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New
Survey Again Raises
Alarm About Teen Drug
Use, Attitudes
March 3, 2010
News Feature
By Bob Curley
Link
to article and comments
A new report finds
that more kids say they
are using alcohol and
other drugs, but many
parents are unable or
unwilling to deal with
the issue -- a bad
combination when
declining support for
prevention and cultural
apathy about the issue
leave parents as the
last and sometimes only
line of defense against
adolescent drug use.
The 2009 Partnership
Attitude Tracking Study
(PATS), released March 2
by the Partnership for a
Drug-Free America (PDFA)
and MetLife Foundation,
reported rather dramatic
year-over-year spikes in
past-month alcohol use
(up 11 percent) and
past-year use of
marijuana (up 19
percent) and ecstasy (up
67 percent) among U.S.
students in grades 9-12.
PDFA chairman and CEO
Steve Pasierb noted that
all three are
"social
drugs," and the
survey of more than
3,200 students,
conducted by Roper
Public Affairs, found
"a growing belief
in the benefits and
acceptability of drug
use and drinking."
For example, the
percentage of teens
agreeing that
"being high feels
good" increased
from 45 percent in 2008
to 51 percent in 2009,
and those who said
"friends usually
get high at
parties" increased
from 69 percent to 75
percent. Thirty percent
of students surveyed
strongly agreed that
they "don't want to
hang around drug
users," down from
35 percent in 2008.
"The resurgence in
teen drug and alcohol
use comes at a time when
pro-drug cues in popular
culture – in film,
television and online
– abound, and when
funding for federal
prevention programs has
been declining for
several years,"
according to a PDFA
press release on the
survey.
The reported spike in
alcohol and other drug
use and attitudinal
shifts are startling
enough to warrant
skepticism about the
validity of the
findings. However,
Pasierb notes that the
PATS survey has been
conducted using the same
methodology for the past
21 years. The most
recent Monitoring the
Future survey, released
in December, also found
that use of illicit
drugs has leveled off or
increased after years of
steady declines, and
that youth attitudes
about drug use appear to
be softening. The 2009
PRIDE Survey of 6th- to
9th-graders reported
small increases in
current drug use, as
well.
The PATS survey found
that kids are almost as
likely to get
information on drugs
from the Internet and
websites like Youtube as
from their parents,
school, or media ads.
"The preponderance
of information that kids
get online about drugs
is pro-use, and to teens
it's more
credible," Pasierb
told Join Together.
Perhaps the most
surprising survey result
is the reported increase
in use of ecstasy -- a
drug that, unlike
alcohol and marijuana,
has seemed to largely
disappear from public
consciousness since the
mid-2000s. If the survey
results are to be
believed, more teens are
now using ecstasy on a
monthly (6 percent) or
annual (10 percent)
basis than at any point
since 2004, and reported
lifetime use is higher
than ever reported since
1998.
Pasierb said that
federal data shows that
availability of ecstasy
has not declined since
2001-02, and that prices
for the drug have
fallen. "There was
just more news coverage
then," he said.
"I don't buy the
argument that drug use
is cyclical," said
Pasierb. "I think
it's generational, and
based on what we talk to
our kids about."
Drug-use trends among
youth are "very
malleable," he
added, and what is
considered cool or
popular can change
rapidly from the time a
kid enters high school
to when they graduate.
Parents Waging a
Lonely Battle -- Or Not
About 20 percent of the
parents surveyed by PATS
believed that their
children had gone beyond
the experimental phase
in use of alcohol or
other drugs. However,
almost half of these
parents either did not
take any action (25
percent) or waited for
between a month and a
year to address the
perceived problem (22
percent).
Parents of children
engaging in
non-experimental drug
use were less confident
in their ability to
influence their kids'
drug-use decisions,
according to the survey,
and were more likely to
believe that all teens
will experiment with
drugs and that
occasional use of
alcohol or marijuana is
tolerable.
"Parents with
drug-using kids have
never been served by our
field," said
Pasierb. "They're
the outliers, and they
should be the
focus." PDFA has
developed a program
called Time to Act that
is designed to improve
parental knowledge about
teen alcohol and other
drug use, set rules and
boundaries, intervene
when necessary, and seek
outside help when
needed.
"Government
prevention programs have
all been defunded, and
society is not on our
side. It's all on the
parents now," said
Pasierb. "Parents
are convinced that their
kids are getting all
this (drug prevention)
in school, and it's just
not true. The doctor,
school, or football
coach is not going to
step in."
Make
prevention a priority in
YOUR child's school!
Contact your principal,
counselor and/or PTA,
PTSO |
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BELIEVE
in Helping: Many
U.S. Kids Have
Addicted Parents
Many U.S.
Kids Have
Addicted
Parents, SAMHSA
Says
May 5, 2009
Many U.S.
Kids Have
Addicted Parents
About 12 percent
of children in
the U.S. lived
with at least
one parent who
was dependent on
or abused
alcohol or an
illicit drug
last year,
according to a
new report from
the Substance
Abuse and Mental
Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA).
Researchers
found that
approximately
7.3 million
children lived
with a parent
who was
dependent on or
abused alcohol,
and 2.1 million
children lived
with a parent
who was
dependent on or
abused illicit
drugs.
The report,
Findings for
Children Living
with
Substance-Dependent
or
Substance-Abusing
Parents:
2002-2007,
looked at
children between
the ages of 12
and 18 and
covered the
period 2002 to
2007.
"The
research
increasingly
shows that
children growing
up in homes with
alcohol- and
drug-abusing
parents suffer
-- often
greatly,"
said SAMHSA
acting
administrator
Eric Broderick.
"The
chronic
emotional stress
in such an
environment can
damage their
social and
emotional
development and
permanently
impede healthy
brain
development,
often resulting
in mental and
physical health
problems across
the lifespan. This
underlines the
importance of
preventive
interventions at
the earliest
possible
age."
Check
out
Evidence-Based
info on how
LEGACY OF HOPE®
provides
preventive
intervention for
teenagers |
| Believe
in
Change -
DSM-V to
include
Addictive
Disease
Classifications
 DSM-V
Draft
Includes
Major
Changes
to
Addictive
Disease
Classifications
Excerpts
from
Join
Together
"News
Feature"
on
February
12, 2010
By Bob
Curley
The
first
draft of
the
American
Psychiatric
Association's
(APA)
latest
Diagnostic
and
Statistical
Manual
of
Mental
Disorders
(DSM-V)
eliminates
the
disease
categories
for
substance
abuse
and
dependence
and
replaces
it with
a new
"addictions
and
related
disorders"
-- just
one of
several
major
changes
to the
"Bible"
used
almost
universally
to
diagnose
(and get
insurance
reimbursement
for)
behavioral-health
problems.
The new
category
for
addictive
diseases
would
include
a
variety
of
"substance-use
disorders"
broken
down by
drug
type,
such as
"cannabis-use
disorder"
and
"alcohol-use
disorder."
Diagnostic
criteria
for
these
disorders
in DSM-V
would
remain
"very
similar"
to those
found in
the
current
DSM-IV,
according
to APA.
However,
the
symptom
of
"drug
craving"
would be
added to
the
criteria...,"
APA
said.
Also new
to the
DSM-V
are
diagnostic
criteria
for
"cannabis
withdrawal,"
which
the APA
says is
caused
by
"cessation
of
cannabis
use that
has been
heavy
and
prolonged,"
results
in
"clinically
significant
distress
or
impairment
in
social,
occupational,
or other
important
areas of
functioning,"
and is
characterized
by at
least
three of
these
symptoms:
irritability,
anger or
aggression;
nervousness
or
anxiety;
sleep
difficulties
(insomnia);
decreased
appetite
or
weight
loss;
restlessness;
depressed
mood;
and or
physical
symptoms
such as
stomach
pain,
shakiness
or
tremors,
sweating,
fever,
chills,
and
headache.
Battle
Over
'Addiction'
and
'Dependence'
The APA
has gone
back and
forth
between
use of
the
terms
"addiction"
and
"dependence"
to
describe
alcohol
and
other
drug
problems,
noted
researcher
Stanton
Peele,
Ph.D.
Gambling
Addiction
Makes
the Cut
The
proposed
DSM-V
also
would
add a
new
category
of
"behavioral
addictions"
which
contains
a single
disorder:
gambling
addiction.
"Internet
addiction
was
considered
for this
category,
but work
group
members
decided
there
was
insufficient
research
data to
do so,
so they
recommended
it be
included
in the
manual's
appendix
instead,
with a
goal of
encouraging
additional
study,"
according
to an
APA
press
release.
The net
effect
is that
the term
"addiction"
would
now be
officially
applied
to more
than
alcohol
and
other
drug
related
disorders.
"There
is
substantive
research
that
supports
the
position
that
pathological
gambling
and
substance-use
disorders
are very
similar
in the
way they
affect
the
brain
and
neurological
reward
system,"
said
O'Brien.
"Both
are
related
to poor
impulse
control
and the
brain's
system
of
reward
and
aggression."
The APA
also is
looking
to
create a
classification
for
patients
who
suffer
withdrawal
symptoms
when
they
stop
taking
tricyclic
and
selective
serotonin
reuptake
inhibitors,
two
types of
antidepression
medication.
These
"miscellaneous
discontinuation
syndromes"
fall
outside
the
definition
of
substance-use
disorders,
APA
said,
but
share
some
common
traits
with use
of
addictive
drugs.
"If
the
substance
is
abruptly
discontinued,
in some
cases
the body
responds
with a
rebound
effect
that
creates
unpleasant,
and
sometimes
serious,
symptoms
of
withdrawal,"
said
O'Brien.
Comments
Deadline:
April 20
APA is
accepting
public
comments
on the
DSM-V
revisions
until
April
20.
"This
is the
first
complete
revision
of the
DSM
since
1994,"
said
NIDA
Director
Nora
Volkow
in a
Feb. 11
letter
to
addiction
professionals.
"...
In light
of the
advances
in
research
on
substance
abuse
and
addiction
since
the last
revision,
many
suggested
changes
have
been
proposed
in this
revision.
Therefore,
this is
an
important
opportunity
to offer
your
comments
on the
new
criteria."
All
of the
proposed
changes
and
information
about
submitting
comments
can be
found on
the
DSM-V
website
Read
the full
article
and
numerous
comments
from
others
here
|
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you CAN: Relieve the
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