An archive of recent news articles on the topic of alcohol and drugs.
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Greater brain risks from 'real-world' ecstasy use
31st March 2011
For a glimpse into real-world drug use, Australian researchers went to parties where people were using a drug known as ecstasy - and discovered that users' brains were at far more risk from the drug than anyone had suspected. The researchers also found that ecstasy pills often contain a variety of other drugs. "What's concerning is that most studies looking at toxicity in people or animals look at a single drug," said Dr Thomas Newton, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, who was not involved in this study.
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School gives nicotine to aid addicted 11-year-olds
30th March 2011
Each year several 11-year-old or 12-year-old pupils at a Porirua intermediate are so addicted to nicotine that they suffer withdrawal symptoms as their school tries to help them quit. Brandon Intermediate principal Nicki Sturgeon said the school did whatever it could to help pupils understand the consequences of smoking, with nicotine gum and lozenges available to the handful of pupils who go through a quit programme each year. "We recognise some of our students are regular smokers who may not understand the implications it will have on their health now or in the future."
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Calls for alcohol labelling to help stamp out drinking during pregnancy
30th March 2011
THE high risk of foetal alcohol syndrome to the babies of drinking mothers has spurred a bipartisan group of federal MPs to call for the introduction of health warnings on liquor products. The Liberal MP Sharman Stone says the federal government finds it easy to plough money into anti-smoking campaigns but has failed to force warnings on alcohol to alert women to the risk of birth defects and learning and behaviour disorders afflicting babies of mothers who drank during pregnancy.
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d alcohol abuse up nearly 20pc
29th March 2011
Children as young as nine are among hundreds of people under 16 being treated by specialist clinics for alcoholics and drug addicts in greater Auckland. The number of children being treated by the region's Community Alcohol and Drug Services increased by nearly 20 per cent to 382 last year. About half were treated for alcohol and the rest for cannabis and other drugs. A further 71 were treated at Waitemata District Health Board emergency departments for intoxication.
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Man killed in P-lab explosion
29th March 2011
A man died in an explosion at a P-lab in a house south of Auckland yesterday evening. Emergency services were called to the property, on Mckinney Rd at Glenbrook, near Pukekohe, after reports of a blast shortly before 6pm. Neighbours said "everyone knows" the house was used to cook methamphetamine and it was not surprising that it blew up.
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School helps pupils kick smoking habit
24th March 2011
Nicotine-addicted pupils at Mana College in Porirua can now get patches, gum and lozenges from the school nurse to help them kick the smoking habit. The school nurse has been registered as a Quit Group provider, a programme funded by the Health Ministry, which means she can provide cigarette substitutes to pupils, if they pass an assessment, as well as other coaching. "When [an opportunity] comes along like that ... we would be foolish not to take advantage of it," principal Mike Webster said.
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University to begin trials of natural quit-smoking drug
23rd March 2011
Auckland researchers are about to recruit smokers into a trial of a quit-smoking tablet from Eastern Europe that has links to the kowhai tree, a New Zealand native. Tabex, derived from the golden rain tree, has been used for several decades in Bulgaria. There is now hope that if proven effective in New Zealand, it may appeal particularly to Maori, whose smoking rate, at over 40 per cent, is more than double that of the whole population. Tabex is available from international websites but is not permitted to be sold in New Zealand as it is a medicine and is not yet registered by the Health Ministry.
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Women third on drink-impact list
23rd March 2011
Women in Australia and New Zealand suffer more negative effects of drinking alcohol than almost anywhere else in the world, a global study has found. Australian women were ranked third and New Zealand women second after Uganda in a study of drinking consequences of more than 30,000 people in 26 countries, published in the journal Addiction. Australian men were ranked ninth, closer to the average for men around the world. Total negative consequences of drinking were highest in Uganda and lowest in Uruguay.
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Meth mules get nine years
22nd March 2011
Two smugglers have been have been jailed after trying to bring almost 1kg of methamphetamine into New Zealand by swallowing it. Lithuanians Zenarars Slipkus and Nerijus Sliupas were stopped by Customs officials when they arrived at Auckland airport from Bangkok last September. Officials ordered a CT scan and found one had 542.8g of P in his abdomen and the other 329.8g.
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Pupil so drunk in morning he needed hospital
22nd March 2011
The man in charge of youth policing in Whangarei is urging parents and caregivers to keep a better eye on their children after a 15-year-old boy was so drunk police had to take him to hospital. Dan Cleaver, the sergeant in charge of Whangarei Youth Policing, said the drunk boy was found on Wednesday morning. On Monday morning four boys, including one aged 10, were caught by police after a crime spree.
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