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A group of Rhode Island volunteers is hoping to reduce teen drinking during the holiday season by harnessing the power of "sticker shock." The group is visiting local retailers of alcoholic beverages to paste brightly colored warning labels on cartons of beer and wine coolers and bottles of liquor.

The four-inch-wide stickers feature the phrase, "Think buying alcohol for someone under 21 is not a big deal? Think again." The stickers also list the state penalties for providing alcohol to minors. These penalties start with a $1,000 fine for a first offense, and continue on to jail time and more significant fines for subsequent incidents.

Mary Lou Serra, coordinator of the local Westerly Substance Abuse Task Force, commented: "The stickers are designed to make people think. The holidays are upon us. It's a great time of the year. But it's also a frightening time since statistics show that the holidays provide a perfect excuse for minors to drink ... [often] adults provide the kids with the alcohol. We want that practice to stop."

The group recently spent about $1,500 for 5,000 stickers.

(Source: www.projo.com)

Labels: alcohol, teen drinking

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A review of recent studies suggests that parental monitoring may be key in reducing teen use of marijuana. Psychologists Andrew Lac and William Crano from Claremont Graduate University reviewed 17 studies containing data on over 35,000 teens to examine the connection between parental monitoring and adolescent marijuana use. In all studies, parental monitoring was evaluated according to adolescent self-reporting, not parents' reports.

Lac and Crano found that there is a strong, consistent link between parental monitoring and decreased marijuana use in adolescents. The strongest results appeared in female-only studies, suggesting that girls in particular may benefit from parental monitoring. In their report, the authors wrote: "Our review suggests that parents are far from irrelevant, even when it comes to an illegal and often secretive behavior on the part of their children."

Chronic use of marijuana is associated with a number of negative outcomes, including depression, cognitive impairment, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer.

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Labels: marijuana, teen drug use

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According to a new study by the Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), fewer Ontario teenagers are drinking alcohol than a decade ago. However, binge drinking and use of marijuana haven't declined in recent years.

In 2009, approximately 58 percent of students in grades 7 to 12 reported drinking within the last year  a decrease of 8 percent since 1999. However, levels of pot use and binge drinking have remained steady since 2007. About one-fourth of Ontario teens reported binge drinking within one month of the survey, and one-fourth reported using marijuana within the past year.

Study co-author Robert Mann, a senior researcher on substance abuse at CAMH, commented on the results: "If you look over the past decade, you see a lot of decline of things like drinking, smoking, use of the harder drugs. That seems to stop this year. We're concerned that the declines appear to have slowed down or stopped and it's unclear what's going to happen next."

(Source: www.theglobeandmail.com)

Labels: alcohol, marijuana, binge drinking

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Over 400 police departments and other law enforcement agencies across New Jersey (in collaboration with the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey, the DEA and the state Attorney General's Office) are launching a new program to help parents prevent teen abuse of prescription drugs. The program, Operation Medicine Cabinet, provides locations where citizens can drop off unused prescription medications for safe disposal by law enforcement.

Angelo Valente, executive director of the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey, commented: "With Operation Medicine Cabinet, we are calling on residents to see their medicine cabinets through new eyes -- as an access point for potential misuse and abuse of over-the-counter and prescription medicine by young people."

According to a recent survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, prescription pain relievers have become more accessible to most young people than beer. The survey also found that for a majority of teens, the most common way to find those pills is to take them from their parents' medicine cabinets.

(Source: www.nj.com)

Labels: prescription-drug-abuse, painkillers, teen drug abuse

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In September 2007, 16-year-old Ana Rojas was dropped off by her father at her friend's house to spend the night. The next day, she was found dead of a "cheese" overdose, after spending the night out with friends. "Cheese," a mixture of Mexican black tar heroin and cold medicine, was readily available at the friend's apartment and at a party the teen attended, according to a witness.

Dallas County prosecutors are charging Victor Tellez, the brother of Ana's friend Julie, with delivering a controlled substance to a child in the death of Ana Rojas. Tellez faces life in prison if convicted.

According to Victoria Gonzales, 19, who testified at Tellez's trial, Ana snorted the drug at the Tellez apartment, at a party they went to and again upon returning to the apartment later that night. Ana, a 10th grader at a local charter school, also had marijuana and Xanax in her system, according to toxicology reports.

At least 32 people ages 18 or younger in Dallas County have died of "cheese" overdoses since 2005.

(Source: www.dallasnews.com)

Labels: drug overdose, drug-abuse, liability

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Mercer County, W. Va., is tackling adult crime by working with youthful offenders to keep them out of detention and get them the substance abuse counseling they need.

The court, which works with non-violent offenders from ages 10 to 17, is founded on the idea that helping offending teens to stop using substances will prevent the teens from committing future crimes, especially drug-related crimes. In order to participate in the teen drug court, youthful offenders must have a documented history of substance use or abuse.

The teen drug court coordinator and treatment team review the youth's history to ensure that the youth has not committed a violent crime. Youthful defendants who are given the opportunity to participate in the program are required to plead guilty to their non-violent, drug-related offenses and agree to face time in a correctional facility if they do not successfully complete the requirements of the program.

These requirements include regular court appearances, community service projects and mandated substance abuse treatment. Participating teens must also have a parent or guardian who is willing and able to attend required court appearances and counseling with the youth.

Mercer County Family Court Judge Anthony Bisaha commented: "A lot of our crimes, whether they're committed by adults or children, are related to substance abuse. If we stop children sooner, we can stop the crime and save the children, too. We see that we're teaching old dogs new tricks in the adult drug court, so we hope we can teach the young ones a better way of life."

(Source: www.bdtonline.com)

Labels: drug-abuse, teen substance abuse, drug-court, addiction treatment

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A new study indicates that teenage boys involved in high school team sports are more likely to fight and binge drink than their peers who are not. The study also indicates that teenage boys involved in team sports are less likely to get depressed or smoke. Male high school athletes were found to be 1.4 times more likely to binge drink and 1.3 times more likely to fight.

The results come from a study conducted by Ohio's Injury Prevention Center, Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital. Researchers presented the results this week at the American Public Health Association's annual meeting and emphasized that team sports participation can have "protective and risk-enhancing" effects on high school students.

Researcher Susan Connor commented: "There is a lot of rhetoric that promotes sports team participation as a complete positive -- something that has no negative effects. Sports participation is kind of almost rhetorically positioned as a panacea for social ills; it will stop crime and alcohol and drug use.

"But all the bits and pieces of evidence suggest that's not really true. Our hypothesis was that sports team participation would not be overwhelmingly positive but it would have positive and negative effects, which is just what we found."

(Source: www.reuters.com)

Labels: binge drinking, violence, sports

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Heroin abuse is on the rise across the United States and school authorities and parents are seeing the results. Heroin is now cheaper and purer than ever before.

According to local New York authorities, a small bag of heroin is cheaper than a six-pack of beer and is estimated to be 15 times purer than it was in the 1970s. The increased purity means that users can snort the heroin. Many teens have the mistaken idea that snorting the drug makes them less likely to become addicted to it.

Approximately 46 people in Nassau County, N.Y., died from heroin overdose. This represents an increase of 75 percent over the previous year. In Will County, Ill., 23 people this year have died from heroin overdose, compared to 16 last year. The number of heroin overdose deaths has tripled in Jefferson County, Alabama, from 6 in 2007 to 18 this year.

(Source: www.cbsnews.com)

Labels: drug overdose, heroin abuse

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According to the results of the 2009 annual California Healthy Kids Survey, released earlier this week, teen use of and involvement with alcohol and marijuana has been increasing among California youth.

The survey found that 27 percent of ninth graders have been driven in a car by someone who has been drinking, or driven under the influence themselves. This represents an increase of 5 percent since 2005.

The number of high school freshmen who reported being very drunk or getting sick from drinking alcohol increased by 7 percent to 36 since 2005. In addition, 16 percent of seventh graders reported binge drinking, an increase of 6 percent since 2005.

Teens also reported that marijuana use is fairly common. Approximately half of high school juniors reported using marijuana at some time in their lives.

(Source: www.santacruzsentinel.com)

Labels: teen drinking, marijuana, teen drug use

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Montana has seen a drastic increase in prescription drug abuse over the past year. Fatal overdoses related to prescription drugs have surpassed traffic fatalities.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Montana ranks third in the nation for teen abuse of prescription pain relievers, with 9.6 percent of respondents reporting abuse within the past year.

According to state authorities, more Montanans die of prescription drug overdoses than any other kind of overdose, including illegal overdoses related to drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Approximately 60 percent of prescription drug abusers in Montana report getting prescriptions free from a friend or relative, while more than 14 percent buy or steal them from a friend or relative.

The state Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation reports that 42 percent of the drug cases this year relate to prescription drugs. This represents a significant increase since 2003, when only 7 percent of cases involved prescription drugs.

State Attorney General Steve Bullock commented on the trend and the state's plans to address the problem, saying, "Given the more than 320 deaths last year, given the fact that we're third per capita in the country for children abusing prescription drugs, and given that this has become one of law enforcement's primary issues, we put together an advisory council to talk about how to better address the issue in Montana's communities."

(Sources: www.kfbb.com, www.missoulan.com)

Labels: prescription-drug-abuse, teen substance abuse

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A new study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that a number of pre-teen children have sought treatment for substance abuse problems, including abuse of amphetamines, marijuana, alcohol and heroin.

The Institute of Health reports that the number of Australians getting help from treatment providers is on the rise. Last year, treatment sessions increased from 7,000 to 154,0000. The Institute also reports that alcohol is, by far, the most common substance abuse problem.

Amber Jefferson, from the Institute, recounted drug use data, including: "Alcohol comprising 44 per cent of episodes in 2007/08, compares to 38 per cent back in 2002/03 ... and alcohol treatment is followed by treatment for cannabis at 22 percent, amphetamines 11 percent and heroin at 11 percent."

(Source: www.abc.net.au)

Labels: alcohol, marijuana, teen substance abuse, heroin, treatment

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A Wisconsin woman has been charged with intentionally contributing to the delinquency of a child causing death and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Patricia Strosina, 46, of Waterford, was observed buying drugs for herself and her 16-year-old son, Raymond, on at least one occasion.

On a September morning, Raymond's father found him slumped over in the computer room, a syringe nearby. Raymond's father contacted law enforcement authorities, saying he believed his son had overdosed.

An autopsy showed that Raymond overdosed on heroin and cocaine and stopped breathing. When the Racine County Sheriff's Department began investigating the death, people began pointing to Raymond's mother.

Witnesses reported that Raymond started smoking marijuana around age 14, but by age 15 his mother was giving him heroin to snort. Other witnesses reported that they saw Strosina inject heroin into her son's arm and that mother and son smoked marijuana and crack together several times a week. When Strosina was brought in for questioning, she admitted giving him heroin. Her preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 29, 2009.

(Source: www.journaltimes.com)

Labels: drug overdose, cocaine, heroin

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Last week, the city of San Diego launched a regional task force to investigate and evaluate prescription drug abuse in the greater San Diego area. The "Oxy" task force is especially concerned with the abuse of potent narcotic painkillers such as oxycodone (brand name OxyContin) by youth.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis called teen abuse of oxycodone by San Diego youth an "emerging epidemic" -- a description echoed by other government and law enforcement officials. San Diego is experiencing rising numbers of prosecutions and deaths related to prescription drugs.

One of the task force's first responsibilities will be to measure the extent and impact of prescription drug abuse in the region. Although authorities possess basic evidence that prescription drug abuse is a growing problem, they have not yet thoroughly investigated and evaluated the trend. The task force will be charged with determining how many youth are using prescription medications to get high.

The task force will collect additional information from law enforcement, hospitals, schools and treatment centers, and will also work to raise community awareness of prescription drug abuse by teens. This past weekend, the task force organized the first-ever countywide collection of prescription drugs no longer needed. Residents dropped off about 321 pounds of medications and related supplies.

Amy Roderick, spokeswoman for San Diego's DEA office, commented: "We believe the abuse is at the epidemic level because people who are starting to use OxyContin do not have an underlying medical condition that led to the long-term use and eventual abuse and addiction. Now people are using them in concert with or instead of illicit drugs, solely for the purpose of getting high."

(Source: www.voiceofsandiego.org)

Labels: prescription-drug-abuse, teen drug abuse, oxycodone, oxycontin

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