Drug and alcohol treatment is expensive

The Washington Times is running an article that states employer-sponsored health plans in 2006 provided limited coverage for substance-abuse treatment and did not provide the same level of benefits for substance abuse as those given for medical and surgical benefits.

The declining coverage rates are a concern, as alcoholism and dependency on illegal drugs remain a serious problem. In 2005, approximately 22.2 million Americans age 12 or older were “dependent” or “abused” illicit drugs or alcohol.

Crystal meth use

Crystal methamphetamine use is higher than previous estimates. The National Institute of Drug Abuse issued anew study suggesting the following:

The study, published in the July issue of the journal Addiction, found 2.8 percent of young adults (ages 18-26) reported the use of crystal methamphetamine in the past year during 2001-2002. This is higher than the annual prevalence of crystal methamphetamine use by young adults (ages 19-28) of 1.4 percent reported by NIDA’s 2002 Monitoring the Future Survey.

Russian men drinking cologne

Russian men are consuming beer, wine, cologne and cleaning agents for cheap highs. This study looked at 1,700 men who died in Russia and compared them to the same number of alive control studies. The link below is to Bloomberg.com

Researchers studied 1,750 men who died between 2003 and 2005 as well as the same number of control cases who were still alive, according to the study, published today in the medical journal The Lancet.

Russian men are more likely to drink products such as cologne or cleaning agents not meant for consumption because they are as much as six times cheaper than alcohol meant to be drunk, the scientists, led by David Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Health.

Cannabis admissions on the rise in the U.K.

The BBC is reporting that psychiatric hospital admissions due to marijuana have risen 85% in England. Cannabis use was a contributing factor in up to 10% of schizophrenia cases, yet this was under-recognized.

The figures include people with a chronic addiction to cannabis, people with an acute cannabis psychosis as well as those with cannabis-related schizophrenia. “Psychiatrists have been telling us that 80% of patients admitted with their first episode of psychosis have been taking the drug.”

Ecstasy effects memory

This is from Ivanhoe Newswire:

Young people who use the recreational drug ecstasy may be doing more than just getting high. New research out of Amsterdam suggests they may also be damaging their ability to remember certain facts.

Thai detox

Americans are paying big money for this. This just shows you how difficult it can be and to what lengths people will go to, to overcome addiction.

Since its foundation in 1959, Wat Tham Krabok, 85 miles north of Bangkok, has put nearly 100,000 addicts through its “cold turkey” detox program and given them a grounding in meditation to help them stay on the straight and narrow. The treatment — a far cry from the picture-postcard beaches, jungle trekking and wild nightlife that draw millions of visitors to Thailand each year — is not for the faint-hearted.

In what is now a well-choreographed ceremony, patients sit cross legged and side-by-side in front of a long open drain. Accompanied by drums and chanting they then try to drink a bucket of water before sticking their fingers down their throats.

Study examines brain’s own marijuana

Endocannabinoid, I have never heard of it before. Apparently we make it in our brain. Endocannabinoids are made to regulate stress, anxiety and stress related behavior. The University of Buffalo will be studying how these endocannabinoids function in the brain.

“It is widely accepted that one of the major reasons that people use and abuse marijuana is to relieve stress,” according to Samir Haj-Dahmane, Ph.D., neuroscientist and principal investigator on the RIA study. “However, because marijuana can be addictive, it cannot be used to treat stress-related mood disorders such as anxiety. An alternative strategy may be to directly target the ‘brain’s own marijuana.’”