Rates of teen alcohol abuse rise during the summer between high school and college, according to Dr. Mark Wood, a professor of psychology at the University of Rhode Island.

• Dr. Wood's research indicates that most American teenagers begin to drink by age 15 years old, but their consumption increases during that summer and their first semester of college.
• This occurs even among students whose parents establish rules and provide emotional support.
• Dr. Willett and his colleagues studied the drinking habits of 1000 incoming college freshmen, and then showed them how their habits compared to others their age.
• Some students received a Brief Motivational Intervention at the beginning of the study.

About 28 percent of the students did not drink at all, and many were surprised to learn the percent was so high. Heavy drinkers who got the intervention tended to cut back on their alcohol consumption. Moderate drinkers were less likely to transition into heavy drinking or develop alcohol-related problems if they participated in the intervention.

The study appears in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
 

Labels: alcohol_abuse, students, college

Posted By: Adolescent Substance Abuse 1 Comment

Random drug testing in high schools may cause a slight short-term reduction in drug abuse among students, but it has no long-range impact, according to a new report from the Department of Education.

• Researchers studied 36 high schools.
• In half the schools, students underwent random drug testing; students were not tested in the other schools.
• Random testing reduced drug use from 22% to 17% among students enrolled in athletics and other extracurricular activities.
• However, the tests had no impact on other students, and no impact on their plans to use drugs in the future.

Thirty-six percent of students reported using drugs in the past month, and 33% said they would "probably" or "definitely" use drugs in the future.

The implication of this study is that random drug testing is not an effective means of reducing student drug use.
 

Labels: schools, students, drug testing

Posted By: Adolescent Substance Abuse 1 Comment

A study of laboratory animals found that consuming too much alcohol in adolescence could lead to osteoporosis and bone loss in adulthood.

• Researchers at Loyola University in Chicago exposed rats to large amounts of alcohol during their "teenage" years.
• Some receive the equivalent of one acute episode of binge drinking; others received amounts that would qualify as chronic binge drinking.
• The control group received only solutions instead of alcohol.

The "chronic binge group" showed changes in 300 genes, 180 were related to bones. They had damaged skeletons in adulthood.

The study appears in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.
 

Labels: health_problems, binge drinking

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 0 Comments

A person is twice as likely to have a stroke within the first hour of drinking alcohol, according to a new study from Harvard University.

The research team studied 390 stroke patients and found that the risk of stroke increased 2.3 times after alcohol consumption. This is probably related to the way that blood pressure rises and blood platelets become stickier after drinking alcohol.

This study was published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
 

Labels: health_problems, alcohol

Posted By: CRC Health Group 0 Comments

More suburbanites are experimenting with heroin, according to a new study of Chicago residents from Roosevelt University. Inner-city users tend to be middle aged and African-American. Suburban abusers of heroin tend to be under age 25 and white.

Chicago has the highest number of hospital admissions related to heroin in the United States. In 2008, Chicago hospitals recorded 24,000 such admissions, along with an increase in death by overdose.

Heroin is available in the suburbs for as little as $10. The young people usually start abusing prescription drugs that are opium-based, such as Vicodin and OxyContin, before they use heroin.

"I feel like we're seeing them transition from prescriptions a few years earlier than we did a few years ago," said Dr. David Lott, medical director of addiction treatment at Linden Oaks Hospital. Dr. Lott said he was concerned by the number of youth who were injecting the drug instead of snorting it.
 

Labels: young_adults, heroin

Posted By: Adolescent Substance Abuse 1 Comment

WeeWorld is an online virtual world where people can create “mini-Wees” that interact with each other in contrived, internet-generated environments. About 36 million people, most of them teenagers, have registered with WeeWorld, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America is now using the site to reach teens.

“The centerpiece of the campaign was an actual young adult named JT who is in recovery from substance abuse and addiction. Through his custom-designed WeeMee, home page and room, JT visually interacted with a growing base of over 20,000 teen friends, posted messages and shared weekly scenarios drawn from CheckYourself.com.” [Source: PR Newswire]

The online character also shared drug use prevention videos from the wreckED program – an educational campaign also created by the Partnership. Over 200,000 items have been downloaded from JT’s homepage, including skateboards, TVs and posters. The virtual items are downloaded by other users whose Wee characters wear or display them in a show of support.

Labels: awareness, internet, social_system

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 0 Comments

A new study out of Brigham Young University finds that parenting style can influence the degree to which teenagers participate in binge drinking. Nearly 5,000 teenagers were asked about their relationships with their parents, and their drinking habits.

“The teens least prone to heavy drinking had parents who scored high on both accountability and warmth. So-called ‘indulgent’ parents, those low on accountability and high on warmth, nearly tripled the risk of their teen participating in heavy drinking. ‘Strict’ parents – high on accountability and low on warmth – more than doubled their teen’s risk of heavy drinking.” [Source: Red Orbit]

Parental accountability was defined as knowing where and how kids spent their time and who they spent it with. Previous studies had shown that parents have some influence over whether their teens try alcohol, but this study shows that they have an even strong influence over the degree to which their children drink.

Labels: parental_involvement, binge drinking

Posted By: Adolescent Substance Abuse 1 Comment

St. Clair County, Michigan has launched a campaign aimed at adults who provide alcohol to teenagers. While teens may like the idea of having the “cool parent” who hosts parties and lets kids drink, that parent could end up in jail. A new ad campaign sends a warning.

Billboards have been seen throughout the county, with [Sheriff Tim] Donnellon and [Prosecutor Mike] Wendling photographed standing in front of the bars of the old county jail, with this caption: "Provide alcohol to minors and the party stops here."[Source: The Times Herald (MI)]

Studies have shown that the younger a child is when he starts drinking, the more likely he will become an alcoholic. In addition, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism states that about 5,000 minors die every year as a result of underage drinking. Some overdose, other are killed in car and other accidents.

Labels: teenage_drinking, parents, laws

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 1 Comment

A new study has found that teenagers consume more alcohol during the summer before they start college than during any other time in their adolescence. In general, teen alcohol abuse also increases during the summer, with the months between high school and college seeing the most dramatic rises in this dangerous behavior.

“University of Rhode Island Psychology Professor Mark Wood advises parents to monitor their children – know where they are, whom they are with and what they are doing. He said ‘this type of monitoring, particularly in combination with an emotionally supportive parenting style, is associated with less drinking and few alcohol-related problems…’” [Source: Hindustan Times]

The tendency among teens to drink right before college was consistent regardless of parenting style, but teens whose parents were both supportive and set boundaries drank less than their counterparts.

Labels: alcohol_abuse, summer, college

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 0 Comments

Ritalin, a drug commonly used to treat Attention Deficity Hyperactivity Disorder, may be helpful in the treatment of substance abuse, according to a new study from Yale University.

Researchers found that people who took Ritalin were better able to control their impulses. By using brain scans, the Yale team also found that Ritalin produces changes in the brain areas that reflect inhibitory control, an area crucial to "behavioral control during emotionally difficult situations."

This study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
 

Labels: treatment, ritalin

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 1 Comment

Referred to more commonly as “NRG 1,” naphyrone is similar to mephedrone, and can be legally purchased. It is also linked to the deaths of several young people in the U.K., which has led an advisory council to call for its ban.

“ACMD [Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs] chairman, professor Les Iversen, said ‘Naphyrone is a drug with the potential to cause real harm due to its potency and associated health effects... Test purchasing has demonstrated that what you think you are buying is not often what is in the packet.’” [Source: Telegraph (UK)]

Test purchasing revealed that many products promoted as NG-1 are laced with other chemicals, some of which are potentially deadly. In addition, even though it’s often referred to as a “legal” drug, it isn’t.

Labels: prevention, laws

Posted By: Adolescent Substance Abuse 0 Comments

Though it’s not prevalent enough to be called a “trend,” a new type of substance abuse has made healdines in the last few months – the “digital” high. Sometimes called i-Dosing, the “digital drugs” are soun -bytes that their sellers claim simulate the effects of getting high. But do they?

Reports of digital drug abuse among U.S. youth maybe more hype than truth.

The technology behind digital drugs dates back to 1839. Prussian physicist Heinrich W. Dove discovered if two sounds are played at slightly different frequencies, one to each ear through a set of headphones, the brain would perceive a subsonic pulse called a binaural beat…

Sellers of digital drugs claim their binaural beats will produce the same effect as drugs of substance…

"Those claims are out there, but there is no science whatsoever that supports that the binaural beat, or this auditory phenomenon, will change the brain chemistry in the same way that drugs of abuse will change," says Dr. Glen Hanson. Source: KSL 5 News (Salt Lake City)

Though digital drugs themselves may not produce illicit-drug-like effects, doctors agree the primary concern is that kids are trying them. And if they’re curious enough to try digital drugs, trying the real things may be the next step.

Labels: drug use, internet

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 1 Comment