More than 40 years after Timothy Leary urged teens of the 1960s to "turn on, tune in, and drop out," some of today's youth are tuning in to YouTube and other online video sites in order to learn more about a new way of turning on.

As John Simerman reported in the May 16 edition of the Contra Costa Times, online videos are promoting the hallucinogenic properties of an often-overlooked (and barely regulated) substance called "salvia."

Salvia divinorum, which East Bay smoke shops sell in packets of dark, crushed-leaf extract -- with a "strictly for incense use only" disclaimer -- has spurred new laws in more than a dozen states in recent years amid a slew of online videos showing youths speaking or acting bizarrely after smoking it; and the well-publicized suicide of a Delaware teen in 2006, with the coroner listing salvia as a contributing cause.

In many of the videos, the smokers often start laughing uncontrollably, then are rendered incoherent by a forceful high that users describe as much shorter than LSD, but often more intense.

Though the U.S. government currently has no laws regulating the manufacture, sale, or use of salvia, Simerman reported at least 10 states have listed Salvia as a Schedule I drug, which places it in the same category of Ecstasy and LSD.

Parents whose teens are abusing salvia or any other illicit substance may want to consider a wilderness program for troubled teens such as central Oregon's SageWalk, which offers structure, supervision, and a comprehensive array of therapeutic services.

Labels: hallucinogens, internet, teen_drug_use

Charles Rosa has experienced the unimaginable. In the course of just 14 months, he buried both of his sons, both of whom died from drug overdoses. Determined to prevent other parents from suffering the way he had, he formed a non-profit called Chucky’s Fight, and on Sunday, April 19, a group of women took to the sea in support of his efforts.

According to the Hampton Union, the women planned to enter the still-frigid waters at Seabrook, New Hampshire, in order to raise awareness and cash for the fight against teen substance abuse.

In honor of his sons, Rosa swims in the ocean every day, regardless of the water temperature or weather conditions. The April 19 event was designed to increase support for two organizations that are fighting teen drug abuse: Chucky’s Fight and the Portsmouth Middle School’s Project Safety Conference.

If your child is abusing alcohol or another drug, your family may benefit from the comprehensive therapeutic support and educational services that are provided at a private boarding school for recovering teens.

Labels: prevention, recovery, teen_drug_use

As the economy worsens, crime increases. The West Virginia State Police are noticing a particular increase in the number of drug related crimes, which is cause for concern because of the potential for damage to citizens' health and the state's financial well-being.

The state's direct costs are more than $470 million for substance abuse per year, and are borne by the criminal justice and jailing systems, according to Wayne Coombs, director of the West Virginia Prevention Resource Center. (Source: WTRF Channel 7)

The Prevention Resource Center is at the heart of the state's attempts at creating an effective prevention system. The Center's current focus is prescription drug abuse which, according to State Police Spokesman Sgt. Michael Baylous, is near epidemic levels. Center officials hope to be able to identify those at risk of prescription drug abuse, and intervene before the abuse starts.

Labels: drug_abuse, prescription drugs

The mother of a Minneapolis elementary school student is demanding answers after she discovered that her daughter's ADHD medication had been stolen and replaced with something different:

For the past two years, 8-year-old Se'ray Andrews has been taking the prescription drug Adderall to control her ADHD.

But last week, her mother was notified by her school that someone had swapped out her medication and replaced it with something else.

Se'ray was taken to the Poison Control Center at Hennepin County Medical Center. But they could only identify the switched blue pill as some type of herbal supplement. Her doctor called the incident an "alarming breach of protocol" that placed Se'ray in "potential danger." (Source: MyFoxTwinCities.com)

School policy states that medication is supposed to be registered with the school health office, but in Se'ray's case, the medication had been given to a teacher.

In the wake of a recent increase of cases involving prescription pill abuse, experts advise all parents to keep a close eye on medications that have been prescribed for themselves and their family members.

Labels: prescription drugs, schools

A study from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine examined the link between depression and alcoholism, and found that it the disorders develop differently in men and women. Women tend to drink and become alcoholic because they are depressed, while men tend to develop depression after becoming alcoholics.

After studying more than 5,000 adults over age 30, the researchers concluded that genetic precursors to mood disorders may explain why alcoholism runs in certain families.

"Our study suggests that familial factors that underlie mood-related drinking motives are the same factors that contribute to the overlapping familial risk for mood disorders and alcoholism," said UC professor Victor Hasselbrock, a co-author of the study.

Depressive disorders have been increasing every year since 1915. They affect nine percent of women and five percent of men. In young people, adolescent depression has been associated with an increased risk of eating disorders, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, and a host of other concerns.

Labels: alcoholism, depression, genetics

Not all teenage parties feature pizza and and soda. Some, instead, feature prescription pills. These so-called called "pharm parties" (short for " pharmaceutical parties" are obviously a significant risk to the health and well-being of teen attendees.

A recent Virginia event was designed to educate parents about the health risks of teen prescription pill abuse -- risks that their children may be facing

The trend was brought home earlier this week, when news reports focused on students at two Henrico [Virginia] middle schools sharing the prescription drug Adderall with friends.

Henrico’s Too Smart [2 Start] Coalition held a Town Hall meeting ... at Hermitage High School to draw attention to what appears to be a growing national problem. (Source: The Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch)

Most of the parents who attended the Town Hall meeting seemed aware of the problem and were hoping for solutions, the Richmond Times reported. Guest speaker Aleta Meyer emphasized the importance of locking up medications and being aware of the types and quantities of medications in the house.

Labels: parental_involvement, prescription drugs, teen_drug_use

Have you seen those TV advertisements that refer to parents as "the anti-drug" and advise parents to talk to their children about drugs? Apparently, these ads are working.

According to the latest survey of parents from the Partnership for A Drug-Free America, more parents believe that they are the main influence in their children's lives when it comes to preventing drug abuse. Last year, 40 percent of parents believed it was the schools' responsibility to educate teens about drugs; this year, that number was down to 27 percent. Mothers were more three times more likely than fathers were to believe that parents are responsible for educating their children about drugs.

Another positive finding was that parents appear to have a greater understanding of the dangers of teen prescription drug abuse.

The annual survey involved more than 1,000 parents of children in grades four to 12.

Labels: drug_prevention, parental_involvement

The use of medications for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among college students who don’t have ADHD is increasing. Most students who abuse ADHD meds do so when they have a big test, or need to pull an "all-nighter" to study or finish a project. But experts say that the benefits students believe they are receiving by abusing ADHD meds are largely imagined:

The idea’s so simple: Just pop a bill and become Encyclopedia Brown. Hate to break it to you, but that’s not how it works. Adderall and Ritalin are prescription medications for a reason. For one thing, they take weeks of regular use before they are properly metabolized for use by the brain: One pill a few hours before class won’t suddenly increase your cognitive ability.
-- Source: La Voz Weekly (De Anza College, Calif.)

In addition to delayed or nonexistent "benefits," the abuse of ADHD medications is associated with a wide range of side effects, the La Voz article noted. The abuse of ADHD pills and other prescription medications is approaching epidemic levels in the United States, and is causing many young people to require the types of comprehensive services that are offered in residential rehab centers for teens.

Labels: abuse, adhd, medications, students

Teens who were exposed to the school-based drug abuse prevention program Project Alert were less likely to engage in certain types of risky sexual behaviors than were teens who did not participate in the program.

According to an April 29 article on the ScienceDaily medical news website, researchers with the RAND Corporation reached this conclusion after surveying 1,901 unmarried 21-year-olds:

The study found that youth exposed to a drug abuse education program were significantly less likely as young adults to either engage in sex with multiple partners or to have unprotected sex because of drug and alcohol use than their peers who had not received the training.

Young adults exposed to Project ALERT were both less likely to have sex with multiple partners (44 percent versus 50 percent) and to have unprotected sex because of drug use (27 percent versus 32 percent) than their peers who had not been exposed to the program.

The effect of drug prevention education on teen sex isn't ideal, as the RAND researchers noted that about 71 percent of the study subjects reported not using condoms every time they had sex -- a percentage that was not altered by exposure to Project ALERT.

Unsafe sex is one of many dangerous behaviors that threaten the healthy development of many young people. Other dangers include drug use, alcohol abuse, tobacco use, poor school attendance, and inappropriate behaviors -- problems that some young people are unable to overcome until begin to work with therapeutic personnel who staff a teen substance abuse program.

Labels: drug use, prevention, schools, sex, teenagers

Some Ohio teenagers got a dramatic look at the devastation that can result from drug and alcohol abuse during a "Party House" event that was staged by several drug prevention teams and organizations in the Dayton area. Writer Quest Lakes described the event in the May 6 edition of the Dayton Courier:

Several teens were sprawled on the floor in handcuffs, CPR was being performed on one teen, while oxygen was being administered to another. The scene was a dramatization of how unsupervised teen parties can -- and do -- go terribly wrong. ...

A different unpleasant scene awaited the tour participants in each room: the teen actors dramatized alcohol poisoning, overdose from prescription drugs, drunken fights, alcohol related injuries and marijuana and cocaine use.

Adults in recovery, members of Healthy Communities Coalition and Central Lyon Youth Connections, and representatives from Lyon Sheriff's Office debriefed participants at the end of each tour. They also offered suggestions about long-term strategies to reduce underage drinking and other drug use in the county.

Teen drug and alcohol use remains a significant problem throughout the nation, but a number of residential recovery programs have helped young people overcome their addictions and resume the pursuit of their greatest potential.

Labels: alcohol_abuse, drug_abuse, prevention

A German child guidance specialist is advising parents to remain calm if they discover that their child has experimented with marijuana.

Andreas Engel from Germany's Bundeskonferenz fuer Erziehungsberatung ... says parents should inform themselves about marijuana’s main active ingredient, THC.

Only then is it a good idea to raise the matter with your child and talk about the effects of smoking the substance. If you are strictly against smoking cannabis, you should make that perfectly clear and ban its use. ...

Cannabis-smoking teenagers are demonstrating to themselves and their peers that they can break conventions. They're also testing the limits of their independence from the norms of the adult world and showing their affiliation to a youth sub-culture,” says Engel. (Source: Earth Times)

Parents should be consistent in educating their children about the health issues, legal consequences, and other negative aspects of illegal drug use among young people.

Labels: marijuana, parents, teen_drug_use

Young people in greater Manchester, England, are abusing solvents with increasing frequency, which has substance abuse workers concerned. The number of referrals and information requests regarding solvent abuse rose significantly in April.

"Sniffing gases, glues or aerosols kills at least one person every week in the UK… Substance abuse workers are now trying to raise the public’s awareness of the potentially lethal practice." Source: Wigan Today (Manchester, England)

Inhalant abuse among youth continues to be a problem in the United States as well as in the UK. Substances used for sniffing are often found in the home and are easily accessible. "Sniffing" causes a temporary drop in oxygen flow to the brain, which creates a temporary feeling of intoxication or euphoria. Unfortunately, it can also cause brain damage, especially if done repeatedly.

Labels: inhalents, teen_drug_use

Teens who smoke marijuana may be self-medicating for legitimate medical conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, insomnia, and anxiety, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Joan Bortoff and her colleagues surveyed 63 adolescents who reported having smoked marijuana on a daily basis. About a third of the adolescents who were surveyed said they had stopped taking prescription drugs such as Ritalin and Prozac for various conditions and substituted marijuana instead. Marijuana was immediately effective in relieving anxiety and other conditions, and did not cause as many side effects as their prescription drugs.

"They did not like how these drugs made them feel or found them ineffective," Dr. Bortoff said. "For these kids, the purpose of smoking marijuana was not specifically about getting high or stoned."

This study appeared in the journal Substance Abuse, Treatment, Prevention & Policy.

Labels: adhd, anxiety, marijuana, medications, teen_drug_use

Yet another scientific study using MRI technology has linked teenage binge drinking to brain damage.

Professor Susan Tapert of the University of California, San Diego, performed brain scans on 28 people ages 16 to 19 years old. Half of Prof. Taper's subjects were binge drinkers who got drunk often. This group had lower levels of white matter fiber coherence in 18 separate areas of their brains. White matter is critical for the relay of information within the brain.

"Because the brain is still developing during adolescence, there has been concern that it may be more vulnerable to high doses of alcohol," Dr. Tapert said.

Government surveys show that about 55 percent of all high school seniors say they have been drunk once in the past year, and about 25 percent report drinking five drinks in a row during the past two weeks.

This study appeared in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Labels: alcohol_abuse, binge drinking, brain_damage, teenage_drinking