle – believe me, I’m two years down the line and still travelling but it gets easier and you HAVE to keep going if you want to make something of yourself in life.

Source: The Guardian 16th September 2012

Don’t let schedules and long to-do lists get in the way of a good talk with your Southington youngster.
As children think about heading back to school, many are worried about social anxiety and peer pressure, according to experts from the Governor’s Prevention Partnership, which is offering parents tips on how to ease stress on children as the school year starts. In Southington, the school district works closely with a team of volunteers from throughout the community as part of the Southington Town-Wide Effort to Promote Success, or STEPS program, to encourage smart choices and “Working together, as a community, can make all the difference,” Kelly Leppard said during a STEPS event earlier this year. While the organization includes commitments from teachers, school administrators, business owners, religious leaders and others from around town, Leppard said success also depends on parental involvement and encourages local residents to talk with their children daily. Catherine Barden, the coalition coordinator for the Madison Alcohol and Drug Education coalition, agreed, and said the end of summer is great time to make sure the lines of communication are open when it comes to issues like drug use and alcohol.
She also noted that “parents can include more than just mom and dad.”
“It’s grandparents, aunts and uncles, close family friends, mentors and other caring adults,” she said. School officials this week offered the following tips:

1. Clearly communicate the risks of drug/alcohol use
2. Let your kids know you disapprove of any drug/alcohol use–teens who believe their parents will be upset if they try marijuana are 44 percent less likely to do so
3. Use “teachable moments” to raise drug/alcohol issues
4. Frequently talk and listen to your kids about how things are going in their lives
“Even if you used in the past, don’t be afraid to talk!” Barden said. “Remember, you do matter: Kids who learn a lot about the risks of drugs at home are up to significantly less likely to use drugs.” Barden said a recent MTV survey showed that almost half of all kids name a parent as their hero. She also offered the following six tips for monitoring your children as they head back to school:
1. Know who your child is with.
2. Know what they’re doing.
3. Know where your child will be.
4. Know when your child is expected home.
5. Know who your teen’s friends are– communicate with their parents.
6. Establish and enforce rules–including a clear “no use” policy.

Here is the information provided by the Governor’s Prevention Partnership: Children and parents can face many challenges as the transition to back-to-school takes place. Often times, the new school year can mean heightened stress for children as they adjust to new friends, new teachers, a return to homework, and new and harder classes. Getting back into the swing of things can be tough, even for the most resilient kids and parents. Many parents, with busy work schedules and never-ending to-do lists, end up not finding the time to talk to their children about the upcoming school year and how to deal with the challenges they may be facing. “It is crucial for parents to make time to talk with their children everyday after school to really get in touch with them,” said Jill K. Spineti, President and CEO of The Governor’s Prevention Partnership. “Opening up that line of communication with a child is essential to making sure they are dealing with their stress in a safe and healthy way and for building a trusting relationship so they can turn to their parents when there is a problem. There’s no doubt that children who are supported by caring parents and adults are more likely to succeed.” Heading back-to-school can be a particularly stressful time for many young people, and social anxiety and peer pressure are at the top of the list for youths’ concerns. According to a 2011 national study conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), when teens ages 12-17 were asked, “What is the most important problem facing people your age?”, 24 percent of the teens responded drugs (including tobacco and alcohol) and 24 percent of teens responded social pressures, making them the two highest concerns of the surveyed teens. To help with these important issues and to ensure that youth stay safe, successful and drug-free, The Governor’s Prevention Partnership is offering tips to parents and caregivers to make the transition of back to school a stress-free one. Back To School Tips For Parents: Find the right time to talk – Back-to-school preparations add to a parent’s busy schedule, so it’s important to plan ahead. A good way to fit important and effective conversations with your child into your schedule is to identify the times of the day when your child is most talkative. It may be while eating a meal, or when they get home from school, or right before bed. These will be the best times to initiate conversations with a child because it is when they will be most willing to participate so the conversation will be helpful for both the parent and child. Be available – One of the best things a parent or caregiver can do is be available and willing to listen to a child about their day at school or if problems or worries occur. While it is important for parents to initiate certain conversations, it is equally important to keep communication lines open even throughout the school year. Older children, in particular, may not always be willing to talk about their problems, but it is important to ensure that they know they have someone to go to with their problems. Prepare for social pressures – While there is no way to completely eliminate social pressures from a child’s life, a parent can better prepare their child by taking time to discuss possible scenarios they may face. Also, by exposing children to a variety of social situations, and being available to talk with them about the challenges they may face in those situations will help them become better equipped to handle social pressures on their own. Do not overreact – It is important for a parent to stay calm and collected (at least on the outside). Keeping a cool composure will help put a child at ease, and will prevent
small problems from escalating. The best thing for a parent to do is to listen to the child and discuss the options available to solve the problem. This will not only teach the child to handle similar situations in the future, but it will also make them feel comfortable talking to their parents if other problems arise. Know and utilize your resources – Sometimes a child’s problems are too big for a parent to handle on their own, so it is important to know where to get assistance. If bullying is an issue a child is dealing with, it may be necessary for a parent to bring the issues to the school’s attention. Every Connecticut school has a designated professional that both parents and students can bring their bullying issues to and can be assured that their issue will be handled in an appropriate and efficient manner. Additional information about resources for parents, including tips to prevent drug and alcohol use, can be found at www.preventionworksct.org. Be positive and encouraging – While it is important for a parent to acknowledge any anxiety their child may be having, it is also important to highlight and focus on the positive aspects a new school year brings. Parents should encourage their children to try new extra curricular activities and clubs at school. Building up a child’s self esteem and confidence will give them the courage to face the new school year with a positive attitude and the desire to succeed socially and academically. The Governor’s Prevention Partnership, the state affiliate for The Partnership at Drugfree.org, is a statewide, nonprofit public-private alliance, building a strong, healthy future workforce through leadership in mentoring and prevention of youth violence and bullying, underage drinking, and substance abuse. The Partnership is the only statewide organization focusing exclusively on prevention issues affecting youth. Resources for parents, educators and young people related to each of the organization’s program initiatives can be found on www.preventionworksct.org.
Related Topics: Alcohol and drug use, Back To School, Parental Talk, Safety Tips, and Teenagers

Source: www.Southingtonpatch.com 22.08.12

ANALYSIS: The traditional drugs trade is declining but other crimes are on the up in the recession

Cannabis growhouses

THESE WERE once the preserve of Asian-run crime cartels based on both sides of the Border, but Irish criminals are increasingly turning to cannabis growhouses as a way of making quick profits and to satisfy the exponentially growing demand for herbal cannabis.

Garda sources say that while individuals growing small numbers of cannabis plants, mainly for their own consumption, have always been an issue, organised gangs have moved into commercial production in the past five or six years.

“They believe they won’t get caught and if they get just a few crops grown they can produce plants worth a few million euro,” said one Garda source.

The attractiveness of this fastest growing corner of the drugs trade is borne out by the Garda’s figures for seizures of plants. When the first commercial operations were discovered in the Republic in 2006 the value of cannabis plants seized by gardaí jumped to €242,400 from €47,6700 in the previous year.

The figures then gradually increased to total seizures valued at €1.54 million in 2010 before jumping to €10.61 million last year.

Last year’s figure is attributable to new heat-seeking technology being used on the Garda helicopter to identify houses in which temperatures are much higher than those around them – the tell-tale sign that a growing environment has been established for cannabis.

The Garda National Drugs Unit has established Operation Nitrogen to combat the growhouse problem. It has been one of the busiest and most successful organised-crime operations of recent years. Houses are usually rented by gangs before being kitted out with high-wattage lamps to imitate the heat and brightness of the sun. Irrigation systems are also fitted to the rows of plants and chemical enhancers are fed into the water to increase the potency of the cannabis from harvested crops.

Fuel fraud

The fuel price rises in recent years have seen a resurgence in the illegal fuel industry as more motorists than ever appear willing to buy laundered fuel at black-market prices. The problem had been dominated by the Provisional IRA but as the Troubles faded so too did the presence of fuel “laundries”, which are mainly found near the Border.

Sources believe many plants go undetected for years before they are discovered.

In 2009 there were no laundry finds in the Republic, although nine were found last year and four have been found so far this year. These illegal plants are known as “laundries” because they effectively “wash” fuel.

Diesel intended for use in the agricultural sector is marked with a green dye in the Republic and a red dye in the North. Once dyed it is subject to lower taxes than those for

motor fuel. This is designed as a fuel subsidy for farmers and other owners of heavy commercial vehicles.

Those operating the illegal laundering plants source agricultural diesel, usually by the tanker-load. They then “wash” or “launder” the fuel to remove the dye. This is achieved by pumping it through a tank with bleaching chemicals or more solid substances such as cat litter inside.

It is then sold at about €1.40 per litre, having been bought for 70c. The fuel is sometimes bought by motorists from illegal mini pumps beside laundries or it is sold on garage forecourts to unsuspecting drivers.

Cigarette smuggling

The number of cigarettes seized in 2010 reached a record 178 million, with a recommended retail price of about €75.2 million. While that fell back to €49.9 million last year, the scale of the problem has become greater in the past five years than it was before. With the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes now fast approaching €10 in the shops, there is a ready market for criminals who smuggle counterfeit or contraband cigarettes

This black market is made up of two types of cigarette. Some are contraband, or copied, versions of well-known brands and are passed off as those brands. Others are known as “cheap whites”. They are not a copy of any specific brand. Instead, they are produced in factories overseas specifically for export to countries where they are going to be sold on the black market, outside the tax net. They are given their own branding and packaging in the factories which produce them.

Both the counterfeit and contraband cigarettes are produced in cigarette factories – some legal, some illegal – in Russia, eastern Europe, China and other parts of the Far East. They are shipped in sea freight in very substantial consignments to organised-crime gangs in Ireland and other EU countries.

Because Ireland has the second highest retail price for cigarettes in the EU – four times higher than many other member States – it is seen as a very lucrative market for the illegal cigarette trade. The cigarettes can be bought for as little as 10c or 12c at a factory gate and would fetch about €4 a packet on the streets.

Source: www.IrishTimes.com 24th August 2012

Screening, brief interventions, referral to treatment (SBIRT) for illicit drug and alcohol use at multiple healthcare sites: comparison at intake and 6 months later.

This huge US study set out to test whether widespread screening and brief intervention for illegal drug use (not just heavy drinking) could be implemented in a variety of general medical settings and whether it was effective. Both tests seem to have been passed, but with some important caveats.

Summary Alcohol screening and brief interventions in medical settings can significantly reduce alcohol use. Corresponding data for illicit drug use is sparse. A federally funded screening, brief interventions, referral to treatment (SBIRT) service program, the largest of its kind to date, was initiated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in a wide variety of medical settings. The study compared illicit drug use at intake and 6 months after drug screening and interventions were administered. SBIRT services were implemented in a range of medical settings across six states.

A diverse patient population (Alaska Natives, American Indians, African-Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics), was screened and offered score-based progressive levels of intervention (brief intervention, brief treatment, referral to specialised treatment). In this secondary analysis of the SBIRT service programme, drug use data was compared at intake and at a 6-month follow-up, in a sample of a randomly selected population (10%) who screened positive at baseline. Of 459,599 patients screened, 22.7% screened positive for a spectrum of use (risky/problematic, abuse/addiction).

The majority were recommended for a brief intervention (15.9%), with a smaller percentage recommended for brief treatment (3.2%) or referral to specialised treatment (3.7%). Among those reporting baseline illicit drug use, rates of drug use at 6-month follow-up (4 of 6 sites), were 67.7% lower (p < 0.001) and heavy alcohol use was 38.6% lower (p < 0.001), with comparable findings across sites, gender, race/ethnic, age subgroups. Among persons recommended for brief treatment or referral to specialised treatment, self-reported improvements in general health (p < 0.001), mental health (p < 0.001), employment (p < 0.001), housing status (p < 0.001), and criminal behaviour (p < 0.001) were found. The authors concluded that SBIRT was feasible to implement and that self-reported patient status at 6 months indicated significant improvements over baseline for illicit drug use and heavy alcohol use, with functional domains improved, across a range of health care settings and a range of patients. Source: Drug and Alcohol Dependence: 2008

Almost 30 years after discovery of a link between alcohol consumption and certain forms of cancer, scientists are reporting the first evidence from research on people explaining how the popular beverage may be carcinogenic. The results, which have special implications for hundreds of millions of people of Asian descent, were reported at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Silvia Balbo, Ph.D., who led the study, explained that the human body breaks down, or metabolizes, the alcohol in beer, wine and hard liquor. One of the substances formed in that breakdown is acetaldehyde, a substance with a chemical backbone that resembles formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen. Scientists also have known from laboratory experiments that acetaldehyde can cause DNA damage, trigger chromosomal abnormalities in cell cultures and act as an animal carcinogen.

“We now have the first evidence from living human volunteers that acetaldehyde formed after alcohol consumption damages DNA dramatically,” Balbo said. She is a research associate in the laboratory of Stephen Hecht, Ph.D., a noted authority on cancer prevention at the University of Minnesota. “Acetaldehyde attaches to DNA in humans – to the genetic material that makes up genes – in a way that results in the formation of a ‘DNA adduct.’ It’s acetaldehyde that latches onto DNA and interferes with DNA activity in a way linked to an increased risk of cancer.”

Balbo pointed out that people have a highly effective natural repair mechanism for correcting the damage from DNA adducts. Most people thus are unlikely to develop cancer from social drinking, although alcohol is associated with a risk of other health problems and accidents. In addition, most people have an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase, which quickly converts acetaldehyde to acetate, a relatively harmless substance.

However, about 30 percent of people of Asian descent – almost 1.6 billion people – have a variant of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene and are unable to metabolize alcohol to acetate. That genetic variant results in an elevated risk of esophageal cancer from alcohol drinking. Native Americans and native Alaskans have a deficiency in the production of that same enzyme.

To test the hypothesis that acetaldehyde causes DNA adducts to form in humans, Balbo and colleagues gave 10 volunteers increasing doses of vodka (comparable to one, two and three drinks) once a week for three weeks. They found that levels of a key DNA adduct increased up to 100-fold in the subjects’ oral cells within hours after each dose, then declined about 24 hours later. Adduct levels in blood cells also rose.

“These findings tell us that alcohol, a lifestyle carcinogen, is metabolized into acetaldehyde in the mouth, and acetaldehyde is forming DNA adducts, which are known major players in carcinogenesis,” said Balbo.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Source: Thursday, 23 August 2012 WorldPharmaNews.com

SUICIDE is expected to remain the leading cause of death of teenagers over the next decade — especially when alcohol is involved, a new study reveals.

The first analysis of the suicide rates of those under the age of 18 reveals that the number among 15- to 17-year-olds has increased substantially.

The rate for young girls has more than doubled, from 2.5 suicides per 100,000 population to 5.1. For young boys, it has gone up from 9.3 per 100,000 population to 13.5.

The study, published in the ‘Irish Medical Journal’, also found that when alcohol abuse is a factor, the rate among girls aged 15 to 17 is expected to increase five-fold by 2014 from 1993, when there were 2.5 suicides per 100,000 population.

Impulsivity

“Alcohol is long recognised as a significant risk factor for suicide, being linked with depression and impulsivity, particularly in males,” according to the research team from St Vincent’s University Hospital and the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science in UCD.

“Given the known high rates of alcohol misuse among Irish adolescents, this, coupled with increased rates of deliberate self-harm (DSH), places both young Irish males and females at continuing increased risk for completed suicide.”

The study’s author, Professor Kevin Malone, urged the Government to review its education and intervention strategies, with an emphasis on “intensified prevention efforts” to be made “earlier in Irish life than was conceived heretofore”

Source: www.independent.ie 16th August 2012

http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news THURSDAY, Aug. 2 (HealthDay news) — Among teens receiving treatment for substance abuse, many have used medical marijuana that was recommended for someone else, also known as “diverted” medical marijuana, a new study has found.

The study authors, from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo., suggest that policy changes are needed to curb the improper use of medical marijuana by young people.

In conducting the study, lead author Stacy Salomonsen-Sautel and colleagues questioned 164 teens aged 14 to 18 at two adolescent substance abuse treatment programs in Denver about their use of medical marijuana. The investigators found that nearly 74 percent of the teens used marijuana that was recommended for someone else an average of 50 times.

Compared with teens who did not use medical marijuana, those who did began using the drug regularly at a younger age and were also more dependent on marijuana and showed more symptoms of conduct disorder, according to the report published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The researchers pointed out, however, that most of the teens believed the drug comes with little or no risk.

Because recent state and federal policy changes have opened doors for more legalized medical marijuana use in Colorado, the researchers suggested that teens using medical marijuana most likely got it from an adult with a valid registry identification card for the drug.

The study authors concluded that improved safeguards are needed to prevent medical marijuana from falling into the hands of people who should not have it, particularly teenagers.

“Many high-risk adolescent patients in substance abuse treatment have used diverted medical marijuana on multiple occasions, which implies that substantial diversion is occurring from registered users,” Salomonsen-Sautel said in a journal news release. “Our results support the need for policy changes that protect against diversion of medical marijuana to adolescents.”

Source: http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news 2.08.2012

Middle-class children are far more likely to have drunk alcohol by the age of 12 than those from lower social groups, research has found.

More than one in three of those born in professional households had downed a full glass before reaching their teenage years, the statistics show.

The 35 per cent figure among the middle classes is almost twice the level found among 12-year-olds across all economic groups. Experts said that most children who had drunk alcohol at such a young age were getting it from their own homes. While some were secretly raiding well-stocked drinks cabinets, many more were being allowed to drink by parents who believed that it would help them to develop more mature attitudes towards alcohol.
The Ipsos Mori poll for charity Drinkaware, which is funded by the alcohol industry to promote sensible drinking, surveyed more than 500 parents from the social groups ABC1 and their children, aged between 10 and 17.
The findings contrast with NHS figures which show that across all social classes, 19.9 per cent of 12-year-olds have had a full glass of alcohol.

The majority of parents in the Drinkaware study thought it was inevitable that children would drink before they turned 16, while one third thought it was “OK” for them to do so. Chris Sorek, the charity’s chief executive said: “These children who are drinking at the age of 12 are not walking into a pub to buy a pint, and they are not getting alcohol from off-licenses. “In the main, they are drinking at home, because their parents think teenage drinking is inevitable, and think that this might be the way to introduce it sensitively.”

In fact, research had found that children were more likely to develop an alcohol problem if they were not set clear boundaries, he said.

Government advice states that alcohol should never be given to children below the age of 15, but 50 per cent of those surveyed had drunk it by the age of 14.

A crackdown on underage drinking in the seaside down of Newquay found that 70 per cent of drunk teenagers stopped by police had been given alcohol by their mother or father. Many of those apprehended during a campaign against under age drinking in the resort last summer were 15 or 16 and had been allowed to go to Cornwall with friends to celebrate the end of their GCSEs.

Mr Sorek said: “We found that parents were dropping off their children with beer and alcopops – they were literally leaving them with a tent, sleeping bags, wellies and a crate of beer.” During the campaign, which followed the deaths of two teenagers, officers confiscated more than 6,000 bottles and cans of alcoholic drink. One group of four boys from Bristol arrived with more than 100 alcoholic drinks between them.
In one case a police community support officer rang the mother of one of four 16-year-old boys from Surrey who were caught with 64 cans of Special Brew. “The mother had a go at my member of staff, saying, ‘Haven’t you ever had fun? You are stopping my son having fun, it’s outrageous,'” said Supt Julie Whitmarsh, of Devon and Cornwall Police.
Another mother from the Home Counties, when told that her child had been behaving badly, dismissed the officer’s concerns by saying: “My child is not the usual riff-raff.”

On Wednesday Drinkaware will launch a new advice panel, “Mumtank”, run by mothers with expertise in health and child psychology. One of the members, GP Dr Sarah Jarvis, said: “While parents may be tempted to encourage children to try alcohol earlier rather than later, as a form of alcohol education, medical evidence shows that an alcohol-free childhood is best.”

Last year an international study of almost 2,000 12- and 13-year-olds found that those whose parents allowed them an occasional supervised drink were more likely to abuse alcohol as they got older. The study found that children whose parents took such an approach were more likely to have got into alcohol-related trouble- such as fights, blackouts, or not being able to stop drinking than those whose parents had a “zero-tolerance” strategy.
A separate Dutch study of 500 12-to-15-year-olds, found that it was the amount of alcohol available at home, and not how much parents drank, that determined teenage drinking habits – suggesting parents should keep their drinks cabinets locked.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk 15th April 2012

AUSTRALIAN and international scientists may have found a cure for heroin and morphine addictions.

The discovery could have wide-reaching implications leading to better pain relief without the risk of addiction to prescription drugs, while also helping heroin users kick the habit.

Dr Mark Hutchinson from the University of Adelaide said a team of researchers had shown for the first time that blocking an immune receptor, called TLR4, stopped opioid cravings.

“Both the central nervous system and the immune system play important roles in creating addiction, but our studies have shown we only need to block the immune response in the brain to prevent cravings for opioid drugs,” Dr Hutchinson said.

The scientists, including a team from the University of Colorado Boulder, used an existing drug to target and block the TLR4 receptor. The National Institutes on Drug Abuse in the United States is further developing the drug, which has been proven to work in the laboratory, to test in clinical trials. As a result, clinical trials on patients could be underway in just two to three years time, Dr Hutchinson said.

If the clinical trials were successful, opioid drugs used to treat acute pain could potentially be co-formulated with the additional drugs to limit the chance of addiction. This approach could also treat patients with heroin or other opioid addictions who are admitted to hospital and require pain relief.

These patients generally needed larger doses of drugs like morphine to treat pain because their bodies have developed a higher tolerance. However, Dr Hutchinson said co-formulated drugs would mean these patients could be given lower doses.

“It might make it much easier to treat those already addicted or tolerant populations,” Dr Hutchinson said.

President of the Australian College of the Anaesthetists Dr Lindy Roberts said although opioids were important for the treatment of pain they could have adverse effects. She said treatments that could potentially separate the pain relief aspects of drugs from adverse effects were welcomed.

The findings were published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience

Source: www.The Australian.com 15.08.12

This important study emphasises the damage cannabis use causes to the adolescent brain.

Though it did not find evidence for similar damage to those beginning use after the age of l8 the really worrying thing is that the vast majority of cannabis users begin their use under the age of l8. More and more research studies are finding that cannabis is by no means a harmless, so-called recreational drug.

NEW YORK—Teens who routinely smoke marijuana risk a long-term drop in their IQ, a new study suggests.

The researchers didn’t find the same IQ dip for people who became frequent users of pot after 18. Although experts said the new findings are not definitive, they do fit in with earlier signs that the drug is especially harmful to the developing brain.

“Parents should understand that their adolescents are particularly vulnerable,'” said lead researcher Madeline Meier of Duke University.

Study participants from New Zealand were tested for IQ at age 13, likely before any significant marijuana use, and again at age 38. The mental decline between those two ages was seen only in those who started regularly smoking pot before age 18.

Richie Poulton, a study co-author and professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, said the message of the research is to stay away from marijuana until adulthood if possible. “For some it’s a legal issue,” he said, “but for me it’s a health issue.”

Pot is the most popular illegal drug in the world, with somewhere between 119 million and 224 million users between the ages of 15 and 64 as of 2010, the United Nations reported. Within the United States, 23 percent of high school students said they’d recently smoked marijuana, making it more popular than cigarettes, the federal government reported in June. Young people “don’t think it’s risky,” said Staci Gruber, a researcher at the Harvard-affiliated MacLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. Gruber, who didn’t participate in the new work, said the idea that marijuana harms the adolescent brain is “something we believe is very likely,” and the new finding of IQ declines warrants further investigation.

Experts said the new research is an advance because its methods avoid criticisms of some earlier work, which generally did not measure mental performance before marijuana use began. “I think this is the cleanest study I’ve ever read” that looks for long-term harm from marijuana use, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which helped fund the research.

Ken Winters, a psychiatry professor at the University of Minnesota and senior scientist at the Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia, said the new findings aren’t definitive, but they underscore the importance of studying how marijuana may harm young people. He had no role in the work. Meier and colleagues reported their work online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It was funded with governmental grants from the United States and Britain, and a foundation in Zurich.

The study drew on survey data from more than 1,000 people in New Zealand, everybody born in the town of Dunedin during a year-long span ending in 1973. In addition to IQ tests, they were interviewed five times between ages 18 and 38, including questions related to their marijuana use.

At age 18, 52 participants indicated they had become dependent on marijuana, meaning that they continued to use it despite its causing significant health, social or legal problems. Ninety-two others reported dependence starting at a later age. Researchers compared their IQ scores at age 13 to the score at age 38 and found a drop only in those who had become dependent by 18. Those deemed dependent in three or more surveys had a drop averaging 8 points. For a person of average intelligence, an 8-point drop would mean ranking higher than only 29 percent of the population rather than 50 percent, the researchers said.

Among participants who’d been dependent at 18 and in at least one later survey, quitting didn’t remove the problem. IQ declines showed up even if they’d largely or entirely quit using pot at age 38, analysis showed. The researchers got similar overall results for IQ decline when they compared participants who reported having used marijuana at least once a week on average for the past year. The researchers had no data on how much was used on each occasion or how potent it was.

Dr. Duncan Clark, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, said he’s not convinced that mental decline is only in those who become dependent by age 18. He said the main lesson he sees in the overall study results is that to preserve one’s IQ, it’s best to avoid marijuana entirely, no matter what your age.

The researchers also surveyed people who knew the study participants well at age 38. They found that the more often participants were rated as marijuana-dependent in the surveys over their lifetimes, the more memory and attention problems were noticed by their acquaintances over the previous year.

Source: Associated Press 27th August 2012

A new study finds a link between DNA changes in the sperm of male smokers and genetic changes in their newborn children. The research suggests that these changes may increase children’s risk of developing genetic diseases.
The findings indicate that men should stop smoking before they try to conceive, because a fertile sperm takes about three months to fully develop, according to researchers at the University of Bradford in England. “Anti-smoking campaigns are usually aimed at pregnant women, but couples planning their families—and public health policy-makers—need to know that the father must stop smoking before conception to avoid risking the health of the baby,” lead researcher Diana Anderson said in a news release.

She measured genetic changes in fathers’ blood and semen around the time of conception, as well as mothers’ blood and umbilical cord blood at the time of delivery, in 39 families. The families were asked about their lifestyle, as well as their occupational and environmental exposures, UPI reports.
“These transmitted genetic changes may raise the risk of developing cancer in childhood, particularly leukemia and other genetic diseases,” Anderson said. “We hope that this knowledge will urge men to cease smoking before trying to conceive.” She noted the study does not show a direct cause-and-effect relationship between a father’s smoking and any specific disease. She added, “It’s evident that that the lifestyle of men before they try to conceive can directly affect the genetic information of their children.”

The findings appear in the FASEB Journal. June 2012

Community groups from around the state of California celebrated the fact that neither marijuana legalization nor an expansion of the current “medical” marijuana system will be on the statewide ballot this November. The Secretary of State’s office has confirmed that none of the six pro-legalization measures gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Legalization failed in 2010 and last July the Los Angeles City Council voted to ban “medical” marijuana storefronts.

“We may be seeing the beginning of the end for marijuana advocates in our state,” noted John Redman, Executive Director of Californians for Drug-Free Youth (CADFY), the state’s oldest anti-drug coalition. “After sixteen years of experimenting with de facto legalization, the majority of Californians who don’t smoke marijuana have realized that more marijuana availability isn’t good for our kids or our state.”

Initiatives 1516, 1518, 1524, 1544, 1571, and 1579 varied in their specific provisions. Initiatives 1516, 1518, 1524 and 1544 would have essentially legalized marijuana, whereas initiatives 1571 and 1579 would have expanded medical marijuana and legalized industrial hemp. Prevention and youth advocates feared these initiatives would have further pushed up drug use rates in the state.

“We have seen a direct correlation between increase marijuana availability through dispensaries and increased youth marijuana use,” remarked Aaron Byzak, President of the Vista, California based North Coastal Prevention Coalition (NCPC).

Two peer-reviewed studies published in prominent scientific journals in late 2011 reveal that states with mature medical marijuana programs, like California, have youth marijuana rates significantly higher than states without such programs. This has translated to a significant increase in marijuana use over the last five years.

“For a time it appeared that we were losing ground as we fought for the future of our kids,” Byzak continued. “But it appears that the people of California have seen through the smoke screen and chosen a healthy future.”

“Preventionists in California can finally breathe a huge sigh of relief,” Redman commented. “And focus on preventing marijuana use before it ever starts.”

Source: Press Release Californians for Drug Free Youth August 30th 2012

Drug and drink-related deaths in Scotland have reached record levels, with cases relating to methadone making up almost half the figure. There were 584 recorded deaths in 2011 – up 99 on the previous year and a 76% increase on 2001.

Heroin substitute methadone was linked to 47% of deaths, with heroin and morphine accounting for a third. Justice Minister Roseanna Cunningham said the government was committed to helping serious addicts recover. But opposition parties said the proportion of deaths related to methadone, which is prescribed to help heroin users kick their habit, showed ministers had to rethink their policy. According to the figures:

* Heroin and/or morphine was linked to 206 deaths (35%)

* Methadone was linked to 275 deaths (47%)

* Benzodiazepines, like diazepam, were linked to 185 deaths (32%)

* Alcohol was linked to 129 deaths (22%)

* Cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines were liked to 36, eight and 24 deaths respectively

There have been increases in deaths in six of the past 10 years.

A total of 36% of deaths were among 35 to 44-year-olds, with people aged 24 to 34 involved in 32% of cases.

Men accounted for 73%, but the increase in the number of drug-related deaths was greater for women – at 117%.

Ms Cunningham, Scotland’s minister for community safety, said £28.6m was being invested in drug treatment over 2012-13, while naloxone kits, which help counteract the effects of opiate drug overdoses, were being handed out across Scotland.

She said: “Every one of these deaths is a tragedy and I extend my sympathies to the family members, friends and everyone connected.

“Today’s publication once again underlines Scotland has a legacy of drug misuse that stretches back decades, creating this upward 10-year trend in drug-related deaths. Many of those lost to us are older drug users who after years have become increasingly unwell.

“No government has done more to address the legacy and while it will take time to tackle this tragedy, we will do that through continuing to invest and support the recovery of those affected by drugs in Scotland.”

Biba Brand, of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said families seeking help for drug problems were now in their third generation.

“Drug-dependency is a chronic, relapsing condition for which there is no single solution and no quick or easy answer,” she said.

‘Legalised drug-taking’

Labour justice spokesman Lewis Macdonald said: “With a large proportion of deaths involving methadone, it would appear that the approach being taken to treatment isn’t working properly and fails to prevent addicts combining drugs into lethal cocktails.

“It isn’t good enough for the SNP to say they are spending more money on the same approach.” Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP added: “This appalling loss of life illustrates the human disaster that is the methadone programme. “It would appear hundreds of families are being blighted by what is little more than legalised drug-taking on an industrial scale.”

The Lib Dems’ Alison McInnes MSP said: “It is disappointing the community minister made no mention of prevention. “The starting gun to tackling drug abuse in our communities must be education.”

Elsewhere, the figures showed a total of 33% of deaths happened in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board area, with the proportion at 13% in Lothian. The overall figure accounted for 1% of all recorded deaths.

Source: see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-19294709 17 August 2012

Commentary: Legalization of Marijuana and the Impact on Children

In many state legislatures around the country, or by ballot (direct voter) referendum, important decisions are or will be made as to legalization of marijuana in some form. Before voters cast their ballots, or their elected officials decide, think about what will happen to children if marijuana becomes accessible to adults, much like alcohol.

California is one example. There, proponents are collecting signatures for one of four initiatives headed for California’s 2012 ballot to legalize the production, distribution and sale of marijuana for recreational use. The Regulate Marijuana like Wine Act of 2012 will legalize the drug and regulate it like alcohol.
Science reveals that the brain develops throughout adolescence and does not mature until ages 22 to 23 for young women, 24 to 25 for young men. Also, the younger kids are when they start using addictive drugs, the more likely they’ll become addicted. Children who start drinking or smoking pot at age 14 or before are eight times more likely to become addicted to alcohol, six times more likely to become addicted to marijuana than those who start in their 20s, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

If California is going to regulate marijuana like alcohol, how good a job does the state do at preventing underage drinking? We can anticipate how many California kids will smoke legal pot tomorrow by asking how many drink legal alcohol today, despite a legal purchase age of 21. The answer is terrible: alcohol use is double that of marijuana use among the state’s 5th and 7th graders and nearly double that of 9th and 11th graders, according to the 2008-2010 California Healthy Kids Survey.

Worse, the number of 7th graders who started using alcohol at age 14 or before is more than three times greater than the number who began smoking pot at those ages. For 9th graders and 11th graders, twice as many started using alcohol as marijuana during childhood. The actual numbers are staggering: one-third of California’s 7th graders (29 percent) and half of its 9th graders (47 percent) are at risk of becoming addicted to alcohol before they reach the legal drinking age because they had access and started drinking as children. These statistics may be the same, or worse, in any state in the nation.

Keeping drugs illegal prevents commercial industries from emerging, ones that are free to advertise and market to increase consumption and free to target children, a given percentage of whom will become addicted—and lifetime customers. We’ve been there, done that with alcohol and tobacco, whose business models depend on addicting children to replace users who die from tobacco- and alcohol-related diseases and accidents.
Everyone, Californians included, must get serious about protecting children from being exploited by commercial industries that sell addictive drugs. Much tougher provisions than those governing alcohol and tobacco will be required to force a marijuana industry to keep its hands off kids. Until such provisions are included in legalization initiatives, legislators and voters should reject proponents’ calls to turn another addictive drug into a commercial industry…unless they’re willing to declare war on children.

Sue Ruche is the President and CEO of the National Families in Action (NFIA). In 2010, NFIA launched its But What about the Children? Campaign which calls for 12 provisions to protect children and adolescents that must be in any law that legalizes marijuana.

Source: www.thepartnership@drugfree.org June 2012 (First published Dec.2011)

In a recent Editorial in Medical Journal Australia Wodak calls for Australia drug policy reform based on Portugal “improved outcomes and declined problematic drug use” since decriminalization.

Drug decriminalization in Portugal is a failure despite of various reports like this one published all over the world pretending the opposite (1, 2).

There is a complete and absurd campaign of manipulation of Portuguese drug policy facts and figures, which Wodak appears to have fallen for. This is not the academic standard we expect from MJA.

As the Executive Office of the President Barak Obama Drug Control Policy, states (3)

“it is safe to say that claims by drug legalization advocates regarding the impact of Portugal’s drug policy exceed the existing scientific basis”.

Let´s focus on Nuno Miranda – a drug dependent Portuguese car parker, speech: “I am lucky to live in a society that has accepted the fact that drugs and addiction are part of life” (4)

By making drug consumption less difficult, drug dependents throughout the world become neglected, have shorter and more difficult lives and reproduce this poor situation to their children.

Sir,

Do you want Australia to be populated by gentlemen like Nuno?

Kofi Annan definitively does not.

“Young people need models that may help them to find a positive way – a way without drugs. The eradication of drug abuse from our Planet is a giant task, but with the human organizations joint effort from all levels and the struggle of all, we can move forward to that direction” (5).

References:

5. Annan K, International Day Against the Abusing and Illicit Traffic on Drugs. New

Abstract

Background: Opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines are often misused in clinical practice. We determined whether implementation of a centralized prescription network offering real-time access to patient-level data on filled prescriptions (PharmaNet) reduced the number of potentially inappropriate prescriptions for opioids and benzodiazepines.

Methods: We conducted a time series analysis using prescription records between Jan. 1, 1993, and Dec. 31, 1997, for residents of the province of British Columbia who were receiving social assistance or were 65 years or older. We calculated monthly percentages of filled prescriptions for an opioid or a benzodiazepine that were deemed inappropriate (those issued by a different physician and dispensed at a different pharmacy within 7 days after a filled prescription of at least 30 tablets of the same drug).

Results: Within 6 months after implementation of PharmaNet in July 1995, we observed a relative reduction in inappropriate filled prescriptions for opioids of 32.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 31.0%–34.7%) among patients receiving social assistance; inappropriate filled prescriptions for benzodiazepines decreased by 48.6% (95% CI 43.2%–53.1%). Similar and statistically significant reductions were observed among residents 65 years or older.

Interpretation: The implementation of a centralized prescription network was associated with a dramatic reduction in inappropriate filled prescriptions for opioids and benzodiazepines.

Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal September 4, 2012

The ONDCP’s Gil Kerlikowske says the United States is aiming for a 15 percent reduction in the rate of domestic drug use by 2015.

Washington — The Obama administration is working to reduce the demand for illegal drugs inside the United States through public health and safety approaches, as well as cooperating with other countries to reduce drug supplies.

The White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released its annual National Drug Control Strategy for 2012 on April 17, and in a press statement the ONDCP said drug use in the United States “has dropped substantially over the past thirty years,” thanks to local, state and federal government efforts, as well as international cooperation.

“The rate of Americans using illicit drugs today is roughly one-third the rate it was in the late ’70s. More recently, there has been a 40 percent drop in current cocaine use and meth use has dropped by half,” the press release stated.

It added that to build on this progress, the Obama administration has requested more than $10 billion from the U.S. Congress in its 2013 fiscal year budget request “to support drug education programs and support for expanding access to drug treatment for people suffering from substance use disorders,” as well as $9.4 billion for domestic law enforcement, $3.7 billion for interdiction and $2 billion for international programs.

ONDCP Director Gil Kerlikowske said in the 2012 report that the United States is aiming for “a 15 percent reduction in the rate of drug use and similar reductions in drug use consequences” during the five-year period covering 2010–2015.

Through U.S. community-based programs and early health care intervention, Kerlikowske said, “we will work to prevent illicit drug use and addiction before their onset and bring more Americans in need of treatment into contact with the appropriate level of care.”

At the same time, “we will continue to counter drug production and trafficking within the United States and will implement new strategies to secure our borders against illicit drug flows. And we will work with international partners to reduce drug production and trafficking and strengthen rule of law, democratic institutions, citizen security, and respect for human rights around the world,” he said.

The report said that through “shared responsibility” and effective cooperation, “the United States — working with international partners — can reduce illicit drug use, production, trafficking, and associated violence” and that reduced supplies “are often closely tied to reductions in drug use and its consequences.”

As an example, the report cited cooperation between the United States and Colombia to disrupt the cocaine market over the past 10 years.

The two countries “have worked together to reduce drug production, strengthen the rule of law, and increase citizen security,” which had been threatened by drug-funded terrorist and criminal organizations, and as a result, “potential production capacity for pure cocaine in Colombia was reduced from an estimated 700 metric tons in 2001 to 270 metric tons in 2010, a 61 percent decline,” the report said.

The reduced availability has also led to lower reported rates of cocaine use in the United States, backed up by significant declines in the number of Americans testing positive for cocaine use, the report said.

Source: ONDCP Annual Drug Control Strategy April 2012

Population-based case-control study of recreational drug use and testis cancer risk confirms association between marijuana use and non-seminoma risk

Marijuana use may increase risk of testicular cancer: study September 10, 2012 in Cancer A new study from the University of Southern California (USC) has found a link between recreational marijuana use and an increased risk of developing subtypes of testicular cancer that tend to carry a somewhat worse prognosis. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings suggest that the potential cancer-causing effects of marijuana on testicular cells should be considered not only in personal decisions regarding recreational drug use, but also when marijuana and its derivatives are used for therapeutic purposes in young male patients.

Testicular cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in young men ages 15 to 45 years. The malignancy is becoming more common, and researchers suspect this is due to increasing exposure to unrecognized environmental causes. To see if recreational drug use might play a role, Victoria Cortessis, MSPH, PhD, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, and her colleagues looked at the self-reported history of recreational drug use in 163 young men diagnosed with testicular cancer and compared it with that of 292 healthy men of the same age and race/ethnicity.

The investigators found that men with a history of using marijuana were twice as likely to have subtypes of testicular cancer called non-seminoma and mixed germ cell tumors. These tumors usually occur in younger men and carry a somewhat worse prognosis than the seminoma subtype. The study’s findings confirm those from two previous reports in Cancer on a potential link between marijuana use and testicular cancer. “We do not know what marijuana triggers in the testis that may lead to carcinogenesis, although we speculate that it may be acting through the endocannabinoid system—the cellular network that responds to the active ingredient in marijuana—since this system has been shown to be important in the formation of sperm,” said Cortessis.

The researchers also discovered that men with a history of using cocaine had a reduced risk of both subtypes of testicular cancer. This finding suggests that men with testicular cancer are not simply more willing to report a history of using recreational drugs. While it is unknown how cocaine may influence testicular cancer risk, the authors suspect that the drug may kill sperm-producing germ cells since it has this effect on experimental animals. “If this is correct, then ‘prevention’ would come at a high price,” Cortessis said. “Although germ cells cannot develop cancer if they are first destroyed, fertility would also be impaired. Since this is the first study in which an association between cocaine use and lower testis cancer risk is noted, additional epidemiological studies are needed to validate the results.”

More information: “.” John Charles A. Lacson, Joshua D. Carroll, Ellenie Tuazon, Esteban J. Castelao, Leslie Bernstein, and Victoria K. Cortessis. Cancer; Published Online: September 10, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.27554). Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news Sept. 10th 2012

RIO DE JANEIRO—Business was brisk in the Mandela shantytown on a recent night. In the glow of a weak light bulb, customers pawed through packets of powdered cocaine and marijuana priced at $5, $10, $25. Teenage boys with semiautomatic weapons took in money and made change while flirting with girls in belly-baring tops lounging nearby.

Next to them, a gaggle of kids jumped on a trampoline, oblivious to the guns and drug-running that are part of everyday life in this and hundreds of other slums, known as favelas, across this metropolitan area of 12 million people. Conspicuously absent from the scene was crack, the most addictive and destructive drug in the triad that fuels Rio’s lucrative narcotics trade.

Once crack was introduced here about six years ago, Mandela and the surrounding complex of shantytowns became Rio’s main outdoor drug market, a “cracolandia,” or crackland, where users bought the rocks, smoked and lingered until the next hit. Hordes of addicts lived in cardboard shacks and filthy blankets, scrambling for cash and a fix.

Now, there was no crack on the rough wooden table displaying the goods for sale, and the addicts were gone. The change hadn’t come from any police or public health campaign. Instead, the dealers themselves have stopped selling the drug in Mandela and nearby Jacarezinho in a move that traffickers and others say will spread citywide within the next two years.

The drug bosses, often born and raised in the very slums they now lord over, say crack destabilizes their communities, making it harder to control areas long abandoned by the government. Law enforcement and city authorities, however, take credit for the change, arguing that drug gangs are only trying to create a distraction and persuade police to call off an offensive to take back the slums. Dealers shake their heads, insisting it was their decision to stop selling crack, the crystalized form of cocaine.

“Crack has been nothing but a disgrace for Rio. It’s time to stop,” said the drug boss in charge. He is Mandela’s second-in-command—a stocky man wearing a Lacoste shirt, heavy gold jewelry and a backpack bulging with $100,000 in drugs and cash. At 37, he’s an elder in Rio’s most established faction, the Comando Vermelho, or Red Command. He’s wanted by police, and didn’t want his name published.

He discussed the decision as he watched the night’s profits pile up in neat, rubber-banded stacks from across the narrow street. He kept one hand on his pistol and the other on a crackling radio that squawked out sales elsewhere in the slum and warned of police. The talk of crack left him agitated; he raised his voice, drawing looks from the fidgety young men across the road. Although crack makes him a lot of money, he has his own reasons to resent the drug; everyone who comes near it does, he said.

His brother—the one who studied, left the shantytown and joined the air force—fell prey to it. Crack users smoke it and often display more addictive behavior. The brother abandoned his family and his job, and now haunts the edges of the slum with other addicts. “I see this misery,” he said. “I’m a human being too, and I’m a leader here. I want to say I helped stop this.”

For the ban to really take hold, it would need the support of the city’s two other reigning factions: the Amigos dos Amigos, or Friends of Friends, and the Terceiro Comando, Third Command. That would mean giving up millions in profits. According to an estimate by the country’s Security Committee of the House and the Federal Police, Brazilians consume between 800 kilos and 1.2 tons of crack a day, a total valued at about $10 million.

It’s unclear how much Rio’s traffickers earn from the drug, but police apprehensions show a surge in its availability in the state. In 2008, police seized 14 kilos; two years later the annual seizure came to 200 kilos, according to the Public Security Institute. Nonetheless, the other gangs are signing up, said attorney Flavia Froes. Her clients include the most notorious figures of Rio’s underbelly, and she has been shuttling between them, visiting favelas and far-flung high-security prisons to talk up the idea.

“They’re joining en masse. They realized that this experience with crack was not good, even though it was lucrative. The social costs were tremendous. This wasn’t a drug for the rich; it was hitting their own communities.”

As Froes walks these slums, gingerly navigating potholed roads in six-inch stiletto heels and rhinestone-studded jeans, men with a gun in each hand defer to her, calling her “doutora,” or doctor, because of her studies, or “senhora,” or ma’am, out of respect. “While stocks last, they’ll sell. But it’s not being bought anymore,” she said. “Today we can say with certainty that we’re looking at the end of crack in Rio de Janeiro.”

Even those who question the traffickers’ sudden surge of social conscience say the idea of the city’s drug lords coming together to ban crack isn’t far-fetched. After all, a similar deal between factions kept the drug out of Rio for years.

Crack first took hold in Sao Paulo, the country’s business capital, during the 1990s. In the early 2000s, it spread across Brazil in an epidemic reminiscent of the one the U.S. had experienced decades earlier. A recent survey found it was eventually sold or consumed in 98 percent of Brazilian municipalities. Most of the cities were too understaffed, underfunded and uninformed to resist its onslaught. And yet, an agreement between factions kept crack a rarity in Rio until a handful of years ago, said Mario Sergio Duarte, Rio state’s former police chief.

“Rio was always cocaine and marijuana,” he said. “If drug traffickers are coming up with this strategy of going back to cocaine and marijuana, it’s not because they suddenly developed an awareness, or because they want to be charitable and help the addicts. It’s just that crack brings them too much trouble to be worth it.”

Duarte believes dealers turned to crack when their other business started losing ground within the city.

Police started taking back slums long given over to the drug trade as Rio vied to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The plan disrupted trade, and the factions began hemorrhaging money, said Duarte. Crack seemed like the solution, and the drug flooded the market.

“Crack was profit; it’s cheap, but it sells. Addiction comes quick. They were trying to make up their losses,” he said. Soon, the gangs were being haunted by the consequences.

Unlike the customers who came for marijuana or cocaine, dropped cash and left, crack users hung around the sales points, scraping for money for the next hit. They broke the

social code that usually maintains a tense calm in the slums; they stole, begged, threatened or sold their bodies to get their next rock. Their presence made the hard life there nearly unbearable.

The Mandela drug boss said crack even sapped the drug kingpins’ authority. “How can I tell someone he can’t steal, when I know I sold him the drugs that made him this way?” he said. Many saw their own family members and childhood friends fall under the drug’s spell.

“The same crack I sell to your son is being sold to mine. I talked to one of the pioneers in selling crack in Rio. His son’s using now. Everyone is saying we have to stop.”

In Mandela, residents had to step over crack users on their way between home and work and warn their children to be careful around the “zombies.” “There were robberies in the favela, violence, people killed in the middle of the street, people having sex or taking a crap anywhere,” said Cleber, an electronics repair shop owner who has lived in Mandela for 16 years. He declined to give his last name because he lives in a neighborhood ruled by gang members, and like many, prefers not to comment publicly.

“Now we’re going out again, we can set up a barbecue pit outside, have a drink with friends, without them gathering around,” he said. “We’re a little more at ease.”

Researcher Ignacio Cano, at the Violence Analysis Center of Rio de Janeiro State University, said crack is still being sold outside only select communities and that it’s hard to tell if the stop is a temporary, local measure or a real shift in operations citywide. He said unprecedented pressure bore down on drug gangs once they began selling crack. In particular, the addicts’ encampments were sources of social and health problems, drawing the attention of the authorities.

Since March 2011, dawn raids involving police, health and welfare officials began taking users off the streets to offer treatment, food, a checkup and a hot shower. Since then, 4,706 people have cycled through the system. Of those, 663 were children or teenagers.

“I have operations every day, all over Rio,” said Daphne Braga, who coordinates the effort for the city welfare office. At the same time, crack became such a dramatic problem nationally that the government allocated special funds to combat it, including a $253 million campaign launched by President Dilma Rousseff in May 2010 to stem the drug trade. Last November, another $2 billion were set aside to create treatment centers for addicts and get them off the streets. In May, 150 federal police officers occupied a Rio favela to implement a pilot program fighting the crack trade and helping users.

“There are many reasons why they might stop,” said Cano.

Crack’s social cost is clear where the drug is still sold, right outside Mandela and Jacarezinho. In the shantytown of Manguinhos, along a violent area known as the Gaza Strip, an army of crack addicts lives in encampments next to a rail line.

Another couple hundred gather inside the slum, buying from a stand inside a little restaurant. Customers eat next to young men with guns and must step around a table laden with packaged drugs and tightly bound wads of cash to use the restroom. Crack users smoke outside, by the lights of a community soccer field where an animated game draws onlookers late into the night.

Source: Associated PressAssociated Press: 08/18/12