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  • New York Overdose Deaths Decline Slightly After Rising For 7 Years

    New York Overdose Deaths Decline Slightly After Rising For 7 Years

    “The decrease in drug overdose deaths is promising but far too many New Yorkers are still dying,” said New York Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot.

    The official report for 2018 drug overdose deaths in New York City has been released, showing a slight 2.6% decrease from 2017 after being on the rise for seven years. Last year, there were 1,444 overdose deaths within city limits, compared to just 541 in 2010.

    Experts see this as a promising start after the city put forth millions of dollars in efforts to address this problem, particularly as the opioid epidemic has raged on. However, overdose deaths are still too high for anyone’s liking.

    “The decrease in drug overdose deaths is promising,” said New York Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot, according to NBC. “But far too many New Yorkers are still dying.”

    The U.S. has experienced a “third wave” of the opioid epidemic in recent years due to the increasing prevalence of the highly potent fentanyl. This particular drug is often added to other illicit substances such as heroin or cocaine to increase the euphoric effect, and has been attributed to the heightened death toll of the opioid crisis.

    Around 80% of New York’s overdose death cases from 2018 involved an opioid, with around 50% involving cocaine.

    A Little Relief

    Thankfully, preliminary reports on overdose deaths throughout the country have suggested an overall downturn in the number of fatal cases after several years of severe and alarming spikes.

    Much of the nation’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic have revolved around increasing the public’s access to naloxone, the drug that blocks opioid receptors in the brain, halting the effects of an overdose.

    Campaigns have been launched across the U.S. to install naloxone kits alongside general first aid kits in public places such as airports and hotels and to recruit people to act as “community responders,” using apps and widespread community involvement to save lives.

    Naloxone Access

    New York City alone has distributed around 230,000 naloxone kits in two years. The medication commonly comes in an easy-to-deploy nasal spray, which anyone can purchase from a local pharmacy and carry with them in case they or someone nearby suffers an overdose.

    Local governments have also invested in facilitating access to addiction treatment programs and businesses have contributed by implementing overdose detection technology in customer bathrooms in places like coffee shops and fast food establishments.

    Unfortunately, some possibly overlooked populations still saw a rise in the number of overdose deaths in New York, including among older adults ages 55 to 84.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Las Vegas Tavern Operated As "Cocaine Bar" For Decades

    Las Vegas Tavern Operated As "Cocaine Bar" For Decades

    The Smuggle Inn operated for over 30 years before being shut down in March.

    A former bartender for the Smuggle Inn dive bar in Las Vegas wrote a letter to a local judge saying that the establishment regularly sold cocaine to customers, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

    The bartender, Michelle Kirk, said she was hired there at age 28 without any knowledge of the alleged trafficking of this controlled substance. Twenty-four years later, the bar was shut down after a drug bust ended in her arrest and the arrest of another bartender and a few patrons.

    Smuggle Inn

    “I was hired at the Smuggle Inn at the age of 28,” Kirk, wrote to District Judge David Barker. “I didn’t realize when I started working there that it had been a cocaine bar for many years. It was basically the only reason people went there.”

    Smuggle Inn operated for over 30 years at 1305 Vegas Valley Drive before being shut down in March 2019. Kirk pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell for having 58 grams of cocaine and $2,300, plus five grams of methamphetamine. She claims that she initially resisted taking part in selling the drug, but financial stress eventually compelled her to participate.

    “The first year of my employment, I did not, would not, participate, due to the consequences,” she said. “After struggling to pay my bills for over a year, I succumbed. I only sold while I worked, just as most others that worked there.”

    Deny, Deny, Deny

    Both the owner and landlord of the bar have denied any responsibility for the drug operation and the owner, Richard DiCandilo, is not facing any charges. His attorney claims that DiCandilo “gave the keys to the landlord and walked away from the business” several months ago, though the cocaine selling appears to have gone on for many years. 

    The landlord, Kevin Chin, also claimed ignorance, but said “that explains a lot.” He did, however, confess that a customer had once approached him about “cocaine on the bar,” but never investigated or reported this to the police.

    Kirk, now 52, was sentenced to 60 days in jail and five years of probation with the condition that she complete a substance abuse evaluation and treatment plan. She wrote her letter to Judge Barker after nine days asking for early release, saying that she is a good person who made a really bad decision.

    “I don’t even get in trouble in the detention center,” she said. “I am an honest, hard working, fun loving, caring, woman and mother that made a HUGE BAD CHOICE a long time ago.”

    Her request was denied, and she served her time and was released earlier this month. She’s now looking to move on with her life as a law-abiding citizen, according to her lawyer.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Remembering Lives Lost On International Overdose Awareness Day

    Remembering Lives Lost On International Overdose Awareness Day

    International Overdose Awareness Day is on Saturday, August 31st.

    International Overdose Awareness Day is on August 31st, like every year since it began in Australia in 2001. This year, the National Safety Council (NSC) is encouraging people in the U.S. to recognize the awareness day and “remember loved ones and act toward preventing overdose,” according to Occupational Health & Safety.

    Overdose death rates in the U.S. have been on the rise for decades, increasing from 6.1 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 21.7 in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    The increases were particularly severe from 2012 to 2017, though early reports appear to show a slight decrease from 2017 to 2018, sparking hopes that national efforts to fight this epidemic are beginning to show results.

    Spreading the Word

    Still, tens of thousands of people in the U.S. alone are dying yearly, and the NSC is working to reduce the stigma of drug addiction and spread the word.

    “Opioid misuse touches one in every four Americans, and these deaths are completely preventable,” said NSC President and CEO Lorraine M. Martin. “It is also a time to reduce stigma and prevent future deaths by supporting education and advocacy efforts.”

    The NSC is recommending a number of actions that groups and individuals can take to commemorate International Overdose Awareness Day, including holding a candlelight vigil, hosting a fundraiser, wearing purple, and adding the name of someone who died of an opioid overdose to the Celebrating Lost Loved Ones map.

    How To Participate

    The International Overdose Awareness Day website has additional ideas and resources for ways to participate and has already registered a long list of events from all around the world, from Afghanistan to Waupaca, Wisconsin. You can also post or read tributes about lost loved ones on the website or download free social media graphics, t-shirt designs, and overdose fact sheets.

    In 2014, the campaign partnered with the Penington Institute in Australia, which is dedicated to building knowledge and increasing awareness around substance use disorders and equipping frontline workers to act on the problem.

    “Overdose does not discriminate, and the number of people affected by it are increasing around the world,” reads the 2018 International Awareness Day Partners Report. “Part of what makes overdose so deadly is the silence that surrounds it. At Penington Institute, we envisage a world where overdose is destigmatized and better understood; where policy makers make well-informed and evidence-based decisions that help those who are at risk of overdose.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Man Spends 82 Days In Jail After Honey Falsely Tests Positive For Meth

    Man Spends 82 Days In Jail After Honey Falsely Tests Positive For Meth

    A major drug field test error plus an ICE detainer turned one Maryland man’s life upside down. 

    Maryland resident Leon Haughton was detained for nearly three months after officers suspected some honey of being “liquid methamphetamine” and a field test went off as positive.

    Though all charges but one were dropped after a follow-up test found no trace of the illicit drug, Haughton couldn’t even get out on bail due to the fact that the charges triggered an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer. So he stayed behind bars.

    Haughton has a green card and has lived in Maryland for nearly 10 years. Upon coming back from visiting family in Jamaica for the holidays, drug-sniffing dogs at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport alerted to his bag, which contained honey from a roadside stand in the island country. He was detained and interrogated by Customs and Border Protection for two hours before being arrested.

    Nearly three weeks later, lab results confirmed that the honey contained no trace of a controlled substance. The three felony charges were dropped, but a misdemeanor possession charge remained until the honey could be tested again in a facility in Georgia.

    While they waited, Haughton was repeatedly denied bail because of the ICE detainer triggered by the dropped felony charges. Unfortunately, this occurred during the record-breaking government shutdown, and nobody at ICE could be reached to have the detainer lifted.

    Even if Haughton was released, he could potentially be detained by ICE and deported as long as the detainer was in place. He ended up spending a total of 82 days in jail and lost both of his jobs until the final test proved him innocent.

    Racism

    Haughton suspects that racism was the primary motivator for the initial arrest that began this nightmare, saying that the agents at the airport questioned him about “a big Jamaican gang and drug dealing conspiracy.”

    “They messed up my life,” Haughton said, according to The Washington Post. “I want the world to know that the system is not right. If I didn’t have strong people around me, they would probably leave me in jail. You’re lost in the system.”

    Drug field tests have repeatedly come under fire for giving false positives, yet they are still commonly used by officers. Unfortunately, strict and murky immigration policy has created a situation like Haughton’s on multiple occasions.

    “It’s not unusual that people who are held in criminal custody with ICE detainers have their detentions prolonged and then the charges are dismissed,” said American Immigration Council attorney Emma Winger.

    Recovering From Trauma

    The damage to these innocent individuals from prolonged detention can be difficult to recover from. Not only was Haughton out of work, he said his kids’ performance at school suffered in his absence and that one of them cried when he came home, unable to recognize their own father.

    Visiting his family in Jamaica again could be an emotional ordeal for him.

    “I’m scared to even travel right now,” he said. “You’re innocent, and you can end up in jail.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dax Shepard Speaks On 15 Years Of Sobriety: I'm On Fire To Be Alive

    Dax Shepard Speaks On 15 Years Of Sobriety: I'm On Fire To Be Alive

    Shepard says that being sober for so long has allowed him to recapture an energy and a joy for life that he hasn’t felt since he was a child.

    Dax Shepard of Punk’d and various comedy films including Hit and Run and CHiPs sat down with Talib Kweli on a recent episode of People’s Party and talked about his former cocaine use and how he feels after spending 15 years sober.

    After being asked about the subject by Kweli, Shepard began by crediting his sobriety to his current marriage to actress Kristen Bell and their two daughters.

    “I wouldn’t have a family without sobriety first and foremost,” he said. “Bell would’ve never signed up for the old version of me.”

    Beyond that, Shepard says that being sober for so long has allowed him to recapture an energy and a joy for life that he hasn’t felt since he was a child.

    “I just thought if I could ever get back to the point where when I walk out my door I’m thrilled to go on an adventure with nothing in me but oatmeal? That’s the goal, and I can honestly say for about the last seven years, I’m on fire to be alive.”

    In spite of his enthusiasm for sobriety, Shepard believes that everyone should try certain drugs at least once, if they can.

    “I don’t think anyone should leave planet Earth without doing mushrooms and ecstasy. I hope my children do mushrooms when they get older.”

    He stressed that he does not, however, want his children to do cocaine, as he feels that the intense stimulant “will make you not allowed to do all the other things.”

    Moderation & Marriage

    Shepard has expressed support for moderate drug use in the past, hitting back at a tweet from CBS’s The Talk that questioned Kristen Bell’s smoking cannabis around her sober husband. 

    “That would be like a diabetic expecting their partner to never eat dessert,” Shepard replied. “Get real!”

    Shepard first started using drugs in high school, though he maintains that he did not have a problem until after he turned 18. In 2012, he opened up to Us Weekly about his drug use in young adulthood, saying he took “cocaine, opiates, marijuana, diet pills, pain pills, everything,” along with drinking.

    “Mostly my love was Jack Daniel’s and cocaine,” Shepard said. “I lived for going down the rabbit hole of meeting weird people. Of course, come Monday I would be tallying up all the different situations, and each one was progressively more dangerous. I got lucky in that I didn’t go to jail.”

    After fighting frequently with Bell over his substance use, Shepard got sober in 2004 and has been going strong ever since.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dozens Of Mysterious Vaping-Related Illnesses Under CDC Investigation

    Dozens Of Mysterious Vaping-Related Illnesses Under CDC Investigation

    The CDC has identified 94 cases of pulmonary illnesses associated with vaping over the past couple of months.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently investigating an outbreak of “severe lung illness associated with vaping,” according to an agency statement.

    They have reportedly identified “94 possible cases of severe lung illness associated with vaping” across 14 states from June 28 to August 15 of this year.

    “CDC is providing consultation to the departments of health in Wisconsin, Illinois, California, Indiana, and Minnesota about a cluster of pulmonary illnesses linked to e-cigarette product use, or ‘vaping,’ primarily among adolescents and young adults,” the statement reads. “Additional states have alerted CDC to possible (not confirmed) cases and investigations into these cases are ongoing.”

    Although the CDC has not yet concluded that vaping was the cause of each or any of the 94 cases identified, they have not found evidence that the illnesses were caused by an infectious disease.

    Spike In Severe Lung Illnesses

    According to Live Science, all of the patients have reported vaping either nicotine or cannabis products, and the most likely explanation for the sudden spike in severe lung illnesses would therefore be a toxic chemical found in e-cigarette devices. Boston University School of Public Health Professor Dr. Michael Siegel believes that this chemical is likely a “contaminant that is present in certain formulations of cannabis products” that may have been sold outside of legal means.

    It may be difficult to determine exactly what is causing these illnesses due to the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not actively regulate vaping devices. Multiple recent studies have found evidence that e-cigarette vapor contains a number of chemicals harmful to the lungs and possibly other parts of the body as the agents enter the bloodstream.

    A report released by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine in 2018 that reviewed over 800 studies on the subject “concluded that e-cigarettes both contain and emit a number of potentially toxic substances,” according to the American Lung Association.

    In spite of increasing warnings from scientific organizations and government agencies, e-cigarette use continues to rise, particularly among young people. A report released in late 2018 found that the rate of vaping among high school students jumped by 78% in a single year.

    This led American Cancer Society vice president for Tobacco Control, Cliff Douglas, to urge the FDA to “act as aggressively and expeditiously as possible to stem this dangerous turn of events.”

    The CDC investigation is ongoing and the public will be updated with new information as it becomes available.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • FDA Proposes New Graphic Health Warnings For Cigarettes

    FDA Proposes New Graphic Health Warnings For Cigarettes

    The current text warnings haven’t been updated since 1984.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is renewing its push for updated warnings and graphic images on packs of cigarettes meant to catch people’s attention and ensure users know the risks of smoking tobacco products.

    The current text warnings haven’t been updated since 1984, and the FDA believes that they have long gone unnoticed by consumers. 

    “With these new proposed cigarette health warnings, we have an enormous public health opportunity to fulfill our statutory mandate and increase the public’s understanding of the full scope of serious negative health consequences of cigarette smoking,” said acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless, MD, in a press release. “Given that tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S., there’s a lot at stake to ensure the public understands these risks.”

    The FDA believes that the current Surgeon General’s warnings that appear on cigarettes and product ads have become “virtually invisible to both smokers and nonsmokers” over the years. 

    Big Tobacco Pushes Back

    The agency made its first attempt to update these warnings with large, colorful graphics depicting health issues such as diseased lungs and cancerous neck tumors in June 2011.

    However, they were challenged in court by tobacco companies on the grounds that they were “crafted to evoke a strong emotional response,” which they argued violated their freedom of speech. The U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia sided with the cigarette makers in August 2012, and the FDA went back to the drawing board to create usable warning labels.

    According to AP News, eight health groups sued the FDA in 2016 when the new warning labels didn’t appear. Three years later, the agency is ready to finalize a new rule proposed on the 15th for warnings backed by research and designed to fill what FDA Tobacco Director Mitch Zeller called “significant gaps in [the public’s] understanding of all of the diseases and conditions associated with smoking.”

    Zeller believes the new designs will be able to weather any legal challenges.

    Currently, close to 120 countries have adopted the kind of graphic warnings the FDA is proposing, and studies have suggested that they work as intended. According to one study from 2014, graphic warnings “lowered intention to smoke in the future among those with a moderate lifetime smoking history (between 1 and 100 cigarettes), and they increased intention to quit smoking among those with a heavy lifetime smoking history (more than 100 cigarettes).”

    Deaths from smoking-related illnesses have remained high over the decades, and have actually increased among women, even as the percentage of Americans who smoke has decreased. It causes over seven million deaths worldwide every year and is the leading cause of preventable death.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • The Amazing Johnathan's 25-Year Meth Addiction Chronicled In New Doc

    The Amazing Johnathan's 25-Year Meth Addiction Chronicled In New Doc

    The former Las Vegas headliner gives an open, honest look into his ongoing drug use in the Hulu documentary. 

    A new documentary was released on Hulu over the weekend that follows the Amazing Johnathan, a comedic magician who rose to become a year-round headliner in Las Vegas from 2001 to 2012.

    In 2014, he revealed that due to a chronic heart condition and long-term methamphetamine use, he had one year to live. However, he is still alive today and continues to attempt to do limited tours, which was to be the main subject of the documentary simply titled The Amazing Johnathan Documentary.

    Much of the documentary deals with the filmmaker, Ben Berman, struggling to make his movie about a man who built his career around deception and pranks as the Amazing Johnathan (real name John Szeles) invited other documentary makers to film him at the same time.

    At one turning point, Szeles invites Berman to smoke meth with him on camera.

    According to Szeles, he made the proposal because he felt Berman was focusing too much of the documentary on the drug use.

    “We both wanted a totally honest approach to show how I actually lived, and how I’m still doing drugs,” Szeles told The Los Angeles Times. “But he got a bit too obsessed on that. Every time I went to my bedroom to do drugs, he would try to follow me. I said, ‘I know what you’re gonna do. You’re trying to catch me. You want to do the drug angle so much? Do it with me.’ I thought that would be my way off the hook.”

    Using On Camera

    Though Szeles says that Berman did indeed take a hit from the meth pipe, the documentary does a freeze-frame and blocks out the pipe right before he does, then begins a voice-over from Berman’s lawyer advising him not to take an illegal drug on screen.

    Szeles himself has been open about his drug use, saying he doesn’t recommend anyone do it but that it has helped him remain creative.

    “I’m not one to be told how to live,” he says. “This is how I’ve been for 25 years. I want my life on record, and this is exactly what I do. And I think it’s funny that Disney [which owns Hulu] has a meth documentary.”

    However, he also called himself a “slave” to the drug and that it doesn’t even get him high anymore. He says he takes it “every hour or two.”

    Currently, Szeles is unable to perform because his body begins to lock up after 30 minutes. He uses a motorized scooter to get around and is still waiting for the moment that his heart gives out.

    “It’s been three years since I was supposed to be dead,” he says. “But when it happens, it’s gonna go quick. They say I’ll have an event and it’ll go fast, hopefully.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Is Wealth Inequality Causing The Rising Rates Of Mental Illness In The US?

    Is Wealth Inequality Causing The Rising Rates Of Mental Illness In The US?

    A review of 27 different studies on the topic found that countries with more wealth inequality had three times as many mental illness diagnoses than those with less.

    Increasing levels of wealth inequality in the U.S. could be driving rising rates of anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems, according to a report published by Truthout.

    The article cites data collected by the United Nations that backs up the existence of a phenomenon many psychologists refer to as “status anxiety”—chronic stress caused by the awareness of class divides in a society.

    “More unequal societies make us more aware of class and status—people become more concerned with issues of superiority and inferiority and worry more about how others judge them,” says social epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson. “Social life becomes more stressful and people start to withdraw from it. As inequality undermines confidence and feelings of self-worth, mental health inevitably deteriorates.”

    Societal Health

    Wilkinson and his partner Kate Pickett wrote extensively on this issue in their 2009 book The Spirit Level. In the text, they argue that nations with more intense wealth gaps suffer from more issues across all indicators of societal health. This includes mental and physical health as well as crime, drug use, infant mortality rates, community connection and trust, and childhood wellbeing.

    These issues affect everyone in a society—rich and poor.

    Pickett and Wilkinson published a follow-up book in 2018, The Inner Level, looking specifically at mental health under this phenomenon.

    “In less equal societies we see more [diagnoses of] depression… narcissistic personality disorder, schizophrenia—a wide range of worse mental health outcomes,” said Wilkinson. “Mental illness is [often] triggered or exacerbated by issues to do with dominance and subordination.”

    A review of 27 separate studies on the topic also found that countries with more wealth inequality had three times as many mental illness diagnoses than those with less wealth inequality.

    The differences are striking even when you compare individual U.S. states with different levels of wealth inequality. According to Wilkinson, states with high class divisions have low levels of trust for their neighbors, with as little as 15% saying they felt they could trust others. In more equal states, that rises to “60 or 65%.”

    The Racial Disparity

    This is true for other forms of inequality as well, according to Indiana University Professor of Sociology Brea Perry. And those different inequalities overlap and change in nature depending on how you were born.

    “So for example, although we know that there is a clear social gradient in mental health at each increasing level of education, Blacks get a lower return on their educational investment,” said Perry. “Put differently, social class is not nearly as protective of physical and mental health for Black Americans as it is for white Americans in terms of their physical and mental health. And that’s true across all kinds of outcomes. Marginalized groups tend not to see the health benefits of class advantage to the degree that white, cisgender, straight men do.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Is Hookah More Dangerous Than Other Smoking Methods?

    Is Hookah More Dangerous Than Other Smoking Methods?

    One pull from a hookah pipe can deliver as many “noxious substances” into a person’s lungs as one cigarette.

    A recent, first-of-its-kind study conducted at the University of California, Irvine, suggests that smoking hookah could expose users to high doses of nicotine as well as carbon monoxide, carcinogens, and dangerous ultrafine particles.

    Hookahs are ancient devices most commonly used today for collective smoking of tobacco. They can be found at smoke shops and hookah lounges. According to the university, 20% of college students in Europe and the U.S. have tried hookah.

    The idea behind smoking hookah is that it can deliver a significant dose of nicotine without many of the same dangerous particles and chemicals found in cigarettes because it was assumed that the water in the device filtered much or nearly all of that out. However, this study appears to have confirmed this to be no more than a myth, and in fact it could even produce more ultrafine particles than other forms of smoking.

    Toxic Chemicals

    “One of the big myths about hookah usage is that the water in the bowl actually filters out the toxic chemicals, providing a shield for the smoker,” said lead study author Veronique Perraud. “In the study, we show that this is not the case for most of the gases and that, possibly due to its cooling effect, water actually promotes ultrafine particle formation.”

    In fact, they found that one pull from a hookah pipe can deliver as many “noxious substances” into the lungs of the user as they would get from an entire cigarette. At the same time, of course, nicotine ingestion can lead to addiction. The study also looks at multiple cases in which hookah users suffered carbon monoxide intoxication from burning the coals, which can be very dangerous.

    Ultrafine particles can also be especially hazardous due to being small enough to reach parts of the pulmonary system that larger particles can’t, and the smallest can even cross the blood-brain barrier. Researchers have only recently been able to trace these very tiny particles, which is part of what makes this new study so unique.

    “Typically, researchers would collect samples from a filter capturing smoke and particles from an entire session, rendering one data point,” Perraud said. “But through our technique of testing emissions in the beginning, midpoint and end of a smoking session, we were able to show that a smoker is exposed to a higher quantity of ultrafine particles during the first 10 minutes compared to the rest of the time.”

    These results come out of what is actually a two-part study, with phase two currently underway at UCI’s School of Medicine. The second phase will look at the specific health effects of waterpipe smoking.

    View the original article at thefix.com