| Substance abuse costs state at least $470 million a year
People who abuse drugs and alcohol cost West Virginia roughly $470 million a year, while the state devotes less than $8 million to annual prevention efforts. The result, according to Wayne Coombs, is that the state is devoting most of its resources to treating the symptoms -- ranging from drug arrests to long-term health problems -- rather than the cause. Coombs, director of the West Virginia Prevention Resource Center, presented the data Wednesday at a conference the center organized in Charleston. Drawing on state and federal reports compiled over the past five years, Coombs said $470 million is the direct cost, including factors like hospitalization, treatment and incarceration. In indirect costs, which include speculative measures like lost productivity, the number could be closer to $1.8 billion, he said.
State Medicaid drug policies impeding access to effective drug for alcohol abuse
WASHINGTON DC, November 19, 2007, Many states could more effectively address the huge financial and societal burden of alcohol abuse by changing policies that may be inadvertently impeding access to an inexpensive prescription drug known to reduce problem drinking. These findings appear in a new study in today�s online version of the journal, Health Services Research. The study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Georgetown University examined how state efforts to control spending on Medicaid, the program that provides health care for low-income individuals and families, may be limiting the ability of physicians to treat alcohol addiction with a widely studied generic drug called naltrexone. The research was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation�s Substance Abuse Policy Research Program (SAPRP).
Holiday schedule -- Published Nov. 18, 2007
Thanksgiving Day will be observed Thursday. Here's how various businesses and government operations will be affected: » Banks: closed » Postal Service: no mail delivery » Garbage pickup: Stockton Scavenger, regular pickup, offices closed; Allied Waste, regular pickup service, offices closed; Lodi, Manteca and Tracy, regular pickup service, offices closed. » Transfer stations: North County, Lovelace and Foothill transfer stations (landfills and dumps) closed. » The Haggin Museum: closed » Children's Museum Of Stockton: closed » S.J. County Historical Society and Museum: closed » Libraries: closed » Buses: San Joaquin RTD office closed. Service on Sunday/holiday schedule for routes 13, 51, 54, 55, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 71, 73, 76, 77, 80, 81 and 610.
County, others address issues of homelessness
A two-hour planning meeting to discuss issues of local homelessness Nov. 1 brought out some interesting information and strong feelings among the small group of attendees. Arranged and conducted by county Social Services, the afternoon meeting took place in the Veterans Memorial Building, 360 N. Harrison St., Fort Bragg. The 18 attendees put their chairs in a semi-circle to hear Kathleen Stone, housing program administrator for county Health and Human Services and Mary Lou Leonard, senior program manager of the Adult and Aging Services Division. The agenda included Stone's presentation on a winter plan for the homeless, a discussion of service gaps, and actions each group and person plans to take. Those who showed up In attendance were individuals and representatives who have been working with the issue of local homelessness, either as law enforcement, shelter providers, food providers or individuals.
Teen dead; man held for giving him alcohol
AUBURN - An 18-year-old Auburn man was pronounced dead Saturday and a 23-year-old man arrested, accused of providing the alcohol that police say killed him. Dead was Adam Beggs, 18. Arrested was Larando Sweeting, 23, also of Auburn. One Edward Little principal who knew Beggs called his death "very sad" and remembered him as a kind person who would listen to other students' problems. Early Saturday morning police responded to a second floor apartment at 22 Granite St. after getting a call about an unresponsive male. Police immediately started CPR on Beggs. He was transported to Central Maine Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. There had been a party at site, said Sgt. Eric Audette. "Everyone at the gathering knew each other," he said. He declined to say how much alcohol Beggs consumed, saying the case is under investigation.
Cousins in Sydney detox clinic
Ben Cousins checked into the exclusive Sydney clinic for 48 hours of drug rehabilitation as he passed through the city on his way home to Perth. The clinic's other celebrity clients have included late stockbroker Rene Rivkin, Antonia Kidman's ex-husband, Angus Hawley, and former Supreme Court judge Jeff Shaw. Experts said that while at the clinic near the beach at Bronte, Cousins, 29, would have counselling to work out factors contributing to his drug addiction. James Pitts, head of Odyssey House, Australia's largest drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, said the challenge would be when Cousins returned to Perth and his old haunts. A source close to Cousins claimed the footballer had intended to stay at the The Summit Medical Centre in Malibu - where he spent nearly a month earlier this year - for another three weeks, but was given the all-clear after two days.
A View Called Hope
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but have lived here in L.A. since I was 3 years old. I lived with my aunt initially, my mom sent me ahead of her, but the same day my mom moved here my aunt threw us out. We lived from pillow to post. We were on the streets. When I was 8 or 9 years old, we finally got an apartment in Watts."I started using alcohol in adolescence, experimenting, but it got progressively worse. I graduated from high school and went to Leimert Park Beauty College in the Crenshaw area. In 1977, I opened up my own hair salon, called Serenity Hair Design. I started partying more, drinking again and that led to cocaine. I hit a lot of walls, a lot of depression. I wasn't able to maintain the salon, I'd be at home crashed out instead. I had a son at that time and wasn't able to take care of him appropriately."In 1989, my mom died suddenly and it devastated me because there were so many things unresolved.
Police seeking clues to city shooting
Lancaster city police were trying to determine Thursday if a 27-year-old gunshot victim was targeted or shot randomly.
The city man hobbled into a rehab clinic in the first block of West Vine Street just before noon Thursday after being shot in the leg earlier in the morning, investigators said.
An employee of Mission New Life called 911 after realizing the man had been shot, investigators said.
The victim, who hasn't been identified, was at Lancaster General Hospital Thursday night. He was shot once in the thigh, police said, and is expected to recover.
City police said they have no suspects in the shooting. They don't know exactly where the man was shot or why.
The victim has been cooperative, police said, but he wasn't able to provide a description of the shooter.
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