drug abuse – News Stories About drug abuse - Page 2

Only 1 State Rejects Prescription Drug Database

Jul 21, 2014 7:06 AM CDT

Only 1 State Rejects Prescription Drug Database

'Welcome to Missouri—America's drugstore'

(Newser) - With prescription painkiller abuse, addiction, and overdoses a massive problem across the country, some 49 states have brought in databases to track excess prescriptions—and then there is Missouri. The state is the only holdout that has refused to create a monitoring program, even though law enforcement officials say the...

Tennessee Makes It Illegal
to Get High While Pregnant

Tennessee Makes It Illegal to Get High While Pregnant

Doing so could land you in jail, starting in July

(Newser) - Starting July 1, if you're pregnant and use drugs while living in Tennessee, you can be charged with a crime for causing harm to your unborn baby. Gov. Bill Haslam signed the controversial law yesterday, the Tennessean reports. Civil and reproductive rights groups had opposed it, saying it would...

Most Pill Poppers
Turn to Doctors
for Their Fix

study says

Mar 4, 2014 11:20 AM CST

Most Pill Poppers Turn to Doctors for Their Fix

Friends, family to blame among occasional users: study

(Newser) - When it comes to prescription painkiller abuse, officials have generally considered users' friends and family to be the main source of the drugs. But a new CDC study says it's doctors themselves who are most to blame for supplying the substances to chronic users, the LA Times reports. The...

How to Save Heroin Addicts

OPINION

Feb 4, 2014 12:59 PM CST

How to Save Heroin Addicts

Experts weigh in on changes that should be made to treatment

(Newser) - Could Philip Seymour Hoffman have been saved? That's what two columns are arguing today:

On CNN , drug experts Ethan Nadelmann and Tony Newman outline a 7-step plan to stop overdoses—105 people in the US die each day from heroin or pharmaceutical opioid ODs. The first step: Make treatment

...

Jersey Shore's
New Problem:
Heroin Overdoses

Jan 14, 2014 8:17 AM CST

Jersey Shore's New Problem: Heroin Overdoses

Fatal overdoses more than doubled last year in Ocean County, NJ

(Newser) - It's been a rough week for New Jersey , and an NBC News investigation only adds to the state's woes: It found that fatal heroin and prescription drug overdoses at the Jersey Shore more than doubled last year, with 112 deaths in Ocean County compared to 2012's 53...

Booze, Drugs, Hookers in New Ford Allegations

Rob Ford Drove
Drunk Through
School Zones,
Partied With
Hookers

NEW ALLEGATIONS

Nov 14, 2013 4:00 AM CST

Rob Ford Drove Drunk Through School Zones, Partied With Hookers

One begins to wonder how he had time to govern

(Newser) - For your average big city mayor, admitting that you bought illegal drugs while in office would be the most damaging thing to happen in a day—but Rob Ford 's not your average mayor . Soon after a press conference in which the crack-smoking, binge-drinking Toronto mayor claimed his closet...

Billie Joe
Armstrong:
Meltdown Was
Turning Point

Feb 27, 2013 10:29 AM CST

Billie Joe Armstrong: Meltdown Was Turning Point

That's when he knew he had to get help, he tells 'Rolling Stone'

(Newser) - For the first time, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong is talking about rehab and substance abuse in the wake of his onstage meltdown last year . He'd struggled with alcohol and prescription drugs for years—"I couldn't predict where I was going to end up at the...

Sao Paulo to Forcibly
Commit Crack Addicts

Jan 4, 2013 2:08 PM CST

Sao Paulo to Forcibly Commit Crack Addicts

Brazilian state adopts new strategy amid soaring demand

(Newser) - Officials in Brazil's most populous state say they will start forcing adult crack addicts to go to rehabilitation centers in an effort to curb growing use of the drug. The Sao Paulo state plan was announced yesterday and is scheduled to begin in 10 days. Addicts who refuse treatment...

Military Drinking a
'Public Health Crisis'

study says

Sep 18, 2012 6:56 AM CDT

Military Drinking a 'Public Health Crisis'

New study finds 20% of troops drank heavily in 2008

(Newser) - Substance abuse in the US military has escalated to the point that it is now a "public health crisis," according to a new report. The Defense Department requested the analysis by the Institute of Medicine, which found that:

Around 20% of active-duty troops said they drank heavily in

...

City With Biggest
Heroin Problem:
Chicago

Sep 4, 2012 6:52 PM CDT

City With Biggest Heroin Problem: Chicago

It has nearly twice the ER visits as New York City

(Newser) - Chicago has earned the unwanted distinction of having the nation's worst heroin problem. And by at least one measure, no other city is close. The Chicago area registered about 24,000 ER visits related to heroin between 2008 and 2010, says a new report by the Illinois Consortium on...

Forget OxyContin: Opana Now Most-Abused Painkiller

Jul 11, 2012 6:50 AM CDT

Forget OxyContin: Opana Now Most-Abused Painkiller

But new formula will cause addicts to seek another drug

(Newser) - The powerful painkiller Opana has replaced OxyContin as the drug of choice for addicts and pharmacy robbers. Users switched to Opana—the trade name for oxymorphone—after OxyContin's maker reformulated its pills to make them harder to snort, chew, or inject for a quick high. But Opana's makers...

Russia's Top Narc Blames
Beatles for Drugs

Jun 26, 2012 4:53 AM CDT

Russia's Top Narc Blames Beatles for Drugs

Their 'mind-expanding' jaunts expanded problem: Yevgeny Bryun

(Newser) - All you need is drugs, drugs, drugs. That seems to be the message the Beatles communicated to Russia's top narcotics-fighting official, who believes the Fab Four were largely responsible for kicking off the global drug problem. "After the Beatles went to expand their consciousness in India ashrams, they...

Teen Mom Ordered to Prison

Jun 6, 2012 12:01 AM CDT

Teen Mom Ordered to Prison

Judge reinstates Amber Portwood's 5-year term in stir

(Newser) - A violent, drug-abusive star of MTV's Teen Mom reality program is about to be sent away to prison for at least two years. Amber Portwood, now 22, dropped out of a drug rehab program last month, and an Indiana judge yesterday reinstated a five-year sentence he imposed after she...

Behind Derek Boogaard's Downfall, Tons of Pills

Jun 4, 2012 10:13 AM CDT

Behind Derek Boogaard's Downfall, Tons of Pills

Team doctors prescribed him huge amount of hydrocodone, oxycodone

(Newser) - As if Derek Boogaard's death at 28 last year wasn't tragic enough, the New York Times today delves into the reality that preceded the NHL enforcer's accidental overdose—and it's a mind-bogglingly pill-filled one. Boogaard's father, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, gave...

Nick Stahl Surfaces,
Checks Into Rehab

May 21, 2012 8:48 AM CDT

Nick Stahl Surfaces, Checks Into Rehab

'Terminator 3' actor is now getting treatment

(Newser) - After going missing for a week , Nick Stahl has surfaced, having checked himself into a rehab clinic on Saturday night, reports E! Online . The Terminator 3 star has had drug abuse problems in the past, and estranged wife Rose says she is happy Stahl is getting help. "It's...

Welcome to
'Ground Zero'
for America's
Pill Poppers

Apr 15, 2012 12:28 PM CDT

Welcome to 'Ground Zero' for America's Pill Poppers

Kermit, West Virginia, home to die-hard addicts

(Newser) - A tiny coal-mining town of barely 300 people and no supermarket is home to one booming business: pharmacies. In Kermit, West Virginia, two Sav-Rites alone moved 3.2 million doses of hydrocodone in 2006—a tad more than the 97,000 doses the average pharmacy sells in a year, reports...

Cheap, Potent Heroin
Gains Foothold in Suburbs

Apr 14, 2012 11:34 AM CDT

Cheap, Potent Heroin Gains Foothold in Suburbs

As deaths spike, authorities are using more aggressive tactics

(Newser) - With heroin becoming cheaper than a six-pack ($6 for a "button") and as easy to obtain as pot, police and prosecutors are turning to more aggressive tactics against the drug, dusting off little-used laws to seek murder charges against suspected dealers and provide for longer prison sentences. The...

Whitney
Houston's
Body Covered
With Scars

Apr 9, 2012 3:10 AM CDT

Whitney Houston's Body Covered With Scars

Missing 11 teeth; showed signs of heart, liver disease

(Newser) - Whitney Houston's troubled history was written on her body. A mix of scars, cuts, burns, and abrasions—most of them several years old—riddled the body of the 48-year-old singer, according to the coroner's report. Besides the burns she suffered during her death in a hotel bathtub and...

Whitney's Daughter Got
High After Funeral: Report

Feb 20, 2012 2:00 AM CST

Whitney's Daughter Got High After Funeral: Report

Bobbi Kristina disappeared, found in hotel 'getting high'

(Newser) - Bobbi Kristina Brown's family is terrified the teen is being overwhelmed by the same demons that likely contributed to her mom's death. Whitney Houston's troubled daughter disappeared after her mother's funeral, and was finally located at a nearby hotel "getting high," sources tell the...

Abuse Experts
Tremble Over
Powerful New
Painkillers

Dec 26, 2011 3:50 PM CST

Abuse Experts Tremble Over Powerful New Painkillers

Drugs with hydrocodone may cause more addiction

(Newser) - A more powerful version of America's second-most abused medicine is likely headed for a doctor's office near you, the AP reports. Four companies are in the patient-testing phase of painkillers that will be up to 10 times more effective than Vicodin thanks to a highly addictive ingredient called...