"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

Landlords who rent to medical-marijuana dispensaries in California are being warned by the federal government that they could lose their property or be sent to prison, the Sacramento Bee reported Dec. 15.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Sacramento and San Francisco offices recently sent warning letters to landlords, following in the footsteps of the agency’s Los Angeles office, which issued about 300 such warnings over the summer. Nathan Sands of the Sacramento-based Compassionate Coalition said the letters have “definitely caused a panic,” although he predicted that the tactic would cause a backlash against the DEA.

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Buprenorphine (Suboxone) was developed as an alternative to methadone that would be equally effective in treating opiate addiction but less likely to be abused. But Baltimore officials say that a black market for the drug has developed, leading to “bupe” abuse and some deaths, the Baltimore Sun reported Dec. 16.

Unlike methadone, buprenorphine can be prescribed by individual doctors or group practices, not just distributed at treatment clinics. The drug’s formula is designed to minimize its abuse potential — it contains naloxone, which makes users sick if they ingest it — but some users are crushing the pills and snorting or injecting the drug to get high, either filtering out the naloxone or putting up with its ill effects.

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By Bob Curley

 A bid to end federal student-aid penalties for those with drug convictions was launched with high hopes earlier this year, but now appears to be in deep trouble in Congress.

A broad coalition of drug-reform, educational, and addiction-related organizations  threw its weight behind a plan to amend the federal Higher Education Act (HEA) and overturn a policy of denying federal financial aid to students convicted of drug offenses. The policy, devised by Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) and passed by Congress in 1999, requires students to divulge information about convictions for drug offenses — but not any other crimes — on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

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Serious Adverse Reactions With This Vaginal Ring Birth Control Device Include Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) And Pulmonary Emboli (PE)

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

An abstract from the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) entitled “Venous Thromboembolic Events in Women Using the NuvaRing®.” (Blood — ASH Annual Meeting Abstracts — 2007 110: Abstract 3994) concludes with this statement:

Longer follow-up of safety studies and post-marketing adverse event reporting are needed to determine VTE [(venous thromboembolic event)] risks and incidence while using the NuvaRing®.

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Researchers may be underestimating alcohol consumption in the U.K. by failing to account for larger wine glasses in bars and increasingly strong beers and ciders on the market, Medical News Today reported Dec. 13.

The U.K.’s Office of National Statistics has announced that it will updates its methods for calculating alcohol consumption, saying that past research may be underestimating alcohol use by 30 percent. In some cases, people may not be drinking a greater volume of alcoholic beverages, the drinks they are consuming are stronger. And in the case of wine, some pubs and bars have replaced the standard 125ml wine glass with larger goblets.

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Serious Adverse Reactions With This Vaginal Ring Birth Control Device Include Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) And Pulmonary Emboli (PE)

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

An abstract from the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) entitled “Venous Thromboembolic Events in Women Using the NuvaRing®.” (Blood — ASH Annual Meeting Abstracts — 2007 110: Abstract 3994) concludes with this statement:

Longer follow-up of safety studies and post-marketing adverse event reporting are needed to determine VTE [(venous thromboembolic event)] risks and incidence while using the NuvaRing®.

(more…)

More communities in the U.S. are distributing the opiate overdose antidote naloxone directly to addicts for emergency use, but the Bush administration continues to oppose such policies, the New York Times reported Dec. 11.

Naloxone works by blocking the opiate receptors in the brain; it has been used by emergency medical personnel since 1971 to prevent overdoses. In recent years, a number of communities have distributed the antidote directly to addicts and their friends and family members — a policy credited with reversing at least 1,000 overdoses.

“From a public (more…)

More communities in the U.S. are distributing the opiate overdose antidote naloxone directly to addicts for emergency use, but the Bush administration continues to oppose such policies, the New York Times reported Dec. 11.

Naloxone works by blocking the opiate receptors in the brain; it has been used by emergency medical personnel since 1971 to prevent overdoses. In recent years, a number of communities have distributed the antidote directly to addicts and their friends and family members — a policy credited with reversing at least 1,000 overdoses.

“From a public (more…)

As Of November 2007 J&J Faces 2400 Lawsuits Involving Strokes, Heart Attacks, And Blood Clots Allegedly Caused By Ortho Evra, With Most Cases Pending Before MDL Judge Katz

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

In legal motions filed November 20, 2007 by lawyers representing women claiming to have been injured by their use of the Ortho Evra birth control patch, it is asserted that the drug company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) misled the FDA and doctors in the years leading up to the time that “the Patch” was approved for use by women in the U.S.

According to a November 29, 2007 Bloomberg article, “J&J Altered Birth-Control Patch Data to Hide Risks”, these contentions of misconduct by J&J were presented to U.S. District Judge David Katz, of the U.S. District Court, North District of Ohio, in Toledo, who is the presiding judge for In re Ortho Evra Products Liability Litigation, Multi-district Litigation (MDL) 1742, where currently approximately 1500 federal court lawsuits from around the country have been centralized.

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People who take opioid-based drugs to treat chronic pain can drive about as well as others on the road, according to researchers from Rush University in Chicago.

The New York Times reported Dec. 4 that researchers used a driving simulator to compare the reaction times, weaving and accident rates of subjects taking oral morphine for pain to a control group that was not taking pain medication.

Lead researcher Asokumar Buvanendran said that, unlike occasional users, long-term pain patients develop tolerance to opiates that tends to limit their intoxicating effects. “If I suddenly took 30 milligrams of morphine, I’d probably sleep for 10 hours, whereas someone who took it for the last two years is probably as alert as I am now,” he said.

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