It’s impossible to know what cure will go undiscovered, what useful invention never devised, what art uncreated, what science unimagined, what wisdom unuttered because a boy’s or girl’s potential was submerged in vodka bottles or drowned in cans of beer. more

When I heard that President Obama was playing golf with Tiger Woods two weekends ago, I wondered if the event might be interpreted as a kind of presidential pardon. more

It’s a situation no one ever envisions: caring for someone — stranger or friend — who overdoses on drugs or loses consciousness after drinking. more

Over the past few years, the state and federal governments have made it a priority to improve school students’ physical well-being. more

South Shore residents accustomed to jumping in their boats and heading out for a day of clamming in Hempstead Bay will have to travel farther this spring and summer. At the recommendation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Town of Hempstead’s shellfishing areas west of the Wantagh Parkway were closed in February, with additional areas closed on April 1. Affected areas include the waters south of Bellmore, Merrick and Freeport. more

Nassau County police have arrested 70 burglars in the first seven weeks of 2012, a marked increase from recent years, said Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano at a press conference last Thursday. more

An epidemic of abuse has gripped the U.S., blurring the lines between prescription and recreational drugs. more

They’re called “pharm parties,” short for pharmacy parties. A group of teenagers –– perhaps as young as 12 and 13 years old –– methodically swipe opiate-based pain killers like Oxycontin and Oxycodone from their parents’ and grandparents’ medicine cabinets, dump the pills into a big bowl when no adult is looking and take turns rolling a die. Whatever number comes up, that’s the number of pills a teen must ingest. more

Concerned parents are reserving their seats for “Dangers in Your Medicine Cabinet: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Children,” a parent-targeted substance-abuse awareness program that will be hosted by the Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center, in partnership with the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, the Bellmore, Merrick, North Bellmore and North Merrick elementary school districts, Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg and the Bellmore-Merrick Coalition Against Substance Abuse. The talk will be held at the Brookside School, 1260 Meadowbrook Road in North Merrick, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11. more

For decades, public health officials have hammered home a message –– smoking kills. They have done so in splashy advertising campaigns and in the halls of government. Any number of laws and ordinances prohibiting smoking in public venues have been passed as a result. These efforts, officials say, have paid dividends. more