People who led difficult lives during adolescence period will most likely experience health problems in their later life, a new study suggests.

According to Dr. Per E. Gustafsson from Umea University in Sweden and colleagues, experience of social and material stressors around the time of transition into adulthood is linked to a rise in disease risk factors in middle age, including higher blood pressure, body weight and cholesterol. » More

By Paul Glidden, Augusta
It is great to see some light shed on the negative effects opiates/opioids have had on both the state of Maine and the United States (Peter Wohl's commentary, Oct. 13).

Over the past nine years, my addiction to opiates has destroyed everything that was once important to me. I have experienced the absolute worst that addiction has to offer, short of dying, although I have come close more than once. » More

By Chris Brooker
Patients should be given a pain management plan when prescribed opioids, with a limited initial trial period of six weeks on the treatments, an NPS research project has recommended. In addition, a national real-time monitoring system was also called for.  » More

By Sarah C.P. Williams
The number of emergency room visits due to mental health problems of children and young adults is on the rise, according to a new study.

Researchers analyzed data from 279 million visits kids made to emergency rooms around the country spanning 1999 through 2007. Over the eight-year period, the percentage of those visits attributable to psychiatric complaints rose from 2.4 percent to 3 percent.  » More

By Daniel Simmons-Ritchie, The World
Coos County's struggle with drugs is poised to get worse. Experts fear that heroin will soon replace meth as the scourge of the South Coast, bringing with it a new level of disease, dependency and desperation. Heroin-related arrests in the region jumped to 41 in the past year - five years ago, police arrested only two people for crimes linked to the drug. » More

By Amanda Chan, The Huffington Post
Nearly 20 percent of Americans -- 44.5 million adults -- experienced some sort of mental illness over the last year, according to a new report from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency (SAMHSA).

The report details state by state the percent of the population who has suffered a mental illness.  » More