Screening for Nicotine Increasingly the Norm

February 11th, 2011   Add Comment

Without question, cigarette smoking has negative consequences for your health and adds to health costs for both individuals and employers. Yet cigarettes are also a legal product that people can choose to use in all 50 states. For businesses, it is a vexing problem, and more and more businesses are choosing to screen for nicotine before they hire…much to the displeasure of current smokers.

The NYTimes covered the situation yesterday. They note that some states have rejected smoker bans and some have not, but that regardless, a trend is emerging:

There is no reliable data on how many businesses have adopted such [non-smoker] policies. But people tracking the issue say there are enough examples to suggest the policies are becoming more mainstream, and in some states courts have upheld the legality of refusing to employ smokers.

Steven C. Bjelich, the chief executive of St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo., adds “We felt it was unfair for employees who maintained healthy lifestyles to have to subsidize those who do not…Essentially that’s what happens.”

Of interest is the fact that many of those banning smoking and nicotine testing job applicants are large health organizations and hospitals. It probably won’t surprise you that the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association haven’t been hiring smokers. Hospitals taking up the standard is a little more unusual, and points to a trend. Organizations like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are being asked about the issue as well, although it is at the moment not a high priority.

The NYT closes the story with an interesting anecdote – 68 year old John Stinson applied for a job at the Cleveland Clinic, despite their no-smoking/er policy and his old decades old habit. He stayed clean in time for his nicotine urine test …and lo and behold, it wasn’t just a break from a bad habit – it helped him quit smoking.

Still, people are understandably uneasy about the decision of employers to bar smokers. For some it is a question of the right to use a legal product; for others it is the fact that a non-smoker policy falls more heavily on those in service jobs. The 2010 Monitoring the Future survey for example found that non-college bound students smoke at double the rate of college bound students.

What are your thoughts on this trend in business? A good large scale policy, or a violation of people’s rights and privacy? Individual states are grappling with the issue as well, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if one day this question made its way as many others do to the United States Supreme Court.

Music & Love: Just Like Drugs

January 10th, 2011   3 Comments

As it turns out, you really don’t need drugs to get high – in fact both music and a feeling of love can create reactions in the brain similar to the highs of cocaine. Two separate studies over the past few months have produced interesting insights into our emotional brain.

The older study, from October, involved showing pictures of someone that the subjects described themselves as being passionately in love with (see the study at the Guardian) to the subject while the subject was administered a dose of pain.  The effect of seeing the pictures dulled the pain, and not only that, it did so in a manner similar to morphine and cocaine.  The pictures hit the nucleus accumbens, which the article describes as “key reward addiction centre” and a “region [that] tells the brain that you really need to keep doing this.”  The same study suggests that distractions also work at reducing pain, but they do so differently and in other regions of the brain, regions not associated with opioid drugs.

The most recent study suggests that music has drug-like effects on the brain as well.  This study, conducted by scientists at McGill University, measured increases of the chemical dopamine in the brain while music was played.  It reminds me of reports from the summer of last year (see Wired) about a new phenomenon known as “i-dosing,” in which kids were listening to droning music through headphones to get “high.”  As it turns out, they very well may have been getting high – scientists found that when subjects were listening to music that they said “gave them goosebumps” their dopamine levels rose by 6-9%, with one subject’s dopamine levels rising 21%.  By comparison, cocaine takes dopamine levels up by 22% or more.  A favorite piece was Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”

It would be great to see some of these results duplicated in further studies – the study about love was fairly small. Understanding more about how the human brain works and processes stimuli is a great goal – imagine the doors such research could open into better substance abuse treatment techniques, into happier people in general, and so on. Some may wonder if this will lead to some kind of music urine drug test or so on – but I doubt it. Try to think of one bad side-effect that music produces…

The techno version of the song was also popular.

Perhaps listening to “Love is the Drug” by Roxy Music is the one thing that can really tie all these findings together.

Got any other news stories for us to look at? Drop a comment or send us an email!

(Image above is a 3D sound spectrum analysis of a violin string).

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Drug Detecting Dogs: Not So Effective After All?

January 7th, 2011   Add Comment

Drug sniffing dogs are a popular icon in the War On Drugs, seen walking around airports or riding around in a K-9 squad car.  They reinforce our notion that dogs are man’s best friend.  Whether or not they reliably succeed in the task of detecting drugs is another question.

The Chicago Tribune came out with an analysis yesterday of three years’ worth of data on drug sniffing dogs’ effectiveness.  The news was not great – the dogs were more often wrong than right when they alerted officers to search a car for drugs and/or paraphernalia.  Over 3 years, only 44% of alerts led to a successful finding of drugs/paraphernalia; if the driver in question was Hispanic, the success rate dropped to 27%.  (You will be relieved to know our tests are much more accurate, 98% accurate in fact – see our marijuana drug test for more information).

You may wonder then if this proves to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which is in place to protect against unreasonable searches and seizures.  What might surprise you even more is that there is almost no regulation of the process by which the dogs are certified and trained.  Supporters of the drug-sniffing dogs view this as one of the main problems and an important reason for the less than impressive stats.  Other issues include the fact that the dogs may be sniffing residue rather than drugs when they go into false alert mode.

While it’s good that the dogs can sniff out drugs, it’s clear that more training must be done to make sure that they do effectively and without bias.  A complete search of a car done without merit is a waste of time and resources and a source of humiliation for the person subject to it.  Hopefully this story will draw attention to the issue and lead to improvements where needed in dog detection programs.

German Shepherds are often chosen to be drug sniffing dogs in the US.

German Shepherds are often used in K-9 Units

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Most Interesting Drug Stories Of The Year

January 4th, 2011   Add Comment

2010 has passed and you are probably, like me, struggling to write or type “11″ at the end of the year.  We saw a lot of interesting things happen in 2010 when it comes to drug-related news.  In some cases use took off and in some cases it dropped; drugs were banned, celebrities went in and out of rehab, drawing attention to certain kinds of drug abuse, and marijuana legalization was voted on across the US.  What in your opinion were the most interesting drug-related stories of the year?

Here are a few of ours:

January – Drug Testing the Center of Debate in Kansas

Many states are suffering due to the recession, and looking for places to cut their budgets.  One particularly controversial idea was to drug test welfare recipients to determine their eligibility for benefits.  Missouri, Kansas, and more recently, Florida, are still making headlines on this issue in one way or another.  So far no such bill has passed but the issue looks like it will be taken up again by newly elected Florida Governor Rick Scott.

The Olympics tend to always be a time when drug use and drug testing are discussed.

The Olympics

February - The Olympics

Time flies, ski jumpers do too.  It seems like just yesterday I was trudging home in the cold to watch the Olympics in Vancouver.  This story is included because the Olympics always brings up issues of doping and drug testing – Winter Olympians in particular seem to get in trouble with marijuana (Ross Ross Rebaglti, Bode Miller).

March – U.S. the Illegal Drug Capital of the World

“Hooray.”  The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) declared the United States the largest market for illegal drugs in the world.

Cigarette Companies Still Not Playing By The Rules

Although the actual event discussed in this story happened in 2008, it was a study in 2010 that made it a “story.”  This study suggested that a series of conventionally feminine Camel ads influenced as many as 174,000 underage girls to start smoking.  The makers of Camel cigarettes pushed back and said they followed restrictions on cigarette marketing from 1998.  As to whether that’s true, you be the judge.

May – Lindsay Lohan, Generally

It’s hard to find just one link for this story.  Celebrity drug gossip is not one of my favorite topics, but Lindsay Lohan has provided very public evidence all year of how scary and messy dealing with drug/alcohol problems can be.

June/July – Washington Fights OxyContin Prescription Fraud

You know how people (at least in movies) add a few extra zeros to a check?  This is what some people have done with their painkiller prescriptions.  To combat this the state of Washington came out with new, harder to tamper with prescription paper.  It’s a major hurdle, and a solution we’ll definitely check in on later to see how well it worked.

Alcohol and drug abuse rose among teen girls according to a study from this year.

Alcohol

Alcohol & Drug Abuse Rises Among Teen Girls

A new study indicated that “self-medication” among teen girls has increased at a greater pace than it has among teen boys.  Released by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the MetLife Foundation, it showed that about 70 percent of girls agreed that “using drugs helps kids deal with problems at home.”

August – Adderall – Upper, Downer, Leveler?

August kicked off for us with a bizarrely misleading statement of Michael Lohan’s, in which while denying his daughter had a methamphetamine problem pointed to Adderall as a “methamphetamine base.” While somewhat true, chemistry doesn’t really “work” that way.  In other words, while two chemicals can be extremely similar, that 1% difference between the two can create extremely disparate effects.  Gas is a “base” for napalm, but obviously we don’t all drive around in fireballs.

However, Adderall when used without a prescription DOES have undesirable effects.  It seems to “level out” the symptoms associated with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), such as hyperactivity, while fostering said symptoms in those without ADD.  It’s an interesting issue and was brought up in the case of Ms. Lohan by a doctor who suggested that in fact, when ADD is misdiagnosed, the use of Adderall can cause many problems and cocaine-like highs.  It is, after all, more or less like speed, and you can home drug test for it for good reason.  And with that, we end our recap coverage of Ms. Lohan and her drug issues.

Four Loko got the axe this year as it was said to cause hospitalizations and raised concerns among parents and school administrators.

Four Loko

October – Loco for Four Loko

This fall Four Loko attracted a lot of attention, enough to get it swiftly taken off the market by the FDA.  We covered both the initial furor and the controversial ban.

November – Bye, Bye Spice – For Now

We covered Spice and whether it could be drug tested for, and then provided coverage on what Spice is, really.  The FDA and DEA put an emergency ban on the sale of Spice/k2 at the end of the year, however, so that it could be studied to see if its use was/is safe.

December – More Teens Smoke Pot Than Cigarettes

Rounding out the year, the NIDA put out a study that showed that there are more 12th graders that smoke pot than there are 12th graders that smoke cigarettes.  There are many possible explanations for this result – the general popularity of cigarettes is decreasing, plus at their age neither pot nor cigarettes can be purchased legally, so it depends on what you can buy from friends.  In such a situation it’s not hard to imagine that more 12th graders smoke pot than cigarettes.

Whew!  That about wraps it up for us.  What was your favorite or least favorite drug related story of the year?  Let us know too what you would like to see in the coming year.  And finally, have a Happy New Year!

-Robyn

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More Teens Smoke Pot Than Cigarettes: So Says New Monitoring The Future Study Out Today

December 14th, 2010   Add Comment

In a remarkable study published today by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it was found that among 12th graders more report past-month marijuana use than they do cigarette use.  This is the first time this has happened since 1981.

The new statistics are found in this year’s Monitoring the Future survey.  The study comes out every year.  The exact finding was that 21.4% of 12th graders used marijuana in the past 30 days, compared to 19.2% who smoked cigarettes.

Other interesting findings include that general past year drug use among 8th graders rose over the past year by 1.5% to 16%.  Use of ecstasy increased, most drastically among 8th graders, where use almost doubled.  Prescription drug abuse stayed generally the same (although use of Vicodin decreased among 12th graders).  One bright spot is that teen binge drinking appears to be decreasing.  Among high school seniors, 23.2% met the requirements of a binge in the past two weeks (5 or more drinks in a row).  This is two percentage points less than in 2009 and far below the high for binge drinking in 1998, which was 31.5%.

What does this really tell us?  Is decreased alcohol use among teens “worth” increases in marijuana use?  Can we even say that it works like that (probably not!)?  Some experts are contributing the increase in marijuana usage among teens to mixed messages being sent about whether marijuana is generally medicinal or not.  It may also have to do with the fact that marijuana use is decriminalized in parts of the United States.  Perhaps this will make families and employers more inclined to screen with a marijuana drug test kit.  In any case, as usual these statistics will attract attention and cause those on both sides of the pro/anti drug debate to reflect on our culture today – what is the best way to handle teens’ curiosity about drugs and how can we best keep kids safe?

For more please see the LA Times or HealthDay.

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The FDA Ban on Four Loko – Why The FDA Isn’t Going To Take Your Rum And Coke Away

November 23rd, 2010   2 Comments

It’s been exactly a week since my last article on Four Loko (“Wilmington Takes A Harder Look At Four Loko”) and in that time a lot has changed. In fact, Four Loko went from being a potential menace (especially if you drink more than one) and college party favorite to a banned drink. How exactly did this happen so fast?

Well, actually, it didn’t happen that fast. According to Discover Magazine (in 2009) the FDA requested proof that the caffeinated alcohol drinks were safe back in 2009. The list of companies notified to look into their products’ safety is here. State regulators did not wait for the FDA – Michigan, New York, and Utah among other states banned the sale of Four Loko in their state before the FDA sent their warning letter on November 17.

Four Loko can cause violent behavior in students due to its high powered blend of alcohol and caffeine.

Students that drink Four Loko are more likely to engage in dangerous behavior, according to Federal officials.

These facts, and other developments (hospitalizations of binge drinking students, a study that showed that caffeinated alcohol drinks cause more sexual violence and more dangerous behavior in general) led to a not so rosy outlook for Four Loko and its kind. In fact, on Nov. 16 Phusion Products, the makers of Four Loko, presumably anticipating the FDA’s letter, announced they were removing caffeine, guarana, and taurine from their drinks.

The reaction to this was somewhat predictable.  Philly Post writer Jeff Billman in his article “Leave Four Loko Alone” said:

“But: Do you really think that banning Four Loko, or anything else for that matter, is going to stop kids from figuring out that if they chug a Red Bull in between sessions of Coors Light or Jose Cuervo or whatever cheap vodka comes in plastic jugs and in bulk from the BJ’s across the state line in Delaware, they’ll be able to stay awake longer and, consequently, drink more? I had that figured out well before the advent of Four Loko, and I can assure you that, in this, the information age, the kids today are much better informed on these things than I was as a college frosh in 1997. If I want a particularly late-night bender—a rarer and rare occurrence these days—downing one of those five-hour energy shots does the trick. Oh, and those are totally legal. So is downing one, and following it with six shots of Jack Daniel’s.”

Er, yes, that is true.  But comparing a five-hour energy shot with Four Loko is unfair.  After all, a five-hour energy shot does not contain alcohol.  Nor is it packaged with alcohol, and my guess would be if the packaging expressed that it works well with six shots of Jack Daniel’s that they would be receiving a letter from the FDA as well.  Vague comparisons of dissimilar products aren’t going to get you very far.

Meanwhile, over at the Miami New Times, you could hear Kyle Munzenrieder make the “nanny state” argument:

“In a treacherous blow to the personal freedoms of Americans and Capitalism itself the FDA is expected to ban the sale of caffeinated alcohol drinks as soon as next week. Yes, alcohol and caffeine, two perfectly legal and widely available substances will not be allowed to be sold together in one can. The move comes after in the midst of the Four Loko craze.”

You may have a point when you make that argument (I wouldn’t say the ban is necessarily a good or bad thing) but it’s not really fair to make that argument in this manner:

“Researchers are concerned that caffeine counterbalances some of the effects of alcohol and may lead drinkers to believer they are less drunk then they are. That’s a valid point, yet the mixing of the two substances isn’t going away any time soon. While the pre-made mixtures will apparently now be banned, it’s unlikely Americans will stop drinking these find mixtures of caffeine and booze:

Rum and Coke
Vodka and Redbull
Irish Coffee
Espresso martinis
Shots followed by a Five Hour Energy chaser
Cafecito and Cisco”

Yes, Americans are still going to drink rum and coke, but no, that’s not really the same thing. Irish coffee has not been the scourge of college campuses lately. Nor have rum and cokes. Why is that? Because they contain vastly different quantities of caffeine and alcohol. Make a 6.5 oz rum and coke with 40% ABV rum and your drink will contain 0.6 oz of alcohol and 14.5 mg of caffeine. Make a version of it more generously sized and you are still nowhere near Four Loko. This recipe calls for 4 oz of Bacardi white rum (37.5% ABV) and 8 oz of Coca Cola (35 mg of caffeine in a 12 oz can). This drink will probably cost you more at the bar, and still only have 23.3 mg of caffeine and 1.5 oz of alcohol (4 oz x .375). This is compared to Four Loko, which has one serving size (23.5 oz) and contains 156 mg of caffeine and 2.82 oz of alcohol. Even two of those hefty rum and cokes wouldn’t have as much caffeine as a Four Loko. I don’t that anyone ever binges on Irish Coffees, but if you are drinking an average sized Irish Coffee (a 7.5 oz serving, plus cream on top) you’re only going to consume about 0.6 oz of alcohol and 90 mg of caffeine. Again, just not the same.

Four Loko does not stack up against other mixed drinks in terms of caffeine - it stacks over.

Four Loko, towering over the competition.

The other problem in Four Loko land (as we’ve pointed out before) is the serving size. It’s a carbonated beverage so once you crack open the can, you’re more or less forced to consume/get rid of it or have it go flat. Unlike vodka (which Arrested Development’s Lindsay Bluth memorably and mistakenly believed “goes bad once it’s opened”) Four Loko cannot really be consumed in moderation. Fortunately we can cap our whiskey, rum, and vodka bottles. In fact, that’s part of the design – if vodka was packaged to “go bad” within a few hours, you can bet it wouldn’t be on the market.

Was the ban the smartest thing ever? That seems to me to be another debate. It also seems to me that comparing a mixed drink like a rum and coke to Four Loko does not have a place in that debate. After all, Four Loko is a real product on a real shelf – nobody is selling rum and cokes in a can. The FDA’s job is to regulate real products. And again, if they did sell rum and coke in a can, that would probably have not caught the FDA’s attention – if the can was 12 oz instead of 23.5. Caffeine and alcohol together are not necessarily going to send you to the hospital or make you have a violent freak out, but moderation when consuming the two simultaneously is more even important than when consuming one or the other separately. Phusion Products ended up creating a product that fell a little far outside the lines of moderation. Four Loko is just oversized in almost every sense (except price, which Cord Jefferson thinks may’ve played a role in its being banned). My guess is that if Phusion Products had not tried to create the craziest thing on the market, their product would probably still be on the market.

Post by Robyn Schelenz. Have any thoughts, comments, or disagreements you wish to share? Send me an email over at robyn at homehealthtesting.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Headline photo by Ted S. Warren/Associated Press.

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