Family Medicine

Sanofi-Aventis, A French pharmaceutical company, informed regulatory obstacles for the approval of potential blockbuster drug Acomplia and not set any time duration to launch anti-obesity drug Acomplia in United states because of waiting approval from FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for sales in US.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, the ACLU today issued the report, “Cracks in the System: Twenty Years of the Unjust Federal Crack Cocaine Law.” The report details discriminatory effects of the drug law that devastated African American and low-income communities

Is still what the Koran calls alcohol. But as a writer for the always entertaining Modern Drunkard Magazine points out, a lot of people living in Muslim countries risk jail and torture for a nice, tall, cold one. I continue to be fascinated with Iran's underground drinking economy.

Where liquor stores are outlawed, everywhere is a potential liquor store. Ponder that beautiful fact for a moment: every place other than a mosque bears some possibility of being a place to get trashed. In Kerman, I visited a photocopy shop. While waiting for my copies, the attendant asked in a whisper whether I wanted beer. Still a little on edge over the whole flogging-your-back-to-ribbons thing, I said something noncommittal. He took it correctly to be an enthusiastic yes. In the back room, I bought six Efes beers (a Turkish brand) and drank two with him right then, next to the laminating machine. Try getting that quality of service at your local Kinko's.

More here.

Post by Bill Piper.

This November voters in Colorado will decide on an initiative that would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for anyone over 21 years old.  This article examines the probable economic impact of the increase in the marijuana trade likely resulting from the passage of this law.

The $4 billion dollar-a-year Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association convenes in Washington D.C. today to talk shop on lobbying Congress. Industry bigwigs will also likely discuss a recent blow to business -- just last month the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) issued an advisory concerning the unreliability of the newest screening technology on the market. The urine-alcohol test screens for ethyl glucuronide, or EtG, a byproduct from metabolizing alcohol, that the Industry claims can definitely prove whether or not someone drank alcohol in the last two to three days.

The month before SAMHSA issued the advisory, The Wall Street Journal ran an expose reporting that the widely used screen is so sensitive that it fails to differentiate an EtG positive from beer versus from hand sanitizer or cough medicine or from variety of common household products, such as vanilla extract. The paper also reported that the physician who developed EtG testing in America believes that the test is currently being used inappropriately, stating, "Use of this screen has gotten ahead of the science." Additionally, the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry never conducted any published large scale trials of the technology.

The SAMSHA advisory states that an EtG positive result should not be used as sole evidence in the legal or disciplinary context. Since courts and medical regulators have been using this technology, false positive results have devastated individuals who lose their jobs or freedom. Since no federal regulatory approval is required for firms to market the product, the advisory holds no binding authority.

The warning unearths a slew of questions that need to be asked about the oversight and regulation of this booming industry where the accuracy of the product can determine whether a person will loose their job, parental rights, medical license or freedom. The Drug and Alcohol Industry needs to be held accountable.