FINE GAEL and Labour Ministers are at odds over proposals to counter alcohol abuse which are due to come before Cabinet tomorrow.

A number of Fine Gael Ministers, including Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney, have expressed reservations about aspects of a plan on alcohol drawn up by Labour Minister of State at the Department of Health Róisín Shortall.

Consequently, Labour sources fear the proposals in Ms Shortall’s memorandum to Government may be put on the back-burner by Cabinet and deferred until autumn for consideration.

“There’s a lot of push back on this. We’re afraid they may kick to touch, just when leadership is needed on alcohol misuse,” said a Labour source last night.

Some Fine Gael Ministers, including Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald, are supportive of the proposals, as are Labour Ministers. However, some Fine Gael Ministers have argued that measures should be targeted at those who abuse alcohol rather than applying across the population. The document argues that people’s level of alcohol consumption generally is unhealthy.

They also have continuing reservations about plans to restrict drinks advertising and to curb, and eventually phase out, sponsorship by alcohol companies.

Earlier proposals to restrict arts and sports sponsorships by the drinks industry met with opposition from six Ministers but these have been since been watered down. Sponsorship was supposed to end in 2016 but Ms Shortall has agreed to extend the deadline by a number of years.

See on www.irishtimes.com

The author of a landmark study on how the recent decline in abuse of the opium-based painkiller drug OxyContin has driven up heroin addiction rates slammed the “utter failure” of the American drug war’s myopic focus on “supply-side” strategies speaking to Raw Story this week, explaining that the strategy ultimately pushes addicts to embrace ever more dangerous drugs and increasingly destructive behaviors.

“What we need to focus on in government policy is not on the supply-side, which all of our policy has been toward heroin, cocaine and prescription opiods, trying to discourage their penetration into this country,” Dr. Theodore J. Cicero, Vice Chairman for Research at Washington University’s Department of Psychiatry, explained in an exclusive interview. “The reasoning is, if we cut down on the supply then the demand will eventually dry up. But our policy in that regard has been an utter failure.”

“Our conclusion, fundamentally, is that this is sort of like the balloon analogy: if you depress one location on the balloon, the volume doesn’t change and it just pops up someplace else,” he added. “Drug abuse is much like this balloon effect. You can decrease one drug, but they’re not going to stop using. The addicts who are interested in this to get high, they’re going to switch to something else.”

See on www.rawstory.com

Harvard economist Jeff Miron argues that legalizing marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine would save $85 billion. UCLA professor, Mark A. R. Kleiman, says not so fast — but he does expect marijuana to be legalized in the not too distant future. I think Mr. Kleiman makes the better case.

A July 4 article in the New York Times mentioned that Mr. Miron, a Harvard University Economics Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies, estimated the benefits of legalizing illicit drugs at $65 billion.

In a July 8 interview, Mr. Miron told me that his estimate was $85 billion — the Times did not interview him. His calculation was based primarily on government budget reductions associated with not arresting, trying, and incarcerating people for violating the laws.

However, Mr. Miron does not consider this to be the full cost-benefit analysis. For that he would take into account other factors, such as the cost of corruption, quality control, and disruption of other countries that would be eliminated if legalization took place.

Mr. Miron, who teaches a Harvard course on Libertarianism, thinks it is worth considering how legalizing these drugs would benefit users, by eliminating the costs of having a criminal record and going to jail – the cost of which is much greater to the user than the use of the drug itself.

Mr. Miron believes that if legal, the retail prices of illicit drugs would drop. But the amount of the drop depends on the drug. He thinks marijuana’s price would drop up to 50% — this market would be changed the least by legalization since there are countries like Portugal and the Netherlands where it’s partially legal already, and in the U.S. there are states, like California, where it’s legal under specific conditions.

With cocaine, heroin, and meth, Mr. Miron believes that current prices would be slashed. Meth’s price would drop by a factor of 10, cocaine’s by a factor of four or five, and heroin would drop in price by a factor of 20.

See on www.telegram.com

Hmmmmmm:

According to this year’s United Nations World Drug Report, drug-abuse kills some 200,000 each year and creates a “heavy financial burden” internationally. In a concerted effort to counter this epidemic, in the weeks leading up to the UN Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking June 26 through the first week of July, Scientology Churches, Missions and groups around the world, working with like-minded individuals and groups, organize, sponsor and contribute to drug awareness activities to prevent drug abuse before it begins.

The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was created by the UN General Assembly in December 1987 to encourage all sectors of society to work together to tackle drug abuse and addiction. Scientologists commemorated the day by organizing and sponsoring conferences, lectures and symposia, participating in cross-country running and cycling races, meeting with elected officials and manning drug education booths and kiosks.

In Tokyo, the Church helped organize a drug education symposium where legislators networked with representatives of civil society and journalists, sharing information on effective drug prevention strategies.
Sydney Scientologists set up drug information booths on busy streets, where visitors watched the Truth About Drugs documentary, Real People—Real Stories, and took home copies of The Truth About Drugs series of drug education booklets to share with friends and families.

Russian Scientologists ran hundreds of miles in a two-week anti-drug “marathon” from Nizhny Novgorod to Kaluga, on to Ivanovo, Yaroslavl and Orel and ending in Moscow. Along the way they lectured in schools and colleges and distributed thousands of copies of the Truth About Drugs series of drug education booklets. Moscow Scientologists also distributed copies of drug education booklets and fliers in street events on June 26, the same day that St. Petersburg Scientologists participated in a local anti-drug bicycle race.
Danish Scientologists ran in an anti-drug marathon and distributed drug education booklets in Gammeltorv (Old Market), the oldest square in Copenhagen.

See on www.prweb.com

The percentage of Wisconsin residents who say they’re exposed to tobacco smoke dropped by nearly half after the state’s workplace smoking ban started two years ago, a new study says.
The law, which took effect on July 5, 2010, banned smoking in bars, restaurants, private clubs, schools, hotels, clinics and other workplaces.

Before the ban, 55 percent of residents reported being exposed to smoke outside the home and 13 percent at home. After the ban, 32 percent reported exposure to smoke outside the home and 7 percent at home.

“This state ban was an effective public policy to improve health,” said Dr. Javier Nieto, chairman of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health’s Department of Population Health Sciences.
Nieto said the reduction in exposure to secondhand smoke should reduce people’s risk of asthma, cancer and heart disease, though the obesity epidemic is increasing the risk of some cancers and heart disease.

The study was part of the medical school’s Survey of the Health of Wisconsin, an annual assessment of state residents on a range of health conditions. The findings, by a team led by UW medical student Alexis Guzman, will be published in the August issue of the Wisconsin Medical Journal.

The percentage of residents surveyed in the second half of 2010 who reported exposure to smoke was cut by nearly half compared to people surveyed from June 2008 to June 2010. Data for 2011 and this year haven’t been analyzed.

Eighty percent of the post-ban group said they had no-smoking policies in their homes, up from 74 percent in the pre-ban group.

See on chippewa.com

Methadone accounts for only 2 percent of painkiller prescriptions in the United States – but the drug is behind more than 30 percent of prescription painkiller overdose deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday.

Fatal painkiller overdoses soar in U.S., CDC says
Study: Heroin may be cheaper and more effective at treating addicts than methadone
Five signs a loved one is abusing painkillers

Methadone is commonly known for treating withdrawal symptoms from heroin addiction, but the drug is also prescribed for pain. Health officials say most of the overdose deaths are people who take it for pain – not heroin or drug addicts.

According to the CDC, methadone carries more risks than other painkillers because levels build up in the body and may interfere with a person’s normal heart rhythm or breathing.

See on www.cbsnews.com

The U.S. Army has investigated 56 soldiers in Afghanistan on suspicion of using or distributing heroin, morphine or other opiates during 2010 and 2011, newly obtained data shows. Eight soldiers died of drug overdoses during that time.
While the cases represent just a slice of possible drug use by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, they provide a somber snapshot of the illicit trade in the war zone, including young Afghans peddling heroin, soldiers dying after mixing cocktails of opiates, troops stealing from medical bags and Afghan soldiers and police dealing drugs to their U.S. comrades.
In a country awash with poppy fields that provide up to 90 percent of the world’s opium, the U.S. military struggles to keep an eye on its far-flung troops and monitor for substance abuse.
But U.S. Army officials say that while the presence of such readily available opium — the raw ingredient for heroin — is a concern, opiate abuse has not been a pervasive problem for troops in Afghanistan.

See on www.mercurynews.com

MAKE A TWO HOUR INVESTMENT IN YOUR KIDS’ WELLBEING

FREE COMMUNITY FORUM

 

Alcohol is by far the most commonly used drug among Victorian young people. Every week, it contributes to accidents, assaults and even deaths among our kids.

 

So how can you protect your own children in a world awash with alcohol?

 

Our free community forum will give parents practical, easy to use ways to talk to kids about alcohol, and plenty of ideas about how to keep them safe.

 

The forums will be presented by Geoff Munro, Australian Drug Foundation and Leigh Bartlett, Barwon Adolescent Taskforce.

 

Venue: Gladstone Park Secondary College, Performing Arts Centre

Address: Taylor Drive, Gladstone Park (Melways reference: 6 A10)

Date: Wednesday 18 April 2012

 

Time: 7pm – 9pm (tea and coffee from 6.45pm)

 

To register, visit the website: www.teendrinkinglaw.vic.gov.au