Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly articles from June 2004

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly archives from June 2004

Addiction groups pledge to move forward with campaign.
June 7, 2004... The message is critical and time is of the essence. With an overriding sense of urgency, leaders from 58 national groups and associations agreed last month at the second Providence Summit on Addiction that a public campaign to educate the...

Research group urges coordination of monitoring system to help adolescents.(community monitoring systems)
June 7, 2004... The Washington, D.C.-based Society for Prevention Research (SPR) last month urged federal, state and local governments to develop monitoring systems that will allow communities to track and prevent common youth problems such as alcohol, other...

Study: environment lessens impact of prenatal cocaine exposure.(Journal of the American Medical Association)
June 7, 2004... Mentally stimulating home environments may positively affect brain development and lessen the prenatal effects of cocaine, according to a study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and published in the May 26 issue of Journal...

Summit attendees discuss campaign fundraising strategies.
June 7, 2004... Money. It's never far from the thoughts of addiction advocates and experts, understandably so in a field that has long scrambled for resources. And it was a big topic for discussion at the 2004 Providence Summit on Addiction. Tasked...

Most employers made modest changes to benefits.(Briefly Noted)(Center for Studying Health System Change )(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Despite the weak economy, most employers have made only modest changes to their health benefits, according to a recent report from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). HSC found that the changes primarily involved shifting costs...

Substance abuse linked to violent crimes.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Researchers have linked about a quarter of all violent crimes in Sweden to people with substance abuse problems, Reuters reported. Researchers linked 16 percent of violent crimes to people who had been discharged from a hospital for alcohol...

Student challenges college's decision.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... A student at Reading Area Community College in Pennsylvania is challenging the college's decision to disqualify her from its nursing program due to a past drug conviction, the Associated Press reported. Liza Chisholm applied to the nursing...

Anti-tobacco funding linked to teen smoking attitudes.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Findings published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that cutting funding for anti-tobacco programs may affect youths' attitudes about smoking, Reuters reported Between 2000 and the summer of 2003, Minnesota...

Meth use linked to identity theft.(Briefly Noted)(Methamphetamine)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Methamphetamine addicts may be driving an increase in identity theft, United Press International reported. Police in Oregon and Washington state say they have noticed a link between methamphetamine use and identity theft. Addicted...

Heavy social drinking may lead to brain damage.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Findings published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggest that heavy social drinking may result in brain damage similar to that seen in people who are in treatment for alcoholism, Reuters reported. Researchers found that...

Poll finds support for marijuana initiative.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... A newspaper poll has shown that many Nevada residents would support an initiative to legalize marijuana, the Associated Press reported. The poll found that 43 percent of Las Vegas respondents said they would support an initiative to legalize...

Second-hand smoke may affect unborn child.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... Exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy may be harmful to the unborn child, according to findings in the March issue of Neurotoxicology and Teratology. Researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health found that...

Coming up.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
June 7, 2004... The Haymarket Center will present its 10th Annual Summer Institute on Addictions June 16 to 18 in Chicago. For more information, contact Carol Blyskal at (312) 226-7984, ext. 314 or visit www.hcenter.org. The Substance Abuse and Mental...

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief Article)
June 7, 2004... A Superior Court judge in Georgia has ordered a Conyers, Ga. man to display a coffin in his home as a reminder to him of the potential consequences of his continued drug use, the Rockdale Citizen reported. The coffin order was part of a...

Drug courts seek to broaden influence through model law: leaders: approach should be integrated throughout court system.
June 14, 2004... With nearly 1,200 drug court programs in operation across the country last year--less than 15 years after the very first program began taking cases--no one would deny that the drug court approach has arrived in the judicial system. Yet despite...

NASADAD annual meeting focuses on federal/state collaboration: Curie pledges to 'build from common ground'.(National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors)
June 14, 2004... With a roster of speakers that included the heads of all of the leading federal treatment, prevention and enforcement agencies, the annual meeting of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) delivered an...

Federal judge strikes down ban on transit advertising.
June 14, 2004... A federal judge in Washington, D.C., earlier this month struck down a new law that prohibits advertising critical of national drug policy from being displayed on buses and in subways, saying the law illegally restricts free speech. The...

Study shows differing trends for alcohol dependence, abuse.
June 14, 2004... The number of American adults who abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent rose from 13.8 million (7.41 percent) in 1991-1992 to 17.6 mill ion (8.46 percent) in 2001-2002, according to results from the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on...

The Change Companies.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... Judi Kosterman, Ed.D., has joined The Change Companies as vice president. Prior to joining The Change Companies, Kosterman was vice president, business relations for eGetgoing, Inc. She has also served as the director of the National Center for...

Change Companies offers faith-based program to providers.(Resources)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... The Change Companies, through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons, has announced the completion of a new faith-based program. Life Connections, a multi-faith program offered to inmates within the Federal...

Coalition Mentoring Program grants available.(Resources)(Drug-Free Communities Support Program)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) are accepting applications for Drug-Free Communities Support Program (DFCSP) Coalition Mentoring Program grants. The...

Publication focuses on prevention in higher education.(Resources)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... The Higher Education Center has released "Prevention File Spring 2004," a special issue focusing on alcohol, other drug and violence prevention in higher education, Coalitions Online reported. This special issue includes articles on tobacco on...

Parent training may influence youth attitudes about drinking.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... Findings in the journal Child Development suggest that a parenting program may help influence children's attitudes about alcohol and sex, Health Behavior News Service reported. Researchers observed a significant link between parenting skills...

Vermont passes medical marijuana bill.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... Vermont has become the ninth state to pass a law permitting medical marijuana use, The Barre Montpelier Times Argus reported. The state Senate voted 20-7 in favor of a bill that will allow people suffering from AIDS, cancer or multiple...

United States to increase funding to anti-drug agency.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director John P. Waiters announced that the United States will increase its funding to the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Associated Press reported. The World Anti-Doping Agency is an...

Court limits scope of Proposition 36.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... The state Supreme Court has ruled that California's Proposition 36 does not apply to people convicted of driving under the influence of drugs, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Proposition 36 requires treatment instead of prison for people...

Survey finds less interest in trying illegal drugs.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... Young people in Australia are showing less interest in trying illicit drugs, AAP Information Service Pty. Ltd. reported. Researchers found that one-third of 16- to 24-year-olds who had never tried illegal drugs said they had no interest in...

IC&RC launches criminal justice certification.(Briefly Noted)(International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... The International Certification & Reciprocity Consortium (IC&RC) has announced that it adopted standards and approved the Criminal Justice Addictions Professional credential at a board meeting earlier this year. The certification and the...

Former Mass. official alleges unjust firing.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... Michael C. Mather, former executive director of the Massachusetts Governor's Alliance Against Drugs, has filed a lawsuit claiming that he was fired for raising concerns about the administration of drug prevention grants, the Boston Globe...

Housing project for alcoholics wins lawsuit, loses funding.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... Advocates for a housing project for chronic alcoholics in Seattle prevailed in a lawsuit filed by neighbors, but the delay caused them to lose their federal funding, the Los Angeles Times reported. City and county officials approved the...

NYC residents increased substance use after attacks.(Briefly Noted)(new york city)(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... Findings in the American Journal of Public Health show increased substance use among Manhattan residents following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Health Behavior News Service reported. One month after the Sept. 11 terrorist...

Coming up.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
June 14, 2004... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will present a conference, "Putting the Pieces Together: First National Conference on Substance Abuse, Child Welfare and the Dependency Court," July 14 and 15 in Baltimore....

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief Article)
June 14, 2004... Massachusetts officials have urged tobacco manufacturers to stop selling and marketing sweetened cigarettes, the Wall Street Journal reported. Massachusetts Department of Public Health Commissioner Christine Ferguson sent letters to R.J....

New treatment outcome model presented at conference.
June 21, 2004... The annual meeting of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD), held earlier this month in Portland, Maine, had a strong focus on the continuing progress of performance measures in the field of addiction...

Prescription drug monitoring programs increase as public awareness rises.
June 21, 2004... Driven by the emergence of OxyContin in the late 1990s, states are increasingly turning to prescription drug monitoring programs in an effort to stem the diversion of prescription drugs for illicit use. Sherry Green and Marcus Williams of...

SAMHSA report compares costs among different modes of treatment.(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
June 21, 2004... The average cost per admission was highest for outpatient methadone treatment at $7,415 and lowest for outpatient treatment without methadone at $1,433 in 2002, according to a study released last month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health...

Advocates see possibility of continuing resolution for fiscal 2005 budget.
June 21, 2004... With the specter of the presidential election looming in the fall, the addiction field's Capitol Hill advocates see a strong possibility that programs for fiscal 2005 will be funded through a continuing resolution for the rest of the year. ...

Opioid treatment center institutes same-day services.(From the Field)
June 21, 2004... Struggling with heroin addiction is a daily battle for twenty-two year old Bill. He has difficulty holding a job and has been in and out of the courts because of drug-related theft. Bill's family, after four years of watching him struggle, just...

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Mark Willenbring, M.D., has joined the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) as the director of NIAAA's Division of Treatment and Recovery Research (DTRR). Willenbring previously served as professor of psychiatry at the...

Obituary.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
June 21, 2004... The Honorable Stanley M. Goldstein, the first drug court judge in the country, died on May 17, in Miami. Goldstein was selected to run the first drug court in the country in June 1989 and presided over the Miami-Dade County Court until his...

APIS adds information on new alcohol policy topics.(Resources)(Alcohol Policy Information System)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's (NIAAA's) Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) has added information on several new policy topics, Coalitions Online reported. The new information includes coverage of laws pertaining...

Grants available to improve drug, violence prevention.(Resources)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities National Programs will award a total of $5 million in grants to enhance prevention programs, Join Together Online reported. The funding can be used to improve the management of drug- and...

High school educator's guide on drug prevention.(Resources)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... A free teacher's guide on drug prevention, "Early Action Against Teen Drug Use: Teens as Communicators to Their Peers," is now available to high school educators, Coalitions Online reported. The guide contains seven lesson plans, reprints of...

House passes 'Anabolic Steroid Control Act'.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... The House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 3866, the "Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004," which would amend the Controlled Substances Act, the Legal Action Center reported. H.R. 3866 would increase penalties for manufacturing,...

Xenova announces results from cocaine vaccine trial.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Xenova Group plc, a UK biotechnology company, has announced results from two Phase II studies of its cocaine addiction vaccine, TA-CD. Researchers found that among a group taking the vaccine for relapse prevention, 75 percent maintained...

Mass. agency launches gambling awareness campaign.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling has announced a new public service campaign to raise awareness of its helpline and support services for people with gambling problems and their families. The campaign will use a series of radio...

Committee negotiating reforms to Rockefeller drug laws.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... A joint legislative conference committee is negotiating a plan to reform New York State's drug laws, the Associated Press reported. The state's mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offenders were created under Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in...

D.C. judge orders halt to underage criminal charges.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... A Washington, D.C. Superior Court judge has ordered the city to stop filing criminal charges against minors charged with possession of alcohol, the Washington Post reported. Judge Zoe Bush ruled that possession of alcohol by a minor is a civil...

Brief alcohol interventions may reduce college drinking.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Findings in the June issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research examine the benefits of alcohol interventions among college students, Health Behavior News Service reported. One study found that students who were...

NIH launches expanded health information website.(Briefly Noted)(National Institutes of Health)(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched an expanded health information website at http:// health.nih.gov. The expanded website is designed to be a resource for educators, clinicians and researchers, as well as kids, teens, parents...

Coming up.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
June 21, 2004... The Central East Addiction Technology Transfer Center in conjunction with the Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration will sponsor the Second Annual DC Summer Institute July 18 to 21 in Washington, D.C. For more information, contact...

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief Article)
June 21, 2004... Greek police have launched a campaign to evict drug-addicted individuals and street vendors from downtown Athens ahead of the 2004 Olympics, Agence France Presse reported. More than 500 policemen hit the streets of central Athens earlier this...

Hearing places Maine youth program in national spotlight: day one at heart of statewide treatment network.(Maine's Day One recognized for Juvenile Treatment Network)
June 28, 2004... A Maine treatment agency that addresses adolescent substance abuse through innovative statewide collaborations and programs received national attention earlier this month when its efforts were highlighted at a Senate subcommittee hearing on...

Workplace bill reauthorization would boost anti-drug coalitions.
June 28, 2004... A federal reauthorization bill to assist small businesses in establishing drug-free workplace programs includes clarifying language stating that community anti-drug coalitions are eligible to apply for funding under the program. The...

SAMHSA to highlight treatment success during recovery month: agency also releases state report on treatment gap.
June 28, 2004... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) this month unveiled plans for Recovery Month in September that will include a new kit and materials as well as a new state report on the treatment gap. According to...

Residential assessment: an opportunity to intervene early.(From the Field)
June 28, 2004... In the addiction treatment field, we know that chemical dependency is a chronic, progressive and treatable disease with signs, symptoms, and complications that progress through early, middle and into later stages. Typically, people arrive for...

National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.(Names in the News)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) has elected the following new board members: Susan Cheever, an author from New York City; Carlton Erickson, Ph.D., a professor, educator and scientist from the University of...

Controlled Substances Act Registration Database available.(Resources)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) is offering subscriptions to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) Registration Database maintained by The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The database consists of more than one million...

Free newsletter will focus on alcohol and health.(Resources)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... The Boston University School of Medicine and School of Public Health are offering a free bimonthly newsletter supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Coalitions Online reported. The newsletter,...

YFCS forms relationship with The Change Companies.(Business Notes)(Youth and Family Centered Services)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... Youth and Family Centered Services (YFCS) has announced a corporate relationship with The Change Companies to enhance its ability to deliver consistent and effective cognitive-behavioral strategies in all of its facilities. By the end of the...

Ruling weakens patient protection laws.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... The Supreme Court has ruled that patients who claim their HMOs refused to pay for needed medical care cannot pursue malpractice or negligence cases against their insurers in state courts, the Boston Globe reported. The two Texas patients in the...

Additive may help limit meth production.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... Researchers at Iowa State University have developed an additive that may prevent methamphetamine manufacturers from using a common fertilizer to make the drug, the Associated Press reported. The additive has shown promise in limiting the use of...

Duke University accepts grant from Philip Morris.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... Duke University will accept a $15 million grant from cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, newsobserver.com reported. The grant will support research on smoking-cessation. Some of the money will be used to set up three smoking cessation research...

Mass media campaigns may reduce drunken driving.(Briefly Noted)(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... Findings in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine suggest that mass media campaigns against drunken driving can reduce alcohol-related crashes by 13 percent, Health Behavior News Service reported. Researchers found that...

Coming up.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
June 28, 2004... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will present a conference, "Women Across the Life Span: A National Conference on Women, Addiction and Recovery," July 12 and 13 in Baltimore. For more information, visit...

In case you haven't heard ...(Brief Article)
June 28, 2004... British rock guitarist Eric Clapton was planning to auction off 56 of his guitars in New York City last week to raise money for a new drug treatment facility in Antigua, the Associated Press reported. Proceeds from the auction will go toward...