Almost all liver disease is preventable yet we are met with a sheer resistance to tackle it.

UK has the highest rate of oesophageal cancer in Europe while liver cancer deaths have jumped more than 70%, according to two new sets of figures. Alcohol and obesity are helping fuel both types of disease, with many of these cancer cases preventable if people were healthier. A league table of European cancer rates of the oesophagus show about 6.4 out of every 100,000 people develop oesophageal cancer...

experts agree that a war on drugs is ineffective in reducing drug production and often has extreme negative long-term impacts on development and human rights.

In 2003 the illicit drugs market was worth an estimated $320 billion with over 5 per cent of the world's populations aged between 15 and 64 years of age, or nearly 250 million people, consuming illicit drugs.East and Southeast Asia is home to about a third of the global population and is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Economic development in the region is leading to new infrastructure...

Academics found that women who had high IQ scores in childhood were more likely to take illegal drugs when they are in their 30s.

INTELLIGENCE early on in life among women may be linked to drug-taking as they get older, Welsh researchers have discovered.Academics found that women who had high IQ scores in childhood were more likely to take illegal drugs when they are in their 30s. One of the theories they give for being behind this is that those people with a high IQ are more willing to try new experiences.Dr James White, who...

rising number of lawyers, doctors, dentists and vets in Britain are turning functioning alcoholics

rising number of lawyers, doctors, dentists and vets in Britain are turning “functioning alcoholics”, experts have warned.Addiction specialists have given them the “functioning alcoholics” label because they do not fit the typical image of down-and-out street drinkers, the Daily Mail reported.There has been a surge in demand from professionals who are seeking rehab treatment abroad so as to avoid...

Roxies sell on the street for as much as $30 per pill and offer a high that tops crack, heroin or meth

PHOTO BY MICHAEL PATRICK, COPYRIGHT © 2011 // BUY THIS PHOTOMichael Patrick/news sentinel The two most wanted prescription pills on the streets of East Tennessee. The small pills are Roxie 30 and the large green pill is an Oxycontin 80. The second-generation Oxys, made by Purdue Pharma, are...

Addiction's Brain Abnormalities Can Be Reversed

  Researchers from the University of Minho in Portugal have discovered that rats exposed before birth to glucocorticoids (GC) not only show several brain abnormalities similar to those found in addicts, but become themselves susceptible to addiction (the glucorticoids, which are stress hormones, were used to mimic pre-natal stress).  But even more remarkable, Ana João Rodrigues, Nuno...

UC Berkeley researchers pinpoint areas of brain linked with addiction

 Researchers at UC Berkeley have determined the specific areas of the brain that value and interpret decisions, which they hope may lead to new treatments for individuals who struggle with addiction. By measuring the neural activity of macaque monkeys, researchers were able to pinpoint the two specific ways the brain makes decisions, which they explained in a study published Sunday in the journal...

Drug That Killed Michael Jackson "Was Self-Injected"

 The jury hear evidence that MJ had also taken a large number of sleeping pills… 08:42, Sunday, 30 October 2011 The last defence witness in the trial of Dr Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s personal physician, has told the courtroom that he believed the star was responsible for his own death.   Dr Paul White told jurors that the most likely cause of death was self-injection of a fatal...

Enabling drug addicts

 Recently, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Vancouver’s Insite program, where addicts can “fix” in a “safe” environment.   As a result of this ruling, other Canadian cities may follow suit, to the delight of some and the significant uneasiness of others. So as not to be close-minded about the idea, a friend of mine suggested maybe Ottawa should be next in line for an Insite, and proposed...

Eminem talks addiction, says 'The bigger the crowd, the bigger my habit got'

Eminem hasn’t exactly avoided the topic of his relationship with a variety of illicit chemicals. After all, his last two albums were calledRelapse and Recovery. But the man born Marshall Mathers has rarely been as candid about his struggles with addiction in the press.In the pages...

Frightening 'Drug Threat Assessment' for the USA and Mexico

 The National Drug Intelligence Center, a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, recently released a document entitled the "National Drug Threat Assessment 2011."  You can read the document online here.  The document paints a gloomy picture for both the U.S. and Mexico. The Assessment's Executive Summary begins: "The illicit trafficking and abuse of drugs present a challenging,...

Roman Abramovich is a "gangster", court told

 Boris Berezovsky said Mr Abramovich was part of “black ops” by the Russian security service designed to force him to give up his business interests in the country. Mr Berezovsky, the so-called “godfather” of the Russian oligarchs, says he met Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, at the Kremlin “eye to eye” and was told to give up his control of a television station that had criticised the president...

Michael Jackson's heartbroken daughter lashed out at Dr Conrad Murray for failing to save her father's life, jurors heard today as they again saw a photo of the pop stars dead body.

The King of Pop's three children 'cried and cried and cried' after being told their father was dead.His daughter, Paris, now 13, told Murray, her father's personal doctor: 'I will wake up in the morning and I won't be able to see my daddy.'On Tuesday a court in Los Angeles heard recordings of Conrad...

NJ Town First to Consider Medical Marijuana

 Medical marijuana could get a little closer to sprouting in the Garden State, as one licensed dispensary heads to the zoning board in the town of Maple Shade, NJ. Authorities in March licensed six non-profit alternative treatment centers across the state, but they’ve largely been in a holding pattern ever since. On Wednesday, Compassionate Sciences Inc. will be the first center to seek local...

The Netherlands is embarking on a crusade against its multi-billion-euro marijuana industry

 The Netherlands is embarking on a crusade against its multi-billion-euro marijuana industry, with significant implications both for its economy and its famously liberal approach to life. Along with tighter control of legalized prostitution and a swing to the right in attitudes toward immigration and Islam in recent years, the clampdown is seen as further evidence of an erosion of tolerance...

Addiction vaccine could be approved in five years

 Some of the best medical minds in the country are working on a vaccine to help people kick a disease that often lasts a lifetime and ends in death. They're working on a cure-all to addiction. A shot that would stop a life of smoking, drinking or drugs before it starts.   "I have a husband who is an alcoholic and so if he could get a shot of something that would get him to stop drinking,...

Mum tells of battle to beat a serious addiction to Diet Coke

 Claire Ayton drank seven pints – or four litres – a day for 10 years in the belief it was “normal”. She only realised she was an addict after seeking help to lose weight and has now ditched the fizzy pop after hypnotherapy. The teaching assistant, 36, drank up to 14 two-litre bottles a week – totalling 7,280 over the decade. Kicking the habit will save her almost £1,000 a year. Advertisement...

12 steps to destruction

 Some say that A.A.'s Steps are based on the Bible. And they are: www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml Some say that most came from the teachings of Rev. Sam Shoemaker, Jr., Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in New York. And they did: www.dickb.com/newlight.shtml. Some say they are "12 steps to destruction," and the contention is about as valueless as the erroneous documention behind the contention....