"Health & Medical News"

Minnesota lawmakers are considering restrictions on cheap drink specials after the deaths of four college-age people from alcohol-related causes over the last few months, the Associated Press reported Jan. 17.

Ladies-drink-free and “bottomless cup” promotions could be on the way out if the state legislature approves a measure sponsored by Rep. Morris Lanning (R-Moorhead), who previously was successful in curbing so-called Power Hour celebrations by prohibiting students who turn 21 from drinking before 8 a.m. on the day of their birthday.

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In the year after Major League Baseball banned the use of amphetamines, the number of players claiming they needed stimulant drugs to control attention-deficit disorder rose from 28 to 103, the New York Times reported Jan. 16.

During this week’s Congressional hearings on the use of performance-enchancing drugs in professional baseball, lawmakers questioned baseball commissioner Bud Selig over the rising use of drugs like Ritalin and Adderall between 2006 and 2007. Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), noted that use of such stimulants last year was about eight times higher among ballplayers than among the general public.

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An Iowa woman who found alcohol in her son’s car placed a classified ad explaining the situation and sold the car, Fox News reported Jan. 9.

Jane Hambilton said she only had two rules when she gave the 1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue to her 19-year-old son: no alcohol and keep the doors locked. When she found liquor in the car — which her son said was left there by someone else — she placed the following ad:

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By Bob Curley

Officials at retail giant Nordstrom have agreed to stop selling sandals with a built-in flask after receiving complaints from the Oregon Partnership, a community-based prevention and treatment organization.

The flip-flop style sandals, manufactured by Reef, were spotted by Oregon Partnership communications director Pete Schulberg on a recent visit to a Nordstrom store in Portland. Schulberg quickly dashed off a letter to Nordstrom’s president of stores, Erik B. Nordstrom, describing the sandals as having a hidden three-ounce flask, a funnel, and a plastic key.

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A new Gallup poll finds that most Americans think homelessness is largely caused by alcohol and other drug abuse, but still think more should be done to address the problem, the Associated Press reported Nov. 14.

The poll, funded by mortgage company Fannie Mae, found that more than 80 percent of the 1,000 people polled blamed addiction for causing homelessness, while about 70 percent cited mental illness. By comparison, only 67 percent thought homelessness was caused by insufficient income, and 65 percent cited job loss.

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A Berkeley school of public health prof recently posted to the SPH listserv a great NASA link to high altitude photos of the southern California fires. You can click through several days worth of pics and see what conditions were like prior to the fires as well as tell when the winds kicked up as they carried dust plumes in areas unaffected by fire (for instance Oct 22nd).

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For years, parents have been berated in anti-drug ads for their supposed ignorance about the drug-ingesting habits of their children, but a new study suggests that many parents aren’t so myopic, after all.

Medical News Today reported Oct. 25 that researchers from the Research Institute on Addictions at the University of Buffalo found that 82 percent of parents accurately identified cigarette smoking by their children, with similar success in reporting the use of alcohol (86 percent) and marijuana use (86 percent). Parents were least successful in determining if their children were using illicit drugs other than marijuana (72 percent).

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Two Boston firefighters were under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, respectively, when they died in a recent fire, and the autopsy results have helped renew calls for mandatory random drug testing, the New York Times reported Oct. 6.

Firefighter Paul J. Cahill, 55, had a high level of alcohol in his body when he died in an August fire at a Chinese restaurant, while the autopsy of fellow firefighter Warren J. Payne found traces of cocaine. Boston remains in the minority of big cities that don’t require random drug testing of firefighters, although a 1999 independent report recommended that drug testing be expanded beyond “for-cause” screening.

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Washington — Hopes that a two-year Medicare physician payment increase would head to the White House on the back of a popular children’s health insurance measure were dashed late last month. Lawmakers decided to remove the Medicare language from the bill.

The House and the Senate in early August passed legislation that would reauthorize and expand the expiring State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Unlike the Senate bill, the House version also included provisions that would raise Medicare physician payments by 0.5% in both 2008 and 2009 to prevent annual cuts required by law.

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How clean are your hands? How about the person who just shook yours?

Several presentations at last month’s Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Chicago suggested that people not only wash their hands less often than they say they do, but the number who really do appears to be decreasing. Also, improving hand hygiene in the health care setting saves money.

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