Drug Abuse Prevention

Doctors to Ask Teen Patients About Substance Abuse

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Abuse Prevention on November 3rd, 2011

The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a new policy statement that tells doctors to ask their adolescent patients about their drug and alcohol use during visits and to be sensitive for any signs of substance abuse or dependence.

doctor with teenThe advisory, which is published in Pediatrics, emphasized that developing brains are very vulnerable to addiction, which is why a doctor should be one of the first to know if a kid is in trouble with drugs or alcohol.

Dr. Sharon Levy, director for the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at the Children’s Hospital in Boston and co-author of the new policy, stressed the fact that screening of adolescents has always been a part of the process that keeps children healthy and safe.

What drove their group to issue such statement is due to the reality that doctors don’t usually ask their adolescent patients about their drug or alcohol activities.

Screening teens can be very helpful in keeping kids safe, or putting a stop to any developing behavior they may have towards addiction or dependence.

Doctors are now prescribed to ask their young patients if they are using drugs or alcohol, and find out under what circumstances these kids take the dangerous substances. After getting their answers, doctors should be able to give the age-appropriate and correct responses and encouragement. If there are any cases that need extra treatment, they should also provide treatment options to their patients.

Levy adds that adolescents are “an ideal group to screen. The risk of this is very low, the cost of this is trivial… and the potential benefit is huge.”

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Infrequent Family Dinners Linked to Teen Substance Abuse

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Abuse Prevention, Raising Healthy Kids on September 26th, 2011

A report on The Importance of Family Dinners, from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA Columbia), revealed that teens who share dinners with their families infrequently are more likely to smoke, drink, or use pot.

family dinners‘Infrequent family dinners‘ was defined as fewer than three per week, while ‘frequent’ was defined as five to seven family dinners per week. The report indicated that teens who shared infrequent family dinners were almost four times more likely to smoke; more than twice as likely to drink alcohol; and two and a half times likelier to use pot. They are also almost four times more likely to try illegal drugs.

Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Founder and Chairman of CASA Columbia and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, shared: “This year’s study reinforces the importance of frequent family dinners… Ninety percent of Americans who meet the medical criteria for addiction started smoking, drinking, or using other drugs before age 18. Parental engagement in children’s lives is key to raising healthy, drug-free kids and one of the simplest acts of parental engagement is sitting down to the family dinner. Seventeen years of surveying teens has taught us that the more often children have dinner with their families the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.”

On the other hand, teens who share frequent dinners with family were found to be more likely to have excellent relationships with the other members of their family.

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Cleveland Browns and Local Schools Team Up Against Teen Drug Abuse

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Abuse Prevention, Steroid Abuse on September 24th, 2011

The Cleveland Browns are doing their share to keep kids off drugs. The team has partnered with local schools like Amherst Steele, Buchtel, Clearview, GlenOak, James F. Rhodes, John Hay and Lakewood, in implementing a program that will keep kids, especially athletes, safe and away from drugs.

The NFL was instrumental in creating the program. Together with the ATLAS (Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids) and ATHENA (Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives), the program promotes healthy living and winning in competitions without the use of drugs, particularly steroids, which has been used to enhance performance in sports events.

Track and Field coach Stephanie Toole from Lakewood High says the program is very effective in empowering students and athletes to make the right decisions to become better leaders of their teams. Coaches from John Hay also echo the same benefits from the program, saying that school athletes become more resilient when faced with the temptation to use steroids, and that they are better at saying ‘no’ to these addictive substances.

Students from the local schools are glad that such a program exists to help them go through the challenges a lot easier. John Hay student Ogechi Onyeukwu says “the problems, the conflicts, and the struggles of peer pressure, smoking, and drinking and taking steroids…I’m just honored to be able to be around people that go through the same problems as me and are facing the struggles… and are able to discuss how to overcome them.”

The same sentiment is felt among Lakewood students. Student Jay Andreani states that the program helps those who think that taking drugs is alright. He says the idea that drugs is not necessary to be successful has been lost especially on those who are on the competitive side. The program is the answer to bring back this awareness into the school population.

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Home Drug Testing May Play Important Role in Parenting

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Abuse Prevention, Drug Testing on September 15th, 2011

It is an ironic but very real fact that sometimes, the parents are the last people in the world to realize that their child has been abusing drugs and alcohol. The fact that it is natural for parents to believe in the best in their children, and that they had to rely on such unreliable means as intuition and sniff-tests when they hug children good night, may be factors that lead to their being kept in the dark regarding their children’s drug use.

parent and teenBut this no longer necessarily needs to be the case. Nowadays, parents may already make informed, scientific assessments as to whether their children have gone down a dangerous route – and do something about it – through drug testing. Home drug tests are now being described as “parenting tools” that parents may want to consider having handy at home.

Jon Daily, the clinical director of Recovery Happens Counseling Services, shared: “Tests are a good thing to have in the medicine chest when you’re having the talk about drugs.” Trease Petersen, youth intervention specialist with the Davis Police Department, on the other hand, shared: “We offer the drug testing kits as a tool for parents to use, and provide them at cost… Instead of seeing it as an invasion of privacy, kids who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.”

Home drug tests, usually in the form of urine tests, have the ability to detect the presence of a range of substances in a person’s system, including marijuana, ecstasy, opiates and methamphetamine, as well as Valium, Xanax, and Oxycontin. Digital Breathalyzers that screen for alcohol use are also available. These can be bought at such stores as Target or Walmart, or can be bought online.

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Talking to Kids Who Are Going Back to School About Drug Abuse

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Abuse Prevention, Raising Healthy Kids on September 6th, 2011

It’s school season once again! The experience of going back to school can both be exciting and stressful. The new environment or new set of people surrounding a teen could cause stress and this could pave the way for teen substance abuse.

parent and teen talkIt is important then for parents to help kids cope with the stress of school opening. Issues like drugs and alcohol abuse should not be taken for granted. The best time to start the talk with kids is now, and not later. Here are some points parents need to remember:

a. It greatly helps when parent-child conversations start early and happen regularly. This is a good way to deter negative behavior among teens. Both can set their expectations and possible problems are discussed before anything comes too late.

b. To make kids focus on school, parents should set academic expectations for their children. When teens know that their parents are expecting much from them in terms of school performance, they will be more determined and focused on their academic life.

c. Sometimes, it’s not enough for talks to discourage teens on getting into substance abuse. To emphasize the whole family’s seriousness on such issues, put everything into writing. You may create a “written contract” containing rules and regulations on important teen topics, and such a contract should be strategically placed where each member of the family will have a glimpse of it each day. This way, they will be reminded of the commitment that the family has established.

d. During instances when parents begin to detect changes in a teen’s behavior or physical appearance, the talk should be done immediately. Parents can seek help and support for their troubled kids through various school programs against drugs and alcohol or in community initiatives that aim to help families disturbed by substance abuse cases.

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Army Wages War Against Designer Drugs

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Abuse Prevention, Drug Addiction on August 30th, 2011

The anti-drug regulations of the United States Army indicate the full-scale battle that the service is waging against designer drugs.

US ArmyAside from a ban on “spice,” or synthetic marijuana, the Army has also issued warnings against mephedrone, or “bath salts.” A similar ban as that against spice may soon be in place for bath salts.

Lt. Col. Shaun Bailey, chief of the drug testing branch of the United States Army, shared: “It’s an emerging drug of concern to us and we’ve already blasted out [the message] that commanders need to be aware of it.”

Army regulations have a blanket ban against any substance that may cause “excitement, intoxication, or stupefaction.” The revision, however, will explicitly ban synthetic cannabinoids, in very much the same way that heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines are banned for Army, Guard, and Reserve personnel.

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