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The House rejected the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment by a vote of 259 to 163. The amendment would have prohibited the Justice Department from prosecuting medical marijuana users in the 11 states that allow medical marijuana by state law.
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled against a man arrested for DUI. The defendent had admitted to smoking marijuana when pulled over for a traffick stop. A blood test, however, revealed only trace amounts of a THC metabolite that can remain in the body for up to a month. The Court ruled that the THC metabolite was still a controlled substance and under the state's "zero tolerance" policy, driving with it is considered DUI.
Research for America tested out the drug PROMETA, which has already been approved as a drug to aid with alcohol or cocaine dependence treatment, on methamphetamine dependent patients. Of the 50 patients who started the treatment, 31 remained until the very last check up and 30 of those 31 reported decreased cravings and use (verified by urine tests). The study also lacked behavioral support, which most treatment programs include. It should be noted that the study lacked a control group (although I can't verify this since I can't find the actual study).
Today's CESAR FAX examines the availability of prescription drugs online. The study found that out of the 185 sites that provide prescription drugs online, only 20 (11%) required a mailed in or faxed copy of the a valid prescription. This is the third year the study has been conducted, and it showed improvements from only 6% and 5% of sites requiring valid prescriptions in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
The U.N. released its World Drug Report for 2006 that outlines the recent trends worldwide in drug use, trafficking, and production. Some key findings: a stable number of addicts worldwide, more people are using cannabis, global opiate production dropped by 5%, cocaine production remained stable while seizures increased and use decreased only slightly (an aggregate effect of decreases in the Americas and rising prevalence in Europe).
French researchers conducted a case-control study of the link between childhood Leukemia and fetal exposure to alcohol. Alcohol use was found to be significantly associated with both lymphomic and nonlymphomic types of Leukemia. Cigarettes had no correlation, but drinking more than 4 cups of coffee per day did correlate to an increased risk of lymphomic Leukemia.
The ONDCP announced the results of Quest Diagnostics' workplace drug testing service fro the period of Jan-May 2006. Eighteen of every 10,000 workers tested positive for meth use, down from 33 per 10,000 in 2004. The decline was sharper among the Western and Central Western ares of the US, which saw meth use generally earlier than the East.
The Sentencing Project has released a report that evaluates the methamphetamine epidemic.
Retraction: This post has been edited from its original version. See commentary for further information.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of the 2005 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey that's been administered every other year since 1991. The main findings: 38.4% had tried marijuana once (down from 42.4% in 2001); 25.5% had reported binge drinking in the past 30 days (down from 29.9% in 2001); whites are more likely than Hispanics and blacks to report heavy drinking and cigarette use; and Hispanics reported more use of cocaine, heroin, and meth than blacks and whites. The full report is available here.
A study looking at remission and relapse rates of former alcoholics who had never received any treatment may offer some helpful advice. After a 3-year follow up, those had gotten help after the baseline survey were 19% more likely to remain in remission than those who had not gotten any help (62% vs. 43%).
THe ONDCP has announced a new ad campaign that aims at Hispanic methamphetamine users. Teens in this minority group are twice as likely to have tried the drug than whites or blacks of the same age group, and a meager 49% of Hispanics see meth experimentation as a "great risk." The advertisements can be seen here.
In a June 1st press release, the ONDCP announced the White House's first-ever synthetic drug control policy. The strategy outlines the White House's plan with the goal of reducing methamphetamine usage by 15% and domestic meth production by 25% in the next three years. The strategy has a three-pronged approach that consists of "effective implementation of the Combat Meth Act, signed into law by President Bush this March, which sets a national standard for restricting the retail sale of precursor chemicals within the United States; and strengthening law enforcement and border control activities, particularly with Mexico."
Following up on an earlier story, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the state of Alaska yesterday over a new law recriminalizing marijuana usage. The ACLU's lawsuit was expected, but Alaskan officials did not anticipate a medical marijuana grievance. The ACLU claims that the new law prohibits the use of marijuana for medical purposes, but this is not the only objection. Privacy remains the focal point of the conflict, as it was in the previous court rulings of the 1970s. See the ACLU's statement here.
A study from Australia looked at people who had died from opioid overdoses, and found a link to cirrhosis of the liver. Of all 841 deaths investigated, "10 per cent of those aged 35 to 44 and a quarter of those aged over 44 had been diagnosed with cirrhosis." This high prevalence among the group suggests a link, but no direct causal link could be determined by the study. This may help to explain why so many older, experienced heroin users overdose.
A new Alaskan law prohibits the possession of small amounts of marijuana, ending Alaska's period of decriminalized marijauna. This law extends even into the privacy of the home, which had previously been a reason for overturning a similar law in the 1970s. The Alaskan Supreme Court had ruled that the right to privacy was much more important than the harm caused by marijuana. The current supporters of the law claim that marijuana is more potent now than it was in the 1970s, and thus it poses a greater threat. The ACLU is planning on challenging the law in the courts immediately. However, the second half of this law, methamphetamine restrictions, has received support. This portion of the law concerns the sale of the meth ingredient ephedrine. It requires that anyone buying products that include ephedrine sign into a logbook and be at least 16 years old.
A 1991 policy for Zurich's heroin addicts appears to have "changed the image of heroin use as a rebellious act to an illness that needs therapy," according to researchers Carlos Nordt and Rudolf Stohler. The policy allowed for insurance covered methadone maintenance and safe places for addicts to use heroin. Researchers suggest that "Heroin seems to have become a `loser drug,' with its attractiveness fading for young people." This apparent success has led some to call for similar policies in the United Kingdom, where fatality rates from illicit drug use have outpaced all other European nations in the past decade.
The Bush Administration has set a goal of reducing methamphetamine usage 15% in three years. While new restrictions on the sale of methamphetamine ingredients found in cold medicines have assisted in cutting the number of domestic meth labs, the reduced supply has been replaced by purer and more addictive Mexican methamphetamine.
A recent study conducted by the Pacific Intstitute for Reseach and Evaluation (PIRE) found that boys and girls are affected quite differently by experimentation in drug use. Girls who experiment with drugs and sex are far more depressed than boys who do the same. According to PIRE, these adolescents have very little difference in their levels of depression prior to experimentation. Adolescent experimenters are also much more depressed than those who abstain. However, at high usage the levels of depression begin to equalize between the sexes.
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