Posted by azdrugrehabctr on February 28, 2015 under Addiction Trends | 
Typically, many incidents involving the drug cartels occur near the Mexican border, however law enforcement has been seeing a dangerous new trend. Drug cartels are moving into other states and taking the violence with them. Washington State is one of the areas that has seen an increase in drug cartel activity. Public officials warn that the violence will continue and the drug cartels will also continue to move throughout the nation as long as the demand for drugs remains high.
“For this area it’s sort of just unbelievable,” explained a resident wholives in a quiet West Washington suburb. Police and the DEA worked together to arrest Cristian Berrelleza Verduzco for his part in a black ice ring. Black ice is a form of methamphetamine and has gained quite a following in the northwestern states. The DEA became aware of Verduzco while they were investigating the Beltran Leyva cartel. The cartel is well known for their sale and distribution of methamphetamine, heroin and illegal fire arms.
The DEA was surprised to learn that one of the top sellers in the cartel was living in a quiet suburb in Washington State. Instead of typical drug-dealing behavior like people coming to the house at odd hours, lots of different cars in front of the house and violence and arguing in public, Verduzco kept a low profile. “There was no drug trafficking, no big parties or anything like that so they were being pretty discrete about what they were doing,” explained the neighbor.
Hiding in plain sight seems to have worked for a bit. The DEA reports that Verduzco lived in the location for years and never aroused suspicion. However, the DEA has been aware that Washington State is a common place for drug cartel members to live. An agent from the DEA explained that around 80 percent of the incidents that are investigated have ties to the drug cartels in Mexico. One reason for this incredible number is that Interstate 5 seems to be a major route of transportation for illegal drugs that come in through Arizona and Texas.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on February 26, 2015 under Addiction Trends, AZ Drug Rehab News |
People often crave all sorts of foods and snacks after they have smoked marijuana. Scientists have recently looked into this phenomenon to find out why the brain gets affected in this way. Since marijuana is becoming legal in some states and has started to achieve broader acceptance, it is vital that more research is conducted on the drug and how it reacts with the body and what the long-term effects of using marijuana are.
Researchers from Yale University noticed that when people consumed marijuana an interesting thing occurred in the brain. There are neurons that are responsible for telling the body to stop eating. This prevents people from overeating and maintaining a healthier lifestyle. However, when marijuana enters the body the neurons change their job function. Instead of telling the body to stop eating, they tell the body to continue eating.
“It fools the brain’s central feeding system. We were surprised to find that the neurons we thought were responsible for shutting down eating were suddenly being activated and promoting hunger, even when you are full,” explained Tamas Horvath, the lead author on the study.
While this research may not be groundbreaking, it does highlight that the drug has a significant influence over brain chemistry. Altering the job of neurons is a powerful task, and marijuana seems to do it with ease. Many in the science community are calling for more research on the drug to understand all the implications of its use.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on February 17, 2015 under Opiate Abuse, Prescription Drugs |
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a startling figure – more than 25 percent of all women who could become pregnant in the near future are taking prescription painkillers. This means that potential mothers could already be addicted to pills like OxyContin, Percocet or Vicodin. Since the withdrawal symptoms and cravings are so intense for these medications, mothers are more likely to abuse them while they are pregnant, exposing their unborn children to powerful and dangerous drugs before they ever take a breath of air.
While these drugs are meant for those suffering from chronic or acute pain, and only supposed to be provided for by a physician, the appetite for these pills is so intense that addicts have gotten around current restrictions. Sometimes a person with a valid pain issue and a valid prescription will sell their pills on the black market, prices can be as high as $100 per pill. Other times an addict will fake an injury or get copies of phony X-rays or a fake MRI. Once presented to a physician they can then acquire the pills necessary to fuel their drug habit. Other times doctors begin writing prescriptions to addicts who have no need for the heroin-like painkillers – essentially becoming drug dealers.
However a person gets a hold of these pills, it is clear that future generations are poised to feel the effects of this epidemic. Mothers who are dependent on or abuse narcotics or any other opiate-based painkiller put their unborn children at risk for birth defects and physical withdrawal pains from the drug.
Children who receive drugs prenatally have to go through a period of withdrawal upon being born. This means that they have become physically dependent to the drug and now that they are no longer receiving the drug through their mother they have to overcome severe withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms from narcotic painkillers include; vomiting, diarrhea, body aches and insomnia. These symptoms are often too much for grown adults to handle, let alone day-old infants.
This study is important because many pregnancies are not planned. Oftentimes when a person is leading a life that involves regular drug use they are unaware of how their actions can affect themselves and others.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on February 5, 2015 under Addiction Trends, Opiate Abuse, Synthetic Drugs |
Sometimes people in the addiction treatment and prevention fields believe there should be less law enforcement intervention. However, in some cases law enforcement officers wind up joining the ranks and spend time helping educate people about drugs and addiction.
For instance, retired policy Sergeant, Bruce R. Talbot is taking the experience that he gained while working on the police force and imparting what he knows to parents, educators and young people. Talbot understands that that many young people start abusing prescription painkillers and then graduate to heroin. Talbot believes that in order to address the increasing amount of people dying from heroin overdoses the link between prescription drug abuse and heroin drug abuse must be broken.
Heroin used to be a drug that was abused by long-time addicts and stayed mainly within city limits. Now, law enforcement is seeing heroin at high schools in the suburbs. They get called to heroin overdoses in quiet neighborhoods and wind up arresting people for heroin possession in areas that have never reported heroin problems in the past.
Talbot explained that heroin is increasing in purity and is cheaper than ever. In the 1970’s, when heroin experienced a growth in popularity among older males, $10 would buy an addict four doses of heroin with a 3% purity rate. Nowadays, that same $10 buys an addict 12 doses of heroin with a 63% purity rate.
Talbot insists that the biggest problem that has come about with time is that drugs are much more potent than they ever were before. These more dangerous and powerful drugs are creating addicts at an alarming rate, and more importantly they are killing users.
Even synthetic drugs like bath salts and synthetic marijuana are more potent than the street drugs they are replacing. Bath salts provides a similar high to cocaine or methamphetamine, however the drug is so powerful that it can cause psychotic breaks after just one use. Spice, or synthetic marijuana, is meant to provide the same high that marijuana does, however it has been known to induce extreme paranoia and auditory and visual hallucinations.
“Young people have no idea how powerful and dangerous these new synthetic drugs [are],” explained Talbot. He encourages parents to talk with their children about the dangers of drug use. Talking to children about drugs illustrates that parents know what kind of temptations and pressure young adults are facing.
