People who drank a moderate amount of alcohol before a traumatic event report more flashbacks than those who had alcohol, according to new research at UCL (University College London). The results may give new insight into why some individuals develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic event and others do not.
Young people who smoke marijuana for six years or more are twice as likely to have psychotic episodes, hallucinations, or delusions than people who have never used the drug, scientists said on Monday.
Leave it to the college crowd to come up with the idea that mixing energy drinks with alcohol can let you party all night and not have a hangover in the morning. The problem is that’s a false assumption. Already hugely popular on their own, energy drinks contain ingredients such as caffeine, ginseng and taurine, all of which are stimulants. Alcohol is a depressant. Mixing energy drinks with alcohol is not only a bad idea, it’s also dangerous. … Continue Reading
Dr. Conrad Murray, personal physician to Michael Jackson, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the pop star’s death last summer.
Youth and healthy individuals are increasingly dying from ecstasy use. A new release in Science Daily highlights a paper by a University of Hertfordshire academic which reports that ecstasy-related death rates in young users is cause for concern.
Lead author on this paper is Professor Fabrizio Schifano at the University’s School of Pharmacy. Schifano and his colleagues reviewed stimulant-related deaths from the np-SAD database and from the British Crime Survey 2001-2007 results. In this review, the researchers found 832 amphetamine and methylamphetamine-related deaths and 605 ecstasy-related deaths.
The element of higher concern identified the fact that the fatalities from ecstasy during that period
"Cocaine torches" (also known as flashlights) are to be issued to pub and club stewards in Renfrewshire, Scotland, in an attempt to tackle drug abuse. They work by illuminating the hairs on the inside of the nose and around the nose area. If cocaine has been taken, it shows up bright green.
Cough syrup, antacid, decongestants, pain relievers and topical creams for stiff muscles and joints are sold as over-the-counter (OTC) medicines at thousands of drug and grocery stores in the United States. They’re easily accessible, inexpensive (compared to prescription drugs), and totally safe, right? Not always. In fact, there are some instances when an over-the-counter drug is really not a good idea.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the governmental agency in the United States that decides whether a medicine is safe enough to be sold over the counter. The FDA has a handy checklist that’s downloadable for choosing OTC medications for adults. But taking OTC medications, warns the FDA, still has risks.
According to Harmful Interactions: Mixing Alcohol with Medicines, a publication from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “some medicines that you might never have suspected can react with alcohol, including many medications which can be purchased over the counter.” … Continue Reading
The naturally occurring brain chemical 4-hydroxybutyrate (4-HB), also called gamma hydroxybutyrate or GHB, can be abused or used as a date-rape drug when taken by mouth. A team of Ohio and Michigan scientists have determined new routes by which 4-HB is metabolized by the body.
Marijuana is commonly referred to as a gateway drug. Some research has been used to support marijuana as a type of stepping stone to more dangerous drug choices (Morral, McCaffrey & Paddock, 2002). This information supports the “gateway hypothesis,” which argues that substance abuse is triggered by a progression of events that begins with use of an illegal substance such as alcohol or tobacco and then moves on to marijuana and then cocaine or another illicit drug.
A new study in rats has found that N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a commonly available and generally nontoxic amino acid derivative, reverses changes in the brain’s circuitry associated with cocaine addiction. The reversal appears to lessen the cravings associated with cocaine, thus helping to prevent relapse.
