| New clinic in Toccoa serves those who abuse drugs
TOCCOA, Ga. To help those who are addicted to drugs, a doctor just has opened the first clinic of this type in Toccoa. Don Pittard said narcotic addiction is a chronic, relapsing, incurable medical disease of the brain. His goal is for the clinic is to help those who are addicted return to a normal lifestyle. "These people can't quit," Dr. Pittard said. If they could, there would not be a need for clinics to treat those addicted to narcotics, he said. History has shown that drug abuse has always been a problem in our country, he said, and it has become more prominent in today's society. "The incidents of drug abuse is progressing, and we have to do something about it," he said. Which is why he opened the Pittard Clinic at 1654 Falls Road. It's the first treatment center of its kind in northeast Georgia.
Building begins soon on 'treatment campus' in Northeast Roanoke
Construction will soon begin on a 40-bed residential facility to treat the growing number of Roanoke Valley residents who suffer from alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness. The facility, planned for a wooded slope off Hollins Road in Northeast Roanoke, will be the first of three buildings in a "treatment campus" on the 9-acre site, mental health officials said this week. Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, an agency that offers public assistance in the areas of mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse, will operate the facility. The project's first phase, at 3003 Hollins Road, will replace the Shenandoah Recovery Center, which for 34 years has offered short-term inpatient care for up to 30 people with mental health or substance abuse needs.
Genes behind drug addiction tracked
Chinese scientists have found a way to track genes and biological pathways linked to drug addiction, unraveling potential ways to treat drug abuse and disorders.
"We have found 396 addiction-related genes and identified five pathways that are common to addiction to four different substances: cocaine, opium, nicotine and alcohol," the director of the center for bioinformatics of the life science college under Peking University, Wei Liping, told China Daily yesterday.
"The research provides a more complete picture of drug addiction, as genetic factors contribute to about 60 percent of the vulnerability to drug addiction," she said.
Wei said identifying common pathways meant that treatment targeting these pathways may be more effective for a wide range of addictive disorders.
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