Use of alcohol, marijuana, and Ecstasy is increasing among teenagers, according to a study by MetLife Foundation and the Partnership for a Drug Free America. However, the good news was there was no significant increase in teen abuse of over-the-counter cough medicines and prescription drugs.

• Researchers interviewed 32 to hundred teenagers in grades nine through 12, and 800 parents in 2009.
  
• 39 percent of the students reported drinking in the past month, an increase of 11 percent the year before.
  
• There was a 67 percent increase in teens using Ecstasy, and a 19 percent increase in teens using marijuana.
  

The results were disappointing, because teen drug and alcohol use had been dropping off consistently in the past 10 years.

Labels: drug use, alcohol, marijuana, ecstasy

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A report released last month has found an usually high number of Ecstasy-related deaths among young people. The report, generated by Professor Fabrizio Schifano at the University of Hertfordshire, appeared in the online version of Neuropsychobiology.

"Professor Schifano and his colleagues at St Georges, University of Londons International Centre for Drug Policy, which runs the National Programme [sic] on Substance Abuse Deaths (np-SAD), reviewed stimulant-related deaths from the np-SAD database and from the British Crime Survey2001-2007," the medical news site ScienceDaily reported.

Study of the database and crime survey found that there was almost as many Ecstasy-related deaths as there were amphetamine and methylamphetamine-related deaths combined. Of equal concern was the fact that most of the Ecstasy deaths were young, healthy people.

Labels: ecstasy, death

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A West Vancouver (Canada) teenager who left her home after telling her mother that she was going to the movies was found dead later that night at the Edmonds SkyTrain station. The cause of death appeared to be a drug overdose.

"Jenni was the second teenager to die suddenly within the past month in circumstances that suggest illegal drugs might have been involved."

Though autopsy reports haven't returned yet, police suspect Ecstasy is to blame for the teen's death. Authorities hope the tragedy will serve to remind adolescents about the dangers of drug use. Source: The Province (Canada)

Labels: ecstasy, teens, overdose

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In the Oct. 24 edition of the Sacramento Bee newspaper, a teenager wrote to the advice columnist for information about the club drug Ecstasy. Everyone she knows uses the drug, the writer reported - and though she's never tried it herself, she's curious, and wants to know about the side effects and how the drug works.

"The drug also has potentially dangerous long-term psychotic effects. Research has shown it may cause confusion and memory loss, depression, anxiety, paranoia, mania, sleeplessness and psychotic episodes. This can occur weeks and even months after the drug has been used."

In addition to long-term dangers, immediate effects of Ecstasy use include erratic heart rate, loss of inhibitions, over-heating and dehydration (which can be so severe that it causes seizures.) Source: The Sacramento Bee

Labels: ecstasy, drug_abuse, side-effects

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