Survey: Teen marijuana use rises, alcohol use down

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LANSING, Michigan (AP) — More U.S. teens are using marijuana and see it as less of a risk, while their alcohol use has dipped to historic lows, according to an annual national survey of drug use released Wednesday.

The findings are based on an annual survey of 47,000 teens conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

One of every 15 high school seniors reported smoking marijuana on a daily or near daily basis, the highest rate since 1981.

"One thing we've learned over the years is that when young people come to see a drug as dangerous, they're less likely to use it," Lloyd Johnston, the study's principal investigator, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "That helps to explain why marijuana right now is rising, because the proportion of kids who see it as dangerous has been declining."

The study said marijuana use among teens rose in 2011 for the fourth straight year after considerable decline in the preceding decade.

One of every nine students in their last year of school before college reported using synthetic marijuana within the previous 12 months.

The synthetic drug survey question was asked for the first time this year. Fake marijuana, sometimes sold in drug paraphernalia shops and on the Internet as incense, contains organic leaves coated with chemicals that provide a marijuana-like high when smoked.

A Drug Enforcement Administration emergency order banning the sale of five chemicals used in herbal blends to make synthetic marijuana took effect March 1. Many states also have their own laws banning the sale of synthetic marijuana.

White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called on parents to get involved to help stop the use of synthetic marijuana.

"It's not in the vocabulary of parents, and they need to be aware of it so that when they have that conversation about substance abuse that they are knowledgeable and they talk about this," he told the AP.

Alcohol use continued a trend of decline dating to the 1980s and hit a historic low for the survey, which began in the 1970s.

Other drugs showing some evidence of decline in use this year include cocaine, crack cocaine and inhalants.

___

Online:

The survey can be found at http://www.monitoringthefuture.org

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Alcohol linked to better survival after heart attack

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n">(Reuters) - Women who drank anywhere from a few alcoholic drinks a month to more than three a week in the year leading up to a heart attack ended up living longer than women who never drank alcohol, according to a U.S. study.

The findings, which focused on more than 1,000 women and were published in the American Journal of Cardiology, add to mounting evidence that alcohol, regardless of the type of drink, can be good for the heart.

"One thing that was interesting was that we didn't see differences among different beverage types," said Joshua Rosenbloom, a student at Harvard Medical School who led the study.

"The most recent evidence suggests that it's the alcohol itself that's beneficial."

There was a similarly reduced risk of dying within the follow up period whether the women drank wine, beer or hard liquor, Rosenbloom and his colleagues found.

"One drink a day is a really good target, assuming that a person can be disciplined about that," said James O'Keefe, a cardiologist at St. Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Missouri, who was not involved in the study.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,200 women hospitalized for a heart attack. They asked questions about how many alcoholic drinks the women usually consumed, along with other health and lifestyle questions.

After at least 10 years of follow up, the team found that 44 out of every 100 women who had abstained from alcohol had died, while 25 out of every 100 light drinkers and 18 out of every 100 heavy drinkers had died.

This translated to about a 35 percent lower chance of dying during the follow up period for women who drank, compared to those who didn't.

In an earlier study including men and women, O'Keefe found that people who continued to drink moderately after having a heart attack had better health than those who abstained.

"You don't need to assume that people need to stop drinking once they develop heart disease," he said.

"The problem is that alcohol is a slippery slope, and while we know that a little bit is good for us, a lot of it is really bad." SOURCE: bit.ly/uU3Eor

(Reporting from New York by Kerry Grens at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

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Alcohol bill returns to Holyrood

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21 October 2011 Last updated at 16:56 GMT Nicola Sturgeon told the conference that the SNP would win its independence referendum A new bill on minimum pricing for alcohol will be introduced at Holyrood within the next month, the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon has promised.

She delivered the message in a speech to the party faithful attending their annual conference in Inverness.

A first attempt by the SNP to push through a similar alcohol bill failed during the last parliament.

Scotland's health secretary also said "we will win" the independence referendum.

The 1,300 gathering heard Ms Sturgeon say: "Delegates, I can tell you today that our minimum pricing bill will be reintroduced to parliament within the next month.

"When that bill is passed, Scotland will become the first country to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol. The world is watching us.

"Being first with a policy means that it comes with no absolute certainties.

"I know that. But I also know that the evidence, the real life experiences of doctors, nurses, the police, and sheer common sense tell us it can work to reduce the dreadful damage that alcohol misuse does to our communities.

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Reintroduction of minimum pricing bill for alcohol

A four-week maximum wait for hospital discharge for people who do not need hospital care

A two-week maximum wait for hospital discharge for people who do not need hospital care

Insulin pumps made available to 25% of the under 18s with Type 1 diabetes

Increase the number of insulin pumps to Scots with Type 1 diabetes to more than 2,000

"So, it may not be the politically easy thing to do, but I believe in my heart that it is the right thing to do."

During her speech, Ms Sturgeon said that she would introduce a two-week maximum wait for hospital discharge by 2015.

The current target for discharging someone from hospital when they no longer need hospital care is six weeks.

But under the new targets there would be a four-week maximum wait for discharge, to be achieved by April 2013, followed by a two-week maximum wait by April 2015.

Ms Sturgeon said: "Ten years ago over 2,000 patients were delayed in leaving hospital by more than six weeks.

"By July 2011 that figure was less than 100. But the reality is that too many patients, many of them older people, are still waiting too long to be discharged.

"We must take action to cut these unnecessary waits, which are bad for patients and a waste of hospital resources, particularly when beds need to be available for those who need them."

Ms Sturgeon told part members that hospital bed-blocking costs the NHS more than 200,000 bed days each year - enough patients to fill a 600-bed hospital, at a cost of up to £60m a year.

She also announced plans for 25% of all type 1 diabetic sufferers, under the age of 18, to have access to insulin pumps.

The politician informed the conference that such devices made a real difference to the ability of diabetics to manage their condition and prevent complications.

Ms Sturgeon added: "They don't work for everyone but clinical guidelines say that far more people in Scotland should have access to them than is currently the case. Right now, only about 2.5% of patients have them."

The health secretary also plans to triple the total number of pumps available to sufferers of all ages to more than 2,000.

On the issue of independence and the planned referendum, Ms Sturgeon said the SNP was winning the argument.

However, she cautioned that the party could take nothing for granted.

'Right decisions'

Ms Sturgeon said: "The decision on Scotland's future rests with the Scottish people. Our responsibility is to persuade them that independence offers a better future for our country."

She added: "We know that the campaign against independence will be relentlessly negative. For the UK parties, the independence debate is not about the best interests of Scotland.

"Our case for independence will be based on the simple but powerful belief that, as a country, we are better placed than anyone else to take the right decisions for our future."

To rousing cheers, Ms Sturgeon said: "Delegates, I believe that we will win the independence referendum."

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Two - Question screen can help doctors Spot teen alcohol problems

Two questions during regular visit to the pediatrician may help identify youth drinking problems, according to a group of national experts organized by the National Institute on alcohol and the alcohol abuse (NIAAA), which has just released the guidelines for the screening of alcohol and treatment.

Despite the national drinking age 21, approximately 7% of Americans 12 - years have been more odd sip of drink alcoholic. According to the age of 18, that proportion rises to 70%. Children who begin drinking before age 15 - outside the parameters adapted as the religious ceremonies or family meals in cultures of drinkers of wine - are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin later.

Then that drinking deviants beginning is not necessarily to alcoholism, it indicates that the young person may be at high risk for alcohol problems and other psychiatric disorders and may benefit from early treatment.

More: Status: drunk. Can help Facebook ID problem drinkers?

Questions pediatricians should ask according to the NIAAA are as follows, with text amended to be age-appropriate:

You have friends who drank beer, wine or drink containing alcohol in the last year?

You - the last year, had you on how many days have more than a few sips of beer, wine or any drink containing alcohol?

Screening is obviously better when the parents are not present and after the child was informed of the privacy policy of the doctor. In General, pediatricians keep confidential information unless the child is in immediate danger for alcohol-related harm by engaging in activities as the daily drinking or drinking and driving.

The question to what friends drinking tends to predict future alcohol consumption. If the child responds Yes but not in the second, the doctor may welcome the child to avoid alcohol, discuss the risks of alcohol ways they can avoid drinking if their friends continue to do so.

If the child admits to drinking, the NIAAA guide provides physicians of information on the level of risk associated with various amounts of drink at specific ages, as well as advice on the implementation of what is called a "brief motivational intervention" helps people smoking or levels at least cut at least risky drinking.

Brief interventions involve "meet people when they are in," rather than requiring immediate abstinence or entry into an intensive treatment. In a brief intervention - which literally takes 15 minutes or less - the doctor discussed to reduce or eliminate risk behaviour and the means, this objective can be achieved.

More: How Teen Dating Influences Teen drinking

More importantly, however, the focus is on the objectives and the wishes of the patient. The doctor tries to help patients find their own reasons to choose of more healthy behaviour change and then support them, instead demanding or "refusal." Follow-up appointments are made to discuss the progress, sometimes combined with another follow-up medical appointments if the child does not want to disclose a problem at low altitude to parents.

Not surprising, given how short these interventions are, they have been shown to be as effective as more intensive treatment to reduce the consumption of alcohol to teens. They carry low cost and no risk of exposure of adolescents to more deviant peers that can come with the treatment of group for the substance use problems.

If adolescents are found to have ongoing problems or have engaged in threatening behavior such as drinking and driving, the NIAAA guide offers parents and physicians policy advice to find the best care, including treatment more intensive.

More:
Guide for the Parents"href="http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/17/how-to-find-the-best-drug-treatment-for-teens-a-guide-for-parents/">How to find the best treatment of drug abuse for Teens: a Guide for Parents

"We know that alcohol is by far the drug of choice among young people," said NIAAA acting Director Kenneth Warren in a statement. "Minor drinking is also a marker for other unhealthy behaviors and it often goes unnoticed." "This new tool was designed for busy professionals who manage the health and well-being of children and adolescents to conduct fast, screens of the entry into force of the alcohol and brief interventions".

Unfortunately, actually getting physicians to integrate testing into their practice can be difficult, given their time. A 4 000 adult patients NIAAA study revealed that, while 49% were questioned on their consumption of alcohol, only 14% of those with alcohol use has exceeded healthy levels advised this subject by their physicians in their most recent visit.

The guide NIAAA alcohol screening and intervention for youth are located here.

More: Teen Drug Rehab cure drug addiction or create it?

Maia Szalavitz, is a writer of health at TIME.com. Find him on Twitter at @ maiasz. You can also continue the discussion on the time Facebook page Healthland and on Twitter at @ TIMEHealthland.

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Alcohol limits advice 'confusing'

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7 October 2011 Last updated at 06:57 GMT By Debbie Bannigan CEO of Swanswell, Alcohol, Drug and Support Services People have little 'specific' idea of how much they can drink The advice on alcohol limits is too confusing according to Debbie Bannigan, head of the charity Swanswell. She says that 'units' mean nothing to many people - and the guidance should be clearer and easier to remember.

In this week's Scrubbing Up, she says that to have a daily "safe" amount is misleading and that some people - including pregnant women and drivers - should be told "no alcohol is best".

Most people think they have a rough idea of "how much is too much?", but ask them for specifics and they're not sure. Who can blame them, when the measure that is used to define safe limits - 'units' - is so hard to understand?

While 82% of adults claim to know what a unit of alcohol is, 77% don't know how many units are in a typical large glass of wine.

Ironically, 'units' become even harder to compute when we've had a drink, because the part of our brain that works that sort of thing out switches off.

And the concept of a daily safe amount may even encourage the idea that we should drink alcohol every day.

To add to the confusion, we're bombarded with new "scientific" findings about alcohol.

In the last couple of months alone, we've been told that alcohol damages the DNA of unborn children beyond repair, but that it's OK for pregnant women to have a couple of glasses of wine a week, which is pretty conflicting advice.

Reported health benefits from alcohol are rarely balanced with information about the risks, or the observation that the benefits can be achieved in other ways that don't carry any significant risks at all.

It's little surprise that people are confused about the impact alcohol can have on their lives.

But walk into any supermarket and you'll be encouraged to buy alcohol.

My local supermarket's "seasonal aisle" - one of the first things you see when you enter the store - has become a wine festival.

And the end of each aisle - the "impulse buy" space - is also stacked with cans of lager and cider, so selecting and purchasing alcohol is just part of the weekly shop rather than something that we have to think about doing.

Drink, anyone?

The people who come to us for help are just like you and me, but they've found that their choice to drink alcohol has been riskier than they expected.

What can be done about it? Official guidelines could be clearer. Other public health messages are short and snappy, like 'clunk-click every trip' or 'catch it bin it kill it'.

They are designed to be simple and memorable, so we learn and apply them without trying.

Units don't work this way, but a simple phrase like 'one or two, once or twice' gives us a simple yardstick that drinking one or two alcoholic drinks, once or twice a week, is a good limit.

Sometimes a clear, easy to understand and safe message is that no alcohol is best - for example, for children, in pregnancy or when driving.

Scientific evidence shows that even one drink can impair judgement when driving and that alcohol affects children disproportionately, especially before they are born.

A zero limit for drivers, pregnant women and children avoids confusion and helps us all to take responsibility.

We shouldn't be afraid of setting clear guidelines and sticking to them.

With co-operation between drinks manufacturers, supermarkets and the government we can judge the risk of alcohol use for ourselves.

Not only can we reach the point where hospital admissions are going down instead of up, we can create a society that is free from problem alcohol use altogether.

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What alcohol does to our bodies

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1 October 2011 Last updated at 23:08 GMT By Philippa Roxby Health reporter, BBC News We know that drinking too much alcohol is bad for us. It gives us hangovers, makes us feel tired and does little for our appearance - and that is just the morning afterwards.

Long term, it increases the risk of developing a long list of health conditions including breast cancer, oral cancers, heart disease, strokes and cirrhosis of the liver.

Research shows that a high alcohol intake can also damage our mental health, impair memory skills and reduce fertility.

The direct link between alcohol and the liver is well understood - but what about the impact of alcohol on other organs?

Numerous heart studies suggest that moderate alcohol consumption helps protect against heart disease by raising good cholesterol and stopping the formation of blood clots in the arteries.

Toxic

However, drinking more than three drinks a day has been found to have a direct and damaging effect on the heart. Heavy drinking, particularly over time, can lead to high blood pressure, alcoholic cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure and stroke. Heavy drinking also puts more fat into the circulation of the body.

The link between alcohol and cancer is well established, says Cancer Research UK. A study published in the BMJ this year estimated that alcohol consumption causes at least 13,000 cancer cases in the UK each year - about 9,000 cases in men and 4,000 in women.

Cancer experts say that for every additional 10g per day of alcohol drunk, the risk of breast cancer increases by approximately 7-12%.

For bowel cancer, previous studies show that increasing alcohol intake by 100g per week increases the cancer risk by 19%.

A recent report in BioMed Central's Immunology journal found that alcohol impairs the body's ability to fight off viral infections.

And studies on fertility suggest that even light drinking can make women less likely to conceive while heavy drinking in men can lower sperm quality and quantity.

Why alcohol has this negative effect on all elements of our health could be down to acetaldehyde - the product alcohol is broken down into in the body.

Acetaldehyde is toxic and has been shown to damage DNA.

Dr KJ Patel, from the Medical Research Council's laboratory of molecular biology in Cambridge, recently completed a study into the toxic effects of alcohol on mice.

His research implies that a single binge-drinking dose of alcohol during pregnancy may be sufficient to cause permanent damage to a baby's genome.

Foetal alcohol syndrome, he says, "can give rise to children who are seriously damaged, born with head and facial abnormalities and mental disabilities".

'Clear dose relationship'

Alcohol is a well-established cancer causing agent, he says.

"You cannot get a cancer cell occurring unless DNA is altered. When you drink, the acetaldehyde is corrupting the DNA of life and puts you on the road to cancer.

"One of most common genetic defects in man is our inability to counteract the toxicity of alcohol."

Dr Nick Sheron, who runs the liver unit at Southampton General Hospital, says the mechanisms by which alcohol does damage are not quite so clear cut.

Continue reading the main story

Drinking about three drinks per day:

Cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, oesophagus, larynx, breast, liver, colon, rectumLiver cirrhosisEssential hypertensionChronic pancreatitis"The toxicity of alcohol is complex, but we do know there is a clear dose relationship."

With alcoholic liver disease, the greater the alcohol intake per week the greater the liver damage and that increases exponentially for someone drinking six to eight bottles or more of wine in that period, for example.

Over the past 20 to 30 years, Dr Sheron says, deaths from liver disease have increased by 500%, with 85% of those due to alcohol. Only in the last few years has that rise slowed down.

"Alcohol has a bigger impact than smoking on our health because alcohol kills at a younger age. The average age of death for someone with alcoholic liver disease is their 40s."

'More harmful than heroin or crack'

Alcohol is undoubtedly a public health issue too.

Earlier this year, NHS figures showed that alcohol-related hospital admissions has reached record levels in 2010. Over a million people were admitted in 2009-10, compared with 945,500 in 2008-09 and 510,800 in 2002-03. Nearly two in three of those cases were men.

At the same time the charity Alcohol Concern predicted the number of admissions would reach 1.5m a year by 2015 and cost the NHS £3.7bn a year.

Last year, a study in The Lancet concluded that alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack when the overall dangers to the individual and society are considered.

The study by the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs also ranked alcohol as three times more harmful than cocaine or tobacco because it is so widely used.

So how much alcohol is too much? What can we safely drink?

Did you know? There are 16g of alcohol in a 175ml glass of red or white wine.

The government guidelines on drinking are being reviewed at present. They currently say that a women should not drink more than two to three units of alcohol per day and a man three to four units a day.

But Paul Wallace, a GP and chief medical adviser of Drinkaware, says people are just not aware of the alcohol content of a large glass of wine.

"Most of us don't realise what we're drinking and you can very easily slip beyond acceptable limits."

Katherine Brown, head of research at the Institute of Alcohol Studies, says the current guidelines and how they are communicated may be giving the public misleading information.

"We need to be very careful when suggesting there is a 'safe' level of drinking for the population. Rather, we need to explain that there are risks associated with alcohol consumption, and that the less you drink the lower your risk is of developing health problems.

"We hope the government use this as an opportunity to help change perceptions about regular drinking being a normal, risk-free practice."

Dr Wallace wants the government to do a better job on the message it sends out by explaining the alcohol guidelines in units per week, rather than per day - no more than 21 units for men, 14 units for women per week.

Dr Sheron agrees: "There is no such thing as a safe level, but the government has got to draw a line somewhere. It's a balance.

"People like having a drink, but they have to accept there's a risk-benefit ratio."

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Online loopholes in alcohol bill

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 15:20 GMT The bill is aimed at ending offers such as discounts for multiple purchases Online deals are being used to get round new laws banning discounted promotions on alcohol in Scotland.

The legislation, which comes into force on Saturday, will stop deals such as two-for-the price-of one and group discounts on wine.

Tesco has emailed customers to say they can still get wine discounts because cases will be dispatched from a depot in England.

Some other retailers are expected to cut the price of individual products.

The Alcohol Bill, passed at Holyrood last year, aims to ban "irresponsible" drinks promotions and restrict advertising of alcohol around premises.

Changes in licensing laws mean customers buying drink in stores or with online grocery orders will not get discounts.

'Watch closely'

But, Tesco advised shoppers in Scotland they can still benefit from cut-price deals.

Continue reading the main story

This move by the supermarkets demonstrates precisely the difficulties with the SNP's plans for blanket minimum pricing of alcohol”

End Quote Murdo Fraser Conservative health spokesman In an email promotion, Tesco said: ''Great news! All orders placed at TescoWine by the case will still qualify for these discounts when applicable as your wine is dispatched to you from our distribution centre in Daventry, England.''

The alcohol will then be transported across the border from England into Scotland.

A Tesco spokesman said retailers had been highlighting that internet sales would be excluded by the new legislation for some time.

A Scottish government spokesman said: "Internet sales represent only a very small proportion of the alcohol sold in Scotland, but it is an area that we watch closely to see if further action is necessary."

MSPs have warned that other retailers are also looking at removing the quantity discounts and advertising, but will instead sell the same bottles of alcohol for whatever the combined discount price was to begin with.

Labour's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "We are concerned that, despite reassurances from the SNP government at the time, there still appears to be gaping loopholes in the legislation that are now being exploited by supermarkets."

Conservative health spokesman Murdo Fraser said: "This move by the supermarkets demonstrates precisely the difficulties with the SNP's plans for blanket minimum pricing of alcohol, plans which will easily be got around by internet sales."

The Alcohol Bill also introduces a requirement for age verification and a new tax which could be imposed on licence holders.

The social responsibility levy aims to ensure retailers and licensed premises, such as nightclubs, contribute to the wider cost of their activities to the community.

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Online loopholes in alcohol bill

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30 September 2011 Last updated at 15:20 GMT The bill is aimed at ending offers such as discounts for multiple purchases Online deals are being used to get round new laws banning discounted promotions on alcohol in Scotland.

The legislation, which comes into force on Saturday, will stop deals such as two-for-the price-of one and group discounts on wine.

Tesco has emailed customers to say they can still get wine discounts because cases will be dispatched from a depot in England.

Some other retailers are expected to cut the price of individual products.

The Alcohol Bill, passed at Holyrood last year, aims to ban "irresponsible" drinks promotions and restrict advertising of alcohol around premises.

Changes in licensing laws mean customers buying drink in stores or with online grocery orders will not get discounts.

'Watch closely'

But, Tesco advised shoppers in Scotland they can still benefit from cut-price deals.

Continue reading the main story

This move by the supermarkets demonstrates precisely the difficulties with the SNP's plans for blanket minimum pricing of alcohol”

End Quote Murdo Fraser Conservative health spokesman In an email promotion, Tesco said: ''Great news! All orders placed at TescoWine by the case will still qualify for these discounts when applicable as your wine is dispatched to you from our distribution centre in Daventry, England.''

The alcohol will then be transported across the border from England into Scotland.

A Tesco spokesman said retailers had been highlighting that internet sales would be excluded by the new legislation for some time.

A Scottish government spokesman said: "Internet sales represent only a very small proportion of the alcohol sold in Scotland, but it is an area that we watch closely to see if further action is necessary."

MSPs have warned that other retailers are also looking at removing the quantity discounts and advertising, but will instead sell the same bottles of alcohol for whatever the combined discount price was to begin with.

Labour's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "We are concerned that, despite reassurances from the SNP government at the time, there still appears to be gaping loopholes in the legislation that are now being exploited by supermarkets."

Conservative health spokesman Murdo Fraser said: "This move by the supermarkets demonstrates precisely the difficulties with the SNP's plans for blanket minimum pricing of alcohol, plans which will easily be got around by internet sales."

The Alcohol Bill also introduces a requirement for age verification and a new tax which could be imposed on licence holders.

The social responsibility levy aims to ensure retailers and licensed premises, such as nightclubs, contribute to the wider cost of their activities to the community.

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Study: College-Age Youths Increasingly Overdose on Alcohol and Drugs

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College-age youth are increasingly overdosing on drugs and alcohol, according to 1999–2008 data on hospitalizations in this age group.

The rate of hospitalizations following overdose skyrocketed in people aged 18 to 24, the new study found: overdoses involving alcohol in combination with other drugs increased 76%; overdoses involving drugs other than alcohol rose 55%; and those involving alcohol alone went up 25%. The most striking rise was seen in overdoses involving prescription painkillers, which leapt 122% over the same period.

In 2008, researchers estimated that there were 114,000 hospitalizations for single or multiple drug overdoses, 29,000 for combination alcohol and other drug overdoses and 29,000 for alcohol-only ODs.

Adults over age 25 saw similar increases in overdose rates, except in those involving both alcohol and other drugs — that increase was less steep. Although alcohol is much more commonly used than other drugs, it was responsible for a smaller proportion of overall overdose-related admissions to the hospital.

MORE: On Overdose Awareness Day, a Mother's Plea for Compassion

The costs of such hospitalizations total a whopping $1.2 billion per year, just for 18-to-24-year-olds alone, according to the study published in Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Overall, 1.8 million people were hospitalized for overdose in 2008, at a cost of $15.5 billion.

Researchers used data from a sample of 20% of community hospitals in the U.S. to estimate national statistics and costs. The study did not look at drug-related death rates, but according to federal statistics, 37,485 people died from overdose, largely driven by prescription drug misuse, in 2009 — the first year that overdose deaths outpaced the number of people killed in traffic accidents.

How can we cut the death toll? I wrote about one potential solution for the New York Times' "Fixes" section on Friday, telling the story of a remarkable man who saved 14 lives with the overdose antidote naloxone. He saved 10 of those people after being brought back from overdose himself, with naloxone. If this drug were made available over the counter, half of all people who die from the most dangerous combinations of drugs in the U.S. could be spared. (For more on naloxone, I've written about it for TIME here and here.)

Given the enormous costs to lives and to the health-care system due to overdose, this is a fix that could do a lot of good.

MORE:
Fueled by Growing Painkiller Use, Overdose Deaths and Child Poisonings

Are on the Rise" href="http://healthland.time.com/2011/09/19/fueled-by-growing-painkiller-use-overdose-deaths-and-child-poisonings-are-on-the-rise/">Fueled by Growing Painkiller Use, Overdose Deaths and Child Poisonings Are on the Rise

Maia Szalavitz is a health writer at TIME.com. Find her on Twitter at @maiasz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME Healthland's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIMEHealthland.

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