Category Archives: Drugs

Some people who started using hard drugs like cocaine in their youth never stopped. They're still occasional users in middle-age, a new study finds. By Diane Mapes The specter of a burned-out Baby Boomer using hard drugs way into middle age may conjure images of addiction, destruction and death. That certainly can be true, but it’s not the complete picture, at least according to a new study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who found that people who occasionally use drugs like cocaine, amphetamines and opiates over the course of their lives are more common than anyone might suspect. “When you think of a drug user, you often think of someone strung-out, using every day, and in deep trouble, but national data shows that that's not the most common thing you see," says Dr. Stefan Kertesz, an associate professor in the UAB Division of Preventive Medicine. “The most common pattern is illicit drug use at lower levels." In other words, these sporadic drug users are “dabblers,” says Kertesz, lead author of the study that followed more than 4,300 people from four cities recruited between the ages of 18 to 30 in 1985 and 1986 -- and then … Continue reading →

A DRUGS boss who was called “Roy Cropper” by his criminal associates has failed in an Appeal Court bid to have his jail term reduced. Police found that phone numbers stored under the name of the mild-mannered Coronation Street character in the phones of two drug dealers in fact belonged to car dealer Raymond Frederick Casling, pictured. Casling, 33, of Canterbury Road, Redcar, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years at Teesside Crown Court in June last year, after he was found guilty of two conspiracies to supply class A drugs. He challenged his sentence at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, with his lawyers arguing it was “too long” for his crimes. But his appeal was thrown out by top judges, who said the term was “not excessive” given the large quantity of drugs which must have been involved. Mr Justice Beatson told the court that Casling, a second-hand car salesman, was the organiser of two plots to supply drugs. The first came to light in July 2009, when a car driven by 39-year-old Reginald Breeze was stopped by police in Loftus. Officers found 165 tablets on him and a further 1,400 were found during a search of his home. Casling was arrested … Continue reading →

BOSTON (Reuters) - Ronald O'Hanley has emerged as an outspoken force inside Fidelity Investments, giving a speech on Thursday that touched on sex, drugs and revolution as he warned that young Americans face getting a raw deal from the U.S. retirement system. Top executives at the Boston-based mutual fund giant are known for being conservative and scripted in their public appearances. But since O'Hanley joined Fidelity in 2010 as the president of asset management and corporate services, he has demonstrated a more free-wheeling approach in his public comments. The United States is facing a "real crisis in intergenerational inequity," O'Hanley said in explaining how Social Security's cash deficits continue to grow as retirees outnumber the people entering the workplace. The crucial question that faces O'Hanley's college-age son and his friends, he said, is what kind of retirement system they will have when they grow old. The United States is at the tipping point in dealing with problems affecting the retirement savings system, O'Hanley said. If the country doesn't deal with the issues now, he added, there will be a more severe crisis 10 to 15 years from now, such as a significant increase in homelessness. "It's a truly raw deal … Continue reading →

Leslie Carter overdosed and was under the influence of several drugs before her death, according to an incident report obtained by ABCNews.com from officials who responded to her family's 911 call. The report lists three drugs that were found near Carter: Olanzapine, used to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; Cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant; and Alprazolam, used to treat anxiety or panic disorders, also known as Xanax. The report reveals that Ginger Carter, Leslie's stepmother, told authorities that Leslie had "a long history of mental illness and was on medication for her depression." Her stepmother said that Leslie seemed depressed the morning of Jan. 30, and that she fell in the shower. Ginger Carter helped Leslie lie down, at first with Leslie's 10-month-old daughter, and periodically checked on her. Late in the afternoon, she found that Leslie was not breathing. Robert Carter, Leslie's father, tried to perform CPR on her, and Leslie's stepmother then called 911. See Leslie Carter's full incident report. Kristy Leibowitz/Getty Images Ginger Carter also appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol or both, according to the incident report. "Ginger had slurred speech, pinpoint pupils, glassy eyes and kept falling asleep," the … Continue reading →

Study Helps Clarify Who Is at Risk for Fractures With Long-Term PPI Use Jan. 31, 2012 -- Postmenopausal women with a history of smoking who take heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for two years or longer may be more likely to sustain a hip fracture.  And the longer women take PPIs, the greater their risk. That said, the risk does disappear after women stop taking these drugs for two years. The new findings appear in the journal BMJ. These drugs, which are available by prescription and over the counter, work by reducing the secretion of stomach acid. PPIs such as Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec, and Protonix are commonly recommended for people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcers, erosive esophagitis, and a precancerous condition known as Barrett's esophagus. They are among the most widely used medications worldwide. Changing the acid environment in the stomach may reduce the absorption of calcium, which is needed for healthy bones. This is not the first study to link long-term PPI use with bone fractures, but it does help narrow down who is at greatest risk. Women who never smoked were not at increased risk for hip fracture even if they took PPIs regularly, … Continue reading →

Study Highlights: New research shows that clot-busting treatments appear safe for "wake-up" stroke patients, who account for up to a quarter of stroke patients. Patients who wake up with stroke symptoms don't get standard treatment because doctors don't know if the stroke started within the 4.5-hour window for receiving clot-busting drugs. The new data supports larger-scale testing of clot-busting treatments in wake-up stroke patients. NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 1, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clot-busting drugs may be safe for patients who wake up experiencing stroke symptoms, according to preliminary research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012. In "wake-up" stroke, the person wakes up with symptoms after going to sleep with none. Not knowing when the stroke began excludes these patients from anti-clotting drugs that must be given within 4.5 hours of the beginning of the stroke. "Because wake-up strokes are common, occurring in up to a quarter of stroke sufferers, more research is needed on how to treat these patients," said Dulka Manawadu, M.D., lead researcher and a stroke medical consultant at King's College Hospital in London, U.K. "Patients who experience stroke symptoms should call Emergency Medical Services urgently and get to the hospital fast, regardless of … Continue reading →

TUESDAY, Jan. 31 (HealthDay News) -- Older women who take popular medications to control indigestion and heartburn may put themselves at higher risk for hip fractures, researchers report. Long-term use of these drugs, called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), may increase that risk by 35 percent to 50 percent for current or former smokers, the researchers added. Prilosec, Nexium and Prevacid are some examples of these medications. "Although PPI use might be strongly indicated in some patients, at least for short-term use, we believe that clinicians should continue to carefully monitor the need for long-term use of these medications, specifically among postmenopausal women with a history of smoking," said lead researcher Dr. Hamed Khalili, a clinical and research fellow in gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "Our data supports the recent decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revise labeling of PPIs to incorporate concerns about a possible increase in risk of fractures with these drugs," he said. The report was published in the Jan. 31 online edition of the BMJ. For the study, Khalili's team collected data on almost 80,000 postmenopausal women. Over the course of eight years, from 2000 to 2008, almost 900 hip fractures occurred … Continue reading →

Enlarge Lianne Milton for NPR Chris Stephens, 28, who has been battling depression all of his life, plays with his dogs at home in Concord, Calif., on Friday. After a dose of ketamine, Stephens says, "I actually wanted to do things. I wanted to live life." Lianne Milton for NPR Chris Stephens, 28, who has been battling depression all of his life, plays with his dogs at home in Concord, Calif., on Friday. After a dose of ketamine, Stephens says, "I actually wanted to do things. I wanted to live life." A club drug called "Special K" is generating a lot of buzz among researchers who study depression. That's because "Special K," which is actually an FDA-approved anesthetic named ketamine, can relieve even suicidal depression in a matter of hours. And it works on many patients who haven't responded to current antidepressants like Prozac. Those traditional drugs, which act on the brain's serotonin system, can take more than a month to kick in, and don't work for up to 40 percent of people with major depression. "We can take care of a migraine in hours," says Carlos Zarate, a brain researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health who is … Continue reading →

Drugmaker Merck & Co., the world's third-biggest drugmaker by revenue and a Dow component, will tout recent drug approvals and progress on creating new drugs when it reports its fourth-quarter results before the stock market opens Thursday. WHAT TO WATCH FOR: CEO Kenneth Frazier, at the helm for a year, will discuss development of key experimental drugs among Merck's 20 compounds in late-stage testing. He'll likely note the company, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., got five products approved last year, including breakthrough hepatitis C drug Victrelis. Frazier likely will discuss progress on his strategy to boost revenue and profit by limiting spending, launching new drugs and increasing sales of existing ones, growing sales in emerging markets and expanding the consumer and animal health businesses. Merck, the maker of Januvia, the top-selling pill for Type 2 diabetes, has been expanding that $3 billion-a-year-plus franchise. Its Janumet pill combines widely used generic metformin with Januvia, which increases insulin production and decreases the liver's glucose production. In October, Merck got approval for Juvisync, the first combination pill for the millions who have both diabetes and high cholesterol. The company is expecting a Food and Drug Administration decision this quarter on whether it can … Continue reading →

Three common chemotherapy drugs cause DNA mutations not only in mice that receive treatment, but also in their offspring, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA1. The results suggest that the genome in treated mice became destabilized yielding new mutations long after exposure to the drugs has ceased. A similar phenomenon has been observed in mice exposed to radiation. Genomic damage can be seen in the offspring of mice who have received chemotherapy drugs. PAUL WOOTTON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY The work emphasizes the importance of looking at the effects of chemotherapy not only on recipients, but also on their descendants, but Yuri Dubrova, a geneticist at the University of Leicester, UK, who led the study, cautions against extrapolating the results of this study to humans. Most adults treated for cancer are either too old to have children or become sterile from the treatment. “So we’re talking about one group only: childhood cancer survivors,” says Dubrova. One recent study found no significant impact of radiation or chemotherapy on the rate of birth defects in 4,699 children of childhood cancer survivors2. Furthermore, children who are treated for cancer will not have children of their own … Continue reading →