Snake oil salesmen used to prey on women with their "medicinal" tonics packing 40-proof alcohol.  Mick Jagger sang of "mother's little helper." 

A woman's addiction to alcohol, pills and other narcotics has long been a wink-wink topic—one that garners a few smirks, rarely taken seriously.  The focus has always been on men, who traditionally have had higher rates of substance abuse. 

But now the gender gap is closing.  More than 20 million girls and women in the United States abuse drugs and alcohol and 30 million more are addicted to cigarettes, according to a 10-year research effort from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

The study documents how women, pound-for-pound, not only get more drunk or higher faster then men, but also become addicted more easily.  The research results are presented in a new book from CASA called "Women Under the Influence" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).

Double shot

The numbers could get worse, warns Susan Foster, CASA's director of policy research and analysis, who directed the research behind the book. 

Teenage girls now smoke, drink and abuse drugs as often as teenage boys.  For certain drugs, such as prescription painkillers, the abuse rate is higher in girls than boys.

Yet even as the rate of abuse becomes equal, physiological and psychological factors combine to ensure that females are more greatly affected by drugs and alcohol.

According to Foster, each single drink hits a woman like a double.  A woman's body contains less water and more fatty tissue—which increases alcohol absorption—compared to a male body.  And women have a lower activity level of an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase  (ADH), which breaks down alcohol.  Similar biological factors are at work in metabolizing illicit drugs. 

Hooked on less

The risk of addiction to alcohol and drugs, including nicotine, is approximately doubled as well.  The reason may be hormonal or psychological, according to ongoing research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.  Males and females abuse drugs for different reasons.  For example, teenage girls are more likely than boys to abuse substances in order to lose weight, relieve stress or boredom, improve their mood, reduce sexual inhibitions, self-medicate depression, and increase confidence, according to CASA.

"Whereas the substance abuse field has a fairly good understanding of the biological basis of gender differences in susceptibility to alcohol addiction, the research on such differences with regard to narcotic addiction is still in the early stages," Foster told LiveScience.  "Women become addicted [to narcotics] faster than men.  Our understanding of why this may be the case is more limited."

Foster is calling for more research funding for this neglected area.  Similarly, CASA president Joseph Califano said that drug-treatment programs have long had a male-dominated, one-size-fits-all focus and need to better embrace women and their needs.  More than 90 percent of American women in need of treatment don't get it, he said.

Hangover-free Buzz Underage Drinking: A $23 Billion Industry Elite Women Made Beer in Pre-Incan Culture Food, Drugs, or Designer Shoes: Mind Treats All Cravings Equal Girls Equal, Exceed Boys in Substance Abuse Why Smokers Feel Good

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A man was charged with burglary and criminal mischief Thursday after he allegedly broke into a funeral home and fell asleep in a coffin.

Joel Fish, 20, of Queensbury, was arrested after he was discovered at the O'Leary Funeral Home in Canton, 127 miles north of Syracuse.

Debra White, wife of the home's funeral director Joe White, said she noticed a broken window and open door to the casket display room when she awoke at 6:30 a.m. Inside, she saw a boot and pair of pants on the floor and a pair of knees sticking out of a stainless steel coffin.

Fish, who police said was intoxicated, was treated at Canton-Potsdam hospital for cuts. He was arraigned and released to return to court at a later date.

The funeral home estimates the damage from the burglary, mostly to the coffin, at $4,000.

Water-logged Massachusetts residents began the arduous process of bailing out after record amounts of rain soaked the state's Cape Ann and Merrimack River Valley regions, flooding rivers and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents.

New Englanders began assessing the damage after some of the worst flooding the Bay State has seen since the 1930s. Gov. Mitt Romney said damages would likely exceed "tens of millions" of dollars. He said he was waiting for more precise estimates before applying for federal disaster assistance. He said it might take at least 10 days to gather all the necessary information.

In the meantime, North Shore residents were keeping a wary eye on area dams, where water from swollen rivers continued to surge in raging torrents. In Amesbury, water was spilling over the the PowWow river dam near Market Square, a central business area for the town. Business owners were concerned about the dam failing, threatening nearby stores and offices. Churning water poured through the waterway, which runs through town.

"If that were to plug up or fail, we could have a catastrophic failure," one town worker said.

Landlords were concerned about debris carried by the rushing water causing damage.

"We're worried about a column being broken or by a slab of the granite coming down, or a tree," a building owner said.

Store and restaurant owners rushed to secure property and valuables inside their businesses.

Workers cut trees down along the riverbank to prevent the water from pulling them down. Water was spilling over barriers alongside the river and sandbags were strategically placed to try to prevent more damage. Five bridges in the town were closed and motorists were advised to be careful in light of concerns that the rushing rivers compromised the safety of the structures.

In Methuen, Mass., the Spicket River dam, however, was deemed safe Wednesday, after concerns that it might fail when the river crested. There was no word on when evacuated residents would be allowed to return.

Ipswich, Mass., police were blocking several roads leading to two closed bridges because of high water. Police in nearby Topsfield, Mass., found a New Hampshire man dead in his minivan Tuesday in 3 feet of water on a road that had been closed due to flooding. The man was identified as James M. Elderkin, 59, of Derry, N.H. Investigators said they did not know how long the car had been there. An autopsy was scheduled for Elderkin, who worked as a machinest in Ipswich.

Haverhill officials continued to try to repair a broken sewer pipe that was sending 35 million gallons of wastewater a day into the Merrimack River. Officials said the pipe should be repaired by Friday. They said there was no immediate public health threat caused by the rupture.

Good news for commuters was that busy U.S. Route 1 south from Revere to Lynnfield was reopened after two days of closures that jammed traffic all throughout the region. The road, lined with stores and businesses, is one of the more well-traveled arteries into Boston.

Weather forecasters said the wind has shifted and would start blowing in from the west and south, instead of from the Atlantic Ocean, where it had been picking up moisture for days. They said there could be some showers in areas across the region through the weekend, but overall, there should be more sun than clouds.

 

We have the sun today...finally!   No rain!  I hope it lasts!  It's been a bad few days for water and rain here!   I've never seen anything like this, I hope I never do again.

 

Hope everyone is dry and having sunny days! 

With heavy bands of rain lashing the Bay State, sending rivers surging to flood stage and drowning roadways across the region, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney declared a state of emergency Sunday.

As NewsCenter 5's Lynn Jolicouer reported, the governor enacted the state of emergency at about 10 a.m. in order to be able to call upon the National Guard to help out in flooded communities.

"The reason is that we want to be able to draw on the resources of the National Guard to assure that where there is flooding and where people need to be evacuated from vehicles that have stalled in the roadways, the National Guard can come in with their equipment and help remove people from those vehicles," Romney said.

Guardsmen were called to Peabody, where some streets were flooded. Many neighborhoods on the North Shore were hit particularly hard.

"In Melrose, in particular, there have been some reports of sewage backing up into people's homes," Romney said. "The reason for that is that as the groundwater fills the normal sewage drainage systems in our roads, the pressure from all that groundwater begins to put real pressure on the sewage systems that go into people's homes."

State emergency management employees were working overtime at their headquarters in Framingham, monitoring weather reports, river levels and flooding hotspots. They said they were not concerned about possible dam failures as of Sunday afternoon. Several communities were expected to see more than 1 foot of rain before the storm passes. Evacuations have taken place in Peabody, Gloucester and Melrose because of flooding.

"When you have that kind of water, obviously the impact on rivers can be pretty severe and the Merrimack River Valley, is expecting -- based on the water that has already been received -- to crest 6 feet above its normal flood levels," Romney said. "Now, that doesn't mean that homes are going to be swept away or anything like that, but it does mean that there's going to be a lot of water rushing down that river. Don't get too close to it."

Drivers were not heeding flood warnings in Peabody, where drivers had to be plucked out of flooded areas by firefighters.

Areas of Foster Street became more like a river than a road and several residents who tried to drive through the high water became trapped. Barriers were set up near Center Street in Peabody to prevent more motorists from entering the area.

State officials said about 100 people were evacuated from homes in Wakefield because of concern over the Union Village and Semens dams. Haverhill residents said a voluntary evacuation had been called for in the Riverside area along the Merrimack River and residents were told they could go to the Citizens Center shelter on Welcome Street.

New Hampshire and Maine were also seeing substantial flooding.

Massachustts asked residents with flooding concerns or problems to call a state emergency hotline at 1-800-293-4031.

 

 

 

We're flooded!!!  No stopping the rain until Wednesday or Thursday.

 

We had a good day yesterday with Shelby and the kids at the radio station. I got her an I-Pod and a cute pink case to put it in. She cried. her friend cried, I don't know why?  All I know is, She's happy and that's all that matters. Shelby gave Lou the cutest black kitten. Long hair. About 7 weeks old. We just love him to death!  No name yet. If anyone has a good name for a little boy kitten? I'll put a picture of him up here. I took some today of him!  You're just going to love him!

 

Devom hurt his paw getting out of the recliner. He's limping now. It's just sprained. Poor Devy!

 

Okay, Kitty picture, help us name him?

 

Don'tcha just love him????

 

Shelby's radio station is floooded and where she lives may be told to leave because of a dam that is breaking! She's got very wet floors in the radio station and her Boss' office is pouring water. The offices down stairs are, under a foot of water. Everything's gone there.  I don't like her in a wet place with all that electrical stuff!  I don't want her house ruined again!  This is horrible! We've never had anything this bad happen. It's been raining now too long and hard. It just won't let up!  I'm very up-set about the Shelby and family situation!