Blind eye turned to Jackson’s drugs

Michael Jackson’s family and friends knew he was addicted to prescription medications, but the only ones who refused to acknowledge it were the promoters of his ill-fated final series of comeback concerts, an attorney for the singer’s mother has told a US jury. Lawyer Brian Panish traced Jackson’s addiction in opening statements during the trial of a wrongful death lawsuit against concert giant AEG Live, telling jurors the company ignored numerous warning signs about the singer’s health in his final months.

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Matthew McConaughey Reduced to Skin & Bones

  Looking even more emaciated and gaunt than before, a frail Matthew McConaughey was barely recognizable as he — with the help of his mother Kay — left a church in Austin this weekend. The normally buff and shirtless 42-year-old is wasting away to play Ron Woodruff in the movie “The Dallas Buyer’s Club,” the true story […]

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Health: Why I Would Vote No On Pot

Maybe it’s because I was born a couple of months after Woodstock and wasn’t around when marijuana was as common as iPods are today, but I’m constantly amazed that after all these years–and all the wars on drugs and all the public-service announcements–nearly 15 million Americans still use marijuana at least once a month. California and 10 other states have already decriminalized marijuana for medical use

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Study: Link Between Antidepressants and Miscarriage

Pregnancy is often fraught with complications, not least for women suffering from depression while carrying a child: new research suggests that women who take antidepressant medications during pregnancy may have an increased risk of miscarriage. Scientists at the University of Montreal reported Monday, May 31, in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that women taking the drugs most often prescribed to treat depression and anxiety — including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors , serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors and the older tricyclics — had a significantly higher risk of miscarriage than a matched control group of women who did not take antidepressants.

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With anti-addiction pill, ‘no urge, no craving’

A no-frills bar called Goober’s, just north of Providence, Rhode Island, is probably the last place you’d expect to find a debate over cutting-edge addiction therapy. But this is where Walter Kent, a retired mechanic, spends his Fridays. He helps in the kitchen and hangs out in the bar, catching up with old friends

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