Sober N Clean

Ottawa's fight to shut down Vancouver's controversial supervised injection site will be heard by the B.C. Court of Appeal next April.

The federal government is appealing a B.C. Supreme Court decision that struck down sections of Canada's drug laws as unconstitutional because they prevent the facility, known as Insite, from operating.

The judge gave Ottawa until June 30 of next year to bring the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in line with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and gave Insite a constitutional exemption to stay open in the meantime.

Madam Justice Anne Rowles of the appeal court announced yesterday that three days will be set aside for the appeal beginning April 27.

But a lawyer for the federal government noted that could mean a decision might not be issued before the lower court's ruling takes effect.

"The Attorney-General asks that the appeal be heard as soon as there is available time to hear it," said Paul Riley, who had hoped for a hearing as early as December.

"The implications are significant - what we're talking about is an order declaring an important law of no force and effect."

But Judge Rowles said other lawyers' schedules meant the case couldn't be heard until the spring.

A lawyer for the Portland Hotel Society, which runs Insite and helped launch the initial court challenge, said that if Ottawa was concerned about the deadline, it should be working to update the law, not speed up the appeal process.

"The government should be doing their work as we speak," Joseph Arvay said.

Insite opened in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in 2003 under an exemption from federal drug laws, but Ottawa now wants the facility shut down. Insight allows addicts to inject their own narcotics under the supervision of medical staff.

Mr. Justice Ian Pitfield of B.C.'s Supreme Court ruled in May that denying drug addicts access to the health-care services offered at Insite violates their Charter rights to life, liberty and security of the person.

It's not clear what will happen if the Conservative government hasn't passed updated legislation by Judge Pitfield's deadline of June 30 and if the appeal isn't successful.

Lawyers at yesterday's court hearing suggested either side might apply to have the deadline extended, though Judge Rowles said that's an issue to be decided later.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Tony Clement said the minister had no comment about the appeal and said the timing is at the discretion of the court.

Officials with the federal Attorney-General's office and the Justice Department were unavailable.

The case involves a complex mix of appeals and cross-appeals involving the federal government, the two local groups that launched the initial court challenge and at least three intervenors.

The B.C. government is already an intervenor, and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority are expected to apply to intervene in support of Insite.

"The civil liberties association, like the plaintiffs themselves, is responding to what in essence is a health-care crisis in the Downtown Eastside," the association's lawyer, Ryan Dalziel, said in an interview. "The service is saving lives."

The health authority, which works with the non-profit Portland Hotel Society to operate Insite, plans to keep the facility open indefinitely unless a court rules otherwise, said spokeswoman Anna Marie D'Angelo.
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source: The Globe and Mail, http://www.theglobeandmail.com

A drug, designed to stop the euphoric effects of alcohol, could one day be used to prevent reformed alcoholics from relapsing, say US researchers.

And scientists say a kill-joy pill like this may also be useful in treating a range of overly-pleasurable pursuits.

Professor Tamara Phillips and colleagues from the Oregon Health and Science University report their study of the effects of the new drug on mice in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Phillips and team hope the drug, which blocks a stress receptor, could not only stop alcoholics from relapsing, but also stop pleasurable feelings gained from cocaine and even food.

"This drug has great potential to treat not only alcoholism, but other stress-related disorders as well," she says.

The drug, called CP 154,526, was originally developed and donated for testing by drug giant Pfizer, maker of the popular drug Viagra.

CP 154,526 physically binds to a receptor in the brain called corticotrophin-releasing factor one (CRF1).

The receptor blocks corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF), a chemical released by alcohol that is thought to create pleasurable feelings.

"It's like you put the key in a lock but don't turn it," says Phillips. "Then you break the key off so no one can use it."

In the study, the researchers gave the drug to mice that had been given a steady supply of alcohol.

Mice given the drug were less likely to gesture for another drink, compared to mice that didn't receive the drug.

The effect doesn't last long - less than an hour - but it doesn't have to, according to the scientists.

"The euphoria you experience with alcohol is extremely rapid and mostly happens within the first 15 to 30 minutes after your first drink," says Phillips.

"Without that initial euphoric reaction, you are less likely to have that second, third or fourth drink."
Other effects not blocked

While the drug should prevent users from feeling happy from alcohol, it doesn't block the other effects of alcohol, such as the inability to walk in a straight line or slurred speech.

It also won't help with withdrawal symptoms or hangovers.

The researchers hope to enter human clinical trials in the next year.

If the drug is approved for human use, the patient would have to ingest the drug soon after or before their first drink for it to be effective.

CP 154,526 isn't the only drug that could help alcoholics stop drinking.

Naltroxone, which affects opioid receptors, is often effectively used in combination with counselling to stop relapse, but for some people it has little or no effect.
Treating hedonism

Phillips and her collaborators are testing their drug specifically for treating alcoholism, but she says that since CP 154,526 binds to a receptor involved in stress and anxiety more generally, it could help treat a number of overly-pleasurable pursuits.

That view is backed up by Dr George Koob, a scientist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, who also studies CP 154,526 but was not involved in Phillips' study.

"CRF antagonists [like CP 154,526] could help re-establish homeostasis involved with hedonic disregulation," says Koob. "This drug could be of use in many different situations."

Other studies have shown that CRF helps regulate the pleasurable effects of nicotine, heroin and cocaine, says Koob.

"In every system there is a yin and a yang, and the same goes for hedonic activities," he added.

"With lots of pleasure there is usually a crash as well."
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source: ABC News in Science

It may be possible to prevent a drug addiction relapse by disrupting the brain's attempts to retrieve drug-associated memories, according to new research.

U.K. researchers reduced drug-seeking behaviors in rats by blocking their brain's NMDA-type glutamate receptor, which is vital for learning and memory, during the recall of drug-associated memories. Researchers have known that recalling memories linked to previous drug use, such as environmental cues, can cause recovering drug addicts to relapse.

The findings are published in the Aug. 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

In the study, researchers at the University of Cambridge trained rats to associate a light going on with receiving a dose of cocaine. They "reactivated" the memory by exposing the rats to the light without the cocaine infusion. Later, the rats continued to perform behaviors that turned on the light or learned to perform new behaviors to try to get more cocaine.

The rats' cocaine-seeking behaviors were reduced after the researchers gave the animals a chemical that interfered with the NMDA-type glutamate receptor. When the single treatment was given just prior to the reactivation session, it reduced or even stopped drug-seeking behavior for up to a month; however, when given after or without the reactivation session, it had no effect on subsequent drug-seeking behaviors.

The findings suggest combining existing therapy with properly timed use of NMDA receptor inhibitors may help addicts kick their habits. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration already has approved several NMDA receptor inhibitors, including the cough suppressant dextramethorphan and the Alzheimer's disease drug memantine.

More information:

The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment has more about dealing with addiction at: http://csat.samhsa.gov/NACOA/family.aspx
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source: Copyright 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

As our troops return from war, some of them are dealing with something new: Heavy drinking and binge drinking.

It's in a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

There is help for the troops, but this is a Department of Defense study done to understand problem drinking among our troops who have seen combat.

Then the findings can guide military leaders and others in changing policies, and finding new prevention strategies.

Isabel Jacobson is a researcher with the Department of Defense Center for Deployment Health Research.

She says, "We saw an increased risk in newly reported heavy weekly drinking, newly reported binge drinking and newly reported alcohol-related problems.

According to the study, Jacobson and her team analyzed data from more than 48,000 servicemen and women across all branches of the U.S. military.

Jacobson says, "Our findings showed that the individuals who deployed and reported combat exposures were at increased risk for newly reported alcohol behaviors."

At Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson there is a unique program through the Department of Justice and the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety to keep airmen from getting into trouble when they drink.

It's a three-year pilot program that is seeing results.

Air Force Lt. Col. Jim DeLong is the Chairman of the Culture of Responsible Choices, or CoRC, at Davis-Monthan.

He says "What we try to do is provide our airmen with alternative activities on the weekends, late at night--normally when young airmen might get in trouble. We've had dodgeball tournaments, basketball tournaments. Anything our airmen want to do."

DeLong says CoRC is open to everyone, including members of other service branches.

The military also provide medical programs for servicemen and women who find themselves with a drinking problem, whether they've seen combat or not.

But DeLong says when airmen have experienced the CoRC program, it might be just one of the things they can turn to when they return from combat.

He says, "When they come back, if they know the program's there, and they've experienced it and enjoyed it, I think it can benefit those young airmen because they're not searching for something. They already know it's there.

The CoRC prevention program at Davis-Monthan is only a pilot program at just five U.S. air force bases.

There's no guarantee it will be funded permanently.

But it's open to everyone, including Reserve and National Guard personnel.

And the Defense Department study has found those troops are at the highest risk of having

A shocking confession from a school teacher about the hold alcohol had on her life.

In these tough economic times, experts say an alarming number of people turn to alcohol to numb their pain.

An estimated half million people here in Arizona suffer from alcoholism and when a recession hits experts tell us fewer people reach out for help.

We begin with a woman who sought comfort in alcohol. Vodka was her drink of choice. She thought she had it under control that is until she lost everything.

“I do believe I was born an alcoholic,” Marci Johnson said. “I drank primarily to function.”

The numbers of people battling the bottle here in Arizona alone are staggering and it is estimated that every year, more than 400,000 people with an alcohol crisis fail to receive the alcohol rehabilitation that they need.

Experts say right now, in the throws of this recession an even more alarming number of people are scared to seek help.

“When the economy is doing as poorly as we are turning to the drugs because it does numb us out to the experience, okay I'm drunk, it is easier to have this feeling right now than for me to go back to my family and say okay I don't have enough money to pay our mortgage,” said Director of Outpatient Service at St. Luke’s Chip Coffey.

Coffey worries that people are suffering in the shadows and afraid of what will happen if they admit that they are addicted to alcohol.

“Addiction is a funny thing and most people don't understand addiction,” Ellie Schafer said.

Counseling alcoholics has been Ellie Schafer's life work. At 91 she still volunteers at St Luke’s trying to help people overcome addiction.

“People are using alcohol and drugs at much younger ages than in the 50s when I started working,” she said.

In the chapel a prayer book shows signs of these difficult times, one person writes "lord please let me find employment."

They come to church seeking strength, trying to find peace and when it happens, Schafer said it is remarkable.

“You see the change in women must faster as they are detoxing, the softness that happens in their features, you just can't imagine,” she said.

For Johnson, the school teacher who used to drink vodka in the classroom, the battle with the bottle left her with no job, no friends and failing health.

“I know today that I had a disease that affected my mind body and spirit and I had to deal with all of those in recovery,” Johnson said.

Today at 79 Johnson is a recovered alcoholic. She hopes her story is a warning to those who are fighting this disease.

Especially in these trying times, there are all those thousands of people who are quietly suffering.

The experts who worked with on this story say an alcoholic has to experience the serious consequences of their addiction, meaning they have to hit rock bottom before they can truly get better.
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source: http://www.azfamily.com

When it comes to addiction, two schools of thought dominate: 1) Addiction is all in the mind of the addict, and 2) Addiction is an identifiable and very real disease.


What if both are true?

Enter: The Secret Disease of Addiction: A Dis-ease Which Tells Us it Isn’t o­ne, by Jane Allen, a recovering addict and co-founder of Affinity Lodge, a rehabilitation center producing success rates far above most facilities. Allen offers a provocative and controversial explanation of addiction based o­n it starting and ending in the brain, and why addiction is an acquired disease.

Unlike virtually any ‘theory’ put forth o­n the topic of alcohol and drug addiction, Allen posits that the disease of addiction is created and acquired by over-use of mood-altering substances.

The Secret Disease of Addiction, inspired and influenced by Allen’s mentor and co-founder of Affinity Lodge, John Gillen, explains in clear, simple language the psycho-biology of addiction by blending scientific knowledge with personal experiences.

The underpinnings of Allen’s philosophy o­n addiction have led to amazingly successful outcomes at Affinity Lodge, with a recovery rate far exceeding most programs.

“Addiction is an acquired disease, and this is difficult for most people to understand,” says Allen. “But when a person does come to understand it, stable recovery becomes much more possible.”

Although Allen’s program for stable and enduring recovery shares some similarities with Alcoholics Anonymous in terms of a heavy focus o­n God and spirituality, its premise – true understanding of the disease and self-empowerment rather than ‘outside’ dependency – differs substantially. Allen’s book outlines a process which starts with an admission that addicts are powerless in fighting the disease o­n their own, but its focus is o­n educating the addict to fully understand the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of recovery, supported by science.

“Addiction has a ‘starting point,’” notes Allen. “It is not solely a genetic predisposition to addiction; there are emotional, psychological and physical reasons why Happy Hours often equate to sad years, and why we turn to mood-altering substances to self-medicate.”

The Secret Disease of Addiction covers topics including:

Why addiction is a ‘disease which tells us it is not a disease’
Why addiction is in fact a disease caused by over-use of alcohol or drugs
The ‘party effect’ which often happens in adolescence, and why the ‘buzz’ of substances causes some to become addicted, while others do not.
The biological ‘need for relief’
The ‘geometric’ progression of addiction – from tolerance to dependency
Why addiction is a disease of stress, created by lifestyles and environment

“My book is a non-AA book which openly discusses and acknowledges the importance of God and spirituality,” adds Allen. “88% of people in AA don’t really ‘get it,’ and o­nly 5% of those who do stay o­n the program. Understanding the multi-faceted underpinnings of addiction dramatically improves success statistics; I know because I’ve lived it and see it in our program.”
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About the author
Jane Allen was raised in a middle class family and moved out at the age of 19. After a serious back injury led to a 10+ year addiction to painkillers, Allen went to several recovery and counseling programs with no long term success. After meeting John Gillen, Allen was able to control her addiction. She is currently an addiction specialist at Affinity Lodge located outside of London.
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source: Tristate Observer, http://www.tristateobserver.com

Europeans knocked back 79 billion liters of alcohol in 2006, or 101.25 liters for every person. In the U.S. the figure was 98.7 liters per person, while in the Asia Pacific region, it was just 22.1, according to research consultancy International Wine and Spirits.

It's no surprise that Europe is home to the world's heaviest drinkers; from whiskey in Scotland to wine in France, the continent has some long and deeply embedded alcohol traditions. Nevertheless, our ranking of Europe's heaviest-drinking nations revealed some startling results.

By The Numbers: Europe's Biggest Drinkers

Croatia, the Balkan nation on the Adriatic Sea, came in at No. 1, while Britain, where fears about binge drinking have prompted a flurry of new legislation, came in at only No. 15. France and Sweden didn't even rank in the top 20.

We graded each country based on alcohol consumption per capita, legal restrictions on drinking, diseases resulting from alcohol abuse, and whether drinking habits, such as binge drinking or drinking in public places, are especially risky.

Each country was assigned a rank on the basis of each data set; the results were then totaled to produce a final rank.

Though Croatia came in only at No. 5 in terms of per capita consumption, the risky drinking pattern of its population, as well as high death rates from cirrhosis, put it at the top of our list. In terms of per-capita alcohol consumption alone, the Czech Republic came in first. Hungarians suffer the highest death rate from cirrhosis.

Europe isn't just a heavy consumer of alcohol--booze production plays an important role in the economy. It's home to some of the world's largest drink companies, such as Jameson whiskey maker Pernod Ricard, and Diageo (nyse: DEO - news - people ), the company behind brands such as Smirnoff and Guinness. According to a report by the Institute of Alcohol Studies for the European Commission (IAS), Europe produces a quarter of the world's alcohol, and the booze industry employs around 750,000 people in production alone.

But alcohol consumption takes a heavy toll. The tangible costs of drinking in the European Union, including health costs and loss of workforce productivity, were estimated at some 125 billion euros ($197.3 billion) in 2003, or 1.3% of gross domestic product, according to the study.

Nearly all the top 15 biggest drinking nations are in Central or Eastern Europe. Poverty and the harsh climate, particularly in Russia, play a part, as does the tradition of drinking. "Where it's extremely cold it's not uncommon for people to drink all day long," said Val Smith, president of International Wine and Spirits, which provided the data on per-capita alcohol consumption.

And particularly in agrarian regions; farmers often produce their own home brews from anything ranging from potatoes to sugar beets, making alcohol very accessible and very cheap, said Smith. This also makes per capita consumption hard to measure, with official figures sometimes well below actual consumption rates.

After a surge in binge drinking during the mid-1990s, Western Europe has sobered up substantially as greater affluence, education and the professionalization of the work force have changed drinking patterns, according to Ben Baumberg, policy and research officer at the IAS who authored the European Commission's report. A bottle of wine at lunch has become much less common in places like France and Italy.

Methodology

To determine Europe's drunkest countries we ranked 33* nations in four areas: consumption, regulation, riskiness of drinking patterns and health impact. The top 15 are included in our ranking.

Drinking: European countries were ranked 1 to 33 on the basis of per capita alcohol consumption during 2006, gathered by consultancy International Wine and Spirits.

Regulation: Using information from the World Health Organization for Europe's alcohol control data base, we assigned each country a score of 1 (the least restrictive) to 9 (the most restrictive) based on laws affecting alcohol consumption, including age restrictions on sales and opening hours at bars.

Drinking Pattern: We used the World Health Organization's scores for risky drinking behavior, which includes binge drinking and drinking in public places. Each country is assigned a score of 1 to 4, 1 being the least risky and 4 being the most.

Health Impact: We used data from the World Health Organization's Global Information System on Alcohol and Health to rank the countries from 1 to 33 based on the death rate from cirrhosis, a liver disease caused by alcoholism, per 100,000 people.

Weighting: Each of the four factors was given equal weight. Per capita consumption was used to break ties.

*Moldova, Albania and Cyprus were excluded from as complete data was not available.
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source: Forbes