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The human body can be compared to miniature form of the universe. The universe is made up of the fusion of five elements (Fire, Air, Earth, Water and Space) represented by the five fingers of the hand.The science of Mudra is based on the principle that the root cause of a disease is the imbalance and improper coordination between these element. The proper balance between these elements is the secret of good health. According to the Science of Mudra, the secret of health lies in hands, fingers and Mudras which can be performed with the help of fingers. By touching or by pressing our fingers on each other in a particular way we can perform different Mudras. Thus, by just keeping our fingers in a particular position the imbalance in the five elements can be eliminated which leads to a healthy body. Different fingers represent different elements.
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Fold the index finger and place it at the bottom of the Thumb. Now, touch the tips of middle finger and ring finger with the tip of thumb. The little finger should remain erect.
indigestion, hyperacidity and ulcer. 6. Improves lung functioning to treat asthma and other respiratory problems. 7. Promotes body detoxification to relieve constipation and various urinary problems. 8. Relieves nerve pain to treat migraine and improve sleep quality. Beneficial in all sorts of muscle aches, knee pain, joint pain, arthritis and headache.
You can practice this mudra at anytime of the day and in any posture – sitting, standing, walking or lying. Start with 15 minutes a day and increase it up to 45 minutes a day. You can practice it in intervals for example three * During this mudra practice, push the fingers against thumb gently. Don’t times a day for 15 minutes each. apply too much pressure. Keep your body lose and breathe normally. Unnecessary tightening of the body would restrict the flow of energy. * It would take time to show results. Hence, don’t hurry and practice regularly for good results. Do not practice it for more than 45 minutes a day. * Pregnant ladies, breast-feeding women and people with serious health issue should practice this mudra after consulting yoga expert. *Apana Vayu Mudra is not a magical 1. It is very beneficial in case of heart cure for heart issues. Practice this palpitations and shortness of breath Mudra along with a healthy diet and (breathing difficulties). lifestyle for long-term benefits. 2. It provides strength to the heart muscles and helps to normalize the blood If you are under medication, do not stop taking them. This mudra should not be pressure. considered as an alternative to 3. It stimulates the blood flow and help medications prescribed by your doctor. remove all sorts of heart blockages and blood clots to treat Arteriosclerosis. Jyotsna Agarwal 4. Improves blood circulation. Holistic Health Life Coach 5. Relieves excessive stomach gas to Yoga and Tai Chi /Qigong Practitioner relieve bloating and flatulence,
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“The rates are going up because of pure government neglect in terms of addressing the needs of key populations,” says Lynch. July 28, 201712:36 PM ET As the International AIDS Conference took place in Paris this week, UNAIDS issued a report with an encouraging statistic. For the first time, more than half of the 36.7 million people with HIV have access to treatment. That means most people with HIV are taking the antiretroviral medicines needed to suppress the virus. The report cited 53 percent, compared to roughly 27 percent in 2012. The news is a reminder of how the HIV/ AIDS epidemic is ever-changing. There are promising trends. And there are setbacks as well. We talked with Annemarie Hou, chief of staff at UNAIDS, the United Nations program focused on HIV/AIDS, and Sharonann Lynch, HIV and TB policy adviser for Doctors Without Borders’ Access Campaign.
In 2010, there were roughly 760,000 AIDSrelated deaths in eastern and southern Africa. In 2016, the number had dropped almost by half, to 420,000. The improvement is due to no one single cause. Governments have increased domestic funding for testing and treating HIV, selftests have made diagnosis easier, and government campaigns have worked with traditional leaders to mobilize communities to get tested for HIV and to start antiretroviral treatment if they test positive. The daily regimen of pills can prevent the virus from worsening and prevent transmission to others.
The other reason for the increase is a problem that has been a part of the AIDS epidemic since it began in 1981: stigma. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, people who inject drugs tend not to come to clinics or be tested for HIV, according to UNAIDS. One reason is that they want to conceal their drug use for fear of criminal penalties or other repercussions. For example, in Russia, public health services must add patients to public drug user registries, which can lead to loss of employment or child custody. Men who have sex with other men are also undertested, in part because of stigma around being gay in the region. But there are promising developments. In 2017, Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, became the first city in Eastern Europe or Central Asia to commit formally to ending the AIDS epidemic. Ukraine’s government also announced at the end of 2016 it would increase its budget to fully fund a national opioid substitution program for people who use drugs, a population at high risk for HIV,
Hou says marginalized groups need extra outreach and support. For example, if a clinic treats someone living below the poverty line for HIV, the clinic should make sure the person can obtain nutritious food. Similarly, if a patient has mental health issues, clinics should be able to offer mental health treatment as well as treatment for HIV. Nonprofits can also help access marginalized groups. UNAIDS highlighted one nonprofit in Cape Town, South Africa — “Women’s Legal Centre.” In weekly workshops for sex workers, the group teaches them about their rights if detained or arrested. It has also trained four sex workers as paralegals. Among their duties: taking sex workers to medical clinics.
People with HIV/AIDS can die from many types of infections because of their weakened In the not too distant past, a pregnant woman with HIV would almost certainly pass immune systems. But one infection is the virus on to her child. That is no longer the responsible for far more deaths than other causes: Tuberculosis accounts for 1 in every case. “I think a lot of people would be 3 deaths of people with AIDS. surprised to learn there are countries that have reached zero transmission from mother TB is usually curable with pills. If untreated, it to child for HIV,” says Hou. “That’s pretty can accelerate HIV’s progress in the body big.” and can be fatal.
The World Health Organization has certified that mother-to-child transmission has been eliminated in Armenia, Belarus, Cuba, Moldova and Thailand, Hou says.
“Improvements in countries like South Africa, which has the largest number of people with HIV in the world, is what’s driving these results,” says Hou.
The key to preventing transmission, according to Lynch of Doctors Without Borders, is treating the mother for HIV with antiretroviral medicine. When mothers are treated, the concentration of the virus goes She said the South African government has down in their blood, their birth canal and their invested significantly in its AIDS response; breast milk. Many countries have ramped up the country spent more than $1.5 billion in efforts to make sure pregnant women get 2014. To help people with HIV learn their care and continue to do so after the child’s status, South Africa rolled out self-testing birth. “That’s why there are virtually no HIVand has supported community-based health positive babies born in the U.S. anymore,” groups to get people to get treatment and Lynch says. stay in it. “It shows we’re getting better at making sure The efforts to stop mother-to-child transmission are leading to another initiative, we can find people,” says Hou. “We’re UNAIDS report. Health-care providers are getting them right away.” getting contact information for male partners and testing them.
The numbers in these regions are far lower than in eastern and southern Africa. But they are on a steady uptick: from 32,000 in 2010 to 40,000 in 2016. And just as governmental spending has helped bring down the numbers in Africa, the lack of commitment is a cause for the increase.
UNAIDS notes that discrimination in the health care system can take many forms. Health providers may deny service to patients who are gay, who use drugs or who are sex workers.
“Everywhere in the world there are fragile communities, no matter how well off the country is, where people have very little political, economic, or social capital,” says Hou. “And when you don’t have either of those three, it’s sometimes very difficult to get access to treatment.” She lists prison populations, migrant workers and sex workers as groups that may struggle to get tested and get treatment.
6 | A (SCNI) Southern Community Newspaper Product | December 2017
“Governments need to get their heads out of the sand as far as the willingness and amount of energy that they’re using to look for TB,” says Lynch. “There have to be early outreach programs at the community level.”
HIV has long been a young person’s disease. In 1990, for example, UNAIDS estimates say that of the 130,000 people with HIV in South Africa, only 1,700 were age 50 or older. Improvements in treatment allow more people with HIV to live longer. And fewer young people are contracting HIV, in part because they’re becoming sexually active later and using condoms more in areas like SubSaharan Africa. So the population of people living with the virus is aging. The year 2012 was the first time people age 50 or older accounted for 10 percent of the adult population living with HIV in low and middle-income countries, according to UNAIDS. In high-income countries, this group accounts for 30 percent of the population. “Older people are more susceptible to diseases,” says Lynch, again referencing TB as an example. “We should be doing more [testing] for infection in these groups.” Natalie Jacewicz is a freelance writer and law school student. Follow her @NatalieJacewicz.
for our blessings, but it reminds us to help the individuals we serve celebrate “as if� we are their family.
take over the care of a developmentally disabled brother or sister after their parents have passed away. The realities of a society with nearly 50% of its Often the holiday season is a time population over 65 and nearly 1.2 when adult children come back home million individuals with a only to discover that their parents have developmental disability can be become less able to be independent. daunting. They may discover that their once outgoing mother is suddenly withdrawn “As ifs� have the power to take us or that their detail- oriented father may to places that reality may not be able to now be confused and agitated. After take our individuals during the spending a few days together over the holidays. Many elderly and October arrives, and it’s “as if� we holidays, an adult child may be fearful developmentally disabled adults do not of what could happen to their parents if have the luxury of going home for the all see Thanksgiving and Christmas instantly upon us. We start marking our no one is close by to help them. holidays. For many individuals in our calendars to beyond full and excitedly care, our staff are whom they love and All Care staff want our elderly making the endless decisions that come who, in turn, love them. Colossians 3:23 and developmentally disabled with how and where we will yet again says, “In all the work you are doing, individuals to experience a holiday create another holiday season to work the best you can. Work as if you season full of joyous “as ifs�. We want remember. were working for the Lord, not for men. them to have opportunities to laugh “as if� their favorite relative had just At All Care Home Health, we Angela P. Freeman, M.Ed. shared a long funny memory with them. All Care Behavior Specialist believe that the holiday season is an We pray that our individuals will have important time to stop and think “as if� a chance to wish “as if� every single all that excitement and hustle and All Care Home Health, based in Macon, wish they wished could come true. We bustle came to an abrupt stop in our GA, is a Georgia licensed Private Home lives. How would we each feel? Would we strive for our elderly individuals to be Care Provider owned and operated by loved “as if� their own parents were feel that there weren’t enough days to Allen and Angela Freeman. All Care somehow still with them in this life. prepare or would we think that the provides services to seniors and adults holiday season seemed “as if� it could not with disabilities in the comfort of their Alzheimer’s disease, Autism, be over soon enough? own homes. All Care offers absolutely Cancer and so many other health the best care and service to individuals Learning to view the holidays “as concerns are touching more and more who seek to live independently in their families every day. Elderly parents are if� we were elderly, “as if� we had a own homes supported by courteous and struggling to provide care for developmental disability, or “as if� we caring direct care professionals. All developmentally disabled children. had not one family member left in this Care helps individuals access and enjoy world reminds us not only to be grateful Siblings are often faced with learning to every aspect of their community.
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1 in 350 people develop Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis – two categories of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBS). According to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), 1.6 million Americans are estimated to be CCFA account on Twitter, and watch affected by any form of IBD. CCFA’s videos on YouTube. On CCFA’s YouTube account alone, you will find the Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are latest research studies on cures for diseases that inflame the gastrointestinal Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and track, disrupting food digestion, nutrition other documented events by the CCFA. absorption, and waste elimination. Share awareness month posters and Purpose of Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness press releases on your accounts as well Month to spread the word on Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Month to your network. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are Sign up on CCFA’s advocacy network invisible diseases. The symptoms and its and get a notification every time there will effects on the person may not manifest on be activities needing volunteers’ the exterior, but what goes on internally participation. can be debilitating physically, emotionally, and financially. And with the If you have a blog, you can install gastrointestinal tract being a major artery advocacy plug-ins and widgets on your in a person’s daily functioning, the pain felt page, too. Take advantage of your blog in the GI tract radiates all over the body traffic and readers in spreading the word causing not only overwhelming stomach about Crohn’s disease and ulcerative pain, weight loss*, malnutrition, arthritis colitis. but also emotional distress. The purpose of Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Month is to reach individuals who have not heard about these diseases, educate them, and provide them with tools to become IBD advocates. It is impossible for anyone unfamiliar with these diseases to relate to those affected by it, which is why the awareness raised during this month is crucial. More than the education, the purpose of Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Month is to encourage others to find a cure* for these diseases. Despite that we have already found breakthroughs for diseases that were long impossible to cure* in the past, the cure* for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis is yet to be established.
November 14, 2011 was the day the U.S Senate passed Senate Resolution 199, a resolution to support the goals and ideals of Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week, December 1-7. But with November being a full month, you can choose from different activities and events prepared by your local region. Writing to your local community and encouraging them to join the caucus on Crohn’s and Colitis is a good place to start. If you are active on social media, like the CCFA page on Facebook, follow the
have patches of inflammation. For ulcerative colitis, the large intestines are particularly inflamed including the rectum and the anus. The inflammation starts at the rectum and extends upwards. Symptoms such as diarrhea, rectal bleeding, abdominal pain, constipation, fever, weight loss*, fatigue, night sweats, and in women, loss of normal menstrual cycle are common for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. While it is hard to distinguish whether a patient has Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, both diseases do have one thing in common, and that is the abnormal behavior of the body’s immune system, mistaking healthy and beneficial cells as harmful foreign substances. Ultimately, this puts the GI tract at risk.
There is no cure* yet for Crohn’s disease, Wear purple shirts and or the purple but medication and surgical removal of ribbon as a form of support to patients the large intestine are recommended for with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis those battling with ulcerative colitis. With and their families. or without insurance, dealing with these diseases is a life-long commitment and Donate to crowd funding campaigns and can be financially draining. Additionally, help raise money for patients and families the cost of having Crohn’s disease or seeking your financial and moral support. ulcerative colitis is estimated to be $6 billion per year. Join the race and the walk for IBD cures, Special tips on Crohn’s and Colitis too, and check with your local Awareness Month organization about Crohn’s and Colitis (CC) Team Challenges happening in your area. Change your life and the life of others, and help find cure* for lifelong digestive diseases. These events are also great venues to meet co-advocates and However, there are several things you individuals battling Crohn’s disease or can do to prevent these diseases from ulcerative colitis and their families. taking its toll on your body, such as the following: Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Month is celebrated all over the world. November Maintain a healthy and balanced diet 2014, Canada celebrated Crohn’s and Load up on fruits and vegetables Colitis Awareness Month with a fun Latte- Take vitamins and minerals from natural A-Day Challenge where participants are sources and supplements asked to give up latte and donate Do not smoke proceeds to Crohn’s and colitis research Avoid certain food choices that may grants. A variety of educational symposia induce flare-ups such as milk and spicy were also held across the Canadian meals states. IBD affects anyone with Caucasians likely Staying informed and educated is the to be more affected than other ethnic best way to address not only Crohn’s groups. disease and ulcerative colitis, but other life-threatening conditions. As symptoms Both inflammations of the GI tract, start to set in, seek the help of a medical Crohn’s disease happens particularly on professional for a prognosis and for the the lower part of the small bowel and the immediate administration of treatment. A colon. Healthy portions of the gut and the proactive attitude is the best way to avoid inner and outer lining of the intestines can further complications. December 2017 | A (SCNI) Southern Community Newspaper Product | 11
Is Marijuana The Exit Drug Out Of The Opioid Crisis? As doctors, one of our primary responsibilities is to alleviate pain. Dr. Mike is an anesthesiologist and internist who, at the Cleveland Clinic, ran one of the largest pain therapy centers in the world; and as a heart surgeon, Dr. Oz is devoted to easing cardiac-related pain and helping patients manage pain postsurgery. For years, the medical profession relied on opiates to do the job, but now -- because of the spike in addiction and overdoses from opioids -we have to find alternatives. Each day in America opioid overdoses send more than 1,000 people to the emergency room, and prescription opioid pain relievers accounted for 20,101 deaths from overdose in 2015. In 2017, it appears opioid overdoses account for more deaths (over 100 a day) than auto accidents. How did we get here? The medical profession recognized that it needed to do more to help people deal with pain, but went too far. That coincided with the 1996 debut of the opioid pain reliever OxyContin (oxycodone). Marketed by Purdue Pharma, sales reps touted the drug as having an addiction rate of “less than 1 percent.� The claim landed Purdue in hot water. In 2007, the company and three executives pleaded guilty in federal court to criminal charges that they misled regulators, doctors and patients about the drug’s risk of addiction and its potential to be abused. The executives were sentenced to probation and 400 hours of community service in a drug treatment facility, and the company was fined $634 million. But the damage was done. By 2004, OxyContin had become the leading drug of abuse in the United States. Today, overprescription of such opioid pain relievers remains a problem, and
half of people taking them get those meds from a friend or family member who has “extras� lying around. So what can we, as doctors and concerned citizens, do to solve the epidemic of abuse and overdose? Promote research to identify effective alternatives for pain relief.
on record related to an overdose of medical marijuana.
We believe medical cannabis could be that alternative in certain situations, and we’re calling on the federal government to fund the research, because we need to find out which situations specifically it fits! As Dr. Oz has stated before, the National Institutes of Health “allots ... $111 million to cannabis research. This number represents a mere 0.3 percent of NIH’s total spending on research and is only 0.1 percent of the opioid epidemic’s cost.� All We Want Are Facts: Outdated beliefs and policies have prevented our country from funding medical cannabis research. The Drug Enforcement Administration, which is part of the Department of Justice, classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug -- behind heroin and LSD. Schedule I drugs are defined as drugs “with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.� However, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine have reviewed scientific research from around the world (not here) and found evidence that some patients treated with cannabis or cannabinoids were likely to experience a significant reduction in pain symptoms. Here at home, researchers from DePaul and Rush universities have shown that those who take part in Illinois’ medical marijuana programs are less likely to rely on prescription painkillers. Other studies have shown that pro-medicalmarijuana states have reported fewer opiate deaths, and there are no deaths
Take action: Dr. Oz has stated on his television show that while marijuana used to be seen as a gateway drug to narcotics, “Medical marijuana may be the exit drug to get us out of this narcotic epidemic.� So why not study it? Clearly, it’s time to research the painrelieving benefits and risks of medical marijuana. So join us in calling on NIH to quadruple its spending on this important research (it would be only 0.4 percent of opiate epidemic costs), and sign the petition that Dr. Oz has initiated at www.change.org. Search for “Fund More Research for Medical Marijuana.� *** Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,� and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show� or visit www.sharecare.com. (c) 2017 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain Many people do not understand why people become addicted to drugs or how drugs change the brain to foster compulsive drug abuse. They mistakenly view drug abuse and addiction as strictly a social problem and may characterize those who take drugs as morally weak. One very common belief is that drug abusers should be able to just stop taking drugs if they are only willing to change their behavior. What people often underestimate is the complexity of drug addiction -- that it is a disease that impacts the brain, and because of that, stopping drug abuse is not simply a matter of willpower. Through scientific advances we now know much more about how exactly drugs work in the brain, and we also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated to help people who want to stop abusing drugs and resume productive lives.
relapse and begin abusing drugs again. Relapse does not signal failure; rather, it indicates that treatment should be reinstated or adjusted, or that alternate treatment is needed to help the person regain control and recover.
What Happens to Your Brain When You Take Drugs? Drugs are chemicals that tap into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. There are at least two ways that drugs are able to do this: by imitating the brain’s natural chemical messengers, and/or overstimulating the “reward circuit” of the brain. Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, have a similar structure to chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. Because of this similarity, these drugs are able to “fool” the brain’s receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages.
drugs. While these brain changes can powerfully influence behavior and the impulse to use drugs, people in the midst of an addiction do not completely lose their ability to exercise judgment and make decisions; their desire to stop using drugs and pursue treatment hinges on the wish to live sober. As with many chronic, relapsing disorders, recovery then becomes an active lifelong process.
Why Do Some People Become Addicted While Others Do Not? No single factor can predict whether or not a person will become addicted to drugs. Risk for addiction is influenced by a person’s biology, social environment, and age or stage of development. The more risk factors an individual has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction. For example:
The genes that people are born with -- in combination with environmental influences -- account for about half of their addiction vulnerability. Additionally, gender, ethnicity, and the Other drugs, such as cocaine or presence of other mental disorders may methamphetamine, can cause the nerve influence risk for drug abuse and cells to release abnormally large amounts addiction. of natural neurotransmitters, or prevent A person’s environment What Is Drug Addiction? the normal recycling of these brain includes many different influences -- from chemicals, which is needed to shut off the family and friends to socioeconomic status Drug addiction is a chronic, often signal between neurons. This disruption and quality of life, in general. Factors such relapsing brain disease that causes produces a greatly amplified message as peer pressure, physical and sexual compulsive drug seeking and use, that ultimately disrupts normal abuse, stress, and parental involvement despite harmful consequences to the communication patterns. can greatly influence the course of drug drug addict and those around them. abuse and addiction in a person’s life. Drug addiction is a brain disease Nearly all drugs, directly or indirectly, Genetic and because the abuse of drugs leads to target the brain’s reward system by environmental factors interact with critical changes in the structure and function of flooding the circuit with dopamine. developmental stages in a person’s life to the brain. Although it is true that for most Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present affect addiction vulnerability, and people the initial decision to take drugs in regions of the brain that control adolescents experience a double is voluntary, over time the changes in the movement, emotion, motivation, and challenge. Although taking drugs at any brain caused by repeated drug abuse feelings of pleasure. The overstimulation age can lead to addiction, the earlier that can impair a person’s self-control and of this system, which normally responds drug use begins, the more likely it is to ability to make sound decisions, and at to natural behaviors that are linked to progress to more serious abuse. And the same time create an intense impulse survival (eating, spending time with loved because adolescents’ brains are still to take drugs. ones, etc), produces euphoric effects in developing in the areas that govern response to the drugs. This reaction sets decision making, judgment, and selfIt is because of these changes in the in motion a pattern that “teaches” people control, they are especially prone to riskbrain that it is so challenging for a to repeat the behavior of abusing drugs. taking behaviors, including trying drugs of person to stop abusing drugs. abuse. Fortunately, there are treatments that As a person continues to abuse drugs, help people to counteract addiction’s the brain adapts to the dopamine surges Prevention Is Key powerful disruptive effects and regain by producing less dopamine or reducing control of their lives. Research shows dopamine receptors. The user must that combining addiction treatment therefore keep abusing drugs to bring his Drug addiction can be a preventable disease. Research has shown that medications, when appropriate, with or her dopamine function back to behavioral therapy is the best way to ‘’normal’’ or use more drugs in an effort to prevention programs that involve the family, schools, communities, and the ensure success for most patients. try to achieve a dopamine high. media are effective in reducing drug Treatment approaches that are tailored to each patient’s drug abuse patterns Long-term drug abuse causes changes in abuse. Although many events and cultural and any concurrent medical, psychiatric, other brain chemical systems and circuits, factors affect drug abuse trends, when youths perceive drug abuse as harmful, and social problems can help achieve as well. Brain imaging studies of drugthey reduce their drug taking. It is sustained recovery and a life without addicted individuals show changes in necessary, therefore, to help youth and drugs. areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision-making, learning and the general public to understand the risks As with other chronic diseases, such as memory, and behavior control. Together, of drug abuse and for teachers, parents, and health care professionals to keep diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, drug these changes can drive an abuser to sending the message that drug addiction addiction can be managed effectively. seek out and take drugs compulsively -can be prevented if a person never Yet, it is not uncommon for a person to in other words, to become addicted to abuses drugs.
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December 2017 | A (SCNI) Southern Community Newspaper Product | 15
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