Overindulgence Of Alcohol Encouraged By Loud Music

Commercial venues are very aware of the effects that the environment - in this case, music - can have on in-store traffic flow, sales volumes, product choices, and consumer time spent in the immediate vicinity. A study of the effects of music levels on drinking in a bar setting has found that loud music leads to more drinking in less time.

Results will be published in the October issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

"Previous research had shown that fast music can cause fast drinking, and that music versus no music can cause a person to spend more time in a bar," said Nicolas Guéguen, a professor of behavioral sciences at the Université de Bretagne-Sud in France, and corresponding author for the study. "This is the first time that an experimental approach in a real context found the effects of loud music on alcohol consumption."

Researchers discretely visited two bars for three Saturday evenings in a medium-size city located in the west of France. The study subjects, 40 males 18 to 25 years of age, were unaware that they were being observed; only those who ordered a glass of draft beer (25 cl. or 8 oz.) were included. With permission from the bar owners, observers would randomly manipulate the sound levels (either 72 dB, considered normal, or 88 dB, considered high) of the music in the bar (Top 40 songs) before choosing a participant. After the observed participant left the bar, sound levels were again randomly selected and a new participant was chosen.

Results showed that high sound levels led to increased drinking, within a decreased amount of time.

Guéguen and his colleagues offered two hypotheses for why this may have occurred. "One, in agreement with previous research on music, food and drink, high sound levels may have caused higher arousal, which led the subjects to drink faster and to order more drinks,"" said Guéguen. "Two, loud music may have had a negative effect on social interaction in the bar, so that patrons drank more because they talked less."

In France, observed Guéguen, more than 70,000 persons per year die because of chronic alcohol consumption, and alcohol is associated with the majority of fatal car accidents. "We have shown that environmental music played in a bar is associated with an increase in drinking," he said. "We need to encourage bar owners to play music at more of a moderate level ... and make consumers aware that loud music can influence their alcohol consumption."
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source: Medical News Today

Groups file human rights complaint over treatment of Vancouver's homeless

VANCOUVER — Private security guards that patrol downtown Vancouver on the lookout for crimes and other social ills violate the rights of drug addicts and the homeless, says a complaint to be filed Thursday with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

The complaint alleges the guards hired by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association and known as "downtown ambassadors," unfairly harass addicts and limit their access to public spaces.

The unarmed guards' role, according to the association's website, includes assisting the public with directions and other questions, monitoring and deterring crimes in public spaces and reporting crime and "quality of life" concerns.

The complaint by the Pivot Legal Society, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the United Native Nations claims the guards discriminate based on the disabilities of addiction and mental illness.

And they say the guards' actions disproportionately affect aboriginals.

In particular, the groups complain the guards order people sitting or laying on the sidewalk to move and try to prevent people from looking for recyclables in dumpsters.

They say the guards follow and stare at people they find "undesirable" and take photographs and notes for unknown purposes.

"Each of the above-noted tactics individually and collectively have the effect of 'humiliating' and 'shaming' homeless people who have equal legal access to public spaces, including sidewalks and back lanes," says the complaint, which contains allegations that haven't been tested in court.

No one from the business association was immediately available for comment.

The groups note the guards enjoy a sanctioned position of authority, but don't have any special legal mandate or protection.

They ask the commission to declare that the guards are violating the province's human rights code and order them to stop.

And they want the commission to order the business association to pay $20 each to people affected by their actions. They also ask the association to pay the costs of pursuing their complaint.

The security-guard program started eight years ago and has expanded with the blessing of Vancouver's city council.

The downtown ambassadors, along with the business association's loss-prevention programs, have a budget $961,000 for 2007-2008 - nearly 60 per cent of the association's entire budget.

The business association is funded through a levy imposed on the municipal property taxes of downtown commercial properties.
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source: http://canadianpress.google.com

Neighborhood rallies against methadone clinic

SEABROOK — Residents of the Pineo Farms subdivision came with their neighbors, spouses and even toddlers to tell the Planning Board how much they didn't want the proposed methadone clinic on Stard Road within 1,000 feet of their homes.

The use may be allowed in the industrial zone where the clinic is planned at 18 Stard Road, they said, but the families who have settled into the houses built on the former Pineo Farm fear their lives will never be the same if the clinic opens. They fear drug-addicted patients using the methadone clinic will endanger the lives of their children, bring crime and more traffic to the area off Route 107 and Interstate 95, and lower their property values, they said.

"I worry for the safety of my daughter," said Pineo Farms resident Tim Reeves at a hearing Tuesday night, holding his toddler in his arms. "If anything happened to my daughter, it would break my heart. I can't see how the risks (to her safety) wouldn't increase if something like this (clinic) is allowed into this place. Here, look at my daughter."

Assurances from Colonial Management Group, the company proposing the clinic, that such fears have not become reality in communities where their clinics are did nothing to assuage residents.

According to Colonial's development director, Joseph Sullivan, Seabrook was chosen for the location of this clinic because of the town's already high drug-related crime statistics, as well as its "well-known drug problem" and shortage of drug treatment facilities.

Although Julio Carrillo doesn't live in Pineo Farms, as a person formerly addicted to drugs, he told the Planning Board substituting methadone for heroin is no way to end someone's drug dependency. Addicts should go through a painful withdrawal, he said, so they remember not to fall into addiction again.

Carrillo, whose comments hushed the crowd, was praised and thanked for his courage in coming forward by Planning Board Chairwoman Susan Foote. The issue of whether methadone is or isn't effective in treating drug addiction, however, isn't one the Planning Board has any authority to address. The Planning Board handles land-use concerns, Foote repeatedly told Carrillo and others in the audience.

When Foote asked abutters to present evidence for their fearful speculations, they had no statistics to offer, but residents insisted their angst was real.

Pineo Farms resident James Prentice said his friend is being treated with methadone for drug addiction. Some do well on the program, but others abuse the program and get cut off from the methadone that quells their drug craving. They then become desperate for the money to buy illegal drugs like heroin and resort to stealing from those near the clinic, Prentice said.

"This clinic is going to place an extra burden on the Police Department and the taxpayers," Prentice said. "We're concerned about our welfare and our well-being and hope (the board) will consider our feelings. This is a neighborhood. It may be industrial, but it's a mixed bag (of businesses and homes)."

The expectation Colonial Management Group and King Weinstein, the owner of the land, would sue the town if turned down didn't worry Prentice.

"Go ahead and let them sue and let's see what happens," Prentice said.

Selectman and Planning Board member Bob Moore said he understands the neighbors' concerns. No one buys a house near an industrial zone and expects a methadone clinic to move in, Moore said. But, given the clinic would be in a multioffice professional building — a use allowed in the industrial zone, according to Seabrook's zoning rules — keeping the methadone clinic out because of neighbors' undocumented fears is most likely beyond the authority of the Planning Board or any other official, Moore said.

Before continuing the hearing to Aug. 5 for more research, Foote tried several times to explain the Planning Board's authority and limitations on the issue. As long as Weinstein builds his 9,000-square-foot office building to the specifications required by regulations for parking, traffic, lighting, utilities and storm water management, the board has little power to refuse approval. Weinstein can then lease 4,500 square feet to the clinic, Foote said, or any other medical professional or business as long as it's a legal enterprise with the appropriate licenses.

Former Selectman and current Planning Board member Bette Thibodeau said this isn't the first time Seabrook residents feared a new business in town.

"We've had this problem when the (Greyhound) racetrack wanted to come in, and we had it when the (nuclear) power plant wanted to come in," Thibodeau told the neighbors. "These things happen. You can't always say 'no' just because you don't like something."
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source: http://www.newburyportnews.com

France to crack down on under-age binge drinking

France will ban the sale of alcohol to minors and drinking in public near schools as part of a broad crackdown on binge drinking among youths, the health minister said in an interview published on Sunday.

Roselyne Bachelot said that a recent study showed an over all decline in alcohol consumption among youths but the frequency of drunkenness was increasing.

"Almost half of youths said they had had five glasses of alcohol on a single night on at least one occasion in the previous 30 days, which is the definition of binge drinking," she said in an interview with Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

She said she was working on a new bill that would also ban promotions known as "open bar" which allow customers to drink as much as they want to for a fixed price.

"We are also going to ban open bars ... which are a classic at student parties and which encourage binge drinking," Bachelot said.

She said the number of under-25s hospitalised because of excessive drunkenness had doubled between 2004 and 2007.

"Drinking alcohol in public places close to schools will also be forbidden," she said.

She told the newspaper that at present there was a grey area surrounding sales of alcoholic drinks to teenagers aged 16 to 18, with different rules depending on the kind of alcohol and whether the sales point was a bar, a club or a supermarket.

She said her bill would unambiguously ban any sale of alcohol to under-18s anywhere in France.

Another measure will be to ban sales of alcohol in filling stations. Bachelot said that at present, such a ban exists only from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the new rule should help curb drunk driving.

Bachelot said the measures, which she expected will come into force in 2009, would be accompanied by an advertising campaign featuring youths in a heavenly environment that turns hellish after they have been drinking.

In May, a government body in charge of fighting drug and alcohol addiction said it was considering banning "happy hours" during which bars offer cheaper drinks early in the evening to attract customers. Bachelot's interview made no mention of this.
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source: International Herald Tribune

Savings in alcohol, drug addiction treatment an Illusion

Nearly $18 million in state funds earmarked for alcohol and drug treatment was diverted to other uses in 2006, according to a watchdog agency report released last week.

If that sounds like a cost savings, think again.

In the same year, 1,185 men and women were sent back to prison because of probation violations. Fifty-seven percent are drug users, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections. The department expects these "technical violators" to increase to 3,000 inmates over the next five years.

This trend is one factor contributing to growth in the state's prison population, which will require Virginia to build one new prison a year for six years. Each new 1,000-bed prison will cost about $100 million to build and $25 million annually to operate.

Suddenly, an extra $18 million to help drug addicts kick the habit sounds like a good deal.

Analysts with the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission said the state is doing a poor job in evaluating which treatment and prevention programs are most effective, but it did find evidence that recidivism is lower among inmates who complete drug programs.

But drug treatment is not just for criminals behind bars. JLARC said few services are available for school dropouts and children of substance abusers. Adults indicated in a survey that they have trouble finding transportation and someone to watch their children so they can obtain drug treatment. Providers are unwilling to treat low-income people because the government-funded Medicaid program reimburses only a fraction of the true costs.

Drug treatment programs shouldn't be just about saving money. They should be motivated by the desire to save men, women and children from the misery of addiction. However, the financial benefits are clear. Eighteen million dollars won't solve all of the problems, but that money does nothing if it is left unused. A penny saved will cost Virginia far more in dollars and lives.
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source: The Virginian Pilot

Why Is Mom in Rehab?

The actress Tatum O’Neal was arrested recently on charges of buying crack cocaine from a man on the street near her New York City home. She is a 44-year-old mother of three. She has spent years in and out of drug abuse treatment (which she chronicled in her 2004 memoir), and according to her publicist she will continue to “attend meetings” for drug and alcohol abuse.

Ms. O’Neal illustrates a disturbing trend among those being admitted to substance abuse treatment services: a growing percentage of older women are being treated for harder drugs.

Data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration revealed that the total number of admissions to treatment services from 1996 to 2005 (the last year for which detailed data are available) stayed about the same among people under 40, but jumped 52 percent among those 40 and older. Of the 40 and older group, the rise in admissions among men was 44 percent. Among women, it was 82 percent.

(During the same span, the population in the United States age 40 and older grew by only 19 percent.)

Of these women, admissions for nonsmoked cocaine have doubled; admissions for crack cocaine have tripled; admissions for opiates other than heroin have nearly quadrupled; and admissions for methamphetamines have increased sevenfold.

These trends could grow stronger. A 2006 report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse focused on drug use among baby boomers, all of whom were 41 to 59 years old in 2005. It concluded that “the large size of this cohort, coupled with greater lifetime rates of drug use than previous generations, might result in unprecedented high numbers of older drug users in the next 15 to 20 years.”

There was a time when we thought that the biggest substance abuse threat to older women was alcoholism and abuse of prescription drugs.

Ten years ago this month, Betty Ford and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University issued a report called “Under the Rug: Substance Abuse and the Mature Woman.” At the time, Joseph Califano, president of the center said: “Abuse and addiction to alcohol and psychoactive drugs and tobacco by women 60 and older is an inexcusable area of neglect.”

But since boomers can’t seem to shake their street-drug demons, the focus needs to shift.
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source: The new York Times op-ed page.

Hanley Center Names Dr. Barbara Krantz CEO and Medical Director

Dr. Barbara Krantz, has been named Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of Hanley Center, a noted nonprofit addiction treatment facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Prior to accepting this position she served as Hanley’s Chief of Medical Services.

Dr. Krantz joined Hanley Center in 2001 with a strong clinical and management background in addiction and family medicine. She has worked in a number of settings including the substance abuse treatment field, hospitals and in teaching positions at the university level. She is well known in the field of addiction medicine and was honored by the Palm Beach County Medical Society in 2008 as a Heroes in Medicine award recipient for her leadership, active community philanthropy and commitment to the field of medicine.

“The addiction profile of today’s patient is complex, and it has become increasingly important that addiction treatment of this neurobiological disease is treated with an integrated approach,” said Dr. Krantz, who is part of the multidisciplinary team at Hanley Center. Dr. Krantz points to the prevalence of dual diagnosis, complications of chemical and concurrent alcohol abuse and the advanced medical therapies that address seriously ill patients.

Hanley Center, located on a 16-acre campus in West Palm Beach, specializes in holistic age and gender-specific treatment based on the Twelve-Step model. The Center pioneered the industry model for older adult treatment, and continues to lead the industry.

Hanley Center offers premiere gender and age specific treatment for men and women, as well as family and prevention programs that have been proven effective. For more information call (561) 841-1000, 1-800-444-7008 or visit www.hanleycenter.org.
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source: http://www.businesswire.com

Medical wellness and fitness center coming to Water Valley

Poudre Valley Health System announced today that it plans to open a medical wellness and fitness center in Water Valley, northern Colorado’s premier resort-style community located in Windsor. This will be the first medical wellness and fitness center in northern Colorado.

The 2-story center will offer physical therapy and cardiac rehabilitation for patients; classes on health care; wellness counseling; spa services; orthopedic care; radiology; and exercise opportunities with fitness equipment and a therapeutic pool.

In addition, medical office space will be available for physicians who practice specialty or primary care.

Rulon Stacey, PVHS president and CEO, said Windsor is an ideal setting for a medical wellness and fitness center due to the community’s location in the epicenter of northern Colorado’s rapid population growth.

“Our goal is to offer high-quality health care that is easily accessible,” he said. “The unparalleled quality and accessibility of Water Valley and its beautiful setting add beneficial dimensions that will complement the medical wellness and fitness center.”

Martin Lind, Water Valley’s owner and president, said the PVHS presence will be a valuable addition to the community.

“Having a medical and health icon like PVHS believe and invest in Water Valley solidifies our vision and motto of “Life’s Better Here!,” Lind said.

“The medical wellness and fitness center, combined with our existing resort atmosphere, will prove to be a regional destination for those seeking medical-based lifestyle changes,” he continued. “In addition to the obvious benefit for Water Valley residents, the center will benefit all of northern Colorado. Water Valley could very well become the Broadmoar of the north by offering world-class wellness, golf and a resort atmosphere.”

The medical wellness and fitness center will be the center piece of Water Valley’s Marina Plaza project that will soon begin development in the 1,500-acre Water Valley community. Water Valley encompasses five lakes; Pelican Lakes Golf Course and Country Club; and residential areas where about 3,000 people reside. Plans for the Marina Plaza include a hotel and conference center, retail space, salon and spa, restaurant, and office complex in addition to the medical wellness and fitness center.
Construction of the medical wellness and fitness center, now in the early design stage, is expected to begin later this year.

The center is slated to open in the fall of 2009.

PVHS will lease about 16,000 square feet of the Marina Plaza to house the medical wellness and fitness services, and another 9,000 square feet will be occupied by physician offices.

Stacey said the center will work closely with physicians who occupy medical office space there.

“Physicians will be able to refer patients to the center for rehabilitation, health classes and other services,” he said. “This will be a significant convenience for patients.”

Stacey said other medical wellness and fitness centers in the U.S. have found that clients tend more often to be adults who prefer the facilities rather than more traditional health clubs.

“Medical wellness and fitness centers combine the outpatient care from rehab centers and primary and specialty care providers with the prevention and educational aspects of a health club—all in one location,” he said. “Very often older adults who want to condition their bodies or undergo rehabilitation feel more comfortable at a medical wellness and fitness center because of the medical presence there.”
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source: Windsor Beacon, http://windsorbeacon.com

STORM AS THINK TANK CALLS FOR DRUG USERS 'SHOOTING GALLERIES'

The report by the Scottish Parliament-backed Scotland’s Futures Forum yesterday called for radical new ways to tackle the drug problem.

But critics immediately dismissed it as “recycling failed ideas”.

Key recommendations include setting up “consumption rooms” where addicts could take drugs safely and for heroin to be prescribed.

It also suggested taxing cannabis to enable it to be more tightly regulated.

Of an estimated 51,000 heroin users in Scotland, about 21,000 are thought to use methadone to help with their addiction.

In 2006 there were 421 drug-related deaths in Scotland, the highest rate in Europe.

The think tank was established by the Scottish Parliament in 2005.

In its latest report it asked how the damage caused by alcohol and drugs in Scotland could be halved by 2025.

On the idea of “consumption rooms” chairman Frank Pignatelli said: “I don’t think the public are ready for it. But I think they could be convinced with strong evidence.”

Mr Pignatelli, a former education chief and civil servant, added: “When everything else has failed, when no one knows how to solve this health problem, under very controlled conditions we should possibly be thinking why not experiment as other countries have done with this controlled environment where there are health professionals on site. Some people are led away from that lifestyle and, in terms of public order, you don’t have people shooting up in the street and causing alarm.”

The report comes just two weeks after the Scottish Gov-ernment launched the first drugs strategy in a decade, with the emphasis on getting people off drugs.

The report’s vice chairman Tom Wood, former Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police, said it was based on evidence of successful initiatives elsewhere.

But Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said: “So-called shooting galleries and the legalisation of cannabis are ideas of the last two decades. Fortunately in Scotland we’ve moved forward.

“The new National Drugs Strategy for Scotland, which received the unanimous backing of the Scottish Parliament last week, demonstrates a new political will in Scotland. We believe that people should be assisted to get off drugs, not helped to take them.

A spokesman for the Scot-tish Government said: “We have no current plans to introduce drug consumption rooms.

“There are complex legal and ethical issues that can’t be easily resolved.”
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source: http://www.express.co.uk

Tough pill to swallow: Most overdose deaths involve prescription drugs

Data released last week show 154 people died in Maine from drug overdoses in 2007, and 86 percent of those deaths involved pharmaceuticals — many obtained with a legitimate prescription often paid for by Medicaid or private insurance and taken improperly or turned around for cash.

At the same time, the Prescription Monitoring Program approved by the Legislature in 2003 is being “grossly underutilized,” according to Maine’s U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby, and opportunities are being missed to prevent abuse, including fraud of the Medicaid system.

Adding to the problem is the fact Maine doctors and other providers write more prescriptions per capita for narcotic painkillers than in most other states.

Methadone was the leading killer, involved in 58 of the deaths last year, followed by oxycodone, involved in 38 deaths, and, benzodiazepine or prescription tranquilizers, involved in 36 deaths, according to statistics presented last week at the Maine Medical Association’s annual education seminar.

Heroin or morphine was also found in the blood stream of 25 who died, and the culprit could have been either, since heroin breaks down into morphine after death. Cocaine, an illegal drug becoming popular once again, was cited in 30 deaths. The drugs are often taken in combination and used with alcohol.

Marcella Sorg, director of the Rural Drug and Alcohol Research program at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, said more than 50 percent of those who died from oxycodone, which includes the infamous OxyContin, had a prescription for the drug, as did those who died from benzodiazepine.

The bulk of methadone deaths, however, appear to come from methadone tablets resold on the street and most likely initially prescribed as pain killers. Methadone is now used to treat pain more often than OxyContin because it is cheaper and relatively less controversial.

“It’s not the clinics,” providing the drugs on the street, Sorg said, separating the methadone given out by clinics in liquid form to treat narcotic addiction from the now prevalent tablets prescribed for pain.

While the death toll in 2007 is slightly better than 2006, when 167 people died from drug overdoses, the numbers have more than quadrupled since 1997 when 34 people in Maine died from overdoses.

Yet the state-run Prescription Monitoring Program set up in 2004 to help prevent prescription drug abuse and illegal resale by tracking how many controlled substances are being prescribed to an individual is only being used by 28 percent of eligible providers, according to Silsby.

“The very system that was developed to address this issue is simply not being used by the overwhelming majority of prescribers and pharmacists, and for me, that’s a problem,” said Silsby, who spoke last week along with Sorg to doctors gathered at the Augusta Civic Center.

That system lists all the controlled substances sold by pharmacists to an individual and would allow a doctor to see what a patient already has been prescribed. It helps prevent “doctor shopping,” where a patient goes to multiple physicians to get drugs.

Silsby also believes it could help raise some red flags on abuse of the state’s Medicaid system, which she said is a big part of the problem.

“A substantial amount of prescription drug abuse is associated with the Medicaid community,” Silsby said. “If they don’t pay for them with cash, then they’re all paid for by Medicaid, and then they can turn around and have 100-percent profit.”

Sorg said her research doesn’t show how many of the drugs that killed people were issued through the Medicaid program, but common sense shows it is part of the problem.

“We’re talking about rural poor people,” she said, who could sell just part of their prescription and make money, while still having enough pills to treat themselves.

In Maine, nearly 20 percent of the population is on Medicaid, so the sheer size of the program also assures it has a part in prescription drug abuse.

Roy McKinney, head of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, said whether it’s public or private insurance that buys the drugs, money is the motivator.

“Money is the root of it,” McKinney said, because drugs like OxyContin sell for $1 per milligram, making a 30-day supply of 40 milligram tablets worth $1,200 on the street.

Overmedicated Maine?

Sorg said the broader issue is more narcotics are being prescribed to treat pain nationwide, and Maine providers write more prescriptions than most.

According to the federal drug data base that tracks prescriptions of controlled substances, Maine ranked sixth in the country for morphine and methadone, and eighth for oxycodone.

Sorg said it is indicative of Maine’s aging population, and that the state has many manual laborers in dangerous jobs like wood harvesting. “We’re old, with a high number of laborers, who have a high number of injuries,” she said.

The typical overdose fatality is not a young person, although teenage abuse of pharmaceutical drugs has surpassed marijuana, according to McKinney.

Rather, the average victim is a male between 38 and 40 years old, whose body has been depleted through years of drug and alcohol abuse and the chronic diseases that go along with that behavior. “They’re not trying to recreationally get high,” Sorg said. “They’re addicted, and they absolutely have to have the drug.”

Gordon Smith, executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association, invited Sorg and Silsby as presenters at this year’s education seminar to raise awareness about the problem, and the use of the Prescription Monitoring Program.

“We’ve done a lot of education, but it is a difficult audience to get to,” Smith said. “They’re too busy and they can’t delegate this to their practice manager. They have to do this themselves.”

“In my opinion, the Board of Medicine and U.S. Attorney and DEA are going to come down quite hard on those, who after three years, are not utilizing this information,” he said.

Silsby agreed it’s hard for doctors. “In the medical profession, it’s ‘Do no harm. Do no harm.’ And now they find themselves having to be vigilant that they are not being scammed by their patients,” she said.
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source: http://www.villagesoup.com/

Treatment backlog for addicts rises

ABU DHABI // A multimillion-dirham drugs awareness campaign has encouraged people to seek help for their addictions.

In a two-week period after the campaign’s launch in April, eight patients were admitted to the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), in contrast to a previous average of one case a month. There are 26 people on the waiting list and a further 120 people have indicated they would like to seek treatment.

The growing number of Emiratis addicted to drugs and alcohol prompted the NRC, a government agency, to launch the “Yes to Life” campaign, which aims to make people aware that drug addiction “is like any other disease and that there is treatment”.

“We have had a very large response to the campaign,” said Noura al Hosani, the campaign manager. “We really didn’t expect that much because this is a traditional society and it is difficult to talk publicly about drug addiction.”

To cope with the growing demand for treatment, 10 beds will be added by the end of the year.

“The last thing we want to do is launch such a campaign and then not have the capacity to help the people who are coming forward,” Ms Hosani said.

NRC social workers are fielding an average of 30 calls per day to the confidential helpline, and the centre also provides outpatient services and consultations to people on the waiting list until a space is available.

“We have to maintain this relationship with them,” Ms Hosani said. “We need to keep assuring these patients they will get the treatment and encourage them further.”

Addiction to alcohol has been the most common reason for admission, followed by cannabis, according to the NRC, while some have sought treatment for addiction to drugs such as heroin.

“The response to the campaign has been very positive,” she said. “People seem really appreciative that we are providing this treatment.”

However, not everyone has been willing to be brought into the public discussion on addiction.

Ms Hosani said some had shied away from accepting brochures or visiting exhibitions that had been set up in shopping malls.

“Some people don’t want to take part because of the association with the word ‘addiction’,” she said. “All we want to do is provide the right information, but maybe they are afraid someone might see them at the exhibition.”

“Yes to Life” was launched in the capital on April 1 and in Al Ain on May 15. Centres were expected to be in place across the emirate by 2012, Ms Hosani said. “It is our plan to cover all of Abu Dhabi emirate before 2012.”

The Al Ain campaign included an exhibition, a question-and-answer session for adults, public outreach efforts and a musical for children.

Plans are under way to extend the campaign to Al Gharbia in August and the NRC will also take part in summer camps for children over the holiday period.

The NRC is collecting data to measure the level of drug-abuse awareness, the impact of the campaign and whether attitudes towards addiction have changed.
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source: http://www.thenational.ae

Local authorities shirk responsibility in treatment of alcoholics

Public health officials say that people seeking treatment for alcohol abuse are clearly in worse shape than a few years ago. There are queues for long-term treatment, even though there is no actual shortage of available treatment facilities.
One problem is that municipalities are cutting costs by refusing to sign vouchers for alcohol treatment, even though doctors see an urgent need for the treatment.
Finnish drinking habits are also changing. Near teetotalers are becoming “moderate drinkers”, while former moderate drinkers are becoming heavy consumers.
“As the number of heavy consumers grows, the damage caused by alcohol accumulates on that group”, says Kalervo Kiianmaa, research professor at the National Public Health Institute. This is seen in increased pressure on public health clinics and treatment centres.
“The quantity is decisive”, Kiianmaa says. “Some have wanted to believe that by encouraging the consumption of mild drinks rather than spirits, it might be possible to reduce the harm that is caused, but in spite of this development, the damage has just increased.”

The growth in problems has also been noted by the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES), which makes an annual survey of visits to health centres in which intoxicants were involved in one way or another.
Last October's survey showed more than 12,000 such visits. In about 90% of the cases, alcohol was the drug that was used.
In the previous such assay, in 2003, the number was 10,946.
Pressure is also on home services. With older people, the use of alcohol, which might have been problem-free previously, can prove to cause problems later. The body becomes more frail, and medicines can bring surprises.

The need for longer-term treatment has increased, and there are queues for treatment.
“The shortage of money in municipalities is also a problem”, says Pekka Puska, Director-General of the National Public Health Institute. “Occasionally, existing vacancies for treatment are not utilised.”
“When a problem has emerged over years, even decades, it requires long and repeated courses of treatment”, says STAKES development chief Airi Partanen. “Unfortunately, local authorities call them into question.”
Pekka Heinälä, head physician at the A-Clinic Foundation, says that he has seen situations recently in which doctors say that the need for treatment is clear, but the municipality rejects the idea.
“Sometimes it can happen that the customer does not want any dealings with the local authorities, because the lady next door works at the municipal office.”

The threshold for seeking treatment has risen, and it can also be seen. “Those seeking help today are in much worse shape than a few years ago”, Partanen notes.
Private treatment facilities are available for those with enough money. “Their share will undoubtedly grow”, Heinälä predicts.
Now local authorities deal with more than half of the treatments of alcohol addicts. The A-Clinic Foundation handles about 40%, and private care takes care of 10%.

Failure to intervene in time can lead to cirrhosis of the liver. For researchers, cirrhosis mortality is a key indicator of the prevalence of alcohol problems in a society.
“Nobody gets cirrhosis without being an alcoholic”, says Kalervo Kiianmaa.
In 1970 there were 200 deaths of the liver disease in Finland. Now the annual death rate is about 1,000.
Not all alcoholics succumb to cirrhosis - only about one third. Nevertheless, the figures suggest that the number of alcoholics has increased at least fivefold.
In 2006, 3,049 people in Finland died of alcohol-related causes. About 2,000 deaths were attributed to diseases and accidents caused by drinking.

“Alcoholism radiates to a very wide area”, Kiianmaa says. “It also often causes a chain reaction of social problems. Drinking causes problems at work; a person is fired, which leads to economic problems, which cause marginalisation.”
“Alcoholics are also a burden on the health care system. Intoxicated people are prone to accidents, and drinking causes diseases. About 11,000 people are on disability pension because of ailments caused by alcohol”, Kiianmaa says.
He sees only one way to reduce the harm caused by alcohol: consumption needs to be reduced.

Kiianmaa proposes immediate and tough measures against youth drinking. “Now it is too easy to acquire drinks that are favoured by the young. Beer and cider are available anywhere and at any time, and young people consume them a great deal.”
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source: www.helsinginsanomat.fi

City overdose deaths drop slightly

Deaths from drug and alcohol overdose dropped slightly last year in Baltimore, according to a report released yesterday by the Health Department. The decline continues a downward trend from the peak a decade ago.

In 2007, 235 city residents died from overdose in Baltimore, down from 244 the previous year.

City health officials said the decline suggests that drug use in the city may be declining. "The numbers are most likely a reflection of how many people are using," said Caroline Fichtenberg, the Health Department's chief epidemiologist, who wrote the report. She said it wasn't clear why drug use may be dropping, but said better prevention and treatment programs may play a role.

But, experts and officials agreed, the report shows that despite the small improvement, Baltimore is in the throes of a severe public health problem.

"The drug problem is enormous," said Bill Latimer, an expert in addiction, prevention and treatment, and an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "The overdose deaths are an important statistic, but just the tip of the iceberg."

Baltimore's death rate from overdose of all drugs, including prescription medicines, was 35 per 100,000 in 2004. For the U.S. as a whole, the rate that year was 10.5 per 100,000. A 2003 federal report found that Baltimore had the highest rate of drug-related deaths out of 35 U.S. cities, including Detroit, New York and Washington. More recent comparative data were not available.

Sixty-four percent of the deaths in Baltimore last year were heroin-related, and 38 percent were cocaine-related. Because many of the dead ingested more than one drug, it is impossible to say exactly which substance caused the overdose.

"Polydrug cases make it difficult to know what's contributing to what," said Dr. Robert P. Schwartz, an expert on drug addiction and treatment. He is medical director at Friends Research Institute, as well as a fellow at the Open Society Institute.

The largest decrease in the city came from cocaine-related deaths, which fell from 116 in 2006 to 90. But the drop came a year after a precipitous increase, from 52 in 2005. The reasons for the rise and subsequent fall remain a mystery, Baltimore health officials said. But Fichtenberg said that she had heard anecdotal evidence, from police and other sources, that decreased supply played a role: less cocaine was being sold on Baltimore streets last year than in 2006.

"The big picture is that the 2006 increase has not continued. That's a relief," said Fichtenberg.

Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein said he plans to focus on the kinds of drug treatment the victims received before they died. With this information, officials hope to find ways to improve treatment and reduce overdose risk. "We're trying to get a much better understanding of overdose deaths," he said. "We're looking to understand as many factors as possible."

Sharfstein and others noted that methadone deaths rose for the eighth straight year, to 74, the highest level ever.

"The methadone deaths remain really striking," said Latimer. He said the methadone deaths were in part an indication of the city's "massive" heroin problem.

Methadone deaths are rising nationally, in part because more and more treatment programs are offering the drug, and in part because doctors increasingly prescribe the drug as a pain reliever. Methadone, an opioid, can help heroin addicts kick their habit. It reduces the craving for heroin, and gives users a smaller high. But despite its relative safety, the drug poses risks.

There was one overdose death in Baltimore last year associated with buprenorphine, an addiction treatment drug that has gained popularity as a safer alternative to methadone. Some critics have warned that buprenorphine may itself pose serious overdose risks. In Baltimore, many fewer addicts are treated with buprenorphine – 300 in city treatment programs, compared with 3,900 treated with methadone.

Sharfstein called buprenorphine a "very promising strategy."

"It is an effective treatment for heroin addiction, that is much less likely to cause overdose than either heroin or methadone," he said.
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source: Baltimore Sun

Newport Beach sober-living homes scramble to complete city's permit process

A preliminary rule upheld the ordinance, requiring facilities to fill out a 27-page application and pay a fee. Some operators continue to resist the law.

Following Newport Beach's preliminary courtroom victory against drug and alcohol treatment homes, many facilities are scrambling to comply with the city's strict new ordinance by today's deadline.

Other operators, however, are labeling the process discriminatory and are refusing to obey the court order or are grudgingly filing the required paperwork.

A federal judge last week issued a preliminary ruling upholding much of the ordinance Newport Beach officials passed in January that forces about 80% of the addiction treatment centers to apply for city permits in order to stay open. Many residents contend the homes are a blight on their coastal neighborhoods.

Richard Terzian, an attorney representing the largest treatment operator, Sober Living by the Sea, described the ordinance as "discriminating against the handicapped."

"Any group of college students is going to create a lot more noise, create a lot more ruckus than any of our" recovery centers, he said.

The city ordinance compels sober-living homes -- residential facilities where people receive treatment or counseling off-site -- to apply for the permits; larger state-licensed facilities with on-site treatment for more than six residents must also apply for permits.

Small recovery centers with state licenses, where six or fewer residents receive addiction treatment where they live, are exempt from the permitting process.

The 85 or so treatment facilities in Newport Beach are clustered mostly on the Balboa Peninsula.

The ruling marks the "first time any city in California has been able to use a permitting process on a particular class of homes," said Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff.

If Newport Beach's ordinance withstands further legal scrutiny, other coastal cities hope to emulate it.

"If that ordinance is upheld, we certainly would look into passing it in Malibu," said Mayor Pro Tem Andy Stern, who said similar facilities in Malibu create traffic and septic system problems.

"It would become a high priority rapidly."

Newport's 27-page application requires sober-living homes and other treatment centers to submit detailed maps for transporting clients, floor plans illustrating the number of residents per bedroom, disposal procedures for medical waste, plans to mitigate secondhand smoke, a weekly activities schedule for residents, fire safety compliance, and information about the center's administrator, among other data, plus a fee of $2,200.

A hearing officer will then review the packet and determine if the recovery center can continue operating; city officials expect the process to last through the summer.

So far, the city has received 26 applications from the nearly 60 centers that must meet city regulations, Kiff said.

Newport Beach's attorney in the lawsuit, Jim Markman, believes the comprehensive application could discourage problem operators from staying in business.

If operators are denied a city permit, they'll have about a year before they have to shut down, Kiff said.

The proliferating homes have generated controversy for years, with one citizens group bemoaning the traffic, noise, secondhand smoke, profanity and other problems they said the recovering addicts bring to the densely populated oceanfront neighborhood.

"We do not think that the city went far enough," said Denys Oberman, chief executive of Concerned Citizens of Newport Beach, the nonprofit activist group that's been fighting the sober-living homes.

According to Oberman, these businesses "are saturating and institutionalizing the residential neighborhood." The group's lawsuit against the city and program operators is one of several suits filed on the contentious issue after the ordinance was passed.

Sober Living by the Sea, with about 35 centers, expects to spend as much as $75,000 per group home on new sprinkler systems to meet city standards, said John Peloquin, vice president of operations for CRC Health Group, the parent company.

"If you need a fire clearance in there, what about all the summer rentals?" Peloquin said. "We feel that that's again evidence of being discriminatory to us."

A spokesman for Balboa Horizons Recovery, which treats fewer than a dozen women for drug addiction, said the business viewed the application process as onerous and the fee as more than they could afford, and was filing an application "under duress."

Officials at Pacific Shores Properties, another treatment company, are "examining our legal options" regarding the application requirements and the city ordinance, said attorney Steven Polin.

Several of the facility operators have submitted complaints to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for review.

The judge's preliminary ruling also upheld a prohibition on treatment facilities opening in single-family homes; instead, they must be in areas zoned for apartments or condominiums, Kiff said.

The judge did, however, strike down one part of Newport Beach's regulation, barring the city from aggregating several adjacent facilities of six or fewer people into one larger center, which would have subjected them to the city's rules.

Though the legal challenges have yet to play out, Kiff is optimistic that the city will prevail:

"We're certainly hopeful that the judge will continue to see our ordinance as . . . just a practical way of dealing with the secondary impacts of too many group homes."
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source: Los Angeles Times