One dose of the hallucinogenic drug LSD could help alcoholics give up drinking, according to an analysis of studies performed in the 1960s. A study, presented in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, looked at data from six trials and more than 500 patients. It said there was a significant beneficial effect on alcohol abuse, which lasted several months after the drug was taken. An expert said this was as good as anything weve got. LSD is a class A drug in the UK and is one of the most powerful hallucinogens ever identified. It appears to work by blocking a chemical in the brain, serotonin, which controls functions including perception, behaviour, hunger and mood. Benefit Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology analysed earlier studies on the drug between 1966 and 1970. Patients were all taking part in alcohol treatment programmes, but some were given a single dose of LSD of between 210 and 800 micrograms. For the group of patients taking LSD, 59 per cent showed reduced levels of alcohol misuse compared with 38 per cent in the other group. This effect was maintained six months after taking the hallucinogen, but it disappeared after a year. Those taking … Continue reading →

Pathways Team Assists Ongoing Recovery from Hurricane Katrina Thirty-two community members sponsored by Pathways Christian Fellowship recently traveled as a team to Louisiana to assist in the ongoing rebuilding of the Greater New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina. The group learned that even though the disaster occurred more than six years ago, the need for disaster relief remains. This is the fifth year disaster relief teams sponsored by Pathways have traveled to southeastern Louisiana, and the group was once again confronted by the reality that many continue to struggle with recovery. Drug Awareness Forum Planned in East Aurora Community leaders and organizations are teaming up to provide East Aurora parents with information on the dangersand the widespread use by teensof drugs. Several speakers will discuss the abuse of prescription drugs and the toll it can take on teens and families. YellowJackets A Cappella Group to Perform at Iroquois The YellowJackets, the University of Rochester's premier a cappella group, will perform at Iroquois Central High School on Thurs., March 15 at 7 p.m. The concert takes place in the auditorium at 2111 Girdle Road in Elma. Survey Says: Preserve Marilla's Rural Character Based on several hundred responses received back from Marill''s … Continue reading →

Prescribing heroin instead of methadone is more effective and less costly in treating street drug addiction relapses, a new analysis suggests. It was a collaboration with UBC, the University of Montreal and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. "We gave them option of trying methadone or diacetylmorphine [heroin] under medically supervised conditions, and we found people who were getting diacetylmorphine were retained in treatment much, much longer, so they had a much better outcome," said study head Dr. Aslam Anis, director of the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences at St. Pauls Hospital in Vancouver. Most of the savings in the mathematical model were attributed to how those prescribed heroin stayed in treatment longer and spent less time in relapse than those randomly assigned to receive methadone. By staying in treatment, health-care costs were lower when the cost of the drugs, counselling and social supports were added up. "Our model indicated that diacetylmorphine would decrease societal costs, largely by reducing costs associated with crime, and would increase both the duration and quality of life of treatment recipients," the study's authors concluded. While the clinical trial was based on a years worth of data, the researchers considered different timeframes such … Continue reading →

Police discovered a cannabis farm in Ipswich Monday, March 12, 2012 12:15 PM POLICE have found three cannabis farms in Essex folloiwng a crackdown on drug supply this morning. To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below. The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up. Send link To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in. Officers from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate executed four warrants two at industrial units in Witham and Woodham Mortimer and two at residential premises in Woodham Mortimer and Purleigh. Around 50 plants were found in each of the units while another 20 plants were discovered at a house in Woodham Mortimer. A 50-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis and taken into custody where he is being questioned. Assistant Chief Constable Gary Beautridge, head of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: Todays warrants were carried out as part of our ongoing work to disrupt the sale of illegal drugs and the criminality that goes hand in hand with it. Continued here: Witham: Police find cannabis … Continue reading →

Local law enforcement officials have told the American authorities that Barbados is seeing an increasing number of drug mules ingesting their illegal contraband to get it into the country. Thats according to the recently released 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report compiled by the United States State Department which referred to one incident in August last year when ten passengers on one flight were found to have swallowed drugs. Law enforcement officials report an increasing number of drug couriers arriving via air, notably on flights from Jamaica, smuggling drugs in their stomachs, stated the Drug And Chemical Control section on Barbados. On the drug demand prevention front, it said police believed that the National Council On Substance Abuse (NCSA) and the National Committee for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (NCPADD) needed to change their strategies. Police contacts assess these entities need to revise their strategy, pointing to continued high levels of cannabis consumption among the populations and increased youth drug, the document stated. Up until October 13, drug hauls in Barbados included 5 000 kilos of cannabis, the vast majority of which was seized at sea; 64 kilos of cocaine, ten per cent of which was made at … Continue reading →

TORONTO - The prescribing of painkillers to seniors for relatively low-pain surgeries may lead to some becoming dependent on opioids such as codeine or oxycodone, a new study suggests. The study, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that 7.1 per cent of patients were prescribed an opioid within seven days of these low-pain surgeries, and more than 10 per cent of them were using these potent pain medications a year later. The research set out to explore why older adults would start taking a strong morphine-like drug and whether the medical system could possibly be contributing to chronic use. "What we're trying to do is identify how some of the older people might start it, and the idea is that some of the people might start it by just having a casual interaction with the health-care system for a fairly self-limiting illness," said Dr. Chaim Bell, senior author of the paper. "From a patient perspective, do you really need to take the most potent pain reliever, do you need to even take it or to fill it? That's a patient perspective. From a physician's perspective, or from a system perspective, we really need to do a better … Continue reading →