1. Stuff.co.nz – Drugs ruined my relationships, Downey says. “Robert Downey Jr admits his drug addiction ruined his relationship with Sarah Jessica Parker. The actor started dating the Sex and the City star in 1984 after meeting on the set of movie Firstborn but split in 1991 because of Downey’s self-centred, wild lifestyle.”

2. The Times (South Africa) – The big problem – drugs and alcohol. “I started needing alcohol in the morning to function. Generally, people don’t have a clear concept of what the treatment for drug addiction is … they come either with no expectations or with various expectations,” said Dan Wolf, psychologist and managing director of The Gap and First Step, two drug rehabilitation centres in Johannesburg.
“People stumble into the culture of recovery as an opportunity to address the chaos in their lives.”

3. The Daily Star (Lebanon) – Doctors, lawyers join forces to fight drug addiction. “In an attempt to change the treatment and perception of people who are addicted to drugs in Lebanon, the Lebanese Addiction Center “Skoun” and the Tripoli Bar Association on Tuesday launched a project for the “Greater Respect for Drug Addicts’ Rights.” The initiative aims to promote dialogue and cooperation among judges, police, investigators, and medical workers when dealing with drug addicts.”

4. Etalaat (India) – `Broken social ties, media hoax lead to drug addiction’. “Dwindling social ties, decrease in community based activities and lack of proper knowledge is pushing valley youth into drug addiction, says a de-addiction expert, Dr Majid.
Dr Majid who has an experience of several years in de-addiction said: ” During these years of dealing with drug and chemical addicts, I have found that peer group pressure and foolish curiosity are main causes of youth falling into the drug trap.”

5. The Times of India – Drug abuse lands cops in deadly mess. “Rampant drug abuse and unsafe sex is pricking hard the Punjab Police, jeopardizing the lives of as many as 178 police personnel in the district of Tarn Taran alone. What has only compounded their case is the indifferent attitude of government, which is yet to wake up to the ticking bomb within its ranks.”

6. Goal.com (Switzerland) – Pele: Drug-Cheat Maradona Should Have Medals Stripped. “A favourite debate among football fans has always been who was greater out of Pele and Maradona. This topic has had extra spice due to the fact that the pair do not get on, and indeed have been at loggerheads for many years. Both have attacked each other in the press in the past, with Pele often criticising Maradona on moral grounds, while the Argentine has hit out at the Brazilian for being part of FIFA’s “political” family.”

7. IPP Media (Tanzania) – Drug abuse: Parents should closely follow up children`s movements. “Last week I was at a bus stop waiting for a commuter bus to take me to work when I noticed a 23-year-old youth behaving rather strangely. He was walking forward and back as if he was in a parade. He was untidy and carried all features of a mental case. I didn`t notice his problem until he went to a nearby garbage heap, picked a piece of an orange refuse and started eating it.”

8. The Retriever Weekly (USA) – The latest marijuana propaganda campaign. “Flipping through the channels, a man in a pith helmet and a white mustache flashes onto the screen, asking you to join him in his hunt for the “mature stoner.” It is yet another anti-drug commercial in the government-sponsored ad campaign “Above the Influence.” Filled with propaganda and falsified information, the series of four commercials chronicles the adventures of “Dr. Puck” and his assistant, Baldric. They watch “stoners” in their natural habitat: relaxing, going to school, and even driving. This series of ads perpetuates many of the myths associated with marijuana use.”

9. Minneapolis Star Tribune (USA) – ocaine in Spain: Party perennial and rehab regular. “Around dawn on a Sunday, packs of young people are huddled at stoplights or ambling down Paseo del Prado. Despite the hour, the day isn’t just beginning for them. Like thousands of young Spaniards, they are ending a long night of hard-core partying that probably included the unbridled snorting of cocaine.”

1. Sydney Morning Herald – Nurofen script-only plan. “Popular painkillers containing codeine could be reclassified prescription-only to stop abuse of the powerful over-the-counter drugs.
A government committee has flagged the possibility of classifying the codeine combination medicines such as Nurofen Plus, a schedule 8, a restricted category for drugs at high risk of being abused.”

2. The News International (Pakistan) – 628,000 drug abusers in Pakistan, says report. “here are more or less 628,000 opioid users (heroin, morphine, opium, codine, pentazocine, buprenorphine etc) in the country, National Drug Abuse Assessment 2006/07 report revealed. The report is prepared by the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Narcotics Control and Anti Narcotics Force (ANF). Drug Abuse has become global phenomena, affecting the very fabric of the socio-economic structure of the families and country.”

3. The Student Operated Press (USA) – When Drug Abuse Starts at Home — Painkiller Addiction. “After several years of battling back pain and undergoing regular surgeries, John Simons became addicted to painkillers. After a two-week stay in the hospital where he was prescribed the powerful painkiller OxyContin, Simons continued to use the drug against his doctors’ orders, secretly obtaining a steady supply.”

4. etala’at (India) – KU campus safe haven for drug addicts, says survey. “Given the vastness and hugeness of its campus, University of Kashmir has turned to be a safe haven for the drug addicts and more so for the female drug addicts, according to a survey carried out by HNSS, De-addiction and Rehabilitation Centre, Khanyar here.
Talking to etala’at, Dr Ghulam Nabi Wani, founder HNSS said that the girls receiving their education at the university hide themselves behind the bushes and shrubs and take drugs being supplied to them.”

5. Kyiv Post (Ukraine) – Cheap drug addiction rising. “Addiction to a cheap, widely available prescription pain killer is on the rise, and the government has no plan to stop it, experts said. Teenagers and young adults are the primary users of a prescription drug called Tramadol, an opiate analgesic considered to be 10 percent as potent as morphine, and is used to treat mild to severe pain. Ukraine produces 90 million packages of Tramadol annually, said Vitaliy Kravchenko, a former officer at the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), with 20 five centigram capsules per package costing a few US dollars.”

6. Fox News (USA) – ‘Faces of Meth’ Uses Portraits of Addiction to Warn Against Drug Use. “With just a click of a mouse, the image of a healthy, shiny face transforms into a skeletal portrait — a toothless grin surrounded by scabbed skin and a gray complexion. This is FacesofMeth.us, a Web site that shows the brutal effects of what methamphetamine does to people. Its goal is simple: Use real life images to educate kids about the dangers of methamphetamine.”

7. Science Daily – Methamphetamine Addiction Mechanism Discovered, Explains Why Cravings Last So Long. “Repeatedly stimulating the mouse brain with methamphetamine depresses important areas of the brain, and those changes can only be undone by re-introducing the drug, according to research at the University of Washington and other institutions. The study, which appears in the April 10 issue of the journal Neuron, provides one of the most in-depth views of the mechanisms of methamphetamine addiction, and suggests that withdrawal from the drug may not undo the changes the stimulant can cause in the brain.”

8. AllAfrica.com – Tanzania: Slowly, a More Enlightened Approach to Drug Addiction. “If the first step to overcoming drug addiction is admitting you have a problem, then Tanzania may be on the road to recovery. Medical officials in this East African country say the government has in the past been reluctant to accept substance dependence as a serious health problem, seeing it rather as a matter of law and order.”

9. The Washington Post – Afghans Battle Drug Addiction. “The first days were so painful that Mina Gul could barely sit upright. Thin and lanky with wide brown eyes, she rubbed the back of her neck ceaselessly with fingers stained reddish black by an opium pipe. She couldn’t shake the nausea. The light was almost blinding in the clean, white-walled medical clinic, where she lay crumpled in bed for days.”

10. Science Daily – Doctor’s Offices Can Help Stem Abuse Of Oxycontin, Other Narcotic Painkillers. “Every day, thousands of doctors around the United States walk a tightrope stretched between their duty to help patients in pain — and the risk of abetting illegal and life-destroying drug addiction and dependence, and losing their medical license for doing so. They walk this tightrope every time a patient asks for a prescription for a powerful opioid narcotic painkiller, such as Oxycontin or Vicodin. These drugs have eased the pain of millions, but have also become lucrative street drugs that are used by millions of people not for pain control, but to get high.”

10.

1. AllAfrica.com – Rwanda: Controlling Drug Abuse in Country. “Many sources including the media, police reports, etc, have revealed that drug and alcohol abuse have affected every area of society in Rwanda. The levels are of course still very low compared to other countries in the region. An addiction is a compulsion to use a substance or persist with certain behaviour in order to feel good or to avoid feeling bad. It can dominate your mind, and keep you coming back for more, while some habits can also create a constant craving in your body. An addiction is different for everyone, depending on your vice and the kind of person you are.”

2. The York Press – Pub defends toilet cameras as a means of tackling drug use. “It is believed to be the first pub in York to introduce CCTV inside its toilet cubicles to combat drug use, but the decision has provoked privacy concerns. The Rose & Crown, in Lawrence Street, installed cameras inside the cubicles in the ladies’ toilets about a month ago following problems with women – and men – using surfaces in the stalls to prepare lines of cocaine to snort.”

3. TechRepublic – Are IT pros prone to drug abuse? “Because of several items I’ve seen in the news lately, I’m starting to develop a complex for IT pros the world over. Last week, I talked about the connection between Asperger’s Syndrome and IT pros. Now there’s a piece in Computerworld by blogger Don Tennant that asks, “How rampant is substance abuse among IT pros?”

4. The Daily Californian – Study Finds Drug Culture Has Grown in Rap. “Although many modern listeners may not realize it, rap has not always promoted drug use as much as it currently does, according to a new campus study.
The study, led by Denise Herd, associate dean for student affairs at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, found that drug references in rap music have multiplied six-fold and have increasingly glamorized drug culture since 1979, when Herd said rap music first gained popularity.”

5. The Scotsman – Laid-back approach is best for cannabis. “ALMOST as if it was imitating the effects of the drug itself, the debate surrounding the reclassification of cannabis has become increasingly hazy of late. The Government’s drug advisory body is expected to recommend it keeps its current class C status, ranking it alongside painkillers and stress medication, rather than return it to class B with the likes of amphetamines. That would once again require police to arrest anyone found in possession of the drug rather than simply caution them. Gordon Brown, though, wants to upgrade it – a move he believes would send out a clear message that smoking dope is damaging to health and socially unacceptable.”

6. ABC News (Australia) – Drug use among construction workers rising: union. “Long hours and big paypackets have been blamed for an increase in methamphetamine use amongst construction workers in Western Australia. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) estimates the number of union representatives called out to work sites to deal with young drug-affected workers has doubled in the last year.”

7. Globe and Mail (Canada) – A tip to get that monkey off your back. “Monkeys with a low social standing are more likely to use cocaine when they are stressed than high-status animals, a study has found. The results, reported at a conference yesterday in San Diego, offer clues to the social context of drug use and addiction in humans, said Michael Nader, a professor in the department of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina.”

8. The Australian – Ritalin ‘not linked to later drug use’. “USING stimulants like Ritalin to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, particularly younger ones, does not seem to boost the risk of later substance abuse, researchers said today. There has been a debate over whether such medications are the best way to treat ADHD, a condition marked by inattention, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour that appears more often in boys than girls.”

9. The Independent – Like Viagra for your brain. “Do you face a mid-afternoon lull that even a double espresso cannot break? Is jet lag the bane of your life, or does that pile of revision seem insurmountable? Or perhaps you’re just fed up yawning your way out of the pub at 9.30pm. Whether modern life leaves you struggling to keep up or just totally exhausted, the answer could be as simple as popping a pill.”

10. Stars and Stripes – Official: Air Force drug testing seems to deter use. “A few years ago, Senior Airman Heather Brewster’s recreational use of painkillers would have gone undetected by the Air Force’s random drug testing program.

Brewster, who formerly worked at a regional drug testing site at RAF Upwood in England, was convicted last week of illegally using the prescription drug oxycodone, falsifying documents and dereliction of her duties in the Air Force’s drug testing program.”

1. IRIN – AFGHANISTAN: Tackling rising drug addiction in Parwan Province. “Sitting on his bed in a room with four others at a drug rehabilitation centre in Charikar, capital of Parwan Province, northern Afghanistan, 18-year-old Kharun tells how he got addicted to drugs”.

2. Punjab Newsline (India) – Amritsar is the main hub for drug smuggling in Punjab. “Punjab and Haryana High court Justice and Chairman Punjab Legal Services Authority Mehtab Singh Gill Sunday expressed deep concern over the drug addiction among the youth and described Punjab as main hub of drug smuggling.”

3. Huliq.com – A Heroin Economy Of Tajikistan: Luscious Smell Of The Heroin Money. “About 30 % of production and smuggling of drugs in the territory of Central Asia and Russia consists of narcotics of Tajikistan origin. If an annual turnover of the Afghani heroin in 2006 made 4.5-5 billion US dollar, the volume of the narcotic market in Tajikistan has reached around $1.5 billion. Today it has already made equal 60-70 % of the volume of Gross National Product of Tajikistan.”

4. Los Angeles Times – Farm life raises addicts’ hopes. “ust before dawn, shoveling cow manure in the milking barn, Ryan Medlin feels a world away from his wild life back in San Francisco. For the onetime homeless addict, that’s a good thing. Last fall, Medlin was living out of his car, blowing his entire six-figure salary as a software engineer on crack and bourbon binges. At 33, he was so gaunt he was nearly skeletal. He walked slouched over, the nights scrunched up in his Suzuki hatchback playing havoc with the nerves in his right leg.”

5. Granma (Cuba) – Successful use of natural medicine for drug addicts. “Health experts at the El Quinqué International Clinic in this eastern Cuban city are using, with notable results, the techniques of natural and traditional medicine in patients being treated for drug addiction. The use of these procedures made it possible last year to reduce by more than 3,500 the quantity of pharmaceuticals utilized in the detoxification process, close to 80% less that what was previously used.”

6. Daily Press (USA) – Combat trauma can fuel addictions, experts say. “Combat trauma and addiction to drugs or alcohol go hand and hand and must be treated together, an addiction specialist from Nevada told a group of Virginia counselors gathered in Williamsburg. Self-medicating or numbing the stress that follows a traumatic event is especially prevalent in combat veterans who don’t reach out for mental health help because of the stigma or out of fear that admitting a problem will hurt their career, said Larry Ashley, a veteran of the Vietnam War.”

7. The Vancouver Sun (Canada) – Drug rehab centre at a crossroad. “t’s not clear exactly when Jeremy Ward hit bottom. It could have been last October when the 20-year-old cocaine addict crammed a handful of pills down his throat, hoping the massive combination of anti-psychotics and Valium would ease the pain of being dumped. Or, it might have been after getting out of hospital after the overdose, as he knelt on the corner of Granville and Helmcken begging his pregnant, crack-addicted girlfriend to take him back.”

8. AllAfrica.com – Nigeria: Why Banditry Thrives, By Expert. “Drug abuse is becoming a pervasive problem and is directly responsible for the increase in robbery, violence and youth restiveness being experienced today in Nigeria, President of Association of Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, (AISSON) Dr. Ona Ekhomu has said. Drug abuse, according to him, is also responsible for a large percentage of the mass casualty accidents involving commuter vehicles on our roads in recent times. Speaking at a security seminar for intending Certified Protection Officers in Lagos recently, Ekhomu indicated that drug abuse decreases productivity, increases work place accident and safety incidents and also results in greater absenteeism. “Drug abuse leads to an increase in workmen compensation costs and greater healthcare cost for companies. In fact, it is a loss-loss situation for the firm” he said.”

9. International Herald Tribune (France) – Man who sold Nixon White House on youth drug study has new public enemy. “President Richard Nixon may not have dented the nation’s drug epidemic when he named Elvis Presley a “federal agent at large” in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in 1970. But a $120 million (€77 million) research program born in the Nixon administration continues to shape America’s drug policies. And it all started with a 33-year-old psychology graduate student’s bold plan to poll thousands of teens nationwide each year about their drug habits and beliefs at a time when reefer madness had them in its grip.”

10. Sydney Morning Herald – Zero tolerance for drug-friendly baby boomers. “WHEN the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) released a report last week condemning the idea of drug tests in schools, ABC 702 host Deb Cameron told a little anecdote. Walking down the street, she had once passed a boy of about 16 in school uniform hiding under some stairs smoking a bong. She asked him: “Does your mother know you’re not at school?” He responded that he had a late start.”

1. The Malay Mail (Malaysia) – Use sports to combat drugs . “Sports should be recognised as an agent of positive change in the fight against drugs as they develop healthy bodies and minds to combat dadah.”

2. Vanguard (Nigeria) – Expert blames robbery and youth restiveness on drug abuse. “DRUG abuse is becoming a pervasive problem and is directly responsible for the increase in robbery, violence and youth restiveness being experienced today in Nigeria, the President of Association of Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, (AISSON) Dr. Ona Ekhomu, has said.”

3. CBS News (USA) – Kids Flaunt Cough-Syrup Abuse Online. “It’s legal, easy to get and probably in your home right now. But kids are getting high off of it – and plenty of videos online show that. On YouTube, video after video shows kids flaunting their highs, CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports. Kids saying: “My brain is like whoo,” “I’m like flying right now,” and “I’m tripping so hard,” are all on the same drug: DXM. DXM is dextromethorphan, the cough-suppressant found in more than 100 over-the-counter cough medicines.”

4. News.com.au – Drug use rife in Australian workforce. “ONE in eight Australians are testing positive to drugs at work – a rate that has more than doubled over the past decade. More than 5 per cent of employees are also abusing illicit drugs in high-risk jobs, according to new statistics obtained by The Daily Telegraph.”

5. MTV.com – Steve-O Writes ‘Goodbye Letter’ To Drugs, Details Past Substance Abuse In E-mail From Rehab. “Steve-O is calling it quits. On Sunday, the “Jackass” star transferred himself from Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to an undisclosed rehab facility. He has sworn off drugs and on Thursday (March 20), he wrote a “goodbye letter” to alcohol, marijuana, nitrous oxide, amphetamines, LSD, ketamine and cocaine, just one week before his arraignment for a charge of cocaine possession.”

6. Science Daily – Many Moms Use Cigarettes, Marijuana, Alcohol During Pregnancy; Dads Don’t Help, Study Suggests. “Despite public health campaigns, a surprising number of women continue to use substances such as tobacco, marijuana and alcohol during pregnancy and their usage rebounds to pre-pregnancy levels within two years of having a baby, according to a new University of Washington study.”

7. Miami Herald – Lifelines on the line. “Proposed cuts threaten Fla. drug treatment programs. A year ago, Esther Guzman wanted her crack pipe more than her kids. In her heart, she hoped to come clean for her children’s sake, but her cocaine addiction lured her to the rock.”

8. AlterNet – Overdose Death Rate Surges, Legal Drugs Are Mostly to Blame. “Oxycontin, Lorcet, and other pain control drugs are the leading cause of the tens of thousands of annual drug overdoses — why the silence? According to a little noticed January report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), drug overdoses killed more than 33,000 people in 2005, the last year for which firm data are available. That makes drug overdose the second leading cause of accidental death, behind only motor vehicle accidents (43,667) and ahead of firearms deaths (30,694).”

9. Daily Egyptian Suide – Suicide and substance abuse policies mimic each other “A new policy allowing students to receive help for substance abuse problems stemmed from a similar policy for potentially suicidal students, a health representative said.”

10. Joy Online (Ghana) – Use of cocaine as aphrodisiac on the increase. “An increasing number of Ghanaians are now using hard drugs as aphrodisiacs, a narcotic expert, Dr J. B. Asare, has said. He said some Ghanaians, particularly the youth, even resort to the use of cocaine as aphrodisiac to enhance their sexual performance and ability to socialise.”

This week you’ll see that a recently released report by the United Nations has been picked up extensively by the mainstream media:

1. ABC News (Australia) – Qld Australia’s speed capital: UN drugs report. “A report from the International Narcotics Control Board has found Queensland is the main supplier of amphetamines to the rest of Australia.”

2. CNN – U.N. blasts celebrity drug abuse. “Cocaine-abusing celebrities are glamorizing the use of narcotics and encouraging more young people to use illegal substances, the United Nations drug control agency has warned. Model Kate Moss faced allegations of cocaine use in 2005 but was never charged for over the claims. The annual report from the International Narcotics Control Board warns that treating stars “leniently” by allowing them to get away with drug crimes undermines faith in the criminal justice system and has a damaging effect on adolescents.”

3. The Washington Post – Deficit in Brain Function Puts Teens at Risk of Drug Abuse. “Teens at risk of developing a substance abuse disorder have deficits in frontal brain activation, a U.S. study concludes. The researchers used functional MRI to study brain activity in 25 participants, ages 12 to 19, as they did an eye movement test. The scientists found a link between increased risk for a substance abuse disorder and shortfalls in executive cognitive function (ECF).”

4. Science Daily – Non-medical Use Of Prescription Medications Associated With Drug Abuse Among College Students. “College students who take frequently abused medications without a prescription appear to have a higher risk for drug abuse than those who use such therapies for medical reasons, according to a new report.”

5. ABC Radio (Australia) – Booze bans push up NT community drug use. “The Commonwealth intervention in remote Northern Territory communities is having some disturbing side effects. A medical report out today says alcohol bans and restrictions are fuelling the use of illegal drugs. Researchers say that marijuana use in one Arnhem Land community has jumped since the intervention began, and alcohol supplies dried up.”

6. All Africa – Ghana: More Laws Needed to Tackle Drug Abuse. “The Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, has called on Parliament and other stakeholders to pass more stringent laws to curb the drug menace in the country. According to him most of the laws on drugs in the country mainly deal with hard drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and heroine even though there are equally dangerous substances being used by people in the country.”

7. U.S. News – Ritalin and the Risk of Substance Abuse. “A new report in this month’s American Journal of Psychiatry adds to the ongoing debate about the risks and rewards of using stimulant drugs like Ritalin and Adderall to treat kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Previous research has suggested that the stimulant medications offer a protective effect against drug abuse during adolescence.”

8. Sunshine Coast Daily – Bikie gangs behind our drug trade. “Outlaw motorcycle gangs are choosing to set up camp on the Sunshine Coast with the specific intention of manufacturing and distributing drugs. The information from Coast police comes on the same day as a new UN report naming Queensland as the drug capital of Australia.”

9. San Francisco Chronicle – Addiction – a father-son story. “One of the unsettling themes in David Sheff’s memoir, “Beautiful Boy,” a wrenching tale about his son’s drug addiction, is that even though Sheff was among what he calls the “first wave” of self-conscious parents who were hip enough to forge honest relationships with their kids, he was woefully unprepared for the vagaries of methamphetamine.”

10. WMUR New Hampshire – Is Ritalin A Gateway Drug?. “Children who use stimulants such as Ritalin to treat attention-deficit hypeactivity disorder are no more likely than others to abuse drugs or alcohol later, a new study found. The study from Massachusetts General Hospital followed more than 100 men for 10 years after they were diagnosed with ADHD.”

11. Vladisvostok News – Drug addiction on decline, officials report. “Since 2003, the number of drug users registered in Primorye has declined by 19 percent, the head of Primorye’s Department of Federal Drug Control Service Alexander Rolik revealed at a press conference on Tuesday. Reporting the Department’s activities for the past five years, Rolik boasted that over 250 drug use locations have been eliminated and some 1,500 hot spots for drug sales have been detected in the region. Narcotics police have prevented the activity of 93 organized criminal groups and eliminated over 200 regional and international routes of trafficking drugs and psychoactive substances.”

12. News Locale (India) – Harry Potter May Induce Drug Addiction Symptoms. “All you Harry Potter fans out there, take note. Reading about your favorite boy wizard’s exploits may induce drug addiction symptoms like depression, loss of appetite and sleeplessness, a new study has suggested. Researchers at the Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania surveyed 4,000 Potter fans for this study and found at least 10 percent of them to be hampered by symptoms akin to drug addiction. Some of these symptoms included sleeplessness and loss of appetite.”