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Studies

North America, Studies, Websites
Mom, can I have some more please?
06.20.06 | Permalink | Comment?

I always got a chuckle sitting at the bar when some old rummy would take a sip of his drink and say with incredible satisfaction “Ahhhhh mothers milk!” I also remember hearing from my mother (Of seven) that her O.B. doc back in the day used to tell her, and I’m sure other mothers that it was a good idea to have a beer or two if you were nursing your baby. Back then it was about ingesting enough fluid and to also help calm a cranky or colicky infant.

Now it sure seems as if the medical establishment is reneging on that advice and coming around full circle. This isn’t actually anything super new in concept but the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on drugs has in the last few years issued a policy statement with regards to breast feeding and transmission of drugs and other chemicals into human milk.
Europe, Studies
Drugs and Ethnic Minorities
06.18.06 | Permalink | Comment?

“There’s no question about it that the Pakistani communities dominate the heroin market in the north of England. In London, in Tower Hamlets, it is the Bangladeshis who dominate the market. Then you have the Turkish gangs as well.”

Well at least that’s how Professor Kamlesh Patel sees things after concluding a £5 million government study into the drug trade in the UK.

The drug study was aimed at determining the extent of drug use among of ethnic minorities in the UK and was headed by Professor Patel who is the government’s adviser on mental health and ethnicity.
Studies
More Gym Goers Turning to Drugs
06.15.06 | Permalink | Comment?

It’s no particular secret that a lot of fitness freaks will use drugs to “help” their training regimen.

Alarming however, are the latest finding from the Royal Society of Medicine which suggests that the phenomenon of gym goers turning to drugs in order to satiate their desire for the perfect body is actually on the increase.

Packing on defined muscle is not an easy task, and in some area of the US up to 30% of gym goers have admitted to using steroids as a way to help them achieve their body building goals.
Studies, Treatment
Beyond will power and the patch!
06.09.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Science always seems to outdo itself. Time and time again it surprises and amazes me. Then again time and time again the question always begs to be asked “Is it getting too big for it’s own britches?” Or maybe science is “Generating more questions than answers”. A Florida pharmaceutical company has just gotten the go ahead to start “Proof of concept” trial for a vaccine to help smokers quit that nasty tobacco habit.
Europe, Studies
20% of Brits are Drug-Drivers
06.07.06 | Permalink | Comment?

A new study by financial firm, More Than, claims that 1 in 5 British motorists have admitted to driving while under the influence of drugs.

According to this newspaper report, people are now calling Brits the worst “drug-drivers” in Europe and demanding the introduction of drug testing devices for drivers such as those used in Germany and Switzerland.
Studies, The Media
A History of Cocaine Leading Up to Prohibition
06.06.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Cocaine has taken a dive in respectability of late, but if you troll through the history of the drug you come to find that once it was highly regarded by doctors and the medical profession at large.

While Cocaine was synthesised as far back as 1855, it was a little later when the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud became the first big name to bring the drug into the main stream when he began recommending it as a tonic for depression and impotence. Many medical uses for the drug were tried such as using it for local anaesthesia and also as part of the treatment for recovering morphine addicts. Other ailments for which cocaine was used included asthma, sea-sickness, altitude sickness and morning sickness! Towards the end of the 19th century, many medical tracts warned of overuse of cocaine leading to “cocaine mania.”
Europe, Studies
Warm beers and the dear World Cup
06.05.06 | Permalink | Comment?

During the World Cup the average English football fan is expected to spend £60 (US$110) for each match England plays, including £25 (US$45) on food and alcohol at the pub, according to a study undertaken by MasterCard.

With England playing at the least three games (against Paraguay, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago) in their Group B pool matches, that’s a minimum of about £75 worth of fish and chips and warm beer going down England football fan’s throats during the World Cup.

While that actually doesn’t sound like that much, one in four English people, according to a study this time done by Brabners Chaffe Street, have said that they would be watching the games in a pub. The rest of the money will be spent on transport and gambling.
North America, Studies
New version of pharmaceutical fentanyl being tested
06.04.06 | Permalink | Comment?

In the midst of a blizzard of incidences of deaths in the U.S. said to be caused by the mixing of heroin/cocaine and illegal fentanyl, a study into a new and less open-to-abuse version of pharmaceutical fentanyl began Friday at Wayne State University, Michigan. Planned a few months ago, it is taking place in the city, Detroit, where there have been about 50 deaths in the last two weeks from the illegal mix.
Europe, Studies
Zurich’s Liberal Drug Laws
06.03.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Yet another study has claimed that liberalised drug laws are leading to a decline in the number of drug addicts.

This time, the news is out of Zurich and a massive fall in heroin users is being attributed to a liberalisation of the laws surrounding the drug’s use as well as the implementation of a medicalised drug provision strategy.

Addicts in Switzerland have been offered substitution treatment which is basically injecting heroin prescribed by a doctor in combination with other things like oral methadone and safe places to inject (”shooting galleries”) which also offer clean needles.
Asia, Studies
HIV Epidemic in Russia Driven by Drug Use
05.30.06 | Permalink | Comment?

The Itar-Tass News Agency is reporting that Russia now officially has the largest HIV / AIDS epidemic in Europe with almost a million infected Russians in 2005.

The main driving factor behind the staggering rate of infection is the use of intravenous drugs according to the report with almost 30% of St Petersburg addicts infected with HIV and alarming rates of sexual transmission.