Addiction Solution Source

A team of researchers from Australia and the U.S. led by Dr. Louisa Degenhardt at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, have made the case for estimating the role that cannabis (aka marijuana) plays as a risk factor for psychosis worldwide.

This could give an idea of the extent of impact cannabis has on our public healthy globally. The information could be very valuable for guiding health policymakers in their decisions regarding services, research and health policies.

According to a new study published in the September, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the risk of heart attacks was reduced, as a result of smoking bans in public areas. This was noted particularly among younger individuals as well as nonsmokers and is reducing the number of heart attacks by as much as 26% each year.

According to Dr. David Meyers, Professor of Cardiology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, ‘even breathing in low doses of cigarette smoke can increase the risk of heart attacks’. Dr. Meyers is the lead investigator of the most comprehensive study done to date on smoking issues. Dr. Meyers also stated that ‘public smoking bans might also help prevent lung cancer and emphysema’.

First off, think about this message from Yul Brynner (famous actor) recorded in January 1985, after he was diagnosed with lung cancer: “Now that I’m gone, I tell you: Don’t smoke, whatever you do, just don’t smoke. If I could take back that smoking we wouldn’t be talking about any cancer. I’m convinced of that.”

Now, here is five other reasons to think about:

1. Money – The cost of smoking adds up. Not only does smoking take money out of your pocket, but it contributes to higher health cost. It is well known that smoking and secondhand smoke lead to heart disease, strokes, cancer, lung disease and vascular disease. On the average, smokers spend approximately $1600/year on cigarettes. Consider the savings you will be making by quitting.

2. Life Expectancy – Smoking can take years off of one’s life literally. Also, smoking causes deep wrinkles that make you look older. By quitting smoking, your skin will be smoother and less chance of wrinkling.

3. Clean Air – smoking makes your clothes and hair reek of tobacco. Nonsmokers who are in the company of smokers are not safe either, since they are being subjected to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is associated with lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. It also can increase the risk of dementia by as much as 44 percent. Parents who smoke should seriously consider the risks of secondhand smoke exposure they are subjecting their children to in the home, car or other surrounding environments. Consider how much fresher your home will smell, your clothes, hair and even the car.

Dr. Charles Gant’s new book has just been released. I have read it and it is excellent.

Order now at Amazon:
End Your Addiction Now: A Proven Nutritional Supplement Program That Can Set You Free

Here is the write up from the publisher about the book:

Whether it is to alcohol, drugs, smoking, or food, addiction is an overwhelming and destructive force that negatively impacts the lives of those in its grip. While there are programs galore that promise an end to these dependencies, the truth is, far too many “reformed” addicts fall right back into their old habits.

Why?

Because powerful biochemical factors override the psychological will to quit. End Your Addiction Now is a unique book that not only explores the real cause of this recurring problem, but also offers a proven biochemical approach that can break addiction once and for all.

Written in easy-to-understand language, End Your Addiction Now is based upon the extensive research and medical practice of Dr. Charles Gant and other pioneers in the field of orthomolecular medicine. It both guides readers to physicians and facilities that support a biochemical approach to the treatment of substance-use disorders, and provides step-by-step directions for those who want to quit their addictions on their own.

Health and life insurance companies in the U.S. and abroad have nearly $4.5 billion invested in tobacco stocks, according to Harvard doctors. Is this who you want running our health care system?

The US Senate voted today (June 11, 2009) to give the FDA new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people.

The legislation, one of the most dramatic anti-smoking initiatives since the U.S. surgeon general’s warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

“This legislation represents the strongest action Congress has ever taken to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States,” declared Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids.

Candy cigarettes predispose children who play with them to smoke the real things later.

Smoking can have numerous negative effects. Information gathered from various research studies point that out.

In one such study, Dr. Gary Shaw of the March of Dimes and colleagues from institutes in Norway, Holland, and Texas, studied serum samples collected between 2003 and 2005 from pregnant women enrolled in the California Expanded AFP (alpha fetoprotein) program. The researchers measured the levels of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine, to determine whether the mothers smoked during pregnancy. They found that women who smoked during pregnancy were nearly 2.5 times more likely to have babies with oral clefts.

According to Dr. Shaw, “Babies with oral clefts require significant medical care. Often necessary are four surgeries by age two, and they may have speech, hearing, and feeding problems.”

In a related study, Dr. Laura Stroud and colleagues from Brown University studied the effects of cigarette smoke exposure on infant behavior. The researchers studied 56 otherwise healthy infants and used questionnaires and cotinine measurements to determine cigarette smoke exposure. They found that the 28 babies who had been exposed to cigarette smoke were more irritable and difficult to sooth.

In a recent research report, Kristen Saxone-Moeller from the University of Melbourne, stated that Australians with mental illness smoke at four times the rate of the general population.

The research also found that:

* Smokers with mental illness consumed 50 per cent more cigarettes a day than the general population, averaging 22 cigarettes a day;

* The heaviest smokers in the group smoked up to 80 cigarettes in a day;

* Almost three in five (59 per cent) said they wanted to quit smoking;

* Almost three quarters (74 per cent) said they wanted to cut down;

“Smoking compounds many of the health problems already experienced by people with mental illnesses,” she said. “Combined with drug therapies that often make them overweight, they are at even greater risk of diabetes, heart attacks and strokes if they smoke.”

“The biggest cause of death among people with mental illness is not suicide, it is cardiovascular disease.”

Overall cost to Australia showed more than $30 billion a year but little was being done to help people quit.

From past research, it’s known that the children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are at greater risk of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Young people with ADHD are not only at increased risk of starting to smoke cigarettes, they also tend to become more seriously addicted to nicotine and more vulnerable to environmental factors such as having friends or parents who smoke.

It appears that those with more ADHD related symptoms such as prominent inattention, distraction, overactivity or impulsivity of the smokers, the more serious their dependence on nicotine.

Dr. Timothy Wilens, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and co-author of a recent study, stated that, “it looks like interplay between the dopamine system, more substantially related to ADHD and addiction, and the cholinergic system related to smoking is probably important”. (The study was supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.)