Recently, a new risk was discovered to be associated with the use of bath salts. Russell R. Russo, MD, discovered that necrotizing fasciitis, a life-threatening condition, can be caused by the injection of bath salts into the muscle. Dr. Russo is an Orthopedic Surgeon in his third year of residency at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine.

The study’s findings appear in the January issue of the journal Orthopedics and can also be viewed online. The research documents the first discovered case of necrotizing fasciitis resulting from an injection of bath salts.

Necrotizing fasciitis is an orthopedic disease requiring immediate diagnosis and treatment to prevent a patient from the loss of a limb or even death. Complicating diagnosis, however, is the common mistake of identifying the disease as a much less critical ailment, such as an abscess or cellulitis. Meanwhile, the disease causes significant damage beneath the skin.

Dr. Russo notes in the study the importance of medical centers understanding the various problems resulting from bath salts as they increase in popularity as a street drug. Not only do doctors need to be aware of the risks involved with these drugs but how to recognize the addiction risk they pose.

In the case documented by Dr. Russo a 34-year-old woman was treated for pain in her arm after attending a party. Additional symptoms were not reported by the patient, but the healthcare staff noted that there was a small puncture on her arm. Treated with antibiotics, the patient experienced an improvement in symptoms. When the pain continued, however, an ultrasound was ordered and the case of necrotizing fasciitis was discovered after the patient admitted to the use of bath salts.

The patient was immediately taken to surgery, where surgeons struggled to contain the infection, watching her healthy tissue die as they operated. Challenged to develop a healthy margin of tissue, the surgeons eventually removed the arm, collarbone and shoulder of the patient, in addition to a radical mastectomy.

Fortunately the patient survived and her treatment included skin grafting as well as rehabilitation.

The disease observed in this patient is one usually resulting from farm injury or a crush trauma, but the doctors involved with this case warn that healthcare providers should be prepared to investigate further when examining a celluitis patient who reports needle use.

New Danger Associated with Bath Salts is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

These drugs are mephedrone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone and methylone. When combined, they go by the street name of “bath salts” or “plant food.” They are also sold under the monikers Ivory Wave, Purple Wave, Vanilla Sky and Bliss.

However they are named, the DEA believes them to be a real threat to the nation’s public safety. Until the DEA put the ban on the sale of these substances, they were widely available in convenience stores, gas stations, cigarette shops and online. While some states (LA, FL and NJ) had attempted to ban the substances, they were unable to regulate online sales. Enter the DEA whose one-year ban on the chemicals makes it illegal to traffic them in any place and through any venue.

Effects of Bath Salts

Those who use “bath salts” and “plant food” take it almost any way they can: snorting, ingesting, smoking or injecting the chemical blend. Users say they experience a tremendous sense of euphoria along with enhanced sensory perception comparable to LSD, cocaine or ecstasy.

Users are also discovering that just like the drugs they resemble, these chemicals have a dark side, too. Emergency rooms and poison control centers across the country are reporting instances of significant paranoia, episodic violence, impaired motor function and altered perception connected to use of the drugs. Rapid heart beat (known as tachycardia), insomnia, tinnitus (ringing within the ear), chest pain and hypertension have also been reported as side effects of the drugs. Since the compounds are relatively new, the long-term psychological or physical side effects remain unknown.

Classification as Schedule 1 Drugs

That, of course, is exactly why the DEA has classified these chemicals as Schedule 1 for at least the next year. Drugs which fall under the DEA Schedule 1 classification pose a great risk for abuse/addiction and have no current medical use.

Over the coming year, DEA officials plan to conduct further investigation into the threat these substances may represent. DEA spokesmen say the ban (which prohibits possession or trafficking of the substances) highlights their strong commitment to maintaining safety on America’s streets.

The preponderance of drug abuse among younger and younger Americans is a matter of deep concern. Drugs similar to mephedrone, methylone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone have ripped families apart and been the ruin of neighborhoods and communities across the nation.

Synthetic Stimulants to Be Banned is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

This results in needless tragedy. Let’s consider the facts.

According to information from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), more than 38,000 people died of drug-induced causes in 2007, the latest year for which data are available. In 1999, there were 19,128 drug-induced deaths, or 6.8 deaths per 100,000 population. In 2007, it grew to 12.6 per 100,000. This only comprehends deaths due to drugs, such as accidental poisoning or overdoses, and not as result of deaths indirectly caused by drugs, such as homicides, accidents, AIDS or other causes.

In the U.S., there is a drug-induced death every 15 minutes, four per hour, 96 per day, and an average of 2,920 per month. That’s an incredible waste of lives.

As for drugged driving, the statistics are similarly alarming. The ONDCP cites results from a 2009 self-report survey included in the 2009 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Survey (NSDUH) findings that approximately 10.5 million Americans reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug during the past year. Also in 2009, stats reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed that one in three drivers killed in motor vehicle crashes (who were tested for drugs and the results known) tested positive for at least one medication or illicit drug. One in 10 high school seniors in 2008 reported in the two weeks prior to their interview that they had driven a vehicle after smoking marijuana. That’s from the 2008 Monitoring the Future Study conducted by the University of Michigan.

Where the Drugs Come From

Mexico is the principal transit country for the cocaine entering the United States from South America. It is estimated that 70 percent of the cocaine shipments bound for the U.S. pass through Mexico’s borders. In addition, Mexico is also the leading foreign source of marijuana consumed in this country, and, together with Columbia, is one of the principal heroin sources. Mexico is also a major production and transit point for methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs.

Marijuana

Marijuana, also known as pot, is the most commonly used illegal drug in the United States. There is much debate over the increased levels of marijuana potency in more recent years. Some pro-marijuana advocates state that federal reports of increasing potency are overblown and/or complete fabrications. Due to disparities in additives and source of origin, there is no definitive way to determine potency or concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. Marijuana laced with PCP and other potent chemicals is extremely dangerous.

Over the past few years, synthetic marijuana, also called Spice, Blaze, Red Dawn and K2, has become increasingly popular among teens. It is available over the Internet and is sold in retail shops labeled as incense to mask the true intent. These smokable herbal blends provide a marijuana-like high. They consist of plant material that has been coated with research chemicals that mimic THC.

Late in 2010, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), under its emergency scheduling authority, began the process of classifying the five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana as controlled substances.

This follows numerous reports since 2009 of serious adverse events and hospitalizations among people using synthetic marijuana. For at least the next year, while the DEA studies and classifies the five chemicals, it is now illegal to possess or sell these chemicals.

Data from the 2009 NSDUH released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) show that there is a sharp increase in marijuana use among teens and they are beginning use at younger ages. There were 2.9 million new past-year users of marijuana in 2009, and their average age of initiation (first-time use of the drug) dropped from 17.8 to 17.0 years (2008 to 2009). There was also a nine percent increase (to 7.3 percent from 6.9 percent) of current marijuana users age 12 t 17 from 2008 to 2009.

Looking at dependence and addiction statistics, marijuana tops the list of illicit drugs with the highest rate of past year dependence in 2009. Of 7.1 million persons aged 12 or older classified with dependence on or abuse of illicit drugs in 2009, 4.3 million were dependent upon or abused marijuana or hashish.

With marijuana use so widespread, the risks of higher potency THC cannot be minimized. Marijuana use is associated with dependence, cognitive impairment, poor motor performance, respiratory and mental illness, among other potentially negative effects. Although chronic use of drugs can lead to addiction at any age, research shows that the earlier a person begins drug use, the more likely they are to move on to more serious abuse and addiction. This can happen even later in life, long after drug use has been discontinued, and reflects the long-lasting harmful effects of early initiation of drug use. Teen use of drugs, such as potent marijuana, is particularly dangerous because research shows teen brains are still maturing into their 20s.

Heroin

Heroin is a highly addictive drug and is the most widely used and rapidly acting of the opiates (painkillers). Heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance that is extracted from the seed pod of certain types of poppy plants.

Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste and is rarely sold on the streets. Most of the heroin sold on the street is a powder ranging in color from white to dark brown. What accounts for the color differences is what’s left behind in the form of impurities or chemical or other additives. There is another form of heroin, “black tar” heroin, which is primarily available in the western and southwest parts of the U.S. Black tar heroin comes from Mexico. The reason it is called black tar is that its consistency may be like that of black tar, sticky like roofing tar and hard like coal. Black tar heroin, widely available, is much higher in potency and concentration, and that, coupled with the fact that it is less expensive than illegally-obtained prescription opiates and therefore more attractive to buy, makes it much more dangerous for users due to the potential for overdose.

Heroin may be injected, smoked, or snorted. Injection is the most efficient way to administer low-purity heroin. What’s happened recently, however, is that the availability of high-purity heroin – and the fear of HIV/AIDS infection due to needle sharing – has made smoking and snorting the drug more common. No matter which route of administering heroin is used, however, the fact remains that all forms are highly addictive.

The 2009 NSDUH data shows an increase in the number of heroin initiates, with 180,000 persons age 12 or older who had used heroin for the first time within the past 12 months, compared with the average annual number of 100,000 first-time heroin initiates in the 2002 to 2008 period. Of the 7.1 million persons aged 12 or older classified with dependence on or abuse of illicit drugs in 2009, 399,000 were dependent on or abused heroin (up from 213,000 in 2007).

Cocaine and Crack Cocaine

Cocaine is the most potent stimulant of natural origin. It can be snorted, smoked, or injected. When it is snorted, it is inhaled through the nose where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal passages. Injection delivers the drug directly into the bloodstream. Smoking involves inhaling the smoke or cocaine vapor directly into the lungs, with the effect of getting into the bloodstream as rapidly as by injection.

Crack cocaine is cocaine base that has not been acid neutralized to make hydrochloride salt. Crack cocaine comes in a rock crystal that is heated to produce vapors which are then smoked.

Price and purity studies have shown that as prices of cocaine decline, purity levels increase. In 2001, the purity of powder cocaine ranged from 55 to 65 percent pure. In 2009, it ranged from a low of 55 percent to a high of 75 percent. The price in 2007 was down to $125 per gram from $145 in 2001.

With crack cocaine, the purity level was highest with lowest quantities (below 1 gram) and lowest with the highest quantities (above 15 grams). In the past five years, adjusted prices for crack cocaine shifted downward from about $180 to $170 per gram, while retail purity remained approximately constant in the 75 to 80 percent pure range.

In 2009, according to data from the 2009 NSDUH, there were 617,000 persons age 12 or older who had used cocaine for the first time within the past 12 months. This averages approximately 1,700 initiates per day. The number of cocaine initiates is a decline from the 1.0 million in 2002. Crack cocaine initiates saw a similar decline in the 2002 to 2009 period, from 337,000 to 94,000.

Of the 7.1 million persons aged 12 or older classified with dependence on or abuse of illicit drugs in 2009, 1.1 million were classified with dependence on or abuse of cocaine.

Prevention Efforts on the Southwest Border

The Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) is one of the most diverse of the HIDTA areas that is overseen by the ONDCP. The vast area covers about 2,000 miles of international border between Mexico and the United States, and stretches from San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas. This area is critical to combating the drug threats arriving in the U.S. including Mexican-produced methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin produced in South America, as well as other dangerous drugs such as marijuana and precursor chemicals used to produce meth.

There are five regions in the Southwest Border HIDTA: Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas and South Texas. There are 45 counties, five federal judicial districts, and includes representatives from 115 federal, state and local agencies.

While each region faces unique challenges, they have adapted to meet changing needs. In Southern California, the California Border Alliance Group (CBAG), one of four California HIDTAs, supports drug intelligence, investigative and interdiction operations, and coordinates efforts to stop drug use before it starts. Through its community-based Demand Reduction program, CBAG brings together community institutions to prevent drug use. One of their projects, “Forces United,” brought together all four California HIDTA regions in 2010 and played a key role in educating the public on the dangers of methamphetamine, marijuana and prescription drugs in local communities.

The Arizona HIDTA recognizes that law enforcement alone isn’t enough to combat the proliferation and potency of street drugs. They have also developed demand reduction programs to educate the citizenry about the dangers of drug use and abuse. Their goals include reducing pharmaceutical substance abuse and related crimes, raising awareness of the prescription drug problem in the state, and partnering with DrugFreeAZ to develop an effective demand reduction program to educate parents and children about drug abuse dangers.

In New Mexico, the Investigative Support Center (ISC) is the go-to organization that works to help get things done for the state’s drug task forces and supports all New Mexico’s law enforcement agencies.

In West Texas, the drug trafficking in the region and the escalating drug and gang violence from Juarez, Mexico spilling over into El Paso, Texas has resulted in law enforcement agencies being on high alert for the past several years. Similarly, in South Texas, despite low population density in some areas, drug trafficking and related crime in the area impacts the U.S. nationally. The South Texas HIDTA utilizes a balanced counter-drug strategy that includes law enforcement action and drug education and prevention efforts.

New England HIDTA

The major threat to the six-state (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire) New England HIDTA is heroin, followed by cocaine and crack cocaine. In recent years, however, drug trends have centered on the increasing use of opioids, including diversion of prescription pharmaceuticals.

In 2009, the largest cocaine seizure in the history of New Hampshire was conducted by the North Shore HIDTA. In the operation, a multi-million dollar international drug trafficking organization (DTO) was identified and dismantled and 45 kilos of cocaine worth an estimated $4 million on the street was seized. The New England HIDTA also focuses on prevention efforts. One of the newest prevention initiatives involves working with the Essex County Massachusetts Sheriff’s Office (ESCO) in its Youth Leadership Academy. This is a program designed to involve at-risk children, aged 12 to 15, in challenging, fun, and safe activities in a drug-, tobacco-, alcohol- and gang-free environment. It also provides instruction in anger management, peer counseling, teamwork, ethics, and cooperation.

Street Drugs are No Picnic

Any involvement with illicit street drugs is a very risky endeavor. In addition to being against the law to buy, sell, use or transport them, their potency is always unreliable and could be life-threatening to certain individuals in certain circumstances. Thus, getting involved in street drug use is a zero-sum game. There’s just no point in putting yourself in such harm’s way.

The illicit drugs available on the street today could come from Mexico (very likely), South America (also a high probability), or some poppy fields in Afghanistan. But they are all potentially deadly and, if nothing else, could lead to a life-long addiction.

The Pure and Deadly: Concentrations Higher in Today’s Street Drugs is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The drug, officially called desomorphine, is related to morphine and kills most of its users within a few years. The active ingredient in crocodile is codeine, a commonly used pain medication derived from the poppy plant that is not usually independently toxic. When turned into crocodile, however, the codeine mixes with gas, turpentine, hydrochloric acid, iodine and red phosphorus (salvaged from match boxes). The liquid substance is then injected into the body by a needle. The high associated with the drug lasts about ninety minutes; it takes sixty minutes to make it. Thus, users can keep up a steady stream of cooking and injecting, without having to experience painful withdrawal.

It seems impossible to contemplate willingly injecting yourself with gasoline or paint thinner, but once crocodile gets you in its jaws, there is little escape.

Those who do manage to kick crocodile will usually be scarred for life. One long-term crocodile user who managed to recover now has a speech impediment and permanent brain damage, which has affected her coordination and motor skills. She switched to crocodile from heroin after discovering that it would be easier and vastly cheaper to make. Her low point came when she locked herself in an apartment for 2 weeks and mainlined crocodile into her femoral artery. When her flesh became gangrenous and blood poisoning developed, she was rushed to the hospital and detoxed.

Her brother and all of the other crocodile users she used to hang around with are now dead. Common causes of death include pneumonia, aneurysms, meningitis, or blood poisoning. Rotting flesh is another common cause of death and given that the skin can turn green and scaly at the injection site, it is also how the substance got its nickname. When injected, the substance is too toxic for the skin and blood vessels burst, causing the surrounding tissue to turn green and die.

Last year, up to one million Russians used crocodile. Thankfully, no other country has reported a problem with usage among citizens and it has yet to make it onto US streets. Unlike in Russia, crocodile’s main ingredient, codeine, cannot be obtained in the US without a prescription. Given the relatively unlimited availability of the crocodile’s ingredients, it is really not surprising that this drug has invaded an entire population. Russia’s president recently considered banning codeine in an effort to stop the epidemic.

In 2005, crocodile sightings were rare. Russia’s version of the FDA has reported a twenty-fold increase in the quantity of crocodile seized in the last two years. Earlier this year, over fifty million doses had already been seized. Like many cheap drugs, it has spread the fasted in the poorest and least accessible areas of the country. With winters lasting the better part of the year, and barely any employment, youth in Siberia are constantly investigating new and exciting ways to pass the time; they certainly found that in crocodile.

Those who do not die from using crocodile rarely get off without significant permanent impairment. Rotting flesh often turns gangrenous and requires amputation. In some, mandibular bones break down and disappear, leaving the user with no lower jaw.

Drug rehab in the United States is vastly different than in Russia. Here in the U.S., local and state governments often fund detox and drug rehab programs; Russia has few such government-funded facilities for its estimated two and a half million addicts. Many drug rehab facilities in Russia are run by Pentecostal orders, receiving no funding from the government. However, because of the recent publicity surrounding crocodile, Medvedev has begun discussing the need for a comprehensive rehab system.

Given that codeine is not available in the U.S. without a prescription, officials are hopeful that the crocodile epidemic will not travel here. However, other countries such as the UK, Canada and Australia should reconsider the practice of allowing codeine to be purchased without a prescription.

Krokodil is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

While the numbers of men and women who use meth are similar, there are significant differences between men and women who use methamphetamine, however. Women who use methamphetamine are more likely to have certain characteristics and life circumstances that male users of meth do not. Some of these issues that women who use methamphetamine typically have are:

• unemployment
• a live-in partner who abuses substances
• a history of physical and sexual abuse
• a history of multiple suicide attempts
• introduction to methamphetamine by an intimate partner
• motivation to use methamphetamine by the desire for weight control
• more negative medical and role functioning consequences of use than men
• more frequent use
• habitual smoking of methamphetamine rather than use by inhalation or injection
• psychiatric methamphetamine-related symptoms, issues and conditions

For women, methamphetamine use and recovery seem intricately tied to relationship issues. It is typical that a woman addicted to meth will also have a partner who is similarly addicted. This social dynamic significantly complicates recovery efforts for women. For example, women who complete treatment for methamphetamine use, and return to partners who continue to use meth, are more likely to relapse than women who do not return to such relationships after treatment. On the other hand, women who successfully complete treatment and return to partners who are also in early recovery from methamphetamine use have fewer incidents of relapse.

Further gender differences in the world of methamphetamine addiction are that women who seek treatment for meth use are more likely to remain in treatment longer and to have longer periods of abstinence after treatment than men. Women addicted to methamphetamine, however, have many psychosocial stressors that complicate treatment and recovery that men do not. Some of these include pregnancy and the risks to unborn children; children and issues of non-protection; domestic violence and financial dependency upon others, particularly their partners who are apt to also be methamphetamine users and/or involved in criminal lifestyles.

Meth and Pregnancy

There are many severe consequences for the babies of women who use meth during pregnancy. Methamphetamine use during pregnancy has been shown to result in pre-mature delivery as well as birth defects. Meth use can affect development of vital organs of the fetus such as the brain, heart, stomach and kidneys. It can also cause skeletal abnormalities. Additionally, there have been cases of babies in utero experiencing strokes and brain hemorrhages due to the mother’s methamphetamine use.

Babies who were delivered at full-term but exposed to methamphetamine may have problems similar to premature babies such as, for example, low birth weight and difficulty sucking and swallowing. Also, meth-exposed babies may have difficulty tolerating light and touch and become unusually irritable, restless and inconsolable. As children, these babies tend to have learning disabilities, problems of inattention and hyperactivity as well as behavior problems related to anger and impulsivity.

Children and Non-protective Parenting

Children of addicted parents are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, malnutrition, truancy and medical neglect. Some children are chronically exposed to toxic chemicals in their homes if parents make meth. Therefore, many women with methamphetamine addiction are involved with child welfare agencies due to abuse and neglect of their children. Children living in such conditions are removed from their parents’ care and typically return (if at all) only after a significant period of recovery has been achieved.

Domestic Violence And Meth

Methamphetamine and other stimulants of abuse and addiction are known to cause increased levels of agitation, paranoia, and aggression. Incidents of violence increase significantly with meth use. Meth-related violence in domestic settings generally involves situations in which women are victimized by their partners.

Treatment

Successful treatment of women for methamphetamine use may require helping them to extricate themselves from relationships with partners who continue to use meth, are involved in criminal lifestyles, batter their partners and have financial control over their partners. Consequently, many women will require assistance in securing shelter and financial independence if recovery is to be sustained. Additionally, women in treatment for methamphetamine use may also need support and guidance in negotiating the requirements of child protection agencies in order to plan for successful reunification with their children or to prevent further disruption of their families.

Women and Methamphetamine Use is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The Dallas News reported that 40-year-old Seeley was sentenced by State District Judge Mike Snipes to 34 years in prison for stealing the identities of literally thousands of current and former Irving school district teachers and other employees.

Working with others, Steely obtained names, Social Security numbers and other personal details of 3,200 teachers and other employees from a binder that was thrown in a school district trash bin. This information was then used to obtain credit cards, write fake checks and create fake IDs used to make thousands of dollars in purchases.

One teacher formerly with the school district stated that more than $25,000 in credit card charges were made in her name. Another teacher, Dawn Bizzell, told the court, “It’s affected my health, my family time, my energy and my trust of strangers. Those of us who are victims have been given a life sentence. We’re going to have to pay the price forever.”

The school district is now in the process of compensating the victims for their damages and is evaluating 103 cases in which people are asking for financial reimbursement. Claims include time spent repairing credit reports and stress-related health conditions.

The shopping spree was halted when Seeley was arrested at Irving Mall for attempting to make purchases at Sears with an ID bearing the name of elementary schoolteacher Shellie Pearce. When caught, she was found with information from 12 victims tied to the district.

After sentencing, Steeley apologized to the teachers and blamed her addiction to methamphetamines for her life of crime. She also made a point to mention that she did not work alone, but with a group.

Meth Addiction Prompts Identity Theft is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Agassi, 39, says he hit rock bottom in his career due to a wrist injury that year—and was having serious doubts about his upcoming marriage to actress Brooke Shields—when his assistant, “Slim,” offered him the drug, according to an excerpt in The Times of London.

“Slim is stressed, too…He says, You want to get high with me? On what? Gack. What the hell’s gack? Crystal meth,” Agassi writes in “Open: An Autobiography.” “Why do they call it gack? Because that’s the sound you make when you’re high…Make you feel like Superman, dude.”

“As if they’re coming out of someone else’s mouth, I hear these words: You know what? F— it. Yeah. Let’s get high,” he writes.

“Slim dumps a small pile of powder on the coffee table. He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again. I snort some. I ease back on the couch and consider the Rubicon I’ve just crossed.”

“There is a moment of regret, followed by vast sadness. Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I’ve never felt so alive, so hopeful—and I’ve never felt such energy,” he continues.

“I’m seized by a desperate desire to clean. I go tearing around my house, cleaning it from top to bottom. I dust the furniture. I scour the tub. I make the beds.”

Later, Agassi was told by the Association of Tennis Professionals that he failed a drug exam.

“My name, my career, everything is now on the line,” Agassi writes. “Days later I sit in a hard-backed chair, a legal pad in my lap, and write a letter to the ATP. It’s filled with lies interwoven with bits of truth.”

“I say Slim, whom I’ve since fired, is a known drug user, and that he often spikes his sodas with meth—which is true. Then I come to the central lie of the letter. I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of Slim’s spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs. I ask for understanding and leniency and hastily sign it: Sincerely,” he says.

“I feel ashamed, of course. I promise myself that this lie is the end of it.”

The ATP never pursued the matter further.

In a story on People.com, Agassi says, “I can’t speak to addiction, but a lot of people would say that if you’re using anything as an escape, you have a problem.”

Asked how he thought his fans would react if they found out he was using drugs, Agassi says: “I was worried for a moment, but not for long…I wore my heart on my sleeve and my emotions were always written on my face. I was actually excited about telling the world the whole story.”

Agassi ended up divorcing Shields and marrying fellow tennis star Steffi Graf, to whom he is still happily married.

Andre Agassi Admits Using Crystal Meth is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Science Daily recently published a piece that shared the results of this study. One notable finding of this study included the fact that it takes at least a year for former methamphetamine users to regain impulse control. For many recovering abusers, it can take an extended period of time for the brain functions critical to recovery to improve.

“Recovery from meth abuse does not happen overnight,” said Ruth Salo, lead author of the study and a UC Davis assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, in Science Daily.

“It may take a year — or even longer — for cognitive processes such as impulse control and attentional focus to improve. Treatment programs need to consider this when monitoring recovering addicts’ progress during their early periods of abstinence.”

Salo’s study analyzed cognitive control in terms of the mount of time since the last methamphetamine was used and the total amount of time spent using the drug. Those who were recently abstinent showed significantly worse performance on the Stroop test than those who had been abstinent for at least one year.

At the same time, there appeared to be no statistical difference between test results for those abstinent at least one year and the non-drug using controls. Those methamphetamine users who had been long-term users produced worse test scores, whereas long-term abstinence was connected to improved test performance.

Salo noted that more research is necessary in order to determine exactly how the brain recovers from methamphetamine addiction and if behavioral treatments can hasten recovery.

Recovery from Methamphetamine is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Primary Treatment

An individual addicted to methamphetamine has a chemical dependency that comes with a high risk of permanent brain damage and is potentially fatal. The best type of primary treatment for methamphetamine addiction, according to experts, is in an extended care residential treatment center. Primary treatment involves detoxification followed by a multi-disciplinary treatment process. A minimum of a 30-day primary treatment program is recommended, to be followed by comprehensive aftercare programs and services.

Meth Detoxification – The First Step

Before any meth treatment can begin, the individual first has to undergo detoxification from the drug. Detoxification from methamphetamine involves many physical and mental health issues, many of which relate to the drug’s biological effects on the brain. Meth withdrawal symptoms can last from 2 days to 2 weeks. Typical symptoms include anxiety, depression, drug craving, fatigue and severe cognitive impairment. Even after meth use has stopped, brain dysfunction can last for months. Other symptoms may include paranoia, hyper sexuality, irrationality, drug craving in response to conditioned cues and violence.

• Medications for Withdrawal – NIDA-funded research is working to develop medications that can help to suppress withdrawal symptoms during detoxification from methamphetamine addiction. There are currently no medications that can safely and effectively reduce life-threatening overdoses from meth, nor are there any medications that can reliably reduce episodes of paranoia and psychotic behavior.

• Medications for Treatment – Similarly, medications can be very useful to help the recovering meth addict to re-establish normal brain functions and to prevent relapse. Such medications can also help to diminish cravings that can occur throughout the treatment process.

• NIDA Meth Clinical Trials Group – NIDA has initiated the methamphetamine clinical trials group (MCTG), a network to provide new clinical research teams in areas with high meth substance problems. Current sites include Costa Mesa and San Diego, California, Honolulu, Hawaii, Des Moines, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri. These addiction pharmacotherapy groups west of the Mississippi will be working to evaluate new medications for meth disorders and to ramp up the pace of development.

Matrix Model

First developed in the 1980s as a cocaine addiction treatment program under a NIDA grant, the Matrix Model is the only methamphetamine treatment program with demonstrated effectiveness. According to several sources, the Matrix Model is the primary protocol for meth treatment at several Southern California clinics.

The Matrix Model is a method of outpatient cognitive-behavioral therapy. It is backed by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), a division of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA.

• What’s Involved – The Matrix Model involves a 4- to 6-month process that consists of 3 group or individual therapy sessions per week. Patients are coached on their addictions, how to manage cravings, avoid risky situations, and helped through their recovery. Family therapy, urine testing, and 12-step activities are also part of the model. A shorter 2-month approach is in development.

Rehabilitation for Meth Addicts

Residential drug treatment programs for methamphetamine addiction typically involve a 28- to 30-day inpatient program. The patient, with guidance from trained professionals, learns to address the spiritual, emotional and behavioral aspects of their addiction. Daily activities include self-help groups, individual counseling, group psychotherapy, experiential therapies, recreational activities, educational discussions and techniques for relaxation.

Other Aspects of Meth Treatment

Each meth addict receives personalized treatment, often involving a multi-disciplinary approach. Some of the therapies that may be utilized include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy, and rational emotive therapy – all designed to help the patient overcome their addiction.

• Outpatient Services – Designed to encourage long-term abstinence, the range of techniques includes problem-solving groups, specialized therapies (CBT, insight-oriented psychotherapy, 12-step meetings, etc.), and other approaches. The patient can remain in the program for days or months, similar to other drug rehab programs.

• Long-term Aftercare Support – Following treatment for meth addiction, a continuing long-term support program is recommended. Structured day or evening outpatient programs, referral to a sober living environment, and participation in 12-step meetings in the community and treatment alumni aftercare groups may be part of this ongoing support.

• Ongoing Monitoring – To prevent relapse and/or get the patient back on the road to recovery, ongoing monitoring is generally included.

• Family Involvement – Programs, services or referrals to help family members understand addiction and the recovery process in order to support the recovering addict are critical to the patient’s long-term success. Family members learn how to distinguish between codependency and what’s appropriate in a display of love and support. Although they vary with treatment facility, family programs can range from a week-end stay to longer.

• Contingency Management -This is a rewards-based approach in which patients are given non-monetary awards for successful achievement of specific goals. This positive reinforcement for abstinence from drugs helps augment other treatment approaches.

Search For A Vaccine

Although still in the developmental stages, researchers are working on a potential vaccine that may prove effective in methamphetamine addiction. With the heightened risk meth poses in the U.S., and with the focus of NIDA and other governmental agencies on developing effective medications, there is hope that we will one day be closer to helping curb this drug problem.

Methamphetamine Addiction Treatment is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimates that approximately 1.2 percent of the U.S. population admit to having used heroin at least one time in their lifetime.

Teens are especially susceptible to the notion that snorting or smoking heroin won’t get them hooked. According to statistics released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), there are currently 600,000 persons addicted to heroin who need treatment in the U.S.

What it is

Heroin is a highly addictive drug that is produced from morphine – which itself comes from the seedpods of the Asian poppy plant, opium. Heroin is a depressant that inhibits the body’s central nervous system.

Common street names

Heroin is known by various street names, some of which include the following: big H, brown sugar, black tar, dope, H, horse, junk, mud, ska, skag and smack.

How to identify it

In its most pure form, heroin is generally a white powder. Other forms that are not as pure have colors that range from white to brown. Heroin known as “black tar” is dark brown t0 black in color, and has a sticky, tar-like feel to it.

How it’s used

The drug can be injected directly into a user’s vein, snorted, or smoked.

Effects of the drug

Users experience a rush or feel a sense of euphoria after injecting heroin. Subsequently, they may have dry mouth, begin to nod in and out (called the “nods”), experience a heaviness and rubbery feeling in the arms and legs. Dulled emotions and diminished mental capacity also become noticeable.

Heroin’s effects last for 3 to 4 hours following consumption of the drug.

Why heroin is bad for you

Heroin has numerous negative short- and long-term effects. Short-term effects include the potential for fatal overdose and a high risk of HIV/AIDS infections.

Long-term risks include:

• Absesses

• Cellulitis

• Collapsed veins

• Infection of the lining of the heart and heart valves

• Liver disease

• Pulmonary complications – which also includes several types of pneumonia

Other risks include users who are or may become pregnant. The result of using the drug while pregnant is potentially low birth weight, which can contribute to other risks during the child’s development.

Purity of the drug is also a high risk, with numerous additives on the street that render the drug unable to dissolve and thus clogging the blood vessels leading to the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys or brain. This may result in the infection of or death of small patches of cells in the body’s vital organs.

Addicting?

The drug is highly addicting and is a serious drug threat in the U.S. Recent reports of a shift from injecting the drug to smoking or snorting – due to increased purity and the mistaken belief that these methods won’t lead to addiction – only compound the addiction potential to the user population.

After regular use, tolerance to heroin develops. As a result, the user takes more of the drug in order to achieve the same level of intensity previously available with lesser amounts. Over time, this can lead to physical addiction.

Withdrawal may be difficult and may begin in just a few hours after the last drug use. Symptoms include:

• Cold flashes, goosebumps

• Diarrhea

• Insomnia

• Jerking and kicking movements

• Muscle and bone pain

• Restlessness

• Vomiting

Symptoms peak at between 48 to 72 hours following last use. These symptoms generally subside in about a week. The risk of fatality is high among heavily dependent users who withdraw suddenly and are also in poor health.

Heroin Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment