The latest national study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America labels today's teens "Generation Rx" because of their increased recreational use of prescription drugs. The 17th annual study on teen drug abuse, released Thursday morning, found that about one in five teenagers has abused a prescription painkiller -- more than have experimented with either Ecstasy, cocaine, crack or LSD. One in 11 teens had abused over-the-counter products such as cough medicine, the study reported. According to the survey, the most popular prescription drug abused by teens was Vicodin, with 18 percent -- or about 4.3 million youths -- reporting they had used it to get high. OxyContin and drugs for attention-deficit disorder such as Ritalin/Adderall followed with one in 10 teens reporting they had tried them. Fewer than half the teens -- 48 percent -- said they saw "great risk" in experimenting with prescription medicines. "Ease of access" was cited as a major factor in trying the medications, with medicine cabinets at home or at friends' homes. This is the second year studies are being done on the abuse of legal drugs. But the first time surveyors included a question about the use of over-the-counter drugs to get high. Nine percent, or about 2.2 million teens, had experimented with cough syrup and other related products. The number of teens reporting marijuana use declined to 37 percent last year, compared with 42 percent a half-dozen years earlier. Over the same amount of time, ecstasy use declined from 12 percent to 9 percent, while methamphetamine trial dropped from 12 percent to 8 percent. The 2004 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study surveyed more than 7,300 teens, the largest ongoing analysis of teen drug-related attitudes toward drugs in the country. Its margin of error is plus or minus 1.5 percent. The nonprofit Partnership for a Drug-Free America, launched in 1987, is a coalition of communications professionals aimed at reducing the demand for illegal drugs

Canada has become the first country to endorse the cannabis-derived drug, Sativex. The drug is beneficial in treating the central nervous system and reducing multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms. German pharmaceutical giant Bayer will market the drug in Canada. Sativex will be available for sale later this spring. Initially the mouth spray version of the medicine will be available throughout Canada. UK biotech company GW Pharmaceuticals has manufactured Sativex. The company ahs also claimed that this is the world's first approval of a drug derived from cannabis. According to the statement issued by Health Canada, "The approval of Sativex reflects the urgent need for additional treatment options in the field of neuropathic pain in MS." GW Pharmaceuticals had plans to introduce the drug in UK in 2003. But the UK government said it wanted more evidence about the drug's benefits before they granted approval. GW will also try to win U.S. approval of this cannabis-derived drug this year

After a long decline of alcohol-impaired driving, study reveals the number of Americans who binge drink and drive is rising rapidly. The study was done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is published in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. From 1993 to 1997 the estimated annual number of alcohol-impaired driving instances declined more than one percent per year. CDC's study finds the rate increased 37 percent from 1997 to 1999, however, and continued to increase in 2002, the most recent year for which data was available. Four out of five cases were related to what experts call binge drinking, when the driver has had five or more drinks. According to the study's findings, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for people aged 1 to 34 and alcohol-related crashes cause an estimated $50 billion in damages every year. The research predicts that 30 percent of Americans are likely to be in an alcohol-related accident in their lifetimes. The study was based on telephone surveys of more than 100,000 U.S. residents, aged 18 or older, in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2002. Those who drank were asked, "During the past month, how many times have you driven when you've perhaps had too much to drink?" Binge drinkers were 13 times more likely to say they had driven while drunk. The researchers say the survey likely underestimates the problem, since many respondents -- even though they were promised confidentiality -- were probably reluctant to admit they had driven while under the influence. And the survey didn't include drivers under age 18

The Illinois Pharmacists Association is praising a report by a group led by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani warning of the dangers of imported drugs. The group, Guiliani Partners, conducted inspections on random drug packages coming into JFK Airport's mail facilities - 90 percent of them contained prescription medications not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The report, "Examination and Assessment of Prescription Drug Importation from Foreign Sources to the United States," concluded importation of prescription drugs from foreign countries poses a serious safety risk because of the massive amounts of counterfeit medicines entering the country. Only 1 percent to 2 percent of the packages received daily were inspected. "We should not contemplate opening our borders to threats to our medicine supply when in all other aspects we are searching for ways to tighten the security of our borders," Giuliani said

Congressman Smith (R-NJ) commended the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for their groundbreaking report "Cord Blood: Establishing a National Hematopoeitic Stem Cell Bank Program," released today. "Creating a national network of cord blood stem cell banks will turn medical waste into medical miracles for thousands of patients who otherwise have no hope to recover from lethal diseases," said Congressman Smith. Cord blood stem cells have revolutionized medicine treating about 2,000 people for cancers, genetic diseases, and other conditions. Recent research suggests that human stem cells, based on cord blood stem cells, may lead to treatments of many crippling conditions, including Parkinson's, diabetes, and heart disease. Congressman Smith is the author of the "Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2005," HR 956. The 37 bipartisan sponsored bill would generate a nationally joined network of umbilical cord banks and enable $15 million of federal funds during Fiscal Year 2006 and allot $30 million in 2007 to subsidize the collection, processing, testing, freezing and storing of cord blood stem cell units that would in turn be used in transplantation treatments. "This IOM study will provide additional momentum to the passage of the "Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2005" so that the cord blood stem cell network can be authorized by Congress and additional funding can be authorized to scale up this network as soon as possible," said Smith. "But this is so urgent that administrative action needs to be taken while Congress moves the bill through the legislative process." The IOM report backs the provisions in "Cord Blood Stem Cell Act of 2005," but there are more items in the report that need immediate action. "The FDA needs to reflect these medical breakthroughs and immediately license cord blood stem cells so that transplant physicians have the confidence that every cord blood stem cell unit in the national network is of the highest quality," said Smith. "The Department of Health and Human Services also needs to start the process of setting up the cord blood stem cell network structure suggested in this IOM study. Congress has already appropriated the money, and this work can be started today