We have the newest links about addiction. This week we feature info on cough medicine, prescription medication, smoking, alcohol, ecstasy, and marijuana. Let us know what you think and leave us your feedback.
Cough and Prescription Medication
CNN Health: The trend for kids to abuse cough medicine is either back, or never left since my days in high-school. Kids get high from a large dose of dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in Robitussin, hence the trend’s nickname “Robo tripping”.
Health Day: Substance abuse treatment admissions of prescription medication (mostly pain relievers) have increased over 400 percent during 10 years. The proportion of admissions for abusers increased from 2.2 percent in 1998 to 9.8 percent in 2008.
Anti Smoking Campaign
New York Times: According to federal officials, the nation has failed to reach its 2010 health goal of reducing high school smoking to 16 percent. They called in report for a resurgence of anti-smoking advertisements.
USA Today: New York became the first American city to require stores to post 4-square-foot warnings showing the physical effects of smoking near tobacco displays or smaller ones at each register. Last month, a few retailers and the nation’s three big tobacco companies sued the city to stop the posters.
Alcohol and Binge-Drinking
Journal Watch: Binge-drinking adolescents are 2.3 to 3.0 times more likely than non-bingers to continue this behavior into their 30s. Striking changes in brain morphology persisted even after alcohol cessation in monkeys exposed to alcohol.
Science Daily: Teens tend to increase their alcohol consumption in summer. Experts suggest parents monitor their children during summer breaks.
Cesar Fax: Of the sexually active high school students 22% reported that they used alcohol or drugs before their last sexual intercourse. Males are significantly more likely than females to report using alcohol or drugs prior to having sex.
Ecstasy and Marijuana
The Partnership: Last year Ecstasy use showed a 67 percent increase, and last year marijuana use showed a 19 percent increase, reversing a declining trend. Could decriminalization and medical marijuana be the reason?, high
Los Angeles Times: An estimated 555,000 Americans older than 12 have used Ecstasy in the last month. Ecstasy is a synthetic amphetamine that is been around for nearly 100 years. If you haven’t read about the death’s at the Los Angeles area rave EDC look here.
One response to “About Addiction: Prescription Medication, Anti Smoking, Alcohol, Ecstasy, and Marijuana”
Nice wrap-up.
Re smoking rates: It’s really difficult to get below 20% in almost any demographic. All the smokers who could quit with a minimum of trouble have already done so. At present, we’re trying to bite into the population of hardcore smokers–addicts, basically. Young people who take it up seriously and early, despite health warnings and social strictures, may represent a sort of base level for nicotine addiction in a culture; the people who were “born to smoke” in a biological sense.