Tag: News

CDC Warns of Blood-Thinning Synthetic Marijuana Strain

The strain can lead to “unexplained bleeding such as coughing up blood, blood in the urine, bloody nose and bleeding gums.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning about the dangers of a certain strain of synthetic marijuana.

The synthetic marijuana, the CDC says, is covered in a powder form of rodenticide called brodifacoum.

“It’s like what you buy at the store to kill rats underneath your house,” Katie Seely of the Arkansas Department of Health Public Health Lab told THV11.

According to the CDC, the strain can lead to “unexplained bleeding such as coughing up blood, blood in the urine, bloody nose and bleeding gums.”

When ingested by humans, brodifacoum will thin the blood. “We have seen teenagers with heart attacks. We’ve seen coma, we’ve seen death. We’ve seen renal failure. So it runs the gambit,” Seely told THV11.

Seely also said that even calling the synthetic strain marijuana is misleading. “The synthetic cannabinoids are a lot more potent and a lot more dangerous in general than the marijuana is,” Seely said.

While brodifacoum is the same type of drug sometimes prescribed by doctors, it’s dangerous when taken if not needed. “Brodifacoum is the same type of drug as warfarin and coumadin, which a lot of people take as blood thinners if they’ve had some heart conditions,” Seely said. “But that is monitored by a physician and it has to be monitored very closely.”

The Arkansas Department of Health states that if a person has ingested this strain of synthetic marijuana and then gets in some type of accident, their blood may not coagulate correctly, which can be fatal.

“We don’t ever want to scare parents,” Seely said. “The synthetic cannabinoids have been around for a while, and unfortunately, they’re not going to go away. It’s one of those things, just know what your kids are up to.”

This strain of synthetic marijuana isn’t the only one to be aware of.

On May 19, more than a dozen people in Brooklyn, New York were taken to the hospital after taking what authorities believe to be a toxic batch of the synthetic drug “Spice” or “K2” which is made to imitate (poorly) the effects of THC in marijuana.

According to the New York Times, a witness says the effects were immediate.

“They would take two puffs and bam, they’d drop right there,” she said. “People just started falling to the ground. Right here, there were three strewn on the sidewalk. Over there, two more. The medics were here working until 9 pm.”

Despite some being found unconscious and having difficulty breathing, all those hospitalized are expected to survive. They were all treated with the opioid overdose antidote naloxone.

While synthetic cannabinoids are banned in nearly all U.S. states, the New York Times notes, it is still a struggle to eradicate them, as what they are made up of is always changing.

“These are synthetic drugs that are manufactured with remarkable creativity such that lawmakers are facing challenges in keeping ahead,” Eugene O’Donnell, a former NYPD police officer and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the Times. “Restricting access to one ingredient touches off a search for a replacement. If you can whip up an intoxicating or stimulating substance readily and legally available, you can avoid prosecution.”

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
Congress "Scared" To Take On American Medical Association Over Opioids

A senator recently called out Congress for not standing up to the AMA for stalling progress on anti-opioid abuse regulations.

A powerful physicians lobby is blocking efforts in Congress to regulate the way certain medications like opioid painkillers are prescribed, according to a new report.

According to the Daily Beast, the American Medical Association has actively lobbied against certain measures that seek to limit the way that doctors give opioid prescriptions. And according to some members of Congress, fellow lawmakers are “too scared” to go up against the massive organization.

This may have to do with the fact that in 2017, the AMA was the seventh highest lobbying spender ($21.5 million), and in 2016 gave nearly $2 million to members of Congress.

The AMA has been forthright in its opposition to measures included in the Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act 2.0 (a proposed update to the 2016 law by the same name) that would limit opioid prescriptions to a three-day supply, according to Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, a co-sponsor of the bill.

The AMA also opposes mandatory opioid education for doctors, as well as the required use of prescription drug databases to check a patient’s history with certain drugs before prescribing a new medication.

Members of Congress are “too scared to take on the AMA,” thus stalling progress on anti-opioid abuse regulation, said Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Many of the measures that the AMA is against appear on a list of guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2016.

The guidelines—which do not apply to palliative care, end-of-life care, or cancer treatment—encourage physicians to “start low and go slow” when prescribing opioid painkillers for chronic pain, and to “prescribe no more than needed.”

The CDC also advises physicians to discuss the risk factors of using opioid medication with all patients, and to review each patient’s prescription drug history via the prescription drug monitoring database before prescribing.

But the AMA does not see a solution in mandating these reforms through legislation.

“Limits and one-size-fits-all approaches will not end this epidemic,” the organization said in a statement. “The AMA has urged Congress, statehouses, and payers to cover evidence-based treatment that works. Most patients with opioid use disorder have trouble accessing care as payers and others put up obstacle.”

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
Philadelphia Grapples With Closing Heroin Camps

The city has promised to move people who are currently encamped in the area into drug treatment and permanent housing.

City officials and charitable groups in Philadelphia are grappling with how best to help people as the city moves to dismantle tent cities that are overrun with opioid abuse.

City officials hope to have four encampments closed by the end of May, and are giving camp residents priority access to housing and drug treatment.

“What I predict is going to happen? This bridge will be cleaned out, Tulip [encampment] will be cleaned out, they’ll go to the other bridges, they’ll go in abandoned buildings,” Nicole Bixler, a social worker, said earlier this month. “The community will be broken up, and they’ll die alone, and no one will know until we smell them in the summertime.”

The camps are home to about 180 people, many of whom inject opioids. Last year, Philadelphia cleaned out its largest heroin encampment, which had become so well-known that it was featured on an episode of The Dr. Oz Show. The camp was home to people with addiction, many of whom moved on to other areas of the city when the camp was cleared out.

This time, the city has promised to move people who are currently encamped in the Kensington area of the city into drug treatment and permanent housing. Each day, city workers visit the camps to try to get people into area shelters or into treatment. In the past two weeks 39 people have entered treatment, more than in the past six months, according to the Philly Inquirer.

“Everybody wants it to work,” said City Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez, whose district has three of the encampments and two shelters that people are being relocated to. “This is the closest we’ve gotten to breaking down barriers on access to housing and treatment. It shouldn’t have taken this long, but we’re there.”

Still, some residents of the camp are frustrated that it took so long for the city to come up with a viable solution to the housing and drug crisis.

“Why wait until now to do this?” said Ryan Forrest, 28, who has lived in one of the camps for seven months. “Why did they let so many people get frostbite during the winter?”

Forrest wasn’t sure what he was going to do when the camps were cleared, until he realized that he was on the city’s list of camp residents who were being prioritized for treatment and housing.

“I was going to stay until the end. I didn’t really have a plan,” he said. “But they were pushing me to the shelter, and they told me I was on the list, and I went up there.”

People who work closely with the homeless population that lives in the camps are cautiously optimistic that reluctant residents like Forrest may get help with the new programming.

“I’m scared for what may happen,” said Tim Sheahan, an outreach worker with the city’s Department of Behavioral and Intellectual Disability Services. “We’ve gotten as close to treatment on demand as possible.”

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
Latin America Should Consider Legalizing Drugs, United Nations Official Says

The head of a UN economic commission for Latin America says “illegality is killing people.”

A United Nations official argued that Latin American should seriously consider legalizing drugs in order to save lives, Newsweek reported. Alicia Bárcena, the head of a UN economic commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, says that the region needs to take a fresh look at the impact of the drug trade.

Especially in Mexico, thousands of people die annually in connection to narcotics. In fact, 2017 was the worst year yet for drug-related murders.

According to Time, Mexico had nearly 30,000 murders last year (the Interior Department reported 29,168 homicides), which is “more than 2011 at the peak of Mexico’s drug cartel-stoked violence.”

What’s worse is that Mexico’s death toll is the highest ever since the government began keeping homicide records in 1997.

Bárcena says the time has come to overhaul Latin America’s drug strategy: “I’m going to be very provocative,” she acknowledged at a forum in Paris. “Who would drug legalization be good for? Latin America and the Caribbean, for God’s sake. Because the illegality is what’s killing people,” she said.

Peru, Bolivia and Colombia are among the world’s top producers of coca leaves, which are used to make cocaine. Mexico is the primary hub through which cocaine is smuggled from those South American countries to the United States. (The U.S. is among the world’s largest markets for cocaine.)

Cocaine, however, isn’t the only drug that’s spurred the record number of murders throughout Latin America: the precipitous rise of Mexico’s crystal meth and heroin markets in recent years is also to blame. U.S. News & World Report observed that those drugs have hugely disrupted drug trafficking in Latin America.

“Cartel fragmentation is a big part of the story of why violence is increasing,” said Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican federal intelligence official. “This has really accelerated in the last couple of years. It’s the changing nature of the game.”

Given the complicated attitudes toward drug legalization in the world, especially with the United States’ increasingly relaxed stance on marijuana, there are many who believe Bárcena’s proposal isn’t so much controversial as it is forward-thinking.

As Bradley Tusk wrote in a Chicago Sun-Times op-ed, Mexicans are dying over drugs that aren’t even intended for Mexican consumers. Tusk, a former deputy governor of Illinois, considered what the landscape would look like if the Mexican government decided to throw up its hands and say the U.S. could deal with drug problems at its border.

“Almost immediately, many of the problems plaguing Mexico start to diminish. If there’s no attempted enforcement of drug laws, there’s no more opportunity for corruption. Who are you going to bribe when drugs are already legal?” Tusk asked. “And if there’s no attempt to stop the movement of drugs—if it can be done openly and freely—there’s no need for most of the violence consuming cities like Juarez.”

While cartels would still initially be at war with one another, he conceded, that too would drop off. “When bloodshed and violence is no longer necessary, it’s also no longer seen as an appropriate cost of doing business,” he said.

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
How Online Dating Affects Mental Health

A new study revealed that online dating can impact mental health in a variety of ways and may even lead to tech addiction.

These days finding someone to date should be easier than ever. After all, dating apps can tell you who is near by, what they’re after in a partner, and even what they look like.

However, experts warn that online dating can be tied to lower self-esteem, tech addiction and depression.

A study published in 2016 polled 1,044 woman and 273 men (mostly college-aged) about their social habits. About 10% of them were using Tinder.

“We found that being actively involved with Tinder, regardless of the user’s gender, was associated with body dissatisfaction, body shame, body monitoring, internalization of societal expectations of beauty, comparing oneself physically to others, and reliance on media for information on appearance and attractiveness,” said Jessica Strübel, PhD, of the University of North Texas, who co-authored the study with Trent Petrie, PhD.

“Tinder users reported having lower levels of satisfaction with their faces and bodies and having lower levels of self-worth than the men and women who did not use Tinder,” she added.

Researchers were primarily interested in how online dating affected women, but they were surprised to see that using the dating and hookup app had a real effect on men, too.

“Although current body image interventions primarily have been directed toward women, our findings suggest that men are equally and negatively affected by their involvement in social media,” said Strübel.

The pain of being rejected in online dating scenarios can also sting. A study published in 2011 found that being socially rejected activates the same parts of the brain that physical pain does. That means that opening oneself up on dating apps—where you can be rejected faster than ever—can have a real impact on well-being.

In addition, being involved with online dating might lead to tech addiction. Last year, Match.com did a survey that found that 15% of singles felt addicted to the process of finding a date online, CNN Health reported.

Millennials were most likely to say that they felt addicted to online dating, while 54% of women using the dating service said that they felt burned out by the process.

While there is still debate over the merits of tech addiction, one study published in 2016 linked technology addiction with depression and anxiety. People who spent more time online (perhaps looking for a date) were more severely affected.

“People who self-described as having really addictive-style behaviors toward the Internet and cellphones scored much higher on depression and anxiety scales,” said Alejandro Lleras, a psychology professor at the University of Illinois who co-authored this study.

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
Cryptocurrency Addiction Treatment Program Launches In Scotland

The announcement has sparked debate about the validity of digital currency addiction.

A hospital in the south of Scotland is offering what is described as the first residential treatment for dependency on cryptocurrency.

Therapists at Castle Craig Hospital in Peeblesshire, which provides treatment programs for drugs and alcohol, will apply methods used to treat gambling addiction to assist individuals who have become dependent on trading digital currencies like Bitcoin.

Though no scientific studies have been conducted to confirm whether dependency to cryptocurrency trading is an actual condition, medical professionals have concurred that the nature of bitcoin trading—which can yield or lose thousands of dollars at a moment’s notice—might cause some individuals to exhibit dependency-driven behavior when using it.

In its coverage of Castle Craig’s bitcoin program, Metro UK quoted Chris Burn, a gambling therapist at the facility, who drew a connection between gambling dependency and similar behaviors linked to cryptocurrency.

“The high risk, fluctuating cryptocurrency market appeals to the problem gambler,” he noted. “It provides excitement and an escape from reality. Bitcoin, for example, has been heavily traded and huge gains and losses were made.”

His sentiments were echoed by therapist Tony Marini, whose struggles with gambling and cocaine dependency made him an ideal choice to lead some treatment sessions at Castle Craig.

“I see cryptocurrency trading as a way for people to escape from themselves into another world, because they don’t like the world they’re in,” he stated. “The first stage of treatment is to join other addicts in group therapy and share their life stories. It helps them identify with each other and realize they’re not alone.”

The notion of Bitcoin and other digital currencies as dependency-forming is not relegated to the staff at Castle Craig. The Austin, Texas-based Daily Dot referenced a 2014 online discussion on Reddit which, while largely humorous, did indicate that some users felt that Bitcoin was “like a drug” as one individual wrote.

For Dr. Timothy Fong, an associate professor of psychiatry at UCLA, the assessment has some merit. “You could replace the words ‘digital currency’ with ‘crack cocaine,’ ‘methamphetamine, ‘marijuana,’ or ‘gambling,’ and you’ll see some of those same kind of ways people talk about it,” he noted.

But he is hesitant to refer to dependency issues regarding bitcoin as an actual condition. “There is truth to that,” he said to the Dot. “But it’s a funny statement because you could say the same thing about sex, sports, handbags, a freshly-cut lawn, an ocean view—all those things are naturally rewarding, and they activate the portion of our brain that’s rewarding.”

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
Veterans Hold Memorial Day Push for Medical Cannabis

The veterans participating in the Veterans Rally advocated for the VA to change its medical marijuana policy.

Veterans from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C. on Monday to advocate for better access to medical cannabis through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Use cannabis, die less,” Mike Krawitz, a 56-year-old disabled U.S. Air Force veteran told Marijuana.com. “The scientific community has confirmed that cannabis saves lives by avoiding overdoses. VA doctors know this but are obliged not to recommend cannabis for pain and PTSD. And that is unethical.”

The motto of the 2018 Veterans Rally D.C. was “plants over pills.” The veterans who were participating were advocating for the VA to change its policy, which currently bars medical cannabis that many vets believe could help with chronic pain and issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Derek Cloutier, who has PTSD after serving with the Marines, said that he always found it easy to get prescription pills from the VA. He said he has seen veterans turn to selling their VA-issued pills in order to get medical cannabis, which they felt was more effective at relieving their symptoms.

“I’ve been told straight by a vet that I can go to a VA hospital and be prescribed opiates, Adderall—anything if they play their cards right, and then go sell the pills on the streets… just so they can buy cannabis and heal themselves,” Cloutier told Fox News.

Many vets, he said, are hesitant to use marijuana because it is stigmatized as a street drug. He worked through his own negative perceptions about cannabis before he began using it regularly. Now, he grows his own medical cannabis legally in Massachusetts, which has both a medical and recreational cannabis program.

“The more I learned about it, the more I educated myself about it… the stigma came down, the stereotypes came down,” Cloutier said. “All these walls around me, that I was terrified to say I’m a cannabis user… that’s part of the problem.”

According to The American Legion, 22% of veterans are already using medical cannabis, despite the fact that it could affect their treatment from the VA. The overwhelming majority of vets (92%) say that they support research into using cannabis to treat a variety of ailments.

Recently, the VA announced that it would begin to study medical marijuana. However, many veterans believe that there is unlikely to be a policy change under the current administration.

“VA doctors may be allowed more breathing room in a legal medical marijuana state, but they are afraid to run afoul of the federal government,” Krawitz said.

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
Paramore’s Hayley Williams Pens Powerful Mental Health Essay

“Writing kept me alive. Forced me to be honest. It helped me understand that emotional wellness and physical health are actually related.”

Paramore’s lead singer Hayley Williams is taking the shame out of sadness.

In the band’s most recent single “Rose-Colored Boy,” Williams sings, “Just let me cry a little bit longer/ I ain’t gon’ smile if I don’t want to.”

The chorus is a perfect summation of Williams’ current incarnation, as she’s emerged from difficult times and is (at least a little bit) comfortable enough to talk about it.

In a new essay for Paper magazine, Williams recalled when a lot came crashing down on her at the same time in both her personal life and her career.

“I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t laugh… for a long time,” she wrote. However, she added, “I’m still hesitant to call it depression. Mostly out of fear people will put it in a headline, as if depression is unique and interesting and deserves a click. Psychology is interesting. Depression is torment.”

But she said she managed to keep it together through writing. “Writing kept me alive. Forced me to be honest. Made me have empathy for [bandmate Taylor York] in his struggles with mental health. It helped me understand that emotional wellness and physical health are actually related,” she wrote.

Lately, she said she has felt a shift, as well as in the people around her. Paramore had not released new work since 2013, until they came out with After Laughter in the spring of 2017. The music and the timing of the album were significant for the band.

“[After Laughter] helps me mark this time as a significant turning point in my life,” said Williams. “I’m noticing similar movement in my friends’ lives too. More presence and awareness. More tenderness. I’m alive to both pain and joy now. I have my old laugh back, as my mom says… And only a couple years ago, I had hoped I’d die.”

Williams discussed her struggles with mental health in a summer 2017 interview with Fader, as well. She described a feeling of hopelessness that crept up on her in the “past couple of years.”

“I don’t feel as hopeful as I did as a teenager. For the first time in my life, there wasn’t a pinhole of light at the end of the tunnel,” she said at the time. “I thought, I just wish everything would stop. It wasn’t in the sense of, I’m going to take my life. It was just hopelessness. Like, what’s the point? I don’t think I understood how dangerous hopelessness is. Everything hurts.”

Paramore is currently on tour, which is set to wrap up in late August.

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
Accused Dark Web Kingpin "OxyMonster" Faces 20-Year Sentence

Federal agents captured the accused drug kingpin when he came to the US for a beard contest last summer.

The man who is accused of selling oxycodone, cocaine and methamphetamine online under the alias “OxyMonster” will reportedly plead guilty in federal court on charges of drug conspiracy and money laundering, the Associated Press reported on Thursday (May 31).

Guy Vallerius faces at least 20 years in prison. The alleged dark web drug dealer was nabbed by U.S. authorities while en route from France to Austin, Texas last summer for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. He was planning to compete in the “full beard 30.1-45cm” category.

DEA special agent Lilita Infante had Vallerius on her radar when she requested Homeland Security border officials to detain him for questioning upon his arrival in Atlanta, Georgia, his first stop from Paris.

Infante was hoping he’d have a laptop with him, which he did. Authorities searched his computer and was able to “directly link Vallerius to the Dream Market,” the dark web marketplace where Vallerius would “moderate sales of cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone,” according to the AP.

According to a DEA affidavit issued last August, authorities were able to “confirm his identity as ‘OxyMonster’” following the border search of his laptop, on which agents discovered the Tor browser (allowing one to conceal their true IP address that would be able to identify them), “apparent log-in credentials for Dream Market, and $500,000 worth of bitcoin.”

The affidavit states that Vallerius’ online profile advertised that he shipped his illicit wares from France to anywhere in Europe and the United States.

Vallerius also had a drug vendor page on a similar dark web marketplace called TradeRoute, according to DEA officials, where he had been a member since February 2017, according to the affidavit.

A magistrate judge stated in a summary of the prosecution’s case:

“In connection with his role as a ‘senior moderator,’ (Vallerius) also sold controlled substances to other members using the website, receiving payment for these sales through the use of bitcoin ‘tip jar,’ or electronic depository. It was through this tip jar that law enforcement officials became aware of Vallerius’ true identity.

“After locating the bitcoin depository allegedly belonging to the user ‘OxyMonster,’ agents tracked several incoming payments and outgoing deposits from the tip jar to various ‘wallets’ controlled by Vallerius.”

Vallerius’ upcoming court hearing on his plea deal is scheduled for June 12.

View the original article at thefix.com

1 June 2018
"Fear The Walking Dead" Actor Kevin Zegers Talks Sobriety

“Seven years ago, I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. I was in such a bad state.”

While Kevin Zegers started out as a child actor and now plays a villain on Fear the Walking Dead, the road hasn’t always been easy. Even talking about his recovery was hard at first.

“Seven years ago, I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning. I was in such a bad state,” Zegers told Entertainment Tonight Canada in an interview. “I used to not talk about sobriety because it was like, ‘Oh, who cares,’ and it’s a little embarrassing.”

But these days, Zegers is finding it easier to be open about what he went through, especially in hopes that it may help someone else.

“The reason I go to an AA meeting on my birthday—the reason we’re urged to do that—is not for you, but you do it for others, to indicate it’s possible, which in the depths of addiction doesn’t feel possible,” he explained in the interview. “I think it’s our duty, even with, you know, a very small amount of fame, which I sometimes have, to go, ‘Oh s***, that guy suffers, too.’”

Zegers credits his sobriety for landing him his part as Mel on Fear the Walking Dead as well as his marriage with his wife, Jamie, with whom he has twin daughters.

“It’s the greatest accomplishment of my life and I don’t like to undermine it because I don’t think I have a wife, a family, I don’t think I’m on Fear The Walking Dead without that,” he said.

Fear the Walking Dead is a prequel spinoff of AMC’s popular series, The Walking Dead. Despite being a member of the cast, Zegers is kept in the dark about plot twists as well as how long his villainous character will survive.

“It’s an interesting villain because he’s not running around beating his chest, or trying to be intentionally scary or fear-provoking, but he just presents them with the facts,” he commented. “As an actor, you have to think, how do I make this work and what is it? How am I able to convey being frightening to somebody with what I have?”

But his scariest moments come from raising his daughters.

“There’s no easing into parenting if you have twins, but it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “We think we’re self-aware and you go, ‘Oh, you know that I can get frustrated easily,’ or ‘I’m super self-conscious’ or, ‘I have a short temper,’ and then you see a physical embodiment of you at two-and-a-half, and they just have no filter and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, it’s me when I’m in traffic!’”

View the original article at thefix.com

29 May 2018