Category Archives: Drug Dependency

Experts will carry out "robust clinical assessments" to determine whether beneficiaries are recreational drug users or are drug addicts, under Government plans to screen job seekers. The Government today released details of its plans to drug test beneficiaries ahead of legislation being introduced to Parliament next month. The changes would come into effect next July. Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said about 40 per cent of the jobs listed at Work and Income required drug testing. "It's reasonable for employers to expect people to be drug free." Bennett said beneficiaries would face sanctions if they refused to apply for drug-tested jobs. Under the current system an unemployment beneficiary can decline without penalty to apply for an available drug-tested job because they won't pass the test. "Recreational drug use is simply not an acceptable excuse for avoiding available work. Thousands of working New Zealanders are in jobs requiring they be clean of drugs; it's reasonable to expect someone looking for work to do the same." Drug testing only applied to those with a work expectation attached to their benefit and only for jobs requiring drug tests. Those who failed tests would be given a warning and reasonable period of time to … Continue reading →

said Thursday night he is finished fighting a barrage of drug charges from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, putting his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists in history at risk. The decision sets up a likely lifetime ban from the sport and the possibility that Armstrong will be stripped of his signature achievement - the extraordinary run of Tour titles he won in 1999-2005. "There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is enough.' For me, that time is now," Armstrong said in a statement. "The toll this has taken on my family and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today - finished with this nonsense." Armstrong, who retired last year, said his decision is not an admission of drug use, but a refusal to enter an arbitration process he believes is unfair. USADA will almost certainly treat Armstrong's decision as an admission of guilt, and hang the label of drug cheat on an athlete who was a hero to thousands for overcoming life-threatening testicular cancer and for his foundation's support for cancer research. The agency can impose a lifetime ban and recommend he be stripped … Continue reading →

In July, 2News reporter Sara Goldenberg shed light on Oklahoma's Narconon Arrowhead, a non-medical drug rehabilitation facility in Canadian, Okla. The program, which has been closely tied to L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, has seen four patients die while under facility care since 2009. At the time of our initial story, three patients had died on Narconon Arrowhead grounds in nine months. Last week, NBC's Rock Center aired the results of an investigation into the rehab facility for the first time. After an initial statement from Narconon CEO Gary Smith, 2News received an expanded letter from Smith defending the care of its patients. Here is the letter in its entirety. AN OPEN LETTER FROM NARCONON ARROWHEADS CEO, GARY W. SMITH To the grieving parents I want to say that I know what it is like to lose a child. My wife and I have struggled through every birthday, every Christmas and the date of death, year after year for nearly two decades now. I understand at a gut level what these parents are going through and how desperate they are for answers they need to explain the terrible loss. I also know there are no set rules in how someone … Continue reading →

Wise man: Author Doug Fine and his familiar HERBWISE Author Doug Fine's last book, Farewell My Subaru, is about the year he moved to a secluded New Mexico farm and attempted to live without petroleum. He's just as creative about advocating against the War on Drugs as is his against fossil fuel dependency -- for his new book Too High To Fail: Cannabis and the New Green Economic Revolution Fine spent a cannabis season living in a Mendocino grow town. He's been getting love from his recent appearance on Conan, but we caught up with him via email for some real talk while he was en route from his home, a.k.a. the Funky Butte Ranch, "hurtling toward live events in Colorado in an '87 RV." He'll be in town this week doing readings, so read up here and bring him questions to his Booksmith reading on Wed/22 and his event for cannabis patients at Harborside Health Center on Fri/24. SFBG: What are you adding to the discussion on cannabis legalization with Too High To Fail? Doug Fine: I relocated to Mendocino County, and for 10 months covered the county's successful efforts to permit sustainable cannabis farmers. I followed one flower … Continue reading →

A northern Minnesota woman pleaded guilty in Itasca County Monday to stabbing a man during a domestic dispute following a day of drug use and drinking earlier this month. Rae Lynn Butzbach, 49, of Keewatin pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree assault resulting in substantial bodily harm. Authorities had also charged her with assault in the first degree and a second count of assault in the second degree. Those two charges were dropped in exchange to the guilty plea on the one count. Under the terms of the plea agreement -- filed Tuesday, Aug. 21, but a judge must approve it -- Butzbach would be on supervised probation for 10 years. Conditions of probation include serving 180 days in jail, paying a $1,085 fine, completing and following the recommendations of a chemical dependency evaluation, taking prescribed medications in the proper amounts, and completing and following the recommendations of a psychological or diagnostic evaluation. Her use of drugs and alcohol would also be restricted and monitored with spot-checks. Butzbach is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 15. According to the criminal complaint, officers were called to a medical situation at 401 N. Fifth St. in Keewatin about 7:15 a.m. on … Continue reading →

20 years ago the first group of "Drug Addicts Anonymous" was formed in Moscow. Every week in Russia over a thousand community meetings are held in 142 cities. The effectiveness of this technique in combination with medication was formally approved by the Ministry of Health. It is believed that every other addict can achieve at least one year of remission. Looking at the frail, smiling Eugenia, it is impossible to imagine that a third of her life was given to drugs. "I have actively used drugs for ten years. Six years ago, I had no friends, no family. The last few months before joining the "Drug Addict Anonymous" I lived on the stairs because I was kicked out of my house," said Eugenia. She was lucky - not only she survived, but returned to normal life, obtained education, found a job, and got married. According to her, none of this would have happened if it were not for the community: "I have always been persecuted everywhere. And then I was listened to for the first time. And I wanted to learn to live without drugs." "Drug Addicts Anonymous" was created in the 1950s in the United States, by analogy with … Continue reading →

Nearly 40 people were arrested in a police sweep through North Camden earlier this week that targeted the neighborhood's drug trade, officials announced Friday. As part of Operation Padlock, state, county, and city authorities spent two days in the area around Northgate Park going after drug dealers and the men and women who buy from them. The operation is scheduled to continue over the next several weeks, as Camden police grapple with an entrenched network of drug suppliers and dealers that dominate parts of the city. "What we're trying to do is a concentrated effort towards these open-air drug markets," Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson said. "We'll continue to apply pressure from both the supply side and the demand side." The arrest sheet showed the demographics of drug dealing in the city, which is routinely ranked one of the country's most violent: Of the 37 people arrested, six were charged with selling drugs. All the dealers are men from Camden, ranging in age from 19 to 53. Virtually all of the 31 buyers arrested were from outside Camden, including from Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Maple Shade, Marlton, Mount Laurel, Runnemede, and one from as far away as Toms River. Almost half … Continue reading →

For Tyrann Mathieu, the best way to get back onto the football field -- and stay there -- appears to be taking a season off. That's the plan according to his father, Tyrone Mathieu, who Jen Hale of Fox 8 Sports in New Orleans, spoke to Thursday night. According to Hale's report, the "Honey Badger" has been at a drug and alcohol recovery center in Houston since Monday and will not pursue playing football until he successfully graduates from the program. CBS columnist Bruce Feldman confirmed the report, adding that Mathieu is specifically there to treat marijuana issues. Gannett News Services reported Mathiieu would have had to fail at least four drug tests to be dismissed from the team. Mathieu is also reportedly meeting daily with former NBA star and head coach John Lucas, who struggled with his own addictions during his playing career and has since become one of the more highly regarded "life coaches" for athletes battling drug and alcohol dependency. While there has been plenty of interest from teams looking to add Mathieu since his abrupt suspension by LSU -- the university was contacted by more than a dozen teams -- time was running out for the … Continue reading →

By CAITLIN TRAYNOR and JOLENE CLEAVER Dispatch Staff Writers Twitter.com/DispatchCaitlin, Twitter.com/DispatchCleaver As with many other highly-addictive substances, treating a dependency on new synthetic drugs is difficult. Major obstacles include most users unwillingness and the health care systems limited resources. In Madison County, despite a growing number of extreme reactions to the use of bath salts and synthetic marijuana, only a few users have participated in treatment, says Jim Yonai, Madison County Mental Health Department Director. Dozens of bath salt users treated in emergency rooms have been referred to the countys drug treatment programs. Only two have actually shown up for help, he says. With multiple cases where bath salts have been a known factor in violent outbursts and aggressive and abusive behavior, follow-up treatment to address the persons dependency on the drug has been identified as an essential service. With any kind of chemical dependency, Yonai says users refuse to seek treatment because they deny they have a problem or they want to continue using. While alcohol and marijuana are the drugs of choice for those who receive treatment in Madison County, bath salts are proving to be a whole new problem. Because of its unregulated manufacturing and the variety … Continue reading →

The debate about legalisation is a distraction. Opium poppy buds in an Afghan field. Photograph: Getty Images It is impossible not to be moved by the plight of communities in Mexico and other drug-producing countries across the world. Crime and violence related to the supply of drugs are without a doubt causing extreme grief to citizens and governments. But reaching to decriminalise or legalise those drugs in the hope that it will overcome those communities deep-rooted problems offers them a false prospectus, and overlooks the nuanced picture of drug use and addiction which in this country at least, is in decline. For many producer nations, drugs are one of a number of complex factors contributing to adverse conditions within their countries. Legalisation would compound the devastating effects of drug use and the drugs trade, as former UN head of drugs and crime Antonio Maria Costa argues, especially if the structural issues that leave those states without the resources to tackle the causes and consequences of their drug problem are not addressed. The legal framework in this country does not prevent those with drug problems from being treated humanely and effectively. Drug treatment is freely and quickly available via the NHS … Continue reading →