New Scientist – …illegal drugs are not generally associated with the lab bench. Now, for the first time in decades, that is starting to change. For almost 40 years, mainstream research has shied away from investigating the therapeutic benefits of drugs whose recreational use is prohibited by law. But a better understanding of how these drugs work in animal studies, and the advancement of brain-imaging techniques, has sparked a swathe of new research. What’s more, clinical trials of MDMA (ecstasy), LSD and other psychoactive drugs are starting to yield some positive results. Read article
Reuters – At least 25 suspected drug gang members were killed in an army raid in rural northeastern Mexico on Thursday, the army said in a press release. Soldiers were sent to the location after an airborne patrol sighted armed men outside a building. Fighting began when the men opened fire on the troops. Read Article
BBC – There are stark geographical divisions in the toll alcohol takes on health in England, with men in the North West more likely to die prematurely than those in the South East, figures show. Data collected by the North West Public Health Observatory shows almost 16,000 people died in England last year as a result of alcohol-related harm. Two-thirds of the areas with the highest harm levels were in the North. Read article
Daily Mail – Puffing cannabis from a pipe can significantly reduce chronic pain in patients with damaged nerves, a small study has shown. Pill preparations of cannabis extract have previously been successful in treating certain types of pain. But researchers avoided studying the effects of smoking cannabis, as if taking the drug to get high. Read article
Daily Mail – Binge drinking and obesity are fuelling a surge in deaths from liver disease, experts have warned. The number of lives claimed by damaged, diseased and worn-out livers has soared by 60 per cent in only a decade. Liver disease, including cancer, claimed 9,719 lives in England in 2008 – up from 6,058 ten years earlier, a report by MPs says today. Read article
Reuters – Mexican troops fanned out in the remote countryside near the Texas border on Thursday as they hunted the perpetrators of the worst massacre in the country’s escalating drug war. With helicopters overhead, heavily armed patrols in armored personnel carriers, trucks and jeeps swept though towns and cities in the border region a day after the bodies of 72 people were found in an empty building at a remote ranch. Read Article
WebMD Health News — An FDA advisory panel today [24th August] overwhelmingly rejected the application of Jazz Pharmaceuticals for the approval sodium oxybate (Xyrem) for the treatment of fibromyalgia. The drug is chemically similar to GHB, widely considered a date-rape drug. Approving it for such a large patient population — 5 million people are estimated to suffer from fibromyalgia — would risk flooding the streets with a pharmaceutical-grade version of the highly controlled substance. Read article
BBC – A Venezuelan businessman suspected of being part of a major drug trafficking ring has been arrested by Colombian authorities. Walid Makled Garcia, 43, who is wanted by the US on drug charges and Colombia and Venezuela on murder charges, was caught in the border city of Cucuta. He is accused of trafficking 10 tons of cocaine every month to the US and Europe. Read article
Reuters – Mind-altering drugs like LSD, ketamine or magic mushrooms could be combined with psychotherapy to treat people suffering from depression, compulsive disorders or chronic pain, Swiss scientists suggested on Wednesday. Research into the effects of psychedelics, used in the past in psychiatry, has been restricted in recent decades because of the negative connotations of drugs, but the scientists said more studies into their clinical potential were now justified. Read article
BBC – Women who drink beer regularly are more likely to develop the skin disease psoriasis, a US study suggests. The study found that women who drank five beers a week doubled their risk of developing the condition compared with women who did not drink. The Boston study, in Archives of Dermatology, looked at more than 82,000 female nurses aged 27 to 44 and their drinking habits from 1991 until 2005. Read article
BBC – A crackdown on supermarkets and other stores selling alcohol at “below-cost” prices is needed, David Cameron says. Action was needed to stop Britain’s town and city centres “resembling the wild west” in the evenings as a result of drink-fuelled disorder, the PM said. He wanted to stop people “pre-loading” and “getting off their heads” on cheap shop-bought alcohol. Read article
The Guardian – President joins calls for debate after figures reveal extent of violence since launch of military offensive against cartels in 2006. Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, has joined calls for a debate on the legalisation of drugs as new figures show thousands of Mexicans every year being slaughtered in cartel wars. “It is a fundamental debate,” the president said, belying his traditional reluctance to accept any questioning of the military-focused offensive against the country’s drug cartels that he launched in late 2006. “You have to analyse carefully the pros and cons and key arguments on both sides.” The president said he personally opposes the idea of legalisation. Read article
WSJ – A sharp increase in U.S. Army suicides is likely due to an increase in a range of stresses on soldiers both at home and in war zones, a top Army officer said Thursday. A 15-month-study on the rise in suicides over the last two years found 160 suicides among active-duty personnel, 1,713 suicide attempts and 146 deaths from high-risk behavior, such as drug abuse, in the year ended Sept. 30, 2009. Read article
NY Times — The Department of Veterans Affairs will formally allow patients treated at its hospitals and clinics to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal, a policy clarification that veterans have sought for several years. A department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the conflict in veterans facilities between federal law, which outlaws marijuana, and the 14 states that allow medicinal use of the drug, effectively deferring to the states. Read article
Reuters – The city of Oakland, California on Tuesday legalized large-scale marijuana cultivation for medical use and will issue up to four permits for “industrial” cultivation starting next year. The move by the San Francisco Bay Area city aims to bring medical marijuana cultivation into the open and allow the city to profit by taxing those who grow it. Read article
ScienceDaily — Call it the not-so-happy hour. The risk of stroke appears to double in the hour after consuming just one drink — be it wine, beer or hard liquor — according to a small multi-center study reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Read article
ABC – AMA federal vice-president Dr Steven Hambleton says he is concerned about pubs and bars mixing alcohol with highly caffeinated drinks. Dr Hambleton says combining stimulant drinks with depressant alcohol is dangerous and is a likely cause of nightclub violence. “I think we’ve certainly got to have a rethink about how we use it and the role of caffeine in our society,” he said. Read article
Lat/Am Daily – Militaryless, democratic, non-conflict-having Costa Rica is the new front in the United States’ War on Inanimate Objects. The country’s national assembly has given the OK for a veritable US invasion force to enter Costa Rican territory: 7,000 marines on 46 warships, including the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship the USS Makin Island, pictured. Read article
ANI – A specific type of genetic material plays a key role in determining vulnerability to cocaine addiction and may offer an entirely new direction for the development of anti-addiction therapies, according to a study. In animal studies, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have found that a molecule called microRNA-212 was increased in the brains of test animals that had extended access to cocaine. MicroRNA-212 controlled how much cocaine the animals consumed. Read article
BBC – At least 21 people have been killed in a gunfight between two of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels near the border with the US, officials have said. The incident occurred off a remote dirt track near the city of Nogales, in the northern state of Sonora, they said. Read Article
The West Australian – More than three billion dollars in cash has been flown out of Kabul in recent years amid fears that ill-gotten gains from corruption and narcotics are being stashed overseas, a report said Monday. The Wall Street Journal said the cash — more than the Afghan government collects in tax and customs revenue annually — is legally declared and packed into suitcases or cargo pallets on flights out of Kabul International Airport. Read article
PhysOrg.com – Mothers who drink alcohol while they are pregnant may be damaging the fertility of their future sons, according to new research to be presented at the 26th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome today. Doctors in Denmark found that if mothers had drunk 4.5 or more drinks a week while pregnant, then the sperm concentration of their sons, measured about 20 years later, was a third lower in comparison to men who were not exposed to alcohol while in the womb. Read Article
ScienceDaily — A new study shows that use of psychotropic medications during pregnancy increase the probability of birth defects. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have published an article that documents the serious side effects that can be associated with these types of medications. Read Article
Reuters – Abuse of prescription drugs is growing rapidly around the world, with more people abusing legal narcotics than heroin, cocaine and ecstasy combined, the United Nations global drugs watchdog said on Wednesday. The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) also pointed to a rise in the use of so-called “date rape drugs,” as sexual abusers try to get around more rigorous controls with substances not banned by international drugs laws. Read article
PhysOrg.com – Parents may be surprised, even disappointed, to find out they don’t influence whether their teen tries alcohol. But now for some good news: Parenting style strongly and directly affects teens when it comes to heavy drinking – defined as having five or more drinks in a row – according to a new Brigham Young University study. Read Article
