Drug Abuse

Pop star Andy Gibb died of natural causes--an inflammation of the heart probably caused by a virus--and not from a drug overdose or alcohol abuse, a hospital announced Friday. Gibb died at Oxford's John Ratcliffe Hospital on Thursday, five days after his 30th birthday. He entered the hospital Monday complaining of stomach pains.

Every parent knows what it's like to fail his or her child in some important way. We speak a hurtful word. We are absent at a critical moment, or we simply fail to hear what our children are telling us. The three moms I met this week at the Homegirl Café know this feeling well. It was a few days before Mother's Day and we sat down together for lunch and talked about the many sorrows they've inflicted on their children. "You make wrong choices, and your kids pay for them," Veronica Duran, a 39-year-old mother of two, told me. The personal histories of these three moms include drug abuse, homelessness and stints in prison that caused them to miss many, many of their sons' and daughters' birthdays.

The trying task of reducing cocaine production overseas is made all the more daunting by the nation's appetite for the drug, which has grown more insatiable as "crack" cocaine has grown more popular. Despite recent inroads, anti-drug officials acknowledge that the amount of cocaine reaching the United States has never been greater. Unofficial estimates by the Drug Enforcement Administration put annual imports at more than 100 metric tons--a 35% increase over official 1985 figures compiled by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and a threefold increase over the cocaine influx in 1982.

Need help getting the marijuana monkey off your back? The widely prescribed anticonvulsant drug gabapentin might be just the ticket, if preliminary clinical trials at the Scripps Research Institute are confirmed. A 12-week trial in 50 marijuana users who wanted to quit showed that gabapentin (sold under a variety of brand names, including Neurontin) reduced withdrawal symptoms and that those who took the drug were more likely to stop smoking maryjane altogether. Many people view marijuana as a relatively benign substance; others regard it as a gateway to use of more powerful recreational drugs.

A word of a warning to parents of adolescents, from the nation's poison centers: Yes, you've secured your medicine chest and your liquor cabinet; but a new thrill-seeking activity among teens might make you consider locking away the cinnamon shaker as well. In the first three months of 2012, the nation's poison centers have had 139 calls -- close to three times as many as were received in all of 2011 -- seeking help and information about the intentional misuse of cinnamon. At least 122 of those calls arose from something called the "cinnamon challenge" -- a game growing in popularity among teens in which a child is dared to swallow a spoonful of ground or powdered cinnamon without drinking any water.

A former student at exclusive Chaminade High School who was kicked out for alleged drug use won a $20,000 judgment Friday against the school for wrongful expulsion. Cara-Mia Kobzeff, 20, denied any involvement with drugs and accused the school of not following its own procedures. She alleged the school never called her mother, as required by Chaminade policy, and ignored a drug test she passed the day after being accused of using narcotics.

Need help getting the marijuana monkey off your back? The widely prescribed anticonvulsant drug gabapentin might be just the ticket, if preliminary clinical trials at the Scripps Research Institute are confirmed. A 12-week trial in 50 marijuana users who wanted to quit showed that gabapentin (sold under a variety of brand names, including Neurontin) reduced withdrawal symptoms and that those who took the drug were more likely to stop smoking maryjane altogether. Many people view marijuana as a relatively benign substance; others regard it as a gateway to use of more powerful recreational drugs.

Ashley Bryan lies down on the dirty carpet of her dad's bedroom where she usually sleeps. The 10-year-old girl closes her eyes, clasps her hands and raises them to her lips. Firmly, fervently, she prays. She wishes not for a bike or Barbie like most kids her age, or to become a doctor or firefighter some day. Every night, Ashley asks for something she believes only God can deliver. She prays for a new father.

Marc Christian MacGinnis, who won a multimillion-dollar settlement in 1991 from the estate of his ex-lover, actor Rock Hudson, after convincing a jury Hudson had knowingly exposed him to AIDS, has died. He was 56. Known as Marc Christian, he died of pulmonary problems June 2 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. The details were confirmed Friday by his sister, Susan Dahl, who said she did not publicly announce his death earlier because of her brother's wish for privacy.

As the mother of a former crystal-meth addict, Marla Herman isn't surprised by what the drug can do. She watched her daughter, Renee DeMontreux, a former cheerleader at Redondo Union High School, go from a college student with a full-time job to a methamphetamine addict, dealer and drug-maker in less than a year. The change was "devastating and really quick," said Herman, 48, a Rancho Palos Verdes resident, adding with a bitter laugh: "That is the wonderful thing about meth."

They call it the “choking game,” but it's deadly serious. Experts estimate that 5% to 11% of teens have tried it, and a new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics reports that kids who see this as a way of getting high are also likely to engage in other types of risky behavior, such as drug abuse and sex. Here's how the study's authors, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention and...

They call it the “choking game,” but it's deadly serious. Experts estimate that 5% to 11% of teens have tried it, and a new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics reports that kids who see this as a way of getting high are also likely to engage in other types of risky behavior, such as drug abuse and sex. Here's how the study's authors, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention and...

A word of a warning to parents of adolescents, from the nation's poison centers: Yes, you've secured your medicine chest and your liquor cabinet; but a new thrill-seeking activity among teens might make you consider locking away the cinnamon shaker as well. In the first three months of 2012, the nation's poison centers have had 139 calls -- close to three times as many as were received in all of 2011 -- seeking help and information about the intentional misuse of cinnamon. At least 122 of those calls arose from something called the "cinnamon challenge" -- a game growing in popularity among teens in which a child is dared to swallow a spoonful of ground or powdered cinnamon without drinking any water.

Abuse in childhood appears to be a particularly strong risk factor for developing alcohol addiction later in life, researchers reported Thursday. Alcohol dependence is linked to many risk factors -- including genetics, drinking in adolescence and having other mental health disorders. A history of physical, sexual or emotional abuse in childhood is known to be another risk factor. The new study, however, shows how strong this link could be. Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse surveyed 196 men and women who were inpatients being treated for alcohol dependence.

War without end Re " A drug war success story? ," Opinion, Feb. 29 William C. Rempel's Op-Ed article on the 1989 cocaine bust in Sylmar that ultimately strengthened the Mexican drug cartels illustrates the folly of the continuing war on drugs. This war is an arms race in which the opponent has no morals and no qualms about a scorched-earth strategy. Increasingly, the casualties are innocent people and entire economic sectors, such as Mexican tourism and trips by charitable organizations to the country.

SERIES The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon and his nemesis (John Ross Bowie) compete for an office in this new episode (8 p.m. CBS). American Idol: The judges continue to narrow down the contestants in this two-hour episode (8 p.m. Fox). The Office: Dwight (Rainn Wilson) arrives in Tallahassee and gets busy trying to impress Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) in this new episode (9 p.m. NBC). Grey's Anatomy: In a crossover with spinoff series "Private Practice," Derek's (Patrick Dempsey)

The message on a pillow in the bedroom she shared with her late rock star husband now serves only to mock Troy Nowell. "Grow Old With Me," reads the stitched lettering. "The Best Is Yet to Be." The former Troy denDekker was married only seven days before Bradley Nowell, her 28-year-old husband and the creative force behind the Long Beach-based punk-ska band Sublime, died of a heroin overdose May 25 in a San Francisco motel room.

The moon, just out, hung over the Ozarks like a pale opal. Soon families would be saying grace over Sunday dinner; children would be clamoring to turn on the Christmas lights. It was time to go home. But in the darkening woods, four teen-agers lingered, enjoying the rush they always felt when they killed something. A kitten lay crumpled nearby. Sharing some unspoken secret, the boys exchanged furtive glances in the fading light. They were growing edgy.

Whitney Houston, a willowy church singer with a towering voice who became a titan of the pop charts in the 1980s and 1990s but then saw much of her success crumble away amid the fumes of addiction and reckless ego, has died. She was 48. Kristen Foster, a publicist, announced Saturday that the singer had died, and police sources later confirmed that she was found unresponsive in her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel about 3:30 p.m. Paramedics performed CPR on her, but she was pronounced dead about 4 p.m., Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen told KTLA News.

Forget about rock 'n' roll: When rats are administered the highly addictive stimulant methamphetamine and allowed to engage in sexual behavior while high, all they want is more of both. That's the raw finding of a study published Tuesday by the Journal of Neuroscience. It's important because many who use methamphetamine report that it enhances their sexual experience. But because it also reduces their inhibitions , those abusers are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior , including unprotected sex and anal intercourse.