Question by Alvaro G: is decriminalizing drug use and increasing rehab opportuniites the solution to illegal drugs?
Mexico passed a controversial law on Aug. 20, 2009, decriminalizing people’s personal use of drugs.
the decriminalization policy is a progressive effort to humanize people who use drugs
punitive sanctions for drug users, such as detention, is no longer adopted in Mexico. The government believes that people who use drugs need health treatment. Drug addiction rehabilitation facilities should be established to fulfill their needs for health treatment, care and support for a full reco

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New Substance Abuse Treatment Resources Focus on Teens
only 10 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds needing substance abuse treatments receive any services. “Because critical brain circuits are still developing during the teen years, this age group is particularly susceptible to drug abuse and addiction,” said …
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Methadone or Buprenorphine for Maintenance Therapy of Opioid Addiction …
Opioid addiction treatment is complicated by the need for frequent office visits, urine drug screens, and counseling sessions; varying medical coverage plans; and limited access to medical services and trained providers. All of these factors affect …
Read more on Medscape

Gambling in Litchfield County often remains a silent addiction
“It takes some outside interference to trigger someone to engage in self-help treatment,” said Nelson, adding that by the time gamblers come to see him, they have usually gotten to a point where their life is completely unmanageable. … that should be …
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Hatboro man charged with endangering dead girlfriend seek reduced bail
Currently, the bail being set at $ 99,000 cash is not affordable for Mr. Ford,” said defense lawyer Christopher J. Perry, who is seeking more “reasonable” bail for Ford so he can admit himself for inpatient drug treatment at Malvern Institute. “I think …
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Sheriff: Town should have asked sooner about rehab center
Several sites across the county have provided treatment and counseling services for alcohol and drug abuse on an outpatient basis largely without incident, Tanner said, including the Beaufort County Alcohol and Drug Abuse Department's offices in …
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Editorial: Philip Seymour Hoffman, another heroin victim
Another victim of addiction has been stolen from us, and it is not, this time, because there aren't enough rehab beds, outpatient programs or awareness programs, or enough cops to put criminals behind bars. It's just because that's what addiction often …
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Simsbury Created Committee To Address Mental Health, Drug Abuse
SIMSBURY — A new committee is forming in town that joins the town, the board of education, clergy and the community together to address mental health and substance abuse. The community of care committee, which was recently endorsed by the board of …
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Minister: Daily nine people die in Iran due to drug abuse
About 63 percent of drug addicted people are married, 52 percent are employed and 75 percent are high educated, he said, adding that poverty, unemployment and being single are not the reasons for drug abuse. Commenting on the huge economic costs of …
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Research Links Severe Mental Illness And Substance Use
Fully understanding the relationship between mental illness and substance use is particularly important when considering past studies on the mortality and causes of death in those afflicted by severe mental illness. On average, persons with severe …
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Spartanburg County Council approves of 0000 grant for substance abuse …
Glenn Springs Academy will reopen this spring as a family residential treatment facility for mothers struggling with substance abuse. Spartanburg County Council voted unanimously Monday evening to allow the Spartanburg Alcohol and Drug Abuse …
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by NYS OASAS

Buffalo Treatment Center for Alcohol & Drug Addiction Announced
After detoxification, counseling and therapy are follow-up steps. Getting help to learn about living without drugs and alcohol is a tough road alone. Adults and adolescents will understand that this is a process. The substance abuse center helps people …
Read more on PR Web (press release)

Ian Thorpe returns home after rehab treatment for depression, alcohol abuse
Australian Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe has returned home after being admitted to a hospital in Sydney to fight his decade-long battle with depression and alcohol abuse. Thorpe is believed to have left hospital care for home early this morning, …
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Question by eyedocwood: Internet Addiction?
Wondering if anyone has any experience treating internet addiction and if so what methods were used. Are SSRI’s often used for this type of behavior?

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Answer by Pam Ragland
Dear “Eyedocwood”,
Internet addiction is one of the fastest growing addictions today, because it is so available. I have experience with addictions of all kinds. I include Internet Addiction in my book “The 7 Whys of Addiction: The Hidden Secrets that Cause Addiction and The 3 Keys to Finally Be Free of Them”, because it is so prevalent today.

It helps to understand how addictions happen to understand this addiction & how to treat it. First, all addictions are an avoidance mechanism.

They can start out harmless enough. What happens with any addiction, internet included, is it starts as a simple habit. It may be the habit of surfing the internet or playing games at night for example. Then, when it is truly an addiction, it progresses & has a greater impact on your life. I created a scale to explain this (in my book) I call “ACS” or the “Addiction Continuum Scale” because every addiction is a progression. It starts out as a simple habit and progressess over time.

How quickly it progresses into something more harmful to you depends on why you have the addiction in the first place and how aware you are of the process.

SSRI’s shift the neuro transmitters in your brain. These are your brain’s reward centers… So, from that perspective IF you are feeling pain you then avoid with your addiction, you may feel better.

However, these do nothing to determine the reason you are avoiding in the first place. They are a patch, and will never cure an addiction. This is like treating your cough with cough medicine when you have lung cancer. It treats the symptom not the cause. In fact, sometimes they are like putting a lid on a volcano which later explodes. I know those who love prescription drugs as a treatment won’t agree with me, but this is what I have observed.

I recommend getting rid of the triggers, and changing your habits. I talk about this more in a free report, and my book. Both are available in the source list if you would like more information.

Make no mistake, any addiction gone untreated will get worse. It is simply a matter of how fast.

Warmly,
Pam Ragland

Alcohol vs. Marijuana (Part 1)
It suffices to say here that justifying the use of one drug because it's not so dangerous as another drug is weak reasoning in any book and bad grounds for justifying usage of either of them. And such a statement coming from a sitting president of the …
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Disagreement as NACADA opts to wait for audit
NAIROBI Kenya, Jan 31 – The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) board has resolved to allow auditing by the Treasury to continue while officers implicated in corruption allegations stay in office. The board …
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Meet the Anti-Pot Activists
Correlations between her students' performance (“they weren't focusing”) and their apparent use of the drug ("they were probably smoking pot") concerned Lowe. But it wasn't until …. The book is closed on that one,” he told The Daily Beast. It's …
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Clive Thompson says the digital age is making us smarter and the kids are …
Newspapers are constantly filled with frightening accounts of pornography addiction and of aggression supposedly caused by violent video games, particularly now that Grand Theft Auto V has hit the shelves. But even when these accounts touch on real …
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National Drug Facts Week being observed Jan. 27-Feb. 2
National Drug Facts Week was started in 2010 by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to counteract the myths teens get from the internet, TV, movies, music or from friends about drug abuse and addiction and to stimulate events in communities so …
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RIA helps shatter myths on prescription and OTC drugs
University at Buffalo. BUFFALO, N.Y. — National Drug Facts Week aims to “Shatter the Myths” teens may hold about drug use and abuse — and research by scientists at the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) supports that message.
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