According to an article in Medical News Today, the abuse of prescription stimulants has shown an astonishing increase from 5% to 35%. The most popular drugs putting these bright minds at risk are atomoxetine and methylphenidate. Coauthors of the Canadian Medical Journal say students think simply popping a pill will help raise their grades or possibly give them better academic abilities, but the majority of evidence doesn’t show improvements to their cognitive abilities.

Many college students are completely clueless about the side effects and potential harms associated with stimulant abuse. When these stimulants are taken incorrectly by injection or snorting, they can have dangerous effects such as addiction, depression and an irregular heartbeat.

Colleges and universities are common sites for the abuse of stimulants due to the mistaken perception that they can improve grades. Students need to be more aware of the seriousness of these issues and campuses need to educate students by having more campaign drives that uncover the myths and bring awareness to these risks. Universities also need to address the cause of stimulant abuse so they can expose them and save students from further harm.

Dangers of Illicit Stimulant Use a Concern for Educators at Universities is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

An article posted on Fox News discusses the dangerous methods used by celebrities to stay thin. When traditional diets don’t produce fast results, many actresses and models will turn to drugs in an effort to remain thin. One popular choice used by many celebrities is Adderall, a drug prescribed to treat ADHD, and one that can result in significant weight loss.

Some celebrities go so far as to fake the symptoms of ADHD to obtain a prescription for Adderall, while others talk friends who are legitimately diagnosed into asking a doctor for more medication than they need. Others simply buy the drug overseas or online.

Two other dangerous drugs used by celebrities are crystal meth and cocaine. Crystal meth can aid in weight loss, but is also associated with psychosis and meth mouth, a condition of rapid oral decay caused by the use of the drug. Cocaine is also highly addictive and associated with psychosis.

Celebrities who become addicted to drugs in an effort to lose weight often ruin their careers in what is originally an effort to preserve them. While many celebrities can seek treatment for drug addiction in a program designed for that purpose, many struggle in a cycle of treatment and relapse and regret choosing illegal drugs for a faster way to lose weight.

Celebrities Use Drugs for Weight Loss is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Stimulants are usually obtained through legitimate means, including prescriptions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The drugs prescribed for this condition often include Adderall (amphetamine-dextroamphetamine) and Ritalin (methylphenidate).

While these medications can help ADHD patients feel calmer and more focused, they also help to deliver an intoxicating high. This high is generally what drives teens to not only try, but eventually abuse the medications.

Part of the risk associated with stimulant use and abuse is the fact that teens do not view them as harmful as illegal drugs. Since stimulants are prescribed by a physician, they are considered safe for consumption by anyone. This assumption is often what puts the teen at risk.

Research into this area shows that high school seniors tend to favor amphetamines. In fact, this medication is the third most commonly used drug among this group. Some prefer the medication to stay awake, others may use it to lose weight, and still others simply seek the associated high.

The health risks associated with this use are significant. Stimulant drugs increase blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature and breathing. Users will find it harder to sleep and less hungry.

When abused, the drugs can lead to malnutrition, fever and headaches, heart attack, stroke, anxiety, hostility, seizures, tremors and more. Once addiction sets in, withdrawal should only be done under a doctor’s care to protect the health and well-being of the teen.
 

Teens Prefer Prescription Stimulants to Get High, Stay Awake, and Lose Weight is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

To combat the increased use of drugs to enhance performance, Wesleyan University is changing its honor code. According to a Middletown Press article, the university has made a change to its policy so that students know the use of prescription drugs such as Ritalin and other stimulants violate the university’s honor code.

Ritalin abuse first hit the radar several years ago and since that time, a reliance on prescription medication to act as stimulants to enhance performance has risen exponentially. For many students, stimulants have become a necessity.

A study released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia found that as many as 20 percent of college students have relied on Ritalin or Adderall to study, take exams, write papers, etc. The number of teens who admit to abusing such drugs has tripled from 1992 to 2033. Abuse among the general population has only doubled.

Wesleyan’s honor code focuses on academic matters and takes into account drug abuse and alcohol use. Student leaders have been approached by other students who have found their stimulant use has turned into a habit they cannot break. In one scenario, a class was given a 24-hour take-home exam and half the class took “study drugs” to focus on the exam.

The change in policy is to protect the integrity of the school as well as to protect the students. The school overall will also have to change the culture so that “study drugs” are looked down upon by peers.
 

Study Drugs Are a Growing Problem is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Mephedrone is one of the latest substances to make an appearance on the illicit drug market, and it’s use has resulted in many panicked phone calls to poison help lines. As Mephedrone becomes a more popular street drug, more users are seeking help for negative consequences.

Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant classified as a cathione, and has effects that mimic an amphetamine. Possibly produced in China, it is derived from a plant found in eastern Africa. It comes in various forms, such as a powder or tablet and can be snorted, swallowed or injected. It produces effects similar to that of cocaine and other amphetamines.

The drug is surfacing at poison information help lines, such as the one in the UK, the Health Protection Agency’s National Poison Information Service. The NPIS has reported that there has been a substantial increase in inquiries regarding the drug mephedrone between 2009 and 2010.

The NPIS reports that there were 4,500 online and 292 phone inquiries from health care professionals requesting information about mephedrone in the last year. This increase created a stir because there were no inquiries in 2008 or 2009 about the drug. The information is published in the 2009-2010 NPIS annual report.

Mephedrone was the subject of more phone calls than any other recreational drug in 2009-10, and it was the third most commonly referenced recreational drug in online inquiries. In April of 2010, the drug was classified as a Class B controlled substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Professor Simon Thomas, the director of NPIS, explained that the classification of the drug as a Class B substance had a significant impact on the number of inquiries they received about the drug. Telephone inquiries plummeted after the classification, from 119 in March to 19 received in June of 2010.

The number of phone calls and online inquiries the NPIS received in 2009-10 totaled 578,000 from healthcare professionals.

Poison centers like the NPIS are essential for providing consultation for healthcare professionals. They are critical in expediting care for an individual in a dangerous situation and help avoid incurring high medical costs when risk is low and an individual can be treated at home.
 

Mephedrone Makes Itself Known is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Normally known as a type of methamphetamine, crystal meth contains the stimulant drugs pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, known for providing bursts of energy. Methamphetamines can be legally prescribed for conditions like ADHD, but narcotic meth is the type produced illegally.

Key ingredients like pseudoephedrine are now restricted and many states now require anyone purchasing these items to show their driver’s license. While this has limited access by “cooks” who produce meth using allergy medications and other over-the-counter drugs that contain the core ingredients, the new laws have not had a noticeable effect on the creation and distribution of crystal meth. One reason for this is that Mexican drug cartels have filled the vacuum by smuggling in a vast supply of the drug.

Used for increasing energy and even weight loss, meth is a powerful combination of chemicals, and includes ingredients found in cold medicines, lithium batteries, and derivatives of alcohol. A home-based system for “cooking” up meth as powder, crystal particles or clumps called rocks can be established. Positive feelings created by meth can last up to 12 hours, adding to the drug’s popularity.

Because crystal meth has a direct effect on dopamine levels in the brain, similar to cocaine, it is quickly addictive. Brain spikes of dopamine can create incredibly strong cravings for meth, along with euphoric feelings, despite the consequences. Tolerance levels for meth are fast-established and the addict needs more and more of the drug to achieve a high.

Common ways the drug is taken include snorting through the nose in powder form, taken orally as a pill, by injection, or by smoking. Meth users can be recognized by a characteristic sunken-in face and jaw; they also have extremely dry skin and may scratch themselves frantically. This constant scratching can create facial marks and wounds that further identify the addiction.

As the drying components of the pseudoephedrine take effect, the gum line may dry up or recede, causing the jaw to fold inward and the teeth to grind together. Meth users are generally thin and may have unnatural levels of energy. Dizziness, perspiration, anorexia, tremors and heart rate or breathing problems may also occur. In severe cases, stroke and heart attacks can also be a consequence.

Emotionally, meth users may neglect their children and resort to crime to pay for their addiction. The user may experience aggression, hallucinations, high levels of paranoia and extreme mood swings. Adding to the danger of meth is that one inhaled dose can remain in the system for an entire day, and during withdrawal, violent tendencies, delusions, or suicidal behavior may occur.

Meth addicts should seek professional addiction help, especially in recovery facilities that treat the physical and emotional effects of the addiction. New programs are emerging that are specially designed to treat meth and help with recovery, including ways to deal with the strong cravings and how to prevent relapse. Like all drugs, overcoming meth addiction also requires very strong family support and can be a lifelong battle.

Highly Addictive Meth Remains Easy to Acquire is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

A recent study by a UT Southwestern professor of psychiatry found that young adults who abuse amphetamines could be at an enhanced risk for suffering a tear in the main artery that leads from the heart.

To come to this conclusion, researchers studied the medical records of nearly 31 million people who were between the ages of 18 and 49 years old. These individuals had been hospitalized sometime between 1995 and 2007.

Dr. Arthur Westover, the study’s lead author, noted that aortic dissection is very rare in young people. When it does occur, however, it often leads to death. If a physician encounters aortic dissection in a young adult, that individual should be screened for amphetamine abuse to determine the potential cause.

The largest artery in the body, the aorta stems from the heart and dissection takes place when a tear develops in the inner layer of the aorta. This allows blood to separate or dissect, which can eventually cause a rupture to occur in the aortic wall. The result of this rupture is generally death.

Amphetamines are often abused by individuals due to their stimulating effects. Such drugs act on the body in a way very similar to cocaine, which is also known to have adverse effects on the heart. Amphetamines are proven to increase blood pressure in some individuals and heightened blood pressure – or hypertension – is a known trigger that can cause the dissection of the aorta.

Amphetamine Abuse Can Cause Aortic Dissection and Death is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Drug officials say meth has been a major threat in rural America because it is cheap and easy to make from over-the-counter drugs and common ingredients. Individuals aged 12-14 who live in small towns are more than twice as likely to use meth than those who live in large cities, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, which calls meth the most dangerous drug problem of small-town America.

The Meth Project began in 2005 in Montana, what was then the heartland of meth. Since the ads started appearing, meth use has dropped 45 percent among teens, and government officials in Montana credit the project for this decline. The ad campaign has since spread to Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, and Wyoming.

Now the project is targeting the growing population of Spanish-speaking teens in the Western US through television commercials and radio ads spoken in Spanish. One of the radio ads in Idaho features the voice of recovering addict Aucensio Flores. In the ad, Flores says he first tried meth at 15, which began a downward spiral. “I think it affected my brain,” he says. “I have bad thoughts and I only want to do bad things, such as hurt people. I think I am going crazy.”

Flores also explains that meth made it easier for him to become involved in gangs and crime, saying it made him feel “big and bad.” He has beat up and robbed people and has taken part in drive-by shootings. Although he never imagined being locked up, he is now serving time at a juvenile correction center in Idaho for grand theft, possession of a weapon by a minor, and drug possession.

Colleen Foster, Flores’ drug rehabilitation counselor, said that up to 40 percent of juveniles in the facility have a history of meth addiction and that it takes over their lives. “It starts to destroy their value system. It eats away at every aspect of their life: family, responsibility to community, responsibility to education, responsibility to themselves even,” Foster said. “It just eats away at all that until they have no value system left, that the only thing they’re doing is seeking for that high.”

Foster said she supports the Meth Project’s Spanish ad campaign because the problem extends to all populations, including Latinos. She said she thinks outreach needs to be better tailored for the growing Latino community in Idaho.

Yair Perez, another recovering meth addict who recorded an ad for the Meth Project, said that he hopes to reach young Latinos who aren’t getting the message in English. “They might understand a little bit of it or half of it,” Perez said. “But if they hear it … in their own language … the way they were born and they were raised…then maybe they will pay a little more attention to it and maybe think about it, instead of doing it.”

Miguel Mouw, a Meth Project volunteer in Idaho and also a recovering meth addict, says that there is a lack of education, support, treatment, and resources in the Hispanic community because of the communication gaps. He speaks in classrooms throughout Idaho and at community events, and said he thinks the graphic ads are needed to drive home the message.

“I’ve seen people lose everything, you know, from their toes to the top of the head, either through death or maybe it’s the sores or the scabs [affecting] the teeth or the eyes,” Mouw said. “The list is endless. It really is.”

Source: CNN, Meth Ads Talk to Teens in Spanish, June 5, 2009

Meth Project Uses Disturbing Ads to Send Message about Meth Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment