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Posts Tagged ‘Alcoholism’

Man Taking Advantage of Addicts

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

A controversial charity has paid a British man about $320 dollars to get a vasectomy. The man, called “John” is the first British participant in the program offered by Project Prevention.

The organization was founded by a North Carolina woman who was troubled by the damage inflicted on children from the effects of drug addiction. To date, Barbara Harris’s organization has paid more than 3,500 drug addicts in the United States to be sterilized. The sterilization scheme has created widespread criticism for Harris and her organization. Some addiction advocacy groups have accused Harris of taking advantage of vulnerable people struggling with a medical illness.

“It exploits very vulnerable people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol at probably the lowest point in their lives,” said Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction, an addiction advocacy group in Britain.

 ”I think Barbara uses some very extreme examples to get her point across. It might work in America but Great Britain is a very different country,” said Maria Cripps, who runs a center for addicts in the East End of London.

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Social, Economic and Educational Factors and pregnant Women

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Research continues to reinforce the fact the drinking a large amount of alcohol during pregnancy is harmful to the unborn child. Recent studies indicate little or no effects of occasional or light drinking during pregnancy. The studies show how social, economic, educational and other lifestyle factors of the pregnant woman influence the health of the unborn baby and child.

A new study from England discovered that at the age of 5, the children of women who drank no more than one or two units of alcohol each time, did not show any damage in their behavioral, emotional or cognitive functions. There was a tendency for the male children of women who drank heavily during pregnancy to have lower behavioral scores, but this was not the case with female children.

A second study based on a population in western Australia looked at the associations between dose, pattern and timing of prenatal alcohol use and found that there was no association between low to moderate prenatal alcohol use and birth defects.

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Oregon Treatment Center Forced to Put Addicts on Waiting List

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

A drug treatment center in Oregon is feeling the strain of addicts needing government help and relying on its services.

“There are a lot of people on the wait list and there are not enough resources in the state to help people. We are trying but everything is very, very stretched,” said Colleen Smith of Willamette Family Inc., the drug treatment center in Eugene.

Willamette Family’s women and children drug treatment center serves about 60 people in the community. Since last year, the waitlist has increased to about a six month period. Smith said that the significant increase in requests for government help for treatment services has strained the system. There has also been a marked increase in pregnant women needing drug treatment in the area.

“We get referrals from out-of-county people all the time, being put on the waitlist. A lot of times you’ll have people calling multiple treatment centers having their names put on waitlists,” Smith said.

The drug treatment center is now taking action to help people in dire need of treatment. Willamette Family is pooling resources with other drug treatment centers in the area and adding more beds to their center.

“It’s really important so that they don’t give up hope, because with the shame and guilt there’s also a lot of hopelessness, and in turn that can also lead them to go back out and use more drugs and alcohol,” Smith said.

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Scottish Dying of Alcohol Related Diseases

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

People in Scotland are dying from alcohol-related diseases at double the rate of the previous generation. According to Dr. Peter Rice, a psychiatrist who runs the Tayside Alcohol Problems Service, adults in Scotland now drink twice as much alcohol as their parents. Dr. Rice expressed concern that cancer resulting from alcohol use is increasing in the country.

 ”There is a considerable amount of health harm through alcohol,” said Dr. Rice. “Death rates have doubled over the last generation. For younger people, alcohol-related harm is a considerable risk. This current generation probably drinks twice what their parents did and we’ve seen rates of harm and alcohol death go up.”

Scotland has one of the fastest growing rates of liver disease and cirrhosis in the world. Excessive alcohol intake also contributes to strokes, high blood pressure, heart disease and weight gain.

“Cancer rates are falling in Scotland but not those related to alcohol,” said Rice. “Mouth and liver cancer are probably the two best examples.”

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More Drink Now Than 20 Years Ago

Monday, October 11th, 2010

According to a new study, more people are drinking alcohol now than 20 years ago. The data from the study is gathered from more than 85,000 respondents and suggests that many factors, including social, economic and ethnic influences and pressures, were responsible for the increase.

“The reasons for the uptick vary and may involve complex sociodemographic changes in the population, but the findings are clear. More people are consuming alcohol now than in the early 1990s,” said Dr. Raul Caetano, dean of the University of Texas Southwestern School of Health Professions and the lead author of the study.

The study findings suggests that continuous monitoring of alcohol consumption is necessary to better understand the reasons that affect use. Monitoring also would help to detect as early as possible signs that rates of risky drinking behaviors like binge drinking may be rising.

“Changes in the population due to aging, the influx of immigrant groups, and a decline in mean income level because of economic recessions can all impact trends in drinking and problems associated with drinking,” Caetano said.

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Study Finds It’s “Cool” to Drink

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

A new study from Canada finds that teenagers using drugs and alcohol is not just about rebellion and angst. It is about being part of the “cool” crowd.

“Our study highlights a correlation between popularity and consumption,” said Jean-Sebastien Fallu, lead researcher and professor at the Universite de Montreal’s School of Psychoeducation. “The teenagers we studied were well-accepted, very sensitive to social codes, and understood the compromises that it takes to be popular.”

The study found an increase in consumption of drugs and alcohol as the child aged, regardless of their level of popularity among their peers. The more popular a child and their friends were, the greater the use of drugs and alcohol.

“Teenagers don’t consume to belong to the group or to increase their popularity level, they do it to remain well-liked,” said Fallu. “It’s more about keeping their status than increasing it.”

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Legal Limit Might Still Be Too High

Monday, October 4th, 2010

New research has indicated that blood alcohol levels below the current legal limit for driving have a significant negative effect on a person’s dexterity. The study was published in the open access journal called BMC Research Notes. It found that only two single vodka and orange drinks were enough to make senior volunteers struggle at an obstacle avoidance test while they were walking.

The test was conducted by Judith Hegeman and a team of researchers from Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, with 13 male and female senior citizens.

“The results clearly show that even with low blood alcohol concentrations, reactions to sudden gait perturbations are seriously affected. After ingestion of two alcoholic drinks, obstacles were hit twice as often, response times were delayed and response amplitudes were reduced. These changes were most obvious in situations with little available response time,” said Hegeman.

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Lindsay Lohan In Trouble Again

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Lindsay Lohan is once again in trouble. A judge in Los Angeles has issued an arrest warrant for the “Mean Girls” star after she admitted on Twitter to failing a court-mandated drug and alcohol screening test. Earlier this summer, Lohan spent 13 days in prison. She could return to jail if it is determined by the court that she is in violation of her probation.

“Regrettably, I did in fact faily my most recent drug test,” Lohan tweeted. “Substance abuse is a disease, which unfortunately doesn’t go away overnight. I am working hard to overcome it.”

Lohan may have failed more than one drug test. She allegedly had traces of cocaine and amphetamines in her blood on two separate drug tests.

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Illegal Drug Use Climbed to 10 Year High in 2009

Monday, September 27th, 2010

The annual report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that the rate of illegal drug use climbed in 2009 to the highest level in almost ten years. The increase was profound in marijuana, ecstasy and methamphetamine abuse.

The director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, was not surprised by the 9 percent increase in drug use. This is in part due to “eroding attitudes” about the perception of harm from illegal drugs and more states allowing the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

According to the report, marijuana use rose by 8 percent and kept its status as the most often used drug. Cocaine abuse continues to drop from its peak in 2006. About 21.8 million Americans reported using illegal drugs in 2009, which is the highest number since the survey began in 2002.

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Recovery from Drugs and Alcohol Rally

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Thousands of people attended a rally last Saturday in Providence, Rhode Island in support of recovery drug and alcohol addicts. The eighth annual rally was part of celebrations to mark September as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery month.

Jim Gillen is a recovering addict and the lead organizer of the event. For Gillen, the day was an opportunity to celebrate another year of sobriety and health.

“It’s like our Mardi Gras or our New Year’s Eve, where we can feel that we’re not defeated by this illness,” Gillen said.

Carrie Blake is a recovering addict and an advocate of substance abuse treatment. She wanted to attend the rally because she believed it was about trying to erase the social stigma of addiction.

“We need to show that it’s normal people that are struggling with this. The more that we put an accurate face on addiction and show that recovery is real and sustainable, the more it gives people going through it hope and helps others understand us better.

Nick Zeller is the project leader for the Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap Coalition in Providence. He said approximately 100,000 residents in Rhode Island suffer from addiction, but only one in eight people is getting the treatment they need.

“True health care reform must include robust benefits for substance abuse treatment. For too long, behavioral health has been separate from mainstream medicine,” Zeller said.

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