Teen girls are more likely than teen boys to identify potential benefits from drugs and alcohol, says a study released today by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.In the 2009 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study, more than two-thirds of teen girls reported that using drugs helps kids cope with problems at home, and half said drugs…

Here’s what happened in selected cases involving Tampa Bay area nurses who were assigned to the Intervention Project for Nurses, a secret, state-sponsored drug-treatment program. Efforts to reach the nurses by phone and mail were unsuccessful. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jun/28/nurses-and-narcotics-case-studies-tampa-bay/life-health/

According to research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), some of the same brain mechanisms that fuel drug addiction in humans are the same as the ones that control compulsive eating behaviors and the development of obesity in animals. Both obesity and drug addiction are dysfunction in the brain’s reward system. When…

It used to be that older teens were the most susceptible to drug experimentation, but kids today are starting earlier than ever. In fact, 10- to 14-year-olds are now the most likely to begin using one intoxicating substance or another. http://www.christianpost.com/blogs/parenting/2010/06/drug-abuse-starting-earlier-than-ever-25/

Like so many social ills, substance abuse can appear in the workplace. And, given the frequency of drug and alcohol use, chances are good you’ll work with someone with a problem, if you haven’t already. Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/When+your+worker+problem/3211206/story.html#ixzz0sB7M1Q6m

Like any other business, the narcotics trade it requires a distribution infrastructure — Memphis has a good one, says the Memphis Commercial Appeal. It requires suppliers. Today, most drugs that arrive in Memphis come through Mexico, though they may originate in places like Colombia, law-enforcement officials say. http://thecrimereport.org/2010/06/26/how-mexican-drug-cartel-operations-lead-to-deaths-in-memphis/

The new users of heroin: affluent suburban teens and young adults who snort or sniff the highly addictive drug. Once stigmatized because of its junkie connotation, many believe it has proliferated because it no longer needs to be injected. Users eventually may turn to injection as their tolerance level increases their need. http://www.examiner.com/x-32509-Chicago-Healthy-Living-Examiner~y2010m6d28-Chicago-leads-in-heroinrelated-ER-visits–A-growing-teen-epidemic

Mexican police say they have captured a top figure in Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/americas/Mexico-Arrests-Top-Drug-Figure-97221354.html

On July 1 a substance commonly known as “spice” will become illegal in the state of Alabama, stopping sales of what local law enforcement consider a dangerous substitute for marijuana. http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/8030860/article-Wicked-weed-or-teapot-tempest-?instance=home_lead_story