by Katharine Q. Seelye New York Times, January 21, 2018.

Drug deaths draw the most notice, but more addicted people live than die. For them and their families, life can be a relentless cycle of worry, hope and chaos.

* * * * *

Even in the cheeriest moments, when Patrick was clean, everyone – including him – seemed to be bracing for the inevitable moment when he would turn back to drugs.

“We are your neighbors,” his mother, Sandy Griffin, said of the many families living with addiction, “and this is the B.S. going on in the house.”

* * * * *

. But the opioid scourge, here and elsewhere, has overwhelmed police and fire departments, hospitals, prosecutors, public defenders, courts, jails and the foster care system.

Most of all, though, it has upended families.

* * * * *

“It’s a merry-go-round, and he can’t get off,” Sandy said of Patrick and his overdoses. “The first couple of times, I started thinking, ‘At least he’s not dead.’ I still think that. But he’s hurting. He’s sick. He needs to learn to live with the pain of being alive.”

* * * * *

Unlike some of the other parents, Sandy seemed battle hardened, like one who had been immersed in a war for a long time.

“I lost myself 10 years ago,” she told the group. “I couldn’t go to work, I couldn’t get out of bed.” She said she was consumed by codependency, in which “you are addicted to this human being to save them.”

She said she had realized that she had to save herself.

* * * * *

For drug users and their loved ones, though, the worry never ends. No day can be ordinary. The threat of relapse is constant.

When Patrick recently texted Sandy, saying, “I love you,” her first thought was that he was about to kill himself. She frantically called him back. Patrick told her he was fine, he had just been thinking about her.

For a moment, Sandy caught her breath.

For complete article : www.nytimes.com/2018/01/21/us/opioid-addiction-treatment-families.html

46 Percent Know Someone Impacted by Drug Addiction

By Scott Rasmussen Friday, 12 Jan 2018

Forty-six percent of American adults have a family member or close friend who is or has been addicted to drugs.[1]

This is an issue that cuts across all segments of society. The Pew Research Center reports that there are few differences along partisan, racial, or other demographic lines. In fact, the only notable demographic distinction is that Americans over 65 are somewhat less likely than younger adults to know someone who is or has been addicted.

While nearly half of all Americans know someone who is struggling with addiction, federal government data found that only 2.7 percent of Americans reported behavior that meets the criteria of an \”illicit drug use disorder.\”

Read Full Article Here 46 Percent Know Someone Impacted by Drug Addiction

HS TEACHER TELLS TRUTH ABOUT POT IN COLORADO SCHOOLS

JANUARY 15, 2018

Dissertation Reveals the Pot Problems of Colorado Springs Schools

Clyde Evans III wrote a dissertation, “Dose Of Reality: High School Counselors’ And Deans of Students’ Observations On The Effects Legalized Recreational Marijuana Has Had On High School Students.”   Recreational marijuana has had a negative impact on the high school students in a Colorado Springs school district.  Twelve High School Counselors and Deans of Students were interviewed.

Colorado Springs has more than 90 “medical” marijuana dispensaries, but not “recreational” dispensaries.  Turning marijuana use into something “medical” and selling the snake oil was an important part of making it acceptable.

Evans, author of the dissertation wrote to us.  “All participants stated how they noticed high school students who used marijuana either quit school, had declining grades, failed to participate in class and on homework assignments.”

For complete article go to  GONEtoPOT

Weighing costs of drug abuse prevention vs. treatment

Published: 1/6/18 By Jordyn Grzelewski E:[email protected]

At recent local forums on the opioid epidemic, members of the public submitted questions they wanted the local media to answer in its reporting.

One question was: What are the costs of addiction vs. the costs of preventing it?

The consensus among experts and studies is clear on this question: There are prevention strategies that have been proved to be effective, and the costs of implementing those strategies is drastically less expensive than the cost of responding to substance abuse.

What sometimes goes uncalculated, too, are the costs of addiction that go well beyond treatment and health care expenses.

“When we’re able to prevent the onset of substance abuse, as a society we’re able to benefit from what that individual gives to the community,” said Angela DiVito, executive director of Coalition for a Drug-Free Mahoning County. “They’re able to provide for their families. They’re productive workers who benefit their businesses and pay taxes. They are able to contribute time and creativity and so many positives to the community. We lose those things when we don’t provide prevention and addiction happens.”

THE EPIDEMIC: One of the latest harrowing headlines related to the opioid crisis was that the national epidemic again led to a decrease in U.S. life expectancy.

In 2016, more than 4,000 Ohioans died of unintentional drug overdoses. Although the overdose statistics for 2017 have not yet been finalized, they are widely expected to be worse, and to increasingly be driven by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller that is 100 times more potent than heroin.

COSTS: For many years, studies have estimated that for every $1 spent on substance-abuse prevention, on average, $10 is saved in treatment costs.

“Multiple studies indicate that every dollar spent on prevention results in an average of $10 in long-term savings. Depending on the study and the approach examined, cost savings have ranged from $2 to $20 for every dollar spent on prevention,” said a 2011 report by the Community Prevention Initiative, a project administered by the Center for Applied Research Solutions.

With the opioid epidemic worsening in recent years, some experts believe the ratio now is closer to $1 on prevention to $18 in treatment savings.

By many measures, the overall cost of substance abuse is significant.

For example, the National Institute on Drug Abuse put the 2013 cost of prescription opioid abuse at $78.5 billion — higher, if taking into account other forms of substance abuse

For complete article http://www.vindy.com/news/2018/jan/06/ongoing-vindicator-series-weighing-the-c/?mobile

London drugs: Massive increase in cocaine and other drugs taken off London\’s streets last year

The amount of cocaine seized in London last year was nearly double that confiscated in the previous 12 months, new government figures reveal.

Police found a total of 633.2kg of the Class A drug between April 2016 and March 2017 – a huge increase from the 330.9kg seized in 2015/16.

It is also the biggest quantity seized in a year since at least 2009/10, and means on average a gram of the drug was taken every 50 seconds in the capital.

The figures are compiled by the Home Office for England and Wales and include seizures made by Border Control and British Transport Police.

For complete story http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/west-london-news/london-drugs-massive-increase-cocaine-14112423

Rohrabacher/Leahy language is detrimental to public health

© Getty Images

Imagine if Big Pharma developed a new drug they claimed would cure cancer, but instead of providing proof of its efficacy, they demanded a stamp of approval from Congress and gave generously to Congressional political races.

There would be widespread outrage, and a demand for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to step in and do its job.

So why has the multi-billion-dollar marijuana industry — selling marijuana-infused candies, sodas and other foods — been given such a pass?

The Rohrabacher/Leahy Amendment, a pesky congressional rider protecting the industry from FDA enforcement passed under the guise of protecting medical marijuana patients, prevents much action by the government.

The FDA relies on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take enforcement action when a company refuses to comply with the terms of an FDA warning letter. Because courts have interpreted the Rohrabacher Amendment broadly to prohibit the DOJ from taking any enforcement action, the FDA is highly limited in what it can do. In reality, the Rohrabacher/Leahy Amendment has enabled the growth of a massive, addiction-for-profit industry that is rapidly becoming this generation’s Big Tobacco.

No one wants to arrest and imprison seriously ill people. Everyone is in favor of responsible research to find new medicines that will help those who are suffering. But let’s also be honest about what’s really happening: Companies that are selling high-potency marijuana gummy bears and lollipops are not interested in medicine, they are interested in marketing kid-friendly products to hook the next generation of lifelong customers.

For more go to \’BigTobacco2.0GetsFreePASS\’