Category Archives: Drug Dependency

Nelson man's £35,000 cannabis habit leads to prison sentence 12:30pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in News By Wendy Barlow , Court reporter A 62-YEAR-OLD man, said to have a £35,600-a-year cannabis habit, has been jailed after he was caught growing the drug again. John Patrick Corbett, who is also an alcoholic, had 24 large cannabis plants, which could potentially have yielded 630 grams of the drug, worth more than £6,000, Burnley Crown Court was told. Corbett, who is on benefits, has a long record for cannabis offences and in November 2008 was spared prison for cultivating the drug at his home and claiming it was for medicinal purposes. Three years earlier, he had been given a community rehabilitation order for cultivating cannabis. The defendant, said to smoke £100 of cannabis a day, this time asked for help from the probation service again, but was jailed for 26 weeks instead. Corbett, of Clover Hill Road, Nelson, had admitted producing cannabis, last October. Silvia Dacre, prosecuting, told the court the cannabis farm, with 15 plants ready and nine growing, was not a very pro-fessional set-up. She said: “It was a bit shambolic, really.” The drugs could have been worth £6,300. Weighing scales … Continue reading →

ProjectKnow.com Offers Vast Library of Information on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Addiction, and Recovery Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 22, 2012 ProjectKnow.com announced today the launch of its new website dedicated to answering hard questions that site visitors may have concerning substance and alcohol use. The new and improved website is intended to further the ProjectKnow.com goal of educating people about the causes, effects, symptoms and treatments for drug and alcohol abuse and addiction. Evalyn Smith, the Knowledge Manager of ProjectKnow.com, spoke about the goals of the new website: "ProjectKnow.com is about more than just providing information about drug and alcohol addiction and substance abuse treatment,” she said. “It’s something we do extremely well, but it’s also about fostering a community where visitors can ask real-world questions and get real help from their peers—people with a very personal stake in recovery." ProjectKnow.com makes a wealth of information on drug and alcohol use available to the site’s visitors to allow for extensive research into all aspects of dependency. From alcohol to street drugs to prescription drug abuse, with the amount of available information, visitors can learn how to identify whether they or someone they know has a drug-related problem. Once the … Continue reading →

MONDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Alcohol use disorders are a significant issue among U.S. surgeons, a new national survey reveals. The online, anonymous poll indicated that 15 percent of surgeons appear to suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence: nearly 14 percent of male surgeons and 26 percent of female surgeons. Those figures exceed the 8 percent to 12 percent figure typically cited for alcohol abuse rates among the public at large, according to background information in the study published in the February issue of Archives of Surgery. "But it should be said that a number of studies have shown that direct patient harm associated with impairment due to chemical dependency is very, very rare," said survey lead author Dr. Michael Oreskovich, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. "The chance of a patient being injured by an impaired surgeon is really very uncommon. Something like one in 10,000. So it just doesn't happen very much," he noted. "However, the findings do beg the question as to why it is that every other safety-sensitive profession has random drug screenings, while surgeons do not," Oreskovich added. "Some anesthesiologists are finally undergoing this … Continue reading →

Daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown battling her own demons Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of the late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, disappeared for several hours after her mother's funeral to get high, according to numerous sources, including The Daily Beast. The 18-year-old, who according to family sources was in rehab last year, has been hospitalized twice since the Saturday funeral, according to RadarOnline.com. And now Bobby Brown, no stranger to addiction and rehab himself, is encouraging her to get more help. "Bobby is afraid of what is going to happen to Krissy if she doesn't get some help," a source told RadarOline. "Krissy has taken her mother's death really hard, not surprisingly, and Bobby is terrified she's going to do something stupid. He wants her in a treatment center, getting professional help to get her through the grieving process without falling back on alcohol or drugs to mask her pain."  "Let's face it, both her parents struggled with dependency issues and Bobby knows that addiction often runs in the genes so he's terrified his daughter is going to follow in his and Whitney's footsteps -- he wants to stop that by all means possible."   Stephen Colbert … Continue reading →

13-05-2011 20:00 http://www.insidershealth.com One Ohio county may be a microcosm of our nation's drug problem. Prescription drug abuse has skyrocketed. One in ten babies born there test positive for drugs, and overdoses quadrupled in the last decade. Also, on Hollywood Healthbeat, retired rocker Sammy Hagar says he's writing his new autobiography, and ...having his brain probed by aliens. Could it have anything to do with his drug or alcohol addiction? http://www.insidershealth.com The rest is here: Drugged Nation … Continue reading →

The Texas Tech Association for Students About Service hosted a free open conference on addiction recovery Saturday at the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery, focusing on reducing the social stigma attached with the process. The annual event, “12 Step Programs: Not for Losers,” was hosted from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The conference featured several guest speakers, including professionals Janice Gaunt, Katie Mitchell and George Youngblood. Guests spoke on several topics including eating disorders, drug dependency and alcoholism. Liesl Wyett, a senior community family and addiction studies major from Oklahoma City, said ASAS started the convention to help educate and inspire people. “We’re here to offer information to those interested in the process of addiction and recovery,” she said, “and so I’m here to work the convention and be of service to the community.” Wyett is a member of both ASAS and the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery, and said the center aims to help recovering alcoholics and drug addicts on the path to recovery. “Basically, what the center does is it gives recovering addicts and alcoholics a second chance,” she said. “And because we are about service and about giving back to the … Continue reading →

Amanda Tucker was a drug addict with a clear, calculated pattern of victimizing the elderly, police say. Two of her victims were 90 and 94, both suffering from dementia. As they stood by in their residence last fall, Tucker stole their financial instruments and a pair of earrings. Earlier at the Mirabella Retirement Community in Seattle, she walked into the room where an 87-year-old man was being cared for by his daughter. Tucker claimed she was looking for her grandmother's apartment, but left with the man's credit cards. Her crime spree led to 23 felony counts, and Tucker pleaded guilty on Jan. 23. But because Tucker is eligible for a drug offender sentencing alternative she could face only 36.75 months in jail, which could also be reduced by good behavior. King County Superior Court Judge Michael C. Hayden will decide Friday afternoon if she'll get that penalty or the maximum seven years in prison that police and prosecutors are hoping for. "The defendant's actions are not the actions of a drug addict who acts on impulse to feed her drug habit," Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mafé Rajul wrote in a sentencing memo. "Instead, her criminal actions are those of someone who … Continue reading →

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Purple drank is a street drug that's gaining popularity. And one NFL player knows all to well about it's addictive nature. We sat down with former Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Johnny Jolly in prison, where he serving a six-year sentence. And even though he was already on probation and was trying to get back into the NFL, he still couldn't put the purple drank down. In high school at Houston's Forest Brook, Jolly was defensive tackle standout, and his old coach, Ronald Holmes, remembers him well. "He was just a complete competitor," he said. Jolly went on to dominate at Texas A&M, earning him a spot on the Green Bay Packers defensive line in 2006. But something he once tried in high school would resurface after his first season in the NFL. It would also have him changing uniforms. One of it's many street names is purple drank. "That first off season, I was just doing it recreational. Just drinking, just having a drink like anybody would drink alcohol," Jolly said. Jolly's recreational use of the codeine concoction soon turned to dependency after an injury in 2007. "As I was drinking, I found out that it … Continue reading →

advertisement People over the age of fifty have been entering drug treatment programs in greater numbers. In 1992, the 50-plus demographic accounted for 6.6 percent of all admissions. The most recent statistics available report that this group now accounts for 12.2 percent of all treatment admissions, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Peggy W. is one of those admissions. She is 58 years old, and in rehab for the first time. Peggy said she was “a real mess” when she entered Tarzana Treatment Center four months ago. She hit bottom last fall. “I was in a total black out from the sixth of October to the 17th. They did a blood alcohol on me it was .43. I should have been dead then,” Peggy said. To hear more of Peggy's story, click here. Peggy said she was a functioning addict for 44 years. Her abuse included drinking vodka in the morning and then working at a bar where she had access to even more alcohol. She also abused prescription pills and narcotics. Despite the toll this was taking on her health, she managed to work as a dispatcher, raise six children and go … Continue reading →

New Website Provides Support for Alcohol and Drug Addicts and Families Palm Springs, CA (PRWEB) February 15, 2012 Dependency.net, a website devoted to offering information and resources to possible addicts, was launched today. The site features articles on substance abuse, drug addiction, and alcoholism; especially focusing on tolerance and dependence. For people who already recognize they need chemical dependency treatment, Dependency.net can help them locate detox and rehabilitation centers. Offering a wealth of information about prescription drug dependency, illicit drugs, and alcohol, Dependency.net hopes people who visit the site will gain a better understanding of addiction. For potential alcoholics, there is also an alcoholism self-assessment test. While this test isn’t a medical assessment, it can open a dialogue between friends and a potential alcoholic. "People may arrive at Dependency.net because a friend or family member shared the test with them. It could be out of fun or it could be genuine concern the person may be an alcoholic. For those that have a problem with alcohol, we want them to have that moment of introspection, use the site to learn more about the nature of their addiction, and decide to get help," explains Sara Leal, Communications Director of Dependency.net. Addicts … Continue reading →