Addiction
Cocaine Use Shown to Speed Brain Aging
Brain aging is a general term used to describe structural, chemical and psychological changes that commonly occur in the brains of older individuals. While this process doesn’t affect everyone in the same way, aging in the brain is associated with a number of significant health problems, including Alzheimer’s disease and depression. Current evidence indicates that people who habitually abuse cocaine develop changes in their brains that point toward the onset of premature brain aging. In particular, habitual cocaine abuse can destroy grey matter, the material that forms the core of the brain’s communications network. Full Story
Study Explores Potential of Modafinil for Treatment of Alcohol Dependence
As humans, our ability to fight addiction is tied to our ability to control impulses. When this control is in place, we also control the consumption of those substances that generate rewards, including alcohol, food and drugs. Full Story
What is Denial?
Addicts are often out of touch with the unforeseen costs of their behavior. They routinely ignore warning signs that seem obvious to their friends and family – trouble in school, job loss, car wrecks, ruined relationships, financial problems, illness, arrest, etc. They either ignore these issues or they place the blame on others, continuing their problematic behaviors without a second thought. This is their denial. It is almost as if they are unable to see (or they refuse to see) the destructive effects that their drinking, drug use, and other addictive behaviors have not only on themselves, but on those who love them. Full Story
Secret Alcoholics
You may remember having shared a few drinks with a colleague after work on a few occasions. The colleague was drinking responsibly and only having a few drinks at the holiday office party. The colleague may also have looked well-groomed, was a responsible person, and was a friendly and competent worker. That is why it can be so surprising to find out the colleague later went through alcohol addiction rehabilitation. Full Story
When you Suspect Substance Abuse in Your Kid’s Friends
It can be a very sticky situation. If you think one of your teen’s friends is using drugs or drinking, tact and care in your response are essential. Your children and their well-being are of the utmost importance, and protecting them is your job and your responsibility. The last thing you want for them is to get involved in drugs or to be around people who are using. However, before you rush in with guns blazing, take some steps to be sure that your concerns are founded and that you approach the friend’s parents or guardians in a compassionate and respectful manner. Full Story
Drunk Not Drink Determines Future Problems for Kids
It has long been thought that if kids were exposed to alcohol at a young age, they were at a greater risk for developing life-long alcohol problems and other negative behaviors. Full Story
Article Says Genetics May Be 60 Percent of the Factors Toward Alcohol Abuse
Of all types of global disease, alcoholism is a leading killer, taking the lives of more than 2.5 million individuals annually. In the U.S., it’s a leading factor in deaths of people in the 15 to 60 year old age group, and annual levels consumed by people in the U.S. are up to ten liters of pure alcohol, on average. Full Story
Examining the Connection Between Family History And Initiation of Use
There are many factors that contribute to the development of a substance use disorder. Both environmental and biological risk factors are in play in every case, and each individual has a unique group of risk factors that lead to the likelihood of the development of a substance use disorder. Full Story
Drugs Used to Combat Opioid Addiction Are Winding up in Children’s Hands
Opioid addiction is on the rise and with addiction comes the prescription drugs to combat it. Burprenorphine is one of the most common drugs used to treat opioid addiction, according to a recent medical article. In fact, the number of patients being prescribed burprenorphine has swelled 444-fold in the last decade compared to providers actually prescribing it, which was only 67-fold, according to information by the Utah Controlled Substance Database.
As more prescription drugs are making their way into American homes, the chances for children to be exposed to them is higher than ever. A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention addressed the importance of educating patients about their prescriptions, their affects on children and how to properly store them. Researchers with the Utah Poison Control Center, Utah School of Medicine’s Department of Family Preventive Health and the Utah Department of Health are urging medical professionals to take all precautions necessary to keep their patients informed.
While burprenorphine prescriptions increased so did the number of accidental exposures. The UPCC reported than there was an average of 36 exposures to children from 2009 to 2011. Most of the cases involved children ages six years and under. In many cases, the children required medical attention and even treatment at a medical facility. In a few rare cases, the exposure to burprenorphine proved fatal, killing two adults and one teenager.
Death is a very real consequence but not a common one. Children who ingest burprenorphine could experience delayed or persistent respiratory depression for at least 24 hours or more. Drowsiness, miosis, agitation and tachycardia are some of the effects a child under six years old could suffer. But a child doesn’t have to swallow the tablet to feel its affects. Just sucking on the burprenorphine can actually create a faster absorption than if ingested.
Alcohol Advertising Bans Do Not Appear to Reduce Underage Drinking
The combination of youthful unwise choices and mind-altering substances like alcohol is dangerous enough to concern not only parents, but society as a whole. Consequently, there is an ever running stream of research into how best to curb adolescent alcohol use. The problem is that the research frequently yields contradictory conclusions. One of those controversies exists over the usefulness of prohibiting alcohol advertising in preventing teen alcohol consumption. Does limiting or eliminating alcohol ads make it less likely that kids will use alcohol?
The answer is complex. To begin with there are plenty of other contributing influences which would need to be effectively factored out in order to get a clear picture of how advertising affects alcohol use. Studies which look for what primarily impacts a young person’s likelihood of abusing alcohol repeatedly point to the influence of parents and close friends as of primary importance. Another factor which has been shown to influence alcohol use is price. When alcohol is expensive, fewer kids can afford to indulge. Of course, adults who consume alcohol would not necessarily welcome higher prices in the name of teen prevention.
Another question which needs to be answered is just how influential advertising is in affecting our purchasing habits. Plenty of research shows that while advertising may be effective in getting us to try another brand of a product, it rarely creates new demand for the product. In other words, consumers may be influenced to buy a less expensive or more expensive brand of perfume, but advertising has not been shown to create new perfume users. In the same way, alcohol companies are advertising to get drinkers to switch labels more effectively than they are in winning over new drinkers. Beer drinkers, wine drinkers, vodka drinkers may each be swayed to try another kind of their chosen beverage by effective marketing, but no studies show that advertising wins over new wine or beer drinkers.
Prohibiting alcohol advertising during certain hours was tried in the Netherlands in recent years. From early morning until nine at night, the Dutch made it illegal to advertise alcohol on television or radio. Compliance with the ruling was judged to be practically universal, yet the ban did next to nothing to impact teen alcohol use in that country. Experts suggest that the ban failed because teens tend to populate the largest segment of after nine p.m. tv viewers. By driving alcohol ads to late night tv, the advertisers were actually more effective in reaching a younger audience.
When we are faced with a clear concern, the temptation is to do something rather than do nothing. No one is suggesting doing nothing, of course. But, it is wise to choose interventions which have the best chance of being effective. So far, placing limits on alcohol advertising has not proven to be an effective plan.
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The Addiction Primer: Everything You Need to Know to Get Help for a Loved One
A very inexpensive yet indispensable guide for anyone struggling with a loved one's addiction. Chapters on intervention, what to expect from rehab, and information on how addiction impacts the family.
