The Los Angeles Times reported this week that synthetic marijuana, known on the street as Spice, can cause a lengthy bout of psychosis in some users, according to research presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting held this week in Honolulu. Doctors at the Naval Hospital San Diego reported on 10 patients who were hospitalized for psychosis after using Spice. The synthetic cannabis is also known as K2, Blaze or Red X Dawn. The drug consists of plant material coated with synthetic chemicals meant to produce a high similar to marijuana. However, symptoms in the 10 patients, who were ages 21 to 25, included auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoid delusions and thoughts of suicide. Most of the patients recovered from the psychosis in five to eight days but symptoms lasted as long as three months in some people. Synthetic marijuana has become an issue in the military, in substance-abuse treatment facilities and other settings because it cannot be detected in standard, urine-based drug tests. Last year, the DEA banned five chemicals found in K2. However, the ban will last only one year with an option to extend the ban for an additional six months. A bill introduced by Senators Grassley and Feinstein would permanently schedule 15 of the source chemicals identified in K2 and similar products, and place them as Schedule I narcotics. Coalitions across the country have been working to permanently ban the chemicals, as well.

Source: cadca.org

May 2011
1. Our 14yo son admitted to smoking pot once – he seems genuinely remorseful and swears it won’t happen again but I’m not sure where we go from here. Should we ground him, drug test him, or what? Advice?
Good for you for taking this seriously! While there certainly are some young people who try pot once and do not like it, there are far more that tell their parents what they think they want to know to avoid getting caught. Without some specific information it is difficult to tell you whether to ground him or not, but two good general guidelines to go by are 1) to honor any consequence he was told there would be before hand and 2) to know that to effectively ground your child, you have to ground yourself also. It is important to discuss with him the circumstances around his use so that you can help him avoid the factors that led to that poor decision.

Drug testing is absolutely appropriate and warranted. It serves the purpose of giving you some objective data regarding his drug free status, but perhaps more importantly it gives him an extra reason to say “no” next time the opportunity to smoke pot arises. Knowing he may be held accountable can be a powerful tool to help him make good decisions. For testing to be meaningful it needs to be done randomly, and frequently for awhile. If cause for suspicion is given, testing should be done by a reputable facility, under observation, and he needs not to know when it will be done (this is one test you do not want him studying to pass!).

Also make sure to keep his attitude and beliefs about Marijuana an open topic of discussion between you and him. He is at an age when attitudes and beliefs can change drastically and quickly. Try to learn how he forms his views and take the opportunity to both teach specific information about Marijuana and to teach about decision making.

It is a known fact that children do such a good job of covering their tracks while using drugs that the average parent learns about their child’s serious drug problem about a year after it starts. Knowing this, it is difficult to take the risk of not being pro-active. Being pro-active is a far cry from being over reactive. An over reactive parent will begin spying on their child and make all kinds of unreasonable restrictions that are not predicated on things their child did, but on what they think the child is doing. A pro-active parent begins paying closer attention to where their child spends their spare time, who they hang with, their attitude towards themselves and others, and takes note to see if anything adds up to possible personality change.

2. My husband and I met in AA more than 15 years ago and have been clean and sober ever since. Our kids are 9 & 10 and I’m afraid their questions about whether we’ve ever used alcohol and drugs are just around the corner. When they ask, how honest should we be?

Congratulations on your and your husband’s recovery successes! Your question is a common challenge for many parents. When dealing with your children’s questions it is important to remember that honest and open are two different qualities. There is never a legitimate reason to be dishonest with your child; and real and long lasting damage can come from even seemingly harmless amounts of lying. There is, however, no requirement for complete openness or graphic description. Children can also be harmed by graphic disclosure that is neither age nor relationship appropriate. The best approach is to explain to them that you did make mistakes as a youth, and offer to share with them what you learned from these experiences. When it comes to the specific details of the things you did, explain to them that the greatest value for you is the knowledge you gained from learning to make the right decisions, and one of the most helpful things you learned was to leave the bad memories in the past. It is not only o.k. but healthy to keep the detailed description of “what it was like” limited. Where exactly to draw the line is certainly a subjective and tricky field to negotiate and you may find benefit in speaking to other recovering parents about their experiences or seeking some targeted guidance from an appropriate professional.

It will be very important that your children understand the disease concept and their own increased risk for a chemical dependency due to genetics. It is important that they understand that you and your husband are very fortunate to be clean and sober and leading productive lives and that most people who fall into the clutches of alcohol and other drugs do not escape.

And through it all remember that you are their parent not their friend (these are mutually exclusive roles) and that it is absolutely all right to strive to not have your children repeat your mistakes. Never let the “You can’t discipline me for it because you did it” argument hold any water, it doesn’t.

The questions above are from parents who live in the South Bay. The responses have been provided by members of the South Bay Coalition whose expertise and experience lies in parenting, counseling, and/or substance abuse prevention. The South Bay Coalition is a non-profit partnership of agencies working to prevent substance abuse among our community’s youth. For local resources or more information, please visit our website www.thefutureiswatching.org or contact: events@sbcoalition.com

April 2011

1. My 14yo son has always been a good kid – good grades, well-behaved, active in sports, etc. Lately he’s been spending a lot of time alone in his room on the computer – becoming withdrawn and secretive and gets fairly agitated when I come into his room. How much privacy should I allow him? And should I worry about other issues like drugs? Thank you.

Age 14 is a typical age when young adults need more privacy. Most often they are dealing with their own emerging sexuality. Your son sounds like a child of great parenting. A rule of thumb about privacy is that everyone should be given the privacy they ask for. However, privacy, like privileges, must be earned. We would suggest you regularly check the websites visited by your son. This is different than directly reading your son’s e-mails or journal, a level of privacy invasion that would need very, very serious circumstances to justify. (If you’re not sure how to do this, computer experts at Office Depot, Best Buy, etc. should be able to give you a quick lesson on the phone.) Knowing what sites are being visited is appropriate information for a parent to review, and really all parents who allow their children internet access should monitor this. The content your son chooses to view may help guide you to some of the issues he is struggling with.

His being withdrawn, secretive and agitated when you come into his room is definitely cause for concern, but does not in and of itself point to drugs. If it is determined that your son is not viewing inappropriate web sites or engaging in irresponsible behavior then allow him the privacy he asks for. It is your responsibility as the parent to make sure his behavior in his room is appropriate. A good adolescent family counselor may be in order either way.

2. My 12yo daughter is a late bloomer – most of her friends are already interested in boys, clothes, and make-up. Because my daughter isn’t, some of her “friends” are starting to call her names and imply that she’s gay. She is becoming very stressed and now she dreads going to school. I need advice on how to handle this situation.

It’s good to see you put “friends” in quotations as their behavior clearly shows that they are not performing that role in your daughter’s life…which doesn’t mean that your daughter does not consider them friends or that leaving them for new ones would be an easy and/or simple transition for her. School authorities do need to be made aware of what is going on as this falls under bullying behavior which is beginning to be taken more seriously by schools. Reassure your daughter frequently that she is just fine and that her lack of interest in boys, clothes and make up at age 12 is perfectly normal and healthy. Try to find ways to increase her interaction with other girls who are aging appropriately. Proactively seeking out positive interaction is usually a far easier task than cutting off negative interaction. If her level of ongoing emotional distress warrants it, seek professional counseling or therapy for her.
It is one thing to be drawn to others who are most similar to you, so it is part of the natural path of teens that they shift friends due to changing interests. However, it is not natural, okay, or acceptable to attack others who are different (or you perceive to be different) from you. Definitely seek some help from the school guidance team.

The questions above are from parents who live in the South Bay. The responses have been provided by members of the South Bay Coalition whose expertise and experience lies in parenting, counseling, and/or substance abuse prevention. The South Bay Coalition is a non-profit partnership of agencies working to prevent substance abuse among our community’s youth. For local resources or more information, please visit our website www.thefutureiswatching.org or contact: events@sbcoalition.com

Medical News Today reports that there is a strong association between computer and internet use in teens and risky behavior including drug use, drunkenness and unprotected sex.

“This research is based on social cognitive theory, which suggests that seeing people engaged in a behavior is a way of learning that behavior,” explained lead researcher Valerie Carson, a doctoral candidate in School of Kinesiology and Health Studies. “Since adolescents are exposed to considerable screen time – over 4.5 hours on average each day – they’re constantly seeing images of behaviors they can then potentially adopt.”

This research, recently published in the Journal of Preventative Medicine, suggests that future studies should examine the specific content adolescents are being exposed to in order to help strengthen current screen time guidelines for youth.

The researchers found that high computer use was associated with approximately 50 per cent increased engagement with a cluster of six multiple risk behaviors, including smoking, drunkenness, non-use of seatbelts, cannabis and illicit drug use, and unprotected sex. High television use was also associated with a modestly increased engagement in these behaviors.

One explanation behind this finding is that a considerable amount of advertising that used to be shown on TV is now being shown on the Internet. In addition, computer usage by adolescents has increased considerably in recent years.

“TV and video games have more established protocols in terms of censorship, but Internet protocols aren’t as established,” Carson said. “Parents can make use of programs that control access to the Internet, but adolescents in this age group are quite savvy about technology and the Internet. It’s possible that these types of controls aren’t effective in blocking all undesirable websites.”

Source: cadca.org

Calling the new fruity alcoholic drink Blast by Colt 45 “binge-in-a-can,” 17 attorneys general are asking the drink’s maker, Pabst Brewing Co., to stop marketing the beverage to underage drinkers and to significantly reduce the number of servings of alcohol in each can.

The drink, being promoted by rapper Snoop Dogg, comes in a colorful can containing 23.5 ounces, with an alcohol content of 12 percent—more than most cans of beer, CNN reports.

The letter to Pabst was written by Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and signed by the attorneys general for Arizona, California, Connecticut, Guam, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Washington and the city attorney of San Francisco.

In a press release, Gansler says, “Anyone who consumes a can of Blast within an hour will have engaged in binge drinking as defined by public health authorities.” He added, “At a time when we’re fighting to prevent underage and binge drinking, we call upon Pabst to rethink the dangers posed by Blast, promoted by a popular hip-hop celebrity, as a ‘binge-in-a-can’ in sweet flavors and bright colors aimed at the youngest drinkers…I hope our letter asking Pabst to take swift and responsible action will also be heeded by other companies who produce these unsafe ‘supersized’ alcopops.”

CNN reports that Pabst Chief Marketing Officer, Jon Sayer, responded in a written statement that Blast is only meant to be consumed by those above legal drinking age. “As with all Pabst products, our marketing efforts for Blast are focused on conveying the message of drinking responsibly,” the statement said. “To that end, the alcohol content of Blast is clearly marked on its packaging.”

Source: drugfree.org

A new study showing marked increases in teen use of marijuana and Ecstasy over the past three years underscores the importance of incorporating screening and prevention programs into all health care interactions with adolescents and their parents, says a leading expert on adolescent substance abuse treatment.

“Any time professionals have an option to work with parents or teenagers, even if it’s not directly about a substance abuse issue, they should be putting drug use on the radar screen,” says Ken Winters, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota, and Research Scientist at Treatment Research Institute. “Many health care settings don’t have the luxury of specialized and expensive drug treatment, but a quick screening and a brief discussion about drug use should be more achievable in pediatric and other adolescent health settings.”

Teen Drinking Normalized

Dr. Winters said the findings of the 22nd annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS), released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation earlier this month, echo the reality that substance abuse treatment professionals see every day. The study shows that underage drinking has become more normalized among adolescents. Of those teens who reported alcohol use, 62 percent said they had their first full alcoholic drink by age 15, not including sipping or tasting alcohol. Of those teens who reported alcohol use, 25 percent said they drank a full alcoholic drink for the first time by age 12 or younger. Almost half of teens (45 percent) said they do not see a great risk in heavy daily drinking.

Age of first use is critically important: research has shown that more than 40 percent of those who start drinking at age 14 or younger developed alcohol dependence, compared with 10 percent of those who began drinking at age 20 or older.

The study also found that marijuana use is on the rise. Past-year marijuana use among teens increased by 22 percent (from 32 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2010). There was a 67 percent increase in the number of teens who reported using Ecstasy in the past year (from 6 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2010).

Prescription Drug Abuse

The PATS survey touched on an issue that parents are often unaware of: teen abuse of prescription medicines. The data found that 25 percent of teens reported taking a prescription drug not prescribed to them by a doctor at least once in their lives, and 23 percent used a prescription pain reliever not prescribed to them by a doctor. “Health care professionals need to alert parents that if they’re taking prescription drugs, they can’t just take the medicine home and put it in an unsecure place —that’s risky,” Dr. Winters says. “Parents are often surprised to find out how common it is for teenagers to take medication from the medicine chest and use it or sell it. We have to remind them not only to monitor their prescriptions, but also to dispose of unused medications with the many drug disposal programs that are now available.”

Source: drugfree.org

Following a decade of steady declines, a new national study released today indicates that teen drug and alcohol use is headed in the wrong direction, with marked increases in teen use of marijuana and Ecstasy over the past three years. The 22nd annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) affirms a disturbing trend that has emerged among American teens since 2008 and highlights that as underage drinking becomes more normalized among adolescents, parents feel unable to respond to the negative shifts in teen drug and alcohol use. The study was released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation.

According to the three-year trend confirmed in this year’s 2010 PATS data, there was a significant 67 percent increase in the number of teens who reported using Ecstasy in the past year (from 6 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2010). Similarly, past-year marijuana use among teens increased by a disturbing 22 percent (from 32 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2010).

“You’re seeing this weakness in this generation of teens’ attitudes around drug and alcohol use,” Steve Pasierb, president of the partnership, told the Associated Press. “It’s not like this generation of kids thinks they’re more bulletproof than others, but they really don’t see any harm in that heavy drinking.”

The new data underscore alarming patterns in early adolescent alcohol use and found that teens view drinking alcohol – even heavy drinking – as less risky than using other substances.

• Of those teens who reported alcohol use, a majority (62 percent) said they had their first full alcoholic drink by age 15, not including sipping or tasting alcohol.

• Of those teens who reported alcohol use, one in four (25 percent), said they drank a full alcoholic drink for the first time by age 12 or younger.

• Among teens who reported drinking alcohol, the average age of first alcohol use was 14

Source: drugfree.org

Don’t look now, but Four Loko and Joose could be in your grocery store soon.

Both sweetened, high-alcohol products used to include caffeine and were marketed as alcoholic energy drinks until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put the kibosh on the practice in December 2010. The manufacturers reformulated the beverages without caffeine and they’re now back on the market.

You’d think Phusion Projects, LLC, maker of Four Loko, would be hurting after a blow like that, but in spite of its cynical marketing and sales of “blackout in a can,” it claims to be doing just fine, thank you.

In a press release, the company said it had “become the best selling [sic] progressive adult beverage in the convenience store channel and one of the fastest growing products in the industry, making Phusion Projects the 11th largest marketer of alcoholic beverages in the U.S.”

I’m not sure what a “progressive adult beverage is,” but the news of the company’s success is plenty depressing, if true. To make matters worse, it says it will introduce Four Loko – with a still-hefty 8 percent alcohol — in 11-oz. glass bottles in “grocery, mass merchandise and drug stores.”

Now that may not sound like a big deal, but here’s the thing. The drink is usually packaged in enormous 23.5-oz, colorful bottles and can be found in convenience stores. Now, you’ll be able to find it at the grocery store – no extra stop needed – and it’ll look like your average bottle of beer (with alcohol content around 4 to 6 percent), yet packing a significantly bigger punch (8 percent).

As Cassie Greisen of Project Extra Mile, an advocacy group based in Nebraska, told the Omaha Herald, “It gives the illusion that you’re not drinking as much alcohol as you are.”

She’s concerned that the fruity flavors and colorful bottles will attract underage drinkers, most of whom binge drink. And based on the track record of Four Loko and other alcoholic energy drinks – linked as they were to multiple college students hospitalized on more than one campus – that’s a legitimate concern.

Meanwhile, United Brand Company, the maker of Four Loko’s competitor, Joose, isn’t sitting on its hands. Nope – according to this video advertisement for the drink, “great intelligence” (which, the ad tells us, has “no limits”), goes hand in hand with “great innovation.”

Wonder what that innovation might be? (Spoiler alert!) Joose will soon be available in 12-oz. glass bottles, at 8.5 percent alcohol. One can only assume that Joose, too, will be on grocery stores shelves soon.

Oh, joy.

Source: jointogether.org

In a stunning display of insensitivity and ignorance, Belvedere Vodka and singer Usher have joined with Product (Red) to launch a special edition bottle and give half its profits to “fight HIV/AIDS in Africa,” under the misleading tagline “Helps Save Lives.” Promoting and selling booze to fight HIV/AIDS?! There are just so many things wrong with this, we can hardly decide where to start. Let’s consider the facts that are missing from this campaign:

* Product (Red) must have conveniently missed the recent news release that alcohol kills more people annually than AIDS, tuberculosis, or violence – a sobering 4% of all deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Association.

* Alcohol use is a leading factor in the spread of HIV. Alcohol consumption is associated with two major modes of HIV transmission: high-risk sexual behaviors and injection drug use. BelvedereRedUpclose

* Alcohol can also complicate the long-term health outcomes of HIV-positiveindividuals. People withHIV/AIDS are more likely to engage in high-risk alcohol consumption, which is associated with increasedmedical and psychiatric  complications, delays in seeking treatment, and poorer treatment compliance and outcomes.

* In Botswana, a country with a 24 percent incidence of HIV/AIDS, the effects of alcohol on HIV/AIDS have gotten so bad that the president has implemented legislation specifically targeting alcohol consumption in order to decrease the spread of the disease.

* Black men in the United States have six times the incidence of HIV infection as white men. The population at highest risk of being infected with HIV in the United States is black males between the age of 15 and 49: sounds remarkably like Usher’s target demographic. The idea that increasing this population’s alcohol purchases and consumption will ‘Help Save Lives’ is mind-numbing.

* If there were any doubt that Belvedere wants more young, black people to drink more of their vodka, just look at who else they’ve brought into the mix: stars like Serena Williams, 50 Cent, and Dr. Dre, who appeal to this very demographic.

Despite all of these serious campaign flaws, the product’s website proclaims that “Both (RED)™ and Belvedere Vodka are unanimous in our objective to empower global consumers to help eliminate HIV/AIDS with (BELVEDERE) RED Special Edition.”

If Usher and Product (Red) really wanted to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in Africa, they would counteract the oversaturation of alcohol advertising, rather than promoting it. Instead, it seems that Belvedere and its parent company, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) are targeting the populations at highest risk of HIV, to increase sales and consumption of a product that increases both the risk of contracting HIV and the progression of HIV/AIDS disease. All so that LVMH can make a donation and get (wait for it…) more publicity and attention.

This campaign is about the bottom line, pure and simple, and does a disservice to the battle against HIV/AIDS. LVMH and Belvedere Vodka just hope that we are naïve enough to fall for it.

Source: Marin Institute

A new analysis of four years of government data shows that most underage youth get alcohol from home, and about a third were given it by their parents or guardians, according to a Feb. 17 press release from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Drawing on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) conducted annually 2006 through 2009, SAMHSA estimated that about 709,000 U.S. adolescents ages 12 to 14 currently drink alcohol.

Over 44,000 teens ages 12 to 14 participated in the surveys, of whom 5.9 percent said they drank alcohol in the previous month.

Nearly half of the youth surveyed either got their alcohol from a parent or guardian (29.6 percent), or from home (15.7 percent). Others acquired it from an unrelated adult (13.5 percent) or from another underage youth (19.6 percent).

“People who begin drinking alcohol before the age of 15 are six times more likely than those who start at age 21 and older to develop alcohol problems,” said SAMHSA Administrator, Pamela S. Hyde. “Parents and other adults need to be aware that providing alcohol to children can expose them to an increased risk for alcohol abuse and set them on a path with increased potential for addiction.”

TIME reported the SAMHSA data Feb. 21, but questioned whether parents who shared alcohol with their children put them at greater risk of serious alcohol problems later in life. TIME cited a Wake Forest University study from 2004 that appeared to show that teens who shared alcohol with their parents at dinner or in a religious context (versus being given alcohol for a party) were less likely to drink or to develop drinking problems.

A one page summary of SAMHSA’s data was published in the Feb. 17, 2011 Data Spotlight (PDF) from SAMHSA’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality.

Source: Join Together