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Showing posts from 2013

Exercise may cause you to fail drug test

Exercise may cause you to fail drug test Darren Osborne ABC I f you smoke cannabis and then exercise the next day, be warned - you could fail a random drug test. That's the finding from a team of Australian researchers looking at the long-lasting effect of the active component in cannabis, known as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is a lipophilic compound, meaning it dissolves in fat molecules. Previous studies have shown that it can be stored in the body for at least 28 days, with some former heavy cannabis users still showing traces of THC in their body six months later. Professor Iain McGregor, from the University of Sydney's School of Psychology , says he was prompted into studying the long-lasting effects of THC after hearing numerous cases of people claiming not to have recently used cannabis, yet had high levels of the active compound in their urine or blood. "The common dominator in all these scenarios was that the people were burning fat,"

Leading the pack on recreational drugs

Leading the pack on recreational drugs Amy Corderoy, Health Editor, Sydney Morning Herald from The Age, June 22, 2013  A new policy will deal with drugs as a health issue, not a criminal one, writes Amy Corderoy. At first glance, it resembles your typical focus group. A free feed, $20, and a gift card - all to have your every thought poked and prodded for a few hours. "It was just that out-of-hours corporate focus group experience," says Brendan*. "But this time we got stoned". They want the highs to actually be legal, and low risk.  The 30-year-old Auckland man is part of a small group of New Zealanders preparing for the introduction in August of radical new drug laws. His country will soon become the first to regulate new recreational drugs based solely on their harms. Brendan's focus group is one of the first steps in this process. "The possibility of being involved in legitimate drug sales, five or 10 years ago I would hav

Sellers' addiction to profits driving drugs market

Sellers' addiction to profits driving drugs market Amy Corderoy Health Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, Article published in The Age June 22, 2013 Australians are spending more than $7 billion each year on illicit drugs, according to groundbreaking research from the Bureau of Statistics. Drug experts and campaigners say the data shows attempts to police the ''war on drugs'' are completely dwarfed by the population's demand for the products, with Australians spending about seven times more buying drugs in 2010 than governments spent enforcing drug laws. And the vast majority of the billion-dollar market is going directly into the pockets of drug manufacturers and retailers, with early analysis from the ABS staff research project showing profit margins of more than 80 per cent. The chief executive of drug harm minimization group Anex, John Ryan, said he was staggered to see how big the drug market actually was. "The drug market is clear

Urine drug test direction was reasonable: Full Bench

Urine drug test direction was reasonable: Full Bench http://www.workplaceohs.com.au A worker repudiated his contract of employment when he refused to comply with a lawful and reasonable direction to submit to a urine drug test, the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has confirmed. When RB refused to do so, he was advised in writing that his employment would be terminated unless he changed his position. However, RB persisted with his refusal to undergo the urine test and was dismissed. Subsequently, RB lodged an unfair dismissal claim with the Fair Work Commission. He argued that the A&DM Policy was concerned with testing employees for impairment at work only, and thus a direction for him to undergo a urine test, being a test that was incapable of detecting impairment, was not reasonable. RB relied on the fact that AS 4308, the Australian Standard for drug testing urine, states that ‘[t]his standard has no relevance to impairment’. In April 2013, Fair Work C

Campaigners call for national policy on synthetic drugs

Campaigners call for national policy on synthetic drugs  ABC Miriam Hall reported this story on Monday, June 10, 2013 ELEANOR HALL: Anti-drug campaigners say the New South Wales Government's ban on the sale of synthetic drugs will do nothing to curb use of the dangerous substances. Synthetic drugs operate in a legal grey area, and are sold at sex shops and tobacconists. Every state has different laws covering them but manufacturers are able to circumvent bans relatively easily. Yesterday the New South Wales Government imposed an interim ban on the sale of 18 types of synthetic drugs, as Miriam Hall reports.. MIRIAM HALL: They go by names like Kronic, White Revolver and Black Widow, and they are designed to mimic the effects of illicit substances. The CEO of the Australian Drug Foundation, John Rogerson, says the substances are dangerous but the problem's not new. JOHN ROGERSON: This has been a worry ever since the internet came into use really. It's an easy way t

Brain damage 'crisis' looms from illicit drug use

Brain damage 'crisis' looms from illicit drug use By Alina Eacott - ABC NEWS  ..........Dr Wilcox said the national household drug survey in 2010 showed 1.9 million people had tried ecstasy, and almost one million had experimented with drugs such as methamphetmine. "Australia and New Zealand have a two to five times higher rate of the use of stimulant drugs than anywhere else in the world," he said............... A high rate of illegal stimulant use in Australia has prompted fears of a looming health crisis. Researchers in Adelaide are investigating links between stimulant use and an increased risk of people developing Parkinson's disease. They said many drug users were developing a brain abnormality which also was seen in people afflicted with Parkinson's. "People who have used illegal stimulants in the past have a change in a brain region that's right in the middle of their brain called the susbtantia nigra," expla

Methamphetamine use and addiction in Australia

methamphetamine use and addiction in Australia By Nicole Lee Associate Professor at the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction at Flinders University More commonly known by the street names speed, ice or crystal meth, both amphetamine and methamphetamine belong to a group of stimulant drugs called amphetamines. Australia has one of the highest rates of illicit methamphetamine use in the world and the highest use among English-speaking countries. Around 2.5% of Australians over 14 years – around half a million people – have used methamphetamine in the last year. This rate is three- to five-times higher than the USA, Canada (0.5%) or the UK (1%). Illicit use The illegal manufacture of street amphetamines in Australia is almost exclusively methamphetamine. Illicit methamphetamine is manufactured in local “meth labs” and also imported from South-East Asia. The drug usually comes in powder or pills (speed) or cr

Workers dodge positive drugs tests - My Thoughts

Workers dodge positive drugs tests 26 March, 2013 Vicky Validakis Mining Australia The Article (see below for comments) Industry drug testers have raised concerns that workers are managing their illegal drug intake in a bid to escape getting caught out in tests. Kerryanne Tawhai, director of Down to Earth results, a company that tests illegal substances in resource industry workers, expressed concern that workers were managing their drug intake to avoid testing positive to drugs, including amphetamines. The comments come after Queensland Police in Gladstone raided a suspected methamphetamine laboratory in West Gladstone on Friday. "(It) goes with the territory," she said. "You've got large a congregation of people and there's nothing really to do in this town." She said most people know that these type of drugs left the body in a short-time, enabling users to adjust their usage before they go back to work on mine sites.

What are Australian Standards Requirements 'REALLY'

Australian Standards for Urine and Saliva Drug Tests I thought it was about time to clear this one up, as there is just so much misinformation around the internet about Australian Standards compliance and those organisations that try to create the idea that they are the only company that create an Australian Standards drug test and all others are all making false claims and are somehow in breach of the ACCC Fair Trading Act. Lets get the facts! Australian Standards cut-off levels for Urine tests (copied straight from the Australian Standards): ASNZS 4308-2008 TABLE 1 IMMUNOASSAY SCREENING TEST CUT-OFF LEVELS Class of drug* Cut-off level, μg/L Amphetamine type substances                                 300 Benzodiazepines                                                      200 Cannabis metabolites                                                 50 Cocaine metabolites                                                 300 Opiates                             

The battle with drugs - Ice

Battling Ice Addiction See the Today Tonight article here if you haven't already seen it: http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/latest/article/-/16141654/battling-ice-addiction/ So often we think it is someone else, far removed from our lives, our family our workplace! Reality is quite the opposite as with all drug use, there is someone in your circle (statistically) that is using illicit drugs, or has a problem with drug use in some form, and I am not excluding alcohol from the latter! The article produced by Today Tonight is a well balanced portrayal of the reality of drug use, parental anguish and the recovery process. My issue is with the prevalence of the drug Ice (Methamphetamines) in Australian society. Quote:  Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana says "ice is really what's creating the greatest concerns to us in terms of harm out on the streets in the moment and in the home." He says "ice has been around for a long time

Fake Weed/Cannabis - My Thoughts

Fake Weed! Did you see this on A Current Affair? http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/02/05/18/27/youth-issues-warning-about-fake-cannabis If not have a look now! People are still getting around the law and damaging lives, families, futures, we always portrayed drug pushers as people hanging around dark alleys, in night clubs and parties pushing their goods, now it is just available at some local stores so we are told, sold as incense but laced with deadly chemicals! The TGA has made the chemicals illegal, States in Australia have legislated against them, but these 'people' still sell it with a small label (in most cases) 'not fit for human consumption' and get a way with it. Ok, I know the end user has a choice, however, as with a lot of drug use particularly amongst the young, there is a lot of pressure to conform, to act like their peers, to belong, or to just experiment or just escape from the pressure, I also know until we as a society deal with these i

'Ice' users likely to suffer psychosis

'Ice' users likely to suffer psychosis on drug, study finds Date   January 10, 2013 Malcolm Knox    USERS of methamphetamine, or ''ice'', are five times likelier to suffer psychotic symptoms while taking the drug, according to a groundbreaking new Australian study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry (JAMA Psychiatry). The study's lead author, Dr Rebecca McKetin, said that ''there have always been questions about causality from those who say methamphetamine users aren't 'turned mad' by the drug but have a pre-existing psychotic condition. What's unique about this study is that it excludes those users and still finds such a strong link between use and psychotic symptoms in a large cohort over a period of years''. Dr McKetin, formerly of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Sydney and now at the Australian National University, said she was surprised by the str