Online-only: Public health extras: News roundup on smoking, binge drinking and more

APHA supports New York smoking rules

The City of New York has a compelling interest in stopping its residents from smoking, and requirements that stores post graphic warnings about the dangers of smoking are justified, APHA said in an amicus brief filed in a New York case.

APHA joined with the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, American College of Preventive Medicine, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and about a dozen other groups in support of the city’s requirement.

“A substantial body of empirical public health research indicates that displaying, at the point of sale, prominent graphic warnings about the dangers of tobacco use and messages that encourage individuals to quit smoking or abstain from smoking is effective in reducing tobacco use,” the brief said.

Passed by the New York City Board of Health in September 2009, the regulation requires that merchants selling cigarettes post signed designed by the department to deter smoking or else pay a $2,000 fine. A judge struck down the requirement in 2010.

Grocers and tobacco companies have argued in the case, which is now before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, that the regulation violates federal law.

Ecstasy-related emergency room visits jumped 75 percent in recent years

The number of hospital emergency visits in the United States involving the illicit drug ecstasy jumped almost 75 percent between 2004 and 2008, according to a recent study, to nearly 18,000 visits.

Released in late March by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the study found almost 70 percent of the ecstasy-related emergency department visits involved patients ages 18–29. Yet almost 18 percent of those visits involved adolescents ages 12–17.

The study also found nearly 80 percent of emergency department visits involving ecstasy use also involved the use of at least one other substance.

“The resurgence of ecstasy use is cause for alarm that demands immediate attention and action,” said Pamela S. Hyde, JD, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. “The aggressive prevention efforts being put into place by SAMHSA will help reduce use in states and communities, resulting in less costly emergency department visits related to drug use.”

The report was developed as part of the agency’s initiative on data, quality and outcomes and is based on data from the 2004–2008 Drug Abuse Warning Network Reports.

“Emergency Department Visits Involving Ecstasy” is available online at www.samhsa.gov.

Underage binge drinking could create lasting brain changes

Adolescent binge drinking has been tied to lasting brain changes that could affect a person’s ability to adapt successfully to changing life situations, according to a study in the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Lead study author Fulton Crews, PhD, a professor of pharmacology and director of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, has been studying the mechanisms, characteristics and functional consequences of binge drinking on the brain for more than a decade. Using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, he has found adolescent binge drinking is linked to smaller forebrain volume and size in adult animals. Those animals also showed less “behavioral flexibility,” or the ability to adapt to changing situations, than those not exposed to alcohol.

Crews’ study also found reductions in the activity of some major neurotransmitter genes at 24 hours after an alcohol binge in adolescent animals, and greater reductions among adults.

“Our findings suggest that human individuals who drink heavily during adolescence may be more likely to have deficits in being able to adapt successfully to changing life situations as adults, possibly tied to chemical and/or structural changes in the frontal cortex,” Crews said. “This is the part of the brain that allows us to predict consequences of our actions, control our impulses, refine our reasoning and evaluate long- and short-term rewards.”