Category Archives: Drugs

Enlarge M. Spencer Green/AP The FDA hasn't approved a new weight-loss drug since 1999. In the meantime, Americans' waistlines have continued to grow. M. Spencer Green/AP The FDA hasn't approved a new weight-loss drug since 1999. In the meantime, Americans' waistlines have continued to grow. Tammy Wade knew she had to try something else to lose weight when she stepped on the scale and saw the number: 203 pounds. Wade, 50, of McCalla, Ala., is only 5 feet 3 inches tall. She had tried everything. Nothing worked. "I had problems with my feet and ankles, and they were saying I was borderline diabetic," Wade says. "I'm like, well, I gotta do something, you know. So, I needed, really did need to lose the weight." So Wade volunteered to help test Qnexa, an experimental drug pending before the Food and Drug Administration. She quickly noticed a big difference. "I didn't feel ravenous, and I didn't want to snack all day long," she says.   Over the next year, Qnexa helped Wade slowly drop about 40 pounds, and keep it off for another year. "It makes you feel so much better," Wade says. "Your back don't hurt, your feet don't hurt." But … Continue reading →

It has been an interesting week to contemplate drugs, music and the interaction between the two. I was reading Mike Doughty’s new autobiography of art and self-abuse, “The Book of Drugs” (Da Capo), when news of Whitney Houston’s death broke. The next evening, while watching the Grammys, I wondered just how many of the folks offering remembrances of Houston on the stage, via tweet, text or Facebook post, were battling demons, dabbling with them or actively courting them. Could the pop stars protesting to be shocked and dismayed by Houston’s death, be wasted out of their gourds themselves? The odds are better than 50-50. Inevitably, this confluence of events — digesting Doughty’s harrowing and hilarious memoir (which he’ll read from at 5 p.m. next Friday in Talking Leaves Books, 3158 Main St.); hearing of Houston’s death; watching the Grammys and tributes — got me thinking. I wondered why so many artists have drug and alcohol problems — and whether drugs had initially helped them get closer to their art, before turning on them. The list of musicians who died before their time due to pills, pints, powders and potions is incredibly depressing to contemplate. Begin, though you don’t have to … Continue reading →

Researchers say they have made the first implantable chip that can deliver medicine for as long as a year and that several women tolerated it safely for up to four months. Not only did the subjects find the implant comfortable, but it appeared to deliver an osteoporosis drug effectively, the team told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They think such a device could be programmed to deliver a precise dose daily, helping to avoid problems caused when people fail to take their drugs on time. It could also be controlled remotely, allowing doctors to change dosage. “We see this as a new future for how doctors will administer drugs and how patients will receive their treatments,” Robert Farra of Massachusetts-based MicroCHIPS told a news conference. “Patients will be freed from having to remember to take their medication and don’t have to experience the pain of multiple injections.” Patients often fail to take medicines correctly -- and the more complex and expensive the drug, the less likely they are to remember. It's a headache for doctors and insurers alike, who end up spending needless time and money to treat symptoms that could have been prevented … Continue reading →

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency has decided that the benefits of orlistat-containing weight loss drugs, including GlaxoSmithKline's Alli and Roche's Xenical, outweigh the risk of very rare liver-related side effects. The regulator launched a review of the drugs in September in light of some rare cases of severe liver injury among patients. It said on Thursday that the drugs were beneficial in the treatment of obese or overweight patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 28 or above. However, it recommended that labelling for the medicines, including nationally authorized orlistat-containing generics, was harmonized to ensure the warning about liver damage was consistent. It stressed that cases of severe liver disease linked to the drugs were very rare. There with 21 cases of severe liver toxicity reported where Xenical was considered a possible cause from 1997 to January 2011, it said, and nine reports of liver failure in people using Alli between May 2007, when it was first marketed, and January 2011. To put that in context, Xenical and Alli together were estimated to have been used by over 53 million people worldwide, with over 20 million in the European Union, it said. GlaxoSmithKline has put Alli up … Continue reading →

By Carol Cratty, CNN updated 8:39 PM EST, Thu February 16, 2012 STORY HIGHLIGHTS The Partnership at Drugfree.org unveils online info tools on synthetics The kits include a podcast and video, a slide cast and a printable guide Poison control centers see a huge jump in synthetic-drug-related calls Drug policy director: Spice, K2, other synthetics "can cause serious harm" Washington (CNN) -- For parents who are mystified by drugs with names like Spice and bath salts: There's now a kit to help you out. The Partnership at Drugfree.org on Thursday unveiled tools available online to help adults understand synthetic drugs and urged them to talk to kids about their dangers. "These are threats that were not around when they, themselves, were teenagers," said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the drug education organization. The kits include a podcast and video, a slide cast and a printable guide with information on street names for drugs, what kinds of medical problems they can cause, and tips on how to tell whether their children might be using synthetic marijuana or stimulants. Pasierb and Gil Kerlikowske, director of National Drug Control Policy, met with officials from government and anti-drug groups to discuss how to … Continue reading →

VIENNA (Reuters) - Afghanistan cannot be stable while its economy depends so heavily on the drugs trade, and its allies must step up the fight to combat the industry, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Thursday. Opening a major international conference on ways to combat narcotics production in Afghanistan and smuggling through neighboring states, Ban said the problem undermined efforts to help Afghanistan emerge as a normally functioning economy. "We cannot speak of sustainable development when opium production is the only viable economic activity in the country," he told delegates of the so-called Paris Pact Ministerial Conference, which first met in 2003. "We cannot expect stability when 15 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product comes from the drugs trade." The Vienna conference, with participants from more than 50 countries and international organizations including the foreign ministers of Russia and France, was due to adopt a new declaration at the end of a one-day session. With foreign combat forces, and much of their cash and air power, expected to be gone from the country by the end of 2014, the Afghan government will need more help fighting poppy cultivation, which rose over the last year, experts say. "Despite continued efforts … Continue reading →

Great Decisions last week dealt with Mexico. There was a good discussion led by Professors Heather Brady and Tim Gaster centering on drugs and drug cartels. My view — but not mine alone — is that these problems are not really Mexican problems, but reflect what is going on here. That is, American criminals carter to American vices, and Mexican gangsters want a part of the action. Mexico, Columbia, California, all are following a course we saw in our country during Prohibition, in that when the police are asked to enforce unpopular policies, criminals get rich, and the police and politicians become corrupted or ineffective. There are few who doubt that our society has a problem with drugs. People like them, whether it is coffee or alcohol or substances which only the foolish would use voluntarily. The world is full of fools. It is difficult to save a fool from folly, especially when the folly is both fun and a means of defying authority. Our experiment of 1919-1933, prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol, produced some good results, but more negative ones. So many citizens refused to obey the law, even mocked the government for its clumsy efforts to … Continue reading →

VIENNA (AP) — The U.N. secretary general on Thursday urged the international community to step up efforts to eradicate drugs in Afghanistan, noting that opium production there has grown by 61 percent in the past year and adding that "time is not on our side." In his opening statement to a meeting of top global representatives, Ban Ki-moon also warned that the problem extends beyond those who abuse drugs and is threatening Afghanistan itself. "Drug trafficking and transnational organized crime undermine the health of fragile states, (and) weaken the rule of law," he told delegates. "Above all, the Afghan government must prioritize the issue of narcotics." Afghanistan's minister for counter-narcotics, however, suggested that drugs can only be eradicated if security in his country is improved. Named for the agreement that created it nine years ago, the Paris Pact meeting is meant to review steps taken to reduce production and trafficking of opiates from Afghanistan. It will look at ways to block financial flows from the illicit drug trade, choke the flow of chemicals used to make heroin and strengthen local initiatives to help combat drug abuse by Afghans. But the meeting has no enforcing powers, and international attempts to reduce … Continue reading →

Teen on drugs: How he got sober JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Kids hooked on drugs will hide it as long as they can.  That's why experts say parents need to be just as sneaky.  The counselors at Gateway Community Services are helping by revealing some common hiding places to Channel 4's Nikki Kimbleton. New statistics show there's a 65 percent chance that your teenager is either experimenting or regularly using alcohol or drugs. SUBSTANCE USE DATA: Duval County | Florida "If you know where they hide their stash, you can confront them and get them help" says Clinical Director Dawn Karlovich.  Gateway counselors asked a teenager in rehab to come clean about where he would put his stash. "I would put it in a pocket in my pants and fold it up and then put it in my drawer," says Ben.  "If my clothes were folded neat, then they would look in the drawer but not look in the pockets. And then another place I used to hide it, I had an air vent in my room and I could unscrew it and put stuff in there." Ben, who estimates he was 12 years old when he started doing drugs, says … Continue reading →

Officials at at least one U.S. hospital admit they've discarded the scarce cancer drug doxorubicin in order to comply with strict regulations for storage and sterility. By JoNel Aleccia Mounting shortages of crucial drugs are creating a new dilemma for the nation’s hospital pharmacists, who say they find themselves caught between breaking government rules for storage and safety -- or throwing away vital and lifesaving medications. At one hospital in Florida, officials acknowledge they’ve discarded the scarce cancer drug doxorubicin, even as patients nationwide clamor for treatment. “I’d never want to take a chance with not following the rules,” said Alan K. Knudsen, director of pharmacy legal services for Shands HealthCare at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “I wish I didn't have to throw it out." Others, however, admit they’re bucking regulations imposed by federal agencies, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in the interest of patient care, as long as they have strong scientific evidence that the drugs are still safe. "With the medications in very high need, we are using it," said Thomas Burnakis, coordinator of pharmacy clinical services at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla. It would gall him, for instance, to toss midazolam, a widely-used anesthetic … Continue reading →