teenage depression help

Life Threatening Risk: Cocaine Laced with Levamisole

** ALERT **

We always do our best to provide information and help to all of our readers from an unbiased and non judgmental standpoint. In that spirit, we want to make sure that if you or someone you care about is using Cocaine or using Crack that they be aware of the following information and they should seek professional medical help immediately.

Alcohol and other drug programs across California should be on the lookout for a dangerous substance levamisole that is showing up with increasing frequency in illicit cocaine powder and crack cocaine, most recently in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Levamisole is a veterinary anti-parasitic drug and it severely reduces the number of white blood cells in humans leading to an acute condition called agranulocytosis that should be treated at a hospital. Ingesting cocaine mixed with levamisole suppresses immune function and the body’s ability to fight off even minor infections. People who snort, smoke, or inject crack or powder cocaine contaminated by levamisole can experience overwhelming, rapidly-developing, life threatening infections.

Agranulocytosis manifests the following symptoms:

• high fever, chills, or weakness
• swollen glands
• painful sores (mouth and anal)

infections that won’t go away or get worse very fast, including sore throat or mouth sores; skin infections; abscesses; thrush (white coating of the mouth, tongue or throat); pneumonia (fever, cough, shortness of breath)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) began alerting medical professionals, substance abuse treatment centers, and other public health authorities in September about the risks.

Used in veterinary medicine, levamisole is currently approved for use in cattle, sheep and swine as an anti-parasitic agent. Formerly used in human medicine for treating autoimmune diseases and cancer, it is no longer approved for human use.

SAMHSA is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Food and Drug Administration, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and other federal and international organizations, as well as state agencies to monitor the levamisole issue. CDC will publish a case report analysis in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and will work with state health departments to systematically collect information on cocaine-associated agranulocytosis cases. Information from this effort will be used to guide treatment and prevention initiatives to address the public health concern.

According to the DEA and state testing laboratories, the percentage of cocaine specimens containing levamisole has increased steadily since 2002, with levamisole now found in more than 70 percent of the illicit cocaine analyzed last July. In addition, a recent analysis in Seattle, Washington, found that almost 80 percent of individuals who test positive for cocaine also test positive for levamisole.

ADP is asking all providers to report suspected and confirmed cases of agranulocytosis associated with cocaine abuse to their local health departments. Cases can also be reported to local Poison Control Centers (1-800-222-1222), which may assist in clinical management and additional reporting. For further medical/technical information, contact Nicholas Reuter, SAMHSA Nicholas.reuter@samhsa.hhs.gov

This Cocaine Related Health Alert was sent to us to help keep you informed. The SAMHSA stands for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). If you or a loved one need help with cocaine addiction or abuse please call the number on this site, or if you require medical attention contact a medical professional right away.

depression self help

anxiety depression help

depression help

In Narcotics Anonymous, the only requirement is a desire to stop using drugs. Moreover, since it is group-oriented, each member tries to help each other. They meet regularly to help each other stay clean, clean meaning a complete abstinence form all mood and mind altering substances. A non-profit organization, thus no fees are required to become a member.

Aside from rehabilitation centers, narcotics anonymous could be a good place to recover from drug addiction. Usually, addicts first enter narcotics anonymous after reaching a “bottom” in their life, a point at which life feels completely unmanageable, characterized by “unemployability, dereliction and destruction” and centered around the getting and using and finding ways and means to get more drugs. There are different bottoms for every Narcotics Anonymous member. This is when an addict can be anywhere he chooses to stop using substances. In practice, it is drug use and the intense consequences linked with its abuse that convey most addicts to their bottom many of them sliding along ‘this bottom’ for many years often cannot find their way out.

The fundamental unit of Narcotics Anonymous is their customary meetings. Meetings are held in a array of places such as church meeting rooms, libraries, hospitals, community centers, parks, or any other place that can accommodate a meeting. “Open” and “closed” meetings are the two basic types of meetings practiced in Narcotics Anonymous.In open meetings, everybody is welcome while in closed meetings, addicts and individuals who think they have drug problems are the people who can only attend.

Meeting formats differ, but usually comprise time devoted to the reading aloud of Narcotics Anonymous literature with regards to the issues implicated in living life clean which is written by and for members of Narcotics Anonymous. Many meetings also include an “open sharing” component, where anyone attending has the opportunity to share. There is usually no direct reaction throughout the ’share’, thus only one person ever speaks at any given time during this share of the meeting.

Each group has only one primary purpose that is to carry the message to the addict who still suffers. As a result, the newcomer is considered to be the most important person in any meeting. Hope is the essential message of Narcotics Anonymous. The basic promise of narcotics anonymous is that an addict, any addict, can discontinue using drugs, drop the desire to use, and learn a new way of life. Members are being given hope for a new life through Narcotics Anonymous’ twelve step program and twelve traditions.

Life should not be put to waste because a man has much potential. He or she may fail, as in becoming enslaved by worldly things such as drugs, but an individual is also capable of standing up from the fall and looking forward once again. Thus, the Narcotics Anonymous, focusing on people who are victims of drug addiction, speaks to these people of how wonderful life still is and that addiction does not mean the end, it is just a transitional stage for a new and better life.

Today, there are a number of Narcotics Anonymous based in different areas of the world trying to make a difference. These organizations have but one message to get across, that in times of darkness, such as falling into the pit of drug addiction, you are not alone in this battle. The Narcotics Anonymous is there to support you and help you stand up and fight for your life.

clinical depression help

clinical depression help

depression self help

depression help