By Chris Brooker
Patients should be given a pain management plan when prescribed opioids, with a limited initial trial period of six weeks on the treatments, an NPS research project has recommended. In addition, a national real-time monitoring system was also called for.  » More

By Daniel Simmons-Ritchie, The World
Coos County's struggle with drugs is poised to get worse. Experts fear that heroin will soon replace meth as the scourge of the South Coast, bringing with it a new level of disease, dependency and desperation. Heroin-related arrests in the region jumped to 41 in the past year - five years ago, police arrested only two people for crimes linked to the drug. » More

Wonderful blog post. Someone also commented on this, but I especially love this line, "When you are the center of your own universe and too inebriated to see the next closest planet, you shouldn’t comment on its life forms." Read Full Article » More

By LARRY ESKRIDGE of the Daily Ledger
CANTON — The cost of underage drinking and ways to reduce it provided the focus of a town hall meeting Tuesday at the Donaldson Center in Wallace Park, sponsored by SADD/SWAT, the Coalition for Wise Choices, the Making Wise Choices program, the YWCA, the YMCA, and United in Jesus Outreach Ministries.

District 66 Superintendent Roy Webb said he was pleased to see such a large turnout, noting he believed so many people came because there was a concern about young people in the area.  » More

By Maia Szalavitz
Marilee Murphy Odendahl wants you to know a few things about her son, Ian. "He was marvelously funny, loyal, extremely intelligent and a really good observer of human behavior, so much that you wouldn't necessarily like to be the focus of it. He loved music and played guitar. He was my joy." She also wants you to know that Ian Murphy Mitchard died on Sept. 27, 2007, three days after his 28th birthday, of a heroin overdose.

Especially today, Overdose Awareness Day, Murphy Odendahl doesn't want other families to suffer the ways hers has. But each year, many do: more than 28,000 people die every year of overdose, a growing problem.  » More

The prescription pain medication Oxycontin is becoming on of the most abused and misused drugs in Hollywood. When used correctly, it's considered a safe pain management drug. But when used inappropriately, Oxycontin, known on the street as OC, O and hillbilly heroin, becomes incredibly dangerous. » More