Alcohol use is more prevalent among young people than any other drug. The average age at which a young person takes his first drink is just 13, and 80 percent of all college students drink.

"Yet the consequences of underage drinking are described as 'astonishing in their range and magnitude' by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University, increasing morbidity and mortality rates by 200 percent between middle childhood and early adulthood."

About 5,000 people under the age of 21 die every year in alcohol-related incidents. Those who aren't killed may be faced with the early onset of alcoholism or developmental delays that they'll carry throughout their lives. Source: Redwood City Daily News

Learn more about the long term effects of binge drinking at DrugRehabTreatment.com.

Labels: binge_drinking, long_term_drug_use

The University of Texas Medical School is researching medications that may help restore a brain's chemical balance and aid in cocaine addiction recovery. The team is currently studying medications that affect serotonin and dopamine systems.

"'With chronic cocaine use, there are changes in the brain that affect neurotransmitters that are responsible for impulsivity and decision making,' said F. Gerard Moeller, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the medical school. 'If we can restore the balance of the neurotransmitters back to the way it was before the cocaine, then other therapies such as behavioral therapy will work better.'"

In 2006, the NIDA estimated that six million Americans ages 12 and up had abused cocaine. Currently, there are no proven or approved medications for the treatment of cocaine addiction. Source: Medical News Today

Excel Academy is a sober high school and boarding school in Texas that offers an alternative to military boarding school.

Labels: brain_chemistry, cocaine, recovery

Doctors and pharmacists in California have trouble regulating the amount of prescription medication people get, primarily because the current tracking system is too slow. In response to the problem, Attorney General Jerry Brown has announced that California's prescription-tracking database will be placed on a secure website that will be updated in real time.

"Moving the state's Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System online would allow doctors and pharmacists to immediately access a database of more than 86 million drug prescriptions. All prescriptions filled for schedule II, III, and IV drugs - including powerful painkillers like morphine, hydro-codone and codeine - would be instantly available."

Brown didn't give a timetable for implementing the website, saying the $3.5 million needed would have to come from private sources because the state doesn't have money. Brown's proposal names the Troy and Alana Pack Foundation as the primary source of money; the foundation was started and named after two young children who were killed by a motorist high on prescription drugs. Source: KCRA - Los Angeles

Learn more about Teen Over the Counter and Prescription Drug Abuse at http://www.teenoverthecounterdrugabuse.com.

Labels: drug_abuse, drug_use, prescription_drugs

Finney High School in Detroit, Michigan, will start random drug testing on its students this fall. A three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education is making the program possible.

"Three types of students will be tested: those who volunteer and have their parents' permission, those in athletic programs and those who participate in school-sponsored extracurricular activities."

The program will test for marijuana, heroin, prescription drugs, cocaine, and methamphetamines. Students who test positive won't be punished, but their parents will be notified. Source: The Detroit News

Find a list of top private high schools at Boarding Schools Info.

Labels: drug_testing, schools

At 14, Brianna was living a double life. The daughter of divorced parents, she spent healthy and positive time with her father and stepmother - but life with her mother included abuse and self-injury. She remembers the day the truth came out.

"Her father and stepmother had found a box in her room, filled with pills and the tools [she] was using to injure herself. 'That's when I had my breakdown and everything came out,' [she] said."

She told her dad about the abuse, as well as her own drug use and self-injury. Counseling and behavioral therapy have helped her tremendously, and she's about to graduate from high school. She wants kids in similar situations to know that there is better way to live. Getting away from drugs and self-harm isn't easy, but it can be done. Source: The Reporter-Herald

Visit Therapeutic Boarding Schools to learn about the benefits of therapeutic boarding schools and how they help troubled teens and their families.

Labels: cutting, risky_behaviors, self-harm

A recent study has found that Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous programs and meetings can benefit teenagers who struggle with drug and alcohol use. The study followed 160 teenagers through a six-week program and followed up with reassessments after six months and one, two, four, six, and eight years.

"While many of the study participants eventually stopped going to AA/NA meetings, they seemed to benefit from their time with the organization. 'We found that patients who attended more AA and/or NA meetings in the first six months post-treatment had better longer term outcomes...'"

The best long-term outcomes were achieved by teens who continued to attend AA or NA meetings. On average, each AA/NA meeting attended equated to two days of abstinence from drugs and alcohol. Source: CBC News

Labels: AA, NA, recovery

Teenagers with bipolar disorder are eight times more likely to abuse substances than are teens with no mood disorders, according to a new study from Harvard University.

The study also found that teens who developed bipolar symptoms during adolescence - as opposed to those who exhibited signs earlier in childhood - are the most likely to smoke, drink, and abuse drugs.

Dr. Timothy Wilens, an associate professor of psychiatry, and his colleagues followed 105 teens with bipolar disorder and 98 who had no mood disorders from age 14 into adulthood. About 34 percent of the bipolar group abused drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes, compared to only four percent in the control group.

"Bipolar disorder in adolescents is a huge risk factor for smoking and substance abuse," Dr. Wilens said. "[It is] as big a risk factor as juvenile delinquency."

He said the study indicates that more research should be done to determine if there is a "genetic switch" that activates both bipolar disorder and substance abuse during the teen years. Scientists also need to study the helpfulness of treating bipolar disorder, especially at key "intervention points," as a way to cut the risk of substance abuse, Wilens said.

This study appears in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Labels: bipolar, delinquency, mental_health

A study that appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that teenagers who use marijuana are at an increased risk for full-blown mental illnesses later in life. This study, the largest of its kind to date, included information gathered from more than 6,000 teenagers.

"Dr. Juoko Miettunen, who led the research at the University of Oulu in Finland, said the findings were significant because they demonstrated a link with psychosis at a very early stage of cannabis use."

Some of the symptoms that indicated of risk of psychosis included feeling like something strange was happening, feelings of paranoia, and difficulty controlling speed of thought. Source: Medical News Today

Labels: marijuana, mental_health, research

College students who exercise regularly and strenuously are more likely to use drugs and alcohol. However, they are less likely to smoke, according to a new study published in the Journal of American College Health.

Researchers in northeast Florida studied 491 college freshmen and found that the frequent exercisers and athletes drank more often and were more likely to binge drink than those who exercised less often. These results were similar to another study by the National College Risk Behavior Survey.

The authors of the new study, Drs. Michelle Moore and Chudley Welch, are not sure if being part of a sports culture somehow promotes the usage of alcohol and drugs.

Labels: athletics, drug_use, exercise

Wired magazine is in trouble for an article in the May issue, "Twelve Ways to Supercharge Your Brain." One part of the 15-page article, called "Do the Right Drugs," includes discussions of eight drugs, some of which are illegal. The list includes Adderall, nicotine, and even methamphetamine, which "increases concentration and creative output." The author advises the magazine's 650,000 subscribers to "tap the black market" to obtain these substances.

Worried your teen is experimenting with drugs and alcohol? Learn about teen addiction and teen alcoholism at DrugRehabTreatment.com.

Labels: influences, media

Summer vacation often means little or no structure for teenagers, which is one of the reasons they love summer. But the lack of structure can lend itself to unhealthy experiments.

"...there is a 40 percent increase in first-time youth marijuana use during June and July compared to the rest of the year. 'When there is more freedom, this is also more temptation,' Pathway Family Center said in a statement released on Tuesday. 'Statistics show that youthful experimentation with drugs, tobacco, and alcohol is more likely to occur during an unsupervised time when teens are alone or with their peers.'"

Parents can take proactive and preventative steps by planning summer activities for the entire family, encouraging their kids to continue afterschool activities into the summer, enrolling in summer camp or a wilderness program, and getting know their kids' friends and families.Source: Chesterton Tribune

Not sure what your teen will be doing this summer? Visit SummerCampsInfo.com for a list of teen summer camps or AlternativeSummerCamps.com for alternative summer camp programs.

Labels: first-time_users, marijuana, summer

Tyler Richardson wanted to make an impact on his classmates. For his senior project, he decided to research the effects of drug and alcohol use on young people. The results were so tragic and overwhelming that he took an unusual approach to get his message across.

"...he contacted 48 fellow students at random and asked them to sign a contract without divulging the contents to anyone, even their parents... Each agreed to be taken out of their classrooms, a few students every 30 minutes, by Island County Sheriff Deputy Laura Price. The number, 48 in all, represents the number of kids who die from drugs or alcohol every day in the United States."

When the students were pulled from class, they painted their faces white and donned black T-shirts which read "I just died...." Then they stood silently in front of the school as their classmates were leaving for the day. Some laugh or make sarcastic comments... until they read the T-shirts. Tyler thinks his fellow students got the message... no one was hurt or killed due to drugs or alcohol at their prom this year. Source: South Whidbey Record

Learn more about the long term effects of binge drinking and drug abuse at DrugRehabTreatment.com.

Labels: awareness, contract, peers