The decades-long “war on drugs” has failed to curb the $350-billion a year global trade in illicit drugs, says a new study by researchers in British Columbia and California.

Using statistics gathered by law enforcement and health authorities in the United States, Europe and Australia over a nearly 20-year period, the team from the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy tracked and compared the rate of drug seizures to indicators of availability for cocaine, opiates and cannabis.

Those numbers show that while the number of drug seizures has increased, the price of cocaine, cannabis and opiates like heroin has dropped.

At the same time, the purity and potency of those drugs has increased, said the study published in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal “Open.”

“These findings suggest that expanding efforts at controlling the global illegal drug market through law enforcement are failing,” said the report that involved the University of British Columbia, the B.C. Centre for Excellence on HIV/AIDS and the Institute of the Americas at the University of California.

Based on statistics gathered by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, they found that the price of heroin in the U.S. dropped 81 per cent from 1990 to 2007, while the purity of cocaine seized by police increased by 60 per cent.

For cocaine, the price — adjusted for inflation and purity — dropped 80 per cent, and the purity increased by 11 per cent. For marijuana, price decreased 86 per cent and purity jumped by 161 per cent.

“The bottom line is that organized crime’s efforts to succeed in these markets has flourished, and the criminal justice system’s efforts to contain these markets has really been quite remarkably unsuccessful,” Dr. Evan Wood, one of the report’s authors and the Canada Research Chair in Inner City Medicine at UBC, said Monday.

Similar trends were noted in Europe and Australia.

Over the same period, the amount of drugs seized by law enforcement increased drastically, both in drug-producing countries like Afghanistan and Thailand and in western nations.

“By every metric, the war on drugs has failed,” said Wood, adding that some estimates suggest more than $1 trillion has been spent over the past 40 years on that war in North America alone.

The authors said they hope the study prompts authorities to re-examine drug control strategies that focus on supply reduction, over prevention and treatment.

Werner Antweiler, a professor of economics at the Sauder School of Business at UBC, has studied the illicit drug economy and said the study results are no surprise.

“The drug problem has not become less, but more,” Antweiler said.

As was the case with the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s and 30s, the illicit drug trade is so profitable and criminals will find a way to meet a continuing demand. The suppression of supply has only a temporary, local effect on the trade, he said.

“The problem is, ultimately, a demand-side issue,” Antweiler said. “What we need to do is treat it as a medical problem, and not a problem of controlling the production and distribution.”

Wood said there have been some encouraging changes in the United States and Europe.

“In Canada, with our federal government it oftentimes feels like things are going in the opposite direction but I think there’s just a growing recognition that we need to begin exploring alternatives and greater openness to do so,” he said.
Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/war-on-drugs-is-failing-report-concludes-illegal-narcotics-now-cheaper-more-potent-1.1477609#ixzz2gdpSwLTt

 

 

The type of pillow that you get should be specific to the sides in which you sleep.

So, if you’re a side sleeper you’re going to need a thicker, more firm pillow to keep proper head and neck alignment, verses a back sleeper or even a stomach sleeper where a lot of stomach sleepers may not even require a pillow to sleep.

The reason that people get allergic to down pillows is not because of the feathers. It’s because the feathers haven’t been cleaned properly and so there’s a lots of bacteria, dust mites, things like that in there.

So synthetic down won’t have any of that, so oftentimes, and it feels just the same. I often recommend synthetic down pillows.

And then, what you’d want in that case, it’d be like that good fluffy down feeling, is to have a higher fill in the pillow.

You can have 300, 400, 500 fill count in a pillow, and so what I recommend to people who are side sleepers is to have five or even 600 fill count, so it will keep your head up because the distance between your ear and your shoulder is what you’re trying to accommodate for and still give you that fluffy down feeling.

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Why beer is good for your health A beer is created from just four basic ingredients: water, barley, hops and yeast. The result of these ingredients dancing together is alcohol and CO2. That’s a combo that goes down easy, and there are so many ways to blend the brew that you’re sure to find ale, stout, lager or amber that is just right for you.

The dirty deets

Your doc may have told you that drinking alcohol in moderation is good for your health, but usually wine gets all the cred for the antioxidant benefits. Truth be told, beer and wine contain the same amount of antioxidants. There are some other things you should know:

The protein and B-vitamin content of beer is higher than wine. Yeah, going for a brewski after a rousing game of touch football with your work team will help you replenish your protein better than a glass of chardonnay. But here’s a buzzkill: Even though beer is a good source of B vitamins, the alcohol in it mostly cancels out those benefits.

Beer offers anywhere from 95 to 360 calories in a 12-ounce serving, with the average bottle of beer in the 150-calorie range. A five-ounce glass of wine will run you about 120 calories. Sometimes the light beer is a better calorie choice than the wine. Since the FDA doesn’t require calories to be on the label, do the homework and math on your favorite beer to know where it should be in your beverage lineup, because those calories do find a way to linger. (Call it a beer belly, call it a muffin top; you just don’t want to find one circlin’ your middle.)

One to two beers a day is good for your bones. Brew contains silicon, which is in very few foods and is linked to bone strength and health. Now that’s something to consider before going for your next bone-density scan.

Think light in color equals light in calories? Not always the case. “Light” actually refers to the percent of alcohol and calories. Higher-alcohol beers have more calories, so if you’re watching your weight, a Guinness is actually about the same as a Bud.

How to chow down

You get up to one (femmes) or two (dudes) alcoholic beverages a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control. When it comes to suds, that means a 12-ounce bottle or a draught with an inch of head. More than that can tip the health benefits into the health damaging category.

You want a well-chilled pint glass. Keep it in the freezer for at least a couple of hours so it’s all white and frosty and smoky when you pull it out. Tilt the glass and pour a stream of refreshment down the side, standing the glass upright as you get to the end of the pour. This allows for the perfect amount of fluffy bubbles at the top.

Beer is a great liquid ingredient to add to your soups, marinades and culinary whole-grain masterpieces and can replace broth, stock or plain water. It adds delicate flavor and aroma. The alcohol will cook off, so no need to worry about getting your buddies drunk off your eats.

If there is leftover beer from your beer-can chicken, beer bread or beer-battered jalapenos, dump it over your head. Seriously, beer is great for restoring life and shine to your hair by nourishing and smoothing strands.

In the know

If you had begrudgingly written off beer, put it back on your roster. Strategically place it into your beverage batting order when you’re at a game or looking for refreshment that pairs well with friends and fun. Don’t overdo it, though. Too much of this good thing will take you out of your own starting lineup.

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Hormone therapy may help some women manage hot flashes during menopause. But it should not be used to prevent conditions like heart disease and dementia, a new study confirms.

After analyzing data from about 30,000 women, researchers found the risk of serious health problems increased while women were taking hormones – as past studies have also shown – and then fell once they went off the pills.

“The findings suggest that hormone therapy is a reasonable option for short-term treatment of menopausal symptoms in early menopause but should not be used for long-term chronic disease prevention,” Dr. JoAnn Manson, the study’s lead author from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told Reuters Health.

The new report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looks at women who were part of the original Women’s Health Initiative studies.

Those studies were large, randomized trials of hormone therapy that were stopped early when it became clear that women taking estrogen alone or a combination of estrogen and progesterone had higher rates of ovarian cancer, breast cancer, strokes and other health problems.

For the new study, Manson and her colleagues analyzed data recorded during the trials and for six to eight years after women stopped taking the hormones.

Overall, 27,347 U.S. women between the ages of 50 and 79 were included in the trials. Women were randomly picked to receive hormone therapy – either estrogen and progesterone or estrogen alone – or a placebo.

The trials lasted six to seven years before they were stopped beginning in 2002. Women were then followed until 2010.

During the trial, the risks of taking estrogen plus progesterone outweighed the benefits, the researchers write. But many of those risks fell during follow up.

For example, they found hormone use could account for six additional cases of heart disease per 10,000 women each year during the trial. That dropped to two extra heart disease cases per 10,000 women every year after women stopped taking hormones.

Women who were assigned to estrogen plus progesterone continued to have an increased risk of breast cancer after stopping hormone therapy, however.

Among women who took estrogen alone – who had all previously had their uterus removed – the risks and benefits were more balanced from the beginning.

During the trial, estrogen alone was tied to about 11 extra strokes per 10,000 women per year. That risk also fell once women stopped taking estrogen.

However, women who only took estrogen were less likely to develop breast cancer over the entire study period than those in the placebo group.

Considering all the evidence, the researchers write that estrogen plus progesterone or estrogen alone should not be used to prevent chronic disease.

That advice jibes with the government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s recommendation against taking hormone therapy for the prevention of chronic disease

The researchers add, however, that hormone therapy is a “reasonable option for the management of moderate to severe menopausal symptoms among generally healthy women during early menopause.”

Manson said probably fewer than one in 100 younger women taking hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms over five years would develop a health problem as a result.

“For some women who are experiencing the symptoms of menopause, the quality-of-life benefits may outweigh the risks,” Dr. Betsy Nabel, president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, wrote in an email to Reuters Health.

“Ultimately, every woman should discuss their individual risk profile and the best way to manage their symptoms with their care provider to decide what the best choice is for them,” Nabel, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study, said.

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