newyorktimesproj

States are battling Meth makers to limit the ingredients they use. The government is doing its best to pass bills that would require a doctors prescription to most of these drugs. The drugs contain pseudoephedrine, the crucial ingredient in methamphetamine. The police made multiple efforts to keep these specific drugs out of meth cooks hands but they failed. Thomas N. Farmer, director of the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force, is doing all he can to persuade law enforcers to make these drugs for prescription use only. The government shot down Thomas N. Farmer’s request saying that it would be too taxing to do so. Even though these officials said no to prescription-only drugs that doesn’t mean they cant pass other bills to help the cause. “Officials like Mr. Farmer say drug companies only want to protect the multimillion-dollar profits they reap from over-the-counter pseudoephedrine sales”. This is a quote from the article and I couldn’t agree more. The right thing to do would be to make these drugs prescription-only, but they wont because they want to protect the millionare profits they make.

Research has shown that one of the most widely used drugs amongst college students is Ridelin. Ridelin is commonly used in the treatment of the symptoms of ADHD and ADD. It allows the user to stay focused and on task. The use of Ridelin can help a person stay awake and cram for an exam, or to help them study for a test by staying completely focused on the task at hand. Ridelin is a stimulant drug, and it is common to feel anxious while using it. It has been reported that also a user will have a temporary confidence boost and feel great about them self. Some common side effects of improper use of Ridelin include,nervousness, agitation, anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, palpitations, headache, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and psychosis.

In Maine drugstores, there has been an increase in robberies in pharmaceutics store. One cause of the robbery is that the thieves are desperate for more drugs. Police have tried to come up with a solution. They want to put a tracking device in a drug bottle to let the police track the thieves in case of a robbery. There have been so many robberies that happened in Rockland where a person killed a pharmacy worker with a machete. One main drug that everyone is going crazy over is OxyContin. It goes for a million for a milligram. Police Officers are trying to find a way to have less robberies in pharmacy stores.

The article “Inadequate Fight Against Drugs Hampers Russia’s Ability to Curb H.I.V.” by Michael Schwirtz is about how Russia fails to control people abusing drugs and the spread of H.I.V. The failure to lower the number of drug users in Russia is causing the number of people with H.I.V positive to increase. The main cause of the newly infected is intravenous drug use and having sex with addicts. Although the government increased the spending on H.I.V drugs and expand prevention programs, government programs often became ensnared in Russia’s large and inefficient bureaucracies. The link to the article is http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/17/world/europe/17russia.html?_r=1&

Newly Born and Withdrawing from Painkillers
In Bangor, Maine and across the country a very sad and common occurrence is taking place. A 3 year old baby was going through Opiate withdrawal and had to take Methadone, a drug known for heroin addiction, to ease his pain. This baby’s mother and abused Oxycotin for the first 12 weeks and tried to quit “cold turkey” which can be a very dangerous course and lead to a miscarriage. The baby had seizures in Utero as a result and the mother, Tonya, took treatment to keep her drug cravings low. As presecription drug abuse ravages the country doctors are faced with a very difficult challenge: newborns dependent on painkillers. While withdrawal treatment may have saved the pregnancy, the baby Mathew had to be drawn away from the drug. Infants like him may have stiff limbs, tremors and diahrea right at birth making the first days of life very excruciating. Many have to stay in the hospital for weeks to be eased away from the drug and driving up their cost of medical care. Few doctors are willing to even treat addicts, because there is no universially accepted standard on how to treat their babies. They must weigh whether to expose a fetus to powerful drugs is justifiable.
Dr. Hudak in Florida is helping to revise the pediatrics academy guidelines. He says “ There are commanilities, but no one knows what the best approach is”. Within states, hospitals may even have different approaches on babies exposed to painkillers. A recent study found that babies exposed to opiates in utero, in this case legally prescribed painkillers, had slightly higher rates of birth defects, including congenital heart defects. Experts say that also many drug users smoke and abuse alcohol as well as live in extreme poverty, so it’s difficult to pick out each one’s affect on a baby. At the end of the day it’s a mothers job to make sure she’s taking care of herself if she wants to become pregnant. Doctors will continue to face this difficult situation until drug abuse can be completely stopped.

A Drug Feared in the ’70’s Is Tied to Suspect in Killings
For the first time since the 70’s, the use of the drug PCP (Phencyline) has been on the rise in New York. In a recent event, Larime Price was charged with the fatal shooting of four men in bodegas and other small stores throughout Queens and Brooklyn. He explained to the policemen that he was under the influence of PCP while he committed the murders.
A common way in which PCP is taken is having the drug sprayed onto cigarettes or other smoke-able items like marijuana. When found in large quantities, PCP will smell like ammonia. It was developed to serve as an anesthetic however; it makes people paranoid, violent, delusional and immune to feel pain. PCP is also given to lab animals in order to replicate the symptoms of schizophrenia.