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 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

About 40 percent of teenagers with depression do not initially respond to a drug regimen of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Common drugs in this class of anti-depressants include Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil.

Researchers led by UCLA Professor Joan Asarow studied 334 depressed teenagers who did not improve with SSRI therapy. These teens were divided into four groups

• One group switched to different forms of SSRIs.
• The second group took Venlafaxine, an anti-depressant in a different family of drugs.
• The third group took SSRIs plus cognitive behavior therapy.
• The fourth group took Venlafaxine plus cognitive behavior therapy.

The members of the third and fourth groups showed the most improvement. Many of them had coexisting disorders such as anxiety or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder along with depression. The combination of drugs and therapy did not help many teens with high levels of hopelessness or histories of abuse.

This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Labels: depression, medications, therapy

By introducing House Bill 1165, legislators in the state of Washington hope to require pharmaceutical companies to offer statewide collection and disposal of unused medications.

"This is not a new idea - medicine makers have been operating successful take-back programs in Canada, France, Spain, and elsewhere for many years. British Columbia's program, for example, has been operating since 1996 and is fully paid for by the pharmaceutical industry."

Prescription drug abuse is becoming an increasing problem among teenagers, primarily because the drugs are so easily obtained. In Washington, pharmaceuticals are the drug-of-choice among 12- and 13-year olds, exceeding alcohol and marijuana. Source: The Herald (WA)

Labels: legislation, medications, prescription_drugs

Two researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine are working to develop a vaccine against cocaine addiction. For the first time, people who become addicted to cocaine may be able to take a medication that will stop their desire for the drug. The vaccine is being developed by the husband and wife team of Dr. Tom Kosten, a psychiatry professor, and his wife Therese, a psychologist and neuroscientist. The vaccine is currently in clinical trials.

The vaccine works by stimulating the immune system to attack when cocaine is taken. Normally, cocaine molecules would be too small to trigger a reaction by the immune system; however, researchers at Baylor have created the vaccine by attaching inactivated cocaine molecules to inactivated cholera proteins. As a result, the body experiences an immune response to the cholera, and subsequently to plain cocaine as well. Antibodies attach to the drug and keep it from getting to the user's brain. If the drug cannot reach the user's brain, the user will not experience a high.

David Eagleman, another Baylor neuroscientist, commented on the project's unique approach:

"It's a very clever idea. ... Scientists have spent the last few decades figuring out reward pathways in the brain and how drugs like cocaine hijack the system. It turns out those pathways are difficult to rewire once they've seen the drug. But the vaccine just circumvents all that."

(Sources: www.msnbc.msn.com)

Labels: cocaine, medications, vaccine

A study published last month by the French university CNRS/Université de Poitiers indicates that environmental factors play a large role in the successful treatment of addiction. Specifically, the study found that "positive and stimulating environmental conditions" improved the success rate for treating cocaine addiction and preventing relapse in laboratory rats. Researchers found that exposing the animals to an environment which encouraged physical and social activity, allowed exploration, and stimulated their curiosity during cocaine withdrawal minimized abnormal behavior related to addiction. (Source: ScienceDaily.com)

Labels: addiction, medications, treatment

A new study of animal brains shows that subtle differences in brain circuitry can explain why some animals become addicted to nicotine and others do not. Scientists at the University of Western Ontario have also been able to reverse this process and make nicotine unpleasant to rats formerly addicted to it.

Studies published last year found that some teenagers could become smokers after just one experimental cigarette while others find the experience unpleasant. The Canadian animal studies indicate that the key to understanding why this happens may have to do with "nucleus accumbens" or areas in the reward circuitry of the brain.

Dr. Steven Laviolette, writing in the journal Neuroscience, said, "If we can develop pharmacological treatments to target those regions, we can basically affect the development of nicotine addiction by controlling the brain's perception of nicotine's rewarding effects."

Labels: addiction, medications, prevention

The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) has been awarded a $3.4 million grant to develop drugs that may be effective in helping people overcome cocaine addiction. The four-year grant will help researchers continue their work on this first-of-its-kind addiction treatment.

"Led by the director of UTMB's Center for Addiction Research, Kathryn A. Cunningham, the effort centers on components of the brain's electrochemical signaling system that laboratory research suggests are crucially linked to success or failure in recovering from cocaine addiction."

More specifically, the research focuses on two serotonin receptors – designated 5-HT2C and 5-HT2A – that appear to affect addiction cravings and behavior. The program itself is divided into three parts; clinical research, neurobiology, and drug-design. Read more at MediLexicon.com.

Labels: medications, research, treatment

The Calhoun County Medicine Abuse Prevention Task Force was formed in 2005, as the county became aware of the increasing abuse of prescription medication. Now, the task force is urging parents, teachers and community leaders to educate themselves on the dangers of prescription drug use and the warning signs.

"Signs of a medicine abuse problem may include: hiding pills, obsessively counting them, doctor shopping, or frequent visits to emergency rooms, having meds filled at more than one pharmacy, taking a greater amount of drug or taking it more frequently than prescribed."

The greatest danger in prescription drug use is that many people, especially teenagers, think that prescribed medicine is safer than illegal drugs. Pain killers are currently the most common among misused prescription drugs.

Labels: abuse, medications, prescription_drugs

A grassroots campaign called Five Moms launched today, in an effort to educate parents about the very real dangers of cough-medicine abuse among teenagers. The campaign was developed by the nation's cough-medicine makers, who conducted a nationwide search to find the Five Moms.

"The Five Moms Campaign will use the very same tactics medicine abusers are using: spreading and promoting information on the Internet. The Five Moms' goal is to get the word out to as many parents as possible that cough medicine abuse is happening in their homes, and that the Internet is a driving force."

Recent studies have shown that as many as one in 10, or 2.4 million young people, report having used cough-medicine to get high. Read more online.

Over the counter drugs and teens don't mix. Today's teenagers are using and abusing prescription medicines as never before. Get more help for parents of troubled teens at ByParents-forParents.com.

Labels: medications, over-the-counter-drugs, prescription_drugs

Because substance abuse is prevalent among people with ADHD, doctors have struggled to determine which should be treated first and how best to treat them simultaneously. Scott H. Kollins, Ph.D, of Duke University recently presented his recommendations at the U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress meeting.

"In assessment of ADHD, Dr. Kollins suggested collecting a detailed substance abuse history, particularly for high-risk patients - adolescents, those with a family history of substance abuse, and those with comorbid conduct disorder or antisocial personality disorder."

Patients who are at a higher risk for substance abuse should be monitored more closely, and there are alternative medications available for use to treat the ADHD symptoms. The stimulant medication Vyvanse was recently approved by the FDA and is believed to have much less abuse potential than other medications. Read more at PsychiatricTimes.com.

Labels: adhd, medications, stimulants