Archive for August, 2010

What People Do to Beat Drug Tests

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Testing on August 24th, 2010

A follow-up article on The Wall Street Journal talked about, among other things, what the Wall Streeters may have done to beat drug tests. In a previous post, we featured the findings of drug-testing firm Sterling Infosystems Inc., which revealed that cocaine use in Wall Street has gone down.

urine sampleDeal Journal talked to Sterling’s director of occupational health services, John Mallios. Among the things that Mallios discussed was how people tried to beat drug tests. Making these tactics known ought to make drug-testing companies, employers and other such stakeholders be more careful about conducting drug tests, ensuring that these things do not happen.

One option taken by some people who are asked to undergo urine drug testing is diluting their sample. Dilution reduces the concentration of drugs or drug metabolites in the sample, through the addition of fluid. In order to prevent this from happening, drug-testing facilities ask people to collect specimen in a room that does not have a sink, or where the toilet water is tinted.

Others choose to substitute their urine with another person’s urine, or with a synthetic sample. Some drug testing facilities frisk those who are testing to make sure that they are not carrying anything with them into the collection area. At any rate, apparently there are those who succeed in placing another person’s sample in their collection cup, or use such things as liquid or powdered synthetic urine.

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Suffolk County Announces “Operation Medicine Cabinet”

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on August 23rd, 2010

In several previous posts, we have talked about the dangers of prescription drug abuse and how the home medicine cabinet can sometimes become the unwitting source of drugs abused by teens. An interesting program has been developed and is being implemented in Suffolk County, in an effort to prevent such a possibility from happening.

prescription medicine abuseA feature on the Bayport – Blue Point Patch shared details regarding Operation Medicine Cabinet, a police district-wide program that provides parents with a means to get rid of unwanted, unused or expired medicines in their homes. A first in the state of New York, the program is open to residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

County executive Steve Levy shared: “Health and law enforcement professionals know that prescription opiate abuse is leading our young ones down the path to heroin use… ‘Operation Medicine Cabinet’ is designed to attack this epidemic at its earliest stage by reducing the risk that meds are unwittingly available to children and others who could use them in an unintended manner.”

The program will place secure receptacles in each of the seven police precincts in Suffolk County, where residents can anonymously drop off medicines. While this program is in no way the first medicine drop-off – other municipalities have also organized one-time medicine drop off days – it is the first program that provides residents with a permanent, round-the-clock, medicine drop off facility.

In attendance during the program’s unveiling were Levy, Suffolk Legislator Steven Stern, Police Commissioner Richard Dormer, Health Services Commissioner Dr. James Tomarken and Environment and Energy Commissioner Carrie Meek-Gallagher.

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Cocaine Use in Wall Street Going Down

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction, Drug Testing on August 22nd, 2010

A post on The Wall Street Journal shared that cocaine use among investment professionals at Wall Street has gone down, although they seem to have replaced coke with marijuana and pills.

This does not mean, however, that Wall Street is a drug-infested profession; for the most part, according to the feature, Wall Street is relatively clean, with only 2 percent of the industry failing drug tests annually, according to drug-testing firm Sterling Infosystems Inc.

cocaineAdam Zoia, CEO of executive recruiting firm Glocap Search LLC, shared: “I think the incidence of hard drug use is lower today than it was 10 or 15 years ago… “The banks, in particular, are pretty persnickity on background checks.”

The thing, however, is that drug testing is usually only done among new employees, and random drug testing is rarely done on existing employees; this was revealed by someone described as “a spokesman for a bulge-bracket bank” who requested for anonymity.

That being said, psychologists and counselors say that drug abuse among existing Wall Street employees is not slowing down; if anything, it seems to be peaking, due in part to the credit crisis. Clinical Director William Heran shared that the 24-bed luxury rehab facility Seabrook House in Pennsylvania has catered to quite a number of patients who worked on Wall Street. Seabrook charges $24,000 for a three-month program.

Robert Curry, founder of Turning Point for Leaders, an intervention and rehab company based in Connecticut, shared: “Investment bankers — gunslingers, as we call them — are highly prone to addiction, and there’s a lot of denial among employers. The attitude is: ‘If they can’t fix themselves, then they’re going to have to live with it. We’re not going to put any time and effort into it.”

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Lindsay Lohan Misdiagnosed for Bipolar Disorder and Drug Addiction

Posted by Drug Free in Alcohol Abuse, Drug Addiction, Prescription Drug Abuse on August 21st, 2010

lindsay lohanDoctors who evaluated actress Lindsay Lohan during her stay at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital of UCLA at Westwood are in the opinion that the actress was misdiagnosed for bipolar disorder and drug addiction, according to a feature on the New York Daily News.

Ms. Lohan has stopped taking her medications, which included Dilaudid, Ambien, Adderall, Zoloft, Trazodone and Nexium, according to the report. She did not, however, show any unfavorable reactions, despite having to stop taking her medications. She also did not exhibit withdrawal symptoms to the absence of alcohol.

Another misdiagnosis for Ms. Lohan is having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), which is the reason why she was taking Adderall; the doctors at UCLA say that she is not suffering from the condition. People such as Ms. Lohan, who apparently was taking Adderall unnecessarily, are reportedly susceptible to bizarre symptoms such as: “driving around until all hours of the morning … smoking heavily … tweeting … and texting all night long,” as shared by addiction specialist Dr. Joe Haraszti to gossip site TMZ.com.

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DJ AM Memorial Fund Donates to Help Recovering Teens

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Abuse Treatment, Drug Addiction, Drug Rehabilitation on August 21st, 2010

DJ AM The DJ AM Memorial Fund, set-up in memory of DJ AM, will be making a donation that will benefit teens who are suffering from drug addiction. According to a post on TMZ.com, a donation will be made to the Phoenix House Academy in Los Angeles, which serves as a residential treatment program for teens dealing with addiction, in the hope that these kids will be able to find “a new passion in music.”

A representative from the DJ AM Memorial Fund shared: “We wanted to find a way to continue Adam’s legacy of giving back that would include music as a key component. Making a donation that includes a DJ station helps Adam’s legacy live on.”

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Gangs and Drugs Prevail in Public Schools!

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction, Raising Healthy Kids on August 20th, 2010

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has released the results of its 15th annual back-to-school survey, and what these results revealed may be a cause of concern for parents.

school drugsThe teen survey showed that about a quarter – 27 percent (5.7 million) – of teens (aged 12 to 17) who attended public schools revealed that their schools were both drug- and gang-infected. A drug-infected school is defined as a school where “drugs are used, kept or sold on school grounds.”

Teens that are exposed to such an environment, the study revealed further, are: five times more likely to use marijuana; three times more likely to drink; twelve times more likely to smoke; three times more likely to be able to get marijuana within an hour or less; five times more likely to get marijuana within a day or less; and nearly five times more likely to have a friend or a classmate who uses illegal drugs such as acid, ecstasy, methamphetamine, cocaine or heroin.

In addition, the study showed that 46 percent of teens who attended public school said that gangs are present in their schools, while 47 percent said that there are drugs used, kept or sold in the school’s premises.

There is a difference, the study showed, in the situations in public and private schools. In comparison to public schools, only two percent of teens who attend private and religious schools report that there are gangs in their schools, while 78 percent report that their schools are drug-free.

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