Researcher Developing Vaccine to Treat Heroin Addiction and Protect Against HIV

By Join Together Staff | July 26, 2012 | 1 Comment | Filed in Drugs, Funding,Prevention, Research & Treatment

A researcher at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research has been awarded a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to develop a vaccine that would treat heroin addiction and protect against HIV.

Dr. Gary R. Matyas has been selected as the 2012 recipient of the NIDA Avant-Garde Award for Medications Development, Phys.Orgreports. He will receive $1,000,000 per year for five years to support his research.

“This highly innovative dual-vaccine model would simultaneously address the intertwined epidemics of heroin abuse and HIV,” said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. “The implications for public health are enormous.”

“Heroin use is strongly associated with a high risk of HIV infection and represents an increasingly important worldwide health problem,” Dr. Matyas said. “The possibility of creating a combination heroin-HIV vaccine provides an important opportunity to address both a unique treatment for heroin abuse as well as continuing the quest to develop an effective preventive HIV vaccine.”

Businesses in Nearly 100 Cities Raided in Nationwide Synthetic Drug Takedown

By Join Together Staff | July 26, 2012 | 2 Comments | Filed in Community Related, Drugs, Government & Legal


Local and federal law enforcement officials raided businesses in almost 100 cities on Wednesday, in the first nationwide crackdown on synthetic drugs, USA Today reports.

Operation Log Jam targeted businesses selling drugs such as “Spice,” “K2” and “bath salts.” The drugs are widely available in convenience stores, despite a law signed by President Obama earlier this month that bans synthetic drugs.

Raids took place in cities including Columbus, Ohio; Duluth, Minnesota; Tampa and Pittsburgh. Authorities also conducted raids in upstate New York and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

Many states had banned synthetic drugs before the federal law was signed, the article notes. The National Association of Convenience Stores says it advised its more than 148,000 member stores to remove the drugs from their shelves once the ban took effect.

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Web-Based Recovery Study Seeks Participants

By Join Together Staff | July 25, 2012 | 1 Comment | Filed in Addiction,Alcohol, Drugs, Recovery & Research


A study funded by the National Institutes of Health is seeking people in recovery from an alcohol or drug problem to participate in a web-based survey. The researchers hope the study will help dispel the stigma that those in recovery face.

The goal of the “What is Recovery” study is to develop a definition of recovery that reflects the wide range of people who say they are in recovery, or recovered, or used to have a problem but do not now, or are in medication-assisted recovery.

The first part of the study included 238 people who completed online surveys, and 54 who completed in-depth telephone interviews. The second phase of the study contains 47 possible definitions of recovery, which were developed based on the study’s first phase. The researchers hope to reach more than 10,000 people with Phase 2 of the study, to obtain as many perspectives on their definitions of recovery as possible.

The researchers hope to answer questions such as whether recovery requires abstinence, whether someone can be “in recovery” if they are still drinking or using, and if recovery is more than just being clean and sober.

People participating in the study, conducted by the Alcohol Research Group, do not have to provide any personal identifying information. The researchers will not be able to identify participants. Answers to the web survey are confidential. To participate, you must be at least 18, and consider yourself as being in recovery from an alcohol or drug problem. Visit the “What is Recovery” website to take the online survey.

Can Exercise Help People Dependent on Both Cocaine and Nicotine?

By Celia Vimont | July 24, 2012 | 1 Comment | Filed in Addiction, Drugs,Research & Tobacco


Addiction experts are looking at exercise as a potential non-drugtreatment for various types of substance abuse. One study at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston is examining whether exercise can treat people who are dependent on both cocaine and nicotine.

“Our lab has studied people who are dependent on cocaine, and over the years, we’ve noticed the vast majority are also dependent on cigarette smoking—about three times the national average,” saysRichard De La Garza, II, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at BCM, and President of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD). He presented data about his newest research project on exercise as a treatment for drug dependence at the recent CPDD meeting in Palm Springs, California.

Dr. De La Garza came up with the idea after reading about a study showing that smokers who rode a stationary bike had reduced urges to smoke. He decided to investigate whether exercise could reduce both cocaine and nicotine urges in people dependent on both substances. “There’s no reason that exercise wouldn’t serve as a potential behavioral treatment for any addiction,” he notes.

He also points to studies showing that middle and high school students who participate in school athletic programs have lower rates of drug use than those who don’t exercise. “Maybe the reinforcing effects produced by exercise reduce the urge to abuse substances,” says Dr. De La Garza, who is a life-long runner.

If exercise is found to be useful in treating substance abuse, it would be a welcome addition to current pharmacological treatment approaches, he says. “That’s not to say medications don’t have their place, but there is a large problem with medication compliance. We know that a lot of people who are given prescriptions for any disease state don’t take all their medications, or don’t take them as often as they are supposed to.”

In the new study, patients who are dependent on both cocaine and nicotine are randomly assigned to sit, walk or run three times a week for one month, at the BCM facility. All of the subjects receive cognitive-behavioral therapy. The runners and walkers are given an individualized exercise program, based on their current physical fitness.

The subjects are given urine tests to check recent cocaine use, as well as breath and saliva tests to check for nicotine use, in addition asking them about their drug and smoking activities. The researchers follow up with study participants four and eight weeks after the protocol is completed.

“We will also be able to determine if they are deriving other benefits from exercising, such as weight loss, or feeling better about themselves,” Dr. De La Garza says. “There are a lot of benefits that come from exercise that can make a difference in the long run. If you’ve been sedentary and start exercising, it can be very empowering.”

At the end of the study, participants get to keep the running shoes and clothing they are given as part of the study. “I want to show individuals what I learned growing up, that as long as you have a pair of shoes, you can run anywhere in the world,” he notes.

Dr. De La Garza hopes to enroll a total of 72 patients. So far, about 25 percent of the patients have been enrolled.

When he wrote the grant application, he knew of no other researchers looking at the question of whether exercise can be used to treat substance abuse. Since then, others have started similar studies. At the CPDD meeting, he chaired a symposium on the issue with scientists investigating exercise as a treatment for drug dependence in various populations, including females, as well as individuals who are struggling with both substance abuse and depression.

Popular Synthetic Drug Simple to Obtain From China, Experts Say

By Join Together Staff | July 23, 2012 | 1 Comment | Filed in Drugs &Legislation


The popular synthetic drug methylone, a key ingredient in “bath salts,” is simple to order online from China, experts tell The Virginian-Pilot.

In one recent case that ended up in federal court, two Virginia men emailed a lab in China, wired several thousand dollars to an English-speaking customer service representative and received 100 pounds of the drug in the mail, according to the newspaper.

“It’s probably easier than buying a case of wine online,” said Richard Yarow, an attorney for a man who pleaded guilty to assisting one of the importers wire money to China. “When you buy wine you at least have to show ID” upon delivery, he added.

Methylone is a white crystalline powder. In addition to being used to make bath salts, it also can be snorted, swallowed or mixed into drinks. The drug costs about $350 per ounce on the street. Importers charge $2,600 to $4,000 per pound.

Methylone was legal in most places in the United States until recently, and was sold online and in some gas stations and head shops. Some states began banning synthetic drugs last year, and more have followed suit this year.

Earlier this month, President Obama signed legislation that bans synthetic drugs. The law bans harmful chemicals in synthetic drugs such as those used to make synthetic marijuana and bath salts.

Bath salts are marketed under names such as “Ivory Wave,” “Purple Wave,” “Vanilla Sky” or “Bliss.” The drugs mimic the effects of cocaine, LSD, Ecstasy and/or methamphetamine. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, users have reported impaired perception, reduced motor control, disorientation, extreme paranoia and violent episodes. Bath salts have become increasingly popular among teens and young adults.

Packages sent to the United States are subject to inspection, but drug-sniffing dogs usually cannot detect methylone and other synthetic drugs, according to federal agents. A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection told the newspaper they cannot prevent people from ordering things off the Internet