Marijuana

Impaired driving by people using legal prescription drugs is hard to detect and prosecute, experts say ... Most doctors say they don’t report colleagues they know are impaired by alcohol or other drugs ... A U.S. ban on sales of clove cigarettes could be undone by international trade agreements ...

Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D., the founder and former president and CEO of the Phoenix House chain of addiction treatment centers, has been named to the board of directors of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA).

The expanded use of electronic health records -- intended to improve and streamline healthcare services -- has become a bone of contention in the addiction community, where unique privacy concerns could hamper integration with the rest of healthcare. Squabbles aside, however, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is pressing forward with regulations (and incentives) to promote wider adoption of electronic health records across the healthcare system.

Methadone maintenance is on the budgetary chopping block in California, but supporters -- including some prominent law-enforcement officials -- are trying to get $53 million in funding restored to the state budget.

A plan to eliminate Medi-Cal funding for methadone maintenance is "tantamount to destroying the lives of 35,000 people, as well as having them return to addiction," according to a column by Lee Baca and Charlie Beck -- the sheriff of Los Angeles County and L.A.’s police chief, respectively. The pair note that cutting the funding will actually result in a double loss as federal matching funds will be forfeited.

Will federal privacy regulations stand in the way of integrating behavioral and mainstream healthcare? ... New Mexico can’t grow enough marijuana to meet the demands of medical users ... Kansas is balking on enforcing a law that would require drink prices to be set according to alcohol content ... Unhappy hour: Your risk of stroke spikes during the hour after you drink alcohol, researchers say ... Teens who binge-drink may be more likely to suffer osteoporosis later in life ...

Youth smoking had a good run as a top-of-mind issue among U.S. parents and preventionists -- 30 years or more, by some estimates -- but now seems to have taken a back seat to childhood obesity in the national consciousness.

High-school drug testing has some short-term benefits but little effect on long-term drug use, a new study finds ... Music can make you high ... A lawsuit in New York City has delayed a Massachusetts antismoking campaign ... New Jersey hospitals want to be the sole distributors of medical marijuana under a new state law ...

Funding for tobacco prevention programs has dried up and -- perhaps not coincidentally -- progress against smoking in the U.S. has stalled, Steven A. Schroeder, M.D., and Kenneth E. Warner, Ph.D. wrote in a New England Journal of Medicine editorial that called for renewed attention to countermarketing efforts and other interventions.

Children of smokers face an array of health problems, a study finds ... Some smokers may benefit from starting nictoine-replacement therapy before they stop smoking ... Mexican drug smugglers are hiring U.S. teens to move drugs across the border ... Smoking kills, Russia is warning smokers on cigarette packs ...

Faces and Voices of Recovery has published a new guide to "mutual-aid" resources that can help support addiction-recovery organizations.

"This one-stop resource is for people in or seeking recovery from addiction, their families and friends and for addiction treatment service providers and other allied service professionals," according to the group.

Would you ask an adult in recovery to hang around with his or her drinking buddies every day? Certainly not, yet we ask teens to go back to school after treatment and avoid all their friends who use drugs or alcohol. Recovery Schools are one solution, and are the focus of a national conference next month.

Robert A. Zucker, director of the University of Michigan Addiction Research Center, will receive the 2010 Research Society on Alcoholism Distinguished Researcher Award -- the group’s highest honor, according to a June 15 announcement.

Zucker has directed the Michigan Longitudinal Study -- which tracks the alcohol and other drug use histories of 2,200 people in 460 families -- for the past 26 years, as well as conducting research into gene-based environmental relationships and the neural circuitry underlying addiction risk.

Here’s one way to separate the sick from the stoners: A California doctor is promoting a form of medical marijuana he claims is more therapeutic -- but won’t get you high ... Isn’t that special: Researchers say that frequent users of ketamine (a.k.a. Special K) can develop incontinence ? Professional poker players are renowned for their stamina and focus -- but some may be using drugs to gain an edge at the table ? Yet another report finds fewer heart-attack hospitalizations after public smoking bans -- this time in London ?

They don?t spend much time in smoky bars, but kids are among the beneficiaries of laws banning indoor smoking ... A Washington watchdog group says two FDA tobacco advisory panel members who work for drug companies should step down ... A state court has revived a lawsuit against a San Francisco ordinance banning pharmacies from selling tobacco products ... Walgreens -- which filed the S.F. suit -- also has resumed selling alcohol in its stores after a self-imposed 15-year ban ...