Posted by azdrugrehabctr on June 14, 2017 under Addiction Trends, AZ Drug Rehab News | 
South American and the United States have had a long, tumultuous relationship when it comes to fighting the war on drugs. Traditionally, U.S. citizens have demanded cocaine, and the cartels in South America have been more than willing to supply the drug. Working together, the South American and U.S. governments have made some progress in hindering the passage of drugs across country lines, but things have not always gone smoothly, and a new study shows that there are major environmental repercussions to one of the of the most aggressive campaigns against cocaine.
Drug money is illegal. This means that cartels often have to hide their money in phony businesses or route it through cash paying businesses to hide its original origin. Constant scrutiny, and continuous monitoring by the United States and South American governments have prompted drug cartels to find massive plots of lands that are more remote and further away from prying eyes. However, upon arriving at these areas, cartels then have to eliminate the rain forest that has claimed the spot for thousands of years. In order to facilitate the destruction of thousands of acres of forest at a time, trees are often burned to the ground to make way for the planting of coca plants.
“Starting in the early 2000s, the United States-led drug enforcement in the Caribbean and Mexico pushed drug traffickers into places that were harder to patrol, like the large forested areas of Central America. A flood of illegal drug money entered these places and these drug traffickers needed a way that they could spend it,” explained David Wrathall, an Oregon State University geographer and one of the authors of the study.
Consequently, indigenous people who have worked off the land for generations are now left without work, making them more susceptible to bribes, and job offers by their new cartel neighbors. And perhaps the biggest victim of this type of deforestation is the wildlife that relied on the rainforest for shelter and food. According to the new research, approximately 30% of the total rain forest loss in Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua in the last ten years can be traced back to cocaine trafficking.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on August 24, 2016 under Addiction Trends, AZ Drug Rehab News, Prescription Drugs |
Amphetamines are not a new drug. In fact, amphetamines were developed in the late 1800’s, but were not used in more pharmaceutical applications until the 1920s. Amphetamines are a stimulant that provide a person with an extreme amount of energy, the ability to focus and complete tasks. And while drug manufacturers did not start mass producing amphetamines until the 1920, there is evidence that people have been relying on the drugs for much longer than that.
In the late 1880’s there are reports of dockworkers in New Orleans who were expected to work over 70 hours a week. In order to sustain the schedule, they were given amphetamines, or more specifically, cocaine. The cocaine was so effective that eventually the drug spread throughout the south, fueling workers on cotton plantations, railroad work camps and construction sites.
It did not take long for cocaine’s popularity to spread throughout the country until it was made illegal in 1914. However, in 1929 a new type of upper came on the market, Benzedrine. This drug rapidly became a staple among Americans, with 8 to 10 billion tablets produced a year. Once Benzedrine dropped out of production, Adderall and Ritalin where there as replacements.
Originally manufactured for ADHD among children, Adderall and Ritalin are fast becoming popular among adults and college students. The drugs went from solutions for childhood ADHD, to cramming and finishing projects for college students and now business executives are abusing the drugs to increase their workload abilities. All the while cocaine is still a major problem in this country.
Because of the heroin and prescription painkiller problem in the United States, cocaine abuse and ADHD medication abuse may not get the attention they need. However, the drugs are being abused and schools, colleges and the workplace may be fostering environments where the use of these drugs are increasingly more acceptable, and the ramifications of such a pervasiveness are detrimental to society.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on October 20, 2015 under Addiction Trends |
Americans who consume cocaine likely have purchased the drug from a dealer or a friend. They use the drug recreationally or habitually, but very rarely does anyone really consider where the powerful narcotic actually came from. Most of the cocaine that is smuggled into the country comes from Peru and other South American countries. Across the border there are wars, crimes, and murders committed every day so that the cocaine trade can continue. South American governments work tirelessly to combat the drug traffickers, but United States residents and their insatiable demand for cocaine, help to fuel the cocaine trade and war.
In an attempt to deal a severe blow to drug traffickers, many are calling for the ability to better monitor the air space over the Amazon rainforest. Deep within the forest, cocaine manufacturers utilize small planes to deposit money and pick up large packages of cocaine. These transactions do not only deal with cocaine that is destined for the U.S. Countries all over the world receive shipments of cocaine that originated deep within the Amazon forest. Preventing these drop-offs and pick-ups can be essential to putting a dent in the drug trafficking of cocaine, but officials are having a difficult time getting the funding for personnel and tighter control of the area.
“One way of being able to corral and diminish drug trafficking’s speed and efficiency is to get control of the air space. But the government has shown that it’s not interested,” explained retired air force Maj. Gen. Cesar Torres. One reason why Torres and other advocates of more Amazon control are meeting with resistance is because a significant amount of those that are tasked with monitoring the air field are corrupt. While this has not been proven, it is rumored that officials charge the drug cartels $10,000 to land and take off without police intervention.
Despite destroying record amounts of coca plants, the government in Peru still manages to allow more cocaine than ever to be produced. Until the police corruption is handled, the drug cartels will continue to be able to smuggle large amounts of cocaine into the United States and other countries throughout Europe.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on January 19, 2015 under Addiction Trends |
Jon Jones is currently ranked as the #1 light heavyweight in the UFC. Recently Jones fought in a much publicized match with Daniel Cormier and won in a unanimous decision. Only a few days after the fight it was discovered that on December 4th Jones tested positive for cocaine. By the time the public was hearing about Jones’ failed drug test he had already checked himself into rehab. While this was the right thing to do, the way the incident was handled brings up questions about professional sports and their desire to handle drug problems or if they just want to brush them under the rug.
In the last several years drug use in sports has been a constant problem. Athletes are often caught using performance-enhancing drugs, and there have also been many athletes arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol, the most recent being Tim Jennings of the Chicago Bears. There is also a lawsuit against the NFL for pushing and illegally prescribing narcotic painkillers. With all of the drug and alcohol problems professional sports is dealing with, it may not be a surprise that Jon Jones fell into the drug trap as well.
The lifestyle of a professional athlete can be very glamorous from the outside looking in. Adoring fans and lots of money can make for a very fast-paced life with the opportunity to do almost anything one desires. Drugs often go hand in hand in a lifestyle like the ones athletes who are at the top of their game often lead.
Checking into rehab was the most effective thing that Jon Jones could have done for himself and his loved ones. It wasn’t mandatory, as the UFC has stricter guidelines when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs like steroids, compared to other illicit drugs like cocaine, especially whether a positive test occurs during the time of being in competition. We certainly hope his rehabilitation is successful and that it serves as an example for other people, athletes and fans alike, to seek treatment for substance abuse problems.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on December 29, 2014 under Addiction Trends |
Suicide is a social problem that is often the end result of a drug addiction. Stimulants are drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and Adderall. Stimulants are a commonly abused class of drug that researchers have found can be a major catalyst for suicide attempts and suicides. While those suffering from a drug addiction are more likely to think about, attempt and follow through with suicide, this new information isolates stimulants as the most abused drug when it comes to those who are suicidal.
Stimulants provide a different kind of high than opiates like heroin or prescription drugs like Oxycontin. People who ingesting stimulants are often very impulsive and much more susceptible to drastic mood changes, especially after the high has worn off and major depression sets int. These behaviors are what researchers think is the reason why suicide among stimulant addicts is so high.
“Our study addresses a number of important issues that could change practice. While it confirms that drug use itself represents a significant risk for suicidal behavior, it identifies cocaine and amphetamine users as a higher-risk population,” explained one of the researchers. Interestingly enough, an early use for amphetamines included kamikaze pilots – to give them the courage to kill themselves in battle.
While all drugs can be harmful, people who are addicted to cocaine or methamphetamine can lead a particularly lonely life. Since the effects of the drugs wear off so fast, the user is in a constant cycle of craving the drug, oftentimes going to great lengths to obtain the drug, being high and then back to craving the drug again. This cycle leaves little time for anything else in the addict’s life. Family and friends are quickly out of the picture when it comes to battling this type of heavy addiction.
For people who are abusing large amounts of stimulants, paranoia is also a likely side effect. Sometimes the paranoia can be so great that the addict has to completely remove themselves from society because of the distrust and panic that sets in after continual usage.
Researchers are hoping that this information will lead to more specialized treatment for cocaine and methamphetamine addicts. Currently there are very few treatment facilities that specialize in these types of addictions.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on September 24, 2014 under AZ Drug Rehab News |
In August, $1.6 million worth of drugs were seized within just a week at the Arizona-Mexico border. Law enforcement recently stepped up their drug-searching methods, a move which has been paying off handsomely. Once the drugs were seized, the suspects were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations for further questioning. Drug-sniffing dogs were paramount to the cause.
In one seizure of many this week, officers working with drug dogs searched a woman’s car shortly after attempting to cross over from Mexico. They found 20 packages of marijuana under her floor weighing nearly 139 pounds. The drugs had a street value of $69,000.
During another incident, officers arrested an elderly man attempting to smuggle in 14 pounds of methamphetamine. After officers took a closer look at the vehicle where drug dogs had indicated, they found the meth, which had been hidden in a secret compartment between the two front seats. Later that day at the same checkpoint, officers found 22 pounds of cocaine hidden behind another vehicle’s airbag.
During a single week, seizures at the border added up to around $1.6 million. For border control, the battle against drug smuggling is a constant game of cat and mouse. Drug traffickers are always looking for different ways to smuggle the drugs into the country and border control is challenged to stay one step ahead if they want to succeed in controlling the border.
At the end of the week, officers had confiscated drugs hidden in several different places: above a vehicle’s front fender, hidden compartments between seats and behind airbags, inside car seats, inside a vehicle’s doors, under the floor of a vehicle, in suitcases, under a truck bed, and in the crotch area of a woman’s pants.
With the high demand for drugs in our country, it is unlikely that drug smugglers will stop trying to get drugs into our country anytime soon. If we, as a nation, can get to the root of the problem and lower the demand for drugs, perhaps we can make more headway in the fight for the border.
Posted by azdrugrehabctr on June 20, 2014 under Addiction Trends |
In order to handle the drug trafficking problem in the United States you have to stay one step ahead of the drug dealers. Siddharth Chandra is an economist at Michigan State University and has been researching the drug trafficking patterns in the United States. He believes he has found connections and areas that are not being heavily policed that are responsible for supplying cocaine to addicts.
By using the information provided by the National Drug Intelligence Center and comparing prices of cocaine in different cities, Chandra started seeing some connections. He noticed that when the price for cocaine went up in one city, surrounding areas had an identical spike. Chandra realized that larger cities were connected to smaller cities and towns as the supplier city.
Chandra took the results a step further and noticed that some cities were “destination” cities – the cocaine was ultimately going to end up in these locations. Some cities were “source” cities – the cocaine originated in these cities and was then being trafficked to other places. Most cities in the north and northeast were destination cities, while cities in the south were source cities. Cities like Atlanta and Chicago proved to be both – a major hub for cocaine sales and abuse.
Chandra, who was working with other researchers on the project, published his study and hopes that it will help law enforcement. Ideally, his work would point out places that are not heavily policed and have the potential to put a dent in the amount of cocaine that is being consumed by addicts across the United States. Once Chandra had his results he sat down and mapped everything out. He then compared his map to that on the National Drug Intelligence Center’s website and found that his map had locations that were not noted on the government’s map. Chandra wonders if law enforcement agencies are really aware of the cocaine problem they have in some areas.
Unfortunately, the National Drug Intelligence Center has shut down since they published the data that Chandra used for his study. Updates to maps and trafficking patterns would need information supplied by an organization like the NDIC.
