On Tuesday, August 25, East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma will host a discussion on alcohol and substance abuse. This discussion will feature Reggie Whitten, a father who lost a son to drug addiction.

His multimedia presentation will be open to the public at no charge and will be geared toward substance abuse counselors as well as educating students. ...

When Whitten's son, Brandon, died in a motorcycle accident in 2002, Whitten was devastated. He has said he was 'a walking dead man' who was just trying to find a reason to live. -- Source: Ada (OK) Evening News

Whitten's son, who had been addicted to prescription drugs, died at the age of 25. Out of that tragedy, the Whitten-Newman Foundation was formed and now works to educate young people on the dangers of abusing drugs and alcohol.

Whittens presentation at ECU will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Estep Multimedia Center in the University Center.

Labels: parents, addiction, death, fathers

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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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