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Keeping kids safe is what it is all about. This site offers factual, research-based information to help parents and teachers make it less likely that youth will turn to alcohol and other drugs for recreation or solutions to their problems.
http://ades.bc.ca/Home/Default.html The average age a child will first try drugs is 13.
Studies indicate that people who reach 21 without engaging in destructive behaviors are likely to never do so, which is why we passionately educate about current trends, warning signs and the long-term impact of destructive behaviors. In a recent survey of Kamiah Youth we learned that the average age of onset to first try marijuana was 11 in the 6th graders; just over 12 in the 8th grade; 14 in the 10th grade and just before 15 for the 12th grade. 40 or 80 Oxycontin (powerful pain killer) Abe $5 worth of drugs Adam Ecstasy Are you anywhere? Do you smoke weed? Al Capone Heroin Amped High on meth Back to back Using heroin then meth Bagging Using inhalants Baker Marijuana smoker Bammy Marijuana Bart Simpson Heroin Belushi Cocaine and heroin Big Harry Heroin Booted High Krunk Both high and drunk Pharming Gathering, sharing and taking pills Terms for being under the influence of drugs: I’m gone. I'm so ripped. I’m tore up. Marijuana use: Totally blazed Kush Herb Bud Prescription drugs: Poppin pills Are you poppin? Ecstacy use: Thizzing Fizzing Rolling Alcohol use: Smashed Trashed Wasted From the Idaho Statesman The statistics are startling:
• 15,000 children nationwide try drugs for the first time each day. • 68 percent of young drug users can get marijuana in a day. • 19 percent report having tried drugs by the eighth grade. • 80 percent of high school students and 44 percent of middle-schoolers say they have seen drugs used and sold. http://www.notmykid.org/
by MICHELLE TRUDEAU
You can also LISTEN to the story at the LINK As teenagers mature into their senior year of high school, many parents begin to feel more comfortable about letting them drink alcohol. But new research from brain scientists and parenting experts suggests loosening the reins on drinking may not be a good idea in the long run. And, researchers say, parents' approach to addressing teen drinking does influence a teen's behavior. Brain researchers are finding that alcohol has a particularly toxic effect on the brain cells of adolescents. That's because their brain cells are still growing, says Susan Tapert, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. The regions of the brain important for judgment, critical thinking and memory do not fully mature until a person is in his or her mid-20s. Tapert found that alcohol can damage the normal growth and development of a teenager's brain cells in these regions. "Adolescents who engage in binge drinking (that is, having five or more drinks on occasion for boys, or four or more drinks on occasion for females) tend to show some brain abnormalities in their brain's white matter. That's the fibers that connect different parts of our brains," she wrote in a recent study. And if binge drinking continues, within two to three years, Tapert says, it can result in subtle declines in a teen's thinking and memory. She reports declines in attention and memory among the teens who had engaged in binge drinking. "Teenagers who initiate heavy drinking actually go downhill relative to kids who .... more at the LINK by BRENDA WILSON
You can also LISTEN to the story at the link! LINK Teenage smoking is often thought of as kind of innocent experiment, but a drag on a friend's cigarette may be the beginning of something that will be hard to shake. A study of adolescent smokers in the journalPediatrics tracks the course of addiction to nicotine among a group of sixth-graders. After following 1,246 middle-school children for four years, researchers say a pattern emerged of occasional smoking that led to an addiction to tobacco: A cigarette a month will do it. "When people are just wanting a cigarette, every now and then, they think they just enjoy smoking," says study coauthor Dr. Joseph DiFranza of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. "As time passes, then they start to notice they will crave a cigarette. So even when they are with someone who is not smoking, something will pop into their mind that will tell them it is time for a cigarette." He adds, "When they get to the point of needing a cigarette, that means they have an urgent need to smoke and they have to smoke to get it out of their heads." More Than Just A Taste A third of the young people in the study had inhaled from a cigarette. Nearly two-thirds of those who'd tried cigarettes said they smoked at least once a month, and half said they experienced symptoms of dependence. That's how 19-year-old Julia DiGeronimo's habit started ... more at the LINK According to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the rate of current alcohol use has dropped among youth aged 12 to 17 years, from 28.8 percent in 2002 to 26.4 percent in 2008. More good news in the survey findings: among people aged12 to 20, both past-month use of alcohol and binge drinking have fallen since 2002. Evidence that underage drinking prevention messages are reaching youth and adults is also in the new survey findings:
Springtime means it's time for prom, graduation parties and time for parents to be more present than absent.Studies show that spring is the time alcohol use and experimentation increases among teens.Since April is Alcohol Awareness Month, why not take time to consider what can be done to prevent alcohol abuse in our families and in our community? Here are some steps you can take to improve our community where alcohol use is concerned:
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