Addiction Blog

Lindsay Lohan, 20-year-old actress and star of “Georgia Rule,” “Bobby” and “Mean Girls” has reported checked into the Malibu Promises Rehab Center for treatment of drug and alcohol related issues. Lohan was arrested this past Saturday in Beverly Hills, California for driving under the influence.

The police report also specified that a drug believed to be cocaine was found in Lohan’s Mercedes SL-65 automobile. Lohan crashed the vehicle around 5:30 a.m. and had two other passengers riding in the vehicle at the time.

In January of this year, Lindsay Lohan had reportedly checked into the Wonderland Center in West Hollywood. Lohan’s publicist also reported that Lohan had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for over a year at that time.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada hosts North America’s only safe injection site and research about its InSite facility has show positive results. According to researchers, the InSite facility has reduced the spread of HIV and crime in the area.

Not only that ,but the safe injection site has also shown a 30-percent increase in drug addicts going into addiction treatment programs. Rates of injection among users at the facility have also dropped.

Since its opening in 2003, the safe injection program has been under fire from Canada’s conservative federal health minister. So, the continuation of the program is unknown at this moment.

What if fictive thoughts were to play a role in addiction asks researchers at Baylor College of Medicine. Fictive thoughts, or fictive learning uses “what if” scenarios on subjects to see “what might have been” and their emotional responses to these questions and fictional situations.

The study used MRI technology to detect changes in the brain in accordance to stimuli presented in the “what if” scenarios. Real world examples of stock market crashes, gambling and other scenarios are given subjects along with choices on how to react.

The studies measures emotional regret for choices taken and choices not taken and have tied these fictive learning experiences into the role of choices in addiction.

As if traditional meth labs aren’t bad enough, where criminals cook a combination of over-the-counter and acquired hazardous materials to feed the addicts’ need, now these same criminals are evading police in mobile meth labs. When meth labs are housed in a home or apartment, there is the inherent danger of explosion from chemical reactions and fire used to produce the drugs.

Illegal drug makers, though, have been a sitting target fearing police intervention at any moment. Static meth labs have also given government officials, motel owners and other landlords the added obligation of sending out the HAZMAT team to cleanup the hazardous chemicals whenever a meth lab is busted.

But, now the methamphetamine makers have taken to the streets in groves in order to evade detection by police, creating mobile meth labs in cars, vans, trucks and RV’s. According to reports in 2002, at least 20-percent of the meth labs were then mobile. Recent reports state that this number is now over 30-percent.

Last week the American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM) held their 38h Annual Medical-Scientific Conference in Miami, Florida. The focus on the conference was to present the most current research, development and treatment available in the field of addiction.

The conference was open to physicians, nurses, counselors, psychologists and students in the field of addiction. Some of the topics covered by the workshops included Buprenorphine in treatment, complications of heavy drinking, OxyContin misuse in rural West Virginia, prescription stimulant abuse, chemical dependency and pregnancy, anabolic steroids, adherence monitoring, correctional settings, co-occurring mental disorders, PTSD and addictions and parity for substance abuse treatment.