Why I didn’t expect AFACT to appeal

OPINION: It came to me the other night, when I was watching an episode of that excellent TV show The Wire, that the particulars of the drug trade it focuses on are very similar to that of the online copyright infringement struggle.
 

Drunk young women drivers becoming more common

According to new research involving drinking and driving in the United States by our young people, more fatal motorized vehicle crashes are involving young women drunk behind the wheel.
 

Drug abusing Boomers need double the help by 2020

According to a report by SAMHSA, people over the age of 50 years (Baby Boomers) are abusing drugs at dramatic rates. The U.S. agency predicts that such use of illicit drugs will cause them to need substance abuse treatment at double current rates within the next ten years.
 

Halloween is scary enough without dangerous face paints

According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, tests have revealed that some children’s face paints used at Halloween contain the metals lead, nickel, cobalt, and chromium. What is equally scary is the fact that these metals are often not listed on the product labels.
 

Best party schools versus best educational schools

For 2009, Playboy magazine ranks the best party school in the United States to be the University of Miami (Florida) while U.S. News and World Report ranks the best educational school to be Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts). Is this party atmosphere further hurting the educational system in the United States? Is this really good for the reputation of schools?
 

Abuse report: Teens sniffing inhalants

Although a lower percentage of U.S. teens are sniffing, or huffing, inhalants in 2007, the number of teenagers who have abused inhalants has remained about the same for the past five years (2002-2007), according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
 

Study finds Ritalin risky for pleasure addiction

According to New York researchers, the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicine Ritalin increases the risk of addiction to people who take it for pleasure or for performance enhancement because it causes brain changes in its addiction centers.
 

U.S. FDA warns about asthma drugs Serevent, Foradil

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned on Thursday, December 11, 2008, that the risks of the two prescription drugs Serevent and Foradil outweigh their benefits. However, the FDA considers the asthma drugs Advair and Symbicort safer to use.
 

Too much caffeine? Say “Ner” to energy drinks?

According to a new Johns Hopkins study, researchers are recommending warning labels on energy drinks, such as the first energy drink Red Bull introduced in the United States, because the super-caffeinated drinks could cause overdose symptoms such as heart palpitations and insomnia.
 

U.S. children on mind-altering drugs more than Dutch, German

A comprehensive study found that American children are much more likely to be given antidepressents, stimulants, and other psychoactive drugs (to alter the brain or mood) than children in the Netherlands or Germany.