Category Archives: Drugs

A racket involving the trading of drugs for stolen explosives is widespread in Lampang, according to a report released on Tuesday by Lampang provincial police, news reports said. Following the arrest of a suspect in Muang district, on Sept 19, police seized four kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, known asice, two sticks of dynamite and one "power gel" bomb from his residence. According to the police report, the suspect admitted to stealing theexplosives from lignite mines in Mae Mau district operated by the Electric Authority of Thailand, with the help of a company employee. The stolen explosives weretraded for drugs, he said. Thesuspect told police that he had no ideahow or where the explosiveswere used. Asource in a military unit in Lampang, who asked not to be named,was saidthe drugs-for-bombs racket is rampant inthe area, according to news reports. He saidsecurity officers in the area were worried that the bombs could get into the hands of terrorists. Thesource said Lampang,the country's main source of energy, isunder threat of daily bomb attacks, similar to the three southernmost provinces. You can introduce your kids to edutainment reading with our Student Weekly magazine: Thailand's only all-English entertainment and education magazine for teens and all … Continue reading →

By Scott Daugherty The Virginian-Pilot July 23, 2012 PORTSMOUTH Step one to becoming an importer of designer street drugs: Email a laboratory in China. Step two: Wire a few thousand dollars to a friendly, English-speaking customer service representative. Step three: Wait for the postal carrier. According to federal court documents, that is how two Portsmouth men were able to bring almost 100 pounds of an Ecstasy-like stimulant called methylone to Virginia. No clandestine airfields. No henchmen with machine guns. No crooked customs agents. "It's probably easier than buying a case of wine online," said Richard Yarow, an attorney for a man who pleaded guilty last month to helping one of the importers wire money to China. "When you buy wine you at least have to show ID" when it is delivered. Methylone, also known as lone, is relatively new to the U.S. drug scene - so much so that Yarow and other defense attorneys involved in these cases found themselves having to do research just to figure out what their clients were charged with dealing. A white crystalline powder that is usually snorted, swallowed or mixed into drinks, methylone gained notoriety in the United States last year as a club … Continue reading →

After a 13-year dry spell, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved two new drugs promising weight loss in a pill. But will you be able to get a prescription for them? The answer may depend on which doctor you see. "I'll probably take a wait-and-see attitude myself," said Greg Anderson, an assistant professor of family medicine at the Mayo Clinic. "The track record has not been particularly good for diet medications." By contrast, Dr. Albert Levy, assistant professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, said he has already been prescribing the same combination of drugs in the newest offering off-label for two years, a decision based on data from previous clinical trials. He said almost all of his patients lost weight when they were given the medications. "Once the patient has learned how to control the appetite and has lost a good amount of weight, she or he is stimulated to continue to lose weight without the medications," Levy said. The two medications in question are Belviq and Qsymia. Belviq, which contains a new medication called lorcaserin, was approved June 27. Qsymia, approved earlier this week, is a combination of two medications which had already … Continue reading →

FDA The Food and Drug Administration has approved two new diet drugs, but both have restrictions about who can -- or should -- take them. By Maggie Fox, NBC News The Food and Drug Administration has approved two new diet pills in a week -- the first new obesity drugs to be approved in 13 years. The agency, usually dry about its approvals, practically gushed about the pent-up demand for new obesity treatments in a country where more than two-thirds of the population is overweight or obese and steadily getting fatter. These prescription medications would be taken for the rest of a persons life, the FDA says on its website. For many people, obesity is a life-long condition, but we dont always think of it -- or treat it -- as such, said Dr. Amy Egan, deputy director for safety in FDAs Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products But dont expect to be able to get either drug easily.Each ofthe new drugs -- Belviq and Qsymia -- is being restricted in a different way. And consumer advocates say dieters should think twice about taking either. The FDA was so worried about Belviq, approved last week, that it has asked for … Continue reading →

What You Need to Know About New Weight Loss Drugs Belviq and Qsymia July 18, 2012 -- Two new prescription weight loss drugs, Belviq and Qsymia, now have the FDA's blessing. Which, if either, is for you? Both drugs help some people lose weight. Neither drug is for everyone. Yet the two drugs are quite different. Here's WebMD's FAQ comparing Qsymia to Belviq. Vivus Pharmaceuticals says you should pronounce Qsymia this way: kyoo-sim-EE-uh. (The company's preferred name was Qnexa, but that was nixed by FDA as sounding too much like other drugs.) Arena Pharmaceuticals says you should pronounce Belviq this way: BEL-VEEK. Vivus says Qsymia should be available "in the fourth quarter of 2012," which begins in September. But don't look for it in your local pharmacy. Because women taking Qsymia must use birth control (see below) the drug will be sold only through "certified pharmacies." These are likely to be major online pharmacies. Because Belviq has a potential for abuse (see below), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration must rule on how to schedule the drug. That process probably began no later than last May. As this usually takes four to six months, Belviq should become available by early 2013. … Continue reading →

By Meg Tirrell - 2012-07-18T04:00:01Z The most commonly prescribed multiple sclerosis drugs, including those made by Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB), Bayer AG (BAYN) and Merck KGaA, failed to slow disability progression in a long-term study that raises new questions on whether the treatments can achieve that goal. Researchers compared historical outcomes for MS patients in British Columbia to assess the use of interferon beta drugs. The results, published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found the medicines didnt delay progress of the patients disability. It dampens somewhat the enthusiasm for so-called first- line therapies, said Ludwig Kappos of University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, and author of an editorial that accompanied the study, in an e-mail. MS is an autoimmune disease that affects about 2.1 million people worldwide and can lead to limb numbness, loss of vision and paralysis, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The most common form, relapsing-remitting, is characterized by sporadic flare-ups followed by periods of inactivity. Avonex, made by Biogen, Bayers Betaseron and Merck KGaA (MRK)s Rebif generated $6.6 billion in 2011 revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Called disease-modifying drugs, they have been shown to slow the frequency of relapses and … Continue reading →

18 July 2012 Last updated at 01:05 ET By Vincent Kearney BBC NI home affairs correspondent The new head of the Northern Ireland prison service has rejected claims that illegal drugs are an inevitable part of prison life. Recent reports by the prisoner ombudsman has linked drugs to the deaths of two prisoners in Maghaberry and accused the prison authorities of tolerating the problem. However, Sue McAllister, who has just taken over as director general of the prison service insisted this was not the case. She said measures would be introduced to tackle the drugs problem. Ms McAllister started her new job quietly at the start of this month and has spent the time since meeting prison staff and some of the prisoners held in Northern Ireland's three jails. She is the first woman to hold the post of director general of the NI prison service. The 51-year-old mother of two knows more than most about the problems and challenges it faces. She was part of a review team appointed after the death of Colin Bell, who hanged himself in his cell in Maghaberry while on suicide watch in July 2008. In a highly critical report published three years ago, … Continue reading →

By Shannon Pettypiece and Robert Langreth - 2012-07-18T14:30:00Z Deaths from AIDS continued to decline last year as the number of people on HIV drugs worldwide surged 21 percent from 2010, according to a report that found poor and middle income countries spent more on treatment. Deaths dropped 5.6 percent to 1.7 million in 2011 from the previous year as 8 million people in developing regions gained access to medicines that fight the infection, according to a report today from UNAIDS, the United Nations program to treat and prevent the illness. In Sub-Sahara Africa, where 69 percent of people with HIV live, the number on therapy jumped to 6.2 million from 100,000 in 2003. There is still a huge gap from where we should be, but the world is doing better, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, in a telephone interview. The big story is no longer about the science; it is about the money and politics. The two biggest questions now are where is the money coming from and where is it going to go. About 7 million people infected with HIV in low income countries still need drugs and dont get them, the … Continue reading →

Interferon Beta Treatment Did Not Slow Progression of Disability in Study July 17, 2012 -- Disease-modifying drugs have been game-changers for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. The drugs help prevent relapses, but now new research questions whether they slow progression of disability from the disease. In a study of patients with relapsing-remitting MS, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, use of the most widely prescribed disease-modifying drugs, interferon beta, was not associated with a delay in disability progression. Patients treated with interferon beta were no less likely than untreated patients to progress to the point where they required a cane to walk, which is a benchmark measure of disease progression. "Treatment with beta interferon was not associated with a delay in progression to disability," says researcher Helen Tremlett, PhD, of the University of British Columbia. "It may be that in subgroups of patients these drugs do slow disease progression, but we were not able to show this." As many as 2.5 million people worldwide and 350,000 people in the U.S. have multiple sclerosis, a progressive disease of the central nervous system that leaves most patients functionally disabled within a decade or two of diagnosis. In 1993, the … Continue reading →

The FDA is recalling four Hospira cancer drugs, including methotrexate, because glass particles in the vials can enter the solutions. (Hospira photo / July 16, 2012) 10:51 a.m. CDT, July 16, 2012 The drugs recalled are carboplatin, cytarabine, paclitaxel, methotrexate and were distributed nationwide to wholesalers and direct customers. The Food and Drug Administration said there may be potential for the drugs to come into contact with the embedded particles, and the particles may become dislodged into the solutions. Injury could result if the solution were injected into a patient, the FDA said. Signs and symptoms might include bleeding, bruising, inflammation, itching, rash, chest pain and respiratory symptoms. Hospira attributed the root cause to a supplier glass defect and said it was arranging for return and replacement of all recalled products, according to the FDA notice. Formal recall letters have been distributed within the U.S. along with notification to safety organizations. More: Hospira recalls 4 cancer drugs over glass particles … Continue reading →