Fentanyl test strips help drug users detect deadly doses

Fentanyl is one of the most common drugs today that is affecting the lives of so many people. In most cases, people suffer from overdose of this drug and this leads to death if not other deadly conditions. This situation calls for a lot of help to prevent people from overdosing the drug or getting addicted to it. Now, there is a fentanyl test strip that can help drug users detect early doses.

Health care advocates want to put a cheap drug test in the hands of users to combat soaring rates of overdose deaths from the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is contaminating nearly every illegal drug on the street. Originally intended to detect fentanyl presence in urine, tiny cardboard strips that cost about $1 are just as effective in detecting the synthetic opioid in drugs themselves, researchers have found.

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The point is that it allows people to make choices, to have a little more information,” said Susan Sherman, a professor in the department of health, behavior and society at Johns Hopkins University.

Ms. Sherman is the lead researcher of the Forecast study, which shows that the strips are sensitive enough to detect fentanyl in drugs. The study also has found that users are interested in testing the drugs.

“It’s not a small thing that people who are drug users feel a sense of autonomy, and it gives them a choice,” she said.

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A Greece man beats addiction on way to law school

So many people are getting addicted to drugs today. Many of them even lost their lives, destroyed their future, and failed their families. In spite of this, many are still struggling in trying to beat their addiction and start a new life. Although many have failed to do so, there are those who have been successful and were able to change for the better. Just like this man who was able to beat his addiction on his way to law school.

In August 2010, John Nucci was arrested for allegedly stealing a gift card at a party in Greece to get money to buy OxyContin pills. He was sent to the Monroe County Jail. Nucci couldn’t make the $10,000 bail, so he would end up spending 2½ months in jail. Inside his cell, Nucci sat on the edge of the concrete bed and looked at himself in the aluminum mirror. His dull reflection stared back. He was 22 years old. He weighed 330 pounds. His remaining friends were living their lives — graduating college, getting married, buying houses, starting families.

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Since that day, the 31-year-old Nucci said he has done everything he can to turn his life around. Now, roughly eight years after sitting in that jail cell, he has his sights set on attending law school so he can help people facing the same kinds of struggles he did.

“The actual reason for me wanting to pursue law school had also now become my biggest obstacle in actually going,” Nucci said of his conviction for attempted second-degree burglary, which he shares in the personal statement required of every applicant.

“I want people to see. I want schools to see how far I’ve come and I want them to know everything.”

Nucci put family and friends through an ordeal that left the ones he loved the most wondering whether he’d live to tell his story.

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Amanda Bynes opens up about her drug addiction and the future

The entertainment industry is perhaps one of the most stressful places to be. In spite of the limelights and all the attention that our favorite actors are getting, it’s not about glitz and glamour all the time. In fact, many of these people have their own personal struggles and oftentimes, when it becomes too difficult for them to handle, they would resort into drugs or alcohol. Here is another celebrity opening up about her addiction.

Bynes has opened up about her drug addiction and those Tweets to Paper Magazine in their annual Break the Internet issue. “I started smoking marijuana when I was 16. Even though everyone thought I was the ‘good girl,’ I did smoke marijuana from that point on,” Bynes reveals before adding she’s now, at 32, four years sober. “I didn’t get addicted [then] and I wasn’t abusing it. And I wasn’t going out and partying or making a fool of myself… yet.”

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Bynes goes on to say that she became addicted to Adderall but was experimenting with all kinds of drugs too.

“Later on it progressed to doing molly and ecstasy. [I tried] cocaine three times but I never got high from cocaine. I never liked it. It was never my drug of choice.”

Bynes says her Adderall addiction started after “Reading an article in a magazine that [called Adderall] ‘the new skinny pill’ and they were talking about how women were taking it to stay thin. I was like, ‘Well, I have to get my hands on that.’”

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Māori groups support call to boost addiction treatment funding

Just like with drugs, alcohol addiction is also a serious problem. As a result of the abuse of the substance, one may suffer various health issues or trigger him or her to commit different kinds of crimes. In fact, the high rise in the number of crimes today can be blamed to drug and alcohol addiction. In order to prevent this problem from getting worse, a solution should be implemented and a decision should be made. This is also why addiction treatment programs should be supported and funded.

Thirty organisations support an open letter calling on government to double funding for addiction treatment each year starting with next year’s budget. NZ’s largest Māori health organisation, Hāpai Te Hauora, says there is an urgent need in Māori communities. Iwi and Māori health providers are among those calling for more funds and new models to stub-out substance addiction.

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Hapai te Hauora General Manager for Māori Public Health Janell Dymus-Kurei says, “We know 50,000 people NZ-wide want help for drug and alcohol addiction and we know most of those people are Māori. We know 16 percent don’t seek help because they are scared of the law.”

Signatories want an extra $150mil, a drug law review to include help for synthetic cannabanoid users and a health-referral model in place of criminal sanctions.

NZ Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell says, “We know that Māori are more affected by drugs in terms of negative drug law. Māori are four times more likely for example to get a conviction for possession of cannabis than people who aren’t Māori…Yes, there is huge harm from the drug itself, but we can’t ignore the fact that drug law creates a whole lot of punishment to certain people, Māori and young people.”

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