Substance Abuse Among Military is Public Health Crisis, Report Says

By Join Together Staff | September 18, 2012 | 1 Comment | Filed in Alcohol,Drugs, Military & Treatment


Substance abuse among members of the U.S. military and their families has become a public health crisis, according to a new report. The Defense Department’s approaches to preventing and treating substance abuse are outdated, the report states.

The Institute of Medicine report, which was requested by the Defense Department, found about 20 percent of active duty service members say they engaged in heavy drinking in 2008, the latest year for which data is available. The Associated Press reports binge drinking increased from 35 percent in 1998, to 47 percent a decade later.

The report also found the rate of prescription drug abuse is on the rise. In 2002, an estimated 2 percent of active-duty personnel said they misused prescription drugs, compared with 11 percent in 2008.

“We commend the steps that the Department of Defense and individual service branches have recently taken to improve prevention and care for substance use disorders, but the armed forces face many ongoing challenges,” Charles P. O’Brien of the University of Pennsylvania, who chaired the committee that wrote the report, said in a news release. “Better care for service members and their families is hampered by inadequate prevention strategies, staffing shortages, lack of coverage for services that are proved to work, and stigma associated with these disorders. This report recommends solutions to address each of these concerns.”

O’Brien said military doctors tend to be reluctant to prescribe medications to treat addiction. “Modern treatment of substance abuse does involve medications. There are FDA-approved, effective medications that could be used and should be used much more than they are,” he said.

He added that the military tends to rely too much on hospitalization and in-patient rehabilitation, instead of outpatient treatment. The report also called for updated training for military counselors.

The report recommended integrating prevention and treatment efforts more into primary health care, to reduce the stigma associated with seeking help for substance abuse. The military also should do more to preserve the confidentiality of those seeking assistance, the report noted.

Take The Pledge

Joseph -- Here's something you might not know: Drug overdoses now surpass car crashes as the leading cause of accidental death in the US. And what is driving this trend? Prescription painkiller overdoses. This uncomfortable truth is just one of the reasons why The Partnership at Drugfree.org has chosen this moment to launch The Medicine Abuse Project. We're aiming to prevent half a million teens from abusing medicine over the next five years. I'm proud to say that our organization is asking people like you to take a stand on this life-or-death issue. But we can't do it without you. Will you sign our pledge and help kick-start the movement to end medicine abuse? "I, Joseph, pledge to learn about teen medicine abuse, to safeguard my medicines and to talk to teens I know about the issue." http://my.drugfree.org/take-the-pledge The Medicine Abuse Project will launch the week of September 23rd and continue as a multi-year national action campaign. We have teamed up with more than 60 strategic, federal, and corporate partners to break the silence on prescription drug abuse -- and we need your help, too. You can take the first step right now: sign the pledge on The Medicine Abuse Project's website to add your voice: http://my.drugfree.org/take-the-pledge  Thank you, Steve Pasierb President and CEO The Partnership at Drugfree.org

Synthetic Drug Packages with Cartoon Character Attract Kids, Minister Warns

By Join Together Staff | September 17, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inCommunity Related, Drugs & Youth

Synthetic drug packages featuring Scooby Doo are attracting youth in the Baltimore area, warns a local minister. He is trying to get these “Scooby Snax” out of the hands of the city’s young people.

Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon notes a sticker on the package says the contents have a blueberry flavor, although the packages contains dried herbs, not candy. He is concerned that young people are using the product to get high.

Although President Obama signed legislation this summer that bans synthetic drugs, federal officials say the new law is difficult to enforce, because of limited resources. Maryland does not have a law banning synthetic marijuana.

Synthetic drug packages are found in many gas stations and small neighborhood stores, The Baltimore Sun reports. The newspaper found a series of YouTube videos of teens and young adults smoking Scooby Snax, while talking about the product’s effects.

Maryland Health Secretary Dr. Joshua Sharfstein said people may think synthetic drugs are safe because they are easily available. “Just because something is sold at a gas station does not mean it is safe for kids,” Sharfstein told the newspaper. “Synthetics have been linked to some very serious side effects: catatonia, seizures, hallucinations.”

He unsuccessfully lobbied the state legislature earlier this year to impose a statewide ban on synthetic marijuana. He praised the federal law, which not only bans chemicals known to mimic marijuana, but also their chemical analogs. This makes it more difficult for drug makers to slightly alter their product to evade the law.

Methamphetamine Makers Develop Sophisticated New Business Model

By Join Together Staff | September 14, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inCommunity Related & Drugs


Methamphetamine makers are importing raw powdered meth from Mexico, and refining it at “conversion labs” into the crystal form of the drug, The Wall Street Journal reports. In the past, the drug was produced in small U.S. labs, or shipped in its finished form from Mexico.

Drug groups smuggle large amounts of meth powder or liquid, often disguised as antifreeze or other products.

According to law enforcement officials and academic experts in drug trafficking, Mexican drug groups are adapting to changing markets and legal strategies. Like other businesses, drug traffickers have found it is more efficient to do final processing of their product close to their customers, instead of importing finished products, according to John Donnelly, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Fresno, California. “Anything that any good businessman does, these guys will do,” he noted.

Conversion labs have been found in California, Georgia and Texas in the past two years. The number of conversion lab busts is growing, as is the size of meth seizures. “We never saw those kinds of seizures before,” Erasmo Carrizosa, the head of anti-meth strategy for the California Department of Justice, told the newspaper. “Before, if you popped a guy for five pounds, it was a lot of meth.”

City of Angels New Jersey

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Tidbits   COA hosts support group meetings for both addiction sufferers and their families every day of the week at the Dwier Center (392 Church Street, Groveville, NJ). To check out our online calendar, click here.     For directions to the Dwier Center, click here.      The COA website now offers an Addiction News Feed with the latest studies, reports, new and other info on addiction. It's updated in real time with top 30 articles. To read the feed, click here.  New videos are up on the COA YouTube channel. To watch, click here.      Join COA's Pinterest community! To visit the boards, click here.     Yoga is excellent for the body, mind and spirit...and classes at COA are offered weekly at no charge. For the schedule, click here.      Keep current on COA activites - join the COA group on Facebook!  COA news is posted first on Facebook, and this page often has photos not available elsewhere.Click here to visit.   City of Angels NJ, Inc. is a non-profit organization that provides many services to addicts and their families including interventions, recovery support, Family Program, counseling services and more. All of our services are provided at no charge.

DEA Revokes Licenses to Dispense Controlled Substances for Two CVS Pharmacies

By Join Together Staff | September 13, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inCommunity Related, Government, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has revoked the licenses to dispense controlled substances for two CVS pharmacies in Florida, after accusing them of dispensing excessive amounts of oxycodone.

Earlier this year, the DEA said the two pharmacies were “filling prescriptions far in excess of the legitimate needs of its customers.” While the average pharmacy in the United States in 2011 ordered approximately 69,000 oxycodone dosage units, these two pharmacies, located about 5.5 miles apart, together ordered more than three million dosage units during the same year, according to the DEA.

USA Today reports that in an administrative hearing in April, CVS Vice President Will Abbott said the company had retrained its pharmacists, and cut 21 physicians who prescribed large amounts of oxycodone. According to the DEA, the company did not take those steps until after the agency served warrants as part of an investigation of the stores.

“These actions are part of the DEA Miami Field Division’s continuing efforts to combat the state’s prescription drug abuse epidemic and its role as a major source of diverted pharmaceutical drugs to other states,” the DEA said in a news release.