Results tagged “newyorktimes” from 60 Second Science

The New York Times reports:

Federal officials say that even the smallest amounts of heroin — a 10-gram “deck,” which can cost as little as $7 on the street — are nearly twice as potent in some cities in the region as they were four years ago.

Ok, way back when in the 80's when I used heroin, it went for $600 a gram if you were buying pretty pure stuff sold out of someone's apartment, not on the street. If 10 grams now go for $7 on the street, something is very, very, wrong.

I think the word you wanted was milligrams, NYT... and it's a shame that the only Americans who seem to know the metric system are scientists and drug users.

Will alcohol binges on New Year’s really destroy your ability to think flexibly? That’s what this peculiar op-ed in last week’s New York Times suggests.

Citing rat research, psychiatrist Paul Steinberg writes:

…just as the news is not so great for former cigarette smokers, there is equally bad news for recovering binge-drinkers who have achieved a sobriety that has lasted years. The more we have binged — and the younger we have started to binge — the more we experience significant, though often subtle, effects on the brain and cognition.

Much of the evidence for the impact of frequent binge-drinking comes from some simple but elegant studies done on lab rats by Fulton T. Crews and his former student Jennifer Obernier. Dr. Crews, the director of the University of North Carolina Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, and Dr. Obernier have shown that after a longstanding abstinence following heavy binge-drinking, adult rats can learn effectively — but they cannot relearn.

Continue reading 'Still hungover? Don't read last week's New York Times..' >

For an indiscernible reason, the New York Times front-paged a story on “recovery communities” today-- looking at how some recovering addicts and alcoholics move to particular cities and neighborhoods to support each other in a drug-free lifestyle. But can these communities be improved, based on the latest addiction research?

Continue reading 'Of recovery communities and overdoses' >