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By Join Together Staff
Lifting weights can help smokers quit without gaining weight, new research indicates. Men and women who participated in a three-month resistance training program were twice as likely to quit smoking, compared with smokers who did not lift weights.
HealthDay reports lifting weights appeared to help reduce cigarette cravings and withdrawal symptoms, while reducing the weight...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Holding alcohol retailers liable for injuries or damage done by their customers who are intoxicated can reduce alcohol-related occurrences including motor vehicle deaths, homicides and injuries, according to a nationwide task force.
The Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent, volunteer body of public health and prevention experts, conducted a review of studies that looked at state laws on commercial host or dram shop liability,...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
A growing number of colleges are creating recovery programs for students, The Wall Street Journal reports. This summer, a group of colleges formed the Association for Recovery in Higher Education to promote these initiatives.
One of the leaders in college recovery programs is Texas Tech, which offers 12-step courses, classes on relapse prevention,...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
New cigarette labels required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that will carry graphic images of the consequences of smoking should have the desired effect of reducing demand, a new study suggests.
The study included 404 adult smokers who took part in an auction on cigarette packs, with four kinds...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
People who start smoking soon after they wake up are more likely to develop lung, head and neck cancer, compared to those who wait awhile before they light up, new research suggests.
Two studies examined whether the timing of a person's first cigarette was associated with the risk of developing cancer. The Los Angeles Times reports...
read moreBy Celia Vimont
Two new initiatives are bringing college leaders and experts together to tackle the seemingly intractable problem of college high-risk drinking.
One new initiative to address the problem, the Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking, includes 32 institutions, and is led by Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim. The group will...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Using the U.S. Postal Service and commercial carriers to transport contraband is becoming an increasingly popular choice among South Florida drug smugglers.
The Miami Sun-Sentinel reports drug dealers see mailing drugs as a way of evading the Border Patrol along the U.S.-Mexican border. According to the...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
The rate of alcohol abuse among soldiers has doubled in the past five years, says Dr. Les McFarling, Director of the Army Substance Abuse Program. McFarling attributes the rise to the stress of serving in wars, readjusting to life at home and then repeating the cycle, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. He says about 13,000...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Since Utah increased its tobacco tax last year from 69.5 cents per pack to $1.70, cigarette sales have dropped 15 percent. State Tax Commission data suggests that at the current rate, between 11 million and 12 million fewer cigarette packs will be sold this year compared with last year, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
Revenue from the tax...
read moreAims: While there is substantial evidence of an association between alcohol outlet density and assault, it is unlikely this association is constant across the urban environment. This study tested the moderating influence of land use on the outlet-violence association.
Design: Cross-sectional ecological study that controlled for spatial autocorrelation.
Setting, Participants and Measurements: Police-recorded data on simple and...
read moreBy Join Together
Staff The Marin Institute, which organizes campaigns to reduce alcohol-related harm, announced it has changed its name to "Alcohol Justice."
The San Francisco-based organization said its new name better reflects its national and global reach, and clarifies its mission.
The organization, founded in 1987, campaigns to raise prices on alcohol through taxes and fees; tries to remove dangerous...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
A new study suggests that people, who quit smoking after being hospitalized for signs of a heart attack, but start again after their release, may triple their risk of dying.
Reuters reports that the Italian study found people who started smoking again after they were hospitalized for signs of a heart attack had more than triple the risk of dying in the...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Under the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) new definition of addiction, one-third of patients undergoing long-term pain therapy with opioids meet the criteria for addiction, a new study finds. Contrary to expectations, the new definition does not reduce the percentage of people considered addicted to opioids.
According to...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Ohio, a state hit particularly hard by opioid abuse, is beginning to show early signs of success in fighting the problem, The Columbus Dispatch reports. But many problems remain.
Among the many signs of a turnaround is a new substance abuse center in Portsmouth, Ohio. The newspaper describes other successes, including the closing of eight of nine pain clinics that prescribed millions of doses of opioids in one Ohio county. A new state law gives the state...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
As R.J. Reynolds test-markets Camel Orbs - a dissolvable tobacco lozenge - a new smokeless tobacco product is tested in two U.S. cities, public health officials are expressing concerns about the safety of this and other similar products. They say the products are especially attractive to teens.
Camel Orbs are pellets of finely cured tobacco with added binders and flavoring which dissolves in the mouth and provides a hit of nicotine. An R.J. Reynolds...
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Washington State Health Care Authority
Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery
P.O. Box 45330 Olympia, WA 98504-5330
Email: DBHRAthenaTeam@hca.wa.gov
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