drug addicts

18 Stories

One Woman's Controversial Mission to Help Drug Addicts

Louise Vincent focuses on 'harm reduction' approach instead of abstinence

(Newser) - One way to help addicts off of drugs is to get them to quit cold turkey, an approach favored by many US politicians as they push for legislation and tougher prison sentences to combat the emergence of such drugs as fentanyl and xylazine (aka "tranq," or "zombie...

It Took 8 Narcan Doses to Save Her. That Was Just the Start

A fentanyl-addicted daughter, and the mother who tried to help her

(Newser) - Laurie Steves made the drive alone from Port Orchard, Wash., to San Francisco this May. Kind of. As Heather Knight writes in a lengthy story for the San Francisco Chronicle , she had the ashes of her son Zachary in the car. The 25-year-old had died of a fentanyl and ketamine...

Alex Trebek Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving, in a 'Perfect Way'

Late 'Jeopardy!' host's family, show staff donate his wardrobe so underserved men can go to interviews

(Newser) - Three hundred neckties, 58 dress shirts, 25 polo shirts, 15 belts, 14 suits, 14 sweaters, nine pairs of dress shoes, nine sports coats, three pairs of dress slacks, and two parkas sounds like a clothier's "12 Days of Christmas" list. Thanks to Alex Trebek's family and Jeopardy!...

Addicts on Dr. Phil Say They Were Given Booze, Drugs
Addicts on Dr. Phil
Say They Were
Given Booze, Drugs
INVESTIGATION
Dec 28, 2017 6:41 PM CST

Addicts on Dr. Phil Say They Were Given Booze, Drugs

STAT/'Boston Globe' probe reveals 'callous and inexcusable exploitation,' per one critic

(Newser) - Dr. Phil McGraw prides himself for pulling people out of addiction, but a new report from STAT and the Boston Globe alleges he may have put some at-risk guests right back into it. Ex-guests on McGraw's syndicated talk show, including a former winner of TV's Survivor, say as...

MYOB on What the Homeless Do With the Money You Give

Be kind, even if you think your financial assistance will be blown on booze, Matt Broomfield writes

(Newser) - Do you hesitate when you come across a homeless person begging in the street? Matt Broomfield says you shouldn't. Instead, he writes in an op-ed for the New Statesman , you should "give your cash directly and unconditionally" to those in need—even if you think they'll blow...

Canada Approves Prescription Heroin
Canada Approves
Prescription Heroin
Sep 15, 2016 4:14 AM CDT

Canada Approves Prescription Heroin

It's given to users when other treatments fail

(Newser) - Canadian doctors dealing with patients who have proved unable to stop taking heroin can now go ahead and prescribe them heroin. Justin Trudeau's government has reinstated a policy that allows doctors to prescribe diacetylmorphine—pharmaceutical-grade heroin—to severely addicted patients if other methods of treatment fail, ABC News reports....

Ex-Addict: I Got Prescription Opioids Way Too Easily

Doctors knew history, kept pills coming

(Newser) - Seth Mnookin is recovering from a three-year addiction to heroin, which he kicked in 1997. So when he went to Massachusetts General Hospital to be treated for kidney stones that left him in severe pain, he made sure to tell every medical professional he encountered about his history with addiction....

Addicts Find Ways Around 'Abuse-Deterrent' OxyContin
Addicts Find Ways Around 'Abuse-Deterrent' OxyContin
STUDY SAYS
Mar 12, 2015 12:32 PM CDT

Addicts Find Ways Around 'Abuse-Deterrent' OxyContin

People find new ways to dissolve the pills—or turn to heroin, study says

(Newser) - When an "abuse-deterrent" version of OxyContin was introduced in 2010, the intent was clear: "to make OxyContin more difficult to solubilize or crush, thus discouraging abuse through injection and inhalation," the New England Journal of Medicine noted in 2012. Made with special binders, the revamped pills would...

New Frontier to Help Addicts: Virtual Reality

Researchers put them in fake worlds, help them learn to cope

(Newser) - Addicts looking to kick their habit in the real world might benefit from doing so first in a virtual one. At least that's the theory behind a growing body of research, explains PopSci . The idea is to have the addicts play a game of sorts in which their characters...

Ohio County Drowning in Waves of Oxy

Overdoses now leading cause of accidental death in Scioto County

(Newser) - Scioto County sits in the southern tip of Ohio, an unremarkable piece of Appalachia save for the deadly tidal wave of prescription drugs washing over its population. Overdoses have quadrupled over the past decade, reports the New York Times, and are now the leading cause of accidental death, ahead of...

Future Criminal? Unless He Learns Self-Control

Get a grip early or kids will pay later, says study

(Newser) - Bad kids grow up to be bad adults—unless they learn a little self-control. That's the gist of a new study out of New Zealand which shows that a lack of such control remains consistent through adulthood unless it is caught early and addressed. More than 1,000 kids were...

Docs: Let's Give Heroin Addicts Heroin

Supervised program seen as best option for hard core

(Newser) - For many heroin users, the best solution to their addiction is more heroin, according to British researchers. Long-term heroin users who continued to use street heroin despite being on methadone programs were able to cut down and in some cases end their heroin use when given medical-grade heroin as part...

Tanning Addicts Love Booze and Pot, Too

Indoor sunbathing junkies use more drugs, feel more anxious: docs

(Newser) - Indoor tanning creates addicts, and college students hooked on artificial sunbathing use more pot and booze than their unaddicted counterparts, researchers say. Fifty of 229 subjects were considered clinically addicted to tanning as well as alcohol and drugs, but the results didn't isolate a cause-and-effect relationship, Reuters notes. Whether getting...

Cocaine Vaccine Tackles Addiction

New treatment mutes drug's effect on the brain

(Newser) - A vaccine-like treatment to fight cocaine addiction has shown promising results in early clinical trials and could pave the way for new treatments to battle nicotine and methamphetamine addiction as well, researchers say. The vaccine created antibodies that prevented cocaine molecules from reaching the brain fast enough to cause a...

Opium Addiction On Rise for Afghan Moms, Kids

(Newser) - Opium is taking a heavy toll on the women and children of Afghanistan, but it's addiction, not production, that's entering the spotlight. Opium is cheaper than a meal, staves off hunger, and brings the family some happiness, one addicted mother tells CBS News as she prepares opium tea for her...

Russia Starts to Admit Heroin Problem
Russia Starts
to Admit Heroin Problem
Mar 11, 2009 10:18 AM CDT

Russia Starts to Admit Heroin Problem

Some blame West's failures in Afghanistan; others see bad policy

(Newser) - With an estimated 2 million drug addicts in Russia—about one in 50 adults—the nation is finally admitting it has a problem. One ally of PM Vladimir Putin faults the West’s anti-terror efforts in nearby Afghanistan for allowing poppy cultivation to bloom; others say Russia’s sweep-it-under-the-rug policies...

Health Activists Jab Vatican in Needle Exchange Battle

Officials call UN needle swap program 'anti-life'

(Newser) - World health activists are blasting the Vatican for battling a UN statement that would support measures to protect the health of drug users, such as needle exchange programs, reports the Guardian. Vatican officials say the global push for such "harm reduction" policies leads to "liberalization of drug use,...

No Lie: Polygraphs On the Rise
 No Lie: Polygraphs On the Rise 
Mar 22, 2008 1:00 PM CDT

No Lie: Polygraphs On the Rise

Critics hold firm, but use of test growing nationwide

(Newser) - Despite lingering reservations about its effectiveness, the polygraph is gaining traction with law enforcement. The lie-detection program has spiked 53% in the last decade, and truth be told, just the threat of a test keeps convicts honest, drug addicts and sex offenders told the Wall Street Journal. “Don’t...

18 Stories