Russia’s drug control authority reports that the amount of drug addictions is currently almost ten times greater than in 1990. The large amount of drug addictions have significant impact on the country’s economy.

“Drug addiction costs the Russian economy around 1.5 trillion rubles ($54 billion) each year, or 2.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, Victor Ivanov, head of Drug control Service said.”

Up to thirty thousand people die each year because of drug-related complications. This may be due to the fact, that Afghanistan’s drug production has increased 44 times since ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) was deployed in the country.

As the World AIDS Day is almost here, Human Rights Watch says governments around the world should adopt and expand needle and syringe exchange programs as well as effective drug dependency treatment to reduce HIV among people.

“HIV epidemics around the world are being driven by lack of access to needle exchange programs and methadone-maintenance treatment, both proven to reduce drug use. We’ve known for decades that these approaches work, but many governments and international donors either provide too little support or refuse to try them.”

World AIDS Day is on December first, and it aims to stop HIV prejudice and stop the spread of HIV. World AIDS Day brings to people’s attention the worldwide challenges and consequences of the epidemic - ultimately halting the spread of HIV and improving the lives of people living with the virus.

A new recovery center is offering an advanced approach to treating alcohol and drug addiction. The new residential treatment approach includes behavioral/addiction diagnosis, neurotherapy, and medication therapies. In addition to these the clients will have support through an online e-learning program.

Enterhealth’s aim is to not only treat people who need help overcoming addiction, but to also inspire change in our industry toward more aggressive, advanced approaches and restore hope to those who are seeking a solution that will work today and for the remainder of their lives.

The new treatment program is personalized for each client, and it combines psychological, neurological, pharmacological, and technological methods to treat addiction, and continuous online support is part of the therapy. The recovery center will open its doors next week.

A study made in the United Kingdom reveals that women’s drinking habit has increased whereas men are drinking less than before. Men reach a peak in drinking when they are around the age of 29, women, however, drink more when they are approaching middle age.

The number of women aged 35 to 54 dying from alcohol-related problems doubled between 1991 and 2006, from 7.2 to 14.8 per 100,000 of the population - the largest increase of any group. Police fear they are also more vulnerable to assault.

Hospitals and alcohol rehabilitation centers have noticed a rise in the number of women in early middle age seeking treatment for alcohol addiction. Women are less able to metabolise alcohol and suffer greater damage to their health than men after drinking similar amounts.

China has the worlds largest online community with 253 million users. Especially gaming in internet cafés has become extremely popular among young chinese men. Now China may become the first country in the world which classifies internet addiction as a clinical disorder.

Beijing’s Health Ministry is expected to adopt a new manual on internet addiction next year, based on the research of Chinese psychologists. It will recognise the condition as similar to compulsive gambling or alcoholism.

According to estimates, about 10% of young users suffer from addiction and of those more than two thirds are male. Chinese specialists say the condition is often a symptom of deeper psychological problems, and the behavioural problems of child addicts become aggravated by their addiction.

However, the specialist remind, unlike drugs internet addiction does not create physical dependency and thus the addicts can be cured in 70 per cent of times.

According to a new study long-term drug treatment gives the best results when treating young people with addiction to opioid prescription painkillers. The study focused on 152 oioid addicts between the ages of 15 to 21 for 12 weeks.

The first group took the drug Suboxone for a period of 9 weeks, and then stopped taking it after 12 weeks. The second group took a lower dose of the drug, for only a period of two weeks. After 8 weeks went by, only 23% of those on the drug had positive urine tests which showed they have been using again.

The leader of the study, Dr. George Woody of the University of Pennsylvania, states that currently majority of the treatment programs in the U.S. are on a short-term set-up. The problems these young people are facing are tried to be fixed over a short period of time through detoxification.

According to a new research nicotine dependence severity has increased 12 percent between 1989 and 2006, while the proportion of people classified as highly nicotine dependent has increased 32 percent.

Previous studies suggest that individuals who have less severe nicotine
dependence have already been successful at quitting smoking, which leaves a
larger percentage of patients who are highly nicotine dependent among the
greater tobacco-using community.

Nicotine dependence has reached a 15-year high, with nearly 75 percent of people currently seeking tobacco-dependence treatment categorized as highly nicotine dependent. The results were presented at the 74th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians.

SeaHab Inc., a company offering a medically supervised ocean-going alcohol rehabilitation program, is now accepting reservations for its January Caribbean Cruise. The participants travel at Caribbean for 14 days before returning.

The service SeaHab offers is a different and unique way of alcohol rehabilitation compared to traditional chemical dependency centers. SeaHabs medical advisory team consists of a panel of the healthcare industry’s top professionals with 90 years of combined experience in the field of alcohol rehabilitation.

SeaHab Inc. is the pioneer of this exclusive form of treatment of changing the way people think about substance and alcohol abuse rehabilitation. Recovery from drug and alcohol addiction is said to be accelerated when spending time in this new healing environment.

A recent study suggests that hospital costs for alcohol or drug abusers can be substantial. Notable was that insurers spend very little on addiction treatment to prevent medical consequences of abuse.

It was found out that 14 percent of people admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1994 to 2002 were alcohol or drug abusers. Of these more than 43,000 patients, the researchers found, about half abused two or more drugs, resulting in hospital costs in 2002 of $28 million.

Twenty five percent abused only alcohol, which resulted in $20 million in hospital costs in year 2002. Treatment costs were risen each year of the study period. The stude was published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

Miracles Inc. - organization providing services to treat and prevent substance abuse - is planning to sponsor a parade to honor recovering addicts as part of the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. The parade will consist of people in recovery, their families and community social service providers who help battle substance abuse.

The parade will begin at Miracles Inc. on East Second Street and culminate in Old Town Square. Perfect Peace Christian Church Dancers will perform a “Chain of Recovery,” designed to show how addiction affects and recovery unites people.