Tackling drug addiction: Myanmar ethnic group steps up fight

Perhaps one of the most tackled topics across the world is drug addiction. For so many years now, everyone seems to be trying to figure out the best way to end this problem. So many lives have been lost due to addiction, but surprisingly, despite this, still so many people use and abuse drugs. In Myanmar, an ethnic group is stepping up their fight against addiction.

A rebel group in one of Myanmar’s main drug-growing areas is making its move to tackle and combat drug addiction.

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Governments in Southeast Asia say more regional cooperation is needed to tackle a growing drug problem. Much of the methamphetamine and opium comes from Myanmar, where armed groups use drug money to fund their wars against the government. But as Wayne Hay reports, one of those armies says it is anti-drugs and is stepping up its fight against addiction.

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Jamie Lee Curtis Reveals She Once Shared Drugs with Her Father

People who are or were once addicted to drugs have their own battles. There are those who never expected that they will be so addicted to the substance while others deliberately wanted it to happen as a form of escape from reality. A drug-addicted person can give hundreds of reasons to justify what he or she has done. This is often found out from people who decided to open up about the issue. Jamie Lee Curtis is also having a big revelation.

Jamie Lee Curtis has opened up about her battle with drug addiction and the effect it had on her relationship with her family. In an interview with Variety for its “Recovery Issue”, the Halloween actor discussed everything from how she became addicted to painkillers after a plastic surgery procedure to her continued efforts to stay sober and how she once took drugs alongside her movie star father, Tony Curtis.

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The 60-year-old stated that addiction runs in her family, revealing that her brother, Nicholas, died of a heroin overdose when he was 21-year-old, and that her father also struggled.

“I knew my dad had an issue because I had an issue and he and I shared drugs,” Curtis said.

“There was a period of time where I was the only child that was talking to him. I did cocaine and freebased once with my dad. But that was the only time I did that, and I did that with him.”

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Indivior revenue falls as opioid addiction drug’s market share plummets

Opioid addiction is one of the major problems that need an immediate solution as more and more people are getting addicted to it. However, things seem to be getting more difficult as even the makers of the treatment are facing their own problems. Indivior Plc (INDV.L) reported a 19% slump in third-quarter revenue on Thursday as the British drug maker’s best-selling opioid addiction treatment lost more than half of its market share to cheaper generic rivals in the United States.

The company’s shares were down 6.5% after profit also fell by double-digits percentage. The stock has lost nearly two-thirds of its value this year as the London-listed firm faces competition from copycat drugs as well as a $3 billion U.S. fine for illegal marketing practices related to Suboxone. The company, which gets the bulk of its sales from the United States, had gained from the government’s stepped-up efforts to combat an opioid epidemic.

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Indivior has said it will “vigorously defend itself” against the U.S. charges, adding that even if it is unable to reach a settlement, the indictment is not likely to hit operations over the next 12 months.

The company backed its annual revenue and profit forecasts from earlier this month when it had raised them on a slower-than-expected erosion in Suboxone’s market share.

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Drug addiction services struggling with rising demand, say providers

Drug addiction is an acknowledged serious problem. It is serious in the sense that it can cost the lives of many people. As a result of this, there have been so many drug addiction services available to help those who are addicted to drugs. But the sad part is, they are now struggling to cope with the rising demand and are at risk of closure due to a lack of funding, service operators have said.

Speaking at a gathering organised by Citywide, a drug crisis campaign which called on more urgent Government action to tackle substance misuse, workers from drug services all over the country said the prevalence of illegal substances has now reached unprecedented levels.

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Susan Collins, managing director of Addiction Response Crumlin, said that the availability and accessibility of substances have changed with the advent of technology.

“The increase in crack cocaine is visible in most pubs and the dealing that is going on, you’re able to see it. There are young people who are being groomed to sell drugs,” she said. “Although it was quick to get drugs a few years ago, nowadays it’s on your doorstep before you even get down to the shops.”

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Mexico reveals plan to fight drug addiction

The fight against addiction is never-ending. It has been ongoing for so many years now. So many lives have been broken and there are those that have been restored as well. But one thing is for sure, that the problem still exists and the best measures to solve it are yet to be made. Just like what the Mexican government is doing right now.

The Mexican government announced Tuesday that it is ramping up efforts to fight drug addiction. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador laid out his plan to fight substance use that centers around prevention, starting with youth. “We are going to dedicate all of the resources of the state … in order to make sure that all of the youth are informed about this matter,” Lopez Obrador said in a news conference.

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He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to making sure young people have access to education, work and good salaries. Well-being, he said, will help counter increased levels of addiction.

As part of the plan, the government will only distribute messages about the new program against addiction. The president did not mention for how long the messaging campaign will last.

“I have given the command that for a while we are not going to transmit messages about what we’re doing in the government other than the campaign against addiction,” said Lopez Obrador. “This is what you will hear and see on the radio, on television and newspapers. Only this for a while.”

While the campaign to inform youth about the harm of drugs is the first step, Lopez Obrador said the government has not ruled out other methods of possibly decreasing addiction, including legalizing some drugs like marijuana.

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New Program Aims To Help People Suffering From Drug And Alcohol Addiction

Beating drug addiction is getting more difficult each day. This is without mentioning the increasing numbers of people getting addicted to drugs. This had led the Springfield Police Department and the Gateway Foundation launched a program Thursday meant to offer immediate help to people with drug and alcohol addiction.

The Safe Passage Initiative will allow any person to enter the city’s police headquarters or approach an on-duty Springfield police officer and ask for help. A screening process determines if a person is a good candidate for the program. If admitted, those who are in possession of drugs would not be charged.

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Springfield Police Chief Kenny Winslow said the department ran a pilot program in early September—with one participant recently completing a 28-day treatment program and another still in it.

“This is not a get-soft-on-crime initiative. This is not for people who are under arrest for another charge. It’s a realization that addiction affects people of all backgrounds and all socioeconomics.”

Winslow said the initiative is also not for registered sex offenders or for someone who already has three or more drug-related convictions, among other criteria. He said the plan is another way to cut down on crime and unnecessary arrests.

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Jonathan Van Ness reveals HIV diagnosis, former drug addiction

So many people have had their own share of drug addiction. There are those who sought help for it, but for others, it took them a long time to admit that they were once addicted to drugs. Just like Jonathan Van Ness of “Queer Eye” is getting vulnerable in his new memoir “Over the Top.”

In a preview of his book with the New York Times, Van Ness opened up about his early struggles with sex and drug addiction as well as his experience with sexual assault, revealing that he was abused by an older boy from his childhood church. “For a lot of people who are survivors of sexual assault at a young age, we have a lot of compounded trauma,” he said.

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That trauma, Van Ness revealed, led to a series of other “self-destructive” behaviors, including spending hours in AOL chat rooms, which he used to meet up with older men for sex in his teens. Later on, Van Ness started college at the University of Arizona in Tucson where he began doing cocaine. And after spending his monthly allowance on the drug, he began advertising sex for more money. Soon after, he flunked out of college.

Van Ness then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a hairstylist, where he was introduced to methamphetamine, resulting in two rehab trips and two relapses. It wasn’t until he fainted while working in a salon that he “cleaned up” his act. The day after he fainted, Van Ness revealed, he went to Planned Parenthood where he tested positive for H.I.V.

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