drug abuse

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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

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

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

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

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...

Judge Nearly Doubles Douglas Sentence

Actor's son gets extra 54 months for smuggling drugs in jail

(Newser) - Telling Cameron Douglas he was the most reckless defendant he'd ever had in his courtroom, a federal judge has nearly doubled his five-year prison term. Michael Douglas' 32-year-old son confessed to having heroin and pills smuggled into the prison where he was serving time for drug dealing . Judge Richard...

Occupy Vancouver Woman Dies
 Occupy Vancouver Woman Dies 
Nov 7, 2011 6:00 AM CST

Occupy Vancouver Woman Dies

She's found in tent unresponsive after suspected OD

(Newser) - An Occupy Vancouver tent city resident has died of a suspected drug overdose, and the city's mayor is calling for the encampment to be shut down. A woman in her 20s was found unresponsive in a tent and rushed to a local hospital over the weekend, but died shortly...

Tainted Cocaine Rotting Flesh
 Tainted Cocaine Rotting Flesh 
Jun 22, 2011 1:59 AM CDT

Tainted Cocaine Rotting Flesh

Dealers cutting coke with dangerous livestock deworming drug

(Newser) - A horrifying side effect is emerging among people who use cocaine cut with a drug that deworms livestock. Users who suffer a bad reaction to the drug levamisole are developing large patches of dead, blackened skin on their faces and bodies as the additive damages blood vessels and causes skin...

Most Addicts Get Pills From Pals

Doctors only give pills to 1 in 5 abusers: Study

(Newser) - Looks like Michael Jackson was the exception to the rule. Most painkiller addicts get their pills from family or friends rather than doctors, according to a new study. Just 1 in 5 abusers use their doctor as their primary source for their drugs, and 69% get their drugs exclusively from...

New OxyContin Formula Foils Drug Abusers

...Who then just switch to similar narcotics, police say

(Newser) - OxyContin abuse is becoming a thing of the past—sort of. Ever since Purdue Pharma reformulated its hit narcotic pills to make them harder to snort, chew, or inject, addicts have been looking elsewhere for their high, the New York Times reports. “It’s too much work,” says...

War on Drugs a Bust: Global Panel

Former world leaders back marijuana legalization, addict aid

(Newser) - The American-led war on drugs is a failure and governments should move toward the legalization of some drugs, especially marijuana, concludes a report from a panel of politicians and former world leaders. The Global Commission on Drug Policy panel—which includes former UN chief Kofi Annan, the former presidents of...

Ohio County Drowning in Waves of Oxy

Overdoses now leading cause of accidental death in Scioto County

(Newser) - Scioto County sits in the southern tip of Ohio, an unremarkable piece of Appalachia save for the deadly tidal wave of prescription drugs washing over its population. Overdoses have quadrupled over the past decade, reports the New York Times, and are now the leading cause of accidental death, ahead of...

1 Million Oxycodone Prescriptions Filled in New York City, Which Has 8 Million People
 8M New Yorkers, 
 1M Oxycodone Prescriptions 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 20, 2011 6:23 AM CDT

8M New Yorkers, 1M Oxycodone Prescriptions

Staten Island leads the way

(Newser) - New York City's special narcotics prosecutor unveiled some eye-popping numbers about prescription drugs in the Big Apple, according to the Wall Street Journal :
  • One million prescriptions for the pain reliever oxycodone—the generic name for Oxycontin—were filled in 2010. That's enough for 1 in 8 residents of the five
...

Bath Salts: More Perilous Than Meth?

Addicts are struggling to get clean

(Newser) - Ivory Wave, Red Dove, Vanilla Sky—the names sound more tranquil than menacing, but authorities are calling them the latest in drugs as dangerous as crystal meth. They're bath salts, and can be bought legally in stores, but they contain mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, which can cause hallucinations, paranoia, rapid heart...

Ozzy: Hard Wired to Party Hard?
 Ozzy: Hard Wired to Party Hard?
Nov 4, 2010 3:23 AM CDT

Ozzy: Hard Wired to Party Hard?

He has several intriguing genetic mutations

(Newser) - Was always-crazed heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne biologically destined to party really, really hard? Scientists think it's a possibility after finding several intriguing mutations when mapping the Oz's genes. Several of the variations "we've never seen before," said geneticist Nathaniel Pearson, and they include some that may have...

Arrest Warrant Issued for Lohan
 Arrest Warrant Issued for Lohan 
PLUS, 'MILKOHOLIC' SETTLED
Sep 20, 2010 3:36 PM CDT

Arrest Warrant Issued for Lohan

Hopefully, LiLo's ready to face those consequences

(Newser) - We can't think of many, but we're sure Lindsay Lohan's made better life decisions than dabbling with cocaine and meth while on probation. La Lohan's parole has now been revoked and an arrest warrant issued, reports TMZ, though the gossip site notes that the warrant is being held until the...

Drug Use Hits 8-Year High
 Drug Use Hits 8-Year High 
Sep 16, 2010 1:19 AM CDT

Drug Use Hits 8-Year High

Marijuana, meth, ecstasy use up, cocaine down

(Newser) - Illegal drug abuse in America has soared to its highest rate in almost a decade, according to a government report which finds marijuana, methamphetamine, and ecstasy use surging, but cocaine declining. Some 21.8 million Americans used illegal drugs last year, a 9% increase from the year before and the...

Jeremy London Joins Celeb Rehab

 Jeremy London 
 Joins Celeb Rehab 
kidnapping paid off?
Jul 8, 2010 8:39 AM CDT

Jeremy London Joins Celeb Rehab

If nothing else, at least he'll get to meet Tila Tequila

(Newser) - Perhaps Jeremy London faked his crazy kidnapping ordeal , all in a ploy…to land a spot on Celebrity Rehab? Well, even if that wasn’t his plan, that is in fact where he’s headed. The 37-year-old has a history of drug problems, but claimed to be sober this March...

LA Coliseum Bans Raves
 LA Coliseum Bans Raves 
Jul 1, 2010 2:08 AM CDT

LA Coliseum Bans Raves

Moratorium follows teen's OD death

(Newser) - Los Angeles has banished techno parties from the Coliseum following the death of a 15-year-old girl from a suspected drug overdose at last weekend's Electric Daisy Carnival mega-rave. Authorities—who had been urged by doctors to end raves at the venue—say a temporary ban will remain in place while...

LA Docs Demand End to Raves

ER physicians slam 'government-backed drug fests'

(Newser) - More than 120 young people ended up in local hospitals after a recent mega-rave at the Los Angeles Coliseum, spurring emergency room doctors to call for a ban on such events at the publicly owned facility. "This is basically a government-encouraged drug fest. That’s the wrong message,”...

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