| Youth drug center gets $100K
Steven Santilli had stolen his mother's jewelry and blazed through three high schools in four years, but his nadir as a drug addict was this: On his 19th birthday, he passed out in a friend's driveway after mixing alcohol and Ecstasy.
"Not that it was a wake-up call," he said. "I woke up and did drugs the next day."
Santilli, 20, is learning to vanquish addiction at the Phoenix Academy of Long Island, a long-term residential youth drug treatment center in East Hampton.
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Feds say more teens raiding the medicine cabinet
The federal government says the number of teens abusing street drugs is on the downturn, but the bad news is that more kids are turning to the family medicine cabinet for a quick and free high. U.S. drug czar John Walters was in town on Friday visiting Austin Recovery, a drug treatment center in Northeast Austin. Walters thanked Austin Recovery for standing on the frontlines in the war against drugs. He also spoke about one of the most dangerous emerging drugs among teenagers: the ones in your medicine cabinet. "They get into the medicine cabinet and take pills that are either no longer being used or are left around," John Walters of the National Drug Control Policy said. The government says prescription addiction is at an all-time high among teens. If the teens are lucky, they may wind up in treatment before the problem gets worse.
Teen retailers flunk school shopping season
It's a good thing the back-to-school shopping season isn't graded. Teen retailers would be embarrassed to show their scores to Mom and Dad. The segment was among the worst-performing last month, depressing growth across the industry. Nearly all of the teen apparel retailers Thursday reported sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales, declined during July when weighed against the same month last year. Abercrombie & Fitch, which also owns Hollister & Ruehl, was down 4 percent. American Eagle Outfitters dropped 6 percent. Aeropostale fell 12 percent. And that's just the A's. "Very weak,'' said Michael Niemira, chief economist for the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group. "The question then is, 'What's going on beneath the surface?'" Niemira estimated same-store sales at teen retailers fell 6 percent last month compared with the same period last year.
HEALTH CALENDAR
Elevate Your Fitness Awareness Workshop: 6:30 p.m., ClubSport Oregon, 18120 S.W. Lower Boones Ferry Road, Tigard. Free, registration suggested: 503-968-4555. Friday Expressive Arts for Youth in Grief: Youth age 11 through 17 who have lost a loved one are invited to express their grief through art. 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Call for location when registering: 503-472-9685 or 1-800-361-8506. Saturday Child Safety Seat Clinic: Seats will be checked for proper installation and age-appropriate size. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Lake Oswego Fire Station, 300 B Ave. Tuesday Independent Living With Vision Loss: Classes cover a different topic each week. 7 p.m., Vision Northwest, 9225 S.W.
Wyeth And Progenics Announce Positive Preliminary Results Of Phase 1 Study Of New Oral Formulation Of Methylnaltrexone
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE:WYE) and Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:PGNX), today announced preliminary results from a phase 1 clinical trial of a new oral formulation of methylnaltrexone. Oral methylnaltrexone is an investigational drug being developed for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC). The latest data showed positive activity (as assessed by the occurrence of a bowel movement) in patients receiving the higher of the two doses tested of the new oral formulation.
The phase 1 clinical trial was conducted by Wyeth as a double-blind, randomized, single-dose, crossover pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic study in subjects receiving methadone, an opioid used to treat addiction. A substantial majority of patients experienced a bowel movement after receiving the higher of two doses of oral methylnaltrexone.
Adult binge drinkers prefer beer; teens hard liquor
Binge-drinking is an increasing problem across a spectrum of age groups but two sobering analyses reveal that adults have a preference for beer binges while teens tend to swill the harder spirits.
Training a spotlight on alcoholic drinking habits is vital, experts said Tuesday, because bingeing has become a national public health problem.
"If Joe Six-Pack would drink just one or two beers we'd all be a lot better off," said Dr. Timothy Naimi, lead author of one of the studies. Instead, binge drinkers tend to imbibe at least 5 or more drinks one drink after another, which leads to a host of calamities -- some of them deadly -- such as auto accidents as well as aberrant sexual behavior, Naimi said.
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