Reducing Addiction, News & Research

Children whose parents ask them to do things like light their cigarettes or clean out their ashtrays are more likely to try cigarettes, according to researchers. After a year, study author Dr. Rafael Laniado-Laborin told a conference of American College of Chest Physicians in San Diego, the reasercgers found the kids who engaged in what the study refers to as "smoking were at a minimum more likely to experiment with tobacco.

Results from the annual Monitoring the Future Survey of 8th, 10th and 12th
grade students in U.S. schools indicate that use of marijuana, some club
drugs, cigarettes and alcohol decreased from 2001 to 2002, according to the
Department of Health and Human Services. John P. Walters, director of the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that the survey
confirms that drug prevention efforts are working.

While newspapers are not known for their technology innovations, some papers are changing tactics as they see their subscriber lists shrinking. One tactic that's working very well for some news operations is using hyperlocal, Web-based news in which local stories are both written and read by a large local audience on-line.

"Binge drinking on college campuses, a significant public health factor linked to deaths, injuries, rapes, assaults and poor student performance, is significantly lower in states where fewer adults are binge drinkers and where laws discourage excessive consumption, according to a new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)." (Source: Harvard School of Public Health)

These five projects were chosen as 2005 Batten Innovation Award finalists for "new standards for interactive journalism, creativity in digital storytelling and recalibrating the role news organizations play in their communities." Take a look.

The Prometheus Radio Project will team up with Valley Free Radio, Free Press, and the Grassroots Radio Coalition to build a brand new community radio station in Western Massachusetts (Florence, MA)! This barnraising is like no other in that it also will host the 10th Anniversary Grassroots Radio Conference August 4-7, 2005 -- the best place to gather together to learn about community radio, and strategize for its brilliant future. No one turned away for lack of funds, but you have to register to attend! Registration information available on-line.

A new study published in the March/April issue of "Annals of Family Medicine" concluded that coordinating care for chronically ill patients does not increase a physician's liability risk and can sometimes decrease the risk.

Pfizer, Inc. has reformulated Sudafed to prevent methamphetamine makers from using it aas a source of meth.

How good is the quality of health care in America? Elizabeth McGlynn led a team of experts in the largest and most comprehensive examination ever conducted of health care quality in the United States. The National Report Card is published by Rand Corporation.

A new study from Emory University in Atlanta finds that more than half (56 percent) of the $200 billion rise in U.S. health care spending from 1987 to 2000 can be traced to fifteen medical conditions and health spending rose at about double the inflation rate. The study, "Which Medical Conditions Account for the Rise in Healthcare Spending?", found that five of those conditions -- heart disease, trauma, cancer, pulmonary conditions, and mental disorders -- accounted for 31 percent of the growth in health spending over that period. The other costly conditions identified by the report were high blood pressure, diabetes, back problems, arthritis, stroke and other brain blockages, skin disorders, pneumonia, infectious disease, hormone disorders, and kidney disease. The study's lead author said that prevention must be used to control health care costs. The 9 page PDF report is available online.