Drug Cartels Continue to Target Journalists in Mexico

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on March 15, 2015 under Addiction Trends, AZ Drug Rehab News | Comments are off for this article

In order to keep the lucrative drug empires going, Mexican drug cartels use violence and fear. Due to the incredible demand for drugs in the United States, the cartels have used their power to dominate Mexican citizens and the media. With the millions of dollars pouring in from America, the cartels are able to use that money to employ thousands of soldiers who are deployed to kill, kidnap or injure anyone who stands in the way of the incredible profit from the sale of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and illegal guns.

Reporters in Mexico have been a target for the cartels because of their attempts at furnishing Mexican citizens with reports on cartel violence and agendas. As retaliation for publishing stories having to do with the cartels, many editors have been killed, kidnapped or beaten as warnings to stop reporting on the activities of the drug cartels. Due to the treat to life, many editors have determined that it is safer to report “soft” news and stay away from anything that has to do with the illegal drug trade.

“We have been threatened twice. But this time we said yes we are going to publish…and after that, we will have to return to self-censorship. Criminals have taken over the editorial line. They say what to publish and what not to publish, and there are consequences,” explained Hildebrando Deandar, the General Director of El Manana Publishing Group.

After the abduction and beating of Enrique Juarez Torres, editor of the newspaper, the publisher decided to step back from reporting on the activities of the drug cartels altogether. Despite police guards, many people from the newspaper resigned in fear of their lives. The drug cartel’s method of fear worked well in this situation, preventing any more publicity of their activities.

The United States’ role in the drug cartel’s ability to overpower newspapers and wreak havoc on entire towns cannot be overlooked. The demand for drugs in the U.S. is so high that the power given to the cartels often trumps that of the Mexican police forces and government.

While some people believe that legalizing more drugs in our country will reduce the amount of violence associated with trafficking, it is unlikely that that will ever happen. Instead, many substance abuse treatment professionals point out that focusing on reducing the demand

Grants Awarded for Social Media Research Regarding Substance Abuse

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on October 31, 2014 under Addiction Trends | Comments are off for this article

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded more than $11 million over the next three years to support research of the use of social media to gain more knowledge, prevent and treat substance use and addiction.

The awards are funded through the Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), all components of the NIH.

“We hope to learn more about how changing technologies affect interpersonal communications and factual knowledge about tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs,” said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow.

Researchers will analyze social media interactions on platforms like Facebook and Twitter to gain insights on patterns of use, risk factors, and behaviors associated with substance use. CRAN issued awards that will support leveraging social media platforms to help fill the gaps in science-based knowledge of substance use as well as the treatment of substance abuse.

Some awards will be used to study how social media can enhance screening, prevention and treatment of substance abuse and addictions by providing a platform to communicate science-based, health-related messages. Social media platforms also have potential to increase how effective prevention and treatments are by providing technologically mediated solutions.

NIAAA Director Dr. George Koob stated that the widespread use of social media puts emphasis on questions regarding the connections between interactive media platforms with substance use and abuse. Dr. Koob also pointed out that social media’s potential as a tool to prevent and treat substance abuse problems.

The subjects to be studied are as follows:

– Social Networks of Recovery: Social Media as therapy development
– Implications of social media content and engagement for alcohol and marijuana use
– Predicting relapse and treatment completion from social media use
– Social media analysis to monitor cannabis and synthetic cannabinoid use
– Mining patterns of substance use by young adults with social media data
– Using Facebook to recruit parents to a parenting program to prevent teen drug use
– A social media intervention for parent support
– Social media, online measure and substance use development in adolescent twins
– Adapting the HOPE social media intervention to reduce prescription drug use.