Narconon PSA  

Although the U.S. spends more money than any other industrialized nation on health care, there has been no recent improvement in key health outcomes and quality, especially access and efficiency, Philanthropy News Digest reported July 17.

The 2008 report by the Commonwealth Fund found that the U.S. scored an average of 65 out of a possible 100 across all measures, which was lower than its overall score on the 2006 version of the same study. The report also indicated that a staggering 42% of all working-age adults were either underinsured or uninsured as of 2007, up from 35% in 2003.

Despite the United States' poor scores in some areas, the report found that national initiatives focused on specific areas have improved outcomes significantly. For example, hospital standardized mortality ratios improved 19% in the past 5 years, and progress was also seen in the areas of chronic care and acute hospital care quality.

The report suggests that if the U.S. improved its performance in key areas, it could save up to 100,000 lives and $100 billion annually.

Read the full report, "Why Not The Best? Results From The National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance," online (PDF, 1.71 MB).

Washington, D.C. - Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) are pleased to lend their support to S.Res. 614, a U.S. Senate resolution designating August as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. Sponsored by Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-Del.) and Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), this initiative calls for community involvement and participation in efforts to educate parents about the dangers of medicine abuse among teens.

Recent studies have spotlighted medicine abuse, including the abuse of over-the-counter cough medicines, as an alarming trend among young people. Where OTC cough medicines are concerned, some teens are intentionally taking excessive amounts -- sometimes up to 50 times the recommended dose -- to get "high" from the active ingredient dextromethorphan. When used correctly, dextromethorphan-containing medicines have a 50-year history of being safe and effective. But when abused in extreme excess, dextromethorphan can produce dangerous side effects, especially when combined with alcohol, illicit drugs, or certain prescription drugs.

"Consumers have trusted the makers of over-the-counter medications with the health of their families for many years. National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month presents a timely opportunity to build community awareness and alert parents and teens that abusing medicine to get 'high' is very dangerous," said Linda A. Suydam, D.P.A., president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.

In recognition of this designation, CHPA and CADCA will be hosting town hall meetings nationwide with local anti-drug abuse advocates, substance abuse treatment experts, healthcare professionals, and policy makers. The town hall format offers opportunities for community residents to join the discussion and ask questions of the panelists.
 

"While surveys show that overall illicit drug use among youth is on a downward trend, unfortunately the rates of over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse are holding steady," said Gen. Arthur T. Dean, CADCA Chairman and CEO. "Designating August as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month will help bring this issue to the radar screen, and I hope community organizations take advantage of this opportunity to raise awareness about this dangerous trend."

Town hall meetings scheduled during August include Seattle, Washington; San Antonio, Texas; and Miami, Florida. This designation, if passed into law, would mark the second annual National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. In all, CADCA and CHPA have hosted a total of 13 town hall meetings nationwide since August 2007 as part of our campaign to prevent over-the-counter medicine abuse. Localities interested in hosting their own town hall meetings have access to all materials via DoseofPrevention.org. 

For more information on efforts to help curb cough medicine abuse, visit StopMedicineAbuse.org. 

The U.S. Coast Guard has captured a homemade submarine loaded with 3-1/2 tons of cocaine off the coast of Costa Rica, Reuters reported Nov. 20.

The vessel, crewed by three Colombians, was believed to be heading for the United States. The low-tech, 45-foot submarine could only go a few feet underwater, officials said, and was found near Coco Island, a remote spot off the Central American coast.

There have been past reported of drug smugglers using submarines to deliver narcotics to the U.S., including a supposed plan by cocaine cartels to buy a surplus Russian submarine.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says a drug-interdiction campaign by Mexico's government has cut cocaine supplies in 26 U.S. cities and resulted in a 29-percent price increase on the streets, USA Today reported Sept. 13.

The DEA said that the crackdown by the Calderon government in Mexico has also resulted in a decline in cocaine purity in the U.S. cities since September 2006. Cocaine prices are the highest since April 2005, when DEA began tracking price and purity.

"The law enforcement community and intelligence community is asking, 'How did this work?' and 'How do we keep it going?' " said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Less cocaine, less crack means fewer victims of drugs."

Local officials in cities like Cleveland and Nashville confirm the trend. "There has not been as much cocaine on the streets of Nashville this year as we have seen in prior times," said Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron.

In Cleveland, however, murders are up as competition among drug dealers tightens. "It does create more violence, but that's a short-term thing," said Mayor Frank Jackson. "That's the natural outcome of 20 years of crack cocaine and 30 years of powder."

 "Now we have an opportunity, if we continue this interdiction, to put in some economic development, some treatment, some prevention, that will turn things around," Jackson added. "Interdiction isn't the cure-all. The police cannot solve this problem. It's one leg on the stool."

A former senior counternarcotics official in the U.S. State Department is adding a strong voice to the growing chorus accusing Afghan officials of doing little to stem narcotics and related corruption in the war-torn nation, the New York Times reported July 24.

In an article published July 27 in The New York Times Magazine, Thomas Schweich wrote that failures of the Afghan government, in conjunction with inaction on the part of the United States and the international community, have resulted in Afghanistan becoming a virtual narco-state. Schweich is presently a visiting law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Schweich says that drug traffickers in Afghanistan routinely buy off judges, police chiefs and other officials at the highest level of government, and that President Hamid Karzai has shielded these officials from sanction. Schweich reiterates an often-heard allegation that the Afghan president's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, has been involved in the drug trade.

An Afghan counternarcotics minister in charge of drug eradication teams has advocated aerial spraying to kill poppy plants in rural areas, but the Afghan cabinet rejected the idea over health and environmental concerns. Still, both U.S. and Afghan officials acknowledge that opium production is down in some parts of the country, with up to 20 of 34 provinces expected to be free of poppies this year.

Schweich's article criticizes the Pentagon for largely wanting no part of the drug-fighting effort in the country. William B. Wood, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, states that while the military is indeed focusing its attention on counterinsurgency efforts, there is a growing sense that the drug trade impedes progress in seeking to achieve security in the nation.