Month: January 2008

To teach at an adolescent treatment center has been such a gift to me. I have recognized my own weaknesses and strengths. The residents’ struggles remind me of my own when I was their age. Their strengths remind me to strive higher than I ever thought possible for myself and others. The adolescent years are very crucial in forming their perception towards who they are and who they choose to be. It is the time that they can recognize that they have a choice. It is their crossroad.

The lists of drugs that are available today are much more extensive than when I was in high school. During my time, it was marijuana and alcohol. Now, the kids have been introduced to a variety of pain killers, more harmful drugs such as heroin, meth, cocaine and more. I feel for these kids. They have a difficult battle to fight. I have to say, they surprise me more often than I thought with their progression towards recovery than their regression towards using.

Solange Petrosspour

Salvia Divinorum, a strong hallucinogen that legal in most states, is readily available to teens everywhere over the internet. Online salvia dealers are reaching out to teenagers by marketing salvia as completely a completely safe, non addictive, spiritually enhancing herb. Many sites warn buyers that they must be eighteen to purchase salvia but there is no way to verify age online. If the teen has a credit card then the dealers will sell them the salvia. A typical warning on a website selling salvia is at the very bottom of the page in small print and reads something like; by purchasing this item, the buyer certifies they are 18 or older and responsible. The teenagers searching for salvia online, even if they are 18, will most likely not be responsible because they are searching out a strong drug which they can smoke or ingest to produce a psychedelic high. Most teens that are looking to escape from reality by using drugs are not responsible. Therefore the responsibility falls on the online dealer because dealers need to know better than to sell a dangerous drug online that teens can have access to.

When confronting teens about their drug use, teens often respond with minimization, rationalization, excuses and flat out lies. If you find drugs in your teen’s room and confront them on it, you may hear things like; “those aren’t mine”, “I bought them, but decided not to use them”, “I have only used them once”, “My friend bought it and asked me to keep it for them”, “It’s only weed, it’s natural” or “Thurman Murman gave it to be for free, so I’m not spending your money”. If signs are pointing toward your teen and drug abuse, when confronting them, you may hear things like; “I’m just all way tired”, “I’m just not hungry”, “I’m not interested in college anyway”, “I’m FINE”, “Stop trying to ruin my life”, “My eyes always look like this”, and “I don’t smell like chemicals, that just my detergent”.
If you suspect your teen of using drugs, contact a professional. Tell the professional, only the facts about what is going on and not what your teen may be trying to convince you about. The professional will then be able to better guide you toward a solution. It is import to communicate your teen. But remember, drug users are not the most honest people in the world. Take what your teen says about his/her drug use “with a grain of salt”.

I quit smoking cigarettes after inhaling them for 14 years. I miss them every day and I probably think of them every other minute at the moment. It is a challenge and one that I didn’t even anticipate making. One day I basically hit my bottom with cigarettes. My body felt like it was starting to shut down. I would get headaches everyday from smoking, which then made my body tense, which then gave me no motivation or oxygen circulation, which then the list goes on and on. The bottom line is, every part of my being was starting to get affected by this disease of addiction.

Working at a teen treatment center that deals with addiction has been a blessing for me. I am aware that any addiction has an underlying psychological motivation. For me, to let go of cigarettes is painful for it feels as if I am letting go of the love of my life. I understand this sounds silly and yet this is what the young adults at teen treatment centers with drug and alcohol addiction feel as well. It is strange. It is strange to love something so harmful towards us. It’s strange to be ok with poisoning ourselves for so long and then one day decide that it’s not ok to do that anymore. The thing is I would never stop smoking if my body could handle it. And yet as a responsible adult I have to be aware of the choices I make in life. I am not even angry that I have to stop, I am only extremely sad that I can no longer continue.

Anonymous

Teen binge drinking is a huge problem with teens and more common than one might think. Depending on tolerance and body weight, binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks within a few hours. This risky behavior can result in serious health problems, sexual promiscuity, and death. Recent research indicates that two-thirds of those high school students surveyed admitted to binge drinking. Teenage males tend to engage in binge drinking more than their female counterparts. Teen binge drinkers were also more likely to use dangerous drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and inhalants. They were also much more likely to smoke tobacco cigarettes.

It seems that binge drinking takes away all capacity for reason, as studies show that binge drinkers are more likely to get in the car with a drunk driver. That’s not to mention the dangers of binge drinkers behind the wheel of a car. Further proof that extreme alcohol consumption is harmful, teen binge drinkers were shown to have lower grades than non-binge drinkers. Perhaps most disturbing, binge drinkers were nearly four times more likely to be highly sexually active, victims of rape, and suicidal.

Long Term Effects of Ecstasy

University of Adelaide researchers have found that ecstasy taken on a few occasions could cause long-term brain damage from severe damage to brain cells, with the potential to cause future memory loss or psychological problems.

Dr. Rod Irvine, of the University’s Department of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, with an increased use of ecstasy among teens, major health problems can be expected in the future.

“For many years it has been known from animal experiments that small doses of ecstasy – even if only taken on only a few occasions – can cause severe damage to certain brain cells,” Irvine said in a news release. “More recently, evidence has started to accumulate suggesting that this damage may also occur in humans.”

Brain scans and psychological assessment of teen ecstasy users has been used to obtain this information.

“If our suspicions are proved correct, it will mean many of our young people will have memory loss or psychological problems in the future.”

Irvine’s research shows that the drug seems to work mainly through its effects on one type of brain cell, and even through one molecule in those cells. He said, “the way the body reacts chemically to ecstasy is important in producing adverse effects, as is the surrounding temperature, which can lead to users overheating.”

Irvine is looking at the shorter-term consequences of ecstasy “overdoses” and has found that the high rate of death is due to a different strain of ecstasy appearing on the market in the mid 1990s.

“Normal ecstasy contains the pharmacological ingredient known as MDMA as its main ingredient, but the new strain often contained no MDMA but rather a more potent chemical known as PMA,” Irvin said.

“PMA hasn’t been around since the early 1970s when it was responsible for the deaths of several people in Ontario, Canada, and now it’s reappeared,” Dr Irvine says. “We don’t know where the PMA came from, but we do know that it has been prevalent since the mid 1990s.”

Studies may indicate that the overall percentage of elicit teen drug use has declined over recent years. However, the teen use and subsequent teen abuse of prescription medication has steadily increased in this age group at an alarming rate. Many teens find the pills in their parent’s medicine cabinet IE., Oxycontin, Vicodin, Zanax, Klonopin and Ambien. Others share or buy them from peers. Shockingly, some teen drug abusers even rummage through their neighbors trash to find leftover prescriptions. Furthermore, teens may not risk buying illegal drugs when they can get high on many household products, such as aerosols and other inhalants.

Based on this information, it is important to remember that what we regard as “unsafe to children” extends to teens as well. Reconsider locking up anything that you might consider dangerous to a child. When you throw away an old prescription, seal it, and grind it up in cat litter or old coffee grounds. These simple precautions may save the life of someone, namely someone you love.

Many people think that marijuana is a harmless drug, however an accident last week proved that idea to be wrong.

Last week, an officer pulled a car over for a regular old traffic stop. The officer got off of his motorcycle and was at the side of the car he’d pulled over. Then, a pickup truck driven by a 20 year old male just out of his teens swerved and hit both the officer and the car he’d pulled over. The driver of the car was killed and the officer is now in critical condition.

What caused the pickup truck to swerve? Well, that hasn’t been figured out yet. However, the driver was found to be under the influence of marijuana and a pound of marijuana was found in his truck. So, not only is this guy being charged with a DUI and drug trafficking, but now he is also facing the charge of vehicular manslaughter!

So, next time you think “It’s just weed!” think again. This drug can be just as deadly and dangerous as any other mind-altering substance.

Cough Medicine Abuse

About 3.1 million people between the ages of 12-25 have used cough and cold medicine to get high, the government reported Wednesday.

Dextromethorphan, or DXM, is cough suppressant that teens drug abusers are looking for in many over the counter cough, allergy and cold medications. When DXM is used as directed it is a safe and helpful medication with very little side effects. Although when taken at doses that exceed the recommended dose DXM has mind altering properties and potentially dangerous side effects. When taken at these high doses DXM can produce similar stimulating and euphoric effects to the drug ecstacy on the user, and at even higher doses DXM has been known to cause hallucinations. These hallucinations can include out-of-body experiences where teen drug users can feel complete disconnection from their body and surroundings.

DXM can have many negative side effects while taken at a mind-altering dose such as nausea, loss of consciousness and slowed breathing. Many long term effects of DXM are unknown but there is confirmation that long term abuse may lead to learning and memory impairment.

ADHD medications… Helpful or harmful?

These days there are so many teens and young people are being diagnosed with ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Thank goodness that we have a number of various medications with which to treat this disorder in teens. However, many of these medications lead to more problems than not. The two most commonly used medications for ADHD are Ritalin and Adderall and both of these medications are classified as scheduled II drugs in the amphetamine class. Although classified as amphetamines when used as directed by a medical professional these medications help those with ADHD and ADD to focus for longer periods of time and fully complete tasks.

However, these stimulants also have a high percentage of teen misuse, teen abuse and teen dependence. It has been found that many teens and school-aged children have been trading, buying and selling their prescriptions with one another. Many of them also have taken to snorting these medications thinking that because it is a prescription it is a safer alternative to cocaine. The truth is that when snorted or injected the potency of the drugs increase because it enters the bloodstream directly and if not prescribed to the user the risk is equal or more greater than cocaine. Most teens and adolescents that enter drug rehab have at one time or another abused their own or somebodyelse’s prescription for Adderall, Ritalin or some other stimulant based medication.