Alcohol Dependence

Pain is part of the lives of professional football players, both current players and retired. Given the high rates of injuries of current players and the chronic health problems retired players endure, one has to wonder about the wisdom of the NFL's plan to extend the regular season to 18 games. In a study released Friday, researchers found that retired NFL players use pain pills at a much higher rate than the general population and often misuse prescription painkillers. The study looked at 644 former players who retired between 1979 and 2006 and found 7% of the retired players were using painkilling opioid drugs -- four times the rate of the general population.

With news that the FDA has sent warning letters to four companies that make drinks combining caffeine and alcohol, including the infamous Four Loko, a study about alcohol-free energy drinks just published online in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research came out at just the right time to get oodles of attention. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, looked at drinking habits of more than 1,000 fourth-year college students gleaned from face-to-face interviews and reported that: --51.

Although teen-agers' alcohol-related traffic deaths, suicides and violence attract national attention, experts believe millions of young people are affected by a far more silent tragedy, one that often escapes public and parental scrutiny.

Seventy years ago, Bill Wilson -- the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous -- declared his powerlessness over alcohol in a book by the same name. The failed businessman contended that, as an alcoholic, he had to "hit bottom" before changing his life and that sobriety could only be achieved through complete abstention. For generations, Americans took these tenets to be true for everyone. Top addiction experts are no longer sure. They now say that many drinkers can evaluate their habits and -- using new knowledge about genetic and behavioral risks of addiction -- change those habits if necessary.

It was supposed to be a brief stop at the Primadonna casino, 43 miles south of Las Vegas, but one poker game led to another. By 3 a.m. May 25, 1997, Jeremy Strohmeyer and David Cash were tired of hanging around the arcade, waiting for David's dad. Bored, the two 18-year-olds decided to urinate on two coin-operated games. David chose Big Bertha, whose polka-dot dress flared when players hurled balls into her gaping red mouth. Jeremy selected a helicopter game. Then a wall socket.

Jockey Steve Cauthen, who dazzled the horse racing world in 1977 by riding 487 winners at age 17, is completing a hospital program for alcohol dependency, it was disclosed Thursday. Cauthen, 25, a native of nearby Walton, Ky., has been racing in England in recent years. He has two days to go in the three-week alcohol program at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, his father told the Cincinnati Post. "Steve felt he had an alcohol problem," George Cauthen said.

Frank Melendez, who began drinking at 9 and become an alcoholic by 15, was a Guatemalan immigrant who spoke no English when he arrived in the United States in the late 1950s. But Melendez refused to become a statistic. He found treatment, went to college and began helping others like himself. Today, as program director for Casa Libre in Bell Gardens, Melendez runs one of Los Angeles County's few programs that treats Spanish-speaking families for alcohol and drug dependency.

Medical marijuana laws have been passed in 16 states, usually following vigorous debate about whether the benefits of medical marijuana for treating illness outweigh the risks of making the drug much easier for anyone to obtain. Two new studies shed some light on that question. A study in the September issue of Annals of Epidemiology found that, among youths age 12 to 17, marijuana usage rates were higher in states with medical marijuana laws (8.6%) compared with those without such laws (6.9%)

A call for change is afoot in the difficult and often heartbreaking world of addiction treatment. For decades, 12-step programs and a medication-free approach have dominated the recovery industry. But now doctors and scientists and the leader of the National Institute on Drug Abuse are pushing for broad recognition of addiction as a disease and more medical approaches to therapy. In the last couple of years, a top addiction society officially declared addiction a "brain disorder.

"The rules are you can't smoke and you can't cuss." That's Gerry Girafe, director of the Tri-Valley Teen Challenge, who is standing on a hilltop between Ventura and Casitas Springs. The 143 acres below are home to 50 women recovering from drug and alcohol dependencies. Girafe, 51, is a program graduate and ordained minister. Like many graduates, he decided to make Teen Challenge his life. It's where he met his wife. Teen Challenge is a Christian program that started in 1958, when the Rev.