News round up
Driving under the influence of prescription drugs
Fewer people are driving under the influence of alcohol, but more are driving impaired because of prescription drugs, write Abby Goodnough and Katie Zezia in the Sunday New York Times.
“The behavioral effects of prescription medication vary widely, depending not just on the drug but on the person taking it. Some, like anti-anxiety drugs, can dull alertness and slow reaction time; others, like stimulants, can encourage risk-taking and hurt the ability to judge distances. Mixing prescriptions, or taking them with alcohol or illicit drugs, can exacerbate impairment and sharply increase the risk of crashing, researchers say.”
But prosecuting these dangerous drives is proving difficult, they write.
“Some states have made it illegal to drive with any detectable level of prohibited drugs in the blood. But setting any kind of limit for prescription medications is far more complicated, partly because the complex chemistry of drugs makes their effects more difficult to predict than alcohol’s. And determining whether a driver took drugs soon before getting on the road can be tricky, since some linger in the body for days or weeks.”
To learn more:
- Read Goodnough and Zezia’s article: Drivers on Prescription Drugs Are Hard to Convict.
- Read LocalHealthGuide’s article about the growing problem of prescription drug abuse in Washington state: Prescription pain medicine overdose deaths rise in Washington state.
New federal funds boost to Washington community health centers
New federal funds a boost to community health centers, writes Peter Neurath in the Puget Sound Business Journal:
“Washington’s 25 nonprofit community health centers, with upward of 140 clinics statewide, already have taken advantage of federal stimulus funds totaling $10.6 million for one-time operating costs.
“Soon, centers in the state may apply for grants drawing from a federal pool of $9.5 billion during the next five years, as federal health reform goes into effect.”
The funds will allow the centers to expand their care of poor, minority and underserved patients.
To learn more:
- Read Neurath’s article: Federal grants may bulk up Washington state’s community health centers.
- To find local community centers visit our Resources & Support pages and look under “Community Clinics.”
Whatcom County “super rice” targets malnutrition in the developing world
“Ultra Rice” a fortified pasta product made to look and taste like rice invented by a father-and-son team from Bellingham “is now being produced and tested around the world as a potential solution to malnutrition,” writes Seattle Times business reporter Kristi Heim.
Rice is the main food of roughly 2.5 million people in the developing world, but it’s a diet that leave many of them deficient in iron, folic acid, vitamin A and other essential nutrients, Heim writes.
“The challenge: making pasta that smells, tastes and looks like rice, but packs a powerful combination of calcium, zinc, folic acid, thiamin and iron inside, can withstand heat and humidity in storage, and doesn’t wash away or break down when cooked.”
The product is being developed by the Seattle-based non-profit PATH.
To learn more:
- Read Heim’s article: Ultra Rice: Whatcom County invention holds hope for health
- Visit PATH’s “Ultra Rice” webpage.
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