Reporting

<p>Maria Martinez and her husband and three sons live in a colorful stucco home in a subsidized housing development near San Diego Bay. But as soon as she steps outside, Martinez and her neighbors are confronted with an onslaught of environmental health hazards.</p>

<p>It was once perceived as a rite of passage of sorts, but adolescence and substance use are now considered a toxic combination. More and more research is revealing that choices made at an early age — generally in the early teenage years — can have lasting effects, few of them positive.</p>

<p>Shereen Khatapoush chose her career path when she was 15 years old, after a friend died in a drunk driving-related car accident.</p>

<p>As a Santa Barbara County deputy district attorney who works with young offenders, Von Nguyen knows what the community’s children are up to.</p>

<p>The association of a murine retrovirus with ME/CFS appears to be no longer viable, but many of the researchers who can't find XMRV in patients still believe that other viruses are at play.</p>

<p>Prescribing controlled substances is a highly regulated process, especially as abuse and addiction become more prevalent, but oversight is fractured between agencies with the burden falling on local health-care providers.</p>

<p>The baby boom culture. Longer, but not necessarily healthier lifestyles. A general lack of information and communication. Each of these elements plays a role in the growing phenomenon that is the misuse of prescription drugs by the elderly.</p>

<p>Pharmacist Peter Caldwell jokes that his career path was set as an infant when his parents used a prescription cabinet for his bassinet.</p>

<p>By combining fresh fruit and vegetable delivery with health education, Second Harvest is empowering food bank members to become active participants in their community’s nutrition education. Second Harvest has transformed itself from a “food bank” to a “nutrition bank,” creating the community or