Chemical Dependency and the Family / Counsellor Magazine, 4 March 2008
http://www.counselormagazine.com/content/view/677/1/
Robert J. Ackerman

Hard to swallow: Dealing with drug addiction / Economist, 7 February 2008
http://digbig.com/4wjcp
"It is difficult to trust the policies of a government that keeps its evidence secret."

City's heroin treatment 'crisis' / BBC Wales, 7 February 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/7232320.stm
"A drugs project claims heroin addicts in Swansea seeking to kick their habit are waiting over a year for help. Swansea Drugs Project said there was a "crisis" in the availability of treatment and called for more funding."

Biometrics help secure Calif.'s marijuana vending machines / SecurityInfoWatch, 29 January 2008
http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/article.jsp?id=14040&siteSection=305
Catherine Elsworth
"Unique 'medical marijuana' program requires on-site guards, biometric verification
The machines can be used by patients who are prescribed marijuana for health reasons.
Patients have to present a prescription and be fingerprinted before they are issued with a pre-paid credit card that stores the dosage and type of drug prescribed."

Does the Desire for Drugs Begin Outside Awareness? / US. National Institute of Drug Abuse, 29 January 2008
http://www.nida.nih.gov/newsroom/08/NR1-29.html
"NIDA Research Reveals Subconscious Signals Can Trigger Drug Craving Circuits
Using a brain imaging technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scientists have discovered that cocaine-related images trigger the emotional centers of the brains of patients addicted to drug, even when the subjects are unaware they've seen anything."
Prelude to Passion: Limbic Activation by “Unseen” Drug and Sexual Cues
PLoS One, 30 January 2008
http://digbig.com/4wjaj
Anna Rose Childress et al

A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR DEALING WITH ALCOHOL RELATED PROBLEMS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW / Home Office, 6 February 2008
PDF - http://digbig.com/4whyf
"The aim of this Guidance is to outline the tools and powers available to practitioners and the key legislative provisions to tackle alcohol misuse strategically, signposting as necessary to more detailed guidance, which already exists. A list of these documents has been produced in the form of a table. This Guidance is intended to assist all of those tasked with addressing the issues and problems presented by the misuse of alcohol. It is specifically aimed at practitioners and provides information to help them tackle those ‘everyday’ matters by outlining the powers and tools available. It is stressed that this Guidance is precisely that – guidance – and it does not replace primary or secondary legislation.
The guidance is a ‘live’ document and will be updated as legislation is revised or updated."

A Practical Guide for dealing with alcohol problems: what you need to know / Home Office, 6 February 2008
PDF - http://digbig.com/4whxq

Addiction court hears first case / BBC, 28 January 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7212423.stm
"The UK's first family drug and alcohol court is due to open in London with the aim of helping parents beat addictions so they can keep their children."

Men drink twice as much alcohol as women / ONS, 22 January 2008
PDF - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/ghs0108.pdf
Smoking and drinking among adults, 2006: General Household Survey 2006 / ONS, 22 January 2008
PDF - http://digbig.com/4wgsh
Drinking: adults' behaviour and knowledge in 2007: a report on research using the National Statistics Omnibus Survey produced on behalf of the Information Centre for Health and Social Care / ONS, 22 January 2008
PDF - http://digbig.com/4wgsj

Action on Addiction [new website] / January 2008
http://www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/

[Scotland] Annual Report 2006/2007 / Action on Alcohol & Drugs in Edinburgh, January 2008
PDF - http://www.actionalcoholdrugsedinburgh.co.uk/aade/files/DAAT_AR0708_F181207.pdf

Racial Disparities in Completion Rates from Publicly Funded Alcohol Treatment: Economic Resources Explain More Than Demographics and Addiction Severity
Health Services Research, Volume 42 Issue 2 Page 773-794, April 2007
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00612.x
Jerry O. Jacobson, Paul L. Robinson, Ricky N. Bluthenthal
[Sub required]

A Multilevel decomposition approach to estimate the role of program location and neighborhood disadvantage in racial disparities in alcohol treatment completion
Social Science & Medicine, Volume 64, Issue 2, January 2007, Pages 462-476
http://digbig.com/4wgjh
Jerry Owen Jacobson, Paul Robinson and Ricky N. Bluthenthal
[Sub required]

Are Racial Disparities in Alcohol Treatment Completion Associated With Racial Differences in Treatment Modality Entry? Comparison of Outpatient Treatment and Residential Treatment in Los Angeles County, 1998 to 2000
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Volume 31 Issue 11 Page 1920-1926, November 2007
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2007.00515.x
Ricky N. Bluthenthal, Jerry O. Jacobson, Paul L. Robinson
[Sub required]

Reducing adverse health and social consequences of drug abuse: A comprehensive approach / UNODC, 22 January 2008
http://digbig.com/4wghg
""Harm reduction" is often made an unnecessarily controversial issue as if there was a contradiction between prevention and treatment on one hand and reducing the adverse health and social consequences of drug use on the other. This is a false dichotomy. They are complementary. Inspired by the international drug control treaties and supported by a growing body of scientific and medical evidence, this paper outlines a comprehensive set of measures designed to prevent drug abuse, facilitate entry into drug treatment, and reduce the adverse health and social consequences of drug abuse. Such an approach is used for other diseases, so why not for curing drug addiction?"

[USA] Tell Me about the Test: The Construction of Truth and Lies in Drug Court
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 36, No. 3, 223-251 (2007)
http://jce.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/36/3/223
Mitchell B. Mackinem ; Paul Higgins
"Through a multiyear participant observation study in three southeastern drug courts, we explore how staff members react to clients' responses when confronted with positive tests for illicit drug use. Within their professional beliefs about drug addiction, treatment, and testing, staff members interpret the clients' responses as truths or lies, though some lies are worse than others and some truths are better than others. To understand how staff members produce organisational outcomes as they manage clients, interpretive studies that look beyond the most public arenas of drug and other problem courts need to be conducted as they have been in exploring other service agencies."
[Sub required]

Safe, Sensible, Social: Alcohol strategy local implementation toolkit / Home Office, Department of Health and DCSF, 11 January 2008
PDF - http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/drugsalcohol/drugsalcohol097.pdf "This toolkit is a resource to help local teams develop strategies to address alcohol-related crime, ill health and other harm."

Assembling the jigsaw puzzle of drug addiction / Physorg.com, 5 January 2008
http://www.physorg.com/news118732792.html
"Using an integrative meta-analysis approach, researchers from the Center for Bioinformatics at Peking University in Beijing have assembled the most comprehensive gene atlas underlying drug addiction and identified five molecular pathways common to four different addictive drugs."
Genes and (Common) Pathways Underlying Drug Addiction
Public Library of Science: Computational Biology 4(1), 4 January 2008
http://digbig.com/4weyn
Chuan-Yun Li, Xizeng Mao, Liping Wei

[Canada] 'Extreme' ecstasy feared / Windsor Star, 4 January 2008
http://digbig.com/4wexj
Dave Battagello
"Drug control officers in Washington have issued a warning across the US about ecstasy pills laced with methamphetamine that are pouring into northern states from Canadian border points, including Windsor."

[Canada] Free crack mouthpieces on the way / The Province, 3 January 2008
http://digbig.com/4wexh
Kate Webb
"B.C. government will fund distribution to addicts as early as April
Crack-pipe mouthpieces are soon to join syringes, alcohol swabs and water vials on the list of free supplies distributed by the B.C. government to drug users."