Is using drugs an impulse decision? For some yes, for others no. Generally speaking people who abuse drugs have little impulse control. That is certainly an inhibiting factor when they try to quit using.

A recent study reported in US News, revealed that teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and teens who start using cigarettes, drugs or alcohol both share impulsiveness in their personalities.

But a new brain-imaging study of nearly 1,900 14-year-olds finds that the brain networks associated with impulsivity in teens with ADHD are different compared to those who use drugs or alcohol.

This is groundbreaking research if it can be corroborated in other studies. This would mean that the impulse to blow off chores is completely different from an impulse to experiment with drugs or alcohol.

ADHD is a neurobehavioral disorder marked by excessive levels of activity, inattention and impulsiveness beyond what's normal for a child's age.

People with ADHD are at higher risk of substance abuse and alcoholism. The explanation was thought to lie in the lack of self-control or inability to curb impulses that are part of the disorder.

Researchers did find distinct patterns of brain activity in ADHD and in kids who'd tried alcohol, cigarettes or drugs while taking the test.

Among the kids who had tried alcohol, cigarettes or other drugs (mostly marijuana), scans showed different patterns of brain activity compared to teens who had abstained.

Even teens who reported having only tried a drink or two by age 14 showed a different pattern of activity.

This is groundbreaking in that we see that the brain differences aren't caused by the substances, but are already present and play a role in what drives certain teens to experiment with alcohol and others to abstain.

I look forward to more research on this topic. If it can be determined that we are wired differently, perhaps drug and MIP classes combined with some blocking medication can help kids with ADHD from becoming victims of substance abuse.

Times are tough all over. Life was never too easy growing up in middle school and high school. Peer pressure combined with mean kids made life difficult. Many adolescents turned to drugs and alcohol.

That was then – now drugs are increasing the likelihood that a teen will partake in the “choking game.” This is one of the most asinine things I have read about in a long time.

They call it the “choking game,” but it’s deadly serious according to the LA Times. Experts estimate that 5% to 11% of teens have tried it.

Why the heck would kids try this? A recent study reports that kids see this as a way of getting high. What total nonsense.

The choking game refers to an activity where pressure is applied to the neck/carotid artery to limit oxygen and blood flow; once the pressure is released, a ‘high’ or euphoric feeling might be achieved as blood and oxygen rush back to the brain. Of course this is extremely dangerous and can lead to serious injury or death.

The choking game is also known as “knock out,” “black out,” “space monkey,” “flatlining” and “the fainting game.” Players, mostly teens, use belts, neckties, other types of binding, or even a friend’s helping hands to cut off the supply of oxygen.

At least 82 children between the ages of 6 and 19 are known to have died while playing the choking game. Even when it’s not fatal, it can lead to coma or seizures.

How widespread is the choking game?

Get ready to be terrified. A study showed that among eighth graders, 22% of the students had heard of someone playing it and 6.1% had done so themselves. Participation rates were the same for boys and girls.

Among those who had played, 64% had tried it more than once and 27% had done so more than five times.

The researchers found that players were more likely than non-players to use drugs, be sexually active, have poor mental health, have been exposed to violence, be involved in gambling and to have poor nutrition.

The researchers also looked at 11th graders and found that one-third had heard of someone playing the choking game; 7.6% said they had played it themselves and 1.7% said they had helped someone else do it.

Crazy times made that much more difficult by drugs, alcohol and stupid games like this. As a recovering drug addict and alcoholic I understand the psychology of getting high. I wish more people could learn the easy way that drugs are destructive. More drug classes and educational medium could help save a child’s life.

Prescription medications are killing teenagers like never before. The current scourge of Western society, prescription medications, is causing more poisonings among our youth than ever before.

The Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a rather alarming statistic this week regarding teen deaths. The incidents of teen fatalities related to poisonings among 15 to 19 year olds increased more than 90% between 2000 and 2009. This is reported in patch.com. I would hope that a 90% increase would alarm you!

Many teens shy away from illegal street drugs, however, more and more teens are turning to prescription drugs and over the counter medicines to get high. These drugs include pain killers that might be prescribed after a person undergoes surgery, depressants that are taken for sleep aid, depression or anxiety or stimulants such as those used for ADHD.

Given the vastness of America’s problem with respect to prescription medication, I would hope it is well-known that narcotic pain killers like Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet or Lortab, including the generics such as methadone and hydrocodone are highly addictive and are very dangerous.

Each day 2,500 students from 12 to 17 abuse a pain relieving drug for the first time.

In fact, prescription medicine is the second most abused drug other than marijuana. Most teenagers obtain these prescription meds by stealing them from their parent’s medicine cabinets and even share them with friends or sell them at school.

Parents need to keep prescription medication out of their children’s hands. Old prescriptions need to be disposed of properly and parents need to educate their kids on the dangers of prescription medication. If you are a parent and worried about how to educate your child about drugs, I recommend a minor in possession class. There also are online drug classes.

College life has always had some element of drugs and alcohol. Some campuses certainly are more prone to drug and alcohol issues. It is high time (pun intended) that universities start taking steps to discourage the rampant use of drugs and alcohol on their campuses.

One of the schools recently hit hard by drug troubles is Texas Christian University in Ft Worth, TX.

The TCU Horned Frogs are the local sweethearts. The school and its sports teams have been the center of their community, almost always in a positive light.

Fans flock to football games even if they didn't attend the private school. People across Tarrant County wear purple to support the Frogs. Young boys want to play ball like LaDainian Tomlinson and Andy Dalton. Nearby businesses tout TCU and sell purple fan gear. You get the picture.

It was not a pleasant day when the school announced a major drug investigation uncovered serious drug problems at the school and on the football team. Four football players were arrested for selling drugs.

The arrests sent a tough message to college students everywhere: There is zero tolerance for drug dealing. Leaders and campus police at several universities said that even if the public expects drug use on campuses, officers have a responsibility to enforce the law.

The drug sting toll sat at 19 people accused, including 15 students. Four of the 15 students arrested were football players. It was later reported that five football players had tested positive for marijuana and failed a Feb. 1 test initiated by coach Gary Patterson.

Ten of those arrested are accused of selling 1/4 ounce to 5 pounds of marijuana.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of selling controlled substances, three on suspicion of selling both marijuana and a controlled substance, and one on suspicion of selling fake LSD and marijuana. One person, who was not identified, was arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession.

I would bet that they could put a drug sting on virtually any campus in America. Maybe some football programs would survive, but drugs are so pervasive in society and on campus that all schools are guilty. What do you think the answer is? Do you think that mandatory drug classes would help?

Source: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/02/19/3745958/campuses-take-tough-stance-on.html

Drug abuse is on the rise among our nation’s youth. The two main drugs that have seen the highest increase in use are marijuana and prescription medications. The key to stopping long-term drug problems is to continue to try and educate youth and convince them not to even try drugs, alcohol and even cigarettes.

Native American Troubles

A national survey asking about use of alcohol and 9 drug classes, including marijuana, inhalants, heroin and prescription painkillers (2005-2008) revealed that there many problems. The study included youth ages 12 to 17.

About 37% of Native American teens reported using alcohol in the past year. Those numbers compare to other races in that 35 percent of whites and 32 percent of Hispanics, 31 percent of mixed race, 25 percent of blacks and 19 percent of Asians reported using alcohol.

With respect to drug use the survey found that about 31 percent of Native Americans used in the past year, compared with 23 percent of those who considered themselves mixed race and 20 percent of whites, the research found. About 19 percent of black, 18 percent of Hispanic teens and 12 percent of Asian teens said they used drugs in the past year.

Marijuana is still the drug of choice. Prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin have replaced inhalants as the second most commonly.

The study showed that about 8 in a hundred teens met the criteria for substance abuse disorder, which means their use escalated, caused legal problems or interfered with other activities.

It is not surprising that heroin users were the most-likely to form an addiction, but we all know marijuana use and abuse is quite addictive as well.

If you or someone you care about has a drug or alcohol issues please seek help immediately. There are also online drug and alcohol classes and minor in possession classes too.

source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-15/black-and-asian-teens-have-lowest-rates-of-drug-and-alcohol-use.html

Do you know someone who is addicted to prescription medication? Do you have an inkling you might know someone addicted to pain pills? The odds are strong that someone you know is addicted to pills.

Prescription drug abuse is especially easy to hide. Let’s face it, our country is now facing a new challenge that is literally tearing at the fabric of our neighborhoods. It is an epidemic we never saw coming, and we were unable to brace for its wrath. Prescription drug abuse is affecting all walks of our society. It is tearing apart our families; it is a major contributor to criminal activity and reaches across all sectors of our community.

Bold-Facing Figures!

There are two areas that especially concern me with respect to prescription abuse – child abuse and foster care.

The first sign of trouble was the discovery that approximately 30 percent of the children coming into foster care during this period was due to parental pain pill abuse. There was a significant increase of children entering the foster care system, primarily due to prescription abuse.

During this time, 70 percent of the children coming into foster care were attributed to prescription medication abuse. This is an alarming statistic.

To put it into perspective. this abuse indicator was higher than physical abuse, other forms of drug abuse, neglect and abandonment combined. These families are in chaos at the time an abuse report is investigated. Many of them have lost their jobs, are losing their homes, are experiencing significant family conflict and are now losing their children to foster care. Their addiction to pain medication is ruining lives and tearing apart families at a rate higher than we have ever seen in our community.

Every day more than seven people die in the State of Florida alone from prescription drug abuse! It’s shattering the lives of families and children. Let's not lose any more. Let’s have more drug classes and more funds used to prevent prescription medication abuse than jailing.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which drugs teens abuse most. When I was a kid there was alcohol and weed, with alcohol holding a huge preference to weed and all other drugs combined.

No matter how hard we try to pound the evils of drugs and alcohol into the brains of our children, still substance use and abuse is a major issue. What is really scary is the drastic rise in the use of marijuana. And this isn’t just any cannabis, this stuff is extremely potent.

Pot has become the “in” drug among adolescents. Perhaps fewer respect how dangerous the drug as many states have legalized it for medicinal use.

According to a recent national study as reported by the Kansas City Star, teens believe marijuana is much less harmful than the adults advising them against its use portray.

In another study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that daily marijuana use among high school seniors hit a 30-year peak in 2011, even as the use of alcohol and cigarettes is falling off.

Further disturbing is that in 2011, twice as many 10th-graders reported smoking pot at some point during the month of the survey as did their counterparts 20 years ago: 17.6 percent versus 8.7 percent.

According to the Kansas City, MO newspaper, the good news is alcohol consumption is on the decline. In 2011, 27.2 percent in 2011 admitted to drinking beer, wine or spirits within a 30-day period — that’s two-thirds of what it was in 1991.

The bad news is marijuana use is skyrocketing faster than drinking is falling. Therefore, kids seem to be switching their choice of substances rather than opting to lead soberer lifestyles. What is needed are more online MIP classes.

Prescription medication addiction is becoming a problem of epidemic proportions in this country. Add fetuses to the growing list of those addicted to prescription medication. No, that is not a typo, and really the only surprise is that obviously fetuses cannot access the Internet – yet!

Medical authorities are witnessing explosive growth in the number of newborn babies hooked on prescription painkillers, innocent victims of their mothers' addictions.

After exposure to months of drugs in the womb, babies experience withdrawal a few days after birth. They scream, twitch and vomit. They have trouble breathing and eating. They rub their noses with their fists so frantically that their skin bleeds.

"It's the newborn equivalent of an adult who goes off the drugs cold turkey. It's really horrible to see these kids. They look in so much pain," says Lewis Rubin, director of newborn services at Tampa General Hospital and chairman of neonatology at the University of South Florida.

To ease their pain and get the babies comfortable enough so they can eat and sleep, doctors give the babies narcotics and sedatives, which can include morphine, methadone and phenobarbital. They basically have to re-addict them using intravenous morphine measured in micrograms. The process can take weeks.

I can guaranty you there is not one parent alive that wishes addiction upon their children, especially newborns. Motherhood is not for the self-centered and selfish. A good online drug class would educate prospective mothers on the dangers of drugs and alcohol on their unborn fetuses.

Prescription drugs are a wonderful thing, but not when they are abused by people who do not need them. When this happens, it is just another way to get high, and oen step closer to ruining a life.

College kids are supposed to be smart, right? It turns out this is not true when it comes to abusing alcohol and prescription medication.

A growing number of college students have abused prescription medications such as Ritalin or Adderall. These substances are used to treat attention deficit disorder(ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Up to 20 percent of students on college campuses have used either Ritalin or Adderall to gain a competitive edge on their coursework, according to a report by the New York Times.

College Students Abuse Prescriptions More Than Non-College Kids

Full-time college students between the ages of 18 to 22 were twice as likely to have used Adderall than those who were not students, according to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA).

SAMSHA classifies Adderall as having the highest potential for dependence or abuse. Other substance abuse issues also coincide with Adderall use. Nearly 90 percent of college students who used Adderall reported binge drinking within the last month, according to SAMSHA.

The Stats

The top six drugs that are popular right now are Oxycontin, Vicodin, Valium, Xanax, Ritalin and Adderall.

One out of every 4 college students admits to having used illegal prescription medication.

It is estimated that about 2,500 of teenagers between the ages of 12 to 17-yearolds per day are experimenting with an opiate for the very first time.

Yet one more disturbing article regarding prescription medications. The Federal Government really needs to do something about this problem before our nation’s future is flushed down the toilet.

If you read my blogs or just follow current events, you know that prescription drug abuse is reaching epidemic proportions. It is becoming especially alarming among adolescents.

Police say the pervasive problem of prescription pill abuse grows worse by the day. Some children you might think are too young to even consider taking pills are raiding their parent’s medicine cabinet.

Terrifying Revelations

When Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway asks a group of children in the gymnasium at Barrett Traditional Middle School if they know someone who's used a prescription pill for other than its intended use, most of their hands go up.

The next question Conway poses -- "Put them up if you think prescription pills are easy to get" -- receives a similar response.

Those children are just 11, 12, and 13 years old.

The key, like with most drugs, is to never start using. Dr. Karen Shay, a child drug abuse activist, knows the battle personally. Her daughter Sarah started popping pills in high school and died before her 20th birthday: "If I can keep one family from living through the horror that we lived through, it makes it worthwhile and going around and talking to the students has helped me to heal."

Kentucky is the fourth most medicated state in the country and Louisville's seen a 300 percent increase in drug crimes since 2009.

Nationally, one in five teens abuse prescriptions, and for middle schoolers pills are the drug of choice.

As a parent of a middle schooler and one in elementary school, I can tell you this problem frightens me. I know that there are no medications here that my kids and their friends can get into, but the national problem so bad, it scares the heck out of me that other parents are not keeping their kids safe.