We Restore Hope -

An apology is a good way to have the last word. ~Author Unknown

In the United Kingdom, cocaine use is rising at a disturbing rate. The number of people under the age of 18 treated for cocaine addiction is up 65 percent. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) said that the use of cocaine has increased five times among 16 to 59-year-olds in the last twelve years.

Professor Les Iversen, the director of the ACMD, has written to Britain’s Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, to say that immediate action is needed to “counteract the increasingly common misapprehension that cocaine is a relatively safe drug.”

“Cocaine is a very harmful drug to individuals and more broadly society and evidence of the continued increasing prevalence of cocaine use is deeply concerning,” Iversen said. Iversen also said that cocaine must remain a Class A drug in Britain.

The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTASM) said one in ten drug users entering treatment in Britain are getting help for a cocaine addiction. This is a four percent increase over the past four years. More than a third of those people are between 18 and 24 and they are “much more likely to come from a broad range of social backgrounds than the typical heroin users who traditionally form the majority of those in treatment.”

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A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. ~Benjamin Franklin

The rate of alcohol use for blacks over the age of 18 is significantly lower than the national average. A new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also reveals that black adults have a lower rate of binge drinking than the rest of the country (21.7 percent versus 24.5 percent). Young black adults are less likely to be involved in binge drinking than young adults in the general population (25.3 percent versus 41.6 percent).

The rate of binge drinking among pregnant black women aged 18 to 44 is higher than the national average for pregnant women in that age group (8.1 percent versus 3.6 percent). The study shows that black adults have a higher rate of current illegal drug use than the national average (9.5 percent versus 7.9 percent). The difference is sharper among males over the age of 26.

“The study provides important insight into the difference affecting various populations across our country,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde. “As a nation we must strive to reach out to every part of our population and provide services that are best tailored to effectively promote the benefits of prevention, treatment and good health.”

The study was part of a series examining substance use patterns among different ethnic, racial and demographic groups. The hope is that this information will help public health experts, treatment providers and communities understand and tackle the issues affecting different segments of the population.

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Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won’t have time to make them all yourself. ~Alfred Sheinwold

A federal judge in New York denied bail last week to Cameron Douglas, the son of actor Michael Douglas. In January, Douglas pleaded guilty to dealing in large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine. Douglas was arrested in July 2009 at the Hotel Gansevoort in downtown Manhattan. Douglas had then signed a plea aggrement with prosecutors. He faces a minimum 10 year prison sentience at his sentencing in April.

www.thetreatmentcenter.com