Excessive Alcohol Use Costs $223.5 Billion Annually, CDC Reports

By Join Together Staff | August 14, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Alcohol

Excessive alcohol use costs the United States $223.5 billion annually, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Binge drinking accounts for more than 70 percent of these costs.
“It is striking to see most of the costs of excessive drinking in states and D.C. are due to binge drinking, which is reported by about 18 percent of U.S. adults,” report author Dr. Robert Brewer, alcohol program lead at CDC, said in a statement.
CBS News reports the median state cost associated with excessive alcohol use was $2.9 billion; about $2 of every $5 was paid for by the government. Alcohol-related costs totaled almost $32 billion in California, compared with $420 million in North Dakota.
The authors concluded costs due to excessive drinking largely came from losses in workplace productivity, healthcare expenses and costs resulting from criminal justice expenses, motor vehicle crashes and property damage. The report found underage drinking accounted for $24.6 billion, or 11 percent, of the total excessive drinking costs.
The findings are published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
In 2012, the CDC released a report that found 38 million American adults are binge drinkers, and most of them are ages 18 to 34. Binge drinking is defined as men who have five or more drinks in one sitting, and women who have four or more drinks at one time.
The CDC recommends a number of strategies to reduce alcohol-related costs, including increasing alcohol taxes, limiting the number of alcohol retailers in certain areas and holding retailers liable for selling alcohol to obviously intoxicated people or minors who cause death or injury to others.

WISDOM FROM THE PSALMS

August 14

Psalms 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
A woman asked God for forgiveness for a sin she had committed. He granted her pardon, but she had a tough time forgetting what she had done. She just couldn't let go of her guilt. In desperation she returned to God to ask His forgiveness once more. When she asked Him to remember what she had done, He said, "I can't remember what you're talking about. It never happened. Once sin is forgiven, it is dropped into the sea of forgetfulness, and it is no more. Go your way. No one condemns you; not even I."

It is not that God has a bad memory, but that His love is so complete and boundless that He will not retain the memory of something we ask to be forgiven for. He erases the sins from our slate, and we start fresh. As far as the east is from the west, that is how far God removes our sin from us.

Prayer: Though I don't deserve Your loving care and forgiveness, Lord, I conti nually thank You that You give it to me so freely. Help me to accept it graciously, and to know that You hold nothing against me once I ask Your pardon. Amen.

Own Your Own Copy of this Devotional <Crosswalk@crosswalkmail.com>

Drug Company Has List of MDs Who May Recklessly Prescribe Painkillers: Newspaper

By Join Together Staff | August 13, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Healthcare, Marketing And Media, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

Purdue Pharma, which makes the opioid painkiller OxyContin, has compiled a database of about 1,800 doctors it suspects may have recklessly prescribed the drug to people addicted to it, as well as to drug dealers, the Los Angeles Times reports. The company has kept most of the list private.
The company has maintained the list over the last decade, according to the newspaper. It has only alerted law enforcement officials or medical authorities about a small percentage of doctors on the list. Many of the doctors in the database have continued to write prescriptions for the drug, the article notes.
The list was discussed for the first time in public at a drug dependency conference in San Diego in June.
Robin Abrams, a Purdue attorney, said the database was created so the company’s sales representatives would steer clear of the doctors on the list. She argued policing doctors is not the company’s responsibility. “We don’t have the ability to take the prescription pad out of their hand,” she told the newspaper.
The company has told law enforcement officials or medical regulators about 154, or 8 percent, of the doctors in the database, Abrams said. She noted the company would alert authorities in some situations, such as cases in which their sales representatives witness apparent drug deals in doctors’ parking lots, or observe doctors who appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Mitchell Katz, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, says the company is obligated to report all the doctors in the database. “There is an ethical obligation,” he said. “Any drug company that has information about physicians potentially engaged in illegal prescribing or prescribing that is endangering people’s lives has a responsibility to report it.”

Prosecutors Charging Drug Dealers in Heroin Overdose Deaths

By Join Together Staff | August 12, 2013 | 1 Comment | Filed in Drugs & Legal

A growing number of law enforcement officials around the country are prosecuting drug dealers for causing heroin overdose deaths, the Associated Press reports. Prosecutors are using laws that come with stiff penalties to target drug dealers and members of the drug supply chain, and connect them and the drugs they sell to deadly overdoses.
Many people who were addicted to prescription painkillers switched to heroin after drug companies made their products more difficult to crush and snort. Heroin is also much less expensive than pills such as oxycodone.
According to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the number of people who were past-year heroin users in 2011 (620,000) was higher than the number in 2007 (373,000).
“We’re going to be ruthless,” Prosecutor Joseph Coronato of Ocean County, New Jersey, told the AP. “We’re looking for long-term prison sentences.” He and other prosecutors in New Jersey are using the state’s “strict liability for drug death” statute. The law holds dealers and producers responsible for a user’s death, and comes with a 20-year maximum sentence.
Until recently, overdoses were treated by law enforcement officials as accidents, the article notes. Now, when law enforcement hears about an overdose, detectives are immediately dispatched to the scene. Paramedics are instructed to treat overdoses as crimes, and coroners are requested to order autopsies and preserve evidence. It can be difficult to prove a death was caused only by heroin if a person also used other opioids, drugs or alcohol.
Kerry Harvey, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Kentucky, has started prosecuting people who sold prescription opioids and heroin, under a federal law banning the distribution of illegal substances. The law allows for additional penalties if a death occurs.
Officials are also using cellphones to track text messages and calls related to drug purchases.

Gaudenzia Gala, Hershey, PA

The 8th Annual Gaudenzia Gala will honor Pete Wambach, former Pennsylvania State Representative and advocate drug and alcohol legislatio.

Live and Silent Auctions, Presentation of the Community Champion Award 

Online Auction starting June 20

For more information, please contact Julie Girsch at 717-579-3636 or jgirsch@gaudenzia.org

Date(s):	November 2, 2013
Time(s):	6:00 p.m.
Location:	Hershey Lodge & Convention Center 325 University Drive Hershey, PA 17033

Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Race Festival

Support the Gaudenzia Gladiator Dragon Boat Team and Gaudenzia's Eastern Region programs at the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival.

Our team consisting of 25 friends, alumni, and staff members will race against other teams throughout the day. A total of 140 teams are participating in the event.

We are spreading awareness of Gaudenzia and of drug and alcohol awareness, treatment, and prevention.

You can support the Gladiators by making a donation in support of Gaudenzia's drug & alcohol treatment services and/or visit our tent on race day to cheer us on!

Click here for ways to support your Gaudenzia Gladiators!

Team members are raising funds to support Gaudenzia's drug & alcohol treatment services.  Support the team as a whole with a general contribution or help a team member reach his/her goal!

Date(s):	October 5, 2013
Time(s):	8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location:	Boathouse Row Philadelphia, PA Our tent is located along Kelly Drive, Philadelphia, PA past the Race Finish Line at Shuttle Bus Stop #5, Tent # 137 and 138