Drug Policy Question of the Week – 4-5-12

As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 4-5-12. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3817

Question of the Week: What is Ibogaine?

According to a 2008 article in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology,

“The incidence of opioid-related deaths in the US doubled between 1999 and 2004, with methadone and oxycodone accounting for most of this increase.”

Expanding in parallel with this explosive growth is a subculture that by 2006 had

“increased fourfold relative to the prior estimate of 5 years earlier, an average yearly rate of growth of approximately 30%.”

This subculture advocates for opiate treatment with Ibogaine, defined by a Journal of Neuroscience article from 2005 as,

“a natural alkaloid extracted from the root bark of the African shrub Tabernanthe Iboga,[that] has attracted attention because of its reported ability to reverse human addiction to multiple drugs of abuse, including alcohol. Human anecdotal reports assert that a single administration of ibogaine reduces craving for opiates and cocaine for extended periods of time and reduces opiate withdrawal symptoms.”

A 2011 Journal of Legal Medicine review suggested that it is with higher doses that the user experiences the drug’s most intense effects, which are

“characterized as the “panoramic recall of a large amount of material relating to prior life events from long-term memory, primarily in the visual modality,” or the “waking dream” state. If the user is an addict, he or she will usually be taken back to the place and time where the underlying issue leading to the addiction arose, allowing the addict to gain critical insight into the reasons why he or she abuses.”

The irony is that, classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, ibogaine is listed in the same highly restricted category as the very drugs it counteracts.

Drug Policy Question of the Week – 3-12-12

As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 3-12-12. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3787

Question of the Week: What is the size of the global illegal drug market?

A 1994 report from the United Nations called

“the traffic in illicit drugs one of the world’s most substantial money earners. The retail value of drugs, at around 500 billion US dollars a year, now exceeds the value of the international trade in oil and is second only to that of the arms trade.”

The United Nation’s 1997 World Drug Report reduced that estimate stating,

“[A] growing body of evidence suggests that the true figure lies somewhere around the $US 400 billion level … larger than the international trade in iron and steel, and motor vehicles.”

A 1998 report from the Transnational Institute with the tongue-in-cheek title, “Let’s All Guess the Size of the Illegal Drugs Industry!” placed the size of the world illegal drug market at between “$45 and $280 billion.”

Reducing these estimates even further, a 2001 article in World Economics declared,

“In true trade terms, a more reasonable estimate of the total for illicit drugs—cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and synthetic drugs—is only about $20 to $25 billion annually.”

The 2005 World Drug Report didn’t back down,

“[T]he value of the global illicit drug market for the year 2003 was estimated at $13 billion at the production level, at $94 billion at the wholesale level (taking seizures into account), and at 322 billion based on retail prices and taking seizures and other losses into account.”

Not surprisingly, that 2001 World Economics article concluded,

“The underlying data that give rise to estimates of global drug markets are riddled with discrepancies and inconsistencies.”

These Facts, numbers and others like them can be found in the Economics Chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.

Drug Policy Question of the Week – 2-21-12

As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 2-21-12. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3759

Question of the Week: Why have there been so many reports of celebrity overdoses?

From Heath Ledger, to Michael Jackson, to Amy Winehouse, and now to Whitney Houston, celebrity deaths from overdoses of otherwise legal drugs seem to be increasing, and indeed they are.

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control outlined these disturbing statistics.

“In 2009, 1.2 million emer­gency department visits (an increase of 98.4% since 2004) were related to misuse or abuse of pharmaceuticals.”

The report went on to read,

“In 2008, a total of 36,450 deaths were attributed to drug overdose … among which a drug was specified in 27,153 deaths. One or more prescription drugs were involved in 20,044 [almost 75%] of the 27,153 deaths, and opiate pain relievers were involved in 14,800 [almost 75%] of the 20,044 prescription drug overdose deaths.”

U.S. Food and Drug Administration tracks the “serious outcomes” of its approved drugs through its Adverse Event Reporting System. By “serious outcomes,” the FDA means a “death, hospitalization, life-threatening, disability, congenital anomaly and/or other serious outcome” reported to it through the AERS system.

This system shows a substantial escalation in the number of deaths and serious patient outcomes over the last eleven years. From 2000-2010, “Serious outcomes” numbered 2,816,297, with “deaths” equaling 452,780. These two values grew by well over 50% during the last five years alone.

An article in the Connecticut Law Review laments that,

“Prescription drugs are paradoxical: as one of the greatest triumphs of the twentieth century, their powerful chemicals and biologics save many millions of humans from suffering and death; yet, these same chemicals also cause great suffering and death.”

These facts and others like them in the Causes of Death Chapter of Drug War Facts at www.drugwarfacts.org.