drugs

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Minorities Denied Potent Painkillers, Study Finds

ER docs prescribe more drugs to whites

(Newser) - Minority patients are less likely than white patients to receive powerful painkillers in hospital emergency rooms, a new study has found. Researchers discovered that 31% of white people in pain were given opioid drugs—narcotic painkillers like morphine and codeine—while Hispanic patients got them 24% of the time and...

Ill. Bans Natural Hallucinogen
Ill. Bans Natural Hallucinogen
Dec 26, 2007 10:21 AM CST

Ill. Bans Natural Hallucinogen

Defenders tout controversial herbal remedy's benefits as law closes in

(Newser) - An impending ban on a hallucinogenic plant used in religious ceremonies by Mazatec Indians in Mexico has defenders of the herb objecting to the fact that it's about to be illegal in Illinois. Possessing salvia divinorum will be a felony beginning Tuesday. Defenders of the herb insist it offers beneficial...

Cancer Still Winning War ...on Cancer

Drugs extend life, but can't stop deadly spread of disease

(Newser) - Nixon declared war on cancer in '71, but $69 billion in funding and claims of near victory are yet to slow it down, the Boston Globe reports. No one knows what makes it spread—and trigger 90% of cancer deaths—and a drop in deaths is due to lifestyle changes...

Meth Use Spreading in Europe
Meth Use Spreading in Europe
Nov 23, 2007 9:02 AM CST

Meth Use Spreading in Europe

Boom in Czech labs has UN officials fearing US-style epidemic

(Newser) - Methamphetamine use appears to be on the rise across Central Europe, following an explosion in the number of small home meth labs in the Czech Republic. Czech authorities have raided 416 methamphetamine labs this year—up from 19 in 2000, reports the New York Times. UN officials worry that the...

Europeans Go for Coke
Europeans Go for Coke
Nov 22, 2007 4:46 PM CST

Europeans Go for Coke

2007 EU report says coke use up by one million

(Newser) - Cocaine is "Europe's stimulant of choice," according to a new study that says nearly five million Europeans used coke this year—a million more than last. The Spanish and British used it most, BBC reports, but Danes and Italians increased their usage most in 2007. Two million Europeans...

Big Pharma Goes East to Test Drugs
Big Pharma Goes East to Test Drugs
Nov 19, 2007 8:09 PM CST

Big Pharma Goes East to Test Drugs

Low costs lure R&D, but critics doubt product safety

(Newser) - Big Pharma is testing more drugs in China, where studies cost less and a big, aging population has more chronic ailments, Time reports. But critics question the country's product safety and ponder the fate of tested patients. Even Big Pharma is concerned—about intellectual property rights—but the lure of...

Tyson Sentenced to 1 Day
Tyson Sentenced to 1 Day
Nov 19, 2007 7:16 PM CST

Tyson Sentenced to 1 Day

Ex-boxer also gets 3 years' probation on cocaine, DUI charges

(Newser) - Mike Tyson was scheduled today for a 1-night-only appearance—in the Phoenix slammer. The ex-heavyweight will serve 24 hours in jail and begin 3 years’ probation tomorrow after pleading guilty to cocaine possession and DUI charges stemming from a 2006 traffic stop, the AP reports. Tyson avoided a 4-plus-year sentence...

Cocaine &amp; Meth Prices Get High
Cocaine & Meth Prices Get High
Nov 9, 2007 3:00 AM CST

Cocaine & Meth Prices Get High

Drug fighters encouraged as hefty price hikes signal supply shortage

(Newser) - Prices for cocaine and methamphetamine have jumped for the fourth quarter in a row, indicating a short supply of the dangerous drugs, according to the latest figures from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. A gram of pure cocaine cost $137 in September, up from $93 last year, and meth jumped...

New Blood Thinner Tops Plavix in Trials

But prasugrel also adds risk of bleeding to death

(Newser) - An experimental new blood-thinner looks like real competition for top-selling anti-clotting drug Plavix, after proving more effective at preventing heart attacks, strokes, and heart-related death in a recent trial, the AP reports. But “there is a price to pay” for increased effectiveness, wrote one doctor—the new drug caused...

Teen Smokers More Likely to Drink, Do Drugs: Study

Also at higher risk for depression, anxiety

(Newser) - Teenagers who smoke cigarettes are five times more likely to drink and 13 times more likely to smoke pot, according to a new study by a Columbia University addiction center. The report also linked adolescent smoking to higher rates of binge drinking and hard drug use, along with a greater...

More Docs Just Say No to Pharma Reps

Barrage of visits, free samples may cloud prescribing practices

(Newser) - More doctors, hospitals, and medical schools are limiting or barring visits from drug-company reps as the calls become more frequent and concerns grow that they may influence prescribing. An organization of doctors who pledge not to welcome pharma reps has only 800 members, but institutional players—including some states—are...

Norway Fines Winehouse for Pot Possession

Troubled singer back on tour after arrest, overnight jail stay

(Newser) - Amy Winehouse was busted with 7 grams of marijuana in her hotel room, but the Norwegian police didn't make the addled chanteuse go to rehab—they just held her overnight, fined her $714, and released her this morning, the BBC reports. "She's paid the fine, so this thing is...

Mushrooms Declared Illegal in Netherlands

Teen's suicide leads to surprise change in anything-goes policy

(Newser) - The party is over in Amsterdam. The Dutch government today announced a ban on psilocybin mushrooms, long tolerated under the Netherlands’ notoriously liberal drug laws, after the well-publicized suicide of a teenage user. The fungus “will be outlawed the same way as other drugs,” the justice minister said....

Overdose Fears Prompt Recall of Infant Drugs

Danger found in cough and cold medicines for kids under 2

(Newser) - Several drugmakers have recalled over-the-counter cough and cold products for infants over concerns about fatal overdoses, Reuters reports. Johnson & Johnson Wyeth and Novartis are among those recalling medicines; CVS said it will remove the products and generic equivalents. One professor took the criticism one step further: “There are...

How the World Dropped the Ball on Burma

And how we can pick it back up

(Newser) - International policy on Myanmar is at an impasse because the world went two different ways on the military junta—the US chose isolation while its neighbors chose constructive engagement—and both strategies failed. The country has gone from “antidemocratic embarrassment and humanitarian disaster” to “serious threat” to security,...

Judges Condemn Sentencing Guidelines

High court, Mukasey may give them leeway

(Newser) - Judges across the country are condemning federal sentencing guidelines, 1980s-era anti-drug laws that force them to impose “irrational” sentences, the LA Times reports. “When I have to sentence a midlevel drug dealer to more time than a murderer, something is wrong,” said a judge forced to sentence...

Printer Company Develops Drug-Injection Patch

'Squirting drugs' like 'squirting ink,' says exec

(Newser) - Printer manufacturer Hewlett-Packard is teaming up with an Irish company to develop a skin patch that delivers precisely controlled amounts of drugs with tiny needles. The drug delivery system uses some of the same technology as ink printers, and could inject different drugs at different times. "Squirting ink and...

Painkiller Is Denied to Poor
Painkiller Is Denied to Poor
Sep 10, 2007 10:08 AM CDT

Painkiller Is Denied to Poor

Morphine is cheap and available, but it's withheld because of 'opoid phobia'

(Newser) - Though morphine is cheap, effective, and widely available, most people sufferering extreme pain don't  get it, the New York Times reports. The poorest 80% of the world’s population consumes only 6% of the pain-killer. Why? Because health care workers in poor countries are afraid to prescribe morphine, or not...

Dealers, Killers, and a Nobelist: Guatemala Goes to the Polls

Murders mar run-up to Sunday's election

(Newser) - Der Spiegel travels to Guatemala, where this Sunday's elections present an eye-opening array of candidates, from Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú to a less savory slate of cartel leaders, convicted murders, weapons smugglers, and at least one man accused of genocide. Guatemala's crime rate is sky-high, and now the candidates...

'Herbal' Sex Aids Were Viagra
'Herbal' Sex Aids Were Viagra
Sep 6, 2007 9:04 AM CDT

'Herbal' Sex Aids Were Viagra

Vigor-25 maker scammed $24 million

(Newser) - Federal officials yesterday arrested the maker of an "herbal," non-prescription sex supplement, Vigor-25, for lacing the pills with the active ingredient in Viagra, reports Newsday. More than 4 million of the surprisingly effective pills have been sold on the internet and at health food stores, with a label...

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