Summaries—Smokesdabear

Heroin for Heroin addicts?

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

It seems counter intuitive that heroin is suddenly being prescribed to heroin addicts in Canada. This rehabilitation method that Canada has not to long ago adopted is not meant to stop addicts from using heroin but, in the words of Allen Schauffer, correspondent for Al Jazeera, “lets provide you with heroin so you are the least dangerous drug addict you can possibly be.”. The program is only available for those with the very worst addictions. Essentially stating that recovery would be, too difficult of a process for a heroin addict so the government would rather give you heroin, rather than having one commit a crime to obtain the heroin. This is basically one big blackmail scheme. The addicts get their heroin or else they may be forced to commit petty crime. Many obviously disagree with this program, but as an example this program has been used in European countries and has turned out to be successful.

Do Multi-vitamins work?

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/02/econundrums-do-vitamin-supplements-work

It seems counter intuitive that multi vitamins the pieces of candy we as children were fed daily, to not only stay healthy but to get healthier are now deemed useless. Nearly a third of Americans take Multi vitamins regularly. Whilst there is no evidence of these vitamins increasing a persons health status. Companies like the Vitamin Shoppe are raking in over $700 million dollars annually, by basically selling people sugar tablets. Some officials state that taking multis can prevent chronic illneess but a 2009 study shows that multis did not prevent any of the ilnesse studied such as heart disease, lung cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer. Could people have been throwing away all of their hard earned money all these years? Possibly. Multis still do give one the vitamins needed but some brands may give an exceeding dosage. For example one brand has given double the amount of daily recommended dosage of vitamin A and zinc.

How earbuds damage the ear

http://kidshealth.org/en/teens/earbuds.html

It seems counter intuitive that earbuds, the most commonly used portable sound device, can give someone permanent hearing damage. They are essentially tiny speakers insanely close up to your ear. Now listening to music with them at low volumes is safe, but as soon as that volume gets higher you can run the risk of permanent hearing loss. Motorcycle engines are as loud as 100 decibels. having the sound of that in ones ear for a little less than half an hour can cause damage. Ipods and mp3 players at 70% volume put out 85 decibels almost any higher and those ear buds will start doing damage. Society is living in a very technologically advanced time, and this is granting kids access to mp3 players and earbuds at a very young age. Therefore increasing the chances of hearing damage and loss in teens. Are earbuds a product that need warning labels on them? Or do earbuds need to be age restricted?