“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

While some who begin their early adulthood enjoying new freedoms through experimentation with alcohol, many of those individuals “age out,” trading partying for full-time employment as they graduate college and enter the work force.

However, for some, the party continues and the consequences are grave. The longer young adults prolong their abuse of alcohol, the longer they expose their bodies to increased risk of liver disease and multiple types of cancer.

A recent study by researchers based at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse showed that over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in substance abuse resulting in hospitalization. Between 1999 and 2008, there was a dramatic increase in hospitalizations for alcohol and drug overdose for those between the ages of 18 and 24.

The analysis showed that there was a 25 percent increase in hospitalizations related to alcohol overdose. In addition, there was a 56 percent increase observed in hospitalizations for drug overdose and a 76 percent increase for cases in which a combination of alcohol and drug overdose warranted hospitalization for those aged 18 to 24. The findings are disturbing, given the increased awareness among this age group about the risks associated with heavy alcohol and drug use.

The report also found that in 2008, a third of all hospitalizations for overdoses included some consumption of alcohol. For all individuals aged 18 and older, there were 1.6 million hospitalizations for overdoses in 2008. The total cost for these hospitalizations was $15.5 billion. Approximately half of the hospitalizations included alcohol overdoses. The findings support concern that heavy alcohol consumption represents a significant public health cost.

Many of the overdoses are occurring at an age when parents may still have significant influence in their children’s alcohol-related decision-making. Parents who suspect that their college-age son or daughter may be at risk for dangerous alcohol consumption should strive to keep communication open about alcohol and drug use.

The report findings are published in the September issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Alcohol Trends in Young Adults is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Kids are using any means to get high and the Internet provides endless opportunities to solicit products such as Salvia. The result for some teens is drug addiction. Psychiatrists and teachers across America are seeing teenagers high on drugs on a daily basis.

Now begins the question of what to do with high school athletes who are involved with these substances and their participation in school sports. A call has been put forth for drug testing among all high school athletes. If a student doesn’t want to be tested for drugs they have the choice to not participate in sports.

The benefits to drug testing are numerous. Parents would have a chance to help their child get clean and schools would be making a statement about the dangers of substance abuse. Coaches and their assistants should be encouraged to be tested also and share their results with the team.

Participating in a team sport is not a right, it is a privilege. If we tie it to being drug-free in our schools that would at least be a start towards ridding our schools of drug abuse.

Should High School Athletes Be Drug Tested Before Participating in Sports? is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

They’re wrong, say researchers.

In a study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, May 2011, researchers from the Centre for Adolescent Health in Melbourne, Australia, and Seattle’s Social Development Research Group evaluated how parental treatment of teen drinking worked to promote or prevent the behavior. Nearly 2,000 adolescents, aged from seventh grade to ninth grade, were surveyed to learn about their alcohol consumption and challenges they had experienced from it.

While frequency of consumption and problems they reported differed from participants in Victoria, Australia, as compared to participants in Washington State, one finding remained the same: when they were permitted to consume alcohol around adults, the youths consumed more alcohol by the time they entered their freshman year of high school. They also noted more negative impacts by their ninth grade year than did their peers, according to recent news reports on the study.

Researchers concluded that parents should implement complete forbiddance of alcohol for teens, anywhere, anytime, to prevent future problems and further consumption. They believe youth respond best to clear-cut, direct guidance about alcohol being off-limits, rather than the convoluted message they receive when parents try to allow teens to consume small amounts of alcohol. Researchers also suggest that parents keep any alcohol in their home in an area teens can’t access.

Parents Who Allow Teens to Drink Sending Wrong Message, Says Study is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Researchers looked at the smoking habits, use of other tobacco products, alcohol, and drugs (as well as exposure to second-hand smoke) in 2,620 Aboriginal youth who lived off-reserve and 26,223 non-Aboriginal youth. All the participants were in grades 9-12 and had participated in the 2008-2009 Youth Smoking Survey.

The study found that 24.9 percent of the Aboriginal participants were regular smokers, 2.6 percent were former smokers, and 72.4 percent were non-smokers. Of the non-Aboriginal participants, 10.4 percent were current smokers, 1.5 percent were former smokers, and 88 percent were non-smokers. Aboriginal youth were more likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke than non-Aboriginal youths.

The majority of the respondents (88.5 percent of Aboriginal and 84.2 percent of non-Aboriginal youth) said they had tried alcohol, and the average age at which they first tried alcohol was significantly lower among Aboriginal youth. Of those who had tried alcohol, 91.9 percent of Aboriginal youth had engaged in binge drinking, compared to 85.2 percent of non-Aboriginals. Aboriginal youth were also more likely than non-Aboriginal youth to use marijuana (62 percent compared to 41 percent) and other illicit drugs (34.8 percent compared to 20.6 percent).

The study also found that Aboriginal females had higher rates of using tobacco, marijuana, and other illicit drugs than male Aboriginals.

Dr. Tara Elton-Marshall of the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact, University of Waterloo, said that the high prevalence of smoking and substance abuse among Aboriginal youth living off-reserve underscores the need for prevention programs that target Aboriginal youth.

The researchers noted that most of the Aboriginal youth who currently smoke (especially females) said they had tried to quit at least once. This suggests that Aboriginal youth are interested in quitting but may require additional support to stop smoking.

The researchers concluded that their study highlights the need for culturally appropriate prevention and treatment methods and programs for Aboriginal youths living off-reserve.

Source: Medical News Today, Aboriginal Youth Use Tobacco, Illicit Drugs and Alcohol More Than Non-Aboriginal Youth, May 9, 2011

Aboriginal Youth Living Off-Reserve More Likely to Smoke, Use Drugs and Alcohol is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The first study was from Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois. Dr. Justin Rhodes and his colleagues found that adolescent mice were less sensitive to the effects of cocaine and methamphetamine than adults. The adults showed more increases in locomotion, but the drugs had little to no effect on the "teenagers." Dr. Rhodes was unsure why this occurred.

Dr. Rhodes said that a young person’s first experiment with cocaine and methamphetamines may be extremely mild, which in turn would increase the likelihood of his or her using drugs again.

"If you have a strong reaction to something, then you are less likely to do it again," Dr. Rhodes said.

This study appears in the journal Neuroscience.

The second study was from the University of Valencia. Dr. Jose Minarro found that mice given ecstasy and cocaine during adolescence developed a vulnerability to them in adulthood. The control group of mice that had not been exposed to drugs in adolescence had less vulnerability.

"Adolescence is a critical stage during which time drug consumption affects plastic cerebral processes in ways that cause changes that persist right through adulthood," according to Dr. Minarro in a report published in the journal Addiction Biology.
 

Drug Addiction Starts During Teen Years 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

An ABC News report captured the seriousness of this situation, where nearly 50 students at the school are battling a heroin addiction. One girl, Abigail Achison, dropped out of school to indulge her habit. She told ABC News that it only took one time for her to get hooked.

The problem has intensified to the point that school officials and community members gathered in a town meeting to raise awareness and rally help for teens in the area. With the problem of heroin addiction growing within the Seattle community, parents and citizens alike are searching for answers.

Earlier this year, a middle school janitor was found with 60 bags of heroine. Two other dealers in the area were arrested weeks later, found dealing near a suburban soccer field. Drug Enforcement Administration agents point to the back of the bleachers to find the latest stash and users do little to try and hide their trail.

According to experts, the problem with heroin is growing due to its increased accessibility and affordable price. Dealers readily sell a small bag of heroin to teens for as little as $5 – which is a much cheaper trip than a movie theater ticket or even a six pack of beer.

The rise in addiction is no accident – dealers are very smart marketers who know exactly how to attract and keep their customers. Many use common pop culture or free promotions to get a first-time customer, relying on the addiction to grow rapidly to gain loyalty.

Teen Heroin Addiction Growing Rapidly in Seattle 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

A new study says that drug and alcohol use is not just about deviant behavior. It’s about being cool. According to researchers at the Universite de Montreal, there is a strong correlation between popularity and consumption. Lead researcher Jean-Sébastian Fallu says that the kids they examined were popular in their school, well-accepted, and possessed a keen sensibility about the factors that go into popularity and the compromises that may be involved.

The researchers recruited 500 French-speaking students and interviewed them at three intervals: at ages 10 to 11, 12 to 13 and 14 to 15. They examined the popularity of the child and their friends and also logged their use of alcohol, marijuana and drugs.

The findings of the study indicated that across all popularity levels, there was an increase in consumption as the participants got older. The more popular a child and their friends were, the more they consumed. A two-fold increase was evident in children between ages 10 and 15 that were very popular and had very popular friends. However, when a child was popular but his friends were not, the same trend did not exist.

The results show that there may be a higher risk for teens that are not only popular, but also have popular friends. Fallu says that the research did not show consumption being used as a means to be accepted by a group, or as a way to increase popularity, but there was a definite trend of using to maintain a popularity level. Using becomes more about remaining well-liked than increasing popularity.

The authors of the study caution that kids who are not popular are still at risk of developing other deviant behaviors. Lack of popularity is not a guarantee of a smooth transition to adulthood. However, research has shown that teens that are not popular are more likely to develop problems with violence than use alcohol or drugs.

The study’s findings may be useful in educating parents and teens about the risk of pressure to use drugs and alcohol as a way of maintaining popularity. Schools may even be able to target popular teens with leadership skills and educate them about the dangers of using drugs and alcohol in order to promote awareness among teen social networks.
 

Using Drugs to Stay Popular at School is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment