Youth Substance Use And Abuse: Challenges And Strategies For Identification And Intervention

Jeremy is 17 and has lived on the street for 3 years. He visits the emergency department for the fifth time in the past month reporting chest pain: "My heart's jumping out of my chest. Think I'm having a heart attack or something." He further reports symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks. He admits to using cannabis daily, and cocaine and ecstasy several times a week. The emergency physician takes a few minutes to ask Jeremy about his health concerns. Jeremy says he wants "to know that I'm not crazy." The physician wonders why Jeremy has not visited the substance abuse treatment agency he has been referred to and subsequently allays his fear that he will be "locked up" if he goes for treatment. With Jeremy's permission, the physician leaves a message for a worker at the street youth centre where Jeremy often hangs out. The following week, the worker accompanies Jeremy for an assessment at the treatment agency and to an appointment to see a psychiatrist. With support from the youth centre, Jeremy applies to stay at a group home to stabilize his living situation while he seeks treatment. [more]

A new version of the illegal hallucinogen ecstasy has yet to turn up in Maine, but state and local police saying they are on the lookout.

Ecstasy laced with methamphetamine has been entering the United States via northern states from illegal labs in Canada, according to a warning issued Jan. 3 by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. [more]

The government has introduced several tough measures to counter foreign English speaking teachers' drug consumption and trafficking, but they are recurring.

The absolute number of drug offenses by foreigners is a lot less than Koreans. But what worries government officials is that despite tough screening for the selection of instructors at schools, they are seeing native English speaking instructors being arrested for the use of banned drugs. [more]

It's long been the drug of choice of musicians, models and the media.

A social stimulant and Class A drug, cocaine has for years been favoured by the Champagne Charlie jet-set - the all-night party people with money to burn.

But its influence goes beyond the rich and famous, the rockstars and their hangers-on. In recent years the drug has become more readily available and more socially acceptable. [more]

I WOULD never take ecstasy or aspirin unless prescribed.

However, I'm fed up with ignoramuses like Peter Stoker who has made a career out of talking cp about drugs ('Cop or Clown?', WoS, Jan 6).

Brunstrom's comments are slightly misleading, because it's not that simple. However, he is to be congratulated for stating the obvious: that current policies are entirely counter-productive. [more]

Exclusive Detective Leaves Force After Being Charged

A DETECTIVE has quit his force after being arrested and charged with drugs offences.

Detective Constable David Johnstone, 32, handed in his resignation after a meeting with senior officers at Tayside Police.

Johnstone had been working in Dundee and investigated drugs cases. [more]

Students Questioned About Use Of Drugs, Prevalence Of Violence, Sexual Activity.

Despite national studies showing the abuse of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines is rampant among teens, the issue was largely ignored in a survey of dangerous behavior among the state's youth.

On Friday, the state Department of Education released the results of the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a national survey of high school students sponsored by the Center for Disease Control that is conducted every two years. [more]

On the streets it's known as Special K. But this is no breakfast cereal.

Special K, Kenny Gee, Cat Vallium, K and Vitamin K are just a few of the names ketamine hides behind.

But behind the mask, there is nothing attractive about ketamine, say local authorities. It is nothing less than a dangerous drug. [more]

Many Prescription Drugs Have Effects Similar To Those Of Illegal Drugs. But We Still View Some Users As Criminals -- The Others As Patients

While Americans are inundated with coverage of the Democrats' quibbling over Barack Obama's use of marijuana and cocaine as a teenager, a truly important drug story continues to be neglected: The hypocrisy of Big Pharma, psychiatry officialdom, and justice institutions regarding mood-altering (psychotropic) drugs -- specifically the denial of the similarity between illegal and psychiatric drugs. [more]

Ecstasy, a designer drug believed to have died out with the dance raves popular a few years ago, is making a comeback as both Canadian and American drug authorities recently warned that Canada has become a major exporter of the drug across the U.S. border.

The new twist is that the newer Ecstasy is laced with methamphetamine, according to reports by both the Royal Canadian Mountain Police and the White House Office of National Drug Policy, giving a dangerous new face to the drug. [more]

Alcohol, once the stereotypical beacon of collegiate life, is beginning to share equal prominence on college and university campuses with another substance: illicit drugs.

Northeastern has joined the growing number of colleges that see more students getting picked up for drugs.

From 2004 to 2006, the number of students arrested by Northeastern University Division of Public Safety (NUPD) for drug violations rose from 59 to 85, while the number of those arrested for liquor law violations declined from 115 to 75, according to the Safety and Security Information Report for 2007- 08. [more]

Methamphetamine-laced Ecstasy is flowing across the Canadian border into the United States, according to a warning last week from the federal government to public health and local law enforcement officials.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that seizures of Ecstasy at the northern border increased tenfold from 2003 to 2006, with more than half of the contraband tablets containing methamphetamine, a vastly more addicting drug. This matches findings by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. [more]

A coroner has rebutted claims that ecstasy is not dangerous at the inquest of a disqualified driver who was high on the drug when he killed himself and a friend in a road crash.

Dean Chevalier, 20, was more than twice over the legal alcohol limit when he lost control of his friend's car, killing himself and 23-year-old Matthew Prothero. [more]

HANDS up who can name the chief constables of South Wales, Gwent or Dyfed-Powys police forces?

And it doesn't count if you work for them.

Yet chances are - whether you live in Wrexham, Holyhead, Carmarthen, Newport or over the border in England - you will know the name of the chief constable of North Wales Police. [more]

OVER 1,000 people were arrested on drug-related charges last year, an increase of 25 per cent on 2006.

Last year was the worst year in terms of the number of users and dealers caught, especially among the young, which is worrying the authorities.

In total, 1,028 people were arrested last year, 743 of whom were locals, compared with 744 in 2006; 878 cases were brought before the courts, compared with 654 in 2006. [more]

NORTH Wales top cop Richard Brunstrom started the New Year in his usual controversial way by going on Radio 4 to say ecstasy was safer than aspirin, and that all drugs would be legal within a decade.

What a plonker. His prohibition argument seems to make sense when he argues that legalising drugs would destroy a major source of organised crime, and that banning substances doesn't actually stop many people from using them. But we all know deep down that legalising drugs would eventually lead to a far greater problem and would be a terrible curse on society. [more]

Waters Warns Popularity Of Chemical High Creates Booming Export Business To States

VANCOUVER - A resurgence of the use of ecstasy by young Americans is being fuelled by Canadian producers smuggling the illegal designer drug -- which is increasingly laced with crystal meth -- into the U.S., according to the White House drug czar. [more]

Drug control officers in Washington have issued a warning across the U.S. about ecstasy pills laced with methamphetamine that are pouring into northern states from Canadian border points, including Windsor.

The illegal pills are being "dumped" in several northern border states and then ferried across the country, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). [more]

White House Issues Warning About More Addictive Form

The White House is blaming Canadian drug traffickers for flooding American cities with a pumped-up, addictive form of the club-drug Ecstasy and has issued a public health warning over the "dangerous new drug threat coming from Canada."

Law enforcement agencies have seen dramatic increases in the number of seized tablets of Ecstasy that are laced with methamphetamine, a mixture that raises the concern of police and health officials, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. [more]

The next time you go into Boots, try this. Go up to the pharmacy counter and say, "I'd like a dozen Ecstasy tablets, please".

When the assistant gives you a startled look, inform them, "It's safer than aspirin".

If they still look unconvinced, tell them it's not you saying this, but the Chief Constable of North Wales. [more]