One hundred years ago, the US convened the International Opium Conference. This meeting of 13 nations in Shanghai was the beginning of global drug prohibition. Prohibition slowly became one of the most universally applied policies in the world. But a century on, international support for this blanket drug policy is slowly but inexorably unravelling. In….
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Not all alcohol abusers look or act alike. Nor do they start on the road to alcoholism the same way or share the same set of problems. What they have in common is that they are all, in some way, damaging their lives. There are many ways to be diagnosed as being alcohol dependent. Alcohol….
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Permanent housing for homeless patients with ongoing drinking problems can help reduce medical and social costs and lower alcohol consumption, researchers here said. In one year, the so-called “Housing First” program cut costs from about $8 million to $4 million across the study sample, Mary E. Larimer, Ph.D., of the University of Washington, and colleagues….
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Voters in Switzerland go to the polls on Sunday to decide whether to make a controversial heroin prescription programme a permanent, nationwide health policy. The Swiss government supports the idea but opponents say it encourages drug addiction, and sends the wrong message to young people. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s Switzerland had one of….
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Wealthy and professional women are far more likely to binge drink than those on lower incomes, a new survey of Scotland’s health has suggested. Official figures showed 31 per cent of females in homes with the highest earners drink more than the recommended limit of 14 units per week, the equivalent of seven pints of….
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