drugs

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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...

Only the Good Die Young
Only the Good Die Young
Sep 4, 2007 9:59 AM CDT

Only the Good Die Young

Musicians who make it big twice as likely to bow out early

(Newser) - The cliché "live fast, die young" now has backing from science. More than 1,000 American and European musicians active from 1956 through 1999 came under British researchers' scrutiny, and the stats are grim: The performers were twice as likely as civilians to die young, with drug and alcohol...

Crime Rocks New Orleans
Crime Rocks New Orleans
Aug 29, 2007 5:59 AM CDT

Crime Rocks New Orleans

Two years after Katrina, criminals flood city

(Newser) - Only two-thirds of the population of New Orleans has returned since Hurricane Katrina destroyed large parts of the city two years ago—but crime has returned full force. The murder rate in the Big Easy is rocketing, crime is a constant fear among citizens and many are arming themselves for...

Family Pleads: Don't Buy CDs
Family Pleads:
Don't Buy CDs
Aug 28, 2007 12:41 PM CDT

Family Pleads: Don't Buy CDs

Winehouse drama escalates as in-laws call singer, husband 'drug addicts' on BBC

(Newser) - The continuing drama surrounding "Rehab" singer Amy Winehouse took a bizarre new turn this morning when her in-laws, in an plea broadcast on the BBC, begged fans not to buy her records. Her husband's parents called for a boycott to force the couple into rehab, the Guardian reports. "...

Afghanistan Supplies 93% of World's Opiates

Poppy crop jumps 34% over last year

(Newser) - Afghanistan's opium production has soared over the last year and the country now supplies 93% of the world's opiates. Most of the poppies are grown along the country's southern border with Pakistan, where the insurgency is strong, security is weak, and the Taliban continues to use its drug profits to...

The Life and Times of Crystal Meth
The Life and Times of
Crystal Meth
Aug 21, 2007 6:28 PM CDT

The Life and Times of Crystal Meth

A new book traces the drug's history, from panacea to pandemic

(Newser) - Even when it has the word "crystal" in front of it, meth is a downmarket drug, which summons up images of makeshift drug labs in run-down trailer parks. But meth, Salon notes in an essay on Frank Owen's new book, "No Speed Limit," has a rich history...

Feds Crack Down on California Pot Operations

Raids stepped up on medicinal marijuana dispensaries considered legal by the state

(Newser) - The federal Drug Enforcement Agency is stepping up raids on California's medicinal marijuana distributors, confiscating drugs and arresting vendors at ten Los Angeles operations last month alone, Reuters reports. California legalized medicinal marijuana use more than ten years ago, but possession of the drug violates federal law. Federal officials argue...

Generics Curb Rise in Drug Costs
Generics Curb Rise in Drug Costs
Aug 8, 2007 6:37 PM CDT

Generics Curb Rise in Drug Costs

Cheap alternatives to brand-name meds appear as patents expire

(Newser) - Scores of prescription drugs are getting cheaper, as name-brand patents expire and open the door to generic imitators. That's bad news for pharmaceutical companies, the Times reports, but it means that an aging population ever more reliant on drugs will be paying as much as 80 percent less for them.

Lohan Hopes Third Time's a Charm in Rehab

Starlet takes substance-abuse woes to posh Utah lodge

(Newser) - Lindsay Lohan checked into a luxe Utah rehab facility over the weekend, the Insider reports, on the heels of an arrest for drunk driving and drug possession. Boasting a battery of therapies and a price tag of at least $30K, the Cirque Lodge is rumored to have hosted celebs David...

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