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The 2009 Monitoring the Future Survey -- the largest annual national survey that tracks drug abuse among 8th, 10th and 12th graders -- indicates that teen abuse of prescription (Rx) and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines continues to be a widespread problem. The survey shows that an alarming number of youth who abuse prescription drugs obtain them from friends and relatives.

According to the survey, 33 percent of 12th graders who reported abusing a prescription narcotic within the last year received the drug from a friend or relative; 21 percent bought the drug from a friend or relative; 19 percent abused a medication prescribed to them by a physician; 12 percent took the substance from a friend or relative; and 8 percent bought the drug from a dealer or someone they didn't know. Among the same group of teenagers, the study found that prescription and over-the-counter medicines account for 8 of the 13 most frequently abused substances.

Steve Pasierb, president of the Partnership for a Drug Free America, commented on the findings: "The Monitoring the Future study confirms that teen abuse of Rx and OTC medications continues to be a pervasive problem that unfortunately has become a far too normal part of many teens' lives. Teens are not only getting these medications from their own homes, but even more troubling, they are also getting them from friends and relatives.

"It is important for parents to educate themselves about the medications kids are abusing and communicate with their kids to dispel the notion that medicines can be safely abused. It is also crucial that parents safeguard medications at home, limit access, keep track of quantities and make certain that friends and relatives do the same."

(Source: www.news-medical.net)

Labels: prescription-drug-abuse, teen drug abuse

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

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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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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According to a recent CBS news survey of government and non-profit anti-drug groups, most anti-drug campaigns that target teens are moving away from warnings against marijuana use and putting more effort into battling prescription drug abuse. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, the nation's largest source of anti-drug messages, produced its most recent anti-marijuana advertisement in 2005.

The change is a result of declining marijuana use among youth and growing concerns about prescription drug abuse. According to the national Monitoring the Future Study, conducted annually by the University of Michigan, marijuana use has been declining at a steady rate for the past 10 years; past-month use of marijuana among youth has dropped 25 percent since 2001. According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, prescription drug abuse among teens has been steady for the past five years at about 19 percent.

Sean Clark, executive vice president with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, commented on the new focus among anti-drug groups: "For this generation, high prevalence of prescription drug abuse was kicking in ... there was a dawning, and a number of us began to feel that we need to do something about it."

(Source: www.cbsnews.com)

Labels: teen drug abuse, anti drug campaign

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Drug abuse treatment centers are busy developing new methods for treating individuals who struggle with addiction to cocaine. According to recent data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), cocaine is the second most commonly abused drug in America (after marijuana) and approximately 15,000 deaths each year are related to stimulant abuse. Cocaine addiction is powerful, both physically and psychologically. Abusers of cocaine often experience depression and other serious mental health problems when not actually using the drug. This is largely due to the fact that prolonged cocaine use can cause significant changes in brain chemistry.

Cocaine use is also highly correlated with drug-related emergency room visits. According to one NIDA study, 28 percent of drug-related emergency room visits directly involved cocaine. Also according to NIDA, over half a million people in the United States regularly use cocaine (use it 51 or more days per year), and most of these are young, single people.

(Source: www.prweb.com)

Labels: cocaine, teen drug abuse, rehab

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

Teens from Douglas High School in Roseburg, Oregon, have started a new and very active group to promote anti-drug messages in the community. Teens Against Drug Abuse (TADA) is comprised of high school students dedicated to promoting drug- and alcohol-free activities and educational opportunities for local youth. The organization also facilitates youth leadership and community involvement. Since its founding in February 2009, the group has developed a board of directors and implemented weekly meetings. TADA members will be receiving training to provide prevention awareness services to local students.

One of the group's planned community activities is a graffiti contest. The winner of the contest will paint a mural on a local park pavilion. TADA hopes that facilitating youth-painted murals will help eliminate destructive youth graffiti around the town. The competition will consist of 20 stations, each with a sheet of plywood. Participants, ages 13 to 19, will paint one side of the plywood with an anti-drug message. A panel of community members will judge the results.

(Source: www.nrtoday.com)

Labels: teen drug abuse, teens, graffiti

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

A new study, supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), suggests that school-based prevention programs at the elementary level can significantly reduce problem behaviors in students. The study found that fifth graders who previously participated in a comprehensive interactive prevention program for one to fours year were half as likely to abuse substances, behave violently, or be sexually active as those who did not. The study will appear in the August 2008 print issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

NIDA director Dr. Nora Volkow commented on the study's findings: "This study provides compelling evidence that intervening with young children is a promising approach to preventing drug use and other problem behaviors. ... The fact that an intervention beginning in the first grade produced a significant effect on children's behavior in the fifth grade strengthens the case for initiating prevention programs in elementary school, before most children have begun to engage in problem behaviors."

The study included students from 20 schools in Hawaii. Participating schools had diverse student populations and below-average standardized test scores, and approximately 55 percent of students received free or reduced lunch.

(Source: www.opposingviews.com)

Labels: teen drug abuse, prevention program

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A recent report published by researchers at the University of British Columbia indicates that many young people in British Columbia use marijuana for "therapy" or "medicinal use" instead of for "recreation." Approximately one-third of young people interviewed for the study reported using marijuana to address health problems such as depression, anxiety, and sleeplessness.

Area physician Dr. Pam Allardyce commented that although this type of use is fairly widespread, many young people she sees are trying to move toward more conventional treatments: "It's not surprising at all [that they are] using it to self medicate. ... They come in in their 19 or 20's and they're trying to seek employment. ... They have met a girlfriend who's not accepting of their marijuana use or there's something socially that's caused them to have to deal with it."

(Source: www.ctvbc.ctv.ca)

Labels: health problems, teen drug abuse, pot, weed

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According to a new report from the University of Kentucky, 90 percent of the 1.4 million adolescents struggling with substance abuse do not get treatment, partly because not enough treatment programs are devoted to teens. The report was compiled by Hannah Knudsen, an assistant professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Behavioral Science and a researcher in the universitys Center on Drug and Alcohol Research.

The report contained a random sampling of 154 programs. Knudsen looked at nine domains of quality. Overall, the cohort of programs received an average score. Addiction treatment services for teens in the Lexington, Kentucky area appear especially lacking. Of the 38 programs in the area, only six offer services for teens.

Knudsen commented, "One barrier has to do with the limited amount of funding that exists for substance abuse treatment. ... In addition, treating adolescents means that treatment programs need to find counselors with experience and training that helps them to work well with teenagers; that can also be a challenge."

(Source: kykernel.com)

Labels: teen drug abuse, addiction treatment, treatment

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One year ago, Alicia Lannes, a 19-year-old from Fairfax Virginia, died of heroin overdose. Her death initiated a federal investigation into a heroin ring in Centreville, Virginia. Four young men, current and former students of a local high school, received sentences from four to 20 years for their involvement in the ring. Alicia's boyfriend was also charged with providing the heroin that killed her.

This week, Alicia's father, Greg Lannes, spoke out about heroin use in the suburban community, saying, "It's not some inner-city issue. ... We want the impact of our pain to be felt by the community."

Local police report that heroin use is a growing and unsettling trend among local high school students, many of them from privileged backgrounds. Fairfax County Police Commander Ron Lantz commented, "We're seeing kids on the honor roll, band students, kids in athletics and sports ... become involved in heroin."

(Source: www.msnbc.msn.com)

Labels: teen drug abuse, heroin abuse, virginia

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A partnership between Ohio State University College of Pharmacology and Ohio pharmacists is working to educate Ohio residents about prescription drug abuse, particularly among young people. The partnership will be promoting local programs that use pharmacists to provide community education on the dangers of abusing drugs that are often found in the home.

A recent report by the Ohio Department of Health showed that in 2006 and 2007 drug overdoses surpassed auto accidents as the leading cause of accidental deaths in the state. The department attributes the increase in fatalities to growing use of prescription drugs. Kenneth Hale, the pharmacy college's assistant dean for professional and external affairs, commented: "The drug problem is moving from the streets to the medicine cabinet."

Ohio is also planning to share a database with Kentucky that will allow physicians to check patient prescription histories. The database will help prevent drug abusers from crossing state lines to obtain painkillers and other prescription drugs.

(Sources: www.thenews-messenger.com)

Labels: teen drug use, teen drug abuse, ohio

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Over the last few years, Winnebago County, Illinois officials have seen a disturbing trend related to adolescent and teen drug abuse: younger and younger people are dying from drug overdoses.

“’We’re noticing that the trend is getting young and younger. We actually this year have had a 14 year old and a 19 year old die as a result of either opiates and or heroin overdoses,’ said Sue Fiduccia, Winnebago County Coroner. You may think ‘not my teen, they would never search for drugs,’ but kids no longer need to actively search for a dealer, the drugs come to them.” (Source: WIFR-Channel 23)

Schoolyards and street corners are now popular places for buying and selling drugs. Surveys have found that most high school kids know who they’d need to talk to if they wanted to buy drugs. And most of the time, those people are fellow students.

 

Labels: death, teen drug abuse, overdose

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 0 Comments

One in five high school students has abused prescription drugs, 37 percent have tried marijuana, and 75 percent have tried alcohol, according to a new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The prescription drugs most frequently abused were OxyContin, Percocet, Xanax, and Ritalin. OxyContin is a powerful painkiller usually prescribed to cancer patients.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control said that the teenagers' drug and alcohol use was linked to the four main causes of death among that age group, which are car accidents, unintentional injury, homicide, and suicide.

In addition, a new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that on an average day, more than half a million teenagers drink alcohol, more than half a million use marijuana, more than 640,000 use illegal drugs, and more than one million smoke cigarettes.

The agency estimates that about 85,000 people under age 18 are receiving treatment for a substance abuse problem.
 

Labels: alcohol, marijuana, prescription drugs, teen drug abuse, substance use

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 0 Comments

A small study funded by the National Institute of Health found that teenagers who stopped using marijuana will regain some cognitive deficits; however, their attention deficits will persist.

The researchers recruited 19 marijuana user and 21 teenagers in the same age group (15 to 19 years old) from similar backgrounds who did not use marijuana. Every participant completed tests three days, two weeks, and three weeks after the users stopped smoking marijuana.

Teen marijuana users had lower scores on tests of verbal learning and verbal memory, as well as attention deficits. After abstaining from marijuana for a few weeks, they improved in verbal learning and verbal memory and not in attention deficits.

The study appeared in the journal Addictive Behaviors.
 

Labels: marijuana, teen drug abuse, brain chemistry

Posted By: CRC Health Group 0 Comments

Newspaper and television news stories can reduce the likelihood of teen drug abuse, according to a study from Australia. Most previous research has indicated that media encourages drinking and drug use among young people by depicting it in a positive way, especially through advertisements.

• Lead author Professor Caitlin Hughes and her colleagues analyzed 4,397 news articles, and conducted focus groups among adolescents, asking them to read newspaper reports involving substance abuse.
• The team found that news stories that featured the detrimental health and social consequences of illegal drug use could be effective into deterring young people from experimenting with them.
• However, these kinds of stories represented only 24% of the ones they analyzed. About 70% of the articles were about drug-related crime or law enforcement.

"Compared to criminal arrest portrayals, health and social harm portrayals, such as cannabis psychosis or warnings associated with drugs, produced more deterrent effect on youth," the authors wrote."

This government study was conducted at the University of South Wales National Drug and Alcohol Research Center.
 

Labels: teen drug abuse, prevention

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 1 Comment