Institute On Drug

We have a great capacity for placing people into categories and minimizing their humanity. One such category is "felons" and another is "drug addicts. " We can easily forget that men and women who have been convicted of crimes or are suffering from substance abuse issues are the same as the rest of us at the core - fallible but resolutely hopeful. Here in Baltimore, a celebration of that capacity for hope and a reminder that redemption comes in many forms took place earlier this year in a small chapel within a church on Cathedral Street.

WASHINGTON -- Drug use among young Americans continued a decade-long decline in 1990, and for the first time in 16 years fewer than half of all high school seniors said they have tried an illicit drug, according to a federal survey released yesterday.Yet a disturbing proportion of students continue to drink and smoke, according to the confidential survey of 15,676 seniors in 137 public and private high schools throughout the country.Although high school seniors continue to report that cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana are readily available, the demand for the drugs has declined and more students regard drug use unfavorably.

The poignant congressional testimony of Kimberly Bergalis has dramatically underscored the National Commission on AIDS' final report. "My life has been taken away," said the emaciated 23-year-old. "I did nothing wrong, yet I've been made to suffer like this . . ."Aside from the circumstances of Ms. Bergalis' infection, this could have been a mantra for the 120,000 Americans killed by AIDS. Another victim, David Barr of New York's Gay Men's Health Crisis Center, noted that, "Although we may have acquired this virus in different ways, I never asked for this, [either]

* The Greater Baltimore Medical Center has named Dr. Robin Motter-Mast, a Cock-eysville physician, chairwoman of the Department of Family Medicine. Motter-Mast, who is certified in family medicine and caring for patients of all ages, joined GBMC in 2005 and works at the Hunt Valley practice of Dr. Mark Lamos and Associates. A physician practicing for 10 years, Motter-Mast graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed an osteopathic internship at Delaware County Memorial Hospital/Crozer Chester Medical Center and a residency in family medicine at the University of Maryland Medical System.

Early next month, two vans will be driving through the streets of East and West Baltimore dispensing methadone to about 100 heroin addicts as part of a five-year drug treatment program, which, if proven successful, could be eventually be expanded to treat some of the city's estimated 35,000 heroin addicts.The Mobile Health Service (MHS) project is being funded by a $5 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). It will also provide health referral services to community residents for other illnesses, including diabetes, AIDS and high-blood pressure, from two trailers, which will be located on parking lots of local churches.

WASHINGTON -- Federal officials are scrambling to head off what they fear may become an epidemic of heroin addiction among America's youth.While overall illicit drug use among younger teen-agers declined recently, the percentage of eighth-graders who said they've tried heroin doubled between 1991 and 1996.And last year, about a quarter of American teen-agers said heroin is easy to obtain, according to a survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.Young people don't understand heroin's lethal effects, experts told health care providers and social workers gathered at a NIDA conference in Washington yesterday.

Twenty-six employees at the Baltimore City Detention Center failed a drug test and were fired by the state when it took over the jail July 1, according to a prison spokesman.In addition, an unknown number of the 36 people who failed to complete the hiring process declined to take the drug test and were not offered jobs, said Gregory M. Shipley, spokesman for the state prison system.About 850 employees at the jail, including correctional officers and others in sensitive positions, were required to take the drug tests as part of the state takeover.

WASHINGTON -- The White House drug czar said in a warning to parents yesterday that depressed teens are medicating themselves with marijuana, running risks of even deeper depression. A new report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy said that frequent marijuana ingestion doubles a teen's risk of depression and anxiety, based on data compiled from published studies. The report, timed to be released during Mental Health Awareness Month, cited a study that marijuana use increases the risk of developing mental disorders later in life by 40 percent.

Variations in a single gene can determine how intensely a person feels pain, whether caused by a pinprick or a dentist's drill, according to a study at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.The study could help put to rest the long-held assumption that pain sensitivity is a matter of mental toughness. People really do experience pain differently, doctors say -- and genetics is largely responsible."Many assume the way people respond is voluntary; 'Just put up with it' has been a common recommendation for years," said Dr. George Uhl, a Hopkins neuroscientist who also heads NIDA's molecular neurobiology branch.

WASHINGTON -- Amid growing illegal sales and abuse of buprenorphine, top federal officials outlined yesterday action they might take to curb problems with the addiction-treatment drug, including more precise detection methods, improved training of doctors and stronger warning labels for patients. "The issue of diversion has been out there since 2004," said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, which oversees the federal government's buprenorphine initiative.