a couple weeks away, A3 Link posts are back with a brand-new set of addiction article straight off the press! With election season gearing up we have some news regarding new laws on the ballot for legalization in some states, as well as internet-addiciton being deemed an official diagnosis in the new DSM, and everything in between. Check out all of the new articles in this week’s posts!
Does trying alcohol in youth develop a distaste for it?- How does tasting alcohol in childhood affect later alcohol use in adolescence? This question has long been debated by parents, with some feeling they should keep their children as far away from alcohol as possible and some believing they should let their children taste alcohol in order to take away the temptation of alcohol as a “forbidden fruit” and/or so they can develop a distaste for it early on. According to a recent study by RTI International and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill based on data collected from interviews with 1,050 mothers and their third-grade children, 25% of the mothers thought that allowing their kids to try alcohol would discourage them from drinking in their adolescence, and 40% believed that not allowing children to taste alcohol will only make it more appealing to them. Twenty-two percent of the mothers believed that children who taste alcohol at home with their parents would be better at resisting alcohol-related peer pressure, and 26% thought it would make them less likely to experiment with risky drinking in middle school. Amongst the children, 33% of those in the study admitted to having tasted some alcoholic beverage. While these findings may not be surprising to some, they are interesting and, to some extent, worrisome because, according to the researchers, early introduction to alcohol is a primary risk factor for problem drinking during adolescence.
Internet Addiction an Official Diagnosis?- The term addiction has historically been used primarily to indicate addiction to drugs and alcohol. Now, there are many different forms of “addiction”, some included in the worldwide psychiatric manual and others simply used by people in everyday conversation. Reportedly, if confirmed by further research, a new addiction included as ”internet-use disorder” will be included in the new psychiatric manual the DSM-V, and children addicted to using electronic devices 24/7, will be diagnosed with a serious mental illness. While this may seem a bit excessive to those who feel there are no ill effects of internet use, recent research has found that children get aggressive, irritable and hostile when their iPads or laptops are taken away from them. Some researchers even found that screen addictions have characteristics similar to other addictions, including emotional shutdown, lack of concentration and withdrawal symptoms if they are kept away from their gadgets and games. While it may soon become an official mental illness, for now overuse of technologies would be classified under internet-use disorder alongside other mental disorders.
Legalization on the Ballot in Multiple States- With election season quickly approaching, multiple states have initiatives on the ballot regarding the legalization of marijuana. According to pre-election polls, it seems likely that at least one of these bills will pass. While Oregon, Washington, and Colorado all have a proposition on their ballot, it looks like Washington or Colorado might be the first state to officially legalize recreational marijuana use, as both states showing at least 50 percent support in the polls. In Washington in particular, there is little organized opposition, with opponents raising only $6,000 compared to supporters, who have collected more than $4 million. Ironically, medical marijuana dispensaries have been the most publicly opposed to the bill. While some of them worry about marijuana dispensaries being put out of business, others fear new DUI laws that could make it illegal to be driving with even a trace of THC in one’s system, an intimidating fact due to the extended time period THC stays in one’s system. For now, those in other states will just have to wait and see what happens at election time. But pay close attention, because the results could have an enormous impact on the future of marijuana legalization across the country, and around the world.
Teen Drug Use Leads to Successful Lives?– It has long been thought, and often commonly accepted, that drug use is “bad”, dangerous, and even deadly. However, in a surprising discovery, a recent study conducted at the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development by Michelle M. Englund found that teens experimenting with drugs and alcohol are more likely to attain higher levels of education and be in stable romantic relationships early into adulthood than those who abstain. This is not to say that heavy drug use leads to more successful individuals, as those who were deemed to be drug abusers and even at-risk users did not reach the same levels of success as experimental users or even those who abstained. One explanation offered is that many of the successful users developed a strong foundation both academically and socially before they tried the drugs and/or alcohol. This seems logical when compared with studies that have shown drug and/or alcohol use earlier in adolescence to be harmful to brain development. While this particular study was conducted with a small sample size and researchers admits that similar studies of larger populations need to be done to verify their results, they do insist that these results show that experimental drug use in adolescence may not be as harmful as previously thought, and may actually be a normal part of adolescent development. Since approximately 80% of teens admit to using drugs, it makes sense that drug use of some sort would be normative and not problematic.
The Drug War- The “Drug War” has been going on for many years now, with the government seemingly spending more to fight the spread of drug use by the year. Using data from government agencies such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Drug Control Surveys, Matt Groff created a graph showing the relationship between government spending on the Drug War and the drug users in America, per 100 citizens, over the last 35 years. You can see the graph for yourself via this link. While it seems there may have been a slight correlation in the ‘80’s as spending began to increase and drug use dipped , the impact has disappeared since then. While Drug War spending has increased to at least 3 times the amount being spent at the end of the 80s, drug use has not decreased and has even been on a slow but steady rise since then. With the effectiveness of the drug war being called into question, it seems prudent to look into more effective ways to be fight drug use nationwide.