Other Posts, Other Places

News and views from the drug blog at The Fix.

A selection of recent posts I've written at The Fix, where I edit the blog as senior contributing editor. Some stuff you may not have run across. Here’s an even dozen from June:
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Dutch Court Ruling Leaves Cannabis Shop Open to Tourists—For Now
Maastricht pot shop reopens, but Dutch politicians continue with crackdown.

What Really Drives Americans to Drink?
Feeling Thirsty? Average Americans guzzled 20 gallons of beer and 45 gallons of soft drinks per person last year. They also downed 18.5 gallons of coffee and a surprising 20 gallons of milk.

China Unveils Radical New Approach to Drug Treatment
In a stunning about-face, the new drug regulations opt for voluntary rehab over mandatory detention.

25% of Car Crash Victims Test Positive For Drugs
Over 25% of drivers who are fatally wounded in accidents test positive for drugs other than alcohol.

The Crocodile That Dines on Dying Addicts
Russia’s newest bathtub morphine is a nightmare straight from Naked Lunch.

Smoking Bans Don’t Decrease Smoking, Study Finds
Anti-smoking ordinances protect people from secondhand smoke, but they don’t help smokers quit.

The “Buzzed” Driver: Drunk Enough to Matter?
Recent study argues for near-zero tolerance in blood-alcohol levels for drivers.

Traumatic Events Linked to Sharp Increase in Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Drug abusers and heavy drinkers are more likely to ramp up their intake after natural disasters.

Report Spells Out Tragedy of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Medical workers are getting better at recognizing FAS, but treatment funds are scarce.

The High Cost of Rehab
The treatment industry is expected to become a $34 billion business by 2014. Do you get what you pay for?

Meth is Less Rewarding When You've Got a Social Life
Animal study shows how a solid social network helps protect against drug abuse--by literally changing the way the brain works.

China's "Brain Acupuncture" Addiction Cure
Brain electrodes are being used by Chinese neurosurgeons to treat heroin addiction.

An Assortment of Drug-Related Articles

Misc. Stuff Etc.

In this post, I offer up an assortment of links to articles, mostly by me, and other related material, so that I can put checkmarks after a few items on the official Addiction Inbox to-do list, here on the official Addiction Inbox plexiglass clipboard. So let’s see….

* Here’s an article I wrote awhile ago for Brain Blogger, called "Why Do Schizophrenics Smoke Cigarettes?" The comments alone are worth a look. Spoiler: Schizophrenics smoke cigarettes because nicotine helps quell both audio and visual hallucinations.

* One of the very early posts here at Addiction Inbox, called "Marijuana Withdrawal," transformed itself into a self-help support board over time, with lengthy and enlightening comments appended to a short original post about the symptoms of marijuana dependency. The post has accumulated more than 1,000 comments at this writing, and is still going strong. Have a look here.

* The title of the Dutch study, published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, is unambiguous: “Alcohol Portrayal on Television Affects Actual Drinking Behaviour.” But the dirt, as always, is in the details. My article at Adi Jaffe’s All About Addiction site.

* This feature of mine about synthetic marijuana products like “Spice” ran last month at The Fix, where I am now serving as senior contributing editor. 

* I contributed a comment or two to this follow-up piece on synthetic cannabis that ran in the New York Daily News.

* Also at The Fix, that irritating fraud James Frey gets his ass totally kicked by Time Healthland’s Maia Szalavitz, who demands that he apologize to addicts for all the harm he has done their cause in this article. Great stuff. 

* Here’s a hard-hitting excerpt from James Brown’s phenomenal addiction memoir, This River, which redeems the entire genre from the likes of James Frey. Read the harrowing “Instructions on the Use of Heroin.”

* Science of Blogging is a great site that regularly features interviews with, you guessed it, science bloggers. Travis Saunders was kind enough to do a Question and Answer session with me recently.

And here are a dozen recent blog posts by yours truly over at the The Fix:

Deaths Linked to Botched Batch of Designer Mescaline

2C-E, a research hallucinogenic best left to the professionals, may have killed two people in Oklahoma.

GOP Goes Gaga for Drug Testing

Almost 30 states now intend to test welfare recipients for drug use.

Top 10 (or 20) Recovery Songs

From the Hold Steady to the Rolling Stones to Nine Inch Nails: best all-time recovery songs.

Saving OD Victims May be Illegal in Your State

Lawmakers argue over how to do the right thing for people who do the wrong thing.

Mexico's Massacred Kids

As bodies pile up in Mexico's drug war, murdered children account for over 1,000 deaths.

Google Faces Fines for Pill Mill Ads

The internet giant may pony up some serious dough for promoting prescription-pill abuse.

Former Assistant Drug Czar Slams the Medical Establishment

Provocative Penn psychologist wonders what would happen if our health care system treated diabetics like it treats most addicts. Nothing good.

Drug Criminals See Cigarettes as the New Black Market

Cigarette trafficking is now so lucrative that organized drug and gun smuggling operations want in on the action.

Do Alcoholic Students Score Better on Tests if They Stay Drunk?

How does alcohol affect memory? New research suggests that students perform much better on tests when their "memory states" match.

A Toast to the Black Monk of Thamkrabok

For over 30 years, a charismatic Vietnam vet and mercenary named Gordon Baltimore helped hardcore addicts recover with a controversial regimen at a Thai monastery. A former heroin addict, he died last week at the age of 60

Charity Pays Thousands of Addicts to Get Sterilized

An American "charity" is paying thousands of U.S. drug addicts not to have children. Buoyed by its success, the group has moved on to Britain. Now Denmark may be taking up the trend.

Vancouver’s Supervised Shooting Up Site: 2,000 ODs, 0 Deaths

An officially-sanctioned injection site for heroin and cocaine addicts in Vancouver prompts a dramatic fall in death rates. So why is the Canadian government so dead-set against it?

Thank you and good night.

Photo Credit: http://www.thinkstockphotos.com/

New Addiction/Recovery Web Site

Daily news blog is part of "The Fix."

I’m pleased to announce that I'll be writing and editing a new blog, “This Just In,” for the recently-launched addiction and recovery site, The Fix. Some top-notch writers are involved, like Susan Cheever and Walter Armstrong. Big take-down of Narconon in the current issue. I encourage you to take a look.

Addiction Inbox will continue to appear without change. Apologies in advance if the pace of posting tends to slow a bit in the immediate future.