New drug turns meth to almond extract

A newly discovered drug with the catchy name YX1-40H10 can convert methamphetamine to benzaldehyde, a common food additive with an almond flavor, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in California claim. If it passes a series of safety and efficacy tests, the new compound could be administered to people who have taken methamphetamine to neutralize the drug in the body. Source.

Drug dealers high on Bush pardon list

"George W. Bush Likes Those Drug Dealers When It Comes To Pardons," says the Eye on Washington blog. Citing a complete listing of pardons in Wikipedia, the blog says that 14 of 113 Bush presidential pardons were for convicted dealers of marijuana, hashish, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs. Source.

Study: Meth use in U.S. declining

Methamphetamine use in the U.S. declined between 2002 and 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, says a study published by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency (SAMHSA).

In 2005, methamphetamine accounted for 8 per cent of admissions to treatment facilities. Forty-five per cent of these treatment admissions were women. Details. Original.

China huge drug market, chemical exporter

China's official statistics vastly understate the country's drug addiction problem, says an academic study group, and the problem is getting worse. China's growing number of new rich want not only Volvos, Rolexes and premium liquors, they want heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and all the rest -- and suppliers are finding ways to serve them.

Chinese chemical factories are also leading export suppliers of ingredients used to manufacture methamphetamine. Read more.

Obama: You can recover from the stupid things you did as a teen

Senator Barack Obama's (D-IL) 12-year old revelations that he used marijuana and cocaine as a student are in the headlines this week, thanks to a Washington Post story speculating whether the admissions will hurt his not-yet-announced presidential campaign. Source. No previous presidential candidate has admitted to ever using cocaine. President Clinton said he smoked marijuana "but didn't inhale." Pres. Bush has admitted to past abuse of alcohol.

Says the Post:

Obama has not expressed any regrets for his candor. In a preface to the new edition, he says that he would tell the same story today "even if certain passages have proven to be inconvenient politically."

In the book, Obama acknowledges that he used cocaine as a high school student but rejected heroin. "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though," he says.

In an interview during his Senate race two years ago, Obama said he admitted using drugs because he thought it was important for "young people who are already in circumstances that are far more difficult than mine to know that you can make mistakes and still recover.

"I think that, at this stage, my life is an open book, literally and figuratively," he said. "Voters can make a judgment as to whether dumb things that I did when I was a teenager are relevant to the work that I've done since that time."

Possibly much more relevant to Obama's campaign than these old revelations of youthful drug use is the senator's current support for the Byrne program on methamphetamine. Read Maya Szalavitz as she rips him a new one over that issue.

Colorado: New law lets buyers, tenants test premises for meth

A new law went into effect Jan. 1 in Colorado that lets home buyers and tenants test the premises for evidence of having been used as a meth lab. Details.

Meth use increases stroke risk

Use of methamphetamine increases the risk of damage to major arteries leading to the brain, and of stroke, according to a report in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Details.

Study: Meth not harder to treat than other 'drugs'

The belief that addiction to methamphetamine is harder to treat took a blow from a study of treatment outcomes among more than 12,000 patients in Washington state. All 'hard' drug users (meth, cocaine, opiates) had, on the average, less successful treatment outcomes than users of alcohol and/or marijuana, but there were no statistically significant differences in successful recoveries between methamphetamine users and users of the other 'hard' drugs. Conclude the authors: patients addicted to meth can respond to treatment as positively as those addicted to cocaine and other hard drugs. Thanks, Jason Schwartz, for this item. Original article.

For an anecdotal confirmation of this message, see this story out of Tulsa, OK.

Meth measure defangs cold medicines

Major medication manufacturers have reformulated their over-the-counter cold medicines to eliminate pseudoephedrine, a chemical used illegally to manufacture methamphetamine. But the substitute ingredient, phenylephrine, isn't nearly as effective, critics say.

In a peer-reviewed letter to the editor published recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, two University of Florida researchers concluded that there is “virtually no evidence to show that phenylephrine oral nasal decongestants at the FDA-sanctioned dose of 10mg are effective.”

U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman (D.-Ca) has twice called upon the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to launch an investigation into the use of phenylephrine in these drugs. The latest call came after release of a new study by Schering-Plough:

According to the drug firm, phenylephrine was "not significantly different from placebo in decreasing nasal congestion" while pseudoephedrine was "significantly more effective," in a clinical trial involving 38 people.

“Medical studies indicate that phenylephrine may be no more effective than placebo in alleviating nasal congestion, raising questions regarding FDA's conclusion that the drug is safe and effective for over-the-counter use,” said a statement on Waxman's website.

Despite Waxman's calls, the FDA has so far declined to undertake a review. Source.

Meth mouth: the video

A dental video showing several examples of meth mouth, the deterioration of teeth and gums caused by prolonged methamphetamine use, is here. (RealPlayer, audio required)

Wisconsin claims big drop in meth problem

Wisconsin's Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager recently announced that statistics compiled for the calendar year 2006 show a dramatic decrease in both the number of methamphetamine cases and methamphetamine laboratories in Wisconsin--a success she attributes to Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement strategies and the efforts of local law enforcement agencies.

"The Department of Justice Methamphetamine Initiative is working and the positive results are evident in the numbers provided by the State Crime Lab," Lautenschlager said. "Wisconsin has met the methamphetamine problem head on with a successful proactive strategy, and as a result has a level of methamphetamine use far lower than our neighboring states."

Wisconsin saw a reduction in meth activity of approximately 31 percent between 2005 and 2006. Source.

Deer hunters in woods bag meth labs

Deer hunters this season are again finding meth labs and the garbage of abandoned meth labs in the woods of Michigan, Indiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and other states. But at least in some areas, the number of labs is down from past years. "Due to a new law that bans sales of pseudoephedrine off the shelf, we have seen an extreme reduction in meth labs," says Rod Slings of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' law enforcement bureau. Source.

Online registries of meth offenders?

The idea of forcing convicted meth lab operators to register on the Internet after release from prison, similar to existing sex offender registries, is being debated in several states, in addition to four states that already require it. This article discusses the pros and cons.

Women pimp girl for meth

Arapahoe, WY: Two women are facing federal charges here for allegedly forcing a 14-year old girl to have sex with a drug dealer in exchange for methamphetamine.

The unidentified minor said she had sex with the drug dealer in April because she believed she had no choice, court records said.

The girl said the drug dealer would give her a small plastic bag containing methamphetamine, which she would sometimes consume with the two older women, according to court documents. Source.

NIDA updates methamphetamine report

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has updated its report on methamphetamine. The 8-page paper is available as a PDF file here.

Australia: Neglect of alcohol treatment a national scandal

"The present situation in Australia is nothing less than a scandal and politicians, the liquor industry, the advertising industry and others profit from a legal drug which has a devastating effect on our society but is so often ignored because of incorrect assumptions about those who suffer from this most common of all drug addictions."

So says Ross Fitzgerald, historian, novelist, political commentator and professor of history, in the current Australian. Source. Fitzgerald says that Australia's current fixation on the methamphetamine scourge tends to blind people to the much larger and ongoing alcoholism problem. Alcohol kills far more people, is linked with far more crimes, and causes much greater social disruption, but treatment for alcoholism gets short-changed and the medical system turns its back on alcoholics, considering them incurable. In fact, says Fitzgerald, alcoholism is just as treatable as asthma, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases. But there's not the same political capital in treating it -- and there's a big legal industry that wants to sweep the problem under the rug.

Of course, this problem is unique to Australia. Isn't it?

Perspectives on Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is an extremely harmful drug, but it isn't the nation's number one drug problem, says an article by blogger P. Bench. Source. Bench's piece tries to defuse the hysteria around this drug, a hysteria that tends to make people forget about the much larger and much more lethal issue of addiction to alcohol. (Bench doesn't seem to care about the even larger and much more lethal issue of addiction to nicotine.)

National drug policy toward methamphetamine is a 40-year record of failures, says blogger Bill Piper in the Huffington Post. More.

Osage Congress passes anti-meth law

PAWHUSKA, Okla. The Osage Nation's new Congress has unanimously passed a law that it hopes will close a possible loophole in Oklahoma's much-lauded anti-methamphetamine legislation.

The Osage Nation is the first American Indian tribe to pass its own anti-meth bill. It bans possession of more than 9 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, which are cold medicine ingrediates used to make meth.

When state lawmakers passed their anti-meth law, one concern was that meth cooks might move their operations to tribal land. Osage National officials say they hope the tribal law will discourage that.Under the tribal law, violators can receive a 1-year prison sentence and a 10-year banishment from the tribe. In particularly egregious cases on tribal land, federal courts would likely take jurisdiction. Source.

Mexico: Drug gang bids for public support

Michoacan: A notorious drug gang known for beheading its enemies has taken out half-page ads in local newspapers proclaiming its good intentions and denouncing rival gangs. Among other points, the ads denounced the sale of methamphetamine and adulterated wine, allegedly promoted by competing cartels. Thousands of leaflets with the same theme were also distributed in the city center. Details.

More meth, more HIV: study

Gay men who use methamphetamine more often are more likely to become HIV-positive, says a new study done in Los Angeles and published in the Journal of Urban Health this month. Abstract.