"Health & Medical News"

Researchers measuring blood flow in the brain found that craving for nicotine among smokers produces activity in specific areas of the brain. The study was billed as the first to show how abstinence produces specific craving-related brain-activation patterns.

Increased activity among abstinent smokers was seen in parts of the brain involved in attention, behavioral control, memory, and reward.

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Even as U.S. lawmakers, jurists and policymakers have eased some mandatory drug sentences, Canada’s Justice Minister is proceeding with a plan to introduce the concept to the Canadian justice system, the Regina Leader-Post reported Nov. 28.

A pair of Canadian government reports concluded that mandatory minimum drug sentences don’t work, with one 2005 study concluding, “Minimum sentences are not an effective sentencing tool: that is, they constrain judicial discretion without offering any increased crime prevention benefits.”

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