Creatine -- a type of nitrogen that aids in muscle contraction -- occurs naturally in the human body. It's produced by the liver, kidneys and pancreas. But it is also available as a dietary supplement, and an increasing number of teenage athletes are starting to use this substance.

"It's considered a 'natural' way to enhance performance," reports My Optum Health Instead of building muscle tissue like anabolic steroids, creatine helps the muscles work for a longer time. [Creating use] seems to be most helpful for people who do sports that demand short bursts of speed or power, such as sprinting or weightlifting."

Though not a steroid, creatine has prompted many of the concerns that are associated with steroid use and other types of drug abuse by young athletes.

For example, parents and medical professionals are concerned about the effects creatine may have on adolescent bodies, especially in long-term users. In addition, because creatine is a supplement and not a drug, it isn't regulated, which means there are no quality or safety standards that have to be met. Some health experts also worry that it may strain and damage the kidneys.

Labels: steroids, abuse, creatine

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The University of Louisiana at Monroe has been awarded a $385,000 aimed at improving the Fourth Judicial District's handling of teen substance abuse.

According to a July 20 article by Stephen Largen of NewsStar.com, the two-year grant will be used for the following purposes:

• Providing and improving family counseling, group therapy, substance abuse treatment and drug screening for the juvenile drug court.
• Providing drug screening and needs assessment at the point of intake into the 4th District juvenile justice system.
• Creating a partnership with the Children's Coalition on a parenting program for parents of children involved in the juvenile justice system.
• Working with the Youth Services Planning Board to create a master plan for youth services in the 4th District.

"We spent an awful lot of money in years past on programs that just didn't produce outcomes  they just didn't work," Lynda Gavioli, executive director of the Children's Coalition for Northeast Louisiana told NewsStar.com. "The grant will help to align and coordinate the services."

Labels: prevention, drug_abuse

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The United States government is now focusing on getting teenagers to stop abusing prescription and over-the-counter drugs. It is no longer emphasizing marijuana abuse, and some people are criticizing that decision.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy has directed that its entire annual budget of some $14 million be used to combat prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America has not produced a single anti-marijuana ad in the last four years.

Prescription drug abuse accounts for more than 10,000 accidental deaths a year and is a secondary cause of another 1680. Marijuana use, on the other hand, does not cause any deaths.

"The bottom line is that opiates and stimulants are much more addictive than marijuana," said Professor Mitch Earleywine of the State University of New York. "Maybe nine percent of marijuana users develop problems, compared to 14 to 20 percent of prescription drug abusers, who end up saying they cannot quit or report withdrawal symptoms when they want to stop."

However, the numbers of people who try either marijuana or over-the-counter prescription drugs is about the same -- around two million per year.

• One of the problems cited by anti-marijuana advocates is that the marijuana in use today is a much stronger variety than what was used in the past.
• Teen marijuana use is considered especially dangerous because the brains of people under the age of 25 are still developing, and marijuana is linked to brain damage.
• According to a 2004 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, todays marijuana is so strong that it is causing more people to get addicted.
• Now that people have access to very high potency marijuana, the game is different," warned Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Dr. Richard Rosenthal, chair of the psychiatry department at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital and a professor at Columbia University, said that people are underplaying the dangers of marijuana, especially those who want to legalize it.

"We need to be very mindful of what we are unleashing out of a Pandora's Box," he said. "The people who become chronic users do not have the same lives and the same achievements as people who do not use chronically."

People seeking treatment for marijuana abuse increased from 12 percent of all those in treatment in 1997 to 16 percent in 2007.

Some psychiatrists and psychologists want "Cannabis Withdrawal Syndrome" to be included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Labels: health_problems, marijuana, dangers-of-drug-use

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College boys are just as likely to experience violence on campus as are college girls, according to a report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

"We've known that drinking increases the risk of perpetuating violence," said the study's leader, Professor Elizabeth Saewyc of the University of British Columbia. "In this study we found alcohol consumption puts both young men and women at higher risk of being victimized."

• The study found that 17 percent of college men and 16 percent of college women reported emotional or physical violence in the past six months.
• Half the emotional and 20 percent of the physical violence came from romantic partner.
• Sixty percent of the men reported violence associated with drinking, compared to only 30 percent of the females in the study.

The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Labels: alcohol_abuse, college_students, violence

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According to the Partnership for a Drug Free America, 20 percent of all teenagers have abuse prescription painkillers, stimulants or tranquilizers. Young people are turning to prescription medication because they wrongly think these substances are safer to abuse than are illicit drugs.

Writing in the Alternative Health Journal, AHJ editor Sylvia Anderson addressed the problems that can result from this misguided mindset:

Using prescriptive drugs for the wrong reasons can lead to very serious health risks especially if taken with other substances like alcohol, antihistamines, and ... depressants.

Moreover, there are many variations of the same medication and the abuser may not be aware of which one they have taken, how long it will remain in the body and the dangers of it interacting with other chemicals. ...

Taking prescriptive drugs in the wrong way can manifest into very dangerous consequences. For example, Ritalin seems harmless for children with ADHD but it is extremely harmful when snorted or injected.

Abusing painkillers to get high is like abusing heroin because both contain opiates. Since many pills look the same, the dosages manifest in varying effects from mild to lethal.

A teenager who is abusing prescription medication will try to hide the abuse. A change in behavior, change in friends, drop in grades or changes in mood could all indicate that a teen is abusing medication.

Labels: prescription drugs, abuse, signs

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Experts on adolescent drinking are looking for reasons why binge drinking among college students is so much more common than is excessive drinking among people the same age who aren't enrolled in college.

Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row on one occasion.

Since the drinking age was raised to 21 years old by all states in the 1980s, binge drinking has declined in the group ages 18 to 24 years old, except among college students, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

• In the last 27 years, binge drinking among men ages 18 to 20 years old not enrolled in college dropped by 30 percent.
• However, binge drinking remained statistically the same among college men the same age, and increased slightly among college women, according to this study from Washington University School of Medicine.
• The survey found that 83 percent of college students drink and 41 percent admit to binge drinking over the last two weeks.

Some people believe that life on campus encourages heavy drinking, because of peer pressure, a lack of parental supervision, and having older friends who can buy alcohol for underage students.

Last year more than 100 college presidents called for lowering the legal drinking age to 18 years old, under the theory that students would be less likely to engage in secret binge drinking if it became legal. Groups such as Mothers against Drunk Driving, insurance companies, and police organizations do not want the legal drinking age lowered.

Labels: binge drinking, college_students

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Fathers who drink too much put their sons at greater risk for teen alcohol and drug abuse, according to a new government study of more than 9,500 father and son pairs:

• Researchers from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that 38 percent of male teenagers whose fathers abuse alcohol also drink.
• Among those whose fathers drank moderately, only 33 percent of their sons use alcohol.
• Among those whose fathers drank not at all, only 21 percent use alcohol. The teenagers in the study were ages 12 to 17 years old.

A father's abuse of alcohol also put a son at greater risk for drug abuse. Among teens in the study whose fathers abused alcohol, 24 percent said they used drugs. Among those whose fathers abstained from drinking, 14 percent reported having tried drugs.

The SAMHSA researchers used data drawn from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which collected responses from 11,056 fathers and 9,537 father-child respondent pairs between 2002 and 2007.

Labels: teen_drug_use, alcohol_abuse, parents, drug_abuse, fathers

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John Tegano knows firsthand, the dangers of abusing prescription drugs such as OxyContin. At just 24 years old, Tegano is a recovering addict and former dealer.

In an interview with Amy Fletcher of the Juneau (Alaska) Empire, Tegano said he hopes that sharing his story will help young people -- especially those who typically ignore warnings about the dangers of drug use abuse.

"Though Oxy use usually starts off as a way to have fun, need soon supplants choice, Tegano told Fletcher for her June 14 article. "I will tell you first-hand that this has ruined my life so far. ... I'm trying to get people to realize what can happen -- what you lose, what happens to you."

Tegano has just completed a two-year jail sentence, and claims to be free from drugs after a three-year struggle to overcome his addiction. Though he's about to head home to his family in Nevada, he told Fletcher that he had to tell his story first. When Tegano returns home, he said, he intends to try and help some of his friends who, he says, are still struggling with drug addictions.

Labels: addiction, drug_abuse, warnings

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Prescription Drugs Leading Killer in NC Counties

In Northwest North Carolina counties, someone dies almost every week from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Wilkes County, North Carolina had one of the nation's highest rates of prescription drug-related deaths in 2008.

It's a trend shared by other rural counties in Northwest North Carolina. There were more than 22 deaths per 100,000 people in parts of the mountains and foothills in 2006-2007, compared with 10 deaths per 100,000 in the rest of the state, according to the N.C. State Center for Health Statistics.

In Surry County, Sheriff Graham Atkinson said that prescription-drug overdoses are one of the most serious drug problems they have. ...

He's infuriated about thieves who target elderly people who have legally prescribed medication for legitimate use. "We've had older folks tell us they hide their medicine in their underwear to keep their grandkids from stealing it," he said. (Source: Winston-Salem Journal, June 10)

Wilkes County Sheriff Mastin told reporter Monte Mitchell that the current economic downturn is making the prescription drug abuse problem even worse.

Experts warn that people who are using prescription medications for medically authorized purposes need to properly dispose of any unused so the drugs don't end up in the hands of someone who will misuse them. Adults should also always monitor how much medication they have left, so they know if any is missing.

Labels: prescription drugs

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In an aftermath of an academic year during which students committed 57 in-school drug- or alcohol-related violations occurred, Oregon's Lincoln County School District has announced the adoption of a new program that may result in financial penalties the parents of student-athletes who fall afoul of school rules.

A June 30 article by Larry Coonrod of the South Lincoln County News provided a look at the district's contract with the Life Of an Athlete (LOA) program:

Instead of just signing a permission slip for their students to participate in athletics, LOA requires parents to attend a mandatory meeting on the program before signing a contract acknowledging their understanding.

Students who violate the student code of ethics will be required to meet with a substance abuse evaluator at the family's expense, meet with law enforcement officials, and write a letter of apology. ...

Wendy Rudy, the LOA coordinator, said the program has a strong educational component, and is more than just negative consequences for violations.

"It addresses chemical health," she said. "What students don't know is that one night of binge drinking destroys 14 days of training. That's something for them to think about, all that work training can be gone in a night."

The County News article also noted that a recent survey of Oregon youth found that 25 percent admitted to past-month marijuana use, and 45 percent said they had consumed alcohol during the same time period.

Labels: alcohol_abuse, drug use, students, athletics

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The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the fight against teen substance abuse cannot include strip-searches in cases that don't involve reasonable suspiscions or risks of imminent danger.

The victor in the case was Savana Redding, an Arizona teenager who was 13 years old when she was strip-searched by school personnel.

School authorities suspected that Redding was bringing an over-the-counter painkiller (Advil) to Safford Middle School, and supplying friends with it. The school principal made Savana submit to a search that included removing her undergarments. No drugs were found.

"What was missing from the suspected facts that pointed to Savana was any indication of danger to the students from the power of the drugs or their quantity, and any reason to suppose that Savana was carrying pills in her underwear," Justice David Souter wrote in the majority opinion.

The justices who dissented said that the decision could work against school authorities who trying to keep drugs out of their schools.

Labels: prescription drugs, courts

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Nicholas Blocks grandmother doesnt think he would have wanted his friends to wear black to his funeral. So shes asked them not to. Nick died of a drug overdose earlier this month, and his friends are helping plan the funeral.

"Nicks grandparents gave their blessing for his friends to organize a Celebration of Life service at the North Jetty in Venice beach," The Charlotte Sun reported. "There, his friends will remember Nicholas."

The circumstances surrounding Block's death were described in a June 28 article on the HeraldTribune.com website:

On Friday [June 26], the Herald-Tribune reported that an autopsy showed the teen-ager had opiates, cocaine and tranquilizers in his system. Those findings are consistent with reports from witnesses and police that Block had snorted crushed oxycodone, a potent narcotic painkiller, prior to his death.

The circumstances surrounding Block's death indicate how accessible powerful prescription drugs have become. When police found Block's body, they also found supplies of oxycodone, evidence of illegal drugs and his mother, who was unconscious. Witnesses told police that, on the night of the death, Block asked his stepfather for oxycodone. ...

Last week, Block's mother and stepfather -- Linda and Billy Jack Courtright -- were charged with conspiring to sell oxycodone, in addition to previous charges of child neglect.

Block's friends are also helping pay for his funeral, which will cost about $3,000, and which his grandparents  who raised him  cannot afford.

Labels: prescription drugs, death, overdose

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Attempting to describe the many health and developmental dangers of drinking alcohol to a young person may be an exercise in futility, but a new Canadian study may help to put the risk in terms that are stark enough to capture a teen's attention: Every 15 seconds, someone dies because of alcohol.

This finding was described in a June 27 Examiner.com post by Carl Lowe:

A few sips of wine may be good for your heart, but alcohol-related disease and accidents take a life every 15 seconds according to research from the Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Researchers found that disorders linked to drinking wine, beer, whiskey, mixed drinks, etc are among the most disabling diseases in the world. The problems are especially problematic for men although women have been drinking more during the past decade.

Unlike other diseases, the risks linked to drinking frequently kill young people.

No one statistic will be enough to end the scourge of teen alcohol abuse, but information such as the data collected during the Canadian study may help bolster parents' efforts to keep their kids away from alcohol and other drugs.

Labels: health_problems, alcohol, death

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Every parent of a teenager is likely aware of the saying that "actions speak louder than words." This is true of issues ranging from the way to you speak to your spouse to your attitude toward alcohol.

As pointed out in a June 26 article by the Maine organization Healthy Communities of the Capital Area, certain attitudes and behaviors of adults that may make alcohol more appealing to a teen.

"These actions are ones that many parents engage in," the organization reported, and while it may not be our intent to encourage underage drinking, some of these actions and behaviors may do just that":

• Making lighthearted or joking comments about other people's heavy drinking.
  
• Wearing T-shirts, baseball caps, etc. that advertise or promote drinking and/or specific brands of alcohol.
  
• Offering alcohol to your teen as a "special treat" for celebrations or family gatherings.
  
• Telling funny or glorified stories about you or your friends' drinking antics when you were younger.
  
• Watching television with your child, and laughing at scenes where alcohol is being abused.

Taken on their own, each of these behaviors may seem harmless to you. But when your children watch you say and do these things, they may get the idea that drinking alcohol is not only acceptable, but even expected.

Make sure that youre modeling the type of behavior you would want to see in your own kids.

Labels: teenage_drinking, parental_involvement

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