mortiz095

PBS PROHIBITION Premieres October 2nd, 3rd & 4th, 2011 at 8 PM on PBS PROHIBITION is a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the entire era it encompassed. The culmination of nearly a century of activism, Prohibition was intended to improve, even to ennoble, the lives of all Americans, to protect individuals, families, and society at large from the devastating effects of alcohol abuse. But the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution paradoxically caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality. Thugs became celebrities, responsible authority was rendered impotent. Social mores in place for a century were obliterated. Especially among the young, and most especially among young women, liquor consumption rocketed, propelling the rest of the culture with it: skirts shortened. M...

NIH's 2012 Budget Would Get 3.3% Boost in House Bill By Jocelyn Kaiser Science.com Sept. 29, 2011 A House of Representatives panel released a 2012 draft spending bill today with surprisingly good news for the National Institutes of Health (NIH): The agency's budget would rise $1 billion to $31.7 billion, a 3.3% increase compared with this year's level. However, the bill does not carry out a major reorganization proposed by NIH leaders, and it is more prescriptive about other management issues than biomedical lobbyists feel is appropriate for a research agency. The proposed spending boost matches the president's request and reverses a $190 million cut approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee last week. It also comes as a surprise, given that 7 months ago the full House approved a 2011 spending bill that would have slashed $1.6 billion, or 5%, from NIH's budget. (The final legislation trimmed NIH's 2011 budget by 1%.) The increase is "prett...

Subject: NIH STUDY FINDS HOSPITALIZATIONS INCREASE FOR ALCOHOL AND DRUG OVERDOSES U.S. Department of Health and Human Services NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH NIH News National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) For Immediate Release: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 CONTACT: NIAAA Press Office, 301-443-3860, NIH STUDY FINDS HOSPITALIZATIONS INCREASE FOR ALCOHOL AND DRUG OVERDOSES Hospitalizations for alcohol and drug overdoses - alone or in combination - increased dramatically among 18- to 24-year-olds between 1999 and 2008, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health. Led by Aaron M. White, Ph.D. and Ralph W. Hingson, Sc.D., of NIAAA's division of epidemiology and prevention research, the study examined hospitalization data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a project of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality designed to approximate a 20 percent samp...

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)61461-X/fulltext The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 15 September 2011 An international consensus for medical leadership on alcohol Cordelia Coltart, Ian Anderson, Benson Barh, Neil Dewhurst, John Donohoe, Andrej Dukat, Ian Gilmore, Padma Gunaratne, Virginia Hood, David Kershenobich, John Kolbe, Patrick Li, Raymond Liang, Anil Madaree, Bongani Mayosi, Kammant Phanthumchinda, Richard Thompsona 2 billion people worldwide consume alcohol, and of these 76·3 million have alcohol misuse problems,1 with substantial morbidity, mortality, and social harm. Alcohol use is the third leading risk factor for preventable and premature disease, with a lamentable lack of any global remediable action.2 Despite the clear evidence of harm from excess alcohol, there is little will to prioritise the problem in the global health agenda. Therefore the challenge is to reduce this harm by strengthening policies and their implementation locally,...

This latest study from PLOS Medicine found that among women, moderate drinking in midlife and living to age 70 without serious or chronic illness are correlated. This is the latest addition to an already robust evidence base for health benefits of moderate drinking, especially in midlife and older individuals. Strengths of this particular study were the prospective design, large sample size and the ability to statistically adjust findings to minimize bias from other factors such as diet and exercise. A few caveats are in order, however. First, correlation is not causation. In spite of statistical adjustments, it is simply not possible to completely eliminate the possibility that other, possibly unmeasured factors account for the correlation. Similarly, correlation is association and does not imply directionality. That is, do women who drink live longer and in better health, or do women who live longer and in better health drink more? Second, don't be too mesmerized by the "on...

The link has been fixed on the post yesterday about Maia Szalavitz' column on addiction and 9/11. Thanks to readers for letting me know!

Maia Szalavitz has written a great piece on substance use and addiction after 9/11. You can see it here . Maia is one of the best interpreters of new research and event in addiction. MW

September 9, 2011 Prognosis Poor for U.N. Chronic Disease Meeting By REUTERS LONDON (Reuters) - Ten years after committing to fight AIDS, the United Nations is taking on an even bigger bunch of killers -- common chronic diseases -- in what is shaping up to be a bruising battle between big business, Western governments and the world's poor. Tobacco, food and drinks companies are in the firing line for peddling products linked to cancer, diabetes and heart disease, while politicians in the rich world are accused of failing to set firm targets or provide funds for a decent fight. "This is a once in a generation opportunity. We could save millions of lives here, and it's shameful and immoral that industry lobbying has put short-term profits in front of a public health disaster," Rebecca Perl of the World Lung Foundation (WLF) told Reuters. WLF has been involved in tetchy preliminary talks for several months. The fear is that big business has successfully lobbied rich gove...

Promises Malibu is one of the high-end programs frequented by Hollywood celebrities and other wealthy people that charges in the neighborhood of $55,000+ per month for “treatment” that includes things like “equine assisted therapy” and the “ropes course,” which is described as “…a fun, safe yet challenging personal growth and team building activity that our clients partake in.” Promises says it offers “… the most diverse, cutting edge, and non-traditional forms of therapy available in order to give our clients an individualized and well-rounded treatment experience.” Unfortunately, they also offer treatment that causes relapse and kills people. The “Detoxification from Suboxone Maintenance Program” purports to offer a “clinically sound detox program” that “fills this gap in addiction treatment.” What is the rationale, the sound underpinning of this program? “At Promises we have always believed that drugs such as buprenorphine, Suboxone, and Subutex are best used for detox and stabiliz...

This 2009 publication from the United Nations once again states the obvious: abstinence based treatment for opioid addiction does not work. Will US rehab programs and government policy ever wake up? How many people have to die on the altar of 12-Step ideology before the industry will be forced to provide evidence based treatment? MW Guidelines for the psychosocially assisted pharmacological treatment of opioid dependence. World Health Organization. World Health Organization, 2009. Unequivocal backing from UN agencies for methadone and other forms of long term maintenance treatments as the prime modality for the treatment of dependence on heroin and allied drugs. In contrast say the experts, detoxification results in poor long term outcomes. These guidelines were developed in response to a resolution from the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which invited the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (...