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NEWS ABOUT: drug use

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Middle-Aged Drug Users Have Sharper Minds

50-year-olds with history of toking scored higher on memory tests

(Newser) - Past or present drug use doesn't seem to damage middle-aged brains, a new study finds. British researchers studied the mental sharpness of thousands of 50-year-old subjects, and found that those who had used illicit drugs—mainly marijuana—actually performed better than others on tests of memory and other brain... More »

Legalizing Medical Marijuana Doesn't Up Kids' Pot Use

Young people use drug at same rate before, after legalization

(Newser) - Sobering news for those who argue that legalizing medical marijuana will lead to more stoner kids: Researchers reviewed the habits of some 25,000 youths in Massachusetts, where medical pot isn’t legal, and 13,000 in Rhode Island, where it became so in 2006. Studying data from 1997 to... More »

San Francisco Druggies Unionize

Drug-Users Union aims to give marginalized a political voice

(Newser) - San Francisco is a union town, so why not a union for…drug users? The San Francisco Drug-Users Union has been formed with $35,000 from the Drug Policy Alliance to give the addled a say in local government, a move that has also been taken in other big cities... More »

Pentagon Shooter a 'Brilliant' Engineering Student

John Patrick Bedell had a serious pot problem

(Newser) - John Patrick Bedell, who allegedly opened fire on the Pentagon last night before being shot and killed, was a “brilliant” engineering student with a “severe pot addiction,” according to a family friend. His mother “asked me to help,” says the former teacher. But “there... More »

Teen Pot, Booze Use Rises

Numbers are up for the first time in 10 years

(AP) - Alcohol and marijuana use among teens is on the rise, ending a decade-long decline. The number of high school students who reported drinking recently rose from 35% in 2008 to 39% last year, says an annual survey out today from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. For pot, the number... More »

Boomers Enjoy New 'Whatever' 'Tude on Pot

Older tokers find they can be open about once-taboo habit

(Newser) - Aging baby boomers are not only boosting the ranks of older pot smokers, they're enjoying a kind of neo Age of Aquarius of relaxed attitudes toward one of their favorite habits. The number of marijuana smokers in the 50-59 age group has doubled over the past decade, according to statistics.... More »

Baby Boomers Still Mad for the Reefer, Man

(AP) - Some Americans haven't let go of one part of the 1960s: getting high on illicit drugs. The percentage of Americans age 50-59 who reported use of illicit drugs within a year nearly doubled from 2002-2007, from 5.1% to 9.4%, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported... More »

Let's Lock Up Casual Drug Users

Addicts need help, but casual users need jail: Monbiot

(Newser) - The head of the UN drug and crime office recommended last week that casual drug use be decriminalized and said users "need medical help, not criminal prosecution." We should certainly help addicts, but casual users of marijuana and cocaine belong in jail, George Monbiot of the Guardian writes.... More »

15% of Teens Expect to Die Young

Expectation linked to risky behavior

(Newser) - Teenagers who engage in risky behavior may do so because they believe they’re going to die young anyway, and may create a self-fulfilling prophecy with that belief, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. A study that tracked 20,000 kids in grades 7 through 12 found that 15% thought they... More »

You Can Dance If You Want to ... Just Not in Vietnam

Ban mulled to curb drugs, prostitution

(Newser) - Vietnam is considering a measure aimed at eliminating drugs and prostitution that might seem strange to Westerners: banning dancing. The edict would only apply to karaoke bars, reports GlobalPost, and it has a surprising amount of support from people who agree that dancing in such venues is usually a cover... More »

Army May Not Want You So Bad After All

Jobless rate drives surge in applicants

(Newser) - Rising unemployment and safer conditions in Iraq have boosted interest in joining the Army, allowing recruiters to raise acceptance standards. The Washington Post reports that felons and recent drug users need not apply, and the pool of applicants also is better educated. For the first time since 2004, the Army... More »

Study Links Cannabis to Testicular Cancer

THC may intercept cancer-fighting chemicals

(Newser) - Cannabis use has been linked to a significant increase in the risk of developing testicular cancer, the Independent reports. Those who light up have a 70% higher risk of getting nonseminoma cancer—found in younger men—and the odds worsen with frequency and duration of use, the research has found.... More »

Do Vast Lungs Equal a Monster High?

Phelps' super-size lungs help him absorb THC quickly

(Newser) - Michael Phelps' lungs—those that secured him enough Olympic gold to start a mint—are made for a stupendous high, reports Slate. They hold twice the smoke of an average human's, speeding up his THC absorption. But at his size (6-foot-4 and 195 pounds), Phelps needs a lot more weed... More »

Another Kind of White Powder Hits Ski Slopes

Cocaine arrests up 60% at Europe's leading winter resorts

(Newser) - In the lodges of Austria's winter resorts, mulled wine has given way to more stimulating après-ski treats: cocaine and ecstasy. Austrian police report a 60% rise in drug-related arrests in ski areas and say that bartenders and ski instructors are turning into part-time dealers during the season. "... More »

US War on Drugs Has Failed: Report

Americans urged to focus on treatment, prevention, gun sales

(Newser) - America is treating the symptoms rather than the disease of drug use, and its war on drugs will continue to fail unless it changes course, a new report by an influential Washington think tank finds. The report urges the US to develop stronger ties in the Caribbean and Latin America,... More »

Sex, Ethics Scandal Rocks Interior Dept. Oil Agency

Probes reveal sex, drugs, improper dealings in 'culture of ethical failure'

(Newser) - It's not quite the Interior Department Gone Wild, but it's not that far off, either. A dozen current and former employees of the departmental agency that deals with oil and gas royalties have been accused of having sex with reps of the energy industry, illegally accepting gifts, using cocaine in... More »

Paper Money Often Has Traces of Cocaine

Spanish study gives new meaning to 'drug money'

(Newser) - Chances are, you're carrying cocaine in your wallet. Trace amounts of it, anyway. A new Spanish study finds that paper money around the world is often contaminated with cocaine, LiveScience reports. Though concentrations vary by year and city, US bills had an average of up to 28.8 micrograms of... More »

Without Doping, Where's the Fun?

Nowhere, if this year's Tour de France is any sign

(Newser) - Doping in sports makes some fans uncomfortable, but it keeps others on the edges of their seats, writes Joel Stein in the LA Times. Case in point: This year's largely shenanigans-free Tour de France has been an exercise in boredom. “Before you argue that your favorite sport has to... More »

Colombia to Americans: Cocaine Kills Environment

Drug-makers are destroying Colombia's precious rainforest

(Newser) - Colombia is adding a new tactic in its campaign to persuade Americans to stop buying cocaine: a plea for the environment. The government wants to spread the message to users—especially, say, wealthy professionals who dutifully recycle but also partake of the drug—that cocaine growers are running roughshod over... More »

Barenaked Ladies Singer Busted on Coke Charges

Page nabbed in NY apartment

(Newser) - Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page has been busted on cocaine charges, the Canadian Press reports. The singer for the Toronto-based band, which recently released a CD for children, Snacktime, was caught with drugs in an apartment in upstate New York, according to authorities. Page, 38, posted $10,000 bail and... More »

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