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Thursday, January 17, 2013
New York Police Department to Use Decoy Pill Bottles to Track Painkiller Thieves
The New York Police Department has announced it will put
decoy pill bottles with tracking devices on pharmacy shelves, in an
effort to track stolen painkillers. The fake bottles will appear to
contain oxycodone, The New York Times reports.
The bottles will not actually contain painkillers, but will have a
GPS device. “We would anticipate the burglar and robber will take
numerous bottles, and among them will be the bait bottle,” said the
department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne.
The fake bottles rattle when they are shaken, as if they contained
pills. They sit on a special base. When the bottle is lifted from the
base, it starts to send out a tracking signal.
The department hopes to have the program in place by March, and is asking all of the city’s 1,800 pharmacies to participate.
Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyContin, developed the bottles. They are
already being used in some pharmacies around the country. Around the
nation, pharmacies have been robbed
by armed criminals looking for narcotics, anti-anxiety drugs and other
controlled medications. Some are addicted to the drugs themselves, while
others sell the pills.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Today's Scripture
"Let us have real warm affection for one another as between brothers …" - Romans 12:10
Thoughts for Today
Yesterday we looked at the importance of developing the quality of empathy in order to more effectively help a loved one struggling with a problem. Another essential quality is warmth.
Genuine warmth is communicated more by our actions than by what we actually say. Speaking the right words will most likely be totally ineffective if our body language reflects condemnation or impatience or if we seem distracted or unfocused.
A caring tone of voice, eye contact, non-possessive touch, pleasant facial expressions, friendly gestures and a relaxed stance impart a sense of warmth and caring. A warm voice and a caring touch can bring peace and calmness to a brokenhearted person. Warmth communicates openness and lessens defensiveness.
Consider this …
When planning to meet with a hurting friend, set aside time when you can focus and not feel rushed. Pray for him or her before you meet. Ask God to make you sensitive to the need. This preparation will help you show the warmth of caring. You won't just be saying words—your heart attitude will be reflected in body language that will help create an environment for encouragement and healing.
Prayer
Father, help me help my friend. May my heart be filled with your compassion and may my body language reflect the warmth of caring. In all ways, help me to demonstrate real warm affection. In Jesus' name …
These thoughts were drawn from …
Understanding the Times and Knowing What to Do by Dr. Jimmy Ray Lee. This book offers biblical strategies for ministry to our family and friends. Contemporary issues and needs faced by society are addressed with biblical principles that are timeless. Ideal for small group leaders and Sunday school teachers who want a better understanding of ministry in an addictive culture.
Would you like to have these devotions appear daily on your church or ministry website? Learn More
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© Living Free 2007. Living Free is a registered trademark. Living Free Every Day devotionals may be reproduced for personal use. When reproduced to share with others, please acknowledge the source as Living Free, Chattanooga, TN. Must have written permission to use in any format to be sold. Permission may be requested by sending e-mail to info@LivingFree.org.
Lance Armstrong Offers Apology for Using Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong has admitted to using
performance-enhancing drugs during his career, and apologized for doing
so during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Associated Press reports.
The interview is scheduled to be broadcast on Thursday on Winfrey’s network.
The winner of seven Tour de France victories, Armstrong strongly
denied he used performance-enhancing drugs for many years. His admission
came shortly after he apologized to the staff at Livestrong, the cancer
charity he founded and was forced to surrender, the article notes. He
created the charity after surviving testicular cancer that spread to his
lungs and brain.
Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France titles, and was forced
to leave his charity in 2012 after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued a
report that accused him of a long-running doping scheme, according to
the AP. He was also banned from competing in elite triathlon and running
events. Currently, his lifetime ban cannot be reduced to less than
eight years, according to World Anti-Doping Code rules.
Using Bath Salts: Playing Russian Roulette With Your Brain, Expert Says
Using the designer drugs known as “bath salts” is like
playing Russian roulette with your brain, according to an expert at the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Michael H. Baumann, PhD,
Chief of the Designer Drug Research Unit at NIDA’s Intramural Research
Program, recently published a study that explains how bath salts cause
dangerous effects in the brain.
“People using bath salts can’t be sure about what psychoactive
chemicals are present in them, and studies have shown that ingredients
on the label often are not present in the products,” he says.
The active ingredients in bath salts that have been identified thus
far are structurally similar to cathinone, which is a naturally
occurring stimulant found in the khat plant, explains Dr. Baumann. In a
rodent study recently published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology,
he and his colleagues reported that synthetic cathinones disrupt the
transport of the brain chemical dopamine, thereby causing large spikes
in the amount of dopamine outside of nerve cells. Dopamine is implicated
in the pleasurable effects of drugs, as well as their potential for
abuse. “When a drug causes increases in dopamine, people will want to
take that drug repeatedly,” he says. The study found a bath salt
ingredient, MDPV, is 10 to 50 times more potent than cocaine in its
ability to increase dopamine in the brain.
Emergency rooms around the country have reported cases of people
taking bath salts who become psychotic, violent and delirious. These
patients also may have a very high body temperature. Some people have
died from bath salts use.
Data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers
indicate that calls due to bath salts dropped from January to November
2012, though Dr. Baumann notes the data for the year are not yet
complete. “If it is indeed the case that bath salts calls are declining,
perhaps it is because of all the publicity about these substances being
quite dangerous,” he says.
Michael H. Baumann, PhD
Dr. Baumann also notes government action may be playing an important
role in the decrease in bath salts calls. In the fall of 2011, the Drug
Enforcement Administration announced a temporary ban
on three synthetic stimulants sold as bath salts—mephedrone, methylone
and MDPV. The ban made it illegal to possess and sell these chemicals or
the products that contain them. In July 2012, President Obama signed legislation that permanently bans a number of synthetic drugs including mephedrone and MDPV.
A troubling trend is the availability of newer, similar compounds
that chemists are devising to replace the banned substances, Dr. Baumann
observes. “This cat-and-mouse game is likely to continue,” he says. It
is possible some of these newer compounds may no longer be called bath
salts, and are thus not showing up in the poison control data.
Much is still not known about bath salts, such as how they interact
with alcohol and other illicit drugs. Scientists also don’t know what
happens when several different cathinone products are mixed, or the
long-term effect of bath salts use.
“Bath salts are dangerous,” Dr. Baumann says. “We don’t know a lot
about how they affect the body, and there is no quality control in their
manufacture or packaging. There’s just no way of knowing what
byproducts or toxic impurities are in these products.”
For the latest information about bath salts, visit the NIDA website.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
New Ice Cubes Change Color to Track Alcohol Use
A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology has invented ice cubes that can warn drinkers when they’ve
consumed too much alcohol, ABC News reports.
Dhairya Dand came up with the idea after he suffered an
alcohol-induced blackout. The incident inspired him to invent ice cubes
that change colors in response to the amount of alcohol a person
consumes. An instrument called an accelerometer tracks how often the
glass is raised to someone’s lips, while a timer helps estimate how
intoxicated the person is, according to the news report.
A light encased in the waterproof ice cube will flash green to signal
a first drink. When the ice cube flashes yellow, it indicates a
person’s alcohol level is rising. A red flashing ice cube is a warning
to stop drinking. The ice cube can send a text message to someone to let
them know the person needs assistance.
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