Connection Between Early Age of First Drink and Heavy Drinking
“Our research suggests that teenagers who have their first drink at an early age drink more heavily, on average, than those who start drinking later on,” said Meghan E. Morean, assistant professor of psychology at Oberlin College, Ohio and adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. “Our work also suggests that how quickly teenagers move from having their first drink to getting drunk for the first time is an important piece of the puzzle. In total, having your first drink at a young age and quickly moving to drinking to the point of getting drunk are associated…
Consequences of Teen Alcohol, Marijuana Use Studied
Now a new study asked high school seniors to indicate whether they experienced various adverse psychosocial outcomes resulting from use of each substance. The most alarming finding was that alcohol use was highly associated with unsafe driving, especially among frequent drinkers,” said Dr. Palamar, , PhD, MPH, a CDUHR affiliated researcher and an assistant professor of Population Health at NYU Langone Medical Center (NYULMC). “Compared to non-drinkers, frequent drinkers were over 13 times more likely to report that their alcohol use has led to unsafe driving. Marijuana users, compared to non-users, were three times more likely to report unsafe driving as…
Synthetic Drug More Potent Than Heroin
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services said acetyl fentanyl is an opioid analgesic drug that is up to five times more potent than heroin. It is an analog of fentanyl – a powerful narcotic analgesic – and is not available as a prescription drug in the United States. It often goes by the street name “China White.” On Wednesday 2/19/2014, North Carolina health officials said that three deaths have been linked to the synthetic drug acetyl fentanyl, and they’ve issued a health advisory. Click HERE to see the news story
Troubling Trend: Internet Drinking Game
There’s a new horrifying drinking game making global headlines that’s already taken the lives of several young adults and the dignity of some who survive. It’s called #NekNominate or #NekNominations (hashtag used for social media purposes), and it’s an online craze spreading rapidly across countries thanks to Twitter and Facebook. Here’s how it works: kids are nominated by their peers to take video of themselves downing — or “necking” — strong drinks under bizarre or dangerous circumstances before challenging others to film an even more shocking video by the next day. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nek-nominations-drinking-game-2014-2#ixzz2t3s9sDE8
2014 Summer Research Opportunity to Students
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) invites high school and under-graduate students to submit applications for the 2014 Summer Research Program. Under this program students underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences are paired with NIDA funded scientists at research institutions across the United States for 8-10 weeks during the summer to work in the field of substance abuse and addiction research. Internships may involve a variety of experiences including laboratory experiments, data collection, data analysis, patient interviews, library research and literature reviews. Student interns receive a stipend, and if necessary and eligible, provisions for travel and housing expenses….
Colorado: Marijuana Legalization and School Disciplinary Problems
(The Denver Post) — In two years of work as an undercover officer with a drug task force, Mike Dillon encountered plenty of drugs. But nothing has surprised him as much as what he has seen in schools lately. There are no hard numbers yet because school disciplinary statistics do not isolate marijuana from general drug violations. But school resource officers, counselors, nurses, staff and officials with Colorado school safety and disciplinary programs are anecdotally reporting an increase in marijuana-related incidents in middle and high schools. “We have seen a sharp rise in drug-related disciplinary actions which, anecdotally, from credible sources,…
Flavored Tobacco On the Rise
(CNN) — More than two out of every five middle- and high-school students who smoke report using flavored little cigars or flavored cigarettes, according to the report. And the bigger concern may be that the majority of the kids who smoke the flavored cigars — some 60% — say they don’t plan to quit anytime soon (compared to 49% of all cigar smokers). This coupled with the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes and e-hookahs makes for an inevitable resurgence of tobacco as a popular product…. Click HERE to continue reading
E-Cigs Are Trending Up…
The percentage of U.S. high school students who say they have tried e-cigarettes has doubled in the past year to 10%. They say it’s a troubling trend as no one knows yet how safe e-cigarettes are, although they are often marketed as a safer alternative to regular cigarettes. “E-cigarette experimentation and recent use doubled among U.S. middle and high school students during 2011–2012, resulting in an estimated 1.78 million students having ever used e-cigarettes as of 2012,” researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration wrote in a report. Check out the news…
Connection Between Adolescent Substance Use and the Risk for Dropout
Experts at the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. (IBH) and the Center on Young Adult Health and Development (CYAHD) at the University of Maryland School of Public Health investigated the connection between adolescent substance use and the risk for dropout in the U.S. There is compelling evidence that the association of academic difficulties and substance use is bidirectional. In some individuals, academic difficulties precede the onset of substance use, and in those cases, a vicious cycle can ensue—leading to even more severe academic difficulties and eventual dropout. In other cases, even controlling for individual background characteristics, substance use precedes…
Hearing about “Molly” in Your Community?
According to CNN, Molly has been a popular drug at music festivals this year. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, molly is the powder or crystal form of MDMA — or 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, a chemical drug most commonly known for its use in the pressed pill Ecstasy. You may just be hearing about “Molly”, but she’s been around for a few years and is growing in popularity amoung youth and POP/Hip Hop music culture.