March Madness and Gambling, Oxytocin and Addiction, An Aggressive, Addictive Gene
March Madness basketball excites a lot of people … into gambling – so we talk a bit about sports and gambling. Also the fact that no strata of our society is immune from addiction. The hormone oxytocin is the subject of a new study, correlating its under-development at an early age with addiction. We also discuss other hormones and neurotransmitters that are involved in addiction proclivities. And another gene, which leads people to extremely aggressive behavior, is also correlated to addiction.
E-cig Restrictions, Nek-nominate, Winter Olympics, Legalize-Tax-Discourage, Smoking and Mental Illness
Putting e-cigarettes behind the counter and not sold to minors in Cook County, while Chicago has banned e-cig “vaping” wherever cigarette smoking is forbidden. Nek-nominate, popular in UK and Australia, now here, involves drinking large amounts of alcohol often mixed with other bizarre things, then nominating one or two friends to follow suit, or do even more. Of course its recorded on YouTube. New performance-enhancing drugs coming out of Sochi. Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank advocating for legalizing drugs, and some success with smoking cessation among those with mental illness using the stop-smoking drug varenicline
MJ News Redux, Neanderthal Genes and Addiction/Disease, Strange Addiction of Week
Marijuana stories continue to dominate the news. Stories on the Super Bowl NFL players and pot, anti-MJ ads on Super Bowl, AJ Holder comments on ease banking restrictions for marijuana businesses, big investors meet in Las Vegas to discuss strategies for investing (lots) in the emergent pot industry, and marijuana enters county fairs competion. And the strange addiction this week is trying to look like Justin Bieber – strange indeed!
Psychedelics, mollys, survey of how many athletes really do doping
A new study indicates psychedelics don’t have the same tendency toward addiction as other drugs, and many be useful in treating mental health. Molly – mostly used as another name for ecstasy – is in the news thanks to Miley Cyrus talking about them in her song, at the Video Music Awards, and having the word bleeped out. And a new anonymous survey finds that many more athletes use performance enhancing drugs, on the order of 30-40%, then previous testing and surveys showed. PODCAST.
Sports and doping — A-Rod and another bicyclist, Drug sentence changes, Medical expert and payments
Sports and doping returns again – this time its star Yankee Alex Rodriguez, receiving a 211 game suspension for being associated with a south Florida anti-aging clinic, known to dispense human growth hormone, among other things. Also, the administration has announced its plans to look at the currently harsh drug penalties in this country, which incarcerates more people per capita than any other country… Lindsay Lohan’s $5000/day shopping habit … exchanging one addiction for another. And a study out of Australia highlighting to correspondence between medical experts on review panels for new drugs, etc., and the degree of remuneration that is appropriate. PODCAST.
Sports & doping – its not just Armstrong
Performance-enhancing drugs – used by amateurs as well as professional athletes, crosses many fields of competition, and includes use of anabolic steroids, EPO, blood transfusions, etc. Also, designer drugs in sports and the evolution of testing, which as the Armstrong controversies have shown, can now be done years after the fact.