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Drug Use by Teens is on the Rise |
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Thursday, 07 April 2011 19:03 |
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 According to Join Together, a national study has confirmed teen drug use is trending in the wrong direction:
"Following a decade of steady declines, a new national study released today indicates that teen drug and alcohol use is headed in the wrong direction, with marked increases in teen use of marijuana and Ecstasy over the past three years. The 22nd annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) affirms a disturbing trend that has emerged among American teens since 2008 and highlights that as underage drinking becomes more normalized among adolescents, parents feel unable to respond to the negative shifts in teen drug and alcohol use. The study was released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation.
According to the three-year trend confirmed in this year’s 2010 PATS data, there was a significant 67 percent increase in the number of teens who reported using Ecstasy in the past year (from 6 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2010). Similarly, past-year marijuana use among teens increased by a disturbing 22 percent (from 32 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2010).
'You’re seeing this weakness in this generation of teens’ attitudes around drug and alcohol use,' Steve Pasierb, president of the partnership, told the Associated Press. 'It’s not like this generation of kids thinks they’re more bulletproof than others, but they really don’t see any harm in that heavy drinking.'
The new data underscore alarming patterns in early adolescent alcohol use and found that teens view drinking alcohol – even heavy drinking – as less risky than using other substances.
- Of those teens who reported alcohol use, a majority (62 percent) said they had their first full alcoholic drink by age 15, not including sipping or tasting alcohol.
- Of those teens who reported alcohol use, one in four (25 percent), said they drank a full alcoholic drink for the first time by age 12 or younger.
- Among teens who reported drinking alcohol, the average age of first alcohol use was 14."
The Reagan Administration had "Just Say No!" to drugs, and the Bush's had the "War Against Drugs" campaign. Both seemed to be effective in reducing substance abuse, especially in teens. With "socialzed" funding going towards the "war effort," however, a lot of those funds previously available are now being used in Iraq and Afghanistan to beef up the war...instead of dealing with the war we face here at home.
Our teens are our future. Is there anyone left out there willing to pick up the battle cry, pick up the American colors, and help fight the good fight?
Do you have a program to help children, teens and youth who are suffering from substance abuse? Do you need grant funding for your program? If so, please contact us to see if we can help you get your program funded, by creating a proposal to suit your nonprofit organization's needs. Call today: 865.249.6311. |
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ER Visits for abuse of Ecstasy has increased |
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Tuesday, 29 March 2011 18:57 |
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 According to reports, "Emergency room visits related to use of the illicit drug ecstasy rose 74.8 percent between 2004 and 2008, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),HealthDay News reported March 24.
A new analysis from SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) showed that ER visits related to use of ecstasy jumped from 10,200 in 2004 to 17,865 in 2008. The drug is addictive, and can cause, "anxiety, agitation, recklessness, increased blood pressure, dehydration, heat stroke, muscle cramping, blurred vision, hyperthermia, heart failure, and kidney failure," according to The DAWN Report released March 24. Use in a crowded dance parties can increase its cardiovascular risks.
"It remains to be determined how severe the long-term neurotoxic effects may be on the brain," said Dr. Lewis Goldfrank, of the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. "There is no reason for anyone to believe that the use of this drug is safe at some dose -- the risk is consequential at any dose."
Most patients -- 69.3 percent – treated for ecstasy use were between the ages of 18 and 29, but 17.9 percent were between the ages of 12 and 17. The majority of patients (77.8 percent) used ecstasy in combination with one other drug (31.3 percent); two other drugs (15.0 percent); three other drugs (14.0 percent); or four or more other drugs (17.5 percent).
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Calif. Leads Nation in Quitting Smoking; Anti-Tobacco Policies Credited |
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Tuesday, 29 March 2011 00:46 |
 Well obviously they're doing something right! AS much as other states make fun of them, researchers have found that when it comes to quitting smoking, Californians have done better than people from the rest of the nation, probably because of stricter tobacco control policies, The Los Angeles Times reported March 16.
The research team reviewed smoking data between 1965 and 2007, and compared how smoking patterns changed over time and by age. According to the study abstract, they analyzed data from the National Health Interview Surveys, 1965-1994, and from the Current Population Survey Tobacco Supplements, 1992-2007.
Overall, the researchers compared 139,176 Californians with 1,662,353 respondents from other states. They divided smokers into three categories: high-intensity, consuming 20 or more cigarettes a day; moderate-to-high-intensity, smoking 10-19 cigarettes a day; and low-intensity, smoking 0-9 a day.
Smoking rates in the low-intensity cohort did not change significantly in either California or the United States: California started at 7.1 percent in 1965, the rest of the U.S. started at 7.0 percent -- and both fell to 5.3 percent by 2007.
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Bad news for Maine: State may Eliminate Residential Treatment Services |
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Monday, 14 March 2011 15:04 |
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According to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network as reported March 9, even though the state of Maine has a rate of alcohol and drug addiction eight times higher than the rest of the nation, budget cuts there may soon force the closure of 10 out of 13 residential treatment centers.
Maine governor Paul Le Page is proposing to cut $5.6 million from the state's substance abuse treatment programs. Most treatment providers say the cuts will be so deep that they will have to stop operating.
"It's the classic pennywise-pound foolish, because we treat people at less than half the cost of the corrections community," said Roger Prince of Serenity House, a substance abuse treatment program that is over 40 years old.
"So what do we want to do? Do we want to close this place down and send [our clients] back to jail or to the emergency room? It makes no sense to me," he said.
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Some States Have Axed Mental Health Funds, Report Finds |
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Monday, 14 March 2011 14:55 |
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According to a report by Reuters reported March 9, two out of three states have made deep cuts in general fund spending on mental health care in the past two years.
Additionally, in a report released by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), two-thirds of all states slashed non-Medicaid mental health funding. NAMI examined the budgets of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for its analysis. States that cut the most are: Kentucky (47 percent), Alaska (35 percent) Arizona (23 percent), and South Carolina (23 percent).
"Cutting mental health means that costs only get shifted to emergency rooms, schools, police, local courts, jails and prisons," said Michael Fitzpatrick, NAMI's director. "The taxpayer still pays the bill."
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