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El Paso County, Texas, is seeing a rise in young addicts and violence among youth. Experts believe that the twin trends are no coincidence.

Chilo Madrid, director of an El Paso drug treatment center, comments on the trends: "We are seeing younger and more violent addicts. It's not unusual to see an 18-year-old who has been addicted for three or four years, who's had two or three sexually transmitted diseases, who's belonged to two gangs and who's been shot at more than once."

Madrid estimates that approximately 20 percent of El Paso County's population is addicts, or approximately 150,000 of the 742,000 residents. A Mexican drug cartel just across the United States border, in Juarez, Mexico, makes drugs cheap and easy to obtain in El Paso.

According to Madrid, heroin addiction is especially prevalent in the area: "We do a lot of street research, and we know for a fact that we have 30,000 hard-core heroin users in El Paso, and a lot more people who use cocaine on the weekends.

When we started out in this field, a hit of heroin (a quarter gram) cost $25," Madrid said. "Now, people can get the same quantity for $2.50 a hit. The same is true for cocaine. A hit of cocaine is about two lines.

"They don't go to Juarez or to shooting galleries anymore. People get the drugs by texting on their cell phones. Whereas before, your heroin users were older, we're now seeing kids as young as 16 who are trying heroin and cocaine for the first time."

(Source: behaviorhealthcentral.com)

Labels: cocaine, heroin, violence, addiction

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Researchers in the Northwest of England recently conducted a study of 9,833 15- to 16-year-olds and found that extremely low cost alcohol products are strongly linked to harmful underage drinking.

The researchers, a team from Liverpool John Moores University and Trading Standards (Northwest), surveyed the teens' alcohol consumption habits, the types of drinks they consumed, locations where drinks were consumed, methods of access to alcohol and harm encountered by drinking teens.

Mark Bellis, a researcher, commented on typical outcomes for teens who drank: "Regretted sex after drinking, having been involved in violence when drunk, consuming alcohol in public places and forgetting things after drinking had all been experienced by relatively large proportions of teen drinkers. For children who drink alcohol we did not find any typical drinking patterns where children were at no risk of harms. Accessing alcohol through parents did not remove the risks of alcohol related harms but was associated with lower levels of risk."

Interestingly, researchers found that 19.9 percent of teen drinkers who obtained alcohol from their parents and who drank once per week had been involved in violence when drunk. Among teens whose only access to alcohol was through other means, the incidence of violence increased to 35.9 percent. In addition, researchers found a strong correlation between the consumption of cheaper alcohol products and increased reporting of violence when drunk, risky sexual behavior and drinking in public places.

Bellis said, "Parental efforts should be matched by genuine legislative and enforcement activity to reduce independent access to alcohol by children and to increase the price of cheap alcohol products."

(Source: www.sciencedaily.com)

Labels: alcohol, underage-drinking, violence, sex

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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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According to data released by the White House's Office on National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), popular websites contain user-generated content that exposes youth to violence and substance abuse. The ONDCP recently completed a study of such sites, and has compiled data indicating that behaviors shown on these websites can be extreme, including drug and alcohol use, self-mutilation, severe violence, and anorexia and other eating disorders. In addition, "most parents are unaware of the nature and extent to which their children are exposed to or engaging in dangerous behaviors online."

A study conducted by Nielsen Online, on behalf of the ONDCP, during June 2008 tracked the online viewing habits of teens, including their exposure to drug-related content. The study found that approximately 5 percent of teens are viewing drug-related content and that one-third of those are under the age of 16.

ONCDP Director John Walters commented on the situation: "... research shows parents aren't worrying about drug, alcohol, and other dangerous content online and how it impacts their child's behavior. ... Teens, tweens, and even younger children, are barraged by risky material on the Internet. Parents need to get online and see for themselves what their child has access to. It's time for them to upgrade their parenting skills." (Source: www.prweb.com)

Labels: violence, influences, exposure

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People who suffer from severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia are not likely to be violent unless they are also a substance abusers, according to a study from the University of North Carolina.

• Dr. Eric Elbogen and his colleagues went through the records of 34,653 people from a government health survey conducted in 2003.
• Three years later, the researchers checked whether these people had engaged in violence, including sexual assaults, attacks with guns or knives, arson, or physical fighting.
• Those who suffered from severe mental illnesses but did not abuse substances were not at higher risk to committing violence.
• However, the combination of substance abuse plus mental illness put a person at three times the risk for violence.

"The reality is you still have people with mental illness who do commit violent acts," said Dr. Elbogen. "There is a relationship [between mental illness and violence] but it's much weaker than most people think."

If you or someone you love is struggling with mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse (also known as dual diagnosis), know a range of treatment options are available to you.
 

Labels: violence, substance use, dual diagnosis, mental health

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