Oroville resident and founder of the Drug Endangered Children's program, Sue Webber-Brown, was recently invited to meet with President George Bush. She is one of 12 people who received a special invitation to speak to the president about their work in drug prevention programs. President Bush hosted meetings on "Teen Drug Use" on Dec. 11, and he had a press conference in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to White House concerning the results of the "Monitoring the Future" study conducted by the University of Michigan. [continues 1921 words]
One night at a party, Bobby swallowed two Xanax and snorted two more. Then he climbed behind the wheel and hit two mail boxes. Later that night, while wandering around, he fell against a brick wall, severely injuring his eye. Bobby is one of the many teenagers these days who abuses prescription drugs. He and the other teens in this story spoke on condition that their last names be withheld. Teenagers use drugs for various reasons, such as to concentrate better, to feel numb or simply to just have fun and party with their friends. [continues 757 words]
Policy on Marijuania Is Hypocritical Allow me to present Exhibit A in the case of Common Sense V. The United States of America. Somewhere in this country, a man is sitting in a prison cell, wasting away. This man lived a normal middle-class American life up until his incarceration. He had paid his taxes and contributed to his community. He'd worked at a decent job. More than likely, he has a family trying to get by without him for the next 10 to 15 years. There is no chance of an early release for this man. [continues 756 words]
After Thirty-Five Years and $500 Billion, Drugs Are as Cheap and Plentiful as Ever: An Anatomy of a Failure. 1. After Pablo On the day of his death, December 2nd, 1993, the Colombian billionaire drug kingpin Pablo Escobar was on the run and living in a small, tiled-roof house in a middle-class neighborhood of Medellin, close to the soccer stadium. He died, theatrically, -ridiculously, gunned down by a Colombian police manhunt squad while he tried to flee across the barrio's rooftops, a fat, bearded man who had kicked off his flip-flops to try to outrun the bullets. The first thing the American drug agents who arrived on the scene wanted to do was to make sure that the corpse was actually Escobar's. The second thing was to check his house. [continues 15494 words]
In mid-October it was announced that the needle exchange had until the end of November to clean up its act, or face eviction from its landlord. I live approximately two blocks from the exchange and can tell you that the sight of needles, blood, and human waste is still a common occurrence. A day doesn't go by where we don't find needles in front of our building, or in our building, as users sometimes kick needles underneath our garage door after they have finished injecting. [continues 107 words]
ALMOST HALF of American adults have tried marijuana, and the number of people who use it regularly has increased to about 15 million. This expanding use of marijuana can no longer be dismissed as simply a youthful fad that can be eliminated through the war on drugs. Still, marijuana arrests account for nearly 44 percent of all drug arrests in the United States. According to the Uniform Crime Report, nearly 830,000 people were arrested in 2006 on marijuana charges, nearly a 15 percent increase over 2005. Nine out of 10 were arrested for mere possession. [continues 575 words]
As drug trends change so does the approach to teaching young people about the life altering effects narcotics have. The school district has approved including a drug-education program into the curriculum for grades 8-12 that mirrors a successful program taught by the Drug Enforcement Agency, said Aiken County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Steve Deibel. The D.A.R.E program has been taught in the 5th grade, but we want to expand the education to the students over a longer period, he explained. [continues 235 words]
Prescription drugs used illegally can cause nausea, seizures, even death. The common misconception of prescription drugs is most people think since these drugs are prescribed by doctors, they're safe to use. However, the abuse of prescribed drugs is becoming more and more common. Dr. Cynthia Brennan of the Silver Creek Family Practice in Bullhead City said she has heard of a group of patients who go "doctor-shopping" or going from doctor to doctor for prescribed drugs. Other people often share medications with friends thinking drugs as prescribed by a doctor would be safe compared to illegal drugs. [continues 656 words]
If you have teenage kids, sometimes the most gracious thing you can do as a parent is to fade into the background. You probably shouldn't shop at Abercombie and Fitch, you don't need to play air guitar and regale your kids with stories about The Who's reunion concert and you really don't need to end up in the police log of your local newspaper for possession of marijuana. From 1990 to 2002, roughly 6.2 million people across the United States were arrested for possession of pot. According to FBI stats, 8,975 Massachusetts residents were busted in 2000. And the biggest fans of the drug aren't kids smoking in the boy's room, it's adults ages 35 to 49, men and women -- the folks at the country club, the members of the PTO, the people who sit next to you every Sunday in church. [continues 1584 words]
Allen Man's Death Tied To Trend Of Medication Abuse ALLEN - When Jordan Hall didn't feel high enough, he found a way to get another pill. Xanax. Valium. Or OxyContin. He craved them all. In the past few months, Jordan prowled emergency rooms in Allen, Plano and then McKinney, begging for prescriptions. He stole money out of his doting mother's bank account. And then on July 3, he met a dealer down the street from his house and paid $80 for OxyContin pills, a strong narcotic pain reliever. The next day, his mother, Susie, shook her son to wake him up so they could watch July Fourth fireworks together. His body lay stiff on the living room sofa, his head propped up like he was watching television. At age 20, he was dead. [continues 1405 words]
On Oct. 23, 2003, Rudy Giuliani appeared with Rep. Curt Weldon in suburban Upper Darby, Pa., to announce a new program -- called "Dime Out a Dealer" -- that was designed to combat the growing scourge of prescription drug abuse by offering $1,500 rewards to anyone who turned in a pusher. "Congressman Weldon's new program helps us go after the real villains here, the illegal dealer," Giuliani said, praising both Weldon (R-Pa.) and Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Conn., drugmaker that was underwriting the program, according to a news release. "By doing so, we ensure that the patients who require these same life-saving and enhancing medicines are not denied access based upon the illegal conduct of others." [continues 2147 words]
Do Elementary School Anti-Drug Campaigns Work? One day last summer, my seven year-old came home from day camp in tears. After much coaxing, she revealed that she'd seen an anti-drug presentation that day. "They said drugs can kill you, and that wine is a drug," she wailed. "And Daddy drinks wine." She was convinced that her father was courting death when he downed his glass of Shiraz each night at dinner, and it took several days' worth of debriefing to convince her otherwise. [continues 7651 words]
BULLHEAD CITY - Meth 101 informational meetings for parents staged this spring at Bullhead City elementary and junior high schools drew a mixed response, according to Assistant Bullhead City Police Chief Brian Williamson. At Friday's Bullhead City Police Department Drug Forum Education Committee meeting, Williamson said the Meth 101 meetings attracted anywhere from three to twenty people. Committee co-chairman Larry Tunforss said he wanted to ask those not attending the Meth 101 meetings, "What are you doing that's more important?" [continues 258 words]
There May Be a Healthy Dose of Adult Weed Smokers, but How Many of Them Talk Straight About It With Their Kids? Marsha Rosenbaum holds a doctorate in medical sociology from UC San Francisco and has researched drug issues for 20 years. Wherever the director of the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance holds workshops about teens and drugs -- Salt Lake City, Arizona, even at a national PTA convention in Columbus, Ohio -- at least one parent sheepishly asks Rosenbaum a version of the same question: [continues 2279 words]
Two young boys are fortunate to be alive after nearly overdosing on some heavy-duty prescription pills the morning of March 30. With information that two teens were unconscious, paramedics and two ambulances raced to the 103 Mile area at 6 a.m. Upon arrival, the emergency crews found the boys semiconscious, gave treatment and then rushed them to 100 Mile District General Hospital. Showing no improvement, the 14-year-old boys were flown by the Infant Transport Team to Vancouver Children's Hospital just after 11:30 a.m. [continues 662 words]
A Year After Major Raid, Valley Cities Struggle to Resolve State, Federal Law Garry Silva was set to pick up his state-issued medical marijuana ID card the day the Drug Enforcement Administration and Riverside County sheriffs raided his home. The Sky Valley resident was growing medical marijuana - less than 100 plants - for a small group of patients while giving the surplus to CannaHelp, a dispensary in Palm Desert. It was the kind of grow that's supposed to be legal under California's medical marijuana law, he said. [continues 1695 words]
One of four Americans has a primary family member struggling with addiction. Nearly one in 10 Americans over age 12 has a substance-abuse problem. More than half of all adults have a family history of alcoholism or problem drinking. Only 10 percent of the 23.2 million Americans who need treatment for drug or alcohol problems get it. And 44 percent say they don't get help because of insurance problems. These are among the facts presented in the wide-ranging "Addiction" project by HBO Documentary Films starting Thursday and continuing over the weekend. [continues 767 words]
SACRAMENTO - The camera draws in on a young woman's face. Her teeth are blackened with decay. Her neck is covered with red sores -- the work of a manic methamphetamine addict who can't stop clawing at her own skin. "It's really not a big deal," she says in an upbeat chatter. "... It's like, you know, who's gonna tell? I mean look at me. You can't tell. I'm fine. Right? I'm fine." The message is one of many television commercials -- grim, stark and powerful -- now being aired in California media markets. It's part of a campaign aiming to curb methamphetamine abuse in a state that is far and away the national leader in the meth scourge. [continues 698 words]
TV, Radio And Web Spots Depict Horror Stories From Users, Victims The camera draws in on a young woman's face. Her teeth are blackened with decay. Her neck is covered with red sores -- the work of a manic methamphetamine addict who can't stop clawing at her own skin. "It's really not a big deal," she says in an upbeat chatter. " ... It's like, you know, who's gonna tell? I mean look at me. You can't tell. I'm fine. Right? I'm fine." [continues 564 words]
She earned straight-A's and never broke her curfew. Yet for the same price as a mocha latte and a muffin, the Gilbert High School junior was feeding a dangerous drug habit that could kill her. Like other teens, she bought heroin at school and smoked it between classes in the school bathrooms. Last semester, a heroin problem at Gilbert High prompted the principal to send home a newsletter warning parents and asking for their help. Last week, parents decided to create a volunteer corps to patrol the campus. [continues 1875 words]