UK: Kids and Drinking

Girl aged just 13 destroys liver through binge drinking     

A girl aged only 13 knocked back so much alcohol she gave herself liver ­disease, aSunday People investigation reveals. The troubled teen suffered cirrhosis of the liver after drinking the equivalent of nearly a bottle of vodka a day. Cirrhosis is so serious that a patient may need a transplant to stay alive. Staggeringly, the girl, treated at London's King's College Hospital in 2011, was not an isolated case. She was just one of at least 13 child alcoholics treated in Britain's hospitals for liver disease due to heavy drinking in the past five years.

CONTINUED @ Mirror.co.uk  

National Conversation

Presidential candidates are talking about black tar heroin    

When aspiring presidential candidates step into the mayor's office here, he doesn't let them leave without telling them about what he calls one of the most pressing, dire issues his city faces: heroin. "Every candidate that comes in here, what I say to them is, 'It's not only an issue here in New Hampshire. It's a national issue,' " said Gatsas (R). "If we don't get our arms around it, it's going to take over our country." The nation is in the throes of an epidemic of prescription-drug and heroin abuse - a wave that's leaving its mark on the 2016 presidential campaign, too. Hillary Rodham Clinton has told supporters that drug abuse and mental health will be key issues in her Democratic presidential campaign ... New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) recently participated in a round-table discussion

CONTINUED @ WashingtonPost.com 

Mommy Dearest

Daughter of Queen of Versailles found dead of overdose at $65m mansion     

Victoria Siegel, 18, was found unresponsive at her parent's Seagull Island mansion on Green Island Cove on Saturdayafternoon. She was the second eldest of the couple's eight children and is reported to have died of a drug overdose. Her parents recently appeared on Celebrity Wife Swap and admitted they don't spend much time with their kids and leave that to their large staff. The family and their extravagant lifestyle gained international attention after the release of the 2012 documentary The Queen Of Versailles.

CONTINUED @ DailyMail.co.uk  

ABROAD: Easy Does It

Why hardly anyone dies from a drug overdose in Portugal    

Perhaps more significantly, the report notes that the use of "legal highs" - like so-called "synthetic" marijuana, "bath salts" and the like - is lower in Portugal than in any of the other countries for which reliable data exists. This makes a lot of intuitive sense : why bother with fake weed or dangerous designer drugs when you can get the real stuff? This is arguably a positive development for public health in the sense that many of the designer drugs that people develop to skirt existing drug laws have terrible and often deadly side effects.

CONTINUED @ Stuff.co.nz  

Counterfeit Drug Makers Use Call Centers for Sales - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Counterfeit Drug Makers Use Call Centers for Sales - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Abuse-Deterrent Formulations of Painkillers Aren’t Risk-Free, Experts Caution - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Abuse-Deterrent Formulations of Painkillers Aren’t Risk-Free, Experts Caution - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids