addiction

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Addict Jailed to Protect Unborn Baby Gives Birth

Alabama woman admitted she used heroin daily, police say

(Newser) - A pregnant drug addict who made headlines last year when a judge sent her to jail to protect her fetus has given birth, AL.com reports. Lawyers for Alexandra Nicole Laird, 21, moved to have the new mom released on bond to a detox program following Tuesday's birth. Laird...

Maker of OxyContin Sued by Drug-Addled City

Complaint filed by Everett, Wash., says Purdue Pharma valued profits over people

(Newser) - What does a city do when its citizens are wracked with opioid addiction? Sue the maker of one of the most well-known brands is the route Everett is taking, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Washington city of 100,000 north of Seattle filed a complaint Thursday against Purdue Pharma,...

The VA Pumped Vets With Opioids. Now There's a Bigger Problem

How ex-service members got hooked on painkillers, and how the VA is letting them down: 'WSJ'

(Newser) - Veterans who return from service not only have to deal with everyday re-entry issues (finding jobs, reacclimating to life with family and friends), but also with the injuries and PTSD they may have brought home with them. To cope with the physical and mental pain, many of them are prescribed...

Sad Reason Why Ex-Inmate's Freedom Lasted Just 103 Days

Dealing with mental illness, addiction in Mass. prisons and in real world stacks deck against certain prisoners

(Newser) - It can be tough for ex-inmates to stay out of trouble when they get out prison, but for those with drug problems or battling mental illness in Massachusetts, the transition is even more of a struggle, per a piece by the Boston Globe's Spotlight team. A Department of Correction...

A Slot Machine&#39;s Deception, a Man&#39;s Tragic Death
A Slot Machine's
Deception, a Man's
Tragic Death
in case you missed it
Nov 20, 2016 5:30 PM CST

A Slot Machine's Deception, a Man's Tragic Death

Scott Stevens killed himself after a 6-year gambling addiction—were the machines to blame?

(Newser) - About 1% of the US population (around 3.2 million Americans ) has a gambling disorder, per the National Center for Responsible Gaming —and the Atlantic tells the tragic story of one of those addicts and how a lawsuit took the entire industry to task for his death. Scott...

Surgeon General: More People Use Opioids Than Tobacco

And other surprising news from surgeon general's first report on substance addiction

(Newser) - The latest (and first) surgeon general's report on substance addiction was released Thursday, and it offers up a surprising slew of factoids. Per NPR , Dr. Vivek Murthy says more people are hooked on prescription opioids than tobacco, 50% more people (20.8 million, per recent estimates) have substance abuse...

Canada Approves Prescription Heroin
Canada Approves
Prescription Heroin
Sep 15, 2016 4:14 AM CDT

Canada Approves Prescription Heroin

It's given to users when other treatments fail

(Newser) - Canadian doctors dealing with patients who have proved unable to stop taking heroin can now go ahead and prescribe them heroin. Justin Trudeau's government has reinstated a policy that allows doctors to prescribe diacetylmorphine—pharmaceutical-grade heroin—to severely addicted patients if other methods of treatment fail, ABC News reports....

Scientists Flick Switch, Boozy Rats Stop Drinking
Scientists Flick
Switch, Boozy
Rats Stop
Drinking
STUDY SAYS
Sep 8, 2016 10:02 AM CDT

Scientists Flick Switch, Boozy Rats Stop Drinking

Study suggests alcoholism can be conquered in the brain

(Newser) - Rats can hit the bottle too hard, just like humans—and a new study suggests the rodents' alcohol dependence may be reversible, Live Science reports. "We can completely reverse alcohol dependence by targeting a network of neurons," says lead scientist Olivier George in a statement on the study,...

Ex-Addict: I Got Prescription Opioids Way Too Easily

Doctors knew history, kept pills coming

(Newser) - Seth Mnookin is recovering from a three-year addiction to heroin, which he kicked in 1997. So when he went to Massachusetts General Hospital to be treated for kidney stones that left him in severe pain, he made sure to tell every medical professional he encountered about his history with addiction....

AMC Working on Miniseries About Journalist David Carr

With Bob Odenkirk of 'Better Call Saul' playing Carr

(Newser) - A new AMC miniseries will bring the story of the late New York Times writer David Carr onto the small screen, the AP reports. The network is teaming up with Sony Pictures Television to develop a six-episode miniseries on Carr, based on his 2008 memoir The Night of the Gun ...

Jamie Lee Curtis: I, Too, Was Addicted to Painkillers

She shares her story in response to Prince's death

(Newser) - It's time to do something about painkiller addiction, writes Jamie Lee Curtis in the Huffington Post , where she reveals that she was once addicted, like Prince reportedly was. "I too, waited anxiously for a prescription to be filled for the opiate I was secretly addicted to. I too,...

Addict's Story Touched Obama; Months Later, She Was Dead

Jessica Grubb died of 'oxycodone toxicity' on March 2

(Newser) - "I have sobriety, good books, Netflix, and a wonderful family," Jessica Grubb wrote from a Michigan hospital on Feb. 23, ahead of hip surgery. On March 1, the 30-year-old recovering heroin addict left the hospital with an IV port in her arm and 50 prescribed pills of oxycodone....

CDC to Doctors: Cool It With the Painkiller Prescriptions

New recommendations aim to curb opioid abuse

(Newser) - Prescription painkillers should not be a first-choice for treating common ailments like back pain and arthritis, according to new federal guidelines designed to reshape how doctors prescribe drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin. Amid an epidemic of addiction and abuse tied to these powerful opioids drugs, the Centers for Disease Control...

Secret Ingredient Used in China's Restaurants: Drugs

Country's FDA going after eateries it says use opium poppy powder as seasoning

(Newser) - If repasts at restaurants in China have seemed especially delectable (and irresistible) as of late, it may be because workers were sprinkling addictive opiates into the mix. That's what that country's equivalent of the FDA alleges, and now five restaurants are being prosecuted, while 30 others are getting...

Man Downloads Fallout 4, Loses Wife and Job

Russian is now suing game's creator, claiming he developed an addiction

(Newser) - A 28-year-old gamer from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk is suing Fallout 4 maker Bethesda Game Studios for an addiction he says cost him his wife, job, and health. After seeing an ad and downloading the game last month, he found himself emerging from a bunker into a post-apocalyptic world,...

Study: Here's Why Cheese Is Addictive, Salmon Isn't

Researchers say it all boils down to processing, fat, and glycemic load

(Newser) - Pizza is the most problematic food out there, as far as addictive-like qualities go. So report students who completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale as part of a study by researchers at the University of Michigan. Those researchers published their findings in PLoS ONE earlier this year, and wrote that...

Porn, Video Games Causing 'Masculinity Crisis': Shrink

Phillip Zimbardo says men are suffering 'new form of addiction'

(Newser) - Video games, pornography, and social isolation are an unhealthy mix for today's young men, according to a leading psychologist. Phillip Zimbardo, a professor emeritus at Stanford University, makes his warnings in his new book, Man (Dis)Connected—which includes the results of an in-depth study of 20,000 young men,...

Family Pens Blunt Obit for Woman Killed by Heroin OD

Molly Alice Parks 'made a lot of bad decisions,' including drugs

(Newser) - Molly Alice Parks died last week at 24, and when you read her obituary, you won't have to wonder about the tragedy that took her life at such a young age. The New Hampshire resident "passed away in Manchester on April 16, 2015, as the result of a...

Science Better for Alcoholics Than Faith-Based AA

Gabrielle Glaser says some alcohol abusers can even learn to drink in moderation

(Newser) - Trying to beat addiction through a faith-based 12-step program—Alcoholics Anonymous being the best known of the bunch—typically means you can never take a sip of alcohol again. But Gabrielle Glaser writes for the Atlantic that AA was founded 80 years ago , "when knowledge of the brain was...

Poverty, Mental Illness Abound in Broken Jail System: Report

Inmates face longer time because they can't pay bail, analysts find

(Newser) - It's not just federal and state prisons that need scrutiny: The country's local and county jails are being "misused," and it's time for reform, a new report finds. Those held in the facilities are typically there for minor infractions, and over the past three decades,...

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