Zookeepers Have Sent a Chimpanzee to Rehab in Russia

The word "addiction", is a word that once could only be applied to human beings. The thought of an animal becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol is something hard to believe and is almost comedic. Unfortunately, those animals that are not far down the evolutionary ladder from humans are just as susceptible to developing habits and addictions. Chimpanzees have commonly been used for drug experiments over the years. In one experiment, a chimpanzee was taught to hit a lever in his cage, when hit, a dose of cocaine would be administered. The scientists would gradually change the amount of times the chimp would have to hit the lever to get a single dose. The study was finally canceled when the chimpanzee was witnessed hitting the lever 12,000 times to get one dose of cocaine. Other experiments have been done that allowed the animal a choice between a lever for water and a lever for a morphine solution, as you might guess, the lever for water saw little activity. It's pretty clear that brain chemistry in animals is not too dissimilar from human beings. The main difference between a chimpanzee becoming an addict and human beings, is a matter of perception; no one would ever say that an animal that has become addicted to a substance is : attempting to be different, a rebel, a criminal, from a bad family or the product of socioeconomic disasters. Therein lays the key point about addiction that it doesn't matter where you are from or what you have been through; addiction makes no exceptions for the person you are, it is a disease that countless people are born with.

The Moscow Times recently reported that zookeepers have sent a chimpanzee to rehab in Russia after the chimp named Zhora began begging visitors for booze and cigarettes. Zhora, picked up smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol while performing in the circus. Zhora has been at the whim of visitors to the zoo who find it funny to see her smoke cigarettes and stumble around drunk inside the cage. I fail to see the humor in all this, when an animal is an addict it's "funny", yet, when a human is an addict it is pathetic. Nevertheless, wild animals in captivity are subject to whatever we put them through, if you give a substance to an animal like alcohol repeatedly, dependency is bound to develop.

Now, Zhora is in treatment fighting off the demons that the audience gave her with a smile on their faces - hilarious, right? Animals have little business in captivity to begin with, they have enough environmental stress day to day inside of their cages; to think that humans would work to shorten a life already shortened by giving them drugs. Sad!

Heroin Drug Abuse Among Teens and Young Adults

Heroin has been sweeping through the suburbs of New York City and is becoming a fast growing trend throughout the northeast. Despite the introduction of cutting agents, chemicals that dilute the strength of the drug providing a bigger yield, toady's heroin happens to be stronger and cheaper than it once was. People are struggling to figure the cause of this new wave of heroin drug abuse among teens and young adults, heroin is commonly thought of only being used by the "low of the low"; this misconception has allowed teen drug habits to progress unchecked, heroin is just such an unbelievable drug for teens to be experimenting with.

Bags of heroin for street purchase are usually marked with a skull and cross bones or words like "Kiss of Death" and "R.I.P". "A bag of heroin can sell for $5 to $25 and induce a six- to eight-hour high, according to officials and former users. Cocaine, by comparison, can cost $40 to $60 for a 30-minute high, while prescription painkillers like Vicodin or OxyContin sell for upward of $40 a pill on the street. The heroin available in the Northeast these days is purer than the kind that ravaged New York City in the 1970s, experts say, and almost certainly as lethal, if not more", according to the New York Times. It is thought that the lethality of the drug plays a large role in teenagers' attraction to it; the idea of cheating death and a sense of invisibility among teens draws many to the drug. According to Bridget G. Brennan, New York City's special narcotics prosecutor, "recent drug raids of so-called heroin mills have yielded hundreds of thousands of bags at a time, up from several hundred bags a year ago".

People are overdosing and dying all over the northeast, many times before anyone even knew they was an addiction problem occurring. In Nassau County, Long Island 25 people died of overdoses just in the first 6 months of 2009; it appears that the number of heroin related overdoses has been doubling every year, making clear the heroin should be a major concern amongst parents, even those in upper-middle class suburbs. Once the hand of heroin addiction grabs a hold of someone, it unfortunately takes repeated pain and suffering before the addict will even consider the remote possibility of seeking out recovery. Very few people have ever managed to "kick" heroin on their own, treatment is usually the only route to freedom with such a powerful drug; often heroin addicts end up checking into treatment multiple times in their life before sobriety sticks to them.

U.N. Calls For A Tougher Anti-Opium Fight

Afghanistan is the center of the world-wide opium trade which continues to flow across its borders virtually unchecked. With the opium comes large amounts of heroin as well as all other illicit activities that can be thought of. U.N. Offices on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in a UPI report, "The Afghanistan-Pakistan border region has turned into the world's largest free trade zone in anything and everything that is illicit -- drugs of course, but also weapons, bomb-making equipment, chemical precursors, drug money, even people and migrants". Afghanistan has become a state of chaos which adversely affects everyone of its neighbors eventually and eventually the drugs find their way into: Europe, Russia, India, and China. 900 tons of opium and 350 tons of heroin annually cross Afghanistan's borders via Balkan and Eurasian drug trafficking routes. The U.N. calls for a tougher anti-opium fight in the region in order to curb the unbelievable amount of drugs crossing the border.

Afghanistan's opium is directly responsible for increased drug addiction as well as a bump in diseases that can be transmitted intravenously, like HIV. The money incurred from the sale of Afghan opium trickles down to the terrorist organizations in the region, similar to how drug profits fund the Mexican cartels continents away. A UNODC report published by the UPI states, "The report from the U.N. Offices on Drugs and Crime said Afghanistan produces almost all the world's opium, from which heroin is made. The global opium market is estimated at $65 billion and the number of addicts is estimated at 15 million, with an annual death rate of 100,000". It is very clear that action needs to be taken if there is any chance in curbing the devastating problem. Current efforts to stop the flow have produced minimal results, only about 2% of all the opium harvested is seized by authorities because of corruption and lawlessness in Afghanistan and its uncontrolled borders.

Afghan opium is not anything new, that region of the world is premium real estate for growing the drug. Nevertheless, the majority of drugs grown in Afghanistan have a hard time staying within Afghan borders. The time has come for the world to step up and try and fix the growing problem; entire nations are susceptible to the Afghan deadly poison which holds entire families in bondage. Small children are becoming addicted to opium and heroin on a daily basis which has become completely unacceptable. People will sell anything to get one last fix and before they know it they have nothing left. A plan needs to be devised by the U.N. to stop the problem before it gets out of hand more than it already is.

Ph D Died After Apparently Injecting Herself With Buprenorphine

What does a drug addict look like? Society has placed stigmas and stereotypes on the appearance of addicts and alcoholics over the years. When someone utters the word "Junkie" a picture usually pops into one's head of a withering human, perhaps on their last breath who would do anything to get their fix. Unfortunately, the majority of addicts have the ability to hide their addiction from their friends and family; they hold full time jobs and it appears like they are functioning members of society. It can be hard to imagine that someone who has been successful both in education and business could be suffering from an addiction that is in many ways invisible. Doctors, lawyers, and politicians are just as susceptible to drugs and alcohol as those living on the streets. Some of the last people that you would ever think of are in the grips of a terrible drug addiction. On Sunday in Baltimore Maryland, a Ph.D died after apparently injecting herself with buprenorphine while trying to get high with her boyfriend. Carrie Elisabeth John earned a doctorate in physiology and pharmacology and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine studying the effects of drug addiction when she died from an overdose.

The police said, Carrie and her boyfriend Clinton Blaine McCracken grew marijuana inside their home and used narcotics purchased over the Internet from a Philippine pharmacy that shipped pills hidden inside stuffed animals. "John and McCracken led a life that the young woman's mother never saw. McCracken told authorities that he and John injected themselves with buprenorphine and morphine. Police said they had turned their unkempt house into an indoor marijuana farm, with grow lights and fans vented with aluminum dryer hoses. Police said they found pills in bags, at least 20 bongs, 30 marijuana plants growing up to two feet high and more packed and stored in Mason jars", according to the Baltimore Sun. The police are going to charge McCracken with many different charges related to everything found in the couple's home. McCracken believes that John did not overdose, rather, it was a bad batch of drugs that led to the death - toxicology reports are still pending.

Whatever the case may be, Carrie John died needlessly in the prime of her life. She never had the opportunity to seek help and no one seemed to have a clue about her struggles with addiction. It is surprising that the University of Maryland did not drug test their employees, especially the ones working in John's department; they had had constant contact with addictive drugs on a daily basis. I imagine they will start testing after this terrible incident. It just goes to show that most addicts and alcoholics go undetected through life until something horrific happens.