“There is certainly a myth out there that black kids are more likely to have problems with drugs than white kids,” said senior author Dr. Dan Blazer of Duke University’s Department of Psychiatry. “This documents as clearly as any study we are aware of, that the rate of substance-related disorders among African-American youth is significantly lower.”

The new study had an unusually large sample – more than 72,000 people ages 12 to 17, who had taken part in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted between 2005 and 2008. About a third of the teenagers told researchers they drink, 19% said they use drugs, and 15% said they do both.

The lowest rates of drug and alcohol use were found among Asian-American teenagers. Among Native Americans, 37% said they used alcohol, followed by 35% of whites, 32% of Hispanics, 25% of blacks, and 19% of Asians. The rates of teens reporting drug use were 31% of Native Americans, 23% of mixed race, 20% of whites, 19% of blacks, 18% of Hispanics, and 12% of Asians.

Almost 8% of the teenagers met established medical criteria for an alcohol or drug use disorder. Among whites, it was 9%, which was twice the percent of African-American teens and three times the percent of Asians.

It is important to note the difference between using alcohol or drugs and having a substance dependency. Teenagers whose parents allow them to occasionally have alcohol at home or who have alcoholic drinks during religious ceremonies can count among those who use alcohol. However, in order to have an alcohol dependency, a teen must meet certain medical criteria such as being able to tolerate larger than normal amounts of alcohol, having been in trouble with the law because of alcohol, and so on.

Eight percent of the teenagers in the study who met the criteria for substance abuse disorders, and those who used marijuana, heroin, cocaine or sedatives were more likely to have substance dependency or alcohol disorders. About 26% of the teens using marijuana had problems with abuse or dependency.

The Duke research team found that prescription drugs such as oxycodone are now second in popularity among teenagers after marijuana. Opiate drug abuse is of particular concern because it is easy to overdose and die from these medications.

In an article published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, Dr. Blazer said, “The diversity of substance use patterns across ethnic groups shows that cultural factors are important in promoting and protecting teenagers from using substances. Prevention and treatment programs that make use of culturally related factors may prove more effective than a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.”

White Teens Have Double the Rates of Drug Addiction as African-Americans is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The Office of National Drug Control Policy has issued a federal report sounding the alarm about the growing problem of drug use by U.S. automobile drivers. The report reveals that many traffic fatalities are connected to drug use. The report was based on data pertaining to federal highway fatalities in 2009. That year, 14,000 bodies of people who died in automobile crashes were tested for drugs. One-third of that number tested positive for drugs.

The report revealed other, more specific findings:

• If the victim was 45 or older, they were more likely to test positive for narcotics and/or depressants.
• Accident victims under 24 years of age were more apt to test positively for marijuana.
• More disconcerting still, 48 percent of the dead drivers whose tests proved positive for drugs also tested positive for alcohol.

The American public is well aware of the dangers of drunk driving. Increasingly, data is revealing that drugged driving represents another serious public concern. This is particularly the case for 15v to 20vyearvolds, a group already considered at high risk for vehicular accidents. Transit authorities, families of drugged driving victims and the highest powers of the land are looking to address this new tragedy.

State highway authorities have spoken out urging lawmakers to act more aggressively when it comes to dealing with drugged driving. The White House recently scheduled a summit on the issue. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is launching a national effort to draw attention to the problem. Some highway authorities speaking to the issue say they are seeking a state/national partnership similar to the joint efforts currently exerted to combat drunk driving.

Two specific strategies have been suggested so far to address the problem:

1. States should hand down separate and distinct prescribed penalties for drinking and for drugged driving.
2. Drug testing for fatally injured automobile drivers should be mandatory.

Much attention has been rightly given to the problem of drinking alcohol and getting behind the wheel of a car to drive. State, national and citizen-led campaigns against the dangerous practice of drinking and driving abound on top of strictly enforced laws to the same effect.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that alcohol is not the only culprit contributing to substance-related traffic fatalities. Drug abuse is also becoming a growing problem for those who travel on and those who monitor the safety of our national roads and highways. voices are being raised to sound the alarm.

U.S. Campaign Targets Drugged Driving is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

A preliminary report estimated that 37,485 people died from long-term drug abuse in 2009. That’s 1,201 more fatalities than was recorded from car accidents, and the first time in 30 years of recording drug-related deaths that drug abuse fatalities have surpassed car accident fatalities.

In a bittersweet comparison, the number of traffic fatalities has decreased by more than a third in the last 40 years, while record-breaking numbers of people are ending up in emergency rooms from accidental overdoses of prescription drugs. Better motor vehicle safety features such as improved seat belts, air bags and motion sensors are protecting drivers and saving lives. Stricter laws in seat belt use and speed limits have also been attributed to lower motor vehicle fatalities.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, illegal substance abuse is increasing. For years, campaigns have educated the public on the dangers of street narcotics; but, surprisingly, last year more people were sent to emergency rooms for overdose on legal substances than illegal. More people died from the misuse of prescription drugs than from the abuse of heroin and cocaine combined.

Dr. Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, says that the rise in prescription drug-related deaths is due in large part to people not realizing that they have become addicted to their prescription. Patients know that street narcotics are dangerous, but assume that anything prescribed by their doctor is safe, certainly not life-threatening. This relaxed attitude blinds the patient from seeing their addiction to the prescription drug.

Delany also states that people can build a tolerance to prescription drugs over time, even if they take them as prescribed. Deaths by prescription drug abuse span across all ages, but many of the deaths include children who abused their parents’ prescription drugs.

Hundreds of thousands of people are visiting emergency rooms each year because of prescription painkiller abuse. In the last 10 years, the number of deaths from the abuse of Valium, Xanax and OxyContin has doubled. The painkiller Vicodin is the runner-up to marijuana as the most abused drug by high school students, as reported by a 2010 University of Michigan study.

According to SAMHSA, more than 2 million Americans abuse opioids each year. Because pain is unique to each individual, doctors can work with patients to help them properly manage their pain without abusing prescription drugs.

The cure for prescription drug abuse is cooperation, education and communication between physicians, drug manufacturers and patients. Each player must work to ensure that patients understand the proper uses of their medication. In April 2011, the White House planned drug monitoring programs, education programs and take-back programs that will hopefully be set into motion and curtail this abuse. Until this formal plan is enacted, physicians need to monitor patients carefully and help them find just the right balance of medication to help improve their quality of life.

Drug Abuse in the U.S. Now Deadlier than Car Accidents is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Following four years of consideration by 80 experts, our American Society of Addictive Medicine (ASAM) now defines addiction as “…a primary, chronic disease of motivation, brain reward, memory and related circuitry … with characteristic bio-psycho-socio-spiritual manifestations.”

The definition shifts emphasis away from behaviors and focuses more on brain dysfunction. There is certainly a weight of evidence demonstrating the brain changes which occur in addicts. Twenty years of neuroscience has proven that chemical changes in the brain can help explain the difficulty a person experiences when trying to break free of addictions even after detox and treatment. And the propensity for teens, who have immature frontal cortexes, to make poor choices makes them a particularly vulnerable population for developing addictions.

Part of the motivation for developing a new definition of addiction was a desire to remove the stigma associated with the label. Just how successful the attempt will prove is up in the air.

In 2010, the American Journal of Psychiatrists released a study involving 630 participants polled concerning opinions on alcoholism. The participants were interviewed in 1996 and again in 2006. The number of those surveyed who believed that alcoholism was a brain disorder rose over the 10 years from 38 percent to 47 percent. However, the increased belief that alcoholism was brain-related did not produce a decrease in the stigma attached to the condition. On the contrary, the percentage of people who felt that alcoholism was connected to poor character increased from 49 percent to 65 percent.

In a similar vein, psychiatrists at the University of Nevada uncovered negative associations with the words “disease” and “chronic.”

Critics have also taken issue with the ASAM’s inclusion of spirituality in its description. That addiction can be connected to genetic (bio), social (socio) and emotional (psycho) conditions has also been established through research. Some, however, take objection to the inclusion of references to beliefs about God as part of the definition. Such beliefs hold no position in definitions of other chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes or depression. Those opposed to the spiritual component of ASAM’s definition say that addiction is a medical disease affecting the brain separate from any belief system related to God.

Defining addiction only in terms of brain disease, similar to heart disease or diabetes, could be problematic for another reason – plenty of people overcome addictions without any outside treatment or intervention. A study conducted in 2005 surveyed 4,442 alcoholics not currently undergoing treatment for their addiction. When the group was interviewed a year later researchers found that 75 percent of them had improved sufficiently so that they no longer qualified as active alcoholics. Only 25 percent of the group had received outside treatment. Furthermore, there are a far greater number of people who meet the criteria for addiction in their youth and then demonstrate recovery in later years than ever attend 12 step programs or seek treatment from a medical professional.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse says that an estimated 23 million Americans are in need of substance abuse treatment but that only two million Americans actually seek out help. Perhaps greater energy should be directed toward recovery than has so far been spent on disputable definitions.

Addiction as a Brain Disorder is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

For the study, the researchers performed a neuropsychological evaluation with 123 polysybstance abusers (those who abuse different types of drugs) and 67 non-drug users from similar social and demographic backgrounds. The polysubstance abusers mostly abused cocaine, marijuana, heroin, alcohol, MDMA, and methamphetamine, and were enrolled in two drug rehab programs (Proyecto Hombre and Cortijo Buenos Aires) in Granada.

The study found that 70 percent of drug abusers had some type of neuropsychological deterioration, regardless of the type of drug they used. Deterioration was found in working memory, fluency, flexibility, planning, multitasking, and interference.

This study is the first to study psychological deterioration in drug abusers who are enrolled in drug rehabilitation programs. Although previous studies have looked at emotional recognition by drug users, those studies focused on recognition as a unit process. The current study analyzed the relation between drug abuse and recognition of basic emotions such as happiness, fear, sadness, and surprise.

Lead author María José Fernández Serrano, along with professors Miguel Pérez García and Antonio Javier Verdejo García, of the Department of Personality and Psychological Treatment and Evaluation at the University of Granada, said she thinks that the study’s results could help develop policies aimed at promoting drug rehab programs that have been adapted to the neuropsychological profile of drug abusers.

Source: Science Daily, Drug-Abusers Have Difficulty to Recognize Negative Emotions as Wrath, Fear and Sadness, Study Finds, February 3, 2011

Study Finds Psychological Deterioration in Drug Abusers is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Lead researcher Dr. Virginia Delaney-Black of WSU’s Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics and her colleagues investigated the correspondence between teenage self-reports on illicit drug use with actual biological testing since this type of collective data is rather sparse, especially in large-scale studies. In comparison, previous studies involving adults who self-report their drug use and then undergo drug testing have demonstrated a significant degree of underreporting. The researchers sought to discover if teenagers also underreport their illicit drug use activity, and to what degree.

The researchers conducted the first non-clinical biological testing for drug-use by adolescents by surveying more than 400 high-risk urban teenagers and their parents. Teenagers were asked to confidentially report on their own drug use in a questionnaire, while parents underwent a similar questionnaire regarding their child’s drug use as well as their own. Then, the researchers tested all the participants for cocaine, opiates, and marijuana use by collecting hair samples.

As a result, both teenagers and their parents had substantially underreported on the teenagers’ current illicit drug use, but teenagers were much more likely than parents to deny cocaine use on their questionnaires even though they were undergoing biological testing. In comparison to their self-reports, teenagers’ biological tests were 52 times more likely to identify illicit use of cocaine by the teenager. In parental self-reports, parents were not likely to recognize illicit drug use by their child. Moreover, parents were also guilty of denying the truth about their own drug use. Biological tests on parents’ hair samples were 6.5 times more likely to test positive for cocaine, and 5.5 times more likely to test positive for opiates than what parents had admitted to on their self-reports.

The predominance of underreporting by both parents and their children led the researchers to the conclusion that the standard form of epidemiological studies on teenage drug use is rather unreliable, at least when concerning those from high-risk urban areas. Even though all the participants were aware that their confidential self-reporting on their own drug use would remain protected, and that they would also be tested for drug use biologically, they were still likely to deny their actual drug use. The researchers suggest that other methods of testing for drug use—aside from data gathered from self-reports and parental reports—should be included in studies that measure the prevalence of teen drug use.

Based on their findings, the researchers recommend that members of the health care industry involved in the lives of at-risk youth and their families should consider other methods of detection when it comes to testing teenagers for drug use in order to more accurately gather statistics and treat their drug-related conditions. The researchers’ latest study is available online and in the November issue of the scientific journal Pediatrics.

Source: Medical News Today, Do Teens Tell the Truth About Drug Use? October 26, 2010

Most Teenagers Deny Their Drug Use, Even When Undergoing Drug Testing is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The researchers interviewed 23 mephedrone users from May to June 2010, and only two of the users remained abstinent. Only one person was very opposed to using the drug again. The participants were aged 19 to 51, and about half were female. Of the participants, 19 were employed.

Led by Dr. Karen McElrath of Queen’s School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, the study also found that about half of the participants preferred mepehdrone to cocaine or Ecstasy. Some experienced negative side effects such as trouble sleeping, difficult come-downs, and next-day depression, but these didn’t deter them from using the drug again.

None of the participants felt that “legal highs” were safe just because they were legal. Many people were initially interested in the substance when it was legal because it was cheaper easier to access than illegal drugs. Before the ban, only three of the participants had obtained mephedrone from “head shops,” and four purchased it online. Most people obtained the drug through friends or dealers.

Most of the participants had prior experience using Ecstasy, amphetamine, or cocaine, and all participants had used alcohol during their most recent use of mephedrone. Six people used another psychoactive substance during their most recent use of the drug. Most people used between one and two grams of the drug, but others binged, sharing more than seven or eight grams with two or three others.

Dr. McElrath said that this is one of the first studies on mephedrone use in Nothern Ireland since the drug was made illegal, and that their findings suggest that the ban did not have an impact on those who already used the drug. The researchers want to study this further, and to compare their results with a similar study conducted prior to the ban in the Republic of Ireland.

Source: Science Daily, Study Focuses on Mephedrone Use in Northern Ireland Post-Ban, October 5, 2010

Mephedrone Ban Hasn’t Deterred Users in Northern Ireland is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

K2 and Spice are two compounds typically found in synthetic cannabinoids, also known as the JWH-018 and JWH-073 metabolites, and are generally referred to as "herbal incense" or "legal highs." Some drug users, especially those undergoing drug probation or rehabilitation, have admitted to resorting to K2 or Spice use as an alternative to marijuana. The compounds, currently not classified as controlled substances, are secretly sprayed on natural herbal blends, which are then legally sold as seemingly innocent products like vanilla or baybean. Synthetic cannabinoid products are manufactured in Asia and then sold in local markets throughout the U.S.—including gas stations, liquor stores, convenient stores, smoke shops, or on the Internet—under the brand names “K2,” “Spice,” “Sence,” “Yucatan Fire,” “Skunk,” or “Genie.” When smoked or ingested, JWH-018 and JWH-073 can produce marijuana-like effects by acting as primary receptor agonists. The compounds have been found in as many as 25 different herbal blends; even though they closely resemble marijuana, they still remain undetectable under standardized drug testing.

Now, companies like Dominion Diagnostics are promoting a new clinical drug monitoring assay that is capable of detecting JWM-018 and JWH-073 metabolites through urine testing. Another company, NMS Labs, has also recently begun marketing its array of drug monitoring assays that are designed to detect the presence of these metabolites through either urine testing or blood testing. The products are said to utilize Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS), a highly advanced form of laboratory technology that is capable of achieving precise results. These new capabilities will help law enforcement, hospitals, rehabilitation clinics, drug courts, and schools detect the presence of these popular synthetic cannabinoids and can be incorporated into traditional drug testing formats. For toxicologists, clinicians, and other physicians, the new technologies help ascertain more scrutiny in individuals’ drug use—making legal action, prevention, treatment, or medical administration more safe and effective.

K2, Spice, and related substances and considered highly dangerous. Because these compounds are surreptitiously added to other substances, the amount of the compound present cannot exactly be measured. These synthetic cannabinoids have been associated with impaired driving incidents, attempted suicides, and emergency department visits, and have been linked to such adverse effects as panic attacks, heart palpitations, respiratory complications, aggression, mood swings, altered perception, and paranoia. Also, recent investigations have cited the compounds as having greater potency that THC found in traditional cannabis products because of K2 and Spice’s unregulated production. K2 and Spice are becoming alarmingly more popular among younger generations due to their accessibility, making the use of these new drug testing technologies more significant to drug monitoring programs that involve youth outreach.

Source: Medical News Today, NMS Labs Now Performs Urine Tests For Metabolites Of Synthetic Cannabinoids Found In K2 And Spice, September 17, 2010

New Drug Testing Developed for Previously Undetectable K2 and Spice is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University released a new report this month, exposing the surge in gang- and drug-infected schools based on students’ responses to a national survey. An estimated 5.7 million public school students are believed to be exposed to school environments that are both gang- and drug-infected.

Public school students are at a much higher risk of gang violence and drug use—including drug abuse, sales, or storage. Based on CASA’s survey, 27% of public school students aged 12 to 17 report that their school contains both gangs and drug use. Compared to students at drug-free schools, students from gang- and drug-infected schools are:

• three times more likely to drink alcohol,
• three times more likely to obtain marijuana within an hour or less,
• five times likelier to obtain marijuana within a day or less,
• five times more likely to use marijuana,
• five times more likely to have a friend who uses illicit drugs—including acid, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, or methamphetamine
• twelve times more likely to smoke cigarettes

In the survey, only 2% of teenagers from private or religious schools reported having gang activity at their school, yet 46% of public school students reported the existence of gangs at their schools. Furthermore, the rate of drug activity within public schools has proven to be the worst in the past decade. CASA’s 2010 survey has shown a steep incline in drug use among public schools. In 2001, CASA’s survey found that 62% of public school students considered their school to be drug-free; yet by 2010, this percentage dropped to 43%. Private and religious school students’ responses remained relatively the same during this time period (79% reported attending a drug-free school in 2001, compared to 78% in 2010). Now, the disparity between drug-free public and private schools has grown twofold, making public schools an increasingly more dangerous environment for teenagers.

Even though parents may switch jobs or neighborhoods due to hostile environments, they may not always consider such options as changing schools for their child. As a result, many public school students are repeatedly faced with a threatening environment in their everyday lives. Without taking appropriate action to rid schools of gang violence and substance use, parents, educators, and local and state officials are in a sense contributing to the hostility and dangers that teens are being forced to confront.

CASA’s study also discovered that the highest increase in drug use was among middle schools. In just the past year alone, middle school students reported a 39% increase in drug use at their schools (23% reported drug use in 2009, compared to 32% in 2010). Students attending drug-infected middle schools were found to be:

• three times more likely to try drinking alcohol,
• five times more likely to have a prescription drug-abusing friend,
• seven times more likely to have a friend who abuses illicit drugs such as acid, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, or meth
• thirty-three times more likely to have tried tobacco

Also, 24% of students from these schools reported being able to obtain marijuana in a day or less, and 39% reported obtaining alcohol within the same time span. Ten percent of students from drug-infected middle schools have tried marijuana, but no students from drug-free middle schools reported any marijuana use.

Similarly, high school students have been experiencing a rise in drug use as well. In 2006, CASA found 51% of high school students reported that they attended a drug-infected school, but by 2010, this percentage jumped to 66%. Although a drug-infected school poses a large threat to students’ wellbeing and safety, CASA also found that substance abuse in the home greatly impacts students’ choices regarding their own substance use. Compared to teenagers from households with strong family ties, teenagers from households with weak family relationships were twice as likely to have a friend who abuses illicit substances such as acid, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, methamphetamine, or prescription drugs; three times more likely to drink alcohol; four times more likely to use marijuana; and four times more likely to use tobacco. The strongest weapon for combating teen substance abuse essentially is the parent. Regardless of whether parents have control or not over the child’s school environment, communication remains the most effective method for both prevention and intervention.

CASA’s “National Survey of American Attitudes towards Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents” is the organization’ 15th annual back-to-school survey on substance abuse among teenagers and is available at www.casacolumbia.org.

Source:The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents, August 19, 2010

National Study Finds Jump in Drug Use in Public Middle and High Schools is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

On April 22, 2010, the movie Crazy Heart was honored as the top feature film to portray substance abuse issues for its impressive representation of a self-destructive country singer who struggles with alcoholism. Actors Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal were also bestowed accolades for their performances in the film. The Soloist, the story of a supremely talented schizophrenic street musician, won for top feature film to accurately portray mental health issues. The Prism Awards recognize those works of art dealing with substance abuse or mental health issues that promote education and knowledge to their viewing audiences. Through their portrayals of the realities of substance addiction and mental disorders, these works of art are delivering a hopeful message that underlines the value of treatment and recovery.

Other Prism awards were received by such television shows as NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victim’s Unit,” “Law and Order,” and “Celebrity Apprentice,” AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” CBS’s “How I Met Your Mother,” HBO’s “The Alzheimer’s Project,” a special episode called “Kids in Rehab” on Nickelodeon’s “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee,” and PBS’s “Betty Ford: The Real Deal.” The television movies on Lifetime called “Natalee Holloway” and “Prayers for Bobby” also took home awards. Actors Rosie O’Donnell for her performance in Lifetime’s television movie “America,” Kevin McKidd from the television show “Grey’s Anatomy,” and Tony Shalhoub and Hector Elizondo for their performances in the television show “Monk.”

EIC was founded in 1983 by leaders in the entertainment industry and continues to connect science and art via the recognition of media forms that support mental health awareness. The Prism Awards began in 1997 and have developed into a celebrated annual event among the Hollywood scene. To learn more, visit EIC’s website at eiconline.org or prismawards.com.

PRISM Awards Acknowledge Substance Abuse Portrayals in Cinema is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment