One of the most vexing drug dependencies is that of methamphetamine Known as “speed,” “crank”, “ice,” “gak” and “crystal”; methamphetamine has emerged as the street drug with the greatest potential for harm and the most stubborn resistance to treatment. Methamphetamine works on sensitive neurotransmitters that regulate the synthesis and release of dopamine and nor-epinehprine. The most powerful of human emotions and feelings are directed and controlled by the activity of these two monoamines. Methamphetamine use, especially when abused chronically, turns the regulatory systems for dopamine and nor-epinephrine upside down. The very powerful direct effects of the drugs use means that withdrawal from it will be equally ferocious and difficult; relapses and reoccurrences in use are common if not predestined. Developing the therapies and pharmaceutical agents that can combat methamphetamine addiction has been difficult and has resulted in only marginally effective results. The search for medications that can soften the withdrawal and mute intense cravings is never ending. Recently a drug that’s widely used to treat opiate and alcohol dependencies has been experimented with in treating methamphetamine-addicted patients, the results have been promising.

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Heroin (diacetylmorphine) is a powerful opiate that is abused throughout the industrialized world. For many years, heroin was approved for use in the United States to treat severe pain and serious, uncontrollable cough. Because heroin use rapidly escalates into abuse and addiction, the drug was banned for medical use by way of the Harrison Act in 1914. Like most intoxicating drugs and tonics that are driven underground by laws designed to control them, heroin emerged as a widely abused illicit drug in communities throughout America. Generations of heroin users have now come and gone, but despite the great passage of time, we have few reliable treatment programs to treat these powerful and gripping addictions. Most opiate dependency treatment programs in America involve the detoxification of addicts via use of a mixed property narcotic called Buprenorphine; if detoxification and subsequent therapy doesn’t lead to sobriety, addicts are then most often prescribed methadone for what’s called “opiate replacement therapy.” In opiate replacement therapy, the narcotic causing a patient’s addiction is substituted with a long acting, more stable narcotic such as methadone. Most methadone “maintained” patients end up permanently dependent on the daily administration of the substitute, maintenance drug. What might surprise the reader is that patients on daily replacement therapy with methadone end up holding down good jobs, raising families and leading law-abiding lives. Most of these patients will reach a natural lifespan as long as they adhere to a medically managed regimen. Recently, physicians have taken to the use of buprenorphine (product names of Suboxone or Subutex) as an alternative substitute narcotic to methadone. The FDA does not yet approve this sort of buprenorphine use, but it’s likely that it will at some point in the future.

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Pronounced “yar-bah,” Yaba is a psychoactive-stimulant drug that has come to the attention of drug enforcement authorities in the Far East. Although there is plenty of rumoring and street talk dealing about Yaba, there are no official reports of the drug here on the streets of America. Nevertheless, it’s worthwhile to discuss what is known about the drug and those who use it. The DAR (Drug Abuse Recognition) Hotline has received several calls from juvenile probation officers who have picked up on the name of this drug from clients they happen to be supervising. It seems that Yaba has made it to the streets and it’s finding a way into Asian adolescent drug scenes.

Here’s what we know about Yaba:
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The Partnership for a Drug-Free America has launched a new addition to its award-winning community outreach program, Meth360®, to help curb use of the highly addictive illicit drug methamphetamine in the Hispanic community.

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Many people know Josh Hamilton as the centerfielder for the Texas Rangers, and as we’ve become increasingly outspoken some people may also know that several years ago his career almost ended because of drugs and alcohol. For three years Josh struggled, going in and out of rehab. Then Josh and I met, fell in love, got married, and now we have three beautiful daughters.

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