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51 US NY: PUB LTE: Treating Heroin AddictsSun, 07 Aug 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Wen, Leana S. Area:New York Lines:39 Added:08/07/2016

Naloxone saves lives after a heroin overdose, but does it also encourage addiction?

To the Editor: Re "A Lifesaver for Heroin Users, but No Cure for an Epidemic" (news article, July 31):

As an emergency physician, I have personally administered naloxone and seen patients who would otherwise die from an opioid overdose be revived within seconds. Those who say that saving someone's life with naloxone will only foster addiction are being unscientific, inhumane and ill informed. We would never refuse an EpiPen to someone experiencing a peanut allergy for fear that it would encourage him to eat peanut butter. In Baltimore, we believe that naloxone should be part of everyone's medicine cabinet and everyone's first aid kit. That is why I issued a standing order that has made this medication available to all of the 620,000 residents in our city. We must make policy decisions based on science, not stigma. Addiction is a disease. We must treat it with the same urgency, humanity and compassion as we treat all diseases.

Baltimore

The writer is the Baltimore city health commissioner.

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52 US NY: PUB LTE: Treating Heroin AddictsSun, 07 Aug 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Greene, Claudia Area:New York Lines:37 Added:08/07/2016

Naloxone saves lives after a heroin overdose, but does it also encourage addiction?

To the Editor: Some of those you interview make the case that people use naloxone to continue their pattern of pleasure-seeking behaviors, even to their own detriment. However, abuse of opioids is not an act of free will; it is an agonizing compulsion. A person with a substance abuse disorder is compelled to use even when he or she no longer feels pleasure from the act. I volunteer with the Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution to distribute naloxone, clean syringes and other harm reduction supplies to clients in the East Bay area. Tellingly, the article quotes Gov. Paul LePage of Maine saying that "naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose." Perhaps if Governor LePage met our clients he would see that people with substance abuse disorders are as worthy of compassionate care as anyone with a chronic disease.

Berkeley, Calif.

The writer is pursuing a master's of public health degree at the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health.

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53 US NY: LTE: Treating Heroin AddictsSun, 07 Aug 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Vaughan, William Jr. Area:New York Lines:32 Added:08/07/2016

Naloxone saves lives after a heroin overdose, but does it also encourage addiction?

To the Editor: Your article discusses two interpretations of the effect of Narcan, the brand name of naloxone. The moral hazard interpretation is that Narcan gives drug users a safety net, allowing some to overdose numerous times in safety. Advocates of Narcan, on the other hand, say it allows people to get into treatment, and there is no evidence that Narcan increases opiate use. Given this uncertainty, I find it difficult to understand how you can write: "There is no question that the nation's death toll from heroin and prescription opioids would be significantly higher without naloxone." It is at least logically possible that Narcan will eventually be seen to have been a wholesale mistake.

WILLIAM VAUGHAN Jr.

Chebeague Island, Me.

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54 US NY: PUB LTE: Treating Heroin AddictsSun, 07 Aug 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Sigel, George Area:New York Lines:30 Added:08/07/2016

Naloxone saves lives after a heroin overdose, but does it also encourage addiction?

To the Editor: How could naloxone ever be considered a "cure for an epidemic"? Putting out a fire is not a cure for causes of fires. Sorry, there are no quick solutions to the addiction problem. But there are some steps we should take. Help addicts get services for the addiction and underlying mental health issues. Access to clinics is key. Yet clinics are fewer and fewer and access harder and harder. And, yes, give Narcan to first responders and addicts' families.

Norwood, Mass.

The writer is a psychiatrist.

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55 US NY: LTE: Treating Heroin AddictsSun, 07 Aug 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Justin, Frank Area:New York Lines:26 Added:08/07/2016

Naloxone saves lives after a heroin overdose, but does it also encourage addiction?

To the Editor: Your article profiles a 44-year-old woman who has been revived seven times using the lifesaving drug Narcan. At what point does her own personal responsibility make her accountable for her own life? Our society and our health care system need to recognize that we can't solve everyone's problems all the time.

Providence, R.I.

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56 US NY: A Street Drug's Sudden Popularity Tests the AuthoritiesSat, 16 Jul 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Rosenberg, Eli Area:New York Lines:123 Added:07/16/2016

The police raids around a gritty Brooklyn intersection were meant to show that city officials were taking charge after 33 people had been stricken by suspected overdoses of K2. But the spectacle, captured by a crush of news media, came up all but empty, without a single packet of the drug seized.

The outcome of the attempted crackdown underscored the challenges the authorities face in combating K2, a potent substance that is easy to distribute and hard to regulate. Its low price and powerful high have made it popular among some homeless people, and its effects have periodically transformed patches of the city - like the one on the border of Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant where the raids were carried out - into theaters of public drug use.

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57 US NY: Surge in Overdoses From a Drug: 130 In Three DaysFri, 15 Jul 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Nir, Sarah Maslin Area:New York Lines:134 Added:07/15/2016

Almost as soon as the young man crouching on a trash-strewed street in Brooklyn pulled out a crumpled dollar bill from his pocket and emptied its contents of dried leaves into a wrapper, he had company. A half-dozen disheveled men and women walked swiftly to where the young man was rolling a cigarette of a synthetic drug known as K2 to wait for a chance to share.

The drug has been the source of an alarming and sudden surge in overdoses - over three days this week, 130 people across New York City were treated in hospital emergency rooms after overdosing on K2, almost equaling the total for the entire month of June, according to the city's health department. About one-fourth of the overdoses, 33, took place on Tuesday along the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick, the same Brooklyn neighborhoods where, despite a heightened presence of police officers, people were again openly smoking the drug on Thursday.

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58 US NY: OPED: Pros And Cons Of Legalizing MarijuanaFri, 15 Jul 2016
Source:Saratogian, The (NY) Author:Chartock, Alan Area:New York Lines:92 Added:07/15/2016

The legalization of marijuana is inevitable. The most we can hope for is that people are educated about the potential downsides of the so-called weed. We can hope that pot smoking will not give rise to the kind of alcohol fueled traffic fatalities we see now. Of course, we all know that people have been known to smoke and drive and have been involved in accidents but once it is legalized, there will doubtless be more pot users who will drive "under the influence."

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59 US NY: Drug Evidence Thrown Out Over Tracking Of CellphoneWed, 13 Jul 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Weiser, Benjamin Area:New York Lines:87 Added:07/14/2016

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Tuesday that drugs seized from a man charged in a narcotics case could not be used as evidence, because agents had not obtained a warrant for a covert cellphone tracking device that led them to his Washington Heights apartment, where the drugs were found.

The portable device, known as a cell-site simulator and often referred to as a Stingray, has been used widely by federal and local law enforcement officials around the country, including in New York, to solve crimes and locate missing people.

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60 US NY: 33 Suspected Of Overdosing On Synthetic MarijuanaWed, 13 Jul 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Rosenberg, Eli Area:New York Lines:114 Added:07/14/2016

There is a word that local residents and workers use to describe a group of drug users whose presence they say has grown around a busy Brooklyn transit hub: zombies. What was once a few familiar faces has turned into a tribe of strangers, walking around, staggering and looking lost, in the throes, it is believed, of the ill effects of K2, a synthetic drug that officials in New York have been working hard to eradicate.

The problem in the neighborhood has gotten to be such that a manager of an urban farm nearby, tired of the smoke wafting onto the property, posted two hand-painted wooden signs with a simple message: "No Smoking K2."

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61 US NY: Editorial: An Inadequate Opioid Bill In CongressTue, 12 Jul 2016
Source:New York Times (NY)          Area:New York Lines:76 Added:07/12/2016

Congress is about to pass a bill meant to deal with the nation's opioid epidemic. It contains some good ideas. It will also be far less effective at saving lives than it should be.

The Senate is expected to vote soon on the measure, approved by the House on Friday by an overwhelming 407-to-5 majority. It would authorize addiction treatment and prevention programs to stem what has become a scourge and a disgrace - more than 28,600 overdose deaths in 2014. But it contains not a penny to support those initiatives.

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62 US NY: PUB LTE: Medical Marijuana Program Would Help EaseWed, 29 Jun 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Leaver, Jamie Area:New York Lines:42 Added:07/01/2016

The clear conclusion of The News' ongoing reporting and opinion on the opiate crisis is there is no single solution.

One proven approach to reducing deaths has been missing from the discussion. Studies have shown that in states with effective medical marijuana programs including chronic pain as a qualifying condition, opioid deaths are 25 percent to one-third less than those, like New York, without.

Cannabis is not a treatment for opioid addiction, but a proven treatment for many pain conditions. Many patients are able to reduce or cease use of addictive and potentially fatal drugs, including opioids, anti-depressants and anti-seizure medications, most commonly prescribed for pain.

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63 US NY: OPED: Can You Get Over An Addiction?Sun, 26 Jun 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Szalavitz, Maia Area:New York Lines:161 Added:06/26/2016

I SHOT heroin and cocaine while attending Columbia in the 1980s, sometimes injecting many times a day and leaving scars that are still visible. I kept using, even after I was suspended from school, after I overdosed and even after I was arrested for dealing, despite knowing that this could reduce my chances of staying out of prison.

My parents were devastated: They couldn't understand what had happened to their "gifted" child who had always excelled academically. They kept hoping I would just somehow stop, even though every time I tried to quit, I relapsed within months.

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64 US NY: Locked Out Over Marijuana, Gardeners Watch BrooklynWed, 22 Jun 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Nir, Sarah Maslin Area:New York Lines:128 Added:06/22/2016

There are rabbits with silken pelts and guinea pigs with curly hair, a flock of chickens, crops of eggplant, corn, apples and even a banana tree - all thriving in one of the grittiest neighborhoods in New York City.

James McCrae and a group of volunteers have spent two decades cultivating this once-barren stretch of Glenmore Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, making it one of the city's most resplendent community gardens, raising a grassy lawn to replace broken pavement and planting herbs for cooking. Shady benches sit under flowering bowers inside the garden, where the gardeners used to sit, reaching up occasionally to pluck wine grapes overhead. But today, they spend their days hunkered on folding chairs on the sidewalk outside the gates, watching the flowers wither and the blueberries rot.

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65 US NY: Pot Unites Businesspeople, Hippies at CannabisSat, 18 Jun 2016
Source:Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY) Author:Kaplan, Ezra Area:New York Lines:57 Added:06/18/2016

NEW YORK (AP) - Men and women in business suits mixed with hippies sporting blazers printed with marijuana leaf patterns Friday during the last day of the Cannabis World Congress and Business Exposition.

The three-day conference at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was a gathering of professionals and advocates from nearly every facet of the emerging marijuana industry. Even though restrictions on the drug remain tight in New York, the community gathered to exchange ideas and explore business opportunities.

"We are here showcasing the cannabis industry and showing what they do," said Dan Humiston, president of the International Cannabis Association, which organized the conference.

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66 US NY: OPED: We Must Do More to Fight a Growing AddictionSun, 12 Jun 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Santasiero, Ronald Area:New York Lines:65 Added:06/14/2016

As a provider of addiction treatment, mostly to teens, it is frustrating to watch as the problem worsens. No family is immune.

The federal government has mandated a 100-patient limit for physicians who treat opiate addiction with buprenorphine (Suboxone, Zubsolve). Physicians are not limited in treating any other medical problem. The number of physicians certified to treat opiate addiction with buprenorphine is not enough to serve even a minority of addicted patients.

The addiction problem has several root causes. The proliferation and mass use of social media has accelerated addiction. Teens no longer accept what parents say about the dangers of drugs. Instead they use social media to get answers that downplay the dangers, and instruct impressionable teens on how to obtain drugs and how to modify drugs for intravenous use. Technology has been a contributor to the problem.

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67 US NY: Editorial: To Stop Bad Prosecutors, Call The FedsMon, 06 Jun 2016
Source:New York Times (NY)          Area:New York Lines:86 Added:06/07/2016

Prosecutors are the most powerful players in the American criminal justice system. Their decisions - like whom to charge with a crime, and what sentence to seek - have profound consequences.

So why is it so hard to keep them from breaking the law or violating the Constitution?

The short answer is that they are almost never held accountable for misconduct, even when it results in wrongful convictions. It is time for a new approach to ending this behavior: federal oversight of prosecutors' offices that repeatedly ignore defendants' legal and constitutional rights. There is a successful model for this in the Justice Department's monitoring of police departments with histories of misconduct.

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68 US NY: OPED: Can Opioids Treat DepressionSun, 05 Jun 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Fels, Anna Area:New York Lines:154 Added:06/05/2016

ONE of the most painful experiences of being a psychiatrist is having a patient for whom none of the available therapies or medications work.

A while back, I was asked to do a consultation on just such a patient. This person had been a heroin addict in her early 20s. She had quit the opioid five years earlier, but her life was plagued with anxiety, apathy and self-doubt that prior treatments had not helped. At the end of the session, almost as an afterthought, she noted with irony that the only time in her adult life when she had been able to socialize easily and function at work was when she had been hooked on heroin.

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69 US NY: Suspended Cop Overdoses 2nd TimeThu, 02 Jun 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Michel, Lou Area:New York Lines:58 Added:06/04/2016

Michael R. Moffett, a Buffalo police officer on suspension without pay, overdosed on opioids Tuesday morning the second time in recent months and on-duty police officers administered three doses of Narcan to revive him, according to police sources.

Moffett, 26, was found unconscious at his South Buffalo residence by his girlfriend, and a 911 call for help was made, the police sources said.

The officer's Dorrance Avenue home was later searched after police obtained a warrant. The findings of the search have not been revealed.

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70US NY: OPED: Relieve Veterans' SufferingMon, 30 May 2016
Source:Times Union (Albany, NY) Author:Smithson, Mike Area:New York Lines:Excerpt Added:05/30/2016

As a former member of the U.S. Navy, I've seen the pain that lingers after our men and women in uniform return home. It's our country's responsibility to provide veterans with any medical treatment that has proven to be effective.

More and more states are recognizing the overwhelming data about medical cannabis. With 24 states and the District of Columbia now operating medical cannabis programs, many Americans now have a viable alternative to opioid pain medication. In the current state of addiction and overdose in our country - a tragedy our state knows too well, as more than 1,000 New Yorkers die a year from opioid-related deaths - we should welcome any alternative with open arms. This situation is even more dire for veterans, as the opioid overdose rate for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs patients is almost double the national average.

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71 US NY: Editorial: States Lead The Way On Justice ReformMon, 30 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY)          Area:New York Lines:73 Added:05/30/2016

In New Jersey, voters and lawmakers gave judges more power to release low-risk defendants who can't afford bail, letting them go home rather than sit in jail while they await trial. In Idaho, a new law created 24-hour crisis centers to help keep people with mental health issues from being locked up unnecessarily. Georgia and Louisiana established courts for military veterans accused of crimes. Hawaii funded programs to help reunify children with parents who are behind bars.

These are just a few of the hundreds of criminal-justice reforms that states around the country have put in place over the last two years, according to a new report by the Vera Institute of Justice.

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72 US NY: Town Doubles Down On Police Staffing To Fight DrugsSun, 29 May 2016
Source:Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)          Area:New York Lines:55 Added:05/30/2016

TOWN OF WALLKILL, N.Y. - A Massachusetts police chief made headlines and created a social media stir last year when he declared the 50-year "war on drugs" a failure and turned his department away from criminal penalties and toward treatment.

That initiative by Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello has picked up traction in other departments across the nation. As the New York Times reported in January, "56 police departments in 17 states have started programs modeled on or inspired by Gloucester's, with 110 more preparing to do so."

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73 US NY: OPED: Addicted To A Treatment For AddictionSun, 29 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Macy, Beth Area:New York Lines:233 Added:05/29/2016

Lebanon, Va. - LATE on Christmas night 2013, April Hileman was summoned for a drug test. She had broken the curfew imposed on her by a drug court and relapsed with the opioid pills she'd been hooked on for six years. Earlier that day, Ms. Hileman had driven to a neighbor's house here in far southwestern Virginia to buy a handful of Suboxone pills, or "Box," as the drug is sometimes called. After she tested positive, Judge Michael Moore of Russell County ordered her to jail, and her 3-year-old daughter spent the rest of the holidays with relatives.

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74 US NY: LTE: Mexico And MarijuanaThu, 26 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Zinsmeister, Jeffrey Area:New York Lines:46 Added:05/26/2016

To the Editor:

Re "Legal Pot, Free Trade" (Op-Ed, May 21): Ioan Grillo's proposal for a Nafta-style market in legal marijuana mistakes a symptom of the organized-crime epidemic in Mexico - the illegal drug trade - for an underlying cause. Rather, the major driver appears to be the corruption infecting all levels of the Mexican state and economy.

Otherwise, it is hard to explain the Mexican government's chronic inability to keep organized crime from dominating so many legal businesses, like casino gambling, cigarettes and even something as banal as mining.

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75 US NY: OPED: Legalized Pot, Free TradeSat, 21 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Grillo, Ioan Area:New York Lines:113 Added:05/21/2016

Mexico City - WHEN the Mexican Army actually allows journalists to watch its soldiers in action, it's often to see them burning marijuana crops. It's strictly for show, but it's fun. You get to fly in a military helicopter over the Sierra Madre, then touch down to see troops posing with their rifles as they walk into green marijuana fields. And the highlight: You watch hundreds of pounds of grass go up in flames.

Mexican soldiers have been conducting this ritual for decades, and the photos have come to define the country's war on drugs. But amid a wave of drug policy reform, those photos may soon disappear from news pages and be relegated to historical archives.

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76 US NY: A Sheriffs Detective Crashes His Unmarked Car, And ATue, 17 May 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Spina, Matthew Area:New York Lines:254 Added:05/18/2016

Undercover Narcotics Detective Kept Accident Under The Official Radar

An unmarked sheriff's car slammed last month into the back of a parked SUV.

The hood of the county-issued Impala folded like a gum wrapper, and the engine compartment crunched inward, yet the impact pushed the two-ton Dodge Nitro into a utility pole 100 feet away.

The pole was just feet from Gene McCarthy's pub at Hamburg and Republic streets in Buffalo's Old First Ward. When the pub's lights flickered, the handful of patrons inside at 1:37 a.m. April 2 ventured out to find littered car parts, the SUV pressed against the pole, and a tall man in his 30s emerging unhurt from the Impala.

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77 US NY: LTE: Treatment for Addicts Raises Health Costs for AllSun, 15 May 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Seely, Robert Area:New York Lines:33 Added:05/16/2016

Regarding the May 9 front-page story about insurers balking at addiction costs, I have empathy for the people who are addicted and their families, but not sympathy. These people must know going in that these strong medications could be addicting.

The families of the addicted say they are frustrated and angry because the health insurance companies don't continue paying for the treatment costs that are incurred, yet families of the addicted admit that their children have been inpatients multiple times, evidently with failing results.

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78 US NY: Editorial: Congress Wakes Up To The Opioid EpidemicMon, 16 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY)          Area:New York Lines:87 Added:05/16/2016

The opioid epidemic is now a leading cause of death in the United States, ravaging communities across the country. At last, Congress has snapped to attention. But its recent flurry of legislation will be of little help unless lawmakers are willing to fund treatment and prevention programs.

The House last week passed 18 bills related to opioids, and the Senate approved a comprehensive bill in March. The bills, which will be reconciled in a conference committee, are overdue. Opioids, a category of drugs that includes heroin and prescription painkillers like oxycodone, killed more than 28,000 people in 2014, and the rate of overdoses has tripled since 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost two million Americans abused or were dependent on these drugs in 2014.

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79 US NY: PUB LTE: Don't Judge Individuals Dealing With AddictionTue, 10 May 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Gibbons, Susan Area:New York Lines:33 Added:05/11/2016

The issue of addiction is now being brought to the forefront of public consciousness, and rightly so. This problem is not new, but has escalated to a point where it is affecting people who may not have been previously exposed to the illness.

What needs to be brought home is the fact that addiction, no matter what the substance, is an illness, not a problem brought about by a lack of character. When medical professionals, psychiatric providers and patient family members approach the addicted individual with a judgmental attitude, it only reinforces to that person what he already feels - a lack of self-worth and guilt - which only serves to put up another barrier to the process of recovery.

As providers, family members and neighbors, it is in our best interest to put judgment aside and treat addicted individuals with empathy and compassion. To do otherwise is simply counterproductive.

Williamsville

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80 US NY: OPED: No Family Is Immune To Clutches Of AddictionWed, 11 May 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Giovino, Sue Area:New York Lines:61 Added:05/11/2016

Death is one of the greatest personifications there is. It visits all of us and gets very personal. Continually we are inundated with statistics of all kinds of deaths. These include the horrors of terrorism, shootings, suicides, abortions, plane crashes and cancer. These stats seem to keep death at a comfortable bay, deluding us into thinking we will never be part of the masses. In fact, at times we reluctantly find ourselves viewing with morbid fascination the demise of others. Somehow we can stay detached because "the visitor" has not yet come to our door.

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81 US NY: OPED: The Epidemic We Failed To ForeseeSat, 07 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Kessler, David A. Area:New York Lines:104 Added:05/07/2016

BEGINNING in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies selling high-dose opioids seized upon a notion, based on flimsy scientific evidence, that regardless of the length of treatment, patients would not become addicted to opioids.

It has proved to be one of the biggest mistakes in modern medicine.

An epidemic of prescription drug abuse has swept across the country as a result, and one of the latest victims, according to The New York Times, may have been Prince.

The paper reported that he had developed a problem with prescription painkillers, and that just before his death, friends sought urgent medical help from a California doctor who specializes in treating people addicted to pain medication. Whether pain pills played a role in his death won't be known until the results of an autopsy are released.

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82 US NY: Agency And High Times Look At Rebranding PotMon, 02 May 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Krupnick, Matt Area:New York Lines:125 Added:05/02/2016

MARIJUANA advocates are teaming up with Madison Avenue to try to make pot palatable to mainstream Americans - and to the advertisers that want to reach them.

High Times, the 42-year-old must-have magazine for the cannabis enthusiast, has collaborated with Sparks & Honey, an Omnicom advertising agency, on a report meant to prompt big-picture thinking in the marijuana industry. The paper, "Rebranding Marijuana," was released April 20, the unofficial pot holiday.

"Through the slow legal and regulatory processes," the report noted, "marijuana is opening up opportunities across a variety of industries, most of which have nothing to do with yesterday's stoner weed."

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83 US NY: OPED: Addiction Treatment Should Include More ProvidersThu, 28 Apr 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Amabile, Christene Area:New York Lines:66 Added:04/30/2016

The article, "On track for 570 opiate deaths in 2016, Erie County steps up response," in the April 6 Buffalo News in part focused on the shortage of health care providers who can prescribe medication assisted treatment for opiate use disorders.

It noted the small number of physicians who are certified to prescribe buprenorphine ( trade names: Suboxone, subutex and Zubsolv). Even when certified, physicians can prescribe to only 100 clients at a time.

Unfortunately, although nurse practitioners ( NPs) and physician assistants ( PAs) provide medical care to millions of people daily, and are an integral part of health care, a federal law created in 2000 prohibits NPs/ PAs from prescribing buprenorphine to treat addictions. Buprenorphine is a schedule III controlled substance, which when utilized as prescribed does not induce a "high" and has less risk for overdose than do other prescription opioids and heroin. Ironically, NPs and PAs can prescribe buprenorphine for pain management.

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84 US NY: PUB LTE: Marijuana And OpioidsFri, 29 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Armentano, Paul Area:New York Lines:47 Added:04/29/2016

To the Editor:

Re "Northeast Opiate Crisis Stalls Marijuana Legalization" (news article, April 20):

Marijuana access is associated with reduced incidences of opioid abuse and mortality.

According to a 2015 National Bureau of Economic Research study, "States permitting medical marijuana dispensaries experience a relative decrease in both opioid addictions and opioid overdose deaths compared to states that do not."

Separate studies also find that cannabis is associated with better treatment outcomes in opioid-dependent subjects. Writing this year in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers at Columbia University reported a "beneficial effect of marijuana smoking on treatment retention."

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85 US NY: PUB LTE: International Drug PolicyThu, 28 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Levin-Fragasso, Zarah Area:New York Lines:54 Added:04/28/2016

To the Editor:

Re "Rethink the Global War on Drugs" (editorial, April 25):

While the 2016 Special Session of the General Assembly on the World Drug Problem had its limitations, and while the shift from prohibition and criminalization to a public health perspective has been subtler than many would have liked, the debate has opened the door to broader discussions about drug law reform in preparation for 2019, the date set for the next major review.

The issues are complex and challenges remain, but this is a step in the right direction.

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86 US NY: OPED: Look At The Real Gateways To Drug Addiction, 4 ofTue, 26 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Small, Deborah Peterson Area:New York Lines:54 Added:04/28/2016

The science on marijuana is settled.

The assertions that continue to be made linking marijuana use to serious drug addiction by officials like Michele Leonhart, the former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, are contradicted by facts.

But since the science is settled, the question we should be unpacking is why do some people persist in promoting messages known to be false, as was done by Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey during his failed bid for president?

Why are we still not discussing the evidence: that the real gateways to addiction are poverty, trauma, mental health problems and the effects of criminalization and stigma?

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87 US NY: OPED: Overdoses Fell With Medical Marijuana, 2 of 4Tue, 26 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Barry, Colleen Area:New York Lines:63 Added:04/28/2016

While opioid pain relievers offer critical benefits to certain patients, such as those with cancer-related pain, the rise of opioid prescriptions has had devastating public health consequences. The C.D.C. recently urged physicians to be very cautious in prescribing these drugs.

Meanwhile, access to medical marijuana has expanded rapidly - 24 states and D.C. have legalized its broad medical use - and chronic or severe pain is the most common condition reported among those using it. On it's face, this might seem to mirror the rise in prescription opioid use.

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88 US NY: OPED: Marijuana Has Proven To Be A Gateway Drug, 1 of 4Tue, 26 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:DuPont, Robert L. Area:New York Lines:58 Added:04/28/2016

It should come as no surprise that the vast majority of heroin users have used marijuana (and many other drugs) not only long before they used heroin but while they are using heroin. Like nearly all people with substance abuse problems, most heroin users initiated their drug use early in their teens, usually beginning with alcohol and marijuana. There is ample evidence that early initiation of drug use primes the brain for enhanced later responses to other drugs. These facts underscore the need for effective prevention to reduce adolescent use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana in order to turn back the heroin and opioid epidemic and to reduce burdens addiction in this country.

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89 US NY: OPED: Fears Of Marijuana's Gateway Effect Vastly ExceedTue, 26 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Nadelmann, Ethan Area:New York Lines:62 Added:04/28/2016

The gateway theory can be summarized as an ounce of truth embedded in a pound of bull. Yes, most people who use heroin and cocaine used marijuana and alcohol and tobacco for that matter first.

But the vast majority of people who use marijuana never progress to using other illicit drugs, or even to becoming regular marijuana consumers. That's why the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine says "there is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs." The principal connection between marijuana and other illicit drugs mostly involves the nature of the market, not the nature of the high. In The Netherlands, where the marijuana market has been quasi-legal and regulated for decades, marijuana use is less prevalent than in the United States, and those who do consume marijuana are less likely to use other illicit drugs.

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90 US NY: PUB LTE: Marijuana SentencesTue, 26 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Feinstein, Emily C. Area:New York Lines:45 Added:04/26/2016

To the Editor:

Re "Outrageous Sentences for Marijuana" (editorial, April 14):

Whether or not the Supreme Court rules that draconian mandatory sentences for marijuana use are constitutional, they are an ineffective, harmful and extremely costly policy approach to substance use.

Marijuana use should be treated as a public health problem, not a crime. Incarcerating people for using marijuana serves neither the individual's nor the public's interest. Having a criminal record for marijuana use is damaging to people's livelihoods and life opportunities, particularly for youths.

[continues 96 words]

91 US NY: PUB LTE: We Need Viable Programs, Not an AddictionTue, 26 Apr 2016
Source:Buffalo News (NY) Author:Baj, Carl M. Area:New York Lines:45 Added:04/26/2016

The Erie County Legislature has to be congratulated for looking to solve the current opioid crisis. However, its solution to create an addiction hotline falls short of addressing the problem.

An addiction hotline does not equate to saving lives. Anyone can do an Internet search or look in the phone book to find contact information about drug rehab programs in Erie County. What will the hotline accomplish?

The hotline will refer callers to programs that have waiting lists for inpatient services and to outpatient clinics. However, if you don't have insurance or the ability to pay for these services, you have wasted your time, not to mention $300,000 of county taxpayer dollars.

[continues 132 words]

92 US NY: Editorial: Rethink the Global War on DrugsMon, 25 Apr 2016
Source:New York Times (NY)          Area:New York Lines:68 Added:04/25/2016

At the urging of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia, world leaders met at the United Nations in a special session last week to discuss saner ways to fight the drug trade. They did not get very far toward a shift in approach. Nonetheless, there was a consensus that investing in health care, addiction treatment and alternatives to incarceration would do more to end the drug trade than relying primarily on prohibition and criminalization.

"A war that has been fought for more than 40 years has not been won," President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia said in an interview. "When you do something for 40 years and it doesn't work, you need to change it."

[continues 366 words]

93 US NY: U.N. Hears Major Differences on Approach to Drug UseFri, 22 Apr 2016
Source:Daily Star, The (Lebanon)          Area:New York Lines:95 Added:04/23/2016

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Jamaica defended its decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana. Iran said it seized 620 tons of different types of drugs last year and is helping protect the world from "the evils of addiction." Cuba opposed the legalization of drugs or declaring them harmless.

The first U.N. General Assembly special session to address global drug policy in nearly 20 years heard major differences on the approach to drug use on its second day Wednesday.

On the liberalization side, Canada's Health Minister Jane Philpott announced that the government would introduce legislation to legalize marijuana next spring.

[continues 509 words]

94 US NY: UN Session on World Drug Problem After 'War Approach'Wed, 20 Apr 2016
Source:Pretoria News, The (South Africa) Author:Cullinan, Kerry Area:New York Lines:144 Added:04/22/2016

FOR THE first time in 20 years, the UN has convened a special session on "the world drug problem" amid fierce international debate about whether drug users should primarily be punished or rehabilitated.

The UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs, which started yesterday and is scheduled to run until tomorrow, was called after Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala appealed to the body to revise the global approach to illegal drugs.

After two decades - and a trillion or so dollars later - the "war-on-drugs" approach of criminalising drug users has dismally failed to prevent the distribution and use of illegal drugs.

[continues 824 words]

95 US NY: Call To Support War On DrugsThu, 21 Apr 2016
Source:Pretoria News, The (South Africa)          Area:New York Lines:46 Added:04/22/2016

NEW YORK - Afghanistan has called for more international support for its efforts in fighting the drug problem as the anti-narcotics war is "beyond the limits of any single government".

Slamat Azimi, the minister of counter narcotics of Afghanistan, made the statement at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem here.

"It is obvious that fighting drugs and narcotics is beyond the limits of any single government; therefore, there is a need for extensive help from the international community.

[continues 174 words]

96 US NY: Trend Shifting Towards More Liberal Drug LawsThu, 21 Apr 2016
Source:Pretoria News, The (South Africa)          Area:New York Lines:63 Added:04/22/2016

NEW YORK - The UN General Assembly is rethinking the global strategy in the war on narcotics for the first time in two decades as activists, UN officials and world leaders cited an international trend towards more liberal drug laws.

Despite agreement to deal with the global drug problem, there are deep divisions among the 193 member states.

Some favour a shift towards decriminalisation and a greater focus on reducing the harm caused by narcotics abuse and the war on drugs.

A number of Latin American leaders say the aggressive war on drugs has failed, having killed or destroyed thousands of lives worldwide. They say there is an irreversible trend towards legalising "soft drugs" such as dagga. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said his country would soon increase the amount of dagga Mexicans are allowed for personal use and legalise daggaa for medical purposes.

[continues 239 words]

97 US NY: 'Tackle Drug Networks, Terror Acts'Thu, 21 Apr 2016
Source:Pretoria News, The (South Africa)          Area:New York Lines:47 Added:04/21/2016

NEW YORK - India has voiced its concern over "the growing nexus of drug trafficking and terrorist networks", saying that "we have to continue and toughen our collective fight against these evils".

Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley was addressing the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem here.

"The growing nexus of drug trafficking and terrorist networks endangers peace, security and stability across regions," he said.

"We have to continue and toughen our collective fight against these evils."

[continues 146 words]

98 US NY: Illicit Drugs Pose Global ProblemWed, 20 Apr 2016
Source:Los Angeles Times (CA) Author:Simmons, Ann M. Area:New York Lines:117 Added:04/21/2016

Consumers Number About 246 Million, With the U.S. Leading the Way and Cannabis the Top Narcotic.

As leaders from around the world gather in New York for what many are calling the most important summit on illegal drugs in two decades, one thing is clear: The world has a serious drug problem.

Worldwide, about 246 million people use illicit drugs, and 1 in 10 of these users suffer from disorders related to drug use. Of the estimated 12 million people who inject drugs, at least 1.6 million are also living with HIV, while slightly more than half suffer from hepatitis C. Each year, 200,000 people suffer drug-related deaths, such as overdoses.

[continues 785 words]

99 US NY: Special Session Of U.N. Addresses Drug PolicyWed, 20 Apr 2016
Source:Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)          Area:New York Lines:44 Added:04/21/2016

UNITED NATIONS - The first U.N. special session to address global drug policy in nearly 20 years bristled with tension Tuesday over the use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses, as countries wrestled over whether to emphasize criminalization and punishment or health and human rights.

The outcome document adopted by member states included no criticism of the death penalty, saying only that countries should ensure that punishments are "proportionate" with the crimes.

"Disproportional penalties create vicious cycles of marginalization and further crime," Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto told the gathering. He also called for the decriminalization of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes and said the international community's responses to drug issues are "frankly, insufficient."

[continues 103 words]

100 US NY: Special Session Of U.N. Addresses Drug PolicyWed, 20 Apr 2016
Source:Orlando Sentinel (FL)          Area:New York Lines:45 Added:04/21/2016

UNITED NATIONS - The first U.N. special session to address global drug policy in nearly 20 years bristled with tension Tuesday over the use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses, as countries wrestled over whether to emphasize criminalization and punishment or health and human rights.

The outcome document adopted by member states included no criticism of the death penalty, saying only that countries should ensure that punishments are "proportionate" with the crimes.

"Disproportional penalties create vicious cycles of marginalization and further crime," Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto told the gathering. He also called for the decriminalization of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes and said the international community's responses to drug issues are "frankly, insufficient."

[continues 103 words]


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