Thursday, November 14, 2002

NCADI: SAMHSA's The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
NCADI has a newly redesigned web site with resources organized by target audience (i.e., family, youth, school, workplace, community) and type (drugs, issues, newsroom, calendar, resources and databases) as well as a useful site map. The resource listings include the treatment facility locator, CSAP Resource Guides and Self-Help Resources, while the listing of databases will be useful for research on drugs and alcohol, treatment and prevention.  
  

Courts to require treatment for addicts (North Carolina)
Charlotte Observer story - "Mecklenburg courts, in one of the first initiatives of its kind in the nation, will soon make drug and alcohol treatment mandatory for all addicts who lose custody of their children in abuse or neglect cases."  
  

Opinion: We must end mental illness discrimination
Editorial in the Billings Gazette (Montana) on the need for the lame duck session of Congress to pass federal mental health parity legislation.  
  

Jails Facing High Inmate Medical Costs (Oklahoma)
Story at the KOCO web site on the financial burden of providing health care to those who are incarcerated, a problem "made worse by the state's decision to close many mental health institutions, officials said, with many jails becoming warehouses for the mentally ill."  
  

Judge's ruling backs state on medical costs (Kentucky)
Courier Journal story - "County jailers, not the state, should bear the cost of routine psychiatric care for jail inmates, including the cost of often-expensive psychiatric medications, a judge has ruled. The order entered last month by Franklin Circuit Judge Roger L. Crittenden addresses a dispute that state officials believe has impeded mental-health services in some jails. The order is expected to be appealed."  
  

Des Moines County's mental health facilities to be basic (Iowa)
Story in the Hawk Eye on new structures costing an estimated $1.4 million that would house residential, assisted living and drop–in centers and replace the aging Gateway Care Facility.  
  

Gene increases schizophrenia risk, says study
University of Toronto press release about the discovery by University scientists of the first "risk gene" for schizophrenia found in the general population, as noted in a study to be published in Molecular Brain Research.