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Archive for December, 2009

Marijuana Use by Teens More Detrimental than Previously Thought

Monday, December 28th, 2009

New research from the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Qc. suggests that the effect of daily cannabis use on the teenage brain is worse than previously thought. Moreover, the long-term effects appear irreversible.

Marijuana, the most used illicit drug, has long been considered a ‘soft’ drug—minimally damaging in comparison to most other, ‘hard’, drugs such as cocaine or heroin. Marijuana’s addictive properties have also been long argued.

However, according to researchers at the McGill University Health Centre, daily cannabis use leads to depression and anxiety, as it impacts both serotonin and norepinephrine—the chemical compounds that help control mood and anxiety in the brain.

Researchers observed 18 teenage rats as they were exposed to cannabis. The rats showed decreased levels of serotonin, affecting mood, and higher levels of norepinephrine, making them more susceptible to long-term stress (anxiety).

Permanent changes in these parts of the brain, say researchers, are linked to several different mental illnesses.

Even if the cannabis exposure was stopped, the study continues, at the end of the teenage years, the changes were still detectable in the rats in adulthood. T

he study’s lead researcher says that the study shows that the effects of cannabis use in teenagers is far more devastating, than in adults. Cannabis, it seems, interferes with the development of the serotonin and norepinephrine systems.

Next, researchers say they will observe young marijuana smokers.

Findings were published in The Neurobiology of Disease.

Source: Canadian Press

Posted in Cannabis, Drug Addiction, Marijuana | No Comments »

Merry Christmas

Friday, December 25th, 2009

Image courtesy of DryIcons

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Alcohol Addiction Found in Fruit Flies

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

According to a new study, fruit flies show both desperation and relapse when exposed to alcohol for a length of time.

Researchers say their study may shed light on the genetic roots of alcohol addiction.

Fruit flies, it may seem strange, are often used for genetic studies due both to their rapid reproductive rate, as well as their chemical pathways similar to humans. Previously, fruit flies were used for intoxication and tolerance studies.

This new study out of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) looked specifically at addiction, with the hope of later working “out the genes underlying addiction-like behaviours,” co-author Anita Devineni told National Geographic News.

For the first experiment, fruit flies were presented with two different liquids—one containing ethanol (a form of alcohol) and the other without. The flies were given unlimited access to the liquids, although feeders were only refilled once a day. The fruit flies showed an overwhelming preference for the alcohol-filled liquid.

Furthermore, the more they drank of it, the more they seemed to crave it—their bouts of drinking became more frequent over time.

In the second experiment, researchers tainted the alcoholic liquid with substances known to normally repulse fruit flies. However, they drank on!

Researchers then forced the flies into a three-day dry spell—quite a bout of time when your lifespan is about 30 days. As soon as the flies were offered the alcoholic liquid again, the flies returned to drinking at the same levels as before the enforced dry spell, very similar to an alcoholic’s relapse.

The next stage of research is in hopes of identifying the genes behind relapse, potentially leading to a lasting and effective addiction treatment for alcoholism.

The findings appear in Current Biology.

Source: National Geographic News

Posted in Alcohol, Alcohol Addiction | No Comments »

Dark Chocolate Found to Help Lower Stress

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Just in time for the Holidays, yet another reason to eat chocolate!

The “healing” properties of chocolate have long been suspected—the euphoric rush of endorphin triggered love-like feelings, the surge of satisfaction. For some, chocolate is even an aphrodisiac. Dark chocolate, with its high levels of antioxidants, has been purported to have a number of health benefits, from anticancer, to cough preventer and antidiarrhoeal effects.

There are also many connections between the foods we eat and addiction, with a great deal of research on addiction and nutrition. Good nutrition has proven to positively impact symptoms of withdrawal and craving. At Heritage Home, we have seen it for ourselves, taking great care to incorporate a healthy menu into our holistic addiction therapy program.

New research from the Nestle Research Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland now suggests that a daily dose of dark chocolate reduces stress in those experiencing high levels—great news for all of us here as we approach this chocolate-filled time of year. Recovering from alcohol or drug addiction can be a highly stressful experience as you learn to live and experience your life free of drugs and alcohol. And a new stress reliever is always welcomed news.

In their most recent study, Nestle researchers studied 30 healthy adult men and women who consumed two portions of 20 grams of dark chocolate daily for 14 consecutive days. Participants were split into two groups—low stress and moderate stress as measured by a questionnaire.

Individuals reporting higher levels of stress had such anxiety traits as experiencing higher levels of everyday stress, showing distinct differences in energy and hormonal metabolism, and differences in gut microbial activities.

With the daily dose of dark chocolate, these subjects showed reduced levels of stress-associated hormones and the normalization of stress-related metabolic differences, suggesting that a daily dose of dark chocolate positively impacts stress-related metabolic differences in individuals with higher levels of stress.

Source: Behavioral Health Central

Posted in Alcohol Addiction, Drug Addiction, Nutrition, Substance Abuse | No Comments »

Drug Addiction in Vancouver Epidemic

Friday, December 18th, 2009

A new report released last month found that the hard drug problem in Vancouver is “epidemic”, according to a new article.

The report from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS cites a ten-fold increase in the use of crack cocaine and a major increase in the use of crystal meth by Vancouver’s street youth over the last 10 years.

Specifically, researchers found that an approximate 90 percent of adult drug users could score crack or cocaine within 10 minutes, and 60 percent of street youth claimed to be able to score crystal meth in the same time frame. Furthermore, 40 percent of street youth surveyed reported having injected drugs publicly.

The study, the “first comprehensive look at the epidemic of hard drugs in Vancouver”, concludes that the federal government’s drug strategy is “failing”, according to authors Evan Wood and Thomas Kerr.

They argue, instead, for more harm reduction policies, like the controversial supervised injection sites, as the key to reducing the various harms related to drug addiction. Insite, one such injection site, and initiatives are cited as the reason for significant reductions in both HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C cases from the reduction in needle sharing.

Consequently, the Canadian government is in the process of trying to shut down Insite. At the moment, the government is appealing a May decision from the BC Supreme Court that keeps their doors open while their fate is being decided.

Critics, however, argue that Vancouver has the more harm reduction programs in place and yet has the largest drug problem in the country. Although harm reduction policies, they say, successfully reduce harms to addicts, the programs don’t necessarily work to curb or end drug use.

At Heritage Home Drug Rehab Centre, we work closely and intensely with all of our clients to achieve total abstinence through a psychotherapeutic addiction program.

However, we also recognize that this can be unrealistic goal for some and so we also provide services such as Methadone Therapy, also considered a harm reduction program, to support and enhance our holistic addiction treatment program.

Source: Maclean’s

Posted in Crack-Cocaine, Drug Addiction, Substance Abuse | 2 Comments »

Alcohol Consumption & Alcohol-Related Deaths on the Rise in BC

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

According to a report released this week, British Columbians are consuming more alcohol, and dying more from alcohol-related health harms, than they were ten years ago.

The report, “Alcohol Pricing, Public Health & the HST: Proposed Incentives for BC Drinkers to Make Healthy Choices” from the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research (CARBC), found that alcohol consumption in the province rose 16 percent from 1998 to 2008, compared to a 9 percent increase in the rest of Canada.

This translates into an increase from 7.5 litres in 1998 to 8.7 litres of alcohol consumed per capita in 2008. Thus, the average British Columbian aged 15 years or older drank 525 alcoholic drinks in 2008 compared to 475 drinks in 1998.

Furthermore, perhaps even more alarmingly, researchers found an increase in alcohol-related deaths to 1,993 deaths in 2007, a 9.6 percent increase in just five years.

Specifically, deaths due to liver cirrhosis, which researchers consider the most accurate indicator of alcohol-health harms, rose 39 percent in the same time period.

Researchers also discovered an increase in crack cocaine and ecstasy use in the province, but a decrease in marijuana, synonymous with BC, and crystal meth.

The report, part of the BC Alcohol & Other Drug Monitoring Project, attributes the rise in alcohol consumption to the ease of access to alcohol due to recent increases in the number of liquor stores in the province, an increase in disposable income, and the dip in the price of alcohol compared to the overall cost of living.

Researchers recommend the price of alcoholic beverages be increased in order to stem abundant consumption. Furthermore, they would like to see pricing be in relation to alcoholic content, thereby making drinks with high alcohol content have a high price tag.

Will a bump in the price of alcohol really deter people from drinking or drinking more?

Do you think we would see British Columbians drinking less or, taking a lesson from prohibition, marijuana and other illegal drugs, would we see a rise in a black market?

Source: Canada.com

Posted in Alcohol, Alcohol Addiction, Substance Abuse | No Comments »

Prescription Drug Abuse Among US Teens Alarmingly High : NIDA

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) annual survey, Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF) of 2009, the number of high school students reporting prescription drug abuse in the US continues to be high, while the use of other illicit drugs decreases.

Major usage trends among US teens include a significant decrease in methamphetamine use, stalled declines of marijuana use, and consistently high abuse of prescription drugs.

Findings, released yesterday December 14th 2009 at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., were announced by President Obama’s so-named drug czar Gil Kerlikowske (http://www.sobriety.ca/blog/2009/07/shifting-rhetoric-from-war-to-treatment.html).

The Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF) is a series of classroom surveys of 8th, 10th and 12th grade students across the US. In all, researchers from the University of Michigan, under a grant from NIDA, surveyed 46,097 students from 389 public and private schools.

The number of high school students reporting past year use of methamphetamine in 2009 was at its lowest since 1999, when questions regarding the drug were first added to the survey. In 1999, 4.7 percent of students reported having used methamphetamine in the 12 preceding months. In 2009, this number is now at 1.2 percent of students.

Smoking tobacco was also at its lowest rate in the MTF’s history across all grades.

The past year use of cocaine also decreased, to 3.4 percent of 12th grade students—down an entire percentage point from the 2008 survey. Hallucinogen use also decreased in the last year, down over a percentage point to 4.7 percent of 12th graders.

The perceived harmfulness, a factor in determining future drug addiction and abuse, of LSD, amphetamines, sedatives/barbiturates, heroin, and cocaine all increased, while the perceived availability of many of these illicit drugs decreased significantly—both good signs.

However, marijuana use across all three grades, having showed a consistent downward trend since the mid-1990s, seems to have stalled in 2009. Rates of marijuana use among the high school students were the same as five years ago, with about 32.8 percent of 12th graders, 26.7 percent of 10th graders, and 11.8 percent of 8th graders all reporting past year use of the drug.

Nevertheless, this is still significantly lower than in the mid-1990s.

Furthermore, slightly more than half the students, about 55.2 percent, did not perceive the occasional use of marijuana as potentially harmful.

There is also a continued high rate of the non-medical use of prescription drugs and cough syrup among US teens. Seven of the top 10 drugs abused by 12th grade students, for example, in the past year were either prescribed or bought over the counter. Furthermore, about 10 percent of students reported non-medical use of Vicodin, and five percent non-medical Oxycontin use. Finally, more than five percent of 10th and 12th grade students also reported non-medical use of Adderall.

Non-medical use of these painkillers has increased among 10th graders in the past five years.

The 2009 MTF also measured how students obtained their prescription drugs, a recent addition to the survey. Researchers found that 19 percent of 12th grade students reported to have obtained their prescription drugs with a doctor’s prescription, eight percent from a dealer, and 66 percent reported having obtained the drugs from a friend or relative. Of this last group, 12 percent reported that they “took them, 21 percent that they “bought them”, and 33 percent that they were “given them”. The Internet does not appear to be a major source for these drugs.

Teen prescription drug abuse has been a very hot topic as of late, attracting much media attention. NIDA’s survey points to this generation’s apparent preference for prescription medication for those in search of a high, serving to highlight where policymakers, educators, counsellors, and parents need to focus their attention and preventative measures—before it’s too late.

Results can be viewed at the Monitoring the Future website: http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/

Source: NIDA

Posted in Cocaine, Drug Addiction, Prescription Drugs, Substance Abuse | No Comments »

Alcohol and Your Brain

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Have you ever wondered what Alcohol does to your brain?

A recent blog entry at Psychology Today helps explain the known effects of alcohol on the brain, beyond intoxication.

If you ever thought that drinking more than moderately wasn’t detrimental to your mind long-term, think again.

According to research gathered by blog author Susan Tapert, about 50 percent of those who meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol addiction show some signs of thinking and memory problems. Abilities to plan ahead, withhold responses, learn and hold new information, and work with spatial information were all particularly affected.

Furthermore, alcohol appears to negatively impact the organ itself. The size and shape of brain structures were found to be abnormal in heavy drinkers. Overall, the amount of grey matter, or your brain cells, and white matter, the cabling between your brain cells, were significantly reduced.

This was particularly true within the frontal lobes, where planning, withholding responses, decision-making, and emotional regulation all occur. The quality of white matter was also found to be poorer in chronic heavy drinkers, effecting how information is relayed within your brain.

What does this mean?
Chronic heavy drinkers, or those with an alcohol addiction, must work harder to think and retain information.

Some good news
The adverse effects of misusing or abusing alcohol won’t last forever—if you stop abusing alcohol. Difficulties with concentration and memory tend to greatly improve once alcohol is no longer introduced into your system. Even in just the first month of sobriety, you’ll find that suddenly you have a “clear mind”, helping you find a new appreciation for your life and sobriety.

Posted in Alcohol, Alcohol Addiction, Substance Abuse | No Comments »

Cocaine Growing in Popularity in the UK

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

New statistics, released by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) in the UK show more young people are seeking treatment for cocaine addiction in the last four years.

According to the National Health Service (NHS), Britain’s government health department, the number of 18 to 24 year olds who sought cocaine addiction treatment at NHS funded treatment centres has increased by 88 percent in the last four years.

The total number of 18 to 24 year olds who sought treatment with the NTA rose from 1,591 in 2005-06 to 2,998 in 2008-09. From this group, the number of women seeking drug addiction treatment rose 80 percent to 592, while the number of men rose 91 percent to 2,406.

Among those under 35 years, the number of women seeking cocaine addiction treatment rose 60 percent, and the number of men 75%, during the same time period. The average age of first cocaine use, according to data gathered by the NTA, was 21 years.

Conversely, the number of women in the UK seeking treatment for heroin and crack cocaine dropped ever so slightly, by eight percent. Experts say it is encouraging to see women drug users start to turn away from heroin and crack cocaine, which involve the most crime, physical harm, and family problems.

However, experts in the UK say that it is still very concerning to see such great increases in the number of cocaine users. There seems to be mounting evidence of a generational shift in hard drug users, and a growing preference for cocaine.

Experts say that these new findings not only demonstrate cocaine’s growing popularity in the UK, but of its capacity to damage users.

The NTA’s findings can be viewed on BBC News’ website.

Source: BBC News

Posted in Cocaine, Drug Addiction, Substance Abuse | No Comments »

Painkillers Linked to More Deaths in Canada

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

New study concludes that narcotic prescription medicines are fatal when mixed with alcohol or sedatives, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

Moreover, prescription painkillers, opioids, have been linked with more deaths due to misuse or abuse. The number of deaths associated with opioids in Canada has nearly doubled in the last 13 years, according to the study released Monday December 7, 2009.

Researchers called opioids “Canada’s hidden drug problem”, killing more that heroin overdoses. In Ontario alone, opioid-related deaths nearly doubled from 1991 to 2004, due largely to the increasing popularity of these prescription drugs.

Prescriptions in Ontario increased by a shockingly 850% between 1991 and 2007, directly correlated, researchers say, to the introduction of oxycodone to the Canadian market.

Increases in prescription drug abuse and addiction in Canada has been a hot topic for a number of months, including its rise in popularity among teens. Currently, Canada ranks among the world’s heaviest consumers of prescription drugs—the fourth highest per capita use according to a 2002 Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) report.

What is new, and alarming, is the sharp rise in opiod-related deaths over the last 15 years.

When the drug was released in Canada in the late 1990s, opioid-related deaths shot up by 40 percent. Oxycodone-related deaths have, over the years, increased fivefold to 103 people in 2003 in Ontario, compared to 16 in 1999. In the last year of the study, opioids were responsible for 300 deaths in Ontario.

There seems to be a common misconception of the drug’s safety since a licensed, trusted physician has prescribed them.

Researchers are alarmed, calling opioid-related deaths a “major public health issue”. They point to the growing trend among physicians to prescribe narcotic painkillers, over other effective pain-relievers on the market.

Oxycodone, for example, was originally prescribed for pain management among terminal cancer patients and other severe cases of chronic pain. Today, doctors write prescriptions for the narcotic for anything from back pain to Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

The medical community is seemingly unaware of the health risks, and researchers aren’t entirely clear whether both doctors and patients fully understand or are fully aware of the serious side effects—including the high risk of death.

There appears to be a wide public misconception that street or illicit drug abuse is a more prevalent problem. However, in reality, prescription drug addiction is a much bigger problem, and can often be left untreated.

Opioid addiction is a serious grave problem. Not only can their misuse or abuse lead to death, but they are also highly addictive. Treatment for an opioid addiction often requires methadone therapy along side a drug addiction treatment program that focuses on psychotherapy.

View video here.

Source: The Montreal Gazette

Posted in Drug Addiction, Prescription Drugs, Substance Abuse | No Comments »