What to do about drug addicts that are not interested in treatment (yet?) is open to debate. Strict law enforcement would say that the government shouldn’t provide any support to those that are taking illegal action (taking drugs they can’t legally take). And that argument makes some sense. The biggest problem with it is the [...]

The USA has published their 2012 National Drug Control Strategy. The intro from President Obama includes: Illicit drug use in America contributed to an estimated $193 billion in crime, health, and lost productivity costs in 2007, the year for which the most recent estimate is available. In today’s challenging economic environment, we cannot afford such [...]

Some key findings from the Council of State Governments study on Prescription Drug Abuse in America (from 2004). The report is obviously a bit outdated but the problem continues to grow. More than 6.2 million people were current illicit users of prescription drugs in 2002. In 2001, prescription drug abuse and misuse were estimated to [...]

Decriminalise drug use, say experts after six-year study A six-year study of Britain’s drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decriminalisation. The report by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), an independent advisory body, says possession of small amounts of controlled drugs should no longer [...]

Some interesting details and data from Texas government web site. Drug users constitute a large and growing proportion of the criminal justice population. Drug users not only commit a substantial amount of crime, but as the frequency of drug use increases, the frequency of crime increases and the severity of crimes committed also increases. Drug [...]

Celebrity Russell Brand makes very intelligent comments to a UK government inquiry on how to deal with drug addiction problems. He was an addict and has been drug free now for years. His main point seems to be that we need to take a pragmatic approach to what is a primarily a health problem not [...]

Toronto formally endorses harm reduction on drug use Dr. Wood said Toronto’s commitment is an important symbolic step that solidifies Toronto’s commitment to fighting drug addiction in more nuanced ways than a “war-on-drugs” stance. It’s one he hopes will create more dialogue about changing Canada’s strategy on a national level. An alternative to the war [...]

An Obscure Hallucinogen Gains Legitimacy as a Solution for Addictions Ibogaine, a brown powder derived from the African Tabernathe iboga plant, has intrigued researchers since 1962, when Howard Lotsof, a student at New York University and an opiate addict, found that a single dose erased his drug cravings without causing any withdrawal symptoms. Unfortunately, the [...]

A detailed study of women in treatment for drug addition in England shows a 19 percent fall in the number of adult females under 30 entering heroin programmes over the last five years – 1,000 fewer female addicts than in 2005. The fall is even sharper – 26 percent – for the 18-25 age-group, providing [...]

The US Department of Health & Human Services Substance – Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration reports a significant decline in the misuse of prescription drugs. The misuse of prescription drugs decreased significantly between 2007 and 2008 among those aged 12 and older, including among adolescents, according to 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and [...]