Usually parents are concerned about finding ways to keep their children from drinking when they are underage, but a Connecticut mom recently pleaded guilty to charges the she forced her 4-year-old son to drink beer and gave her 10-month-old daughter beer and cocaine.

The mother, Juliette Dunn, 29, pleaded guilty to the risk of injury to a child, acknowledging that she doesn’t agree to the facts but agrees the state has enough evidence to win a conviction, according to The Connecticut Post. A companion of Dunn’s pleaded guilty to the same charges.

The crime was discovered when police officers were waved down by a neighbor who complained that a woman was feeding children beer at a playground. Authorities took the children to the hospital where the son tested positive for alcohol and the daughter for alcohol and cocaine, local station WVIT reported.

According to the warrant, Dunn admitted to giving her son a bottle of beer every day, and when questioned by a social worker, the preschooler was able to list off brands he liked and ones he didn’t.

The children were turned over to the Department of Children and Families and their mother could face up to two years in prison when she is sentenced in December. It isn’t clear what the mother’s reasoning was or if she struggled with an alcohol addiction or a cocaine addiction.

Alcohol Addiction

If you or someone you love is in need of help with alcohol addiction or treatment for other substance abuse issues, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

The state of Missouri’s public image is really taking a hit lately. First, it was unofficially named the Meth Capital of the United States. Then, as if to drive home that point, a kindergartner in western Missouri recently brought his mom’s crack pipe and $3,700 worth of crystal meth to school for show-and-tell.

According to local news affiliate KCTV, the boy was told to bring important family items to share with his classmates. Teachers and authorities in the small town of Sweet Springs were shocked when the boy pulled the illegal drugs out of his backpack.

“When I called the prosecutor about it, they said, ‘You’re kidding me, aren’t you?” Sweet Springs Police Chief Richard Downing told KCTV.

Not surprisingly, the boy’s 32-year-old mother was charged with possession of a controlled substance and child endangerment. The child is in the custody of “loved ones” and the mom quickly posted bail. She was later treated for complications from a recent gastrointestinal surgery.

Crystal Meth Treatment

While this family is getting help, there are countless more like it, where children are placed in dangerous situations as a result of their parents’ addictions. If you or someone you love is in need of crystal meth treatment or help with any other substance abuse issue, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

A new study claims that a high percentage of street cocaine is laced with levamisole, a veterinary drug used to deworm animals. It’s not just odd, it can be deadly, literally eating the flesh of those who use it. The alarming claim comes from the Drug Enforcement Administration, which recently reported that 82 percent of the cocaine it seizes has been cut with the veterinary drug, a substance that doctors say can rot away the skin on users’ noses, cheeks and ears.

Cutting Cocaine

Levamisole is finding its way into the cocaine supply because it’s a cheap filler that allows drug dealers to boost profits. It’s so common, in fact, that some cheaper cocaine contains up to 90 percent filler. In the past, cocaine was often cut with relatively harmless substances like baking soda, but South American drug cartels prefer to use levamisole, possibly because it’s purported to affect brain receptors in a way similar to cocaine. This means it can provide a cheaper high, but that comes at a high price for unsuspecting users.

A recently published case study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology linked six patients with patches of dying flesh to tainted cocaine. Doctors say the wounds usually surface within 24 hours of exposure and are the result of an immune reaction that damages blood vessels supplying the skin. Without any blood supply, the skin is starved of oxygen, turns a dark purple and dies off. While not everyone will experience this serious side effect, anyone using tainted cocaine is at risk.

Cocaine Addiction

If you or someone you love is battling an addiction to cocaine or another substance, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

When it comes to drug possession, no one is above the law – not celebrities, and not the prosecutors who try to bring them to justice. It was a lesson Paris Hilton and Bruno Mars both learned in 2010 when they were arrested in Las Vegas on separate drug charges. Now, the Las Vegas chief deputy district attorney who helped prosecute those stars has been arrested and booked into jail on drug charges of his own.

David Charles Schubert

David Charles Schubert, 47, was booked into jail last weekend and faces a charge of cocaine possession, the same charge Hilton and Mars were initially booked on following their arrests in summer 2010. While the socialite and the musician both later struck plea deals, it’s unclear what Schubert will do yet.

The DA, who is often assigned to Las Vegas’s high-profile and celebrity cases, allegedly bought crack cocaine from a street dealer while a nearby police officer witnessed the entire transaction. Possession of cocaine is a felony in Nevada.

Ironically, Schubert is a member of a federal drug task force. This story just seems to prove that no one is immune to drug addiction or use.

“Though we think about our genes mostly in terms of the traits we pass on to our children, they are actually very active in our lives every day, regulating how various cells in our bodies behave,” Time Magazine recently reported. They were talking about a new study that seems to prove the use of cocaine doesn’t just provide a high, it also changes the way your brain functions.

Published in the Jan. 8 issue of Science magazine, the study used mice to do research in the up-and-coming field of epigenetics, an area of science that explores how experiences and environmental exposures affect genes.

“Any significant experience triggers changes in brain genes that produce proteins — those necessary to help memories form, for example,” Time continued. “But, says the study’s lead author, Ian Maze, a doctoral student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, ‘when you give an animal a single dose of cocaine, you start to have genes aberrantly turn on and off in a strange pattern that we are still trying to figure out.’”

The G9a Protein

The study centers around the G9a protein and suggests that repeated use of cocaine stimulates an overactive gene to cause brain cells to generate more dendritic spines (the parts of cells that make connections to other cells), Time reported. In terms of addiction, this function may also be linked to producing a desire for more drugs in the individual.

Of course, studies on mice don’t always translate perfectly to humans, and this latest research doesn’t have scientists racing to develop a G9a-based treatment for addiction. Still, the more we learn about the way specific drugs affect the brain and the body, the more effectively we can treat addiction and even spot those at risk before they become addicted.

Cocaine Addiction Treatment

If you or a family member is struggling with a drug addiction, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Is an FDA-approved medication for cocaine addiction on the way? The National Institute On Drug Abuse (NIDA) and researchers at Baylor College of Medicine Houston believe so. NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow and Thomas Kosten, M.D., of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston recently unveiled the first successful placebo-controlled intervention that shows positive results in blocking the euphoric effects of cocaine addiction.

The study was undertaken because cocaine abuse continues to be a serious public health problem, according to Dr. Volkow, who added that, “one out of three emergency room drug-related visits is related to cocaine. It is estimate that there are 1.4 million cocaine users in the United States.”

How the Cocaine Vaccine Works

The vaccine works by stimulating the body’s immune system to produce antibodies. In this case, the vaccine is targeting cocaine molecules while they’re still in the bloodstream. This action prevents the cocaine from entering the brain and exerting the usual psychoactive effect. This process may also be transferrable to other drugs as well.

The study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, and it’s the first successful placebo-controlled demonstration of a vaccine targeting an illicit drug of abuse. Of course, the vaccine doesn’t stop the use of cocaine and it could lead users to ingest more of the dangerous drug in an attempt to achieve the euphoric high they’re craving. Booster shots will also be required from time to time for the vaccine to remain effective.

“We’re very enthusiastic about this and we think there is great promise for all the other drugs we can vaccinate against, with the exception of alcohol because the molecule itself is too small to make an antibody,” Dr. Kosten said.

Drug Addiction Help

If you or a family member is struggling with a drug addiction, call La Paloma at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.