The Drug Update

A former Texas drug cop, praised as one of the best in his field by his peers, is releasing a video titled "Never Get Busted Again." The aim of the video, says creator Barry Cooper, is to teach marijuana users and dealers how to avoid getting caught by the law. After coming to believe that his arrests, especially of marijuana offenders, were destroying families, he decided to make the video as a way to appease his conscience. The video will include how to fool drug-sniffing dogs, the best places to stash marijuana, and other helpful tips for the would-be arrestee.

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Today's CESAR FAX reported on the availability of different drugs to undergraduate students at a large university. The top of the list: alcohol (100%), marijuana (95%), Adderall (89%), Ritalin (71%) thought the drugs were either "very easy" or "easy" to obtain. That study builds upon the new SAHMSA report on prescription drugs. There are now more people initiating prescription drug use every year (2.7 million) than are initiating marijuana use (2.1 million). This is partly due to the fact that marijuana has been popular much longer, and therefore has a much smaller pool of never-used people to draw from. Taken together, this data shows a trend of increasing use of prescription drugs, especially among young adults.

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This week's CESAR FAX showed another discrepancy between parents and teens when it comes to drugs. In an open-ended question, 27% (a plurality) of teens aged 12-17 said that drugs were the number one concern for people of their age. However, 58% of parents (of kids in the age range) questioned thought that social pressures were the number one concern of teens whereas only 12% thought it was drugs. The results supplement the CESAR FAX from August 7th which found that parents also underestimate their kids' drug use.

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Last week's CESAR FAX revealed a gap between children's drug use and parents' awareness of said use. For 6th graders, 21% report alcohol use in the apst year whereas only 5% of parents of 6th graders believe their child had ever even tried alcohol. The gap shrinks with older children: for 12th graders, its 68% that use and 41% of parents that know about it. The trends are similar for other drugs.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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A study tracked teen admissions into an emergency room and drug tests administered to them. Even though all 443 patients tracked were supposed to be tested, only 193 actually were. Of those 193, 40% tested positive with 29% having opiates, 11% having alcohol, and 20% positive for marijuana. The authors of the study conclude that drug tests should be routinely performed and used to identify candidates for treatment after hospitalization rather than have the tests used only to determine appropriate medical care at the time of the visit.

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The May 22 CESAR Fax reports that the majority (82%) of club drug users consume three or more type of illicit drugs during their lifetimes. Users most likely to report usage of multiple illicit drugs consumed methamphetamine, ketamine, LSD, MDMA, GHB, or flunitrazepam. Only 1% of club drug users stuck to one type of drug.

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The May 1st CESAR Fax reports that for identical mail in and web surveys, the web surveys had the same results with a higher response rate. The survey was conducted amongst a college age population, which has widespread internet access; other populations may not respond to a web survey with the same level of participation.

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As you may have noticed, the layout of the site has been changed. First, we have added some links on the side. This will be expanded over time as we add more sources and blogs from all areas of the political spectrum. Second, we have added an about us section that describes the authors and the blog's purpose. Let us know if you have any comments.

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Mexico's President Fox has stated that he will not sign the decriminalization bill in its current form. Fox would like "to make it absolutely clear that in our country the possession of drugs and their consumption are and continue to be crimes." The original bill was meant to strengthen the drug laws by defining the upper limits of legal possesion by addicts, and also by allowing the the state and local police to enforce the drug laws, which under the current law is only a federal crime. The bill was not meant as a relaxation of the drug laws. Fox will send the bill back to congress to make changes to the bill.

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This post is to inform readers that we will be slowing the pace of posting over the next few days as the result of a tragic incident personal to the authors. The pace should pick up again hopefully early next week, at which point there will be some changes to the layout of the site. The changes include links to news sources and blogs, organized according to bias. Additionally, there will be an "About Us" section with a short biography of the authors and an outlined purpose for the website. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the site's layout and content, do not hesitate to contact any of the authors. Contact the authors by clicking on any of their names under a post.

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A study (also found here) done at Maastricht University in the Netherlands examined the effect of MDMA and alcohol, both in combination and by themselves, on "behavioral measures of impulsivity and risk-taking behavior." The study found that "MDMA decreased stop reaction time in the stop-signal task indicating increased impulse control" and also that there appeared to be no interaction effect on any of the measured criteria.

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The Justice Policy Institute released a report outlining some of the successes of California's Prop. 36. Previous studies done on the proposition's effectiveness (here and here) have shown the same thing: it works. California saw the greatest decline in the number of drug-related inmates among the nation's 10 largest states since 2000. California also came in second (to New York) overall in the percentage drop of those imprisoned. Also, "The rate of incarceration for drug-possession offenses has gone from 89 per 100,000 California adults in December 2000 to 58 in December 2005—a 34.3 percent decrease." The full report can be found here.

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Today's CESAR Fax reports the difference between the 1993 and 2003 data for the national Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS). While treatment for alcohol remained highest, data shows a decline from 57% of cases to 41%, while cocaine dropped 3 percentage points to 14% of cases. In the meanwhile, marijuana admissions doubled and stimulant admissions tripled, while opiate admission increased 5 percentage points to 18%.

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April 10th's CESAR Fax reports on a lower amount of youth daytime dealing and drug use on nonschool days when compared with normal school days. The report cites four possible reasons for the data, including higher opportunity for use and dealing at school, improved enforcement and detection of drug-related behaviors at schools, better parental supervision of children during the daytime on nonschool days, and/or inactivity of youth in the morning on nonschool days.

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The Department of Education has relinquished statistics on students who were denied federal aid based on prior drug convictions to Students for Sensible Drug Policy following a lawsuit the group filed to get the information for free. It turns out that since the 2000-2001 school year (the first year the rule was enacted), 189,065 students have been denied financial aid based on prior drug convictions. This accounts for about 1 in every 400 students that apply for federal aid.

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A British study found that 1/3 of drivers who tested positive for illicit drugs passed an impairment test by driving well. Additionally, police officers were unable to find any apparent impairment in those drivers during Field Impairment Tests.

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A tribe of Indians in Colombia has started selling a controversial new soft drink, Coca-Sek, that is made with a syrup that's produced by boiling coca leaves. They are going to begin selling the drink nation-wide in Colombia, and hope to break into the energy drink market.

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A study done by Sonya Brady of UCSF and Karen Matthews of the University of Pittsburgh found a link between violent video games and alcohol and drug use. The research was conducted on 100 males aged 18-21 found that those who played the violent video game had higher blood pressure and "more permissive attitudes toward using alcohol and marijuana." The abstract can be found here.

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A New Zealand study found a high correlation between marijuana use and the use of other illicit drugs. The correlation was highest during youth, declining with age. However, while the study's "findings may support a general causal model such as the cannabis gateway hypothesis...the actual causal mechanisms underlying such a gateway, and the extent to which these causal mechanisms are direct or indirect, remain unclear." Thus, the correlation, while strong, remains spurious.

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released a report that outlines some patterns of youth drug use. Among 12-17 year-olds, 10.9% reported using illicit drugs in the past month for 2004, down from 11.4% in 2002. Alcohol use reported by teens remained constant, with 17.67% reporting drinking within the last month.

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A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) sponsered study "presents state estimates for 22 measures of substance use or mental health problems based on the 2003 and 2004 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUHs)." An interesting feature of the study is a state-by-state measure of serious psychological distress among adults. This New York Times article runs through a few key points of the study.

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A judge awarded a group of South Carolina high school students with a $1.2 million sum after their constitutional rights were violated. The violation occured when police raided the school with guns drawn but found no drugs. 59 families participated in the suit against the police and school district.

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The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) commissioned county workers from Fairfax County to collect sewage water earlier this month. The purpose? To test the water for levels of a urinary waste product of cocaine, benzoylecgonine. By testing the levels, they hope to be able to extrapolate the amount of cocaine used in the area, and from there the number of cocaine users. The ONDCP hopes that this will provide more accurate numbers than surveys, which rely on the honesty of participants. The same method was used last year in Italy, and implied about twice as many users as had been previously thought.

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March 20th's CESAR Fax reports on statistics that show young females leading the way in initiating drug use. 1.5 million females began using alcohol in 2004, compared with 1.2 million males, and there are similar differences for cigarettes and marijuana usage.

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According to a national survey in Britain, a quarter of British secondary school students have drank alcohol in the past week and a fifth have tried drugs in the past year. 10% of the 9000 11-15 year-olds surveyed said that they smoke at least one cigarette each week. The survey shows that drug usage has remained constant in the past five years, despite efforts to fight such abuse, although one government spokesman says that the survey shows decreasing numbers of alcohol users.

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A study released on the characteristics of initiates to inhalants reveals that kids in families 200% above the poverty line or more accounted for two thirds of the new initiates. Reports on the survey have also stated that whites are more likely than others to try inhalants, based on the fact that 70.1% of the initiates were white. However, the US is about 75% white, which means whites may actually be underrepresented in the new initiates to inhalants.

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NPR held a discussion today regarding the most potent naturally occuring hallucinogen, salvia. Many first time salvia users experiences are too intense, leading them to never try the drug again. Among other things, there is consideration of the psychoactive's potential to treat stimulant abuse.

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Australia is going to start out with a new education program about marijuana that hopes to be effective by being a little more interactive. By showing smoking devices such as water bongs, the program hopes to educate kids in a way that's more hands-on.

Continue reading "Australia Tries New Cannabis Education Strategy" »

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National Development and Research Institutes conducted a study of trends in self-reported versus actual drug usage. 93 percent of marijuana users truthfully reported their habits, while as little as 28 percent of crack and cocaine abusers reported usage. The study was conducted by surveying subjects while testing their urine samples, then examining the disparity between reported and actual drug usage.

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In a recent press-release, the Office of National Drug Control Policy cited a study that points out the correlation between parental involvement and teen risk-taking. The study specifically names teen drug usage and sexual activity, both of which are lower in teens who have more involved parents. This involvement requires a "balanced" style where parents are "warm, and involved, firm in setting limits, and show respect for their teen."

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A study was released that links high-strain jobs to illicit drug use. Analysis of the data suggests that having little control of the job makes a person 2 or 3 times more likely to start abusing drugs. The study followed people who were initially drug-free, and interviewed them a year later. The the temporal reltionship does suggest that the low-control jobs causes the drug abuse, the researchers were quick to say that more studies are needed to show what characteristics of the workplace actually contribute to drug abuse.

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February 13th's CESAR Fax calls to attention a Colorado survey that found a high number of adolescent patients in treatment report usage of club drugs at least once in their lifetime. Nearly 50% had used LSD, followed by MDMA and methamphetamine usage both pinned around 30%.

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A review of scientific literature in the Drug Court Review concluded that marijuana detection times are actually shorter than previously thought. The review finds that the detection window for frequent users is less than 10 days, and 3-4 days for casual marijuana users. After these time periods, indicators of marijuana usage - which can disqualify users from a great number of jobs - disappear.

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Salvia has been cited as a leading cause for the suicide of a 17 year-old Delaware youth. Efforts to nationally outlaw the powerful hallucinogen in the United States have stalled because of salvia's importance to Native Americans.

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The New York Times reports on the trend of states passing the cost of legal defense to the criminals who are guaranteed such a service as a right. One example is a former park ranger who served nine months in prison for possession and sale of marijuana and returned to society only to face $1900 in court costs and fees. The state has taken away her right to vote until she pays.

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A study has found that people who smoked heavily will be at higher risk for stroke even years after quitting when compared with those who never smoked in the first place. Researchers found, through MRIs, that smokers who had quit even 30 years prior still had thicker arteries than those who never started smoking.

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Senate candidate and former Arizona Democratic Party chairman Jim Pederson's 24-year-old son was arrested for charges that include possession of narcotics, marijuana and paraphernalia, and misconduct with weapons. He was accused of selling to college-age students.

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An article uses James Frey's sensationalized accounts of drug use as an example of overhyping the threat of drugs. While not playing down the consequences of drug abuse, the article evaluates the negative trend of fabricated stories or absolute hyperbole in writing about drug usage, citing societal attitudes and misguided legislation.

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The Centers of Disease and Prevention conducted a study of rhesus monkeys that has provided "the strongest animal data yet suggesting that potent antiretrovirals given before HIV exposure may prevent sexual HIV transmission." The study consisted of six monkeys given Truvada, a drug typically given to HIV patients as part of a cocktail to prevent the onset of AIDS. All six monkeys were then exposed to the HIV virus once a week for fourteen weeks. The six monkeys remained HIV free. Earlier in the study, nine different monkeys were exposed in the same way without the drug, and they all became infected.

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A North Dakota State student found out the answer to this question the hard way when she attempted to purchase marijuana from the police station. Shortly thereafter, the police arrested the student for criminal attempt and possession of drug paraphernalia.

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In Britain, only new recruits were tested for drugs like marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin. A new policy changes that, however. As of January 25th, all metropolitan officers including the chief constable can be tested for drug use. The policy's goal is to help keep addicts out of the police force.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics revised their policy statement, lending support to needle exchange programs to slow the spread of HIV. The revision is "part of a comprehensive set of positions on dealing with HIV infection among youth."

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A new federal analysis shows that in the year 2004, girls aged 12-17 started using different substances at higher rates than boys. Specifically, 17% more girls started drinking; 29% more started smoking cigarettes; and 17% more started smoking marijuana. However, the study leaves unclear the amount of current smokers and drinkers as it only focuses on teens who started in 2004.

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Indiana's Lake Central Board of Education has changed existing drug policy to include tests for students as early as seventh grade. The policy would not punish students with expulsion or suspensions, but rather encourage (not require) counseling. Students selected for testing would be all those participating in extracurricular activies or those driving to school.

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Earlier this week, we reported that the SSDP is suing the Department of Education for violating the Freedom of Information Act. Here is a copy of the lawsuit, and the