« June 2006 | Main | August 2006 »
This week's CESAR FAX shows US cigarette sales at their lowest since 1951. Sales had followed a steady rise until they peaked in the early 1980's, at which point a generally steady decline has been maintained. The total for last year was 378 billion cigarettes.
Bolivian President Evo Morales came out against the US drug policy for the Andean region. The US will likely end its trade agreement with Bolivia that is contingent on Bolivia's cooperation with US drug policy of crop eradication and military enforcement. Morales said that the US is punishing his country for its ties to Cuba and Venezuela in a move that Morales equated to "blackmail".
A new report published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety shows prescription opioid-related OD deaths are on the rise much more quickly than heroin and cocaine-related deaths. "Between 1999 and 2002, the number of overdose deaths linked to opioids increased by 91.2 percent...compared to 22.8 percent for cocaine and 12.4 percent for heroin."
Join Together reports on a prison in Indiana dedicated to inmate re-entry into society. The program, which began in January, has already grown from 17 to 179 and shows promise. The program includes an on-site DMV to issue IDs (shown to be a factor in recidivism rates), post-release job programming, and credential programs in many different areas. The prison is believed to be the first dedicated entirely to re-entry.
California's Prop. 36 was amended by state legislators and approved by Governor Schwarzenegger. The changes now allow judges to incarcerate offenders who are eligible for treatment (rather than incarceration) if they violate probation, including a relapse. Soon after the governor signed the bill, the DPA filed a suit to have it stricken down as unconstitutional on the grounds that voters approved Prop. 36 by a 61% approval.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution released a study that assessed the therapuetic value of psilocybin, a pyschoactive found in "magic mushrooms." Thirty-six people participated in the study, which used Ritalin as a control. After the two month follow up to the study, the psilocybin group scored about twice as high on the three categories of changes in "positive attitudes about life and/or self," "positive mood changes," and "positive behavior changes."
Adolescent use of marijuana primes the brain for increased heroin sensitivity according to a new study done on rats. One group of the rats was given THC during adolescence and the control group given the vehicle. After the THC exposure ended, rats were allowed to seld administer heroin. The rats that had been pretreated with THC responded more to lower doses and had a higher maintainence level than the rats that hadn't been exposed to THC.
A Canadian study examined the differences in young adult (aged 20-24) cigarette initiation rates between the different provinces. The study found that the provinces that lowered cigarette taxes by $14-21 (Canadian dollars) per carton showed initiation rates of 10.5% among the group, as compared to the 8.5% among the provinces that hadn't lowered the tax. The provinces had lowered the taxes in the early '90s as a way to reduce cigarette smuggling.
|
|