Response to Another "Epidemic" Is Likely to Generate Harmful Unintended Consequences--As Usual
Jeffrey A. SingerAfter addressing the “meth epidemic” with the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 (don’t look now, but meth-related deaths are at historic highs, eclipsing those solely from prescription opioids), and after addressing the opioid epidemic by depriving patients of pain medication while driving nonmedical users to more dangerous drugs, it appears politicians, assisted by an eager press, are setting their sights on fixing the newest “epidemic:” the “growing epidemic of e-cigarette use in our children.”Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar announced today that the Food and...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 11, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Kratom: Fear-worthy foliage or beneficial botanical?
Depending on what you read, kratom is a dangerous, addictive drug with no medical utility and severe side effects, including overdose and death, or it is an accessible pathway out of undertreated chronic pain and opiate withdrawal. How can the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), medical professionals, and millions of regular kratom users have such divergent views of the same plant?
What is kratom?
Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a tropical tree from the coffee family native to Southeast Asia, with properties that range from stimulant-like, energizing and uplifting, to opiate-like, causing drowsiness and euphoria. Kratom has d...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - August 7, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Peter Grinspoon, MD Tags: Addiction Pain Management Vitamins and supplements Source Type: blogs
Senator Portman Presumes To Know How Many Days Of Pain Relief All 328 Million Americans Need
With clear evidence that restricting the number of prescriptions increased the death rate by driving non-medical users to heroin and fentanyl, the last thing one wants to hear about is a politician planning to double down on this deadly policy by calling for further prescription limits for patients in pain.Yet Senator Robert Portman (R-OH) is proposing legislation that would impose a national 3-day limit on opioid prescriptions following surgeries. He will be kind enough to allow exceptions for people dealing with cancer, chronic pain, and “other serious matters”—whatever that means.Government data show there i...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 26, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Is an End in Sight to the Longest Running World War?
The War on Drugs is not only fought on the home front. In fact, it is the longest running world war. While Portugal has decriminalized all drugs, Uruguay never criminalized personal drug use and possession, the Czech Republic has decriminalized possession of small amounts of illicit drugs, and Norway and Mexico contemplate decriminalizing all drugs, the world-wide war on drugs continues apace. And drug prohibition’s futility and destruction are on world-wide display.I have written about the resurgence of methamphetamine use and methamphetamine related overdose deathsin the US, despite state and federal eff...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 22, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
No Evidence Migrant Families Are Aiding Drug Smuggling
ConclusionAlthough government officials latched onto the narrative that families were significantly benefiting drug smugglers, Customs and Border Protection initially denied any connection between the asylum seekers and drug smuggling when families first started coming in larger numbers in 2014. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Michael Frieltold theWashington Post in June 2014 that CBP has seen “no indication that drug interdiction operations have been negatively impacted by our efforts to process the influx” of migrants.How is it possible that Border Patrol is doing as good of a job at stopping drug smuggling i...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 18, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: David Bier Source Type: blogs
Senators Manchin and Braun Are Attempting to Practice Medicine Without a License —And Fighting the Wrong War
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Mike Braun (R-IN) are still trying to address the fentanyl and heroin overdose crisis —soon to be joined by a methamphetamine and cocaine overdose crisis—by denying chronic pain patients access to pain relief. They have just introduced a bill they call The FDA Opioid Labeling Accuracy Act, which would “prohibit the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from allowing opioids to be labeled for intended use of ‘around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment’ until a study can be completed on the long-term use of opioids.”Set aside the fact that most pain specialists agree that, in some...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 12, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
The War on Meth Is Back. Big Time
Today ’s Seattle Times reports on the surge in methamphetamine-related deaths, noting there are more meth-related deaths than at the height of the last “meth wave” in the early 2000s. The era of the American meth lab is over a decade gone, yet pure, cheap meth is back and bigger than ever in Western Washington. When Seattle residents point to needles proliferating on sidewalks, they usually say heroin ’s to blame; however, a bigger proportion of those needles in recent years is actually from people injecting meth, according to King County syringe exchange surveys.Death rates in King County have increased four-...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 18, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
The Coming " Stimulant Crisis? "
Earlier this month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), reported that from 2015-2016 deaths from cocaine and psychostimulants (such as methamphetamine, Ritalin, dextroamphetamine) increased 52.4 percent and 33.3 percent respectively. In 2017, the CDC reported a total overdose rate of 70,237, and cocaine was involved in 19.8 percent of those deaths while other psychostimulants were involved in 14.7 percent. Opioids, primarily synthetic (fentanyl and fentanyl analogs), were found in 72.7 percent of the cocaine deaths and 50.4 percent of the other psychos...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 21, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
A Pretextual Traffic Stop Should Require Sufficient Pretext
Several years ago,Atlanticwriter Conor Friedersdorf asked Twitter“If you could add one Bill of Rights style amendment to the Constitution what would it be?” I responded “The Fourth Amendment and “we mean it.””My answer may have been tongue-in-cheek, but quite seriously, the Fourth Amendment and its protections have been eroded by the Supreme Court precedents over several decades. As a result, the power of the police to intrude upon the lives of individuals has grown and they have taken advantage of that power throughout the country.TheFourth Amendment reads:“The right of the people to be secure in their perso...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 5, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jonathan Blanks Source Type: blogs
Podcast: From Homeless to Prisoner to Olympian
In his teens, Tony Hoffman was a BMX Amateur being featured on magazine covers. But soon after, he was a drug addict living in the streets and ultimately ending in prison. After his parole, a now clean Tony returned to the BMX world in a big way: by taking the silver medal in the 2016 Olympics. Since then, Tony has dedicated his life to helping others with addiction issues with his motivational speaking and special projects.
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About Our Guest
After paroling prison on December 13, 2008, Tony Hoffman started living out his dream, with his addiction behind...
Source: World of Psychology - April 4, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: The Psych Central Show Tags: General Recovery Sports The Psych Central Show Addiction BMX Gabe Howard Olympics prison Tony Hoffman Vincent M. Wales Source Type: blogs
Podcast: From Homeless to Prisoner to Olympic Coach
In his teens, Tony Hoffman was a BMX Amateur being featured on magazine covers. But soon after, he was a drug addict living in the streets and ultimately ending in prison. After his parole, a now clean Tony returned to the BMX world in a big way: by taking the silver medal in the 2016 UCI BMX World Championships. Since then, Tony has dedicated his life to helping others with addiction issues with his motivational speaking and special projects.
Subscribe to Our Show!
And Remember to Review Us!
About Our Guest
After paroling prison on December 13, 2008, Tony Hoffman started living out his dream, with h...
Source: World of Psychology - April 4, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: The Psych Central Show Tags: General Recovery Sports The Psych Central Show Addiction BMX Gabe Howard Olympics prison Tony Hoffman Vincent M. Wales Source Type: blogs
From " Meth Crisis " to " Opioid Crisis " to " Fentanyl and Meth Crisis " to...
Today ’s Wall Street Journal reports that, just as overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers are showing signs of leveling off, officials worry that the surge in methamphetamine-related deaths is joining the surge in fentanyl-related deaths to fuel the total drug overdose rate. There were 1887 meth-related deaths reported in 2011. By 2017 more than 10,000 deaths were reported related to meth and other chemically-similar psychostimulants.The Drug Enforcement Administration has seen a 118 percent increase in meth seizures by law enforcement between 2010 and 2017. The meth is cheap and abundant and floo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 18, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Crystal Meth Addiction
What is a Crystal Meth Addiction?
Crystal meth is the name for the street drug crystal methamphetamine. Crystal meth can also be known as ice or glass, and it can be either snorted, smoked or dissolved and injected. It is a very strong and highly addictive drug. It affects the central nervous system, and crystal meth addiction has dangerous life-threatening effects.
Understanding Crystal Meth
Crystal meth is a man-made stimulant drug that has no legal use. It is made with methamphetamine, pseudoephedrine and a combination of other chemicals. Methamphetamine has been around for a long time, originally created to keep soldie...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - March 14, 2019 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Addiction Drug Treatment Methamphetamines Substance Abuse crystal methamphetamine meth addiction Source Type: blogs
The Unrecognized Lesson of " Meth Crisis 2.0 "
On February 21, Charles Fain Lehman wrote an important column in the Wall Street Journal alerting the public to the alarming rise in methamphetamine-related deaths in recent years. This has been occurring under our noses while the press and lawmakers focus their attention on overdoses related to opioids. He correctly tells readers that the recrudescent meth crisis, which I like to call “Meth Crisis 2.0: The Mexican Connection,” came about after lawmakers addressed “Meth Crisis 1.0” in 2005 with the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act. That Act made it much harder for allergy sufferers to get the effective decon...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 4, 2019 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Cocaine and Addiction
Is Cocaine Addictive?
According to the Foundation for a Drug Free World, cocaine creates the greatest psychological dependence of any drug, next to methamphetamine. It stimulates key pleasure centers within the brain and causes extremely heightened euphoria. Cocaine addiction, tolerance and dependency builds quickly. If someone uses cocaine, they will not get the same effect as the very next time they do it with the same amount.
Understanding Cocaine
Cocaine is a white, powdery substance. It creates a high by reacting with the body’s central nervous system, releasing high amounts of dopamine. In turn, this creates energy...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - March 4, 2019 Category: Addiction Authors: Jaclyn Uloth Tags: Addiction Addiction Recovery Cocaine Drug Rehab Information Drug Treatment Substance Abuse cocaine addiction coke drug addiction drug addiction recovery drug addiction treatment Source Type: blogs
