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Researchers in the US and Australia have identified the mechanism underlying an ancient animal instinct: our appetite for sodium chloride (salt). The mechanism is hijacked by addictive compounds, such as opiates, which could help to explain patterns of drug abuse. An appetite for salt can be crucial to survival because animals with an ability to meet bodily demands for salt by rapidly consuming salty solutions are more likely to avoid predators. But little was understood about the molecular control of this process.  Now scientists from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, and the University of Melbourne have identified, in...

A US charity has paid 26 female drug addicts in Britain to have contraceptive coils or implants fitted, it was reported today. Project Prevention said it had made initial payments of £60 and a UK-based charity is hoping to launch a similar scheme. Barbara Harris, who founded the US charity, triggered an ethical storm in October after offering to pay British addicts £200 if they were sterilised.

A teenager charged with crashing a van into a house, killing a woman gardening, told police she didn't feel so bad after learning the victim's age. According to court documents obtained by CBS Radio's 1010WINS, Kayla Gerdes was quoted in a written statement to police saying: "The thing that made me not feel so bad was she was old," she said. "I mean, 70 years is a long time to live." Then, on a completely separate note, she told police: "I want to see a newspaper or the news to see what I look like." Gerdes is facing vehicular manslaughter...

... Every year, state and federal governments spend more than $15 billion, and insurers $5 billion more, on substance-abuse treatment services for some four million people. That amount may soon increase sharply: last year, Congress passed the mental health parity law, which for the first time includes addiction treatment under a federal law requiring that insurers cover mental and physical ailments at equal levels. Many clinics across the county have waiting lists, and researchers estimate that some 20 million Americans who could benefit from treatment do not get it. Yet very few rehabilitation programs have the evidence to show that...

It's dark and dank. It smells terrible. It's full of black mold and cockroaches. It's filled with felons. It has unsanitary bathrooms and showers. The bathroom stalls are so small that you can't close the door, drop your pants and sit down. You have to leave the door open, drop your drawers and sit down and THEN close the stall door. The breakfasts are usually just cereal and pastries and coffee. The floors are old and wooden and creek when you walk. Sleeping is tough. It's cold and drafty. Yet, through it all, this is home, at least on a...

A 12-hour standoff ended this morning with a north Houston man lobbing Molotov cocktails at Houston Police before taking his own life rather than vacate a home he'd lost to foreclosure. James Hahn, a chemist, had told police he would not be taken from the home alive, said Capt. Bruce Williams, an HPD spokesman. " 'You know what I do for a living and you know what I am capable of,' " said Williams, recalling one of the conversations police had with the man on Wednesday. The standoff began at 1:10 p.m. Wednesday when police said Hahn pulled a gun...

When federal agents raided the Pittsburgh-area office of Dr. Bernard L. Rottschaefer, the resulting allegations came as a shock to the 63-year-old man's friends and family: Rottschaefer, the office of U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan alleged, had been writing prescriptions for anti-anxiety medication and opiate painkillers like OxyContin in exchange for sex. Rottschaefer's arrest came at the height of a nationwide moral panic over prescription painkiller abuse. His 2004 trial came just after the Orlando Sentinel newspaper had published a landmark series on abuse of the painkiller OxyContin, a series that inspired Congressional hearings and legislation across the country-and a...

LOS ANGELES - Paula Abdul broke her nose over the weekend after she fell while trying to avoid stepping on her Chihuahua, her publicist said Monday. Abdul was recovering from the mishap and will appear on "American Idol" Tuesday and its season finale Wednesday, publicist David Brokaw said. "She's a little sore, but is doing fine," he said. Abdul told the syndicated entertainment TV show "Extra" she tore cartilage in her nose and fractured her toe. "I took a nasty fall ... trying not to hurt my dog. I bruised myself on my arm ... my chest, my waist all...

I watched the Democrat debate yesterday evening, not so much to learn something new, but because I have the innate curse of enjoying political speeches, even if those speeches grind against the very pit of my soul in both substance and concept. The majority of the debate uncovered no real surprises, but one particular answer to a question about drug testing sticks in my mind. The answer that Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd gave to a question about drug testing welfare recipients strikes hard at the very nature of the rampant disability and aggressive disease that infects the modern Democrat party,...

Investigation Continues as Congressman Enters Mayo Clinic May 5, 2006 — Capitol Police have taken disciplinary action against a watch commander for the handling of Rep. Patrick Kennedy's car accident, acting Capitol Police Chief Christopher McGaffin said. Lou Cannon of of the Fraternal Order of Police for the District of Columbia said there are questions about whether Rep. Patrick Kennedy received special treatment. (ABC News) McGaffin said the incident was improperly delayed due to "poor judgment" on the part of police managers and that a field sobriety test should have been administered to Kennedy after his car hit a barrier...

Former Full House cutie Jodie Sweetin has earned herself a spot on the lengthy list of child stars gone wrong. During an appearance on Good Morning America Wednesday, Sweetin, who played middle sister Stephanie Tanner on the hit sitcom, revealed that she is a recovering meth addict and once battled a daily drug habit. The ex-actress, 24, said she had trouble figuring out how to adjust to a regular childhood existence after Full House ended its run in 1995. "There is a certain sense of loss when a series ends," Sweetin said. "It is kind of hard to figure out...

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, January 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) –A recent study reinforces previous findings that women who have abortions frequently turn to drugs and alcohol to cope with the aftereffects of the trauma.Author Pricilla Coleman, professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University, said studies show women who have abortions are up to five times more likely to use drugs and alcohol, and to smoke, than women who have not had an abortion, in a research review published in Current Women’s Health Reviews.Coleman said studies show women are more likely than men to rely on drugs or...

EASTON, Md. -- Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union are appealing the conviction of an Easton woman who was accused of endangering a child by using cocaine while she was pregnant. Kelly Cruz, 30, was found guilty of a reckless endangerment charge Aug. 5 after waiving her right to a jury trial. She was ordered to serve 2 1/2 years in prison. Cruz was charged in February, about a month after giving birth to a premature baby boy who tested positive for cocaine. Defense attorneys had sought an acquittal, arguing there was never a risk of harm to another...

NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO - When Esteban Perez sold $35 bags of heroin on the streets of this violent border city, he said he felt three things: fear, dread and terror. He feared not having enough money to bribe the local police to look the other way. He dreaded not having enough heroin left to feed his addiction. And he was terrified of not having enough cash for the drug smugglers who had sold him the narcotics and demanded a share of his profits. "I was scared of them, most of all," Perez, 24, said of the traffickers. "They ask you...

The worldwide smoking rate among women is expected to rise 20 percent by 2025, the report says. BOSTON (May 31) - Tobacco companies did elaborate research on women to figure out how to hook them on smoking. Researchers at Harvard University's School of Public Health said they examined more than 7 million documents - some dating back to 1969, others as recent as 2000 - for new details about the industry's efforts to lure more women smokers. ''They did so much research in such a sophisticated way,'' she said. ''Women should know how far the tobacco industry went to exploit...

/begin my translationDrug Sold Domestically For Kim Jong-il's Fund [Japanese Expert Analysis-Part II] S. Korean Government Agency Report On "Rising Drug Use of N. Koreans" [ 2005-04-12 18:38 ] N. Korean drug seized by Australian Special Units in 2003 A recent report prepared by a S. Korean government agency has the following headline:"Recently, the use of METH is suddenly rising at N. Korean border area. N. Korean authorities as well as Chinese is raising their concern." The report accurately analyzes why N. Korean drug market has gotten so big. Intense Competition Between State Security and Security Command There are two...

A year after a law change designed to get prostitutes off the street, a price war driven by teenage sex workers has flared up on the streets of South Auckland. Market forces appear to be driving street prostitution as teenagers, some as young as 12, compete alongside seasoned sex workers - with tumbling prices the result. Rather than pushing sex workers into legalised brothels, a Weekend Herald inquiry has found the new legislation has done little to discourage street prostitution. This is especially true in pockets of South Auckland, where the Manukau City Council has been forced to shelve plans...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX FRI MARCH 05, 2004 10:07:34 ET XXXXX LIMBAUGH CASE: JUDGE IN PALM BEACH HOOKED ON OXYCONTIN, REHAB, REMOVED FROM BENCH; NO CRIMINAL PROBE A Palm Beach Country Judge -- who operated in the same jurisdiction that is current hearing the Rush Limbaugh pill case -- was hooked on OxyContin and forced from the bench, but was never investigated if he obtained the pills legally, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal. MORE Within the last 18 months, Palm Beach Country Judge Robert Schwartz was "involuntarily retired" and removed after he checked himself into a treatment center for dependency...

BAY AREA (KRON) -- Drug addiction has been the plague of modern America. But that could now change forever. What started as a rumor may now actually be an incredible breakthrough in the battle against addictions of all kinds. Ibogaine has a number of strikes against it: It doesn't come from a modern laboratory, but from an ancient plant. It was discovered not by a scientist, but by a heroin addict. It is mildly hallucinogenic and completely illegal in the United States. However, when it comes to curing addiction, a reputable scientist believes ibogaine is nothing short of a miracle....

5:11pm (UK) Jacko Video Not Finished for Totp Relaunch By Anthony Barnes, Showbusiness Editor, PA News Top Of The Pops bosses had to drop a planned worldwide premiere of Michael Jackson’s new video tonight – because it was not finished. The promo was supposed to be one of the highlights of the relaunched BBC1 chart show. But this afternoon show chiefs were told by Jacko’s record label Sony they would be unable to screen the troubled star’s film. Jackson is currently being investigated in the US over allegations of molestation. Makers of the programme stressed the cancelled screening was nothing...

Rush Limbaugh and the Grandmother Test Jim Quinn Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003 Ed Asner is out there bloviatiing about how "we got Limbaugh, and Hannity's next" and how he wants to play the life of the "misunderstood" Joe Stalin. OK, so Uncle Joe did starve 100,000 people to death, but he was a good dancer. One wonders if we have a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy going on or just the ravings of a delusional old Commie who longs for a return to the days when we could all sit around at the Free Store in Berkley listening to Paul Robeson sing...

We conservatives are all saddened by the news that Rush Limbaugh is being investigated by law enforcement authorities for illegal buys of prescription painkillers. If accounts being bandied about the media are accurate, then Limbaugh: a) has procured tremendous amounts of highly addictive narcotic medications from his pill-pushing housekeeper Wilma Cline, and, b) is likely to be subjected to arrest. Oh, by the way, dear Wilma sold her hot celebrity story to The National Enquirer for about four hundred thousand dollars. Am I surprised by the overall situation? Yes and no. Given Limbaugh's outstanding analytical mind and sharp wit, it's...