Judy Brown smokes pot on a regular basis and she's not afraid to say so. "I need it to help offset my chronic pain from injuries I sustained in a car accident in 1986," the LaPorte woman told me while waiting to see her pain management physician. Along with her husband, Brown, 60, sat in the office lobby of Indiana University Health in Michigan City and studied a word puzzle. The elusive words she continues to search for in this state, however, are "medical marijuana." [continues 878 words]
Have I ever told you that an immediate family member of mine is a former heroin user? What? You didn't know this? I failed to bring it up before now, after several years of writing columns? Hmmmm, I wonder why. Oh yeah, that's right. Heroin is an illegal substance with a notorious social stigma, and having a heroin junkie in the family isn't something you casually note in the check-out line, or at family gatherings or at the workplace water cooler. [continues 338 words]
Latest Treatment Shows Promise Methadone, a synthetic opiate, is still largely considered the gold standard for treating heroin addiction. It's a liquid dose of legal relief that suppresses narcotic withdrawal for 24 to 36 hours. "It's been more widely researched than the atom bomb," said Carmen Arlt, director of chemical dependency and addiction for Porter-Starke Services Inc. But a newer treatment option -- buprenorphine, prescribed by doctors as Subutex and Suboxone -- has experts, field workers, and even methadone patients excited about its possibilities. [continues 567 words]
HIV/AIDS: Experts See Rising Trend Of Older Population With HIV-Positive Cases HIV has been pulsing through our society for a quarter century, and it's not showing any signs of slowing down, experts say. One surging new population of HIV-positive cases is people older than 50, data show. "Persons of this age group generally do not know much about HIV because it was not a factor when they were growing up," said Paula French, co-director of Step-Up Inc., an Indianapolis agency catering to people older than 50 with HIV/AIDS. [continues 959 words]
Chemical Effects Make Opiate So Addictive, Destructive Within seconds -- as short as 10 seconds -- heroin can produce the most imaginable feeling of pleasure and euphoria, especially for first-time users. The poppy plant opiate, a morphine derivative, activates several regions in the brain, specifically those linked to the sensations of pleasure and physical dependence, according to the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information. It's the most rapid-acting opiate, almost immediately crossing the blood-brain barrier. There, it is converted to morphine and binds rapidly to opioid receptors. [continues 440 words]
George Zimmerman lost several close friends to heroin. He also lost part of himself to the drug's vicious addiction. Still, he found his first experience with heroin a memorable one -- an immediate speedball of grace, pleasure and euphoria. "The first time is the warmest, safest, most pleasurable feeling you will ever experience. All problems float away," said Zimmerman, a middle-aged Porter County resident. "It's the closest you will ever feel to being back in the comfort of the womb." [continues 323 words]
