Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Calvin B. Johnson has announced the formation of a Parent Panel Advisory Council. The council's focus will be to improve the availability of substance abuse and addiction treatment services for Pennsylvania families.

"The council will examine the availability of information on substance abuse and addiction services, identify barriers to and gaps in services and treatment, and make recommendations to improve the substance abuse and addiction treatment system. Based on the assessments, the council will make recommendations to the Department of Health to share with the state House Health and Human Services Committee."

The panel is comprised of 18 parents who were selected via an application process. Each will serve from one to three year terms. Read more online.

Labels: addiction, support, treatment

Repeated efforts by various organizations and government agencies have outlined the many dangers of prescription drug abuse. Still, teens continue to ignore the warnings.

"Dr. Alan Barton, a Fort Mojave pediatrician, said in the past year he has seen an increase of young people abusing prescribed drugs such as OxyContin, which he said physicians falsely tout as less addictive. Barton said he has four female patients addicted to Soma, a pain reliever. His youngest patient is a 13-year-old who uses cough medicine and marijuana."

Parents, school administrators, doctors and nurses need to continue issuing warnings about prescription drug use. Parents should make sure their own medications are stored in a place that is inaccessible to their kids or their kids' friends.

Labels: awareness, parents, prescription_drugs

On Saturday, September 29th, a "Walk for Awareness" will be held in St. George, Utah. The Walk's purpose is to raise awareness about the dangers of teen drug and alcohol abuse, and to raise money for the C.S. Landre Foundation which helps families in crisis find the support they need.

"Kicking off the event will be special guest Brian Parker, a therapist who works exclusively with troubled teens. Parker will share some insights for both teens and parents, arming them with information that can help them find answers."

Participants will walk the Bloomington Trail, which is a two-mile loop.

SunHawk Academy is a residential treatment center for troubled teens in St. George, Utah that specializes in helping teens with substance abuse.

Labels: awareness, crisis, support

A new study by Health Canada concludes that parents tolerate drinking older teens but worry if their children start drinking before they are fifteen years old.

"A key transition point" occurs when young people enter high school, according to the authors of the study, which involved focus groups of teens and their parents in Winnipeg, Halifax, Montreal, Quebec and British Columbia.

The Health Canada report indicates that parents of older teens believe drinking is an acceptable part of their children's lives. A small number of parents buy alcohol and host drinking parties in their homes for their teenagers.

A good residential treatment center like SunHawk Academy can help with teen substance abuse.

Labels: alcohol, parents, underage_drinking

Teens who binge drink are more likely to develop drug habits, become homeless, and engage in criminal behavior as adults, according to a long-term British study.

Dr. Russell Viner of University College London and Professor Brent Taylor of the Institute of Child Health studied more than 11,000 Britons born in 1970 through the year 2000. They found that by age 16, about 20 percent were binge drinkers and 25 per cent were regular drinkers. By age thirty, the binge-drinking group was 40 percent more likely to have a drug habit, and 60 percent more likely to be homeless.

Dr. Viner noted that binge drinking "brings a distinct set of problems of its own."

This study appears in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Learn more about teen binge drinking at DrugRehabTreatment.com.

Labels: binge_drinking, criminal_activity, drug_use

Anthony Coulson, assistant special agent in charge of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Tucson, Arizona says the DEA has already surpassed last year's numbers for the amount of drugs seized at the border between the United States and Mexico.

"According to US Customs and Border Protection figures, which include only amounts that CBP agents seize, 1.7 million pounds of marijuana were seized along with US border with Mexico so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30... The previous record, for all of fiscal 2006, was about 1.3 million pounds."

The increased amount may be the result of improved boarder security or an increase in the amount being shipped from Mexico. An increase in the number of boarder agents, use of X-ray machines, sensors, and canine units are all believed to have contributed to more seizures.

Private boarding schools can help troubled teens with counseling and individual academic programs. Visit BoardingSchoolsInfo.com to find a private boarding school.

Labels: criminal_justice, drug-sniffing dogs, drug_trafficking

Not everyone agrees that random drug testing in schools is a good idea. A recent editorial in the Gloversville, New York Leader-Herald calls for school administrators to find more creative, effective drug prevention solutions.

"Among the opponents of random student drug testing is the American Academy of Pediatrics, which stated it 'believes more research is needed on both the safety and effectiveness before testing programs are implemented. Laboratory testing for drugs is a scientifically complex procedure, which may be prone to both false-positive and false-negative tests...'"

Awareness training for teachers, curriculum that includes drug-prevention and more parental involvement were some of the offered alternatives.

SunHawk Academy is a residential treatment center for teens struggling with drug and alcohol abuse. Visit www.sunhawkacademy.com to learn more.

Labels: drug_testing, prevention, schools

Officials in some areas of New Zealand are finding that kids are being lured into drug experimentation at increasingly younger ages.

"Their observation comes after a shocking incident... in which seven children from Simla Primary School in Shallcross overdosed on Ecstasy. It is believed that one of the seven pupils took the drugs from a home to a school function."

Official say that children as young as 11 and 12 are experimenting with drug and alcohol use, and nearly half of those abuse multiple substances.

The Substance Abuse section of the Teen-Help-Directory offers information for parents about teen drug and alcohol abuse.

Labels: children, experimentation, schools

It's a common opinion, but one that can't be repeated too often. We need to keep teens and alcohol as separate from each other as possible, and everyone - from law enforcement to parents and teens themselves - share in the responsibility.

"Those who would minimize their own responsibility by assigning it to other or claiming that concern over the problem has been blown out of proportion should face facts: Approximately 20 percent of 13-year-olds admit they've used alcohol at least once, and often they're able to do it because parents not only ignore what their kids are doing but actually supply the drinks."

It's important for members of the community to work together in addressing under-age drinking.

Labels: community_programs, prevention, underage_drinking

Professor Lorraine Collins of the University of Buffalo/New York has determined that young adults who are heavy drinkers of malt liquor are at greater risk to use marijuana and develop substance abuse problems.

She and her colleagues surveyed 639 adults under 25 years who regularly drank 40 or more ounces of malt liquor every week. The participants were heavy drinkers who averaged 30 alcoholic drinks a week, about half of which was malt liquor. Most had started drinking between 13 and 14 years old. About half of the malt liquor drinkers also reported smoking about 20 marijuana cigarettes a week too.

Malt liquor has a high alcohol content (6 to 11%) and is often marketed to young people. This study appears in the June 2007 issue of the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

If you are a parent and worried aobut teen alcohol and drug abuse, visit ByParents-ForParents.com to learn what signs to look for and how to help your child.

Labels: awareness, binge_drinking, gateway_drugs

Pre-teens and teens often decorate their rooms with posters and pin-ups of the latest pop and rock stars. The clothing and life styles of these stars are cause to doubt whether they're the best role models for young people, and now there's one more reason - they are more likely to die young.

"A study of more than 1,000 mainly British and North American artists, spanning the era from Elvis Presley to rapper Eminem, found they were two or three times more likely to suffer a premature death than the general population."

Rock stars are at greatest risk of death in the first five years after they become famous, and their mortality rates don't decline to match that of the general population until about 25 years after their initial success.

Excel Academy troubled teen boarding schools offers a recovery component in addition to their college prep academics. Learn how their accredited school helps troubled teens.

Labels: death, influences, role_models

Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia found that the chemical in marijuana affects adult and adolescent rats differently. In particular, adolescent rats lost more long and short-term memory.

Dr. Ian McGregor and his colleagues tested the rats' memories right after they ingested the drug, and again after all traces of it had left their bodies. The adolescent rats had deeper memory impairment. In addition, the adult rats avoided the "room" where the marijuana had been "served," but the teen rats did not.

"Cannabis produces much greater long-term changes in adolescent than adult rat brains," Dr. McGregor said.

This study appears in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

Labels: brain_damage, marijuana, memory

The cities of Hudson Falls and Glens Falls, New York, have received state grants which will help them target merchants who sell alcohol to adolescents under the age of twenty-one.

"Hudson Falls Deputy Police Chief Randy Diamond said the program will not only allow police to check stores and bars to see if they are checking IDs. It also includes additional training for police and store owners as they work to combat the region's underage drinking problem."

Glens Falls had done similar "sting" operations before and found that 100 percent of the bartenders were compliant with the law, as were 85 percent of merchants. Read more at PostStar.com.

Labels: bars, liquor_stores, underage_drinking

Researchers at the Ohio State University looked into 18.6 million visits to doctors by children ages 6 to 12 years who had problems falling asleep. Three-quarters of them received prescription sleep aids that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use by children.

"The concern with sleep medications is that we do not know how much to use and how long to use these drugs for children," said Professor Milap Nahata of the College of Pharmacy in Columbus. He and his colleagues collected data recorded between 1993 and 2004 by the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

A 2004 study from the National Sleep Foundation found that about 60% of children under age 11 have trouble sleeping. Dr. Nahata's study appears in the August 1 issue of Sleep.

Learn more about teenage drug abuse and other issues facing today's teens at Teen-Help-Directory.com.

Labels: children, prescription_drugs, sleep

His upcoming book, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, is a brutally honest account of Nikki Sixx's battle with drug addiction and his road to recovery. He will be the first rock star to speak at the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month luncheon September 6th on Capitol Hill.

"NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals invited Sixx to share his story at this national forum alongside Terry Cline, Ph.D, Administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and H. Westley Clark, MD, JD, MPH, Director, SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Treatment."

Twenty-five percent of Sixx's book's profits go to benefit a shelter in California that helps runaway teenagers. Read more at KCRG.com.

Learn about teenage drug addiction, rehab, and recovery at Teen-Help-Directory.com.

Labels: addiction, influences, recovery

A study of 2000 Australian 24-year-olds found that those who had used marijuana as teenagers were more likely to use amphetamines as young adults.

The authors found that such early drug use was a more accurate predictor of using more dangerous substances later than other factors such as socio-economic background or mental depression.

This article appears in the journal Addiction.

Teenage drug addiction is often a symptom rather than the problem with troubled teens. Visit 4TroubledTeens.com to learn more.

Labels: marijuana, meth, prevention

September has been designated National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

"The Recovery Month observance highlights the societal benefits of substance abuse treatment, lauds the contributions of treatment providers and promotes the message that recovery from substance abuse in all its forms is possible. The observance also encourages citizens to take action to help expand and improve the availability of effective substance abuse treatment for those in need."

A new theme is selected every year, and this year's theme is "Join the Voices for Recovery". Read more at RecoveryMonth.gov.

Labels: hope, recovery, treatment

It seems that the propensity for risky behavior among teenagers is not just a matter of choice, but a matter of science. Researchers recently conducted a study in which they monitored brain activity in adolescents and adults during a gambling game.

"As expected, teens bet more often than adults did when the payoff was bigger but the risk of losing was high."

Researchers found that teens use less of the prefrontal cortex, or thinking region of the brain, when making decisions. The "reward" system in an adolescent brain also seems to respond more actively when positive results are achieved as a result of risky behavior. Brain researcher Monique Ernst believes studies like this will help in finding ways to prevent teens from making dangerous choices. Read more at ScienceCentral.com.

Youth Care's programs for troubled teens help by offering accredited academics with a therapeutic treatment plan designed personally for each student. Learn more about Youth Care.

Labels: brain_chemistry, decision_making, risky_behaviors