Sober Posts @ another24.com

The Key is to Recognize You Have a Problem

2011-07-06T00:30:00.001-04:00

Whenever I used alcohol I was never sure what was going to happen. There were times I could drink in moderation with no adverse affects. At other times my drinking would escalate and I behaved in ways that hurt both myself and others. This was in essence my life being out of control.

These episodes of being out of control made my life unmanageable. It caused me to feel shame, guilt and remorse. I tried to stop but I couldn't. And with each new failure, the shame, guilt and remorse increased. I tried everything in my power to stop and nothing worked.

To cope with the increasing guilt, shame and remorse I lied to myself and others. I was in denial. Worse yet, I had lost hope. Alcoholic drinking was normal drinking for me. Alcohol had defeated me.

When I came to AA, I realized all the above was true because I was powerless over alcohol. AA helped me grasp the basic and undeniable fact that I had a problem with alcohol. This acknowledgment on my part was my first step towards recovery.

It was my drinking that caused all those unfortunate circumstances.

2011-07-04T00:30:00.001-04:00

I had this rock n' roll fantasy. I really expected to be dead by the time I was 30. Joplin, Hendricks, and Morrison were so why not me. After all, all our first names started with the letter J.

When I was 18, and if you asked me where I thought I would in 10 years, I'm not exactly sure what my answers would have been, but I can assure you, going to AA meetings would not have been one of them. I'm not even sure I had even heard of Alcoholics Anonymous. Fortunately for me, that's where I was, and with a years sobriety besides.

I would say within a year of legally buying my first drink, I was a daily drinker. And until I went to my first AA meeting, my life evolved about getting the next drink. Towards the end of my drinking life I became a true social drinker. Whatever you were buying I was drinking. It doen't get more sociable than that. I lived just for today, getting that next drink, one day at a time.

It was the beginning of June, 1974 when I went to my first AA meeting. I met the people and heard their stories. I was relieved to hear that my problems revolved around my addiction to alcohol. For years I believed it was the unfortunate circumstances in my life that caused me to drink. What I heard at that first AA meeting was just the opposite. It was my drinking that caused all those unfortunate circumstances. So when I found out the ONLY THING wrong with me that was I was an alcoholic, a large weight was lifted off my shoulders. I believed I was cursed and doomed for life. Hearing this was like being on death row and getting a reprieve from the governor. This was cool. All I needed was for these AA people to show me what to do, and I be on my merry way. Well, not so fast, and not so simple.

I had this withdrawal issue to deal with. An being homeless and sober isn't cool either. Fortunately for me, the friend that brought to my first meeting allowed me to temporarily stay at his place as long as I was sober and went to AA meetings. He had helped me get one of my old jobs back. Both he and the company were willing to help me as long as I was sober and went to AA meetings. I argeed. It really wasn't a hard sell on either of their parts. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. Besides, I had nowhere else go, for now.

I never thought I'd have 37 years of sobrieity. But one day at a time, here we are.

Steps to Addiction

2011-07-02T00:30:00.002-04:00

The four steps leading to addiction are a continual process. Usually addiction does not happen overnight. They vary in the time required to take them. It could take twenty years for an alcoholic who started drinking as an adult. Or it could be with lightening speed with someone who tries crack cocaine.

Both adolescents and adults progress through the same steps. However, since the adolescents brain and nervous system is still developing it is more susceptible to drugs. Since adolescents do not have the same internal controls adults usually have, they frequently move through the addiction process ten times faster than adults. This explains why teenagers become a "pot head" or alcoholic in just a few months. These facts helped me to understand what happened to me.

The First Step is Experimentation. If people never try drugs they won't get addicted. So yes it all begins here. Fortunately, many who experiment with drugs do not like the feelings the drug produces, or like being under its influence and stop after the first few times. Unfornuately others, including me, like the good feeling they get and this euphoria brings a person back for more. Continued use leads a person to the next step, Occasional Use.

This Second Step, Occasional Use was short lived for me. This step is also referred to as "social use". At this stage the user is learning how to use the drug "properly". They are helped by more experienced users. This is also the stage where other drugs are added or tried. This is called "polydrug use". Few people only use one drug exclusively, the exception being alcohol. Most use many drugs, depending the amount of money they have or the availability of the drug. If a person loses control under the influence of their drug they fulfill the definition of addiction. Therefore a person may be fully addicted even if they are not a daily user. People who drink uncontrollably from Friday through Sunday and tell themselves and others, "I'm not an alcoholic because I only drink on the weekend", are "weekend alcoholics".

There are some people who can remain at Step Two indefinitely, but many go on to the next step of Regular Use. It's here at Step 3 that usage escalates to almost everyday, if not everyday. The drug now becomes the major focus of their lives. If they are confronted by family or friends they deny that any problem exists, or that it is as bad as it is. All activities revolve around drugs and their drug using friends. The user is frequently intoxicated and anything of value, such as family relationships, school, job performance, health, are being destroyed. At this point addiction, if not already present, is not far away.

What follows is Step Four Full-blown Addiction. The drug use becomes daily and consumes the entire day. Everything, all of life, evolves around getting, keeping and using the drug. What was not destroyed in Step 3, is in Step 4. The abuser has to use the drug to "feel normal" because their brain chemistry has changed so that the drug is now a part of the "normal" functioning of the brain. If the drug is stopped, withdrawal and severe cravings for the drug sets in. Everything good in the drug abuser's life, family, friends, education, job, talents are destroyed.

This is my addicition story. The fact that I started drinking as a teenager is why I moved so quickly through Steps One, Two, and Three. Its a long and difficult road back, and unfortunately many never make it.

So Why Did I Get Addicted?

2011-06-29T00:30:00.011-04:00

It's an old story, substance abuse starts with the choice to try drugs and to use them. If people don't try or experiment with drugs or alcohol, then they will not get addicted. So ok, I get that about drugs. Even if you think you're unique and you will be able to handle the drug, deep down inside you have to know they're pretty much habit forming. Yeah, come on, even if you thought you were different, that YOU could handle it, the thought of you becoming an addict was floating around out there somewhere, whether you admit it or not.

But alcohol! Come on, everybody drinks, including grandma. So no, I had no deep concerns about picking up that first drink. Besides, it was fun, I liked it, it was like being a grown up.

Psychologists, addiction counselors, etc all can spew out factors that lead to drug and alcohol abuse. We have stuff like heredity, lack of self-esteem, peer pressure, family issues, etc. Open any book on the subject and there will all kinds of factors that lead to addiction and why people get hooked. The problem with all these lists of factors is none of them maybe operating within the person's life who starts using drugs or alcohol and they still become addicted.. On the other hand, there are people out there who have of some or all of the factors operating within their life and they do not become addicted.

These factors are not the cause of drug abuse. The unfortunate choice to try and then continue using drugs or alcohol is the main cause. Simply put without using any hard to pronounce and hard to spell medical terminology, if a person's body/brain chemistry likes the drug, they are on a downhill road. The addiction process overrides the ability to make choices. As a friend of mine says when he tells his alcoholism story, "there is a Chinese proverb that says, 'the man takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink takes the man.'" That's exactly what happened to me. My brain chemistry loved alcohol so much it overrode my ability to make choices about not using alcohol. My body chemistry loved alcohol so much, it could not function without it. I had forfeited my right to choose and my body was grateful for it.

Innocent Choices Can Lead to Addiction

2011-06-27T00:30:00.015-04:00

I didn't see any danger in just having a few beers. I certainly did not think it would lead to addiction. There was no peeer pressure attached to my decision. Just being 18 and being able to go across the stateline to drink legally seemed like a cool thing to do. This was back in the mid - 1960's, and in New Jersey where I lived, the legal age to drink, like now was 21. However just minutes away in New York State, the legal age was 18. So off I went, to what would become a daily occurance.

The thought of being an alcoholic never entered my mind. I'm not even sure if I knew what an alcoholic was! At the time, I didn't know anybody that was an alcoholic. Oh sure, I'd see that occasional "bum" on the street, but I never associated his/her situation with alcoholism or drug abuse. Were their family or friends who got drunk on occasion? Sure. It was bound to happen, liquor was at every event. But everyone got home safe, and all the men got up and went to work the next day. No big deal.

So I gave it no thought. It wasn't like I was shooting up, or doing some drug that I had no control over. And weed was boring. This was only having a few drinks. Jeepers, everybody has a few drinks. or so I thought. Besides, I fit in. I could hold my liquor and caused no problems. I was a witty conversationalist and an excellent listener. Everybody liked me. It was like being on the television show "Cheers". Everybody new my name and they were always I glad a came, at least for awhile, anyway. Nobody thought that within 10 years, I'd be homeless and eating out of garbage cans. Especially me.

N.J. moves closer to criminalizing 'bath salts'

2011-06-25T00:30:00.007-04:00

TRENTON — Legislation aimed at criminalizing "bath salts," synthetic powders that mimic the effects of methamphetamines but also cause users to suffer severe physical and mental side effects, inched one step closer to Gov. Chris Christie’s desk today.

"Pamela’s Law," named in memory of a slain Rutgers senior whose alleged killer may have been abusing the drug, cleared the Assembly Judiciary Committee 5-1 this morning.

Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger

"This is clearly the right thing to do, and hopefully we’ll get it to the governor’s desk within the next week," said Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex) who sponsored an Assembly version of the bill earlier this year. "We will codify current Attorney General’s office policy and be in a position to prevent future tragedies like the one that claimed the life of Pamela Schmidt."

Today’s action reconciled McKeon’s bill with legislation sponsored by state Sen. John Girgenti (D-Passaic) that aims to make possession or sale of the six chemicals used to cook bath salts a third-degree narcotics crime punishable a five-year prison term.

Dealers caught with more than an ounce of MDPV, mephedrone or other chemicals used to manufacture the powders could face up to ten years in state prison under "Pamela’s Law." The Division of Consumer Affairs enacted an emergency order earlier this year banning the six chemicals, and a public hearing to make that ban permanent is scheduled for July, officials have said.

The bill, which has traveled quickly through the Senate and Assembly, met some opposition from Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), who said the state’s law enforcement first approach to other street drugs and substance abuse issues has yielded little success.

"Science keeps inventing new ways to make people feel good and then we rush off to ban them … I’m not really certain that the criminal law is the way to go on these things," said Carroll, who cast the lone "no" vote against the bill. "Locking people up for taking substances that are perfectly legal in other states doesn’t strike me as a good expenditure of taxpayer funds."

McKeon scoffed at Carroll’s claims, saying "Under that philosophy we might as well say it’s fine to commit domestic violence because it’s going to take up a lot of cops' time."

By James Queally/The Star-Ledger
Published: Thursday, June 16, 2011

Prescription pills pave path to heroin, experts tell state commission

2011-06-22T00:30:00.000-04:00

BY HANNAN ADELY

STAFF WRITER The Record

Thursday June 16, 2011

TRENTON — A growing number of young people are using prescription pills to get high, because they’re widely available and seemingly harmless fun. But that practice can lead to deep addiction and eventual heroin abuse, experts testified Wednesday before the State Commission on Investigation.

The hearing was part of a state investigation on the abuse of prescription pills and its ties to heroin use and drug trafficking. It’s an issue that’s gripped many North Jersey police departments, which have reported a rise in overdoses, arrests and burglaries linked to heroin addition, and many say pills are the root of the problem.

“It’s available. They come and get their hands on it and whey they get addicted to it, what’s the next step? They go to heroin,” said Lt. Thomas Dombroski of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

The abuse of prescription pills is a growing problem in suburban, affluent communities. It typically starts at home as teenagers steal painkillers such as OxyContin and Percocet from parents’ medicine cabinets, said police and state investigators. Then, users will turn to friends or “dirty” doctors to get more.

The Center for Disease Control found in a 2009 survey that 1 in 5 high school students have taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription. The problem is aided by “dirty doctors” who prescribe painkillers to people who don’t need them, either for money or because they’re indifferent to whether there’s a real need, police said.

Part of the problem is that pills don’t carry the same stigma as street drugs and young people are often oblivious to the risks; officials said they pop pills for fun at home, at parties and even at school, and eventually they are hooked.

“It’s not the same stigma you’ll see attached to an IV heroin user with the classic image of a junkie on the street sitting there in the corner with a needle stuck in his arm,” said SCI Investigative Agent Edwin Torres.

Addicts who can no longer get pills or afford them will often turn to heroin, which like many painkillers is opiate-based. The cost of a pill ranges from $20 to $80 depending on brand and strength, but heroin is to be had at $5 or $10 for a “glassine” bag the size of a stamp.

Two recovering addicts told the commission through videotaped testimony that they never imagined they would use heroin — until they were so deep in addiction that dozens of pills couldn’t sustain them through the day, and not being high meant physical pain and nausea one said was “20 times worse than the flu.”

“It never crosses your mind until you get to that point,” said a 21-year-old man from South Jersey, who started using pills at 11 before becoming a dealer and heroin addict.

In Vernon, a township of 25,000 people that borders Passaic County, addiction has taken a deadly toll: in the past four years, nine recent high school graduates have died of overdose from pills or heroin or a combination of both, Vernon Detective Sgt. Brian Jernick told commissioners.

He said he has seen addicts steal from family and friends or burglarize homes and businesses — anything to get money for the next fix.

“Every day an addict wakes up and all he cares about is getting high,” Jernick said. “Nothing else matters.”

Heroin trafficking is still the domain of gangs in Paterson, Newark and New York City, police said. But processing — the cutting and packaging of the drug — can now be found in the suburbs, as evidenced by a recent police bust of a heroin mill in a residential basement in Fort Lee, Dombroski said.

But drug investigators are up against high-tech dealers who use pre-paid cell phones and smart phone apps to hide their identification, and who installed sophisticated hidden compartments in their vehicles, Dombroski said.

Unlike in other counties, cocaine still outpaces heroin in street sales in Bergen County, Dombroski said. But, he added: “There’s definitely a trend in heroin being more and more available.”

The hearing was a first step in an ongoing investigation, said SCI Chairman Patrick Hobbs.

“The SCI will continue to look at this and in time will bring forward recommendations in the hope that we can, for at least some of the population of the state, end the pain and cycle that these drugs cause,” he said.

Fast facts

A 2009 survey asked Americans 12 and older who had used pain relievers recreationally in a 12-month period where they got their drugs:

55.3 percent got it from a friend or relative for free.
7.6 percent reported they got the drug from a doctor.
4.8 percent got pain relievers from a drug dealer or other stranger
0.4 percent bought them on the Internet.
Among those who reported getting the pain reliever from a friend or relative for free, 80 percent reported in a follow-up question that the friend or relative had obtained the drugs from a doctor.

Source: 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Hacker destoys www.another24.com site! Next Scheduled Post: Wednesday June 22, 2011

2010-09-20T06:35:00.004-04:00

Someone hacked into another24.com and the site suffered a fatal error.

Unfortunately the I.T. person that handles the site is unable to fix and restore the site.

Hopefully the followers of another24.com will find us here.

What is teen dating abuse and Who does dating abuse happen to the most?

2010-09-18T06:36:00.000-04:00

There are three kinds of dating abuse:

Physical Abuse: This is when a teen is pinched, hit, shoved or kicked. He or she may throw things at you that could hurt you.

Emotional Abuse: This means threatening a teen or harming his or her sense of self-worth. Examples include name calling, teasing, threats, bullying or keeping a teen away from friends and family.

Sexual abuse: This includes not only rape but unwanted fondling. Remember, “No” means “No.” A popular response during my dating years was: “What is it you don’t understand about NO?”

In case you are confused about some of the above, let me give you a few real life examples.

1. Susie was thrilled when the boy she liked, a star football player in her high school, gave her his athletic jacket to wear at school games. She was less thrilled when he called her a “tease and a loser” in front of their classmates because she refused his sexual advances.

2. Kathy told everyone her boyfriend Mark never hit her. However, he often shoved her against walls if she didn’t move fast enough when they went through doorways. She was so hurt and ashamed that she “numbed out” each time, pretending it wasn’t happening. Eventually, his physical abuse increased in violence.

3. Wayne never told anyone that his girlfriend slapped him across the face when she became angry. He dealt with his depression by telling himself it was his fault and keeping it secret from his friends and family.

4. Adam, an immigrant, was bright and successful in school work but had only had one girl friend because his family did not approve of teen dating. MaryAnne would often tell him he was not good enough for her. Each time, she would ask him for a pricey gift and he would find a way to buy it for her. He was ashamed but he was lonely and everyone else in his class dated someone. He wanted to feel normal.

Who does dating abuse happen to the most?

According to a major government survey, one is every four adolescent’s reports verbal, physical, emotional, or sexual abuse every year.

One in five reports being a victim of emotional abuse. The same survey found that one of every eleven high school students reports being physically hurt by someone they were dating. One in five high school girls has been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner.

Seventy-two percent of 8th and 9th graders reportedly “date”; by the time they are in high school, 54 percent of students report dating abuse among their peers.

Studies show that girls are abused more often than boys and when they are, they are hurt more seriously than boys are hurt.

Dating abuse can happen to the best. And it does. And most adults and teens don’t connect the link between dating abuse and their health. Did you know . . .

Eight percent of boys and nine percent of girls have been to an emergency room for an injury received from a dating partner.

Victims of dating abuse are also more likely to engage in binge drinking, suicide attempts, physical fights, and sexual activity.

Rates of drug, alcohol and tobacco use are more than twice as high in girls who report physical or sexual dating abuse than in girls who report no abuse.

Dating abuse is associated with unhealthy sexual behaviors that can lead to unintended pregnancy, sexually-transmitted diseases, and HIV infections.

Youth in abusive relationships often carry these unhealthy patterns of abuse into future relationships.

If you are not sure if you are in an abusive relationship, check out your date on the September 13th Action Page tip sheet under Articles. If you check off even one “yes”, there is cause for concern. If you say “yes” to two, you are in an abusive relationship or it is on its way to becoming one. Talk to your parents, teacher, school counselor or another responsible adult who can help you NOW. Check out www.loveisnotabuse.org , www.safeyouth.org , www.chooserespect.org or you may call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). They have extensive resources for all ages.

Tips for having healthy and safe relationships:

1. Get to know a person by talking on the phone or at school before you go out for the first time.

2. Go out with a group of friends to a public place the first few times you go out.

3. Tell at least one friend and your parents/guardians who you are going out with and where you are going. Also tell them how to reach you.

4. Tell the other person what you feel okay doing. Also, tell the person what time your parents/guardians want you to be home.

Source: Nemours Foundation

Teen dating violence versus adult domestic violence

2010-09-15T06:35:00.000-04:00

How is teen dating abuse like adult domestic abuse?

Although teens, because of their lack of experience don’t recognize this, teen dating violence is similar in many ways to adult domestic violence. First, it happens between all kinds of people – rich, poor, middle class, heterosexual, gay or lesbian persons. Secondly, it happens in all races or ethnic backgrounds and it also happens between people from all religions.

Teen dating abuse also has the same patterns of abuse as adult abusive relationships do. Most abusers will start out “testing the waters”; doing something very small but hurtful like making fun of you. Then, if you accept it without comment, they increase their abuse. If you object or cry, they will apologize – profusely. They will buy you a gift they know you want or bring flowers. Abusers always say the same things: “I’m sorry; I won’t do it again”; or not unusually, “you made me do it”.

Often, if they have used words to hurt you or humiliate you, they will say “I didn’t mean it like that. Can’t you take a joke?” This is meant to confuse you and to humiliate you further by implying that it’s all your fault that you don’t understand what he(0r she) says. Do not fall for this cowardly ploy for a New York minute.

The next abuse will be more hurtful. An abuser works to desensitize you, to see how far they can go without consequences so they can go further. AND SO THEY CAN KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO CONTROL YOU THROUGH YOUR EMOTIONS. Teen dating abuse is like adult domestic violence in that the abuser has you so confused, so hurt yet sure it is YOU that you are like a prizefighter, reeling against the ropes. They have you apologizing for nothing, wondering what you can do to make it better, and feeling terrified that their rage will happen again – and you won’t know when or why.

Like adult abusers, teen abusers become most dangerous when their prey – YOU – decide to leave the relationships. You need help and you need resources to do this safely. Please don’t underestimate the violence these people are capable of doing, no matter how young they are.

How is teen dating violence different from adult domestic violence?

During your teen years, you are developing your future life. You’re learning how to form friendships with both genders, to build the school grades, personal interests and values that will support your future life. This is also when you are able to experiment with extracurricular activities to “try on” possible careers. This time is when you are learning how to build healthy relationships.

Do you like acting? Or writing? Or teaching? Athletics? Medicine? Being a business owner? Do you dream of being the first girl in your class to fly to the moon? There are endless possibilities in your world, wherever you are, to test out your talents and your interests. Check them out.

WHAT IS TEEN DATING ABUSE?

2010-09-13T06:35:00.000-04:00

In The News:

Lily, aged 22, and Ida, 18, were my neighbors in New York City. Each evening, we’d see each other as we returned home from work. Saturdays, after mopping our kitchen floors, we’d sit on the steps between our apartments, sip coffee and chat about our dreams.

Ida was attending nurse’s training. Lily moved Ida from Brooklyn so her younger sister could attend school in the city. Lily worked to help support her sister and her education. However, their mother, who was ill, was worried. She thought Ida was too young to be in the city. She begged the girls to return home. Finally, they did.

Soon after returning to her mother’s home, Ida met a “home boy” five years older than she. He had left the neighborhood for several years. They dated occasionally. When I’d see the sisters, they would talk about how “crazy” Harry was about Ida. He sent her flowers, bought her gifts, followed wherever she went. Ida said he was “fun” but silly. Ida’s only dream was to become a registered nurse.

One day, Lily and Ida were in a local diner having lunch with a male friend. There Harry was, staring into the window. The girls became giddy and Ida giggled that she wished she could “get rid of him”, that he was “a pest.” Later, Lily told how they laughed as “we ducked out of the back door and ran like the dickens.”

Several weeks later, Harry followed Ida home from a date, waited until her male friend left, then -- as her mother watched from ten stories above, screaming for help -- he stabbed Ida 17 times. Ida died on her doorstep.

At Ida’s funeral, Lily completed the story, the part she and Ida had not known. Harry had been in prison those four years when he was not in the neighborhood for an attack on another girl. Lily wept bitterly, blaming herself.

VERBAL KARATE – What to Say When No is What You Want to Say No!

2010-09-11T06:38:00.000-04:00

The most important thing we learn as we grow up is that we don’t have to justify or be defensive about our decisions to do what we consider the right things for us.

However, we can phrase rejections of others’ ideas in ways that don’t sound like personal rejections of them. Here’s a roundup of ways to say No and still leave others feeling unthreatened or criticized.

Your friends as they smoke outside class: “Have a smoke.” Or “Have a Chew” Or, “Here, have a wad on me.”

You: “No, thanks.”

If they persist, you can choose to offer a non-critical reason – or not.

You: No, thanks. I just had my teeth [cleaned] [whitened] and tobacco makes your teeth get yellow.

You: No, thanks. I don’t like the taste of tobacco.

You: No, thanks. I have to run [or play football] or [workout] and it shortens my breathing.

You: No, thanks. I’m allergic to tobacco.

You: No way. My parents would skin me alive.

Or you may deflect the offer by using questions:

Wow, do your folks know you smoke?

Isn’t it really expensive to smoke? I know I couldn’t afford it.

Did you know that most [boys] or [girls] say they don’t like to date anyone who smokes?

This is what one 19-yearold Texan college student told me when I asked him if he smoked:

“I don’t smoke. Why? Because I know the health hazards connected with smoking and I don’t want to do that to my body.”

Now, have fun. Slam my suggestions and come up with your best shots!!!!
Resources: www.girlshealth.gov, www.freevibe.org, www.girlpower.gov, www.cdc.gov, www.tobacco.org, www.nida.gov, www.tobaccofreekids.org, www.drugabuse.gov, www.cancer.gov,

Not starting to smoke is the best form of prevention.

2010-09-08T06:30:00.000-04:00

Okay, now I can hear you saying, “That’s not as easy as it sounds. All my friends smoke. Even my dad (or Mom or brother or sister) smokes like a chimney. And my classmates all gather outside classes to smoke and if I don’t smoke with them, they’ll say I’m a geek.” Or a dork or whatever.

Or, if you’re in college, you feel like you’ll be shut out of the activities your “cool” classmates all do in their free time. Okay, I get it.

First of all, the biggest geek in America who dropped out of college to tinker around with his computers is now the richest geek in America. He has a mansion so high tech that it does everything but breathe for him. He has his own private jet – heck, he probably has a fleet of his own jet planes and helicopters and the pilots and stewardess’ to go with them. He’s had his picture on every major magazine in America and is considered the coolest geek in America. You know who I mean --- remember Bill Gates?

And the most popular, coolest – and really envied – “regular” guys around these days are the guys who work for the Geek Squads. Handsome pony tailed dudes or crew cut fellas with Coke Bottle glasses and teen acne, the gals get a glow when these fellows start throwing around their technical jargon. So much for name calling.

The Good News . . . and the Bad News

There was a decline in smoking among middle school and high school youngsters from the late 90s until 2004 . . . then that leveled off. Now kid smokers are said to be increasing once again.

Here’s the latest figures: 224,063 kids became regular smokers in 2007. 71,689 will die prematurely from their addiction.

Will one of those children or grandchildren be yours?

The Good News

In the largest national study on smoking and youth ever, youngsters are saying that they prefer to date those who do NOT smoke.

The attitude that “smoking is dirty” and “I think becoming a smoker shows poor judgment” are held by many while 80 percent of all 8th and 10th graders agree that they prefer to date people who do not smoke.

The bad news is that many youngsters in the 8th grades interviewed in this national survey no longer believed smoking is dangerous although 10th graders did know that.

The Best News of All

Parents can influence their children’s or young adults’ tobacco use.

Here are some ways you can help stop your children from using tobacco:
 Talk to your children about tobacco smoking, dipping or chewing.
 Share the information in this book with your family and with other parents.
 If you smoke, dip or chew tobacco, consider stopping or at the least, do not do so in your home or in your children’s presence.
 Set an example by quitting.
 Work on one or more of the Action Pages in this book with your youngsters.
 Get rid of all the ashtrays, lighters, and other smoking paraphernalia around the house.
 Get involved with smoke free campaigns in your PTA, church, condo board or wherever you can.
 Set an example. Make your home and car smoke free.
 Encourage your family to question the truth of all tobacco advertising.
 Encourage your family to analyze how the different tobacco ads influence or don’t influence them. Make a game of it.
 Have a night when you cut out some old magazines’ tobacco ads and paste them together in collages that show the truths behind the tobacco industry’s ads. Have fun with it.
 If you are politically inclined, let your children know you are contacting your state and national legislators about their votes on kid-protective bills relating to tobacco.
 Go online with your youngsters and show them the photos of Sean Marsee, the young athlete mentioned earlier in this book. One picture is sometimes worth a thousand words.
 If you belong to the PTA or a service organization like the Kiwanis, The Lion’s Clubs of America, Soroptimist clubs or the local Rotary club, find out if they support school “tobacco free environments” in and near schools.

According to a national study conducted to assess school health policies reported in 2000, a “Tobacco free environment” exists if the state, district, or school has a policy prohibiting cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoking, and smokeless tobacco use by students, faculty, staff, and visitors. The policy prohibits tobacco use in school buildings, on school grounds, in school buses or other vehicles used to transport students, and at off-campus, school-sponsored events.

I must be dumber than a box of rocks because I don’t get it. If we were talking about any other addiction, like cocaine or heroin, we’d all be running in the streets to jail those drug pushers like we were running the bulls at Pamplona. Instead, we ignore the many deaths and disfigurements caused by tobacco and those who push it, deliberately glamorize it, and sell it to our youngest and most impressionable youngsters. Hello?

Prevention for the Tempted

Do you play sports? Are you a dancer? Do you sing or play an instrument in the band? Well, guess what? If you smoke, you will not be able to do any of these things very well. It doesn’t matter if you smoke only one cigarette a week or one pack a day—damage starts right away and gets worse as you keep smoking. Smokers can’t get as much oxygen to their muscles so their muscles hurt more when playing sports or exercising. They also run slower and can’t run as far. You will have trouble breathing if you smoke, which is definitely not a good thing if you are active or play an instrument.

Did you know?
That most American youngsters from middle to high school say they won’t date anyone who smokes?
Smoking ads may try to make smoking look cool, but you’re smarter than that. The tobacco companies are not looking out for you, so you have to look out for yourself. Don’t smoke. If you smoke, quit. Either way, you win by not giving them your money!

Did you know?
That even though a lot of teens use tobacco, most don’t. According to a 1998 study, less than 20 percent of teens are regular smokers. In fact, 64 percent of 12- to 17- year olds do not smoke?

Did you know?
That poisons in cigarettes can dry out your skin and cause wrinkles? Some research relates smoking to premature gray hair and hair loss.

Did you know?
That nearly 86 percent of 8th-grade girls DO NOT smoke and 77 percent of 10th-grade girls DO NOT smoke?

Did you know?
That each day more than 3,000 people under age 18 become regular smokers? That's more than 1 million teens per year. Roughly one-third of them will eventually die from a tobacco-related disease.

What Quitting can Do For Your Health

 12 hours after quitting the dangerous carbon dioxide level in your blood drops to normal.
 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting, your heart, and lungs begin to work better.
 1 to 9 months after quitting, coughing, fatigue, and shortness of breath start to go away.
 1 year after quitting, your risk of heart disease goes down.

Okay, you’re at least thinking about smoking and how, “Not starting smoking is the best prevention.”

Dealing with Withdrawal Symptoms

2010-09-06T06:35:00.000-04:00

Most but not all those who’ve quit smoking have struggled with smoking withdrawal symptoms. Knowing what they are for most may help you prepare yourself to deal with one or more of them on your way to being smoke free.

Common feelings of smoking withdrawal include:

Feeling depressed
Not being able to sleep
Getting cranky, frustrated, or mad
Feeling anxious, nervous, or restless
Having trouble thinking clearly
Feeling hungry or gaining weight

Not everyone has feelings of withdrawal. You may have one or many of these problems. And they may last different amounts of time. The proper medicines can help. Talk to your family doctor if you have any of them.

Sources: National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American University at Washington, DC, NIDA websites, www.health.org

Help by Phone: Call from anywhere: 1-877-44U-QUIT
Smoking cessation counselors from the National Cancer Institute are available to answer smoking-related questions in English or Spanish, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time.

For help within your state, call 1-800-Quit Now or 1-800-784-8669

NOTICE TO PARENTS: LISTED BELOW ARE TIPS ON HOW TO KNOW IF SOMEONE IS SMOKING.

How can you tell if someone is using tobacco? Sometimes it's tough to tell. But there are signs you can look for. If your friend or child has one or more of the following signs, he or she may be regularly using tobacco:

• Problems remembering things they recently said or did
• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Bad breath
• Smelly hair and clothes
• Yellow-stained teeth and fingers
• Frequent colds
• Decreased senses of smell and taste
• Difficulty keeping up with sports and athletic activities
• Bleeding gums (smokeless tobacco)
• Frequent mouth sores (smokeless tobacco)

What can you do to help someone who is using tobacco? Be a real friend. Encourage that person to quit.

Dealing with Withdrawal Symptoms

2010-09-06T06:28:00.000-04:00

Most but not all those who’ve quit smoking have struggled with smoking withdrawal symptoms. Knowing what they are for most may help you prepare yourself to deal with one or more of them on your way to being smoke free.

Common feelings of smoking withdrawal include:

Feeling depressed
Not being able to sleep
Getting cranky, frustrated, or mad
Feeling anxious, nervous, or restless
Having trouble thinking clearly
Feeling hungry or gaining weight

Not everyone has feelings of withdrawal. You may have one or many of these problems. And they may last different amounts of time. The proper medicines can help. Talk to your family doctor if you have any of them.

Sources: National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American University at Washington, DC, NIDA websites, www.health.org

Help by Phone: Call from anywhere: 1-877-44U-QUIT
Smoking cessation counselors from the National Cancer Institute are available to answer smoking-related questions in English or Spanish, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time.

For help within your state, call 1-800-Quit Now or 1-800-784-8669

NOTICE TO PARENTS: LISTED BELOW ARE TIPS ON HOW TO KNOW IF SOMEONE IS SMOKING.

How can you tell if someone is using tobacco? Sometimes it’s tough to tell. But there are signs you can look for. If your friend or child has one or more of the following signs, he or she may be regularly using tobacco:

• Problems remembering things they recently said or did
• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Bad breath
• Smelly hair and clothes
• Yellow-stained teeth and fingers
• Frequent colds
• Decreased senses of smell and taste
• Difficulty keeping up with sports and athletic activities
• Bleeding gums (smokeless tobacco)
• Frequent mouth sores (smokeless tobacco)

What can you do to help someone who is using tobacco? Be a real friend. Encourage that person to quit.

Successful Tobacco Cessation Programs: Long term “Quit Plan”

2010-09-04T06:35:00.000-04:00

Just thinking about quitting may make you anxious. But your chances for success quitting will be better if you get ready first. Quitting works best when you're prepared.

Five Days Before Quitting

• Think about your reasons for quitting.

• Tell your friends and family you are planning to quit.

• Stop buying cigarettes – or any other types of tobacco. .

Four Days Before Your Quit Date

• Pay attention to when and why you smoke. Write some ways to avoid those “favorite” smokes in your journal. Just write quickly; don’t even think. Set it aside. Read it all a day or two later.

• Think of other things to hold in your hand instead of a cigarette. A fancy pen you can tap when you are anxious? A colored pencil to doodle with? A fancy glass filled with ice water? What? A colleague of mine had a little frog that hopped and whenever he became anxious, his little frog hopped all over his desk. Pretty funny and no need to trek outdoors in the snowstorms to grab a cigarette.

• Think of habits or routines to change. If you always smoke when you are on the phone at home or at work, you might consider pacing about instead of smoking. You’ll get exercise and breathe better. If you smoke most when you are in certain environments like bars, you might have to change to restaurants where there are smoke free zones.

Three Days Before Quit Day

Clean out your home, car and work spaces

 Clean your drapes and clothes. Get a haircut. Shampoo your car. Buy a car and home scent you like. Your sense of smell will soon be getting better.

 Throw away all your cigarettes and matches. Give or throw away your lighters and ashtrays. Remember the ashtray and lighter in your car!

 Have your dentist clean your teeth to get rid of smoking stains. See how great they look. Try to keep them that way.

 Some smokers save one pack of cigarettes. They do it "just in case." Or they want to prove they have the willpower not to smoke. Don't! Saving one pack just makes it easier to start smoking again.

Two Days Before Your Quit Date

• Buy the nicotine patch or nicotine gum.

• Or see your doctor to get the nicotine inhaler, nasal spray, or the non-nicotine pill or other cessation used prescription drug.

One Day Before Your Quit Date• Put away lighters and ashtrays.

• Throw away all cigarettes and matches. .

Quit Day

• Keep very busy.

• Remind family and friends that this is your quit day.

• Stay away from alcohol.

• Give yourself a treat, or do something special.

• Call a friend or "quit smoking" support group.

• Eat healthy food and get exercise.

Congratulations!!! You’re now Smoke Free!

Successful Tobacco Cessation Programs: Nicotine Replacement

2010-09-01T06:35:00.000-04:00

Your doctor, dentist, or pharmacist can suggest the correct nicotine replacement drug for you. If you can’t see your doctor, go to your local pharmacy or grocery store for over the counter nicotine replacement medicines. Read the instructions to see if the medicine is right for you. If you're not sure, ask the pharmacist. If you are taking other medications, ask the pharmacist or your doctor if they will interact well with the nicotine replacement drug you are considering.

Other tobacco cessation prescription drugs, such as Zyban or FDA approved Chantix, must be prescribed by your doctor or dentist.

Right now is when I tell you about a controversial tobacco cessation study being done by the psychology department of an American university that relies on a combination of behavioral therapy and -- well, smoking.

Smokers in the study are scheduled to smoke at times when they usually wouldn’t smoke and kept from smoking at their habitual times. This is said to have been designed to “break the psychological connection” between desire and act. Since this is a relatively short seven week program, its success would be a boon to those smokers, like me, who quit about ten times before I quit forever. However, since the study is still in progress, there is no way yet to judge its success. I need to add that all government studies on tobacco cessation programs -- for all age groups -- strongly advise against “cutting back” or smoking during attempts to quit smoking.

Successful Tobacco Cessation Programs: Behavioral Therapy

2010-08-30T06:35:00.000-04:00

Okay, there are three reasons you keep puffing your life away. There are also three ways to help you kick the habit of puffing your life away. They are:

 Behavioral Therapy

 Medicines. Nicotine replacement including a nicotine replacement patch, gum, and nasal spray. Newly introduced prescription medications like the antidepressant bupropion approved by the FDA for tobacco smoking cessation use in 1997 marketed as Zyban.

 A long range plan to help start, support, and succeed at tobacco cessation and support to help you work the plan.

Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive therapy is quick and helps adjust your lifestyle and habits as they now are. It leaves your great grandparents and Mommy and Daddy out of it. It’s productive and can help some people a lot.

Tobacco quitting support groups are invaluable, especially online forums. The folks in them understand your problems, they are going through the same experiences, and it’s private. I mean, it’s not like sitting in the town square spilling your beans and hoping it won’t be the next day’s diner gossip.

Group Quits. The pulling together of close friends or family members who also want to quit using tobacco products can be incredibly helpful support for each other. A group of us used what we called “dime therapy” to support each other. It simply meant calling each other for moral support when we weakened.

Another support can be your own words – written in a journal. Anytime you need a boost you can check out your progress and or check out why and when you smoke so you can avoid those times. Journals can help you keep your quitting program running on target, especially since the first quitting step is to create a long term plan. The second is encouraging yourself and a journal can include gratitude notes, reminders why and how to quit using tobacco and anything else that will help you quit. Has a celebrity you admire come out against smoking? Write down their words for when you need them most. A journals power is endless. And best of all, you don’t have to be a professional writer to benefit from your words.

Your doctor, dentist, or pharmacist can also point you to places to find support.

Sources: www.drugabuse.gov, www.nida.gov or www.cancer.gov or www.smokefree.gov Or, call the National Cancer Institute’s Smoking Quitline at 1-800-784-8669

Second Hand Smoke and Children

2010-08-28T06:30:00.001-04:00

Okay, I’ve said what I can to those who are able to make their own decisions. Since small children and babies can’t do the same, let’s concentrate now on what passive or second hand smoke does to little ones.

Children are especially susceptible: their tiny lungs are still developing and childhood exposure to secondhand smoke results in decreased lung function. Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to develop asthma, the leading serious chronic childhood disease in the US.

More Numbers for the Curious: In a late 90s government study, it was found that 9-12 million American children under age 5 were exposed to secondhand smoke in the home and 43 percent of American children aged 2 months to 11 years live in a home with at least one smoker.

Exposure to secondhand smoke increases the severity and frequency of asthma episodes; 200,000 to 1,000,000 asthmatic children with asthma have experienced aggravated symptoms.

From 1982 to 1995 the prevalence of pediatric asthma has increased by 86.8 percent. Asthma accounts for approximately 17 percent of all pediatric emergency visits in the US.

Exposure to secondhand smoke causes 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (pneumonia and bronchitis) annually in children 18 months and younger; these infections result in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations each year.

Secondhand smoke exposure causes buildup of fluid in the middle ear, resulting in 700,000 to 1.6 million physician office visits. Middle ear infections are the most common cause of childhood operations and of childhood hearing loss.

A California EPA study estimated 1,900 to 2,700 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths annually were associated with secondhand smoke exposure

Sources: http://www.lungusa.org, www.cdc.gov , www.drugabuse.gov , www.cancer.gov www.smokefree.gov, www.srnt.org, www.quitnet.org

A Personal Story – Montel Williams and Sudden Infant Deaths

US Surgeon Generals have repeatedly reported that exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Other government health agencies and country wide universities support these findings. Still, we hear no outcry of indignation or anger. Montel Williams, a highly intelligent and compassionate television personality, recently featured parents on his show who had lost their toddlers, each over 12 months old, due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

These parents are understandably making it their mission to find out why this is happening to toddlers since earlier medical information said that babies under 12 months old were those most prone to this mysterious death. These heartbroken parents wanted to know how it happened and why it happened.

As I watched, I had to wonder: Among the usual roster of “experts” on the show, some were conspicuous by their absent. Where were the experts, including our government’s experts, who have investigated and reported on the connection between environmental smoke and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome? The Surgeon Generals of our country are not exactly invisible. The connection between tobacco smoke and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is in fact, as google.com attests, the worst kept secret in America.

I wondered how Mr. Williams’ staff researchers could have missed this information. I wondered why, in view of the heavy smoking in our country, this bit of information is not scaring the hell out of parents and grandparents? And most of all, why it is not being made a more public debate?

Just Curious.

Did You Know?

Eleven percent (11%) of children aged 6 years and under is exposed to Environmental or Second Hand Smoke in their homes on a regular basis (4 or more days per week).

SECONDHAND OR ENVIRONMENTAL SMOKE

2010-08-25T06:30:00.000-04:00

So you don’t smoke? You don’t chew? You don’t dip? Since you take good care of your health by not using tobacco products, you are “home free” as they say. Right?

Wrong.

Every day, men, women, youths, and babies are subjected to the same dangers smoking tobacco products inflicts on smokers’ bodies. These innocent victims are damaged by second hand smoke -- also called environmental smoking.

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually and 37,000 heart disease deaths in non-smokers each year.

In another earlier study done during the late 80s and early 90s, it was found that non-smoking spouses of smokers were prone to higher rates of lung diseases than women married to non smokers. The rate increased in proportion to the amount of smoking done by their spouses. The tobacco industry strongly refuted Dr. Hirayama’s findings in full page newspaper ads although the industry’s own experts are said to have agreed with his findings.

What is second hand or environmental smoke?

Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke, is a complex mixture of gases and particles that includes smoke from the burning cigarette, cigar, or pipe tip (sidestream smoke) and exhaled mainstream smoke.

Thousands of chemicals are found in the mixture including hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and dozens of compounds that are known carcinogens, tumor promoters, or tumor initiators. Many of these chemicals have been identified as hazardous and are regulated by various federal or state agencies.
When California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his plan to open a smoking rotunda in the California Capitol, it brought protestors out in droves. Their arguments against such a powerful example of smoking approval included the fact that smoking harms not only the smokers but anyone else in their vicinity.

When you walk through a passel of smokers filling the air with their smoke, your health is being endangered. If you eat in a restaurant that is playing head games with the laws that decree separate spaces for smokers and non smokers – you know the ones I mean; their separate spaces consist of two tables away from smokers – your health is being endangered. If you work where smoking areas are near entrances you need to use repeatedly, your health is being endangered.

How is it being endangered?

Numbers for the curious and the magic numbers can make happen -- so okay, here are some solid stats for free.

 Secondhand smoke exposure causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults.

 Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25–30 percent and their lung cancer risk by 20–30 percent.

 Breathing secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the cardiovascular system that can increase the risk of heart attack. People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk.

 There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. Even brief exposure can be dangerous.

Now, here’s the big message. If you or others in your household are smoking around children or babies, you are endangering their health.

Sorry, I don’t mean to lay a guilt trip on smokers but it’s the truth. If you date or are married to a smoker who smokes in your presence or children’s presence, your and their health are being seriously endangered. Let’s put it this way, would you live in a garage that has three autos in it gurgling out carbon monoxide?

As an ex-smoker who went through smoking every day, then quitting every day until it finally took, I know that nicotine addiction smoking is tough to kick. However, if your spouse or significant other smokes, for their sake, yours, and any little ones, help that loved one quit killing themselves. How? Sometimes telling them how much you love them and how much you fear losing them can help start them thinking of quitting.

One nauseating little trick I used to help me stop was to soak two cigarettes in water for a day. Then I sat and stared at the results for a few minutes. I imagined that awful yellow gunk going into my lungs and it repulsed me. It can work with some and not with others.

Females: Chewing and Dipping Tobacco

2010-08-23T06:30:00.000-04:00

While many women confine their nicotine hits to smoking, some do chew and dip. It’s more prevalent among women in the South and Southwest. However, government studies estimate that 8 percent of high school students are current smokeless tobacco users. And though smokeless tobacco (dips and spit tobacco products) is more common among males (13.6%), female high school students’ accounts for 2.2 percent of dip and spit tobacco users.

As for middle school, hold your hat. An estimated 3 percent of middle school students are current smokeless tobacco users. Folks, we are talking about very young children here. And again, although smokeless tobacco is more common among males (4%), 2 percent of little girls in middle school are dipping and spitting tobacco.

Many people think smokeless tobacco (also known as dip, chew, or spit tobacco and snuff) is safe. Smokeless tobacco can cause bleeding gums (gum disease) and sores in the mouth that never heal. Eventually it could cause cancer in your mouth, your throat, and even your stomach! Just like cigarettes, it is addictive because it has nicotine. It stains your teeth a yellowish-brown color. It gives you bad breath. It can make you dizzy, give you the hiccups, and even make you throw up. (Definitely NOT cool!)

If you are just starting or thinking of starting to use smokeless tobacco, I urge you to first take a look at some of the ingredients that are in smokeless tobacco – before you even think of putting any of it in your mouth.

Nicotine (addictive drug)
Polonium 210 (nuclear waste)
Formaldehyde (embalming fluid)
Cancer-Causing Chemicals
Radioactive Elements

Pretty glamorous, right?

By the way, during 2005, the five largest tobacco manufacturers spent a new record of $250.79 million on smokeless tobacco advertising and promotion, versus the previous record of $236.68 million in 2001.

The two most popular spit tobacco brands among teens are both produced by the same high top tobacco product money maker. Ka-Ching!

I often wonder how those who produce harmful products or help sell and distribute them, reading about the cancers their products have inflicted on kids and others – how do they sleep at night? How do they look themselves in the mirror each morning? How do they go to church each Sunday or on the worshipping day of their faith?

I think I know now. Some years ago, a tobacco executive was faced with the information about how tobacco use by pregnant women affected their fetuses. How smoking caused low weight babies (and the subsequent health problems associated with low birth weights). His response? “Many mothers want low weight babies.”

Justify. Rationalize. Slip and slide responses. Feed on denial? More millions on fancy, well placed sales pitches? Or, as my grandmother would say, “they laugh all the way to the bank.”

Did You Know?
That a recent Danish medical study says that the more cigarettes pregnant females smoke while pregnant, particularly in the last months, the more they increase the risk of lowering their son’s sperm count later in life?

Not a good idea for anyone who would like to become a grandmother some day.

Babies and Tobacco

2010-08-21T06:35:00.000-04:00

Will it surprise you to know that babies smoke? If you are pregnant and you smoke, so does the baby you carry.

One study of reproductive health says that smoking and secondhand smoke is a major cause of sudden death syndrome, low birth weight, premature births, miscarriages, and health and developmental problems of children born to smokers. Nicotine use is also a major cause of stillborn children.

Another reputable medical study reports that cigarette smoking not only passes nicotine on to the fetus; it also keeps as high as 25 percent of the oxygen from reaching the placenta.

Here’s a couple of fascinating if deadly statistics for wannabe “Numbers” whiz kids: Smoking during pregnancy accounts for up to 14 percent of preterm deliveries – and about 10 percent of all infant deaths.

Moms who smoke and breastfeed pass the nicotine on to their babies through breast milk. And if your day care center has smokers, your child can develop bronchitis and other respiratory diseases as a result of secondhand smoke.

Here is the killer statistic. In spite of all these dangers, more than one in ten pregnant women smokes.

A Personal Story Mommy and the smoking gun

Heidi, a sweet and pretty new mom, had a first baby with some medical problems that required expensive specialized medical care. However, that did not stop either Heidi or her family from smoking near their children - or their fetuses when pregnant. They strongly embrace the concept that they are free souls who can do as they wish any time, any place, under any circumstance. And they do, including smoking cigarettes and cigars – even as their children run to and fro near and around them. Heidi, her husband Tim and her other family members are wonderful loving parents. They just gamble with the wrong chips.

Then, Heidi got pregnant again. This time, it was suggested that it might be best if she curtailed her smoking while pregnant.

Heidi shrugged her shoulders and lit another cigarette. Then the baby was born. The little girl weighed six pounds; she was born with jaundice and had difficulty digesting her food properly.

Will the child have other or more serious health abnormalities as she gets older? Only time will tell. Oh, did I mention that the mom is a registered nurse? What is wrong with this picture?

Ladies, gamble with your money, gamble with your hair color, gamble with your new prom dress, but please don’t gamble with a baby’s future health.

How does tobacco affect ones looks?

2010-08-18T06:32:00.000-04:00

Since how we look can and does inspire our purchases from toothpaste to underwear to makeup to bath soap to toe rings, let’s take a good look up close and personal at how tobacco products affect our looks.

Skin

Smoking not only makes your skin get wrinkles but it makes you skin look gray.

Don’t believe me? Research in the past 20 years has consistently shown that cigarette smoking causes skin wrinkling that could make smokers appear less attractive and prematurely old. Check out the little lines around the mouths of women who smoke. Check out the lines around their eyes which come from squinting through the smoke. Check out the bloom on your cheeks that is fading fast. It may take a while but it’s happening to you, too, with each puff you take.

According to a recent United Kingdom medical report, smokers’ skin can be prematurely aged by between 10 to 20 years. How does it do this?

Well, tobacco smoke in the environment is drying to the skin; and since the amount of blood flowing to the skin is decreased as well, the skin is depleted of oxygen and essential nutrients – and getting more dehydrated with each puff. Oxygen helps carry blood to the veins and just under your skin so if oxygen is depleted, your skin loses its rosy color.

Other research has shown that skin aging by smoking may also be caused by the break down of collagen in the skin. Collagen is the protein that maintains skin elasticity. Skin damaged by smoke looks grayish, wrinkled, and gaunt. Smokers in their 40s often have as many facial wrinkles as non-smokers in their 60's.

Now, if you don’t mind your fingers and fingernails or teeth looking yellow or having people back away from your “tobacco breath,” fine. But unless that boy or man you like smokes like a chimney, he will probably lean toward a gal whose breath smells fresh, clean and has a mouth that is sweetly kissable. Isn’t that the purpose of the fruit flavored lip gloss featured on every cosmetic counter?

Smoking and Psoriasis

Compared with non-smokers, smokers have two to three times the risk of getting psoriasis. While psoriasis is not life threatening, but this chronic skin condition can be very uncomfortable and disfiguring. Some studies have found that the risk of the disease increases the longer a person continues to smoke. According to other studies, smoking may cause as many as one quarter of all psoriasis cases and may also contribute to as many as half of the cases of palmoplantar pustulosis, a skin disease involving the hands and feet, that some experts view as a form of psoriasis. Ugh. All this and nicotine addiction as well. Hello?

Smoking and Body Shape

Smoking causes female smokers to store even normal amounts of body fat in an abnormal distribution. Smokers are more likely to store fat around the waist – the Apple shape we all hear is related to heart attacks, diabetes, high blood pressure, gallbladder problems, and cancer of the womb and breast.

Smoking and Harm to Your Body

If you smoke or chew or dip, you are gambling big time. You are gambling you will not get lung cancer, a stroke, a heart attack, cancer of the larynx, mouth, throat and esophagus or some form of cancer of the kidney, bladder, pancreatic and stomach associated with cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of women and smoking causes 82 percent of all lung cancers in women. Lung cancer rates increased by more than 600 percent between the years 1950 and 2003. By 1987, lung cancer had passed breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Here’s an eye opener: women who smoke at the same rate as men get cancer more than men. Women smokers have an increased rate of cervical and vulvar cancer.

Smoking can cause blindness to some women.

Female smokers go through menopause earlier than non smokers. This is a factor in a bone disease called Osteoporosis. Additionally, several research studies have identified smoking is also a risk factor for osteoporosis and bone fracture.

Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones weaken and are more likely to fracture (break). Fractures from osteoporosis can result in pain, disability, and sometimes death. Osteoporosis is a major health threat for an estimated 44 million Americans, 68 percent of whom are women.

Osteoporosis is a “silent” disease: it can progress for many years without symptoms until a fracture occurs. It has been called “a pediatric (childhood) disease with geriatric (old age) consequences,” because building healthy bones in youth helps prevent osteoporosis and fractures later in life. However, it is never too late to adopt new habits for healthy bones.

Smoking and Osteoporosis

Cigarette smoking was first identified as a risk factor for osteoporosis more than 20 years ago. Recent studies have shown a direct relationship between tobacco use and decreased bone density. Analyzing the impact of cigarette smoking on bone health is complicated. It is hard to determine whether a decrease in bone density is due to smoking itself or to other risk factors common among smokers. For example, in many cases smokers are thinner than nonsmokers, tend to drink more alcohol, may be less physically active, and have poor diets. Women who smoke also tend to have an earlier menopause than nonsmokers. These factors place many smokers at an increased risk for osteoporosis apart from their tobacco use.

However, most studies on the effects of smoking suggest that smoking increases the risk of having a fracture. Not all studies have supported these findings, but the evidence is mounting. In other words, the judge is still out on this research, but are we really willing to gamble on a broken hip tomorrow?

Smoking causes 30 percent of all cancer deaths.

Deaths of female celebrities from tobacco-related causes:
 Lucille Ball, lung cancer, 69
 Bette Davis, actress
 Amanda Blake, actress
 Betty Grable, actress, lung cancer, 57
 Melina Mercouri, actress
 Pat Nixon, wife of President Richard Nixon
 Lee Remick, actress, kidney and lung cancer,
 Gene Tierney, actress, emphysema
Death List Source. David Moyer, MD, author of The Tobacco Reference Guide, UICC Globalink

History of women and tobacco

2010-08-16T06:37:00.000-04:00

In a recent 2007 report, we learn that cigarette smoking is said to have been rare among women in the early 20th century. It became prevalent among women only after men embraced tobacco use.

“In 2005, 20.3 million (18.1 percent) of women smoked in the United States,” says the American Lung Association.

Recently, a new World Conference on Tobacco or Health report shows that young girls are smoking cigarettes almost as much as young boys. Survey results also show that girls and boys are also using non-cigarette tobacco products such as spit tobacco, bidis, and water pipes at similar rates, and that these rates are often as high as or higher than youth cigarette smoking rates.

According to another reputable study, more than one out of every five high school girls is a current smoker. Smoking rates among males and females in high school are almost equal now – 22.9 males and 23.0 females are current smokers.

Sadly, women who are role models for younger women and teens, smoke almost as much as men smoke – 18.1 percent of American women smoke compared to 23.9 men.

In other words, more than 12 million adult women and 1.8 million girls currently smoke.

This is really scary, ladies. Even as we read daily about the health issues costing our country our best resources – our precious young people – females seem to be on a lemming-like race to hospitals and morgues.

Still asking “why, why, why”? Here’s one thought provoking fact.

“Six years after the introduction of Virginia Slims and other brands aimed at the female market, the smoking initiation rate of 12-year-old girls had increased by 110 percent.

Increases among teenage girls of other ages were also substantial,” says the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, located in Washington, DC.

In my humble opinion, those figures translate into big bucks for the tobacco industry but a real rip-off of our kids’ health and our society.

Why do girls and young women use tobacco products?

There are several reasons and they all appeal to girls’ and women’s desire to be attractive, slim, and independent and sought after.

One of the most powerful incentives to start and continue smoking is the “image ad.”

Tobacco companies know what they are doing and they are very, very good at what they do. They are whizzes at public relations and spend millions to buy the most effective advertising campaigns money can buy. They hire artists and writers who are geniuses at manipulation. They pay big bucks for the most provocative and subliminally effective campaign psychologists, campaign creators, artists, and wordsmiths.

Females are a major target of Tobacco Company advertising. Does anyone remember the powerful “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” sales campaign? I do. Every sexy, glamorous pose that could be contrived beckoned to young women to smoke. Gorgeous models’ outfits were snazzy enough to make any woman sit up and take notice – AND DO ANYTHING TO IDENTIFY WITH THESE GORGEOUS BABES. The message said loud and clear that if you smoked, you were liberated, glamorous, ultra feminine – and Skinny. Slim. Willowy. Movie-star gorgeous. SLIM. Slim. Slim.

And how about the product name – “Virginia Slims?” None too subtle but wow, was it psychologically effective!

Females from the family teen to grandma bought the hype and considered tobacco cigarettes – and sometimes even cigars – a “diet smoke.” Believe this and I have a nice little bridge in Brooklyn I’ll sell you cheap.

The truth is simple: When you smoke, you don’t eat. If you cut back on your eating without smoking, you will still lose weight. If you lift a few light weights a couple of times a week and cut back on the bread, you will lose weight. If you walk around the Mall a couple of times three times a week, you will lose weight. And you won’t be spending your vacation-makeup-trendy clothes or charity “be kind to others a bit” free money for overly gussied-up boxes of packaged disaster.

Incidentally, Phillip Morris has proved that it does not necessarily need feminine imagery to capture the female market. Sexy male images can also influence females and their smoking habits. The Marlboro man with his rugged good looks and outdoorsy sexy image influenced women to smoke more Marlboros than any other brand.

Okay, I can hear you saying, “That’s old stuff. They don’t even have those ads anymore.

Fine. Let’s fast forward to June 21, 2007 and the Christian Broadcasting Network. CBNNews and their Health and Science section. Its article reported on the most recent R.J. Reynolds tobacco company’s method of marketing cigarettes to young females.

CBN’s interview with Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and Rep. Lois Capps of California describes the packaging, magazine ads and “blogging” connected with Reynolds’ new tobacco cigarette. Camel Number 9’s name is an obvious play on “Chanel No. 5”, an oldie but goodie perfume with an excellent reputation as a “classy” product.
R.J. Reynolds’ newly plugged cigarettes are all dressed up in feminine black and pink. Its ad copy calls this little nicotine bomb “light and luscious.” Cigarettes “luscious”? Oh, come on, R.J.

Light cigarettes have long been known to be no more safe than regular cigarettes and as for being “luscious,” are we talking about eating cigarettes?

Reynolds’ company adds some recruiting “bling” with free rhinestone lighters and stickers for females who hopefully might be tempted by Reynolds’ “freebies” to start smoking. The tobacco companies, as you might remember, “hooked” athletes with the same “freebie” come-ons in earlier decades.

In addition, a new advert method, using so called “unbiased” bloggers, may be helping to float this boat. Several bloggers – who may or may not be Reynolds’ “hired hands” – are reported by CBN folks to have put up Camel Number 9 pages on kid-friendly web sites hurrahing these fancy wrapped nicotine sticks. It was reported by CBN that one blogger referred to Camel No 9’s as cigarettes for “14- year-old-girls.” Another suggested that little girls might want to match their nail polish with these pink and black packaged smokes.
Unbiased bloggers, did I say?

As was said in the very funny movie, “America’s Sweethearts,” “Pardon me for saying this but you [they?] would sell my mother to China for medical experiments.” . . .

Okay, you get what I think of folks who deal in drugs . . . even “legal” ones. Been there, done that, don’t want anyone else to become victimized likewise.

COPING WITH WITHDRAWAL

2010-08-14T06:32:00.000-04:00

Okay, you want to quit. But every time you start, your plan is knocked out by your cravings to chew or dip. Here’s some of the best advice you will ever get about dealing with withdrawal, plus a few tips straight from my own hectic struggles.

You get a craving to stick that tobacco in your mouth, especially when you’re at where you always used it.

Wait it out. Deep breathing and exercise help you feel better right away.

When you feel irritable, tense, restless, impatient . . . it will pass.

Walk away from the situation. Deep breathing and exercise help to blow off steam. Ask others to be patient with you. Tell them you re quitting and need their help.

If you have constipation or irregularity . . . a normal result of changing what you take into your body . . .

Add more fiber to your meals, like whole grain breads and cereals, fruits and vegetables.

You may feel hungry more often or start to gain weight. This will all pass.

Eat regular meals. Feeling hungry is sometimes mistaken for the desire to dip or chew.

Remember, it takes about two weeks or so for your body to flush out all the nicotine, which is what makes you want more nicotine. Be patient with yourself.

You may feel like having sweets more often. Nicotine pushes up your insulin production and then crashes it down so it’s natural to crave a “sugar high” when you quit using tobacco.

Spit tobacco and dipping are both oral so replace them with some oral substitutes. Reach for low-calorie sweet snacks like apples, sugar-free gums and candies. You might like jerky sticks. If you like things that are salty or crunch instead of sweets, try chewing on pretzel sticks, rice cakes or cereal sticks. Chewing or dipping Quitters sometimes like “ants on a log.” (Stuff celery sticks with peanut butter and sprinkle with raisins)

I finally quit smoking by taking the advice of the American Lung Association. I drank lots of water. I drank so much water I felt as if I sloshed as I walked. I drank water all day and especially when I craved tobacco. Not only did it keep me hydrated and less interested in tobacco, all that water (about an 8-oz glass every hour all day) quickly flushed the nicotine out of my body. My cravings for tobacco went out the window after about three weeks. I kept telling myself, “Two weeks, two weeks, two weeks.

How addicted are you?

2010-08-11T06:31:00.000-04:00

1. Do you still get dizzy or sick like you did when you first started using dip or chew?
2. Do you dip more often and in different places?
3. Have you switched to stronger products with more nicotine in them?
4. Do you swallow juice from your tobacco on a regular basis?
5. Do you ever sleep with dip or chew in your mouth?
6. Do you take your first dip or chew first thing in the morning?
7. Do you find it hard to do for more than a few hours without dip or chew?
8. Do you have strong cravings when you do without dip or chew?

It took me a few tries before I finally kicked smoking. The most important thing to know is that it takes about two weeks for nicotine to leave your body.

Focus on all you don’t like about dipping or chewing. Take a look at some reasons given by others as to why they wanted to quit. Are any of them important to you?

1. To prove I can do it
2. It’s disgusting
3. To avoid health problems
4. It’s barred at work or school
5. My parents don’t want me to do it
6. My girl friend or someone I want to date hates it
7. I have gum or tooth problems
8. I have white patches or sores in my mouth
9. My doctor or dentist told me to quit
10. I don’t want it to control me
11. To be a good example for other kids or my family
12. To save money
13. I don’t like the taste

Sources: National Cancer Institute, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, American Cancer Society, National Institute of Health, Saskatchewan Health Department, UICCGlobal Link, www.ash.org, Park Ranger Lee Pelham Cotton, www.nps.gov, Gene Borio, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, and The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)

HOW TO QUIT DIPPING OR CHEWING

”They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” Andy Warhol

1. Pick a quit day and write it down. It’s best to pick a date in the next two weeks so you don’t put it off too long. This will give you time to get psyched up about quitting.

2. Cut back before you quit by tapering down. Some find it easier then “cold turkey.” First, notice where and when you dip or chew. What events trigger dipping or chewing for you? Do you always reach for a dip after meals? When you work out? In your car or truck? On your job? Don’t carry your pouch or tin with you. Challenge your self discipline; try doing without for five minutes, then ten minutes. Try to go longer and longer without as you head into your Quit Date. Now pick two or three of your trigger situations and stop dipping or chewing during those times. Like drug addicts who are working to get straight, it’s a good idea to avoid your dipping and chewing pals while you’re trying to quit.

3. Have your dentist or doctor check your mouth. Ask whether you need nicotine replacement therapy like gum, nicotine patches, etc. nicotine replacement therapy and non-nicotine replacement therapy (bupropion) have been approved by the FDA for smoking cessation. Further research is needed to determine their effectiveness for helping spit tobacco users quit.

4. Quit Day! Make your quit day special. You are doing something special for yourself. Keep busy and active. Start the day with a walk, run, swim or workout. Aerobic exercise will help you relax and boost energy, stamina and curbs your appetite.

5. Quit Day! Chew substitutes. Try sugar-free hard candies or gum, cinnamon sticks, mints, beef jerky, or sunflower seeds. Carry them with you; use them whenever you have the urge to chew or dip.

6. Quit Day! Change your daily routines to avoid tobacco triggers. Make an appointment to get your teeth cleaned. You’ll love how your mouth feels afterwards. Get right up from the table after you eat. Move rather than stand around and dip or chew. Watch what others who do not dip or chew spend their free time and copy the ways you find interesting.

7. Try not to slip but if you do, get right back on track. Like rodeo riders say, “If you get thrown, pick yourself up and get right back on that horse.”

8. Avoid alcohol beverages. Drinking them could bust your plan to quit.

9. Plan ahead for any trigger times and get ready to win out over your urges.

How can snuff and chewing tobacco harm the body?

2010-08-09T06:31:00.000-04:00

There are some pretty easy to understand dangers connected with dipping and chewing.

Here’s a brief summary of the harm dipping does in the mouth:

 Spit tobacco may cause cancer of the mouth

 Sugar in spit tobacco may cause decay in tooth roots

 Dip and chew can cause your gums to pull away from the teeth in the place where the tobacco is held. The gums do not grow back

 Leathery white patches and red sores are common in dippers and chewers and can turn into cancer

Recent research shows that spit tobacco use might also cause problems beyond the mouth. Some studies have shown that using spit tobacco may cause pancreatic cancer. And scientists are also looking at the possibility that spit tobacco use might play a role in the development of cardiovascular disease – heart disease and stroke.

Myths and Truths

But what about all the stuff you hear about smokeless tobacco suggesting that it’s as safe as being in your mother’s arms? Let’s look at a few myths – and truths.

Myth: Spit tobacco is a harmless alternative to smoking.

Truth: All tobacco, including smokeless tobacco, contains nicotine, which is addictive. The amount of nicotine absorbed from smokeless tobacco is 3 to 4 times the amount delivered by a cigarette. Also, the nicotine stays in the bloodstream for a longer time. Chewing tobacco and snuff contain 28 carcinogens (cancer–causing agents).

Myth: Dip or chew improves my athletic performance.

Truth: A study of professional baseball players found no connection between spit tobacco and player performance. Using spit tobacco increases your heart rate and blood pressure within a few minutes. This can cause a buzz or rush but the rise in pulse and blood pressure places an extra stress on your heart.

Myth: Good gum care can offset the harmful effects of using dip or chew.

Truth: There is no evidence that brushing or flossing will undo the harm that dip and chew are doing to your teeth and gums.

Myth: It’s easy to quit using dip or chew when you want to.

Truth: Unfortunately, nicotine addiction makes quitting difficult. But those who have quit successfully are very glad they did.

Other health threats related to dip or chew tobacco

Mouth Cancer – cancer of the cheeks, gums, lips and tongue. Smokeless (spit) tobacco users have a 50% higher chance of getting mouth cancer than non-users.

Throat Cancer – cancer of the voice box and cancer of the esophagus.

Heart disease – heart attacks, strokes and high blood pressure.

Dental diseases – stained teeth, tooth decay, receding gums, gum disease, bad breath and black hairy tongue.

Stomach problems – ulcers, stomach upset, increased bowel activity and stomach cancer.

Loss of taste and smell – causes loss of appetite which results in poor nutrition and poor health.

Physical changes – fatigue, muscle weakness, dizziness and decreased physical performance.

People who dip or chew spread their germs when they spit. This increases the risk of passing an infection to others.

Did you know? That baseball players like Babe Ruth used chew tobacco to keep their mouths moist while they were out on the ball field? And that, in the past, tobacco companies provided free smokeless tobacco (as free advertising) to players and their teams which led to their getting “hooked” on the stuff?

Did you know that Joe DiMaggio, baseball player, Joe DiMaggio Jr., Bartlett Giamatti, baseball commissioner and Yale president, Jesse Owens, Olympic athlete, Pee Wee Reese, baseball player, and baseball legend Babe Ruth, as well as high school athlete Sean Marsee all died of tobacco-related cancers or heart attacks?

Or the most ironic fact of all: Did you know that Wayne McLaren, the Marlboro Man, died of lung cancer at age 51?

Source: Celebrity death information courtesy of David Moyer, MD, author of The Tobacco Reference Guide, www.uicc.org funded in part by the European Union.

Athletes now speaking out about the dangers of smokeless tobacco include Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, Braves' first baseman Andres Galarraga, Braves' winning pitcher John Smoltz and NFL Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Troy Aikman.

What is Snuff and Chewing or Spit Tobacco?

2010-08-07T06:27:00.000-04:00

There are two types of smokeless tobacco––snuff and chewing tobacco.

Snuff, a finely ground or shredded tobacco, is packaged as dry, moist, or in sachets (tea bag–like pouches). Typically, the user places a pinch or dip between the cheek and gum.

Chewing tobacco is available in loose leaf, plug (plug–firm and plug–moist), or twist forms, with the user putting a wad of tobacco inside the cheek. Smokeless tobacco is sometimes called "spit" or "spitting" tobacco because people spit out the tobacco juices and saliva that build up in the mouth.

Who Uses Snuff or Spit Tobacco?

In the United States, the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, which was conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, reported the following statistics:

An estimated 7.6 million Americans age 12 and older (3.4 percent) had used smokeless tobacco in the past month.

Smokeless tobacco use was most common among young adults ages 18 to 25.

Men were 10 times more likely than women to report using smokeless tobacco (6.5 percent of men age 12 and older compared with 0.5 percent of women).

In 1986, one surprising dental related study conducted by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control found that 17 percent of five-year-old girls and 10 percent of five-year-old boys in Alaska used smokeless tobacco. Further, they had been using it for an average of about a year. At that time, about 14 states still permitted children to buy snuff or spit tobacco.

In 1998, a legal settlement between the states and the tobacco companies included language which prohibited tobacco companies from taking “any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth . . . in the advertising, promotion or marketing of tobacco products." However, since the settlement, the tobacco companies have increased their cigarette marketing expenditures by 125 percent to a record $15.1 billion a year, or $41.5 million a day, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Much of this marketing is said to be targeted at kids.

On November 16, 2004, Matthew L. Myers President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, spoke out against the tobacco industries’ latest marketing ploys he says are meant to enlist youth to use their newly designed candy and coffee flavored tobacco products. He emphasized how and where the new youth-appealing tobacco products are being marketed.

“In the latest versions of its candy-flavored cigarettes, R.J. Reynolds has introduced Camel “Winter Blends” with flavors including “Warm Winter Toffee” and “Winter Mocha Mint.” Ads for these cigarettes are appearing in magazines with significant youth readership such as Rolling Stone, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Elle,” Mr. Myers said.

“RJR’s online ads urge visitors to “Celebrate the wonder of Camel’s Winter Blends. Whether you’re skiing down the slopes or cuddling in a cabin.” In fact, it would be more accurate to describe these candy-flavored cigarettes as an invitation to “cuddle up with cancer,” said Mr. Myers.

The U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company was then marketing spit tobacco with flavors including berry blend, mint, wintergreen, apple blend, vanilla and cherry.

The company’s defense? Lots of adults like tobacco with flavoring in it.

Now let’s fast forward to 2005 and 2006.

In 2005, a Harvard School of Public Health found that tobacco companies had not given up recruiting youth as their new smokers, snuff and spit tobacco users; they had just changed tactics.

“Internal research by the tobacco industry showed manufacturers that they could capitalize on youths' attraction to candy flavors. They used innovative product technology, such as a flavor pellet embedded in one company's cigarette filters, to deliver fruit and liqueur flavors. . . . Fruit and candy flavors were also added to smokeless tobacco products, cigars and cigarette rolling papers,” said the study.

Carrie Carpenter, lead author of the study and a research analyst at HSPH, stated, "Flavored cigarettes can promote youth smoking initiation and help young occasional smokers to become daily smokers by reducing or masking the natural harshness and taste of tobacco smoke and increasing the acceptability of a toxic product."

Finally, in 2006, Massachusetts complained to the attorney general about flavored cigarettes violating the earlier Master Settlement --- the first state to do so. Its complaint was supported by the Harvard School of Public Health Study.

On October 11, 2006, in a settlement with the Attorney Generals of 38 states, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company agreed to end the sale of candy, fruit, and alcohol-flavored cigarettes.

Unfortunately, many companies throughout the world are now flavoring tobacco products of all kinds with chocolate, mint, fruit and candy flavors. In addition, online companies pushing hookah smoking use their use of flavors to elicit sales. I can’t help but wonder what Sean Marsee would say about these actions.

Cigar Smoking: HOBBY, NOT HABIT?

2010-08-04T06:31:00.000-04:00

Today, many people view cigar smoking as more "civilized" and "glamorous," as well as less dangerous than cigarette smoking. Yet a single large cigar can contain as much tobacco as an entire pack of cigarettes. In addition, most of the same cancer-causing substances found in cigarettes are found in cigars. Most cigars have as much nicotine as several cigarettes and a single large cigar can contain as much tobacco as an entire pack of cigarettes.

Recent increased publicity of cigar use by celebrities, the introduction of cigar bars, and the sub-culture of cigar paraphernalia such as humidors and clippers have combined to create a glamorous aura around a deadly product. According to estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, over 5 billion cigars were consumed in 2006.1

By 1996, an estimated six million 14-19 year-olds (26.7 percent of people in this age group) reported having smoked a cigar in the previous year.

An estimated 14.0% of students in grades 9–12 in the United States are current cigar smokers. Cigar smoking is more common among males (19.2%) than females (8.7%) in these grades.

An estimated 5.3% of middle school students in the United States are current cigar smokers.

Estimates are higher for middle school boys (6.7%) than girls (3.8%).

Marketing efforts have promoted cigars as symbols of a luxuriant and successful lifestyle.

Endorsements by celebrities, development of cigar-friendly magazines (e.g., Cigar Aficionado), features of highly visible women smoking cigars, and product placement in movies have contributed to the increased visibility of cigar smoking in society.

When someone like Governor Schwarzenegger, the Terminator himself, appears on the cover of Cigar Aficionado, what does that say to youngsters? Would you think that makes cigar smoking by kids “in” or “out”?

Since 1993, studies have reported high rates of cigar use among teen-agers and preteens, according to the National Institutes of Health. Surprisingly, the NIH also has reported that cigar smoking has gone up among adolescent females.

In 2005, cigar sales in the United States rose 15.3% and generated more than $2.9 billion in retail sales. Large cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars are the three major types of cigars sold in the United States.

But cigar smokers don’t inhale. Or do they?

While almost all cigarette smokers inhale, most cigar smokers do not. Therefore, the risk of lung cancer is lower for cigar smokers than cigarette smokers. However, the risk increases with the more frequent cigar smoking and depth of inhalation. When a smoker who first uses cigarettes, then adds cigars to their smoking habit, they usually transfer their habit of inhaling to the cigars, thereby making them far more dangerous to their health.

Studies show that men who smoke at least five cigars a day and report moderate inhalation, experience lung cancer deaths at about two-thirds the rate of men who smoke one pack of cigarettes a day.

Cigar smokers experience higher rates of lung cancer, heart disease, and chronic obstructive lung disease than nonsmokers. Studies show that men who smoke at least three cigars a day are two to three times more likely to die of lung cancer than non-smokers.

Cigar smoking has similar consequences to cigarette smoking including four to ten times the risk of dying from oral, esophageal, or laryngeal cancer in comparison to nonsmokers.

Cigars contain the same toxic and carcinogenic compounds found in cigarettes and are not a safe alternative to cigarettes.

In June of 2000, the Federal Trade commission and seven of the USA’s largest cigar producers made a deal to require warnings on cigar packages and in advertisements.

Pipes: The Smoking “Hobby” of the Seventeenth Century

2010-08-02T06:33:00.000-04:00

"Pipe smoking is the most protracted of all forms of tobacco consumption. It may explain why pipe smokers are generally regarded as patient men--and philosophers." -Jerome E. Brooks, from The Mighty Leaf, Tobacco Through the Centuries

It is true; pipe smoking has a different social aura than another form of smoking. For example, in the Western world, tobacco pipe smoking has sometimes been seen as genteel or dignified and has given rise to a variety of customized accessories and even clothing. In early films, smoking a pipe indicated not only a patient man; it also signaled that he was an elite intellectual – an “egghead.” No one was better at creating this impression while smoking a pipe than the late actor Gregory Peck. He would puff slowly, light his pipe again, and visibly think.

In those unwary times, pipe smoking was a culture, a hobby, considered a manly art. It was a ritual to fill a pipe, tamp down the tobacco, to light a pipe and to keep it lit, and then to do it all over again. All that fussing around needed constant attention. Men who smoked a pipe were considered “deep thinkers” because they were distracted from their company as they did all these little things. I wonder if they were just doing all these things in order to be distracted from others.

Pipe smoking uses a different type of tobacco; some have scents that remind one of fruit. They are pungent scents that can be recognized from afar. Upper class Victorian homes had smoking rooms; men changed their clothing before smoking because the scent of tobacco clung to their usual clothing. So, prior to lighting up and possibly offending someone, they put on their favorite smoking jackets. They also prominently displayed their expensive pipe tobacco humidors and intricate pipe lighters.

Albert Einstein was a pipe smoker; Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the fictional detective Sherlock Homes have all been pictured with pipe in hand, smoke curling over their heads.

However, they all lived before the day when information about what tobacco does to the human body slowly found its way out of the tobacco companies public relations created closet.

Decades ago, doctors began to notice high rates of tongue cancer in pipe smokers. Since then, pipe smoking has been shown to cause cancer of the mouth, lip, tongue, throat, larynx, and lung.

According to government studies, pipe smokers may also increase their risk of contracting other cancers that plague cigarette smokers: cancer of the pancreas, kidney, bladder, colon, and cervix as well as leukemia and diseases such as chronic obstructive lung disease, stroke, and coronary heart disease.

A 2004 American Cancer Society study followed 138,307 men -- more than 15,000 of whom smoked pipes -- over a period of 18 years. The study found that pipe smoking was associated with increased mortality caused by lung, oropharynx, esophageal, larynx, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers, as well as cardiovascular disease, when compared to the nonsmokers in the study. The researchers reported, “Pipe smoking confers a risk of tobacco-associated disease similar to cigar smoking.”

Hookah pipes

For hundreds of years, Middle Eastern men have smoked hookah pipes. Now, this form of smoking is becoming popular in the U.S., especially among young people and women. A hookah is a water pipe that holds tobacco. The water is often mixed with honey, molasses, or dried fruit to give flavor to the smoke. When a person inhales on a hose attached to the hookah, the smoke is filtered through water in the base.

Popular myth suggests that hookah smoking is considered to be safer than other forms of smoking because it is passed through water. However, water is not effective for removing all relevant toxins, e.g. the carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons are not water-soluble. In fact, hookah smoke contains levels of nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar that are as high as or higher than those found in the smoke from many filtered cigarettes. Several types of cancer, as well as gum disease, have been linked to hookah smoking. Another hazard is contagious diseases which can be passed from one user to another since hookahs are designed for “companion smoking.”

The World Health Organization recently submitted a seven page report outlining the many dangers of hookah smoking. Among others, it claims that a smoker can inhale 100 times more smoke in one hookah session than he or she can smoke in one cigarette. One hundred times more.

One advertisement for hookahs I read this week says the heated water “purifies” the tobacco. Again, water does not purify tobacco nor remove nicotine and other toxic ingredients from tobacco. That, folks, is smoke and mirrors.

The Good News is the popularity of pipe smoking in Western countries has declined in recent years.

However, The Bad News is pipe smoking has also enjoyed a resurgence of late among younger and middle aged smokers who find its contemplative nature and age-transcendent status as "hobby not habit" to be enjoyable and stress-relieving. Due to the wide availability of high quality mass-produced and custom smoking pipes as well as a myriad of pipe tobaccos to suit any taste, the hobby is likely to persist for years to come despite growing anti-smoking sentiment.

And the worse news of all. Hookah pipe smoking is increasing as I type this. Check out the Internet; hookah pipes are a major sales offering. They entice the young and curious with promises of new taste thrills and the exotic image of the Middle East. The only thing they can’t promise is a legitimate claim of safety.

Tobacco and Nicotine dependency

2010-07-31T06:37:00.000-04:00

If someone uses nicotine again and again, by smoking cigarettes or cigars or chewing tobacco, his or her body develops a tolerance for it. When someone develops tolerance, he or she needs more drugs to get the same effect. Eventually, a person can become addicted. Once a person becomes addicted, it is extremely difficult to quit. People who start smoking before the age of 21 have the hardest time quitting, and fewer than 1 in 10 people who try to quit smoking succeed. Source: “Mind Over Matter”, www.drugabuse.gov

Myths and facts about tobacco smoking:

Myth: Low tar cigarettes are safer than cigarettes without a tar filter.

Truth: Actual doses of nicotine, carcinogens, and toxins depend on the intensity and method of smoking and have little relation to stated tar yields.

Myth: If you smoke cigars or use a pipe, you don’t inhale the same way so they are safer.

Truth: Wrong. They are not safer. In those who do not inhale, nicotine is absorbed through the mucosal membranes and reaches peak blood levels and the brain more slowly but can cause oral cancer. Those who were first cigarette smokers are likely to continue inhaling; given the intensity of the smoke, pipes and cigars can be as dangerous a smoke as cigarettes.

Myth: Bidis are safer to smoke than regular cigarettes.

Truth: Not so. These unfiltered cigarettes from India are reported to have 28 percent higher nicotine concentration than regular cigarettes.

Myth: Smoking through a hookah is safer because the heated water “purifies” the tobacco.

Truth: Not true. Not only is this “junk science” but hookah smoke contains levels of nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar that are as high or higher than those found in the smoke from many filtered cigarettes. Several types of cancer, as well as gum disease, have been linked to hookah smoking.

Myth: It’s safer to chew or sniff tobacco than smoking it.

Truth: Not true. Sniffing and chewing tobacco has the same dangers as smoking tobacco. Nicotine and toxins are taken in through the mucous on the insides of your mouth and nose into the body.

The Good News is students’ personal disapproval of smoking has risen. In 2005, for example, the percentage of 12th-graders disapproving of smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day increased significantly, from 76.2 percent in 2004 to 79.8 percent in 2005.

The Bad News is in 2004, 29.2 percent of the U.S. population 12 and older—70.3 million people—used tobacco at least once in the month prior to being interviewed. This figure includes 3.6 million young people age 12 to 17. Young adults aged 18 to 25 reported the highest rate of current use of any tobacco products (44.6 percent) in 2004. Most of them smoked cigarettes.

Did you know? In 1683, Massachusetts passed the nation’s first no-smoking law. It forbids the smoking of tobacco outdoors, because of the fire danger. Soon after, Philadelphia lawmakers approved a ban on “smoking seegars on the street.” Fines were used to buy fire-fighting equipment. (Fact courtesy of Gene Borio, www.tobacco.org)

More recently, a Homeland Security study said “Fires started by lighted tobacco products, principally cigarettes, constitute the leading cause of residential fire deaths. The majority of smoking-material home structure fires and more than two-thirds of associated deaths involve trash, mattresses, bedding, or upholstered furniture as the first ignited item . . . Most fatal victims were asleep when fatally injured but most fatal smoking-material home structure fires did not begin in the bedroom.” Perhaps not, but some tragically do.

Why does anyone begin to smoke?

2010-07-28T06:31:00.000-04:00

Most people begin smoking as teens, generally because of peer pressure and curiosity. Also, people with friends and/or parents who smoke are more likely to take up smoking than those who don't.

Anyone who smokes does so because nicotine acts in the brain where it stimulates feelings of pleasure. In other words, nicotine, like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, increases the level of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which affects the brain pathways that control reward and pleasure.

When tobacco is smoked, nicotine is absorbed by the lungs and quickly moves into the bloodstream, where it is circulated throughout the brain. All of this happens very rapidly. In fact, nicotine reaches the brain within 8 seconds after someone inhales tobacco smoke. Nicotine can also enter the bloodstream through the mucous membranes that line the mouth (if tobacco is chewed) or nose (if snuff is used), and even through the skin.

Your brain is made up of billions of nerve cells. They communicate by releasing chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. Each neurotransmitter is like a key that fits into a special "lock," called a receptor, located on the surface of nerve cells. When a neurotransmitter finds its receptor, it activates the receptor's nerve cell.

The nicotine molecule is shaped like a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine and its receptors are involved in many functions, including muscle movement, breathing, heart rate, learning, and memory. They also cause the release of other neurotransmitters and hormones that affect your mood, appetite, memory, and more. When nicotine gets into the brain, it attaches to acetylcholine receptors and mimics the actions of acetylcholine.

Nicotine also activates areas of the brain that are involved in producing feelings of pleasure and reward. Recently, scientists discovered that nicotine raises the levels of a neurotransmitter called dopamine in the parts of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure and reward. Dopamine, which is sometimes called the pleasure molecule, is the same neurotransmitter that is involved in addictions to other drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Researchers now believe that this change in dopamine may play a key role in all addictions. This may help explain why it is so hard for people to stop smoking.

Another prevalent influence in our society is the tobacco industry's ads and other promotional activities for its products. The tobacco industry spends billions of dollars each year to create and market ads that present smoking as an exciting, glamorous, and healthy adult activity.

SMOKING TOBACCO

2010-07-26T06:34:00.000-04:00

Tobacco smoking was controversial even as its popularity grew. It has always had its promoters – and its detractors. In the 1600s, saying one lost one’s head over tobacco was not just a quip. It was not unknown for some countries to inflict horrific punishments for smoking tobacco. In the early 1600s, China made using or distributing tobacco a capital offense; punishment was decapitation. A few years earlier, a Turkish Sultan executed smokers as infidels. It’s said that earlier in our world’s history, one Eastern Shah punished smokers by having hot lead poured down their throats. In comparison, American No Smoking signs seem a pretty mild response to smoking and being smoked at and on, and smoke free buildings sweetly Victorian.

Although tobacco nicotine is contained in a number of products, the way it is ingested differs. It can be inside a paper tube as are most cigarettes. Throughout the decades, tobacco companies’ added filters – small hard paper tubes between the tobacco filled tube and the mouth -- said to lower the “butt’s” tar content.

Some cigarette packs say that “light” cigarettes have lower tar and nicotine. However, people who smoke light cigarettes may inhale more deeply, take more puffs, or smoke extra cigarettes to satisfy their nicotine craving. As a result, they may inhale just as much tar, nicotine, and other chemicals as people who smoke regular cigarettes.

Some folks still create their own cigarettes, rolling tobacco in thin papers.

Commercially made cigarettes may have menthol included in their ingredients. Menthol cigarettes have a minty taste that makes some smokers think they are healthier than regular cigarettes. In fact, menthol cigarettes contain even more chemicals than regular cigarettes. Also, menthol can make it easier for a smoker to inhale deeply, which may allow more chemicals to enter the lungs. As a result, menthol cigarettes may be even more harmful than regular cigarettes.

"Natural" cigarettes include clove cigarettes, also called kreteks ("kree-teks"), and flavored cigarettes, called "bidis" or "beedies." Both cigarette types are imported mainly from Southeast Asian countries. In addition to tobacco, they contain various flavorings. Kreteks contain ground cloves and clove oil. Bidis contain candy-like flavors, such as chocolate, cherry, and mango.

Some folks smoke Bidis, “natural” or herb cigarettes, or they may smoke tobacco through a hookah.

Some young people think that kreteks and bidis are safer than regular cigarettes because of the "natural" flavorings. Also, the packs often do not have warning labels. In fact, both kreteks and bidis deliver more nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide than regular cigarettes. Like smoking regular cigarettes, smoking kreteks and bidis can cause cancer and other diseases.

Another type of "natural" cigarette is the herbal cigarette. This is made from a blend of herbs, such as passion flower, jasmine, and ginseng. Although herbal cigarettes contain no tobacco or nicotine, the smoke contains tar, carbon monoxide, and other toxins.

And, although women don’t smoke cigars and pipes as much as men, recent data show the number of women smoking cigars is increasing. Many people think that cigars and pipes are safer than cigarettes, but this is not true. Even if you don’t inhale, you’re still at higher risk for oral and throat cancers. Cigar and pipe smokers also have higher rates of lung cancer and heart disease than nonsmokers.

In summary, nicotine is absorbed readily from tobacco smoke into the lungs, and it doesn’t matter whether the tobacco smoke is from cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. Nicotine also is absorbed readily when tobacco is chewed. With regular use of tobacco, levels of nicotine accumulate in the body during the day and persist overnight. Thus, daily smokers or chewers are exposed to the effects of nicotine for 24 hours each day. Adolescents who chew tobacco are more likely than nonusers to eventually become cigarette smokers. Adolescents who smoke tobacco are also more likely to use marijuana than non-smokers.

Research shows that cigarette smoking among youth reduces the rate of lung growth and the level of maximum lung function that can be achieved. Since the lungs ability to send life enhancing and supporting oxygen throughout your blood and body is directly proportionate to the body’s vitality and health, well, you do the math.

Incidentally, even non-smokers can be injured by tobacco nicotine and other toxic chemicals in smoking tobacco products.

Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 to 30 percent and lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent.

In addition, secondhand smoke causes respiratory problems in nonsmokers such as coughing, phlegm, and reduced lung function. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma.

Sources: National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Cancer Institute, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, www.drugabuse.com, the American Lung Association, and others.

A Personal Story: Great nicotine highs; fading eyesight

2010-07-24T06:28:00.000-04:00

A Personal Story: Great nicotine highs; fading eyesight - Mary Weston

I was a student in New York City, happy as a clam, and truly enjoying my life there. I was studying acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio in Greenwich Village while living in a tiny basement apartment complete with a white cat and several trap-wise mice. I had started smoking while in the military. But I had stopped since. That is, I thought I had stopped. Instead, I stopped then started then stopped then started . . . If you’ve been there, you recognize me. Worse, the yo-yoing convinced me that I could easily stop smoking whenever I want to stop. Of course I could. Nothing to it. Duck Soup.

Then I began to notice that my eyesight would suddenly blur so badly I couldn’t read. Then, just as suddenly, I could see clearly again. But I never knew when my sight would blur. And it started to do so during auditions. Bottom line unacceptable.

I obviously needed glasses. So, I hiked off to the best ophthalmologist I knew. I was mentally planning the style of frames that would look most glamorous when the doctor gave me his verdict.

“There’s nothing wrong with your eyes. They’re fine.”

“But I can’t see,” I whined.

“You say you only get blurring off and on, right?”

“Hm. Right,” I said as I wondered what that had to do with what I was now terrified was oncoming glaucoma.

“Mary, do you smoke?” the good doctor asked. Then, “How often?” And, “Are you smoking the same days you’ve noticed your eyes blurring?”

“Yes, yes, and yes.”

“I believe you’re allergic to tobacco smoke; if you stop smoking, the blurring will go away,” was his surprising diagnosis.

“But how could that be? I don’t have allergies,” I blurted out.

“Well, you may have one to tobacco smoke now. I’ve seen it before. Sometimes you’re allergic to chemicals in tobacco smoke. That can affect you in different ways. Most of the time, when you stop smoking, the blurring goes away. You can help it along by using some eye wash for a couple of days. And you must stop smoking.”

On the way home, I thought, “Now, that’s one I never heard before.”

Then, “But I do feel nauseous when I smoke or even when Tom (my fiancé) smokes around me. And I get really bad headaches when he smokes a lot. ” Though I loved Tom dearly, he had an annoying habit of sitting cross-legged on my living room floor, an ash tray on his knees, while he talked about each minute detail of his work -- he was a composer--ad infinitum – chain smoking all the while. I sometimes felt like a prisoner in a smoke tunnel. But I loved him passionately. So, instead of complaining about his smoking, I smoked right along with him. Now how dumb is that?

For several years after that diagnosis, though, I stopped smoking. My eyes were fine; I stopped feeling nauseated; my head ached only when I was sucking in someone else’s smoke.

Another year passed and one day, I accepted a cigarette from a smoking buddy. I had moved on to denial and the interesting but completely false concept that if I didn’t buy cigarettes, I didn’t really smoke. I think I also believed that I could tap dance on a wet dime during those delusional days. It took me at least five other attempts and a truly surprising way to finally “kick” the habit.

However, during those “good” days, I could breathe deeply and my eyesight was so keen I could read the lowest line on the doctor’s chart. It was a great feeling. I felt great. And then, in one supposedly companionable moment, I started smoking again. Later, as my tobacco/nicotine/toxin chemicals allergy/sensitivity became more pronounced, my symptoms became more varied.

Later I learned that smoking can cause or worsen several eye disorders, particularly cataract and age-related macular degeneration and smoking may speed up or worsen diabetic retinopathy, an eye complication of diabetes. This disease can lead to blindness. (See www.ash.org.uk/

Did you know that in 1986 and 1987, Patrick Reynolds, heir to the RJR tobacco fortune testified before Congress speaking out against tobacco? Mr. Reynolds advocated a complete ban of tobacco advertising, and described his memories of watching his father, RJ Reynolds, Jr., die from emphysema. (Source: Gene Borio www.tobacco.org)

Why should we care?

2010-07-21T06:24:00.000-04:00

“Why” is easy to answer. The answer is Love. We love our families; we love our children; we love our neighbors; we love our colleagues in school and at work. And those we love give us a reason for wanting to live. Even if it’s our precious four-footed, winged or fin-fitted “best friend,” our natural impulse is to want to stay with those we love. In fact, our brains are hot-wired to connect with others. They are hot-wired to WANT to love. We also want to have a comfortable, pleasant, affordable quality of life – for ourselves and for those we love.

Secondly, all these clever, deep pocket tobacco companies with their Joe Camels, flashy “in” movie, TV and music personalities stars touting smoking and all those tobacco company giveaways to tempt kids are tough acts for parents to follow.

Parents need to be involved; need to know the facts; and need to get mad. We worry about measles; about mumps; about broken arms and legs; and we worry about schoolyard drug pushers but maybe we don’t pay enough attention to legal drug pushers. We need to talk to our kids, not only about street drugs but about tobacco, the devious legal drug.

How many deaths or disabilities are caused by nicotine annually? Every day, across this country, more than 3,000 youths will begin to smoke, placing themselves at increased risk for a host of cancers – lung, mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, cervix, kidney, and bladder – as well as heart disease and a range of other conditions.

Of those who continue to smoke, approximately one half will die prematurely, losing an average of 20 to 25 years of their life expectancy. An estimated 450,000 people in the U.S. will die this year alone from tobacco-related diseases – the most preventable and costly cause of death in our Nation.
And here’s an eye-opener for those who may shrug off the deaths of those who choose to use nicotine-drenched products as their own problem. In the last decade, more than 30,000 nonsmokers died of lung cancer caused by breathing smoke from others’ cigarettes. (Source: Environmental Protection Agency)

Exposure to tobacco smoke in the home is a risk factor for new cases and increased severity of childhood asthma and has been associated with sudden infant death syndrome.

Further, lit cigarettes are the leading cause of residential fire fatalities, leading to more than 1,000 deaths every year. Sources: National Cancer Institute, Center for disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse, www.tobacco.org

I gave you the bad news first because anyone using tobacco products needs to sit up and take some notice. But now for the good news.

Evidence demonstrates strongly that people who stop smoking – regardless of age – live longer than those who continue to smoke, although their risk for lung cancer remains somewhat higher than if they never had smoked.

The good news is that lungs can rejuvenate themselves when smoking is ended. And they can start doing that within months. In short, that means that all that black charred crisp lung tissue (yes, I’ve seen a smoker’s lung preserved in formaldehyde) can turn pink and spongy again. So please, take a deep breath, walk around the block, and gaze at all the beauty out there that you don’t want to lose. The bark of a tree. A butterfly sitting on a flower. A tomato getting fat in your garden. City children playing in a park or the sound of their laughter as they use the park’s kiddy swings. The faces of those you love.

Then come back ready to learn how you can stop smoking . . . or never start.

NICOTINE: THE DEVIOUS DRUG

2010-07-19T06:27:00.000-04:00

When Columbus arrived in the Americas in the 1400s, Native Americans offered him a gift of tobacco; later, he learned how to smoke it from them. We haven’t stopped puffing, sniffing and spitting tobacco since then.

Throughout following decades, from Colonial times to today, tobacco became an incredible money-maker and known as a controversial harmful drug -- both at the same time. Even as Surgeon Generals and medical communities warned it could and would kill, its praises were sung in flashy commercials and touted by expensive talents. Nicotine was quickly embraced by the famous and not so famous. Until the 1980s, nicotine’s been so commonly used that smoking, sniffing, chewing and spitting tobacco was accepted as “innocent” and “normal” behavior.

Before I continue to tell you the history of tobacco product use in America, let’s take a quick look at the chemicals in Cigarette Smoke

Did you know that cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, many of which are poisonous? If you smoke, these are just some of the substances you're putting into your body:

• Tar. See those yellow stains on a smoker's teeth? It's caused by tar, a sticky brown substance that contains many toxic chemicals. If the tar from cigarette smoke can stain your teeth, imagine what it does to your lungs! In fact, tar is the main cause of lung and throat cancers in smokers.

• Cyanide is used to make rat poison.

• Formaldehyde is used to preserve dead bodies. Yuck!

• Benzene is found in gasoline.

• Acetone is the main ingredient in nail polish remover.

• Ammonia is found in many disinfectants that you use to clean your house. Ammonia is also an ingredient in fertilizer.

• Nicotine is the drug in cigarette smoke that makes it hard to quit smoking. Nicotine is at least as addictive as heroin. It is also a deadly poison that was once used as an insecticide.

Of course, in early Colonial days, the growers and users of tobacco products did not know this since most of these things were added by companies along the way from those days to ours.

New York City’s Greenwich Village and Christopher Streets, later two of my student addresses, are said to have been tobacco fields in the early Colony days. According to Gene Borio, a foremost American tobacco historian, Christopher Street was lined with tobacco fields. In early Virginia, tobacco growing was the gold that made Virginia the Colony’s Golden State.

Tobacco’s history is alternately layered with great financial tobacco fortunes being made, along with alarms about nicotine’s high level of addictiveness and life-threatening dangers to our health. As early as 1761, scientists and physicians warned that snuff – now referred to as “dipping” -- could cause cancer of the nose. The alarm about chewing tobacco came later. By the 1800s, tobacco was called “a fashionable poison.”

Since 1964 – over 200 years later, 28 Surgeon General’s reports concluded that tobacco use is the single most avoidable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States.

However, during the 50s and 60s, television’s golden days of growth, most people surveyed were not even aware of the surgeon generals’ tobacco reports. Further, America had a wealth of TV stars happy to put in a good word for tobacco.

Lucile Ball and Desi Arnaz, Jack Benny, Joey Bishop, the cast of “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, the “Beverly Hillbillies”, and Jack Webb who smoked Chesterfields for his “Dragnet” sponsor; and “The Phil Silvers Show” all unwittingly pitched tobacco smoking to American families.

In 1952, actor John Wayne spoke up for Camel cigarettes, when he said he’d been smoking Camels for 20 years. 27 years later, the Duke died of lung cancer. The last commercials he made asked audiences to stop smoking.

In 1970, Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banning the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio. The last cigarette TV commercial, broadcast on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show at 11:59pm on January 1, 1971 was for Virginia Slims. see www.tvparty.com

By the mid-1970s, cigarettes were the most heavily advertised product in America. Newspapers and magazines, the beneficiary of the new tobacco advertising windfall, chose to ignore the nature and health dangers connected with tobacco smoking. Yes, advertising dollars can and does drive editorial content. Then and now.

Throughout the 80s, the push/pull of health warnings and tobacco product glorification, aptly assisted by the membership group, The Tobacco Institute, went on. Millions of dollars went to fight local smoke-free legislation. More millions, if not billions, were spent on creating slam bang pro-tobacco advertising campaigns. More big bucks went to fight law suits being placed by those who considered their health impaired by tobacco use. Or suits placed by their survivors.

The industry’s position was that tobacco is a/not harmful to humans; b/the user chose to use it so it’s their problem, and c/anyway, it isn’t provable that injury or death is caused by tobacco use.

However, the 1980s was the decade when changes towards smoking began to be felt. The first jury verdict ever decided against a tobacco company for the death of a smoker was a mixed victory for Mr. Antonio Cipollone, the widower of Rose Cipollone. His wife died of cancer at age 58 after smoking cigarettes for 40 years. While Mr. Cipollone was awarded $400,00o in compensatory damages for his wife’s death–the first financial award in a liability suit against a tobacco company, nothing was awarded to his wife’s estate. The rationale: She was found to be 80 percent at fault for choosing to smoke tobacco.

As a gal who finds great suspense stories in trial transcripts, this one had a cliff-hanger for me. During a 1988 decision by Federal District Court Judge H. Lee Sarokin (the Cipollone trial) to dismiss four allegations against the tobacco companies, he said that the Council for Tobacco Research, started by the tobacco industry in 1954 with the announcement that it would research whether smoking was safe “was nothing but a hoax created for public relations purposes with no intention of seeking the truth or publishing it. “

“Evidence presented by the plaintiff, particularly that contained in documents of the defendants themselves, indicates the development of a public relations strategy aimed at combating the mounting scientific reports regarding the dangers of smoking,” wrote Judge Sarokin.

Unfortunately, the jury never read or heard these words.

By 1987, thanks to the work of anti-smoking groups, state legislators, and medical edicts, 44 percent of youngsters who had been smoking had quit. Consumption was down. But not for long.

According to the Economic Opportunity institute in Seattle, almost 90 percent of adult smokers begin their habits at or before age 18, making kids an essential market for tobacco advertisers. Bennet LeBow, owner of Liggett Tobacco, is quoted as saying “If you really and truly are not going to sell to children, you are going to be out of business in 30 years.”

In 1998, the tobacco industry signed the Master Settlement Agreement, in which they agreed not to market to kids or on billboards.

Never fear. If anyone is resourceful, it is the tobacco industry. A year later, they simple upped their promotional allowance to stores that kids go to frequently by 23 percent, upped cigarette-related giveaways by 134 percent and added 65 percent more temptations like tobacco purchase related t-shirts and lighters. Advertising around these stores also increased by 13 percent. Now, guys and gals, if I sound a little cranky about tobacco nicotine pushing to kids, read on and weep.

Today, nicotine, the main chemical drug in tobacco, is one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States. In 2004, 29.2 percent of the U.S. population 12 and older—70.3 million people—used tobacco at least once in the month prior to being interviewed.

This figure includes 3.6 million young people age 12 to 17. Young adults aged 18 to 25 reported the highest rate of current use of any tobacco products (44.6 percent) in 2004.

According to TVParty.com, 2000 kids light up for the first time EVERY DAY.

Today, a more insidious form of tobacco advertising is with us. It’s called “product placement.” It goes like this: Instead of a celebrity standing there frankly pitching tobacco, the tobacco product is scripted into the movie, television or “reality” show. Highly visible lead actors “just happen” to be smoking cigarettes or cigars. (See Introduction and the report on Lifetime Channel’s chain smoking heroine played by actor Kelly Gillis in “Perfect Prey”)

Not only does tobacco “product placement” circumvent the law that tobacco ads cannot be placed on television, it convinces watchers that these actors are wildly fond of smoking and that therefore smoking is once again “Super Cool”.

This public relation’s ploy is designed to subliminally influence the viewers to run out and buy the product their idol uses. In addition to scripting in product placement, celebrities are once more being photographed and filmed smoking in their off screen lives. Their actions are telling our youth –and impressionable adults -- that “Smoking is “In”; Smoking is Hot; Smoking is “Baaad.” Television is smoking up those smoke-free zones.

Incidentally, if you think the tobacco industry gave a nice salute to the introduction of smoke free zones, well, wrong.

In 1990, Ellis Milan, president of the Retail Tobacco Distributors of America said, "President George Bush often talks of 1,000 points of light. I'd like to think those points of light are coming from the glowing ends of cigars, cigarettes and pipes across the country, and symbolize the cornerstone of this nation – tobacco”

Gee, and I always thought the American worker has been and is the cornerstone of this nation.

Reading the meticulous tobacco history research done by Mr. Borio is fascinating and revealing. The historic “tug of war " between the medical world and the tobacco production world began and continues to exist since the first tobacco leaf was grown for profit.

Further, because tobacco nicotine gives tobacco companies the kind of profits that led one tobacco executive to say “We make more money than God,” tobacco nicotine is likely to be on the market for a long time.

For some fascinating facts about tobacco – some very funny -- take a peek at www.tobacco.org I don’t know the author, probably never will, but Gene Borio is doing a great job. Thanks, Gene.

Anorexia/Bulimia – Treatment

2010-07-17T06:35:00.000-04:00

For all patients there will be both medical treatment as well as psychoanalysis. Some people respond better to group therapy were others respond better to one-on-one therapy. Depending on the situation, your therapist may even suggest family therapy. It may take several attempts at different types of therapy before the patient finds something that works. Here are list of different types of therapies that a person with an eating disorder might have:

Setting Goals

No matter which therapy is decided upon, the patient, along with trained professionals, will establish a goal. To simply say that the patient needs to gain weight and eat healthy is not enough. These goals must be written down and be attainable. To be effective, they also must be goals that the patient buys into. Simply going through the motions is not enough. This can be the biggest struggle.

Medication

Because many people who are experiencing eating disorders also suffer from depression, antidepressant medication may be prescribed in the early stages of treatment. However, if the patient has gone to the point where they are in starvation, the doctor may hold off using antidepressants until there is some weight gain, as starvation can increase depression.

Some studies show that antidepressant medication may also be a long-term way of helping to prevent relapse. If the person with the eating disorder starts slipping into depression again, there is more of a risk they could also slip into their old habits.

A doctor may also prescribe other medications that have shown to help with eating disorders. But medication alone should not be used to treat an eating disorder.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy or CBT

Working together with a therapist, the patient identifies their irrational behavior and the illogical thinking they have associated with eating, weight, and food. Obsessive-compulsive behavior will also be explored. This type of treatment is very beneficial for people who have ritualistic behaviors such as those who suffer from bulimia.

Psychodynamic Therapy

The goal of psychodynamic therapy is for the patient to achieve a better understanding of the psychological reasons behind their eating disorder and what motivates them to this destructive behavior. Through this type of therapy the patient can see how their thought processes today have been shaped and informed by the past.

This type of treatment does not start until the therapist has assessed the patient to see where they are at in the disease.

Feminist Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Feminine social conditioning is explored in this type of psychotherapy. During therapy, the therapist gives a voice to the patient and explores their thoughts about their self-image and how it compares to societal standards. In this type of therapy, the therapist acts as the vehicle to help the patient expose their own feelings about image and intimacy rather than giving the patient all the answers.

Interpersonal Therapy

Originally used to treat depression, this type of therapy has been modified to also help patients with eating disorders. In this therapy, the patient looks at how they interact with the people around them so they may understand conflicts that may contribute to the continued pattern of behavior. While these conflicts may not have caused the eating disorder, they may impede or contribute to the eating disorder.
The goal of this type of short-term therapy is to identify behavior patterns and not specifically address the eating disorder itself.

Family Therapy or Marital Therapy

There is some debate on where the focus lies for family or marital therapy. While the patient might see this as therapy with their family or spouse present, the therapist and family members may view this as therapy for all those involved. Many times a person with an eating disorder will have a higher success rate at recovery when the entire family or those that live in the immediate home participate in therapy. This is certainly true for children with eating disorders as this type of therapy can help educate not only the child but the family members as well.

The problem with family or marital therapy is that sometimes a family member does not buy into the idea that they need therapy. They view the eating disorder as being the problem of the person who has the eating disorder. This is true to an extent. But many times there are underlying factors that have contributed to this person having an eating disorder.

Not only does the person with the eating disorder sometimes exhibit fear of exposing personal problems, but so do family members. Still this can be a highly effective way of treating the patient as well as educating the family members.

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is the most intensive of therapies. With this therapy, the patient will see a therapist five times per week over the period of many years. During this time, the patient will delve deep into their psyche to discover how they arrived at the point they are at. From there, they will be learn behaviors, examine thoughts and dreams and talk openly about their feelings.

This type of in-depth therapy is not for everyone. In fact, many people shy away because of the fear of delving too deep. However, it can be highly effective.

Focal Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy

In this therapy the therapist is not directing the patient at all and no advice is given. Instead, the patient focus is on the behaviors, symptoms and problems in regards to what happened in their past and their experiences with their family. The patient then tries to find meaning in that and how it associates with the eating disorder.

Dialectic Therapy or DBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy)

DBT is a somewhat new approach to therapy where the patient observes and finds meaning in their emotional reaction to things that happened in their past, helps them find validation of those feelings and then come to accept them and make a change. This type of therapy is especially good for people who experienced post traumatic stress or who have suicidal tendencies.

Supportive Psychotherapy

Nearly all the psychotherapy treatments available to people with eating disorders have a supportive element to them. However, the goal of this type of therapy is to help relieve the anxiety associated with the eating disorder and what is happening to the patient. Through encouragement, reassurance, and pointing out the patient’s individual strengths, the therapist can help the patient find adaptive defenses to the anxiety.

Nutritional Therapy

Since the goal of treatment is to help a patient with an eating disorder gain weight to a healthy level, nutritional therapy is vital. In this therapy the patient will learn how to stabilize their eating habits.

Rarely will a dietitian deal with just the issues of food. Instead, the dietitian will take a whole body approach and educate the patient about body image as well as nutrition and the risks associated with having an eating disorder. The dietitian will also touch upon the patient’s fears of gaining weight.

Because many young girls are still in their early teens when they develop eating disorders, a dietitian may decide to work with the family by shopping for food, coming to the home and preparing food, and sitting down for a meal with the family.

Psycho-Educational Therapy

Rarely is this type of therapy available all by itself. Many times psycho-educational therapy is included in other types of therapies. However, a more intensive educational therapy may be needed to help the patient and the family understand the different definitions of the illness, why a person develops an eating disorder, nutritional and medical issues, and sociocultural issues that may have contributed to the patient’s body image.

Addiction Model

Because many people who have eating disorders also suffer from low self esteem and depression, there is a high amount of alcohol and drug addiction associated with eating disorders. Having an addiction outside of the eating disorder presents a challenge to the health care professionals working with a patient. Which do you treat first? How do you treat both the addiction and the eating disorder together?

Many therapists find the 12-step program for alcoholics and drug addicts too restrictive to be effective. However, more medical professionals are incorporating the 12-step program with nutritional, psychological, and behavioral therapies with success.

Self-Help

As a first step, many patients with eating disorders will try to help themselves through their disorder. But even for those who want to help themselves, it is difficult to go it alone. People who have eating disorders need support and communication between family, friends, and their doctor to be successful. Since so many things play into whether or not a person has an eating disorder, it can be dangerous if the person tries to hide and “self medicate.”

This private type of support group can mean the difference between having some help and having no help, especially if the patient is resistant to formal treatment. If the initial health danger from the eating disorder is not present, the patient can set up a support group with family and friends to help them through the process of healing.

It is important, though, that you do this under the advice of a healthcare professional or formal support group adviser. A support group adviser can help steer the patient towards self-help manuals and online web sites that offer support.

Expressive Therapy

Finding an outlet for what troubles you can be an effective therapy for people with eating disorders. This is particularly helpful for the patients who have a difficult time expressing themselves by using their own words. There are many mediums the patient can use to help express themselves without words. Drama, drawing, painting, dance and movement are all effective ways to express feeling without using words.

Light Therapy

For years people with seasonal affective disorder or SAD have used light therapy to help them deal with the depression they feel during the winter months. Some people with SAD also have eating disorders. Light therapy has been an effective means of improving the patient’s mood and has helped to decrease binging and purging that sometimes happens with people who have SAD. Each light treatment can last as long as four weeks.

As you can see, there are many different types of therapies that professional have been using to help treat people with eating disorders. No one treatment will work for everyone.

Even when a person is successful with treatment, it doesn’t guarantee that the person will continue to remain successful in their treatment. Relapses are common with eating disorders, sometimes with devastating affects because now the patient has more knowledge.

This is why when a person goes into treatment, the patient must have the support of those around them. Without that support, it is too easy for the patient to slip back into old habits. By educating family members and friends in anorexia and bulimia, it would be more difficult for the person with the eating disorder to hide their disease if a relapse does occur.

Anorexia/Bulimia – Relapses & Treatment

2010-07-14T06:28:00.000-04:00

If you or the person you love who is affected by an eating disorder has gotten to the point where you are beginning to talk about treatment, there is cause for celebration. While a person with an eating disorder who starts treatment is not out of the woods by a long shot, it is the first step needed to get back on the road to recovery.

The truth is, even if a person with an eating disorder starts treatment, it doesn't mean that they have embraced the idea of changing their life and behavior. Treatment for an eating disorder is a long process, and many patients go into treatment kicking and screaming, if they are standing at all.

Sometimes a person starts treatment after they've collapsed from weakness or malnutrition. A hospital can feed them intravenously to keep them alive; however, that doesn't mean any other treatment will be successful. To be fully successful, the person with the eating disorder needs to be a willing participant in treatment. Because having an eating disorder doesn't just mean that you're not eating food, you can't simply start eating and expect everything to be all right. Not eating is only a symptom of a bigger problem.

Anorexia and bulimia nervosa are psychological problems as well as physical problems. Until the person gets to the root of why they are being destructive with their eating habits, they can't start the healing process. A person with anorexia or bulimia can be hospitalized and monitored while they eat. That process will keep them alive. But that doesn't mean when they walk out the door of the hospital they won't revert to their old habits. In fact, relapses are very common and people who are in recovery need monitoring to make sure they not only stay on their treatment program, but that their body is responding properly to treatment.

Years ago I was saddened to hear that Karen Carpenter had died. Up until this point, I had never heard of anyone dying from an eating disorder. During her two-month stay in a treatment facility for anorexia, Karen Carpenter gained 30 pounds. Even though most of the weight gain was due to intravenous feeding, she seemed to be on the road to recovery.

However, the weight gain in such a short amount of time put a strain on her already weakened heart, which was due to years of dealing with her anorexia. Karen Carpenter died of heart failure as a result of her battle with anorexia.

Often times, because a person has suddenly started to gain weight, there is a false sense of security that the person with anorexia or bulimia is out of the woods. It can trick people into believing that treatment is no longer needed. The person who has been suffering with anorexia and bulimia will sometimes use this false sense of security that others feel as a way to revert back to old habits, and in turn, suffer a relapse.

Because of this, psychoanalysis and medical treatment must go hand in hand when treating a person with anorexia or bulimia. Simply gaining weight isn't enough to make the problem go away. In fact, even when a person has been successfully treated for anorexia or bulimia, the struggle can sometimes continue their whole life.

Because each person is unique and their reasons for becoming anorexic or bulimic are uniquely their own, treatment will not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Before treatment can begin, the doctor and therapist need to assess at what point the patient is in their struggle with anorexia and bulimia. It may even take consultation with several therapists and medical professionals to decide just how advanced the disease is in that patient.

Dangers of Anorexia/Bulimia – Short and Long Term

2010-07-12T06:35:00.000-04:00

Personal story as told to me:

"When I was in college, well over 20 years ago, I lived in a high-rise dormitory that had a sub shop on the bottom floor in the student recreation hall. I'd succumbed to the "freshman 10," gaining 10 pounds my first year of college by eating late-night subs while studying."

"During that time I got to know one of the students who worked in the sub shop. Her name was Julie and she was a sweet girl who was just a year older than me. Someone had once commented to me that they didn't know how she stayed so thin after seeing her eating habits. At the time I thought that I was just one of those girls who had a slow metabolism and Julie must be one of those girls who had a fast metabolism."

"In the two years I lived at the dormitory, my roommates and I got to know Julie. The following year I was sad to learn that she had died of a heart attack in her dorm room. Her roommate was unable to wake her up one morning for class."

"At this point I'd been living off campus and read the news in the school newspaper. Not only did her family not know that she was bulimic, but her roommate and her boyfriend did not know. All those years of eating anything she wanted and staying thin was the result of her purging her food."

"In the days that followed, I learned that Julie had gone on a long hiking expedition the day before. The stress of that activity on her already weakened system due to bulimia had been enough to make her potassium level plummet and caused the massive heart attack that killed her."

The dangers of anorexia and bulimia are many over the long-term. The longer a person suffers with the disease, the more effects the disease has on the person's overall health.

Unfortunately, many times even knowing the dangers that a person with anorexia or bulimia faces is not enough to make the person stop their behavior. Since many girls who suffer from anorexia would rather die than be fat, scaring them with the realities of how their anorexia or bulimia will hurt them does not move them to change their behavior. For the person who is watching their loved one suffer with anorexia or bulimia, it can be quite frustrating to simply watch the disease slowly kill them.

People who have eating disorders can sometimes suffer short- and long-term problems as a result of the eating disorder. Some of these problems include:

• Gastrointestinal problems

• Heart complications

• Dehydration

• Heart attacks

• Severe tooth and gum decay from stomach acids

• Ulceration of the stomach, mouth, trachea, and esophagus

• Kidney damage

• Malnutrition and the results of malnutrition

• Death

As you can see, the quicker a person with an eating disorder is diagnosed and begins treatment the better their chances of not having long-term problems associated with their eating disorder.

Where Can You Find Support?

2010-07-10T06:33:00.000-04:00

As you've probably guessed by reading the last two weeks, anorexia and bulimia not only affects the person who has the eating disorder, but also affects the people around that person. That being the case, both the person with the eating disorder and the people that person lives with need support to help them get through the trials associated with treatment.

The ANAD (Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders) Group has over 250 support groups in the United States, with some in foreign countries as well. A partial list of local organizations by state and their representatives is listed on the ANAD website at http://www.anad.org.

An ANAD support group is a group of people who are going through the same struggle with anorexia and bulimia. They provide a safe place to share thoughts and fears and meet other people who are experiencing the same struggle.

While an ANAD support group can be very beneficial and therapeutic in many ways, it should never replace treatment or intense one-on-one therapy with a psychologist. When a person has anorexia and bulimia, there is no magic pill that suddenly stops it. Treatment is ongoing. Joining an ANAD support group can complement your treatment.

One of the things that people who go to support groups find is that there is no stereotype of a person who is struggling with an eating disorder. People of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds will be part of the support group. One thing remains the same in all support groups and that is the ANAD’s eight-step approach.

These are the steps from the ANAD website:

1. Admit to ourselves that we have an eating disorder.

2. Recognize that "food" and "weight" are not the real issues, but that other underlying problems in our lives have led to our obsessions with food, eating, and weight.

3. Make an honest attempt to identify the problems underlying our eating disorder.

4. Acknowledge that self starvation and/or binge - purging are not offering a healthy or satisfactory solution to these problems.

5. Accept the responsibility for changing our lives and applying more appropriate methods of coping with these problems.

6. Realize that we do not have to struggle alone to overcome our problems. We can accept the caring support of others and the guidance of spiritual strength.

7. Establish small individual goals aimed at changing our unhealthy attitudes and behaviors and begin working seriously towards their achievement.

8. Reinforce and sustain our personal growth process by reaching out and helping others struggling with eating disorders.

Seeking help takes a commitment to wanting to get better. While the frequency of attending support meetings is not dictated in any way and is up to the individual to decide, some people find that going to regular meetings helps motivate them as well as educate them. Just like the alcoholic who might attend regular AA meetings, a person who has an eating disorder may find it beneficial to continue to attend meetings to prevent a relapse or to help another person who is still struggling with their eating disorder.

For the person who is still struggling with opening up about the eating disorder or who can't attend regular meetings for a particular reason, there is online support that can help as well. It takes courage to seek help and open up to others about your feelings, and an online group can be a first step for those who have difficulty expressing themselves.

The goal through either online or live support groups is to help with recovery. Nearly 90% of the people who regularly attend support group meetings through ANAD find that attending meetings is helping them with recovery.

What is Going on Inside the Mind of an Anorexic and Bulimic Person?

2010-07-07T06:28:00.000-04:00

Being anorexic or bulimic isn't just about not eating or not wanting to be fat. It's about self image or lack of it.

People who have eating disorders are not ignorant people. They know they need to eat to stay alive. They have average to above-average intelligence and know intellectually that what they are doing can be dangerous.

But the pull they feel toward being thin, the fear and anxiety over eating, is much stronger than anything they might know about eating disorders, making their thoughts about eating irrational by normal standards. To understand why a person with anorexia and bulimia thinks irrationally about their body image, you need to know what is going on inside their mind. While it might not be the same for each person, there are some parallels that can be found in people who have eating disorders.

Historically, the perfect woman's body has always been portrayed as thin and beautiful. It's the definition of thin and beautiful that has changed over the years and skewed our thinking.

Take the BarbieTM doll, which made its debut on March 9, 1959, at the New York International Toy Fair. Since then, it has been a benchmark as the perfect female form in the minds of many young girls. Before that, we had buxom female movie stars like Jane Mansfield, Jane Russell, and Marilyn Monroe who were the envy of all girls.

But let's really look at the Barbie doll and how realistic it would be for people to use "her" form as a benchmark for the perfect body. If the Barbie doll were put into human form, she would stand six feet tall and weight 101 pounds. 101 pounds! A woman with a small frame who is six feet tall should be an average of 138 to 151 pounds to be healthy. With a larger frame, the woman should weigh more.

To suggest that we should all be Barbie-doll-like figures would mean that we would have to be 35-50% below a normal body weight based on our height. Using this model, it is easy to see how a young girl who feels pressure to be perfect in body form could obsess over her weight.

Many feel that the Barbie doll, while a fun plaything for children, has done a major disservice to young adult women. However, it's not the Barbie doll's fault or the even the manufacturer of the Barbie doll. Let's face it; we could all use ShrekTM as a model as well. But that is not what the fashion world at large uses as their criteria for perfection. And people who have eating disorders strive for that perfection.

So where does the fault lie? That's hard to say. The average woman does not wear a size four dress like the Barbie doll. Statistics show that the average woman wears between a size 11 and size 14 dress, yet most store mannequins are size six. It seems everywhere we turn there are unrealistic expectations for women to use as benchmarks for the perfect form.

Without even realizing it, many women internalize these ideals of perfection and begin to obsess about attaining them. The problems happen when losing 10 pounds to fit into a sexy dress or that really cool pair of jeans turns into fitting into a size zero when the person's frame can't possibly handle the kind of weight it takes to fit into a size zero and still be healthy.

What's worse is that even if the person reaches their goal of size 0, they won't see the "rewards" of all their hard work. They see something altogether different, as people with eating disorders continue to see a "fat" body even when they are in a skeletal state.

Despite the fact that these women are intelligent, they have thoughts that are irrational and unrealistic, almost bargaining with themselves about their body image. For instance, they might say something like, "If I lose 10 pounds, I'll feel better about myself."

It sounds like something any woman might say and it doesn't necessarily make her anorexic or bulimic. The difference is, women with anorexia and bulimia either don't have 10 pounds to lose or it becomes an obsession to reach this goal. They plan their day around it and think about it all the time. They become so preoccupied with their weight that they think of nothing else.

Once they have reached the goal, they set themselves up for another unrealistic goal until they're wasting away. But no matter how many goals they reach and how much weight they lose, the image they see in the mirror isn't the image they see in their mind. A person with anorexia or bulimia loses the ability to see reality accurately. Instead, they live in an almost alternate reality that no one else can see.

This is the hardest cycle to break and the one that presents the biggest challenge for healthcare workers and family members when trying to help a person with anorexia and bulimia. It can become a control tug of war. On one side, the person with the eating disorder is trying to maintain their sense of control. On the other side, doctors, psychologists and family members try to break them of that control to help them heal.

Unfortunately, people with anorexia and bulimia also become very skillful at hiding their disease. Not only will they think about not eating and obsessively exercise, but they will craft ways to hide it from people they associate with. People with anorexia or bulimia are often perfectionists or have obsessive-compulsive disorder.

For instance, if you sit down for a meal with a person with anorexia, they may appear to be eating, but often times they are chewing tiny portions of their food a lot so no one will notice they haven't taken another bite. Sometimes they will stuff their food in their cheeks or around their gums and discard it later.

A person with bulimia may appear to be eating, but will chew their food until it is mashed. They may eat a lot, but they'll drink a lot of water while at the dinner table, too, as this helps with purging. They will plan the optimal time to excuse themselves so they can vomit in the bathroom before their stomach has had a chance to absorb any of the nutrients and move the food into the large intestines.

No matter what conversation is being said at the dinner table, no matter what food is being served, the mind of a person with anorexia and bulimia shuts down to those around them, even if they appear to be part of the conversation. Their only concern is getting rid of the food they've just consumed.

Some, but not all, people with anorexia and bulimia also have feelings of remorse when they eat. They don't believe they deserve to enjoy food or even eat it. They use food as a way of punishing themselves because they believe they are not worthy. This is a very dangerous condition because instead of the condition being present for purposes of becoming thin, or for controlling their lives, the person is actually trying to do themselves serious harm or cause death. Unlike other people who attempt suicide as a form of bringing much-needed attention to their problem, the anorexic or bulimic person who does this believes they should be punished for their imperfections or something they've done.

Many times, they have difficulty expressing their feelings and dealing with the stresses of their life. Instead of being able to get angry, they turn their anger inside, hurting themselves. In some cases, the feelings from an incident from the past that was traumatic, such as the death of a loved one or physical or sexual abuse can manifest through an eating disorder.

While it may appear that the person who is injuring themselves is purposely doing it, they are not. In their mind, they deserve it. Only through psychoanalysis and treatment can the feelings that are causing this problem be explored and hopefully resolved.

These are just some of the things going on in the mind of a person with anorexia or bulimia. Through treatment with a therapist, the person with an eating disorder can discover what is causing them to harm their bodies with their behavior. Only then can they begin to change their behavior and heal.

Warning Signs for Anorexia and Bulimia

2010-07-05T06:33:00.000-04:00

Simply being thin or watching your weight does not automatically make you anorexic or bulimic. There are certain symptoms and signs associated with anorexia and bulimia. Your doctor will give you a physical exam to determine if you are indeed anorexic.

Several factors will play into his diagnosis.

• physical exam, which will include a thorough physical history

• blood test and urinalysis

• electrocardiogram and x-ray

• psychological evaluation

Simply being too thin isn’t enough to be considered anorexic, as there are other illnesses that can contribute to weight loss such as endocrine, metabolic, and central nervous system disorders. If you are indeed anorexic, many times any physical problems you are experiencing are a result of the anorexia, not something more serious. So distinguishing between the two is imperative.

Questions to consider if you think you or someone you love may be anorexic:

• Thinking you are fat even though everyone else thinks you’re too thin.

• Getting obsessive about exercise. Being afraid to miss a workout because you’ll gain weight.

• Gaining even a pound depresses you.

• Worrying about every bite of food you put in your mouth.

• Feeling guilty when you eat.

• Feeling you’d rather die than be fat.

• Not talking about fears of being fat or gaining weight with others.

• Planning your day around food or how you will purge it.

• Exercising obsessively so you can burn off calories.

• Not wanting to eat meals with others so they won’t force you to eat.

• Lying about what you eat.

• Afraid of not being able to stop eating once you start.

• Keeping stashes of food.

If you live with someone you suspect might be bulimic or anorexic, pay attention to how they eat.

• Are they chewing each bite of food for a long time before swallowing? Are they swallowing at all?

• Does this person excuse themselves from the dinner table frequently during a meal?

• Does their breath have a foul odor?

• Has this person lost a lot of weight frequently?

• Are they obsessed with exercise?

• Is this person taking laxatives, herbal supplements or other drugs to help speed up their metabolism or evacuate their bowels?

The key to helping a person with an eating disorder is not to be confrontational about the problem, but be aware that there might be a problem. If need be, contact your health care professional for advice on how to seek treatment.

Who is at Risk for Becoming Anorexic and Bulimic?

2010-07-03T06:30:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, trying to figure out who would be more at risk for an eating disorder is like trying to fit a square peg into a circle. There are so many things that play into who might be at risk, and not all people who have eating disorders fit into all these categories. But researchers have identified certain characteristics and behaviors as well as certain situations that feed into the likelihood that a person might develop an eating disorder.

Everywhere you look, you see a super-thin, sexy model. Think of it. Every billboard, magazine ad, or television commercial shows models and actresses who are thin, with every hair neatly in place, and the makeup impeccably applied. Researchers have found that the majority of young girls feel that this is the standard by which a normal woman is measured and that if a woman can't attain that same look, then they are lacking in some form.

This standard of the perfect female form has been around for the last 40 years. If you look at the sex symbols of the 30s, 40s and 50s, you'll see that these were not women who were ultra thin. Women like Jayne Mansfield, Jane Russell, and Marilyn Monroe would be considered overweight these days if using these same standards.

A study of the average weight of the contestants of the Miss America pageant showed that since the shift in the standard female form has taken place, a contestant entering the Miss America pageant today is approximately 12 pounds thinner than 40 years ago. This research showed that this trend is not just affecting the advertising industry, but is trickling down to the more basic level.

Certain professions put extreme pressure on a person to be thin. Sometimes ultra thin. Athletes, actors, fashion models and dancers are usually under strict requirements to maintain a certain weight. The result of not maintaining that weight could mean the loss of their job.

"When I was 14 years old," Debbie, a former child model, explains, "I was a bean pole." She laughs. "I was the perfect form for a model. Very tall and very thin. And then puberty set in. I went from having the perfect body on the runway, to having hips that were too wide, and a little pot belly."

Debbie went on to explain that looking back she knows there was nothing wrong with her body. Even by model standards she was well within the guidelines. However, the modeling world can be cruel to an already sensitive teenager, making it easy to set the stage for an eating disorder.

"There was nothing wrong with my belly. I was thinner than any of the friends I went to high school with. But I became obsessed because if they were looking at my belly, then obviously something was wrong with me. I began exercising and doing crunches to flatten my stomach muscles. My parents just thought I was keeping in shape and I did, too. But it seemed every time I went out on the job I could see them looking at me and the first thing that came to my mind was that something was wrong with me. I always wondered, even if they didn't say anything.”

"I'm not exactly sure when it became a problem for me but I do know that my parents began to worry. I just wasn't eating. In fact, I hated eating. It became a major struggle for me to eat because food was like poison. I would have taken Drain-O before I ate a hamburger. If I ate something, it meant it was going somewhere in my body and I'd have to exercise to make sure it didn't show. I didn't think of food as a way to sustain my life. I thought it was something that would ruin my career as a model. I was making money, but it wasn't the money that I didn't want to stop. I didn't want them to stop calling me. If they did, it meant that I was too fat. I was convinced of it. It only got worse when I started getting acne."

Unfortunately, this set the stage for a roller coaster ride for Debbie. It wasn't until she was in her late teens that she was formally diagnosed with anorexia.

While some people like to dismiss the idea that certain professions contribute to the risk of eating disorders, a study of 1,443 athletes at 10 colleges in the United States showed some startling statistics to the contrary. Nine percent of college females in the athletics program were diagnosed with some form of an eating disorder. The national average for young women with eating disorders is only one percent. Of those same college students studied, 50 percent admitted to having some behaviors that could have eventually led to a full diagnosis of an eating disorder. More specifically, a startling 20 percent of the gymnasts were found to have an eating disorder, showing the pressure to remain thin that is involved in the sport.

In 1997, 22-year-old Heidi Guenther died of complications from her eating disorder. She was an accomplished dancer with the Boston Ballet. At the time, she was 5' 3" tall and weighed 93 pounds. Even with a small frame, she should have weighed at least 111-124 pounds to be healthy.

The world of dancing, like modeling, acting and sports, can sometimes put unrealistic pressures on women to be thinner. Not only do these girls aspire to be part of that world, they'll do anything, including harm their bodies by starvation or purging and taking laxatives to make sure that they are in that world.

Studies also suggest that there are some racial and socio-economic differences that affect who are more likely to have an eating disorder. In the past, Caucasian women in upper income levels have had higher instances of eating disorders than those from African-American women and women from lower income levels. But research also suggests that the numbers are changing and that there is only a small difference now.

Anorexia and bulimia are more likely to affect people in their teens and early 20s. However, there are rare cases where children as young as six years old and women well into their 60s have developed anorexia or bulimia. In fact, more studies have shown that the number of women who are middle-aged who are affected by anorexia or bulimia has grown. This may be because this is the first age group who has lived their whole lives looking at the new "standard" for the perfect body.

Drugs and alcohol also play a part in who is at risk to become anorexic or bulimic. Since low body image is such a prevalent factor with eating disorders, people who abuse drugs because of depression or are alcoholics under the age of 30 have a very high risk of developing an eating disorder. A woman under 30 who is an alcoholic has a 70% higher chance of becoming anorexic or bulimic than a woman under 30 who is not an alcoholic.

Some doctors believe that these women use alcohol and drugs as a means of escaping the emotional pain that has caused them to become anorexic or bulimic. However, some women will use drugs to help speed up your metabolism to help them lose weight faster.

People who are overly obsessed about exercise are also at risk. While exercise is a very important part of keeping your body healthy, it can also be an obsession that leads to unhealthy activity. When the shift turns from being fit to being obsessed with losing weight, it can be a problem.

What is Bulimia?

2010-06-30T06:30:00.000-04:00

Like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder. But unlike anorexia, a person who has bulimia eats a lot of food in a very short period of time, called binging, and then tries to get rid of the food by purging to keep themselves from gaining weight.

Purging is done in one of two ways. The person can either make himself throw up after eating a large quantity of food, or take laxatives or other drugs to help speed up their bowel movement so that the food they ate will not be absorbed by the large and small intestine. Other drugs are sometimes used to speed up the metabolism to an unhealthy rate as a way to burn calories.

Like anorexia, bulimia affects mostly women and young girls. But approximately 10% of all people with bulimia are male. People who are bulimic can become very adept at hiding their disease from friends and family members. In fact, they may go to great measures not only to lose weight but to hide how they are losing weight.

Many, but not all, people who are anorexic are also bulimic. However, the main difference between anorexia and bulimia is that people with anorexia avoid all high-calorie foods and are obsessed with exercise. It is a struggle for them to put food into their mouths and they view it almost as a poison.

A person with bulimia will eat high-calorie foods and in large quantities. But instead of letting the body digest the food, they will immediate throw up or take laxatives so the body does not absorb any of the food. They do this in the hopes that they will not gain weight.

It is sometimes harder to diagnose a person with bulimia because they don't always lose as much weight as the person who is anorexic. In fact, a person who is bulimic isn't necessarily too thin at all, making it difficult for people around that person to suspect that there is even a problem.

Unlike a person with anorexia, who uses food as a means of control, someone who is suffering from bulimia is more likely to feel they are not in control of their behavior. Because of this they are more likely to admit there is a problem and seek help for it.

To further complicate a diagnosis of bulimia, only about half of the women who suffer from bulimia will have irregular menstrual cycles, one of the symptoms a doctor will use as a gauge for whether a person has an eating disorder. Nearly all women with anorexia will exhibit interruption in their menstrual cycle.

Because people with bulimia regularly vomit to purge their food, they will have a foul smell to their breath and often times will cover it up with mints or excessive brushing of their teeth. However, even with this, the acid from their stomach will make their breath foul. To combat this, a person with bulimia will make frequent trips to brush their teeth or rinse their mouth with mouthwash and consciously make time for this ritual as part of their normal day.

On a psychological level, people with bulimia are like people with anorexia in that many times they'd rather die than gain weight and be fat. But because their body image is so poor, they might wear baggy clothes and keep from looking into mirrors at all costs to avoid looking at themselves.

Another problem associated with bulimia is tooth decay and gum disease. Because vomit is acidic, acid exposure to the gums and teeth on a daily basis will cause decay. A doctor will take all this and more into consideration when diagnosing bulimia.

"I was cursed with big hips," Carol, a woman who was bulimic in her teens, said. "I was fine when I was in junior high school, but when I hit high school my body changed so much that I didn't know what happened to me. Since I'm adopted, I couldn't go to my mother and say, 'where did these hips come from?' and I'm not sure it would have mattered if she'd had an answer for me."

Carol, like many teenage girls who go through puberty quickly, detested her body when it started to develop.

"I hated my body. I mean, who wants great birthing hips when you're 14? I sure didn't. All I knew is that I'd gone from a size 4 to a size 12 in what felt like overnight. I was into sports so it wasn't like I was sitting on the couch all day when I wasn't in school. I was active. But because I was active in sports, I was always eating on the run.”

Carol, like many girls with bulimia, started to vomit to get rid of the food she ate as a way to keep her weight down. "I got really good at running to the girl's room between classes. It got so that I didn't even have to stick my fingers down my throat to throw up. All I had to do was lean over the toilet and it came up."

What finally made Carol see her doctor wasn't her bulimia at all. "To be in sports you needed to have a physical exam. My stomach had been giving me some grief and I told the doctor. He ordered a bunch of tests, which showed my potassium level was low, putting me at risk for having a massive heart attack. One thing led to another and he told me point blank that I had to go into treatment for bulimia or I could die."

Luckily for Carol, that and the threat of being pulled from sports was enough to scare her into going into treatment. But the effects of the bulimia on her body were long-lasting.

"I still have trouble with my intestines and I have scarring in my esophagus from all the vomiting I did for the years I was bulimic. It sometimes makes it hard to eat because food will feel like it is getting stuck in my throat."

What is Anorexia?

2010-06-28T06:30:00.000-04:00

It can strike fear into the heart of any parent to see your child wasting away before your very eyes because they just won't eat. It's not a matter of the child being a picky eater. It's that they look at food as being the enemy. Unlike most parents who reprimand their children for eating too much junk food, a parent with a child who has an eating disorder ends up praying that their child will eat enough morsels of food to keep their body alive.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is characterized by a person with extreme low body weight and a distorted psychological body image of themselves. People who have anorexia and bulimia are terrified to eat food for fear they will gain weight. Many times, they get to the point where they'd choose death over getting fat.

You could argue that most teenagers in America have a poor body image and are afraid to eat because they won't look good in a pair of jeans or their bathing suit at the beach. These teenagers don't have anorexia nervosa. That is just normal adolescence.

But when a teenager or an adult looks at their body in the mirror and sees a fat person when the rest of the world sees skin and bones reminiscent of a skeleton, there's a problem.

Anorexia is more than just a problem with not eating food. In fact it goes much deeper, affecting a person's psychological outlook of themselves. Where a person who overeats might think about food more than the average person, a person with anorexia also thinks about food but focuses their thoughts on how they can limit it, hide it, even though they know they need food to stay alive.

Psychologists believe that people with anorexia use food as a way of controlling their life, to ease tension, to deal with anger they may feel, or as a way of coping with anxiety that is plaguing them. It really has nothing to do with the food itself. Starvation and excessive-compulsive tendencies to lose weight and exercise are just symptoms of a bigger problem.

Ninety-five percent of all people with anorexia nervosa are female. Because the majority of people with anorexia nervosa are female, it is thought of as a girl's disease. But boys and men can also be affected by anorexia. In fact, the number of young boys who are becoming anorexic is rising.

Whether male or female, all people who have anorexia exhibit the same behavior and characteristics.

 Low body weight for her or his height and body frame

 Unable to keep a normal body weight

 Exhibits an intense fear of gaining weight even when the body is already too thin

 Holds on to the belief that she or he is fat even when very thin or skeletal

 Misses three menstrual periods in a row (for girls or women who have already started to have their menstrual cycle)

If you fear that someone you love is suffering from anorexia nervosa, it is imperative that you get them to see a doctor immediately so they can begin treatment. Even if it turns out that they are not anorexic, it is better to be safe than sorry.

The earlier a person is diagnosed and begins treatment, the better their chances are to prevent long-term medical damage to their body.

GHB: A deadly, addictive drug

2010-06-26T06:38:00.000-04:00

"Hillory J. Farias was 17 years old when someone slipped the deadly drug GHB into her soda. Hillory never drank, never participated in any drug use. She was very well respected by all of her classmates. She was going to be a senior in high school, she didnt attend her prom, and she never had a date."

"We learned that Kyle had never heard of GHB until only a few weeks prior to his death. Apparently a fellow classmate introduced him and other students to GHB as a safe supplement, which supposedly aids in muscle development and is used as a sleep aid, not as the potentially deadly drug that it is. We feel that it is our obligation as parents to expose GHB for what it is, something deadly. Kyle was a quality young man with a promising and bright future, and if this tragedy happened to him, it could happen to anyone."

The heart-breaking accounts of young people who died from GHB, like those above, are displayed at the Web site for Project GHB at http://www.projectghb.org/. Project GHB, a nonprofit group based in Pasadena, Calif., was formed two years ago to raise awareness about this dangerous, illegal drug known as gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB. The message is simple: GHB is a deadly drug.

No one knows how many deaths can be attributed to GHB. But Trinka Porrata, director of the Project GHB helpline, has documented 225 deaths in the last two years. Many go undetected and unreported, she said, because coroners don't know to test for the drug and the Drug Enforcement Agency no longer tracks such deaths. Porrata, who served as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 25 years, calls GHB the worst drug she's ever witnessed.

"GHB is the most dangerous drug because of misinformation about it on Web sites and because people can die so easily from it," she said. "It has a steep dosage curve. One dose for a 150-pound woman might kill a 300-pound man. It's unpredictable."

GHB belongs to the drug category called "club drugs," a group that is used for its intoxicating effects at nightclubs, raves, and other party settings. The category includes MDMA (ecstasy) and LSD. While MDMA has captured much of the headlines during the past two years, hospital emergencies involving GHB have quietly surpassed those from MDMA nationally, said Carol Falkowski, director of Research Communications at Hazelden and a drug trend researcher.

GHB is often mixed into bottles of spring water or other beverages, alcoholic and nonalcoholic. Onset of effects occurs within 15 minutes and lasts three to six hours, said Falkowski. In low doses, GHB creates feelings of relaxation, depresses breathing and heart rate, and slows motor coordination. In higher doses, it produces sleep and a semiconscious state. Adverse overdose reactions can include vomiting, loss of consciousness, seizure-like activity, respiratory arrest, coma, and death.

GHB is also given to people without their knowledge to facilitate sexual assaults. The federal law enacted in 2000 to regulate GHB was named after Hillory Farias (mentioned above) and Samantha Reid. Health enthusiasts are attracted to the drug, and GHB has been used as a murder weapon in several states, including Florida, where a man was accused of drugging his wife with GHB and making it look like a suicide.

"The biggest secret is that GHB is highly addictive," said Porrata. "It's popular among bodybuilders, actors, businessmen on the go, and others who are told it's a sleep aid or workout aid. But people taking it every day are at great risk for becoming addicted. Once hooked, GHB addicts take the drug around the clock, every two to three hours, to avoid the unpleasant and rapid onset of withdrawal.

"GHB is the hardest drug to detoxify," added Porrata. "It takes 10 to 14 days to detox and the individual can't do it alone."

GHB addicts who miss a dose or try to stop will experience increasing blood pressure and heart rate, soaring anxiety levels, sleeplessness, hallucinations (which usually start within a few days after the last dose), and bizarre behavior. Withdrawal from the drug requires medical assistance and should involve prolonged follow-up with counseling. Addiction treatment and aftercare are essential or relapse is almost guaranteed, added Porrata. Suicide is a concern given the intense depression during and after detoxification. The Project GHB Addiction Helpline provides information to the addict, family members and treatment centers unfamiliar with GHB withdrawal.

For more information on GHB, visit http://www.projectghb.org/ or call Project GHB at 626-577-5204.

More information is also available at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Web site at http://www.drugabuse.gov/.

--Published May 6, 2002

________________________________________
Alive & Free is a health column that provides information to help prevent substance abuse problems and address such problems. It is created by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide range of information and services on addiction. For more resources, email or call Hazelden at 800-257-7810 (outside the US 651-213-4200).

Inhalant abuse by young people is preventable

2010-06-23T06:36:00.000-04:00

When Eric was 14, a friend showed him how to inhale fabric protector. Eric then showed his younger brother and another friend how to do it. "I inhaled chemicals until first my mom caught me inhaling gas and then my dad caught me sniffing leather protector," said Eric. At age 18, Eric is now in treatment for his addiction to alcohol and marijuana.

Inhalants are breathable chemicals that produce a mind-altering effect. They include solvents, paint, glue, fuels, nail polish, hair spray, felt-tip markers, butane, air fresheners, fabric protectors, whipped creme propellant, spray paint and many other chemical products.

Inhaling the vapors, or using a lot over a short period of time, may result in losing touch with one's surroundings, a loss of inhibition, violent behavior, unconsciousness or death. Inhaling highly concentrated amounts of chemicals can lead to heart failure within minutes of sniffing. Severe cardiac arrhythmia is the most common cause of sudden death from inhalants.

Inhalant abuse can cause long-term physical damage to the brain, nerve cells, heart, liver, kidneys, throat, nasal passageways and lungs. Psychological damage can include depression, anxiety, withdrawal, severe mood swings and mental slowness.

Why would anyone inhale such dangerous substances? Children often start chemical use with inhalants because these substances are available, convenient, legal, and they can sober up within minutes.

According to Mark Groves, an inhalant prevention specialist, about 1,400 household products sold over the counter at grocery and hardware stores can be inhaled.

Young people, especially those between the ages of 7 and 17, are most likely to abuse inhalants.

Twenty one percent of eighth graders have used inhalants at least once in their lifetime, according to the 1997 Monitoring the Future drug-use survey, and 12 percent of eighth graders said they had used inhalants in the past year.

Inhalant use often begins when children learn from friends or an older sibling. If children learn very early that they like a certain smell, something as seemingly harmless as fruit-smelling markers, and even feel good when smelling it, they may continue to inhale that and other substances. Early use of inhalants can indicate problem use later in life and may serve as a gateway drug to other harmful substances.

Because each inhalant has a legitimate use and because it's hard to police the misuse of these chemicals, education seems to be the best means of prevention. Groves suggests that "parents start teaching their children very early, at ages 4 and 5, that these substances are poisons and explain why they are dangerous."

Groves offers tips for parents to prevent inhalant abuse:

• Look for teachable moments. When children mention that gas smells good, teach them that gas or other chemicals should never be inhaled.

• Don't shut children out by simply saying something is "bad for you." That kind of response often invites indifference, or worse, rebellion.

• Educate yourself and then give your children concrete information; talk about dangerous behavior, such as inhalant use, and explain the consequences.

• Help your children develop refusal skills, or how they can say no.

• Listen to your children; talk with them to learn what pressures they are exposed to and what they are thinking and feeling.

• Ask questions of your children and their friends: Where are you going? Who will you be with?
Establish firms rules of behavior and set and enforce consequences for unacceptable behavior.

Some signs of inhalant use include chemical smell on breath; chemical stains on skin and clothing; sores around the mouth and nose; runny nose; nose bleeds; headaches and nausea; slurred speech; chronic cough; and sudden changes in mood and behavior. Parents can also watch for empty containers of white-out, plastic bags and butane lighters as signs of potential inhalant abuse. Also, secretive or other unusual behavior by your child and his or her friends may tip off inhalant use.

To receive a copy of a "A Parents' Guide to Preventing Inhalant Abuse" or for more information about inhalant abuse, contact the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition in Austin, Texas, at (800) 269-4237 or visit http://www.inhalants.org/.

--Published March 30, 1998

________________________________________
Alive & Free is a health column that provides information to help prevent substance abuse problems and address such problems. It is created by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide range of information and services on addiction. For more resources, email or call Hazelden at 800-257-7810 (outside the US 651-213-4200).

Education, awareness is key to preventing inhalant abuse

2010-06-21T06:35:00.000-04:00

One out of every five students in America has used an inhalant to get high by the time he or she reaches the eighth grade. Parents don't know that inhalants -- cheap, legal and accessible household products -- are as popular among middle school students as marijuana. And even fewer parents know the deadly effects the poisons in these products have on the brain and body when inhaled or huffed.

"It's like playing Russian roulette," said Harvey Weiss, executive director of the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition (NIPC). "The user can die the first, 10th or 100th time a product is misused as an inhalant."

Because prevention through education has proven to work against this popular form of substance abuse, the NIPC has developed National Inhalants & Poisons Awareness Week (March 19-25) to help increase understanding about the use and risks of inhalants.

"Many parents are uncomfortable broaching the topic of inhalants with their kids, and they often deny that their child might use inhalants," said Dr. H. Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. "A lot of children are experimenting, so if you assume it's not your kid, you'd better check. Inhalants are in everyone's house, so watch your child. Watch for changes in behavior -- personality changes, change in gait, chemical breath, secretive and isolated behavior -- that may signal inhalant use."

Some common questions and answers regarding inhalants, as provided by NIPC, follow:

What is inhalant use? Inhalant use refers to the intentional breathing of gas or vapors with the purpose of reaching a high. Inhalants are legal, everyday products that have a useful purpose, but can be misused. You're probably familiar with these substances -- paint, glue, and others. But you probably don't know that there are more than 1,000 products that are very dangerous when inhaled -- things such as felt tip markers, spray paint, air freshener, butane, and even cooking spray.

Who is at risk? Inhalants are an equal opportunity method of substance abuse. Statistics show that young, white males have the highest usage rate. Hispanic and American Indian populations also show high rates of use.

What can inhalants do to the body? Nearly all abused products produce effects similar to anesthetics, which slow down the body's function. Varying upon level of dosage, the user can experience slight stimulation, feeling of less inhibition, or loss of consciousness. The user can also die from Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome. Other effects include damage to the heart, kidney, brain, liver, bone marrow and other organs. Inhalants are physically and psychologically addicting and users suffer withdrawal symptoms.

What can I do if someone I know is huffing and appears in a state of crisis? The best thing to do is remain calm and seek help. Agitation may cause the huffer to become violent, experience hallucinations, or suffer heart dysfunction that can cause sudden death. Make sure the room is well ventilated and call emergency medical technicians. If the person is not breathing, administer CPR.

Once recovered, seek professional treatment and counseling.

What should I tell my child or students about inhalants? It is never too early to teach your children about the dangers of inhalants. Don't just say "not my kid." Inhalant use starts as early as elementary school and is considered a gateway to further substance abuse. Parents often remain ignorant of inhalant use or do not educate their children until it is too late. Inhalants are not drugs. They are poisons and toxins and should be discussed as such. There are, however, a few age-appropriate guidelines that can be useful when educating your children. Education and strategies specific for 4-7, 7-10, 10-14 and 14-18 year-old age-groups are suggested, with all emphasizing the importance of oxygen to life function. A Tips for Teachers section details specific strategies for each age-group on the NIPC Web site.

For more information on how you and your community can learn more about inhalants, call NIPC at 800-269-4237 or visit its Web site at http://www.inhalants.org/

--Published March 13, 2000

________________________________________
Alive & Free is a health column that provides information to help prevent substance abuse problems and address such problems. It is created by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide range of information and services on addiction. For more resources, email or call Hazelden at 800-257-7810 (outside the US 651-213-4200).

Drug Czar warns: Pushers move to PC to reach teens

2010-06-19T06:34:00.000-04:00

Chances are good that when we think of teens scoring drugs, we envision little bags of mysterious substances being sold to them in back alleys by shady characters. We probably don't think of home computers in our own warm and sunny homes.

But U.S. "Drug Czar" John P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy, recently warned, "The pusher has moved to the PC. With one click of the mouse, teens can enter a virtual world of drugs. The Internet can teach teens how to buy or make drugs, how to use different drugs and other products to get high, and how to beat drug tests."

Carol Falkowski, director of Research Communications at Hazelden Foundation, agrees. "What young people once discovered by trial and error on street corners, they can now learn on cyber street corners," she said. "Recipes for making methamphetamine reside on numerous Web sites--about 54,000, according to a recent Web search. A similar search yielded 28,000 sites for making crack cocaine. Directions for concocting other mood-altering drugs are widespread as well."

Falkowski added there are also a number of "rogue" and illegitimate Web sites that sell numerous prescription medications to people who have never seen a doctor.

There is no doubt that young people are technologically savvy. Teenage Research Unlimited says that 90 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds use the Internet, and of that number, half use it daily. In addition, they say that about 19 million teens instant message, and 60 percent of our nation's teens have their own cell phone.

In July, Walters hosted a roundtable discussion with adolescents in drug treatment to talk about the role technology played in their own substance abuse. Teens told Walters about ordering "legal marijuana" on the Internet and also finding out how to grow marijuana themselves, how to make it more potent, and how to crush pills to get high. One young man told of searching online to find ways to detoxify so his drug tests would show up clean when his parents insisted on drug testing him. Cell phones have also become handy tools in getting drugs because dealers' names can be hidden in the phone's address book, and calls can be made in secret. Text messaging allows a further way to communicate discreetly without being overheard or seen using a phone.

In 2005, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that 64 percent of online teens say that most of them do things on the Internet they would not want their parents to know about. They have even developed a secret language to warn friends of parental monitoring. POS, for example, means "parent over shoulder." PIR means "parent in room." KPC reassures a friend that the sender is "keeping parents clueless."

"Emoticons" are acronyms or character symbols that enable teens to communicate with each other on the Internet in shorthand that might look like Sanskrit to unknowing parents. Symbols like %\ tell a friend the sender is hung over, and #-) means they're "wiped out" because they partied all night.

Likewise, there are a host of secret phrases and symbols to connote something about drugs or sex.

To help keep their teens safe, Walters suggests that parents:

Learn about the digital devices their teens use. Visit their Web pages or blogs to know who is in their cell phone contact list.

Limit the time teens spend online and put computers in a common area of the house so parents can more easily monitor their use.

Set limits on which Web sites, chat rooms, games or blogs teens can and cannot visit, and discuss the consequences for breaking these rules.

Falkowski, a drug trend expert, advises parents to steer their teens to reputable Web sites that provide up-to-date, science-based information about drugs and alcohol. She recommends the National Institute on Drug Abuse at www.drugabuse.gov, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at www.niaaa.nih.gov, and the National Clearinghouse on Alcohol and Drug Information at www.ncadi.samhsa.gov.

In addition, parents can visit www.TheAntiDrug.com for a complete, easy-to-understand tutorial about modern technology, tips on decoding online lingo, and specific tools parents can use to monitor their teens' use of technology. The Web site also offers a parenting tips newsletter.

"Drug dealers lurk in chat rooms just like pedophiles, targeting teens with offers of drugs," said Walters. "To protect your teens in the digital world, go where they go. Do not let new technologies and innovations get in the way of good parenting."

--Published January 8, 2007

________________________________________
Alive & Free is a health column that provides information to help prevent substance abuse problems and address such problems. It is created by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide range of information and services on addiction. For more resources, email or call Hazelden at 800-257-7810 (outside the US 651-213-4200)

Generation Rx: The alarming rise in prescription drug abuse

2010-06-16T06:30:00.000-04:00

The abuse of prescription drugs by teens has become so prevalent that the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) refers to this age group as "Generation Rx" in the summary of findings from its 2005 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study.

According to the recent study, nearly one in five teens in grades 7-12 (19 percent, or 4.5 million) say they've used prescription painkillers such as Vicodin or OxyContin or stimulants such as Ritalin to get high. One in ten (10 percent, or 2.4 million) report having abused cough medicine. According to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, after marijuana, prescription drugs are the most commonly abused drug by teenagers.

"This seems to be more than just a craze of the moment," said Jim Steinhagen, executive director of Youth Services for Hazelden's Center for Youth and Families in Plymouth, Minn. "We started seeing more abuse of over-the-counter cough medicine about three years ago and now we're seeing greater abuse of prescription medications. When you start noticing more abuse over a sustained period of time, I'm afraid you're looking at a real trend."

Steinhagen said prescription drugs are popular because they are easy to get, they are perceived to be safe, and they do not have the stigma that other drugs like cocaine, heroin, or methampetamines have. "Peer group approval is a big factor. If 'everybody does it,' young people think it must be okay. They're not buying it on the street, so they think it must be safe. But just talk to a paramedic or a doctor who has treated a young person who has overdosed on over-the-counter or prescription medicines. These can be as life-threatening as heroin and need to be taken as seriously."

Taken appropriately, opioids such as OxyContin can relieve pain. Depressants like Xanax can help with anxiety or sleep disorders, and stimulants like Ritalin can help those who suffer from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or narcolepsy. But taking these potent drugs without a doctor's supervision or mixing them with alcohol or other drugs can be dangerous and even lethal, as evidenced by the national increase in visits to hospital emergency departments for patients who overdosed on prescription drugs. When abused, the powerful chemicals contained in these drugs can adversely affect the brain, heart, or respiratory system, and repeated use can lead to addiction. Likewise, certain over-the-counter sleep aids, cough suppressants, antihistamines, and dimenhydrinates (such as Dramamine) can also be abused for their psychoactive effects and can produce dangerous health effects when mixed with alcohol.

The abuse of these drugs has become so popular that some teens get together for "pharming parties," where they pool the drugs they've stolen from home medicine cabinets or bring the drugs they've purchased from other kids or from the Internet.

"As times and technology change, kids are the first to know about it," said Steinhagen. "They communicate with each other in on-line chat rooms and share information about mixing drug 'cocktails' for a special kind of high that will be difficult for parents to detect."

Steinhagen said "what parents know about they can talk about," but unfortunately many parents are caught totally off guard when it comes to prescription drug abuse. "It doesn't smell and there may not be the clear signs parents would know to look for." He urges parents to trust their instincts.

"You may see the same kind of warning signs as for other drug abuse: changes in personality, greater mood swings, a change in friends, a drop or change in activities, decline in grades, absences in school, withdrawal, depression, etc. If you don't think you are getting the whole truth from your child, seek assistance from a school professional, a therapist, or a drug counselor. The worst thing you can do is nothing."

Fortunately, said Steinhagen, treatment works. He said the best treatment approach is a holistic model that focuses on all aspects of an individual's life and takes into account any accompanying mental health issues like ADHD, anxiety, or depression. "At Hazelden Center for Youth and Families we also see involvement of the family as a critical factor in treatment. Parents and guardians learn what the kids are learning about addiction. We also teach them how to change relationship dynamics and give them tools for supporting their child in recovery."

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America advises parents to educate themselves, communicate with their kids, and safeguard medications. These tips and other helpful information for adults and young people can be found at their Web site at http://www.drugfree.org/.
--Published July 10, 2006

________________________________________
Alive & Free is a health column that provides information to help prevent substance abuse problems and address such problems. It is created by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide range of information and services on addiction. For more resources, email or call Hazelden at 800-257-7810 (outside the US 651-213-4200).

MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT PRESCRIPTION AND OTC DRUGS

2010-06-14T06:14:00.000-04:00

Repeat: RX and OTC drug abuse is increasing because kids believe they are safer than street drugs. So let’s take a look – right now -- at all the myths floating around about RX or OTC drugs.

Myth: If prescription or over-the-counter drugs can be used as medicine, they must be safer than street drugs.

Fact: Not true. Nearly all poison deaths in this country over a five-year period (1999-2004) were from drugs; most drug poisonings resulted from the abuse of prescription drugs and illegal drugs. These poisoning deaths went from 12,186 in 199to 20,950 in 2004 – a 62.5 percent change over five years.

Myth: Prescription drugs are not addictive.

Fact: Not true. Pain relievers like Vycodin, OxyContin, Percocet, Darvin and Codeine are highly addictive and life-threatening. What’s horrific about them is that they cause the user to have such painful and frightening withdrawal symptoms that the user sees no other way out but to keep using what they may know by then is destroying their health and their lives.

Myth: OTC drugs are not addictive. My mom uses flu medicine; my dad uses a popular night time sleep medicine.

Fact: Not true. When OTC drugs are used for the purposes for which they are intended with careful attention to the instructions for legitimate use, and knowledge of the user’s health history, they may not be dangerous, although some individuals may have unexpected, possibly dangerous sensitivity or allergy results. However, when they are NOT used properly for their intended medicinal purposes, they can be injurious or life-threatening. Even mothers and fathers can – and have – become dependant on these drugs.

Myth: If you only use prescription or OTC drugs once in a while, that’s okay.

Fact: Not true. Since all our body’s systems are a bit different, even one use of a strange drug can and has caused death and serious health problems. Teens who abuse RX drugs can suffer consequences including addiction, strokes, seizures, comas and even death. And one use can make you dependant on the drug.

How can RX or OTC drugs harm your body?

Narcotic pain relievers are not only highly addictive; stopping taking them causes some pretty drastic physical results. Withdrawal symptoms can include muscle and bone pain, insomnia, intense restless, diarrhea, vomiting and cold flashes.

Worse, youngsters are crushing time-released capsules like OxyContin, meant to be absorbed over a long period of time. And they are taking it all at once. Crushing, sniffing or injecting it causes the drug to enter the blood stream almost immediately and this can and has caused deaths. A price paid by not only the user, but everyone else in the user’s life.

Amphetamines like Ritalin, Adderall, Dexedrine, Focolin or Merida are not any safer. Not only can they be addictive, but abuse of them can cause feelings of paranoia, intense fear, and hostility which can lead to violence. High doses can cause heart attacks or seizures. Some fun, hey? Mix them with OTC decongestants and again, the heart is affected. Safe? Don’t you believe it.

And while teens abuse sedatives and tranquilizers to feel sleepy and less tense, or to relieve panic attacks, those feelings soon go away when their body becomes more tolerant to the drugs. So then you have a tense teen with panic attacks who is dependent on tranquilizers or sedatives and dealing with those feelings as well.

That sound funny? Not if it’s happening to you.

NOTE: Sedatives and/or tranquilizers can be deadly when combined with other prescription, some cold or allergy drugs, or alcohol.

PRESCRIPTION/OTC DRUG ABUSE – HOME FREE?

2010-06-12T06:24:00.000-04:00

When Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playboy Playmate, was found dead on Feb. 8, 2007 in Hollywood, Fla., wild stories of murder and medical negligence flew over the airwaves and ate up barrels of newspaper, magazine and tabloid ink. Ms. Smith, born Vickie Lynn Smith in Texas, was ultimately found by a coroner to have died of a toxic mix of prescription drugs.

Sadly, Ms. Smith’s beloved son, Daniel, died weeks earlier from a toxic combination of prescription drugs: methadone, used to treat heroin addiction, and the anti-depressants Zoloft and Lexapro. The toxic combination of prescription drugs caused the youth to have a fatal heart arrhythmia.

In the 1960s, when superstar Marilyn Monroe died in her California cottage, cries of murder rang out around the globe. Ms. Monroe was found to have died of a toxic overdose of prescription drugs.

Today, according to national studies, large numbers of teens are turning away from street drugs and using prescription (RX) and Over-the Counter (OTC) drugs to get high. Among young people ages 12-17, prescription drugs have become the second most abused illegal drug in America after marijuana.

Prescription and OTC drugs youngsters are illegally abusing include pain relievers Dilaudid, Lorcet, Lortab, OxyContin, Percocet, Percodan, Tylox, and Vicodi; Depressants (benzodiazepines, tranquilizers, barbiturates, sedatives) including Librium and Xanax; Stimulants Adderall, Concerta, and Ritalin.

The two most commonly abused prescription drugs by teens are Vicodin and OxyContin, both pain reliever narcotics and highly addictive. Withdrawal symptoms are said to be so painful that they push users to continue using.

Youngsters are also abusing cough medicines containing the active ingredient dextromethorphan, or DXM, for the explicit purpose of getting high. Their street slang names are currently “Dex” or “skittles.”

What is driving this increase in RX and OTC drug abuse?

YOUNGSTERS ARE CONVINCED THAT RX AND OTC DRUGS ARE A SAFER HIGH THAN STREET DRUGS.

Our kids, who usually know nada about chemical combinations, are only too willing to pop all kinds of RX or Over-The–Counter (OTC) drugs into their unsuspecting mouths.

Their naïve and life threatening assumption is that if drugs can be medicines or bought over the counter, they can’t be harmful. WRONG!

Heck, most of us adults don’t understand drugs any better. Many adults don’t think twice about drinking wine or other liquors and then sloshing down a prescription drug. Some of us land up in emergency rooms – if we are lucky. How can we expect more of a youth?

In a 2005 government study of emergency room drug and alcohol intervention, a startling fact emerged. While the total number of drug-related emergency room visits remained pretty much the same from 2004 to 2005, emergency visits involving the abuse (non-medical use) of prescription or OTC drugs increased from 495,732 to 598,542 in that same period.

“Teens and parents alike (my emphasis) have a false sense of security that these products can be safely abused because they are beneficial medicines found in the home. The sobering truth is that when medicines are abused, they can be every bit as dangerous, as addictive, and just as deadly as “street drugs,” said Steve Pasierb, president of the New York-based Partnership for Drug-Free America.

The Partnership’s recent study found that
 1 in 5 teens has tried Vicodin, an addictive narcotic pain reliever
 1 in 10 has tried OxyContin, another prescription narcotic
 1 in 10 has used the stimulants Ritalin or Adderall for nonmedical purposes
 1 in 11 teens admitted to getting high on cough medicine.

Source: Statistics above courtesy of Partners for a Drug Free America, www.drugfree.org

I know that numbers make readers’ eyes cross. They do mine. But when they are translated into children and young adults – yours and mine, I hope they come to life for all parents, teachers, sports’ coaches, preachers, school nurses -- anyone who sees young people each day. And I pray that youngsters abusing RX or OTC drugs get with it and decide to stay alive. Like my grandma always said, “You can lead a horse to water but he gets there faster if he really wants a drink.”

The most encouraging news about prescription abuse and OTC abuse is this: When parents talk to their families about how dangerous these drugs truly are, and how they are not to be used except with a genuine medical need, it works. According to government studies, kids who have parents who tell it like it is are 50 percent less likely to abuse RX or OTC drugs.

More good news is that it’s possible for parents and other adults to help turn the tide of this new drug abuse flood with three simple acts: Educate yourself about the dangers of medicine abuse and teach all youngsters that medicine abuse is NOT safer than illegal street drugs; communicate with youths the risks of intentionally abusing medicine to get high; and safeguard prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines that that are in your home. Throw out old ones (flushing them down the toilet is safest) or lock them up. Only adults should have the key to the “Lock box.”

Sound extreme? Sound like a lot of trouble? So are frightening, expensive emergency room visits – or heart wrenching funerals.

The pothead generation is fast becoming Generation RX. Prescription drug abuse, including OTC abuse, is now second only to marijuana, the most abused drug in America.

And The Worst News. Lots of kids get their prescription or OTC drugs with no pain, no strain, according to the youths themselves. The majority of kids get prescription drugs easily and for free, often from friends or relatives. Other youngsters say they buy them from friends or relatives while another 10 percent say they take them without asking.

And nightmare kinds of worst? Almost 40 percent of 14-20 year olds say it is easy to get prescription drugs online or by phone. More girls than boys claim the telephone route is easy.

Check it out: Google “non prescription vicodin” for an eye-opener. In the one site I checked out that offers vicodin there was lots of info about the quality of the drugs and lots of mention of the “membership fee” to “join” their service, but what I did not find was a request for a legitimate physician’s prescription. Is it any surprise that youthful abuse of these harmful and dangerous drugs has increased?

We can also thank all those lovely butterflies flitting over TV “dreams”, those cuddly couples on TV thanking OTC drugs or RX drugs for their romantic good nights.

We can wonder how many TV commercial “overtired moms and dads” who pop some liquid “nighty-night” drug and then demonstrate how happy they feel as they fall asleep are telling kids how to abuse drugs. How many commercials a day or evening promoting RX and OTC drugs do you think our kids see? NO, they don’t listen to those lengthy, scary and depressing side effects the government makes companies include in these promotions. Do you? Do I? Does anyone?

And here’s a knockout fact about accessibility: More teens have been offered prescription drugs than other illicit drugs, including marijuana.

Repeat: RX and OTC drug abuse is increasing because kids believe they are safer than street drugs. So Monday we'll take a look at all the myths floating around about RX or OTC drugs.

STIMULANTS: AMPHETAMINES AND METHAMPHETAMINES

2010-06-09T06:26:00.000-04:00

Stimulants do just that: they stimulate the brain. They increase alertness, relieve fatigue, make the user feel stronger and more decisive and are often used for euphoric effects or to counteract the “down” feeling of tranquilizers or alcohol. The most commonly abused are cocaine, amphetamines, and methamphetamines. Cocaine, addressed earlier, is also considered a narcotic.

Amphetamines are sometimes prescribed by doctors for medical problems. This doesn’t make them any safer. Stimulants increase heart and respiratory rates, elevate blood pressure, dilate pupils, decrease appetite. High doses may cause rapid or irregular heartbeat, loss of coordination, or blurred vision, dizziness, an intense feeling of restlessness, anxiety, profuse sweating and delusions.

Street methamphetamine is called “speed,” “meth,” and “chalk.” Methamphetamine hydrochloride, clear chunky crystals resembling ice, which can be inhaled by smoking, is called “ice,” “crystal,” “glass,” and “tina.”

Because methamphetamine can be made with easy to find, inexpensive materials, the final product sold as "methamphetamine" may not be methamphetamine at all, but a highly altered chemical mixture with some stimulant-like effects. Uncertainties about the drug’s sources and ingredients make it especially difficult to determine its toxicity. There’s no way to predict the medical consequences and symptoms of overdose -- or poisoning.

Recently, law enforcement officials have seized new methamphetamine chemical “mixes” being used by drug dealers whose latest targets are new users 10 year olds and up. Today, drug pushers are mixing methamphetamines or heroin with flavored drink powders creating “starter drugs” with cute, harmless-sounding slang names. I mentioned “Strawberry Quick” earlier; however, flavors and colors they use vary: strawberry, chocolate, even candy ground up and mixed with dangerous illegal drugs. These Kiddie Killers are all finding their way to our youngest and most impressionable and most helpless children. Repeat: Ten years old and up. No matter what they are mixed with, methamphetamines and heroin are still highly dangerous, addictive, life-threatening drugs.

According to one of the most finite government annual surveys of school drug use, past year and past month methamphetamine use decreased among 10th-graders from 2005 to 2006. It decreased from 2.9 percent to 1.8 percent for past year; and decreased from 1.1 percent to 0.7 percent for the study’s past month.

Among 12th-graders, perceived risk of harm from trying crystal methamphetamine -- “ice” -- increased from 54.6 percent in 2005 to 59.1 percent in 2006.

In 2004, 1.4 million persons aged 12 or older (0.6 percent of the population) used methamphetamine in the past year, and 600,000 (0.2 percent) used it in the past month.

In 2004, an estimated 318,000 persons were new users of methamphetamine, having used it for the first time in the 12 months before the survey.

And The Worst News There is emerging evidence that methamphetamine is being administered increasingly via the intravenous route. Injecting this drug increases the user’s risk for indulging in both sexual and non-sexual acts that could increase his or her chance of contracting HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and other infectious diseases.

Myths and facts about Methamphetamine

Myth: Using methamphetamine is like using diet pills. Everyone knows they are safe.

Fact: Not true. First of all, even diet pills whose production is monitored by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) can be very dangerous. Giga-jolts of the well-known stimulants caffeine or ephedrine can cause stroke or cardiac arrest when overused or used by people with sensitivity to them. Further, there is no way you can know what chemicals are in meth produced by an illegal drug lab. Methamphetamine is dangerous and addictive. From 1998 to 1999, deaths due to meth rose 38 percent.

Myth: Methamphetamine is less harmful than crack, cocaine, or heroin.

Fact: Not true. Some users get hooked the first time they snort, smoke, or inject meth. Because it can be made from lethal ingredients like battery acid, drain cleaner, lantern fuel, or antifreeze, there is a greater chance of having a heart attack, stroke, or serious brain damage with this drug than with other drugs. In 2002, meth led to 17, 676 emergency room visits.

Myth: Meth is the same as amphetamine.

Fact: Not true. Methamphetamine is chemically related to amphetamine but, at comparable doses, the effects of methamphetamine are much more potent, longer lasting, and more harmful to the central nervous system.

Myth: “Speed” makes you “sharp”.

Fact: Over “amping” on any type of speed is pretty risky. Creating a false sense of energy, these drugs push the body faster and further than it's meant to go. It increases the heart rate, blood pressure, and risk of stroke. It can also cause you to become paranoiac and violent.

Meth is extremely addictive - sometimes with just one use! It can cause convulsions, heart irregularities, high blood pressure, depression, restlessness, tremors, and severe fatigue. An overdose can cause coma and death. When you stop using meth, you may experience a deep depression. Ice causes a very jittery high, along with anxiety, insomnia, and sometimes paranoia.

In the short term, meth causes mind and mood changes such as anxiety, euphoria, and depression.

Long-term effects can include chronic fatigue, paranoid or delusional thinking, and permanent psychological damage.

Meth use can cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain. Meth users who inject the drug and share needles are at risk for acquiring HIV/AIDS. An overdose of meth can result in heart failure.

Long-term physical effects such as liver, kidney, and lung damage may also kill you.

Recent studies in chronic methamphetamine abusers have also revealed severe structural and functional changes in areas of the brain associated with emotion and memory, which may account for many of the emotional and cognitive problems observed in chronic methamphetamine abusers.

Meth can cause aggression and violent or psychotic behavior.

Sources: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, (NIDA), Monitoring the Future Survey,

INHALANTS -- SNIFFING AND SNORTING

2010-06-07T05:52:00.000-04:00

Even the most aware parents may miss the latest drug kids are abusing – because they are not one, but a laundry list of COMMON CHEMICALS being huffed, sniffed and snorted. Many are household chemicals found in most homes.

Inhalants are substances whose vapors can and ARE being inhaled to produce a mind-altering effect. Inhalants as a class of drugs share one main characteristic: They are rarely, if ever, taken by any route other than inhalation. That’s why kids refer to their use as “huffing.”

Inhalants’ street names are Glue, Kick, Bang, Sniff, Huff, Poppers, Whippets, or Texas Shoeshine. Inhalants include a large group of chemicals that are found in such household products as aerosol sprays, cleaning fluids, glue, paint, paint thinner, gasoline, propane, nail polish remover, correction fluid, and marker pens. None of these are safe to inhale--they can all kill you. What parent would suspect a can of whipped cream?

NOTE TO PARENTS: Chemicals like amyl nitrite and isobutyl nitrite (“poppers”) and nitrous oxide (“whippets”) are often sold at concerts and dance clubs. They can permanently damage your body and brain.

“The intentional misuse of commercial inhalants, like butane and toluene, can lead to death, addiction and other very serious health problems,” says Dr. Bertha Madras, Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

“Store-owners, educators, medical professionals, parents, and especially young people enrolled in middle schools and high schools need to be aware of the dangers of misusing inhalants. Due to the fact that inhalants are generally legal, cheap, and available, young people are more at risk for inhalant misuse, and the dangers associated with that misuse, including brain damage, organ failure, cardiac arrest, convulsions, deafness, impaired vision, impaired motor skills, and loss of judgment. Even first time use of inhalants can lead to death. Now is the time to raise awareness of this national drug problem, and work to prevent our youth from the cycle of inhalant addiction.”

According to government studies, current trends are positive in two respects. Increasingly, young people surveyed see "great risk" in trying inhalants. At the same time, the percentage reporting inhalant abuse is declining

That said, I’m going to repeat: Even one percent is a major disaster if your child is in that percentage, isn’t it? And worse, studies show that inhalants are often among the first drugs that young children use. About 6 percent of children in the United States have tried inhalants by the time they reach fourth grade.

Together, data show that an estimated 1.1 million adolescents used inhalants in the past year, even though huffing can be fatal. If you believe these statistics are optimistic, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’ll sell you cheap.

Inhalant abusers can sniff or snort fumes from containers, spray aerosols directly into the nose or mouth, "huff" fumes from an inhalant-soaked rag stuffed into the mouth, sniff fumes from substances sprayed into a paper or plastic bag, or even inhale from balloons filled with nitrous oxide. The quick high from inhalants lasts only a few minutes, so abusers often inhale repeatedly over several hours-a practice that can cause unconsciousness and even death.

Inhaled chemicals are rapidly absorbed through the lungs into the bloodstream and quickly distributed to the brain and other organs. Within seconds of inhalation, the user experiences intoxication along with other effects similar to those produced by alcohol. Alcohol-like effects may include slurred speech, an inability to coordinate movements, euphoria, and dizziness. In addition, users may experience lightheadedness, hallucinations, and delusions.

Signs include chemical odors on the breath or clothes, paint or other stains on skin or clothes, slurred speech and drunk or disoriented appearance, nausea or lack of appetite, and inattentiveness and lack of coordination.

Myths and facts about inhalants

Myth: They must be safe because everyone has them in their house.

Fact: No, they are not safe. They can kill you first time used. Household or other common chemicals have been designed for external use. When they are inhaled into the body, they are extremely dangerous.

Myth: A little won’t harm you.

Fact: One “huff” can kill you. Or the 10th. Or the 100th.
Even if you have huffed before without experiencing a problem, there's no way of knowing how the next huff will affect you.

Myth: Well, it only makes me high; it doesn’t affect anyone else.

Fact: Inhalants affect your brain and can cause you to suddenly engage in violent, or even deadly, behavior. You could hurt yourself or the people you love.

The most serious hazard for inhalant abusers is a syndrome called "sudden sniffing death." A single, prolonged session of inhalant use can produce rapid and irregular heart rhythms, heart failure, and death. It can happen within minutes and can strike an otherwise healthy young person. But inhalant abuse can cause death in other ways, too – by asphyxiation, suffocation, or choking.

Chronic exposure to inhalants causes widespread and long-lasting damage to the nervous system and other vital organs. The toxic chemicals damage parts of the brain that control learning, movement, vision, and hearing. Damage to the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys may be permanent.

Listed below are some of the chemicals being inhaled and how they affect the body:

 Amyl nitrate, butyl nitrate, street slang “poppers”, “video head cleaner”. Sudden sniffing death syndrome, suppressed immunologic function, injury to red blood cells interfering with oxygen supply to vital organs.

 Benzene, fond in gasoline. Bone marrow injury, impaired immunologic function, increased risk of leukemia, reproductive system toxicity.

 Butane, propone, found in lighter fluid, hair and paint sprays. Sudden sniffing death syndrome via cardiac effects, serious burn injuries because of its flammability.

 Freon, which is used as a refrigerant and aerosol propellant. Sudden sniffing death syndrome, respiratory obstruction and death from sudden cooling/cold injury to airways, liver damage.

 Methylene chloride, found in paint thinners and removers, degreasers. Reduction of oxygen-carrying capacity of blood, changes of the heart muscle and heartbeat.

 Nitrous Oxide called “laughing gas” hexane. Death from lack of oxygen to the brain, altered perception and motor coordination, loss of sensation, limb spasms, blackout caused by blood pressure changes, depression heart muscle functioning.

 Toluene. Found in paint thinners, paint removers, correction fluid. Causes brain damage, impaired walking, impaired cognition, impaired coordination, limb spasms, hearing and vision loss, heart and liver damage.

 Trichloroethylene, found in antigreasant and spot removers. Causes sudden sniffing death syndrome, hearing and vision damage, cirrhosis of the liver and reproductive complications.

Source: SAMHSA, the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information and the National Center for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI)

For more information about inhalants and other drugs, call SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information 800-729-6686

HEROIN AND ITS ANALOGS

2010-06-05T05:38:00.000-04:00

Heroin is the most abused and the most rapidly acting of the opiates, or narcotics. Processed from morphine, the naturally occurring substance extracted from the seedpod of certain kinds of poppy plants, heroin can be injected, snorted, sniffed or smoked. Regardless of how it’s used, it’s highly addictive.

On the other hand, opioid analogs are synthetically produced chemical compounds whose effects are similar to other drugs -- but they differ slightly in their chemical structure. Some analogs are produced by pharmaceutical companies for legitimate medical reasons. Others, sometimes called “designer drugs”, may be produced in illegal laboratories and are often more dangerous and potent that the original drug.

Two commonly known opiate analogs are Fentanyl and Meperidine (marketed under the brand name Demerol). Fentanyl, originally used as an analgesic in surgical procedures, is 50 times more potent than heroin and can rapidly stop respiration. In fact, its users have been found dead on the street with the needle used to inject the drug still in his or her arm.

Although heroin abuse has trended downward during the past several years, its prevalence is still higher than in the early 1990s.

These relatively high rates of abuse, especially among school-age youth, and the glamorization of heroin in music and films make it imperative that the public has the latest scientific information on this topic. Heroin also is increasing in purity and decreasing in price, which makes it an attractive option for young people and provides results similar to injecting when snorting it.

“Many of the new initiates of heroin are in fact trying the drug because they can snort it and think they would be protected by not injecting. . . In addition to that fact being clearly wrong, studies also show that non injecting heroin users are at considerable risk of becoming injection drug users,” said Dr. Alan I. Leshner, former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

And the Worst News of All – “Cheese Heroin”

The most frightening news is all about Cheese --- that is, Cheese Heroin. According to Texas law enforcement and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officials, “cheese” is a “heroin starter”.

“Cheese” or “starter heroin” is a combination of heroin – up to 8 percent heroin -- and ground up cold medicine containing acetaminophen and diphenhydramine. The mixture is a tan powder that is snorted. It’s often wrapped in little pieces of notebook paper, or if made into a more solid little sugar cube- like block, sold in plastic see-through baggies. Kids snort it through an empty ball pen cylinder, sometimes even while in the classroom.

According to users, the effects of “cheese” include euphoria, disorientation, lethargy, sleepiness and hunger. This combination of drugs appears to be highly addictive. Withdrawal symptoms from “cheese” may begin within twelve hours of use and include headache, chills, muscle pains, muscle spasms, anxiety, agitation, disorientation and disassociation. This drives the user to crave another “hit”.

Cheese (heroin) is designed and marketed by Mexican gangs and sold by American high school dealers to kids as young as 10. One apprehended school yard dealer was 11.
Over 18 deaths from “Cheese” have occurred in the Dallas, Texas area.

Do DEA agents expect the “Cheese heroin’” or “heroin starters’” marketing to expand to other areas? As one DEA official says, “This Mexican drug network has been sending drugs to the United States for quite some time now. They see Cheese Heroin as a way to make a lot of money on a little heroin. They’re monsters. They’re targeting little kids. Will they expand to other places than Texas? Sure, they’re always looking to expand their markets.”

Do the kids even know they are abusing heroin? One parent, David Witherspoon, whose 17 year old son, Keith, was one of 18 youths who died from an overdose of “cheese”, thinks it may be possible that many youngsters do not understand fully what they are using. “It’s called “cheese”. They call it “cheese,” he said. “What could sound more harmless?”

Note to Parents: Cheese heroin is tan in color; it may be in a powder form or a small block of what looks like half of a tan colored sugar cube. It is usually sold wrapped in either a small piece of school notepaper or inside a small plasticine baggie.

“Cheese” is snorted through empty ball pen cylinders. Check your child’s pens. Take them apart. Trust is grand; his or her safety is even grander. Check with your child’s school. Have they had any claims of kids using cheese in their school?

What’s being done to warn children about the drug and the drug dealers who are kids like themselves? Speak to your child. Tell them how dangerous this drug combination is – and how fatal. Ask them to report to you anyone who offers it to them.

Warning: Candy from strangers. In an effort to attract young children as buyers for their drugs, dealers are mixing illegal drugs with not only super strength cold medicines but other familiar products including candy. Some potent illegal drugs like heroin and Methamphetamine have been mixed with fruit flavored milk drink powders and named for the flavors. How innocent and safe would “Strawberry Quick” sound to your child?

Heroin rapidly enters the brain and acts on the brain’s natural reward circuitry to produce a surge of pleasurable sensations (endorphins). People like what drugs do to their brains. However, research shows that prolonged drug use can actually change brains – changes that help convert dependency into addiction.

Heroin makes the user feel “euphoric” even though the “rush” is also accompanied by a laundry list of other effects. They include a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and a heavy sluggish feeling in the arms and legs. It can also be accompanied by nausea, vomiting and severe itching.

Myths and Facts about Heroin

Myth: Heroin is less dangerous if you snort or smoke it instead of injecting it.

Fact: No. Heroin is heroin. You can still die from an overdose of heroin or become dependant on it by snorting or smoking it.

Myth: Withdrawal from heroin won’t kill you; you can stop anytime.

Fact: Although it is seldom fatal, withdrawal from heroin produces drug cravings, restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms that usually last about a week but may last for many months.

Myth: Methadone is just another substitution for heroin.

Fact: No, it is not. Although it does bind to the same brain receptors, it acts in the brain quite differently from heroin. While heroin de-stabilizes the brain of the addict, methadone actually stabilizes the heroin addict’s brain and behavior.

Health risks associated with both injecting and non injecting heroin use are substantial. First, because heroin users do not know the actual strength of the drug or its true contents, they are at risk of overdose or death.

Heroin use produces depressed respiration, clouded mental functioning, nausea and vomiting, suppression of pain so that a user can be seriously injured without seeking medical care, and in females, it can cause spontaneous abortion. Long term medical consequences of heroin use include addiction, infectious diseases, for example HIV/AIDS, bacterial infections, abscesses, infection of heart lining and valves, and arthritis and other rheumatologic problems. Heroin slows down the way you think, slows down reaction time and slows down memory.

Sources: “NIDA Research Report Series: Heroin”, and “Tips for Teens, the Truth About Heroin”. National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information at 1-800-729-6686

DISSOCIATIVE DRUGS

2010-06-02T05:30:00.000-04:00

Drugs such as PCP (phencyclidine) and ketamine, initially developed as general anesthetics for surgery, distort perceptions of sight and sound and produce feelings of detachment – dissociation – from the environment and self. But these mind-altering effects are not hallucinations. PCP and ketamine are more properly known as “dissociative anesthetics.”

Dextromethorphan, a widely available cough suppressant, when taken in high doses can produce effects similar to those of PCP and Ketamine. This drug, sometimes called “DXM” or “robo”, is a cough suppressing ingredient found in over-the-counter “extra strength” cough syrup. Depending on the dose taken, the results can range from a mild stimulant effect with distorted visual perceptions to a sense of complete dissociation from one’s body.

PCP is considered the typical dissociative drug, and the description of PCP’s actions and effects described in a recent government research report apply to Ketamine and dextromethorphan as well. Powdered PCP, known as “ozone”, “Angel dust”, “boat”, “dummy dust”, “love boat”, “peace”, “supergrass”, or “zombie”, is sprinkled on marijuana, tobacco, or parsley, then smoked. “Killer joints” and “crystal supergrass” are names that refer to PCP combined with marijuana. The variety of street names for PCP reflects its bizarre and volatile effects. The effects are rapidly felt. Although PCP is usually a white crystalline powder, it is sometimes colored with water-soluble or alcohol-soluble dyes.

Dissociative drugs like PCP and Ketamine may make a user feel disconnected and out of control. One of the most distinctive characteristics of PCP is the violence it instigates and the increased physical strength that the user seems to find him- or herself possessing.

According to an annual government survey, PCP use peaked for 12th graders in 1996 at approximately 2.5 percent of the schools surveyed and then decreased in use by this age group in 2000. There is no available data for 10th and 8th grade students in this survey.

The Bad News is PCP is addictive and dosages of 10 mg or more can result in dangerous changes in blood pressure, heart rate and respiration. Muscle contractions can result in bone fracture or in kidney damage or kidney failure as a consequence of muscle cells breaking down. Very high doses of PCP can cause convulsions, coma, hyperthermia, and death.

PCP effects are unpredictable. They can include hallucinations, delusions, panic and fear. Some users report feelings of invulnerability and extreme strength. PCP users may become severely disoriented, violent, or suicidal. Symptoms such as memory loss and depression may persist for as long as a year after a chronic user stops taking PCP.

For further information, see www.drugabuse.gov and www.health.org

Many PCP abusers are brought to emergency rooms because of PCP overdose or because of the drug's unpleasant psychological effects. In a hospital or detention setting, these people often become violent or suicidal; their behavior is unpredictable and their ability to inflict harm on others is legendary.

At low to moderate doses, physiological effects of PCP include a pronounced rise in blood pressure and pulse rate. Breathing becomes shallow and flushing and profuse sweating occurs. Generalized numbness of the extremities and loss of muscular coordination may also occur.

At high doses of PCP, blood pressure, pulse rate, and respiration drop. This may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, erratic eye movements, drooling, loss of balance, and dizziness. High doses of PCP can also cause seizures, coma, and death (though death more often results from accidental injury or suicide during PCP intoxication). High doses can cause delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, disordered thinking, and a sensation of distance from one's environment, and catatonia. Speech is often sparse and garbled.

People who abuse PCP for long periods report memory loss, difficulties with speech and thinking, depression, and weight loss. These symptoms can persist up to a year after stopping PCP abuse. Mood disorders also have been reported. PCP has sedative effects, and interactions with other central nervous system depressants, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines, can lead to coma.

Myths and Facts About PCP

Myth: PCP doesn’t really give its users superhuman strength that can result in police using unnecessary force against its users in order to control them. This increased strength only happens in the movies.

Fact: Not exactly true. PCP anesthetizes its users to pain so that they can use their human strength without being limited by otherwise normal parameters. As one user described the feeling of being on PCP, “It feels like being a gorilla on speed.”

Myth: PCP is only found in big cities where lower class people use it.

Fact: PCP has become the latest “club drug” at suburban “rave” dances and all ages and classes of youngsters are using them.

Myth: If you smoke a “dipper” – marijuana dipped in PCP mixed with water, and you find you can’t move, just drink milk and you will be able to move.

Fact: This is simply silly and untrue. If you have a bad reaction to PCP, milk will not reverse its effects.

HALLUCINOGENS

2010-05-31T05:23:00.000-04:00

Hallucinogens cause hallucinations—profound distortions in a person’s perception of reality. They do this by disrupting the interaction of nerve cells and the neurotransmitter serotonin. Distributed throughout the brain and spinal cord, the serotonin system is involved in the control of behavioral, perceptual, and regulatory systems, including mood, hunger, body temperature, sexual behavior, muscle control, and sensory perception.

Under the influence of hallucinogens, people see images, hear sounds, and feel sensations that seem real but do not exist. Some hallucinogens also produce rapid, intense emotional swings.

Hallucinogens include LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide acid), mescaline and psilocybin or “magic mushrooms.” They each cause altered states of perception and nausea, persisting perception disorders and/or disorienting flashbacks.

LSD, street names “acid”, “Blotter”, “boomers”, “cubes”, “micodot’, “yellow sunshine’ and whatever new name currently in use, are swallowed or ingested through mouth tissues. In short, lick a piece of paper or a stamp impregnated with LSD and you’ll be affected by the drug.

Mescaline, street names “buttons”, “cactus”, “mesc”, or “peyote” or the latest secret name for this mind altering drug can, like LSD, cause increased body temperature, increased heart rate and/or blood pressure, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, numbness, weakness, and tremors.

The most commonly used and most potent hallucinogenic in the United States today is LSD. All LSD, which looks like a white powder when dry, is illegal and has no approved medicinal use in this country.

The use of LSD and other hallucinogens by secondary school students has declined since 1998. However, LSD and Ketamine, a dissociative drug known to be used to facilitate sexual assaults, are becoming more widely used at dance clubs and all-night raves by older teens and young adults.

Youngsters who use LSD hope to have a sense enhancing experience without the harmful effects attached to its use. Drug pushers and peers who do not have the youngster’s best interest in mind wildly encourage this incredibly naïve, unthinking, and “Dumber Than Dumb” trust.

Physical and psychological risks to the user include:

 Decreased awareness of touch and pain that can result in self-inflicted injuries

 Convulsions

 Coma

 Heart and lung failure

 Lack of muscular coordination

 Increased heart rate and blood pressure

 Sleeplessness and tremors

 Depression, anxiety, and paranoia

 Violent behavior

 Confusion, suspicion, and loss of control

Myths and Facts about LSD

Myth: Only first time users have “bad trips.”

Fact: The effects of LSD are unpredictable. Some LSD users experience severe, terrifying thoughts and feelings, fear of losing control, fear of insanity and death, and despair while using LSD. Some fatal accidents, personal harm and violent assaults have occurred during states of LSD intoxication.

Myth: LSD is not addictive.

Fact: LSD does not produce compulsive drug seeking behavior like cocaine, alcohol, or nicotine, but LSD produces tolerance, so that users who take the drug repeatedly must take progressively higher and higher doses in order to achieve the same state of intoxication. This is an extremely dangerous practice, given the unpredictability of the drug, and can result in increased risk of convulsions, coma, heart and lung failure, and even death.

Myth: It’s said that using LSD causes the user to have visions that are beautiful and inspiring. What’s the harm in that?

Fact: There is no way to predict how it will affect the user. Depending on the dose, the drug can produce delusions and visual hallucinations, which can be frightening and cause panic. Terrifying thoughts and feelings, fear of insanity and death, injuries, and fatal accidents have occurred during LSD use.

Myth: Flashbacks, where the experiences while under the influence of LSD are recalled without warning, only happen for another few hours.

Fact: A flashback may occur within a few days or more than a year after LSD use. Flashbacks usually occur in people who use hallucinogens chronically or have an underlying personality problem; however, otherwise healthy people who use LSD occasionally may also have flashbacks.

Myth: If flashbacks are the only risk that comes from using LSD, that doesn’t seem like much, right?

Fact: Other risks include relatively long-lasting psychoses, such as
schizophrenia or severe depression.

“Myths and Facts” compiled from information provided courtesy of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

How Can Club or “Rape Facilitating” Drugs’ Harm Your Body?

2010-05-29T05:32:00.000-04:00

There are numerous dangers associated with club or rape-facilitating drugs.

 MDMA can cause a user's blood pressure and heart rate to increase to dangerous levels, and can lead to heart or kidney failure. It can cause severe hyperthermia from the combination of the drug's stimulant effect with the often hot, crowded atmosphere of a rave.

 Some heavy MDMA users experience long lasting confusion, depression, and selective impairment of working memory and attention processes.

 Rohypnol and GHB are predominantly central nervous system depressants. Because drugs used by sexual predators are often colorless, tasteless, and odorless, they can be added to beverages and ingested unknowingly. On the other hand, GHB may be tasteless but usually has a subtle salty flavor. GHB is hard to detect when mixed into a drink. If there is a taste, the person who has drugged your drink will no doubt explain it away. Do not drink it and call your parents for help immediately.

 Low-dose intoxication from ketamine results in impaired attention, learning ability, and memory. At higher doses, ketamine can cause delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function, high blood pressure, depression, and potentially fatal respiratory problems.

 Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant associated with serious health conditions, including memory loss, aggression, and potential heart and brain damage. Users can also display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions.

 Any of these drugs can cause death.

These facts are courtesy of the National Institute on Drug Abuse 2001 – 2006

Incidentally, alcohol, which is not officially considered a “date rape drug,” can also cause blackouts and memory loss, make it harder to resist sexual or physical assault, and cloud ones judgment and power to evaluate a potentially dangerous situation. In other words, it is wise to be alert to anyone who is trying to get you drunk. Alcohol is, after all, also a drug.

Before we move on to tips how a youngster, male or female, can protect themselves from drug facilitated rape, here’s what to do if it ever does happen to you. Don’t skip over these paragraphs. I realize it’s not terrific bedtime reading but knowledge is power and you may be able to help a friend – or yourself.

 Male or female, please don't feel guilty and don't just try to forget about it if this happens to you. You didn't ask to be raped. Any rape is a violent attack that can have traumatic effects on the victim for months and years afterward. Get help!

 If you have unaccounted for time, a lapse of memory, or wake up in a strange place, and feel you have been sexually assaulted, contact a local law enforcement agency immediately. Rapists are repeat offenders. By reporting this crime, you may save someone else from being attacked.

 Collect your first urine sample in a clean container. Important: this may be the only evidence linking the drug to the crime.

 Do not bathe, shower, douche, wash clothing, bedding, or disturb anything in the area where the assault occurred. You may destroy valuable evidence!

 Please get mad! Get sad, yes, that’s normal but also please allow yourself to be really angry. You are the good guy or gal. The criminal is the bad guy.

Please never forget that.

Note: No method is sure-fire but a combination of all of these tips will help make it much harder for anyone to take advantage of you or your friends.

1. Always travel in groups of friends you can trust to “watch your back” and stay with them. A good rule is “I came with them; I leave with them.”

2. Make a pact to watch each other’s drinks at all times. Remember, though, that it is YOU who is responsible for your safety.

3. Never set down an open bottle or glass. If you have to go to the bathroom and your friends are busy or seem distracted, take your drink with you.

4. Never take an open bottle or glass from anyone. A friend takes a bottle opener with her and buys bottled water, asking the server to leave the cap on the bottle. Water, incidentally, does not disguise the slightly salty taste of GHB.

5. If you set your open bottle or glass down even for a few seconds, buy a new one. Don’t drink from that one again.

6. Never drink from a punch or any large open top bowl. With “roofies” and GHB easily attainable, better be safe than sorry.

7. Don't accept drinks that you didn't see made. You might reconsider ordering mixed drinks.

8. Be as careful with non-alcoholic beverages as alcoholic ones. These drugs dissolve in non-alcoholic beverages as well as alcoholic ones. They mostly have no taste, they have no color, and they have no odor. GHB has a slightly salty taste that is hidden by sweet drinks.

9. Don't share or exchange drinks.

10. If you are in a conversation where your attention may be averted, put your hand over your drink and keep it there while you chat.

11. If you feel like you are becoming severely intoxicated after only 1 or 2 drinks, alert your friends and get help.

12. Never agree to leave the premises if someone wants you to go outside to get some fresh air, especially if it is someone you have just met.

If you think you have been given a rape-facilitating drug, call the Sexual Harassment & Assault Resource & Education crisis number or Urgent Care.

It is important to be tested as soon as possible.

These tips are courtesy of www.4women.gov and the Men Against Sexual Assault, University of Rochester, NY http://sa.rochester.edu/masa/

CLUB AND “RAPE” DRUGS

2010-05-26T05:52:00.000-04:00

MDMA (Ecstasy), GHB, Rohypnol, ketamine, methamphetamine, and LSD are considered club or party drugs. Club drugs are typically used by teens and young adults at all-night dance parties such as "raves" or "trances," clubs, and bars. Not only are these drugs dangerous to one’s own health, four of them have been known to be used as rape-facilitating drugs. Those four “rapists” drugs are MDMA, GHB, Rohypnol, and Ketamine.

Often, the raves where these drugs are used are promoted as alcohol-free events, which give parents a false sense of security that their children will be safe attending such parties. These parents are not aware that raves may actually be havens for the illicit sale and abuse of club drugs

Attendance at raves can range from 30 people in a small club to thousands in a stadium or open field. Because MDMA can cause users to involuntarily grind their teeth, ravers often chew on baby pacifiers or lollipops to offset this effect.

Additionally, ravers may use glowsticks and flashing lights to heighten the hallucinogenic properties of MDMA and visual distortions brought on by its use.

GHB, Rohypnol, Ketamine and Ecstasy (MDMA) remove memory, act as powerful muscle relaxants, and/or anesthetize the victims until they can not resist their assailants. The victim is then incapable of saying no – or anything else, for that matter.

Law enforcement agencies have cutting edge ways to trap and prosecute rapists who use drugs to facilitate their sexual assaults. They are putting these cowards and predators in prison for a lot of years. Further, our government is taking rape-facilitating drugs seriously. In Congress, lawmakers are creating sterner laws to help police and other law enforcement agencies to investigate, arrest, and prosecute rapists and other criminals using drugs to overpower victims.

One of the most visible “drug-facilitated rape” cases in our country recently put Max Factor heir and multimillionaire, Andrew Luster, behind bars for 124 years for drugging and raping three women. He was indicted on 87 charges, including poisoning and rape, and found guilty of 86 of them. Out on $1 Million bond, Luster ran to Mexico where he was apprehended by US Bounty Hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman. Luster lost his right to appeal by running so he will now live in a far less elegant address than he was accustomed to -- for 124 years.

Unscrupulous drug dealers – an oxymoron if I ever heard one – are now selling club and date rape drugs on the Internet. Naturally, they don’t send up a balloon offering “roofies” or “Ecstacy” or anything Mommies and Daddies might recognize. How about “computer cleaners guaranteed to be harmless if swallowed accidentally?”

Another good reason to have the family computer in full view of the entire family.

Some Myths and Facts about Club/“Rape Drugs”

MYTH: The victim will not remember what happened if they are raped.

FACT: The victim will sometimes wake up intermittently during the assault and have partial memories of it.

MYTH: The victim will never know they were raped.

FACT: The victim will realize they had sexual intercourse.

MYTH: They will just assume they had too much to drink and blacked out so the assault was their own fault.

FACT: Thanks to the wide spread educational news and crime reporting on the issue and prosecution of rapists using these drugs, many women will suspect being drugged and raped -- and know they are not at fault.

MYTH: The effects of the drugs can last for a few days after the assault so the victim will not be able to think clearly. All of the evidence will be gone by then.

FACT: Not always true. Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are all capable of investigative techniques that now make evidence-gathering, prosecution and conviction of rape drug predators more possible than ever.

In 1996 the Drug Induced Rape Prevention and Punishment Act was passed which makes it a felony to give a controlled substance to anyone with the intent of committing sexual assault or any other crime. People convicted of rape using a rape-facilitating drug may be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison – or much longer, as Mr. Luster can tell you.

STEROIDS – No Pain, No Gain?

2010-05-24T05:34:00.000-04:00

In America, sports stars found to be using steroids are facing tough times. Fat billion bucks endorsement contracts some expected from successful sports careers are being tossed in the nearest dumpsters as ad agencies and sponsors are taking a second look at not so squeaky clean athletes and Just Saying No.

The scientific name for this class of drugs is anabolic-androgenic steroids. Anabolic refers to muscle-building. Androgenic refers to increased male characteristics. But even scientists shorten it to anabolic steroids.

Steroids are synthetic substances similar to the male sex hormone testosterone. The primary medical use of anabolic steroids is to treat delayed puberty, some types of impotence, and wasting of the body caused by HIV infection or other diseases. But doctors never prescribe anabolic steroids to young, healthy people to help build muscles. Without a prescription from a doctor, steroids are illegal.

Street slang terms for steroids include “arnolds”, “gym candy”, “juice’, “pumpers”, “stackers”, and “weight trainers”. Some steroid users pop pills. Others use hypodermic needles to inject steroids directly into muscles. Abusers have been known to take doses 10 to 100 times higher than the amount prescribed for medical reasons by a doctor.

The Good News is most teens are smart and stay away from steroids.

The Bad News according to the most comprehensive survey of students in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades, 17.1 percent of eighth graders, 30.2 percent of tenth graders, and 41.1 percent of twelfth graders said that steroids were "fairly easy" or "very easy" to obtain. Furthermore, 60.2 percent of twelfth graders surveyed reported that using steroids had a great risk [of happening] during 2006. I don’t know about you but these percentages get translated to kids in danger pretty fast for me.

Three reasons youngsters use steroids is because they want to build muscles, reduce body fat or become a more powerful athlete. They either take it orally or inject it into their stomachs (yes, it hurts just thinking of that torturous act) or rub a cream form of steroids on themselves.

Ironically, they might be suffering from muscle dysmorphia, a condition in which a person has a distorted image of his or her body. Men with this condition think that they look small and weak, even if they are large and muscular. It’s the equivalent of anorexic young girls who literally starve themselves when they are already painfully and dangerously undernourished.

Health consequences associated with anabolic steroid abuse include:

 Hormonal system disruptions. Reduced sperm production, shrinking of the testicles, impotence, and irreversible breast enlargement in boys and men. Decreased body fat and breast size, voice deepening, excessive body hair, loss of scalp hair, and genital changes in girls and women

 Musculoskeletal system effects

 Premature and permanent growth termination among adolescents

 Cardiovascular diseases

 Heart attacks and strokes

 Liver diseases

 Potentially fatal cysts and cancer

 Skin diseases

 Acne and cysts

 Infections including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, and infective endocarditis, a potentially fatal inflammation of the heart’s lining.

 Increased aggressive behavior, particularly when high doses are taken. Depression, mood swings, fatigue, restlessness, loss of appetite, and reduced sex drive when steroid abuse is stopped.

These facts courtesy of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse

Research has shown that simply teaching students about steroids' adverse effects does not convince adolescents that they can be adversely affected. Nor does such instruction discourage young people from taking steroids in the future. Presenting both the risks and benefits of anabolic steroid use is more effective in convincing adolescents about steroids' negative effects, apparently because students find a balanced approach more credible.

Current knowledge is based largely on the experiences of a small number of physicians who have worked with patients undergoing steroid withdrawal. The physicians have found that supportive therapy is sufficient in some cases. Patients are educated about what they may experience during withdrawal and are evaluated for suicidal thoughts. If symptoms are severe or prolonged, medications or hospitalization may be needed. Some patients require assistance beyond pharmacological treatment of withdrawal symptoms and are treated with behavioral therapies.

Myths and Facts About Steroids

Most youths share information about the drugs they use. Unfortunately, most is locker room trash talk, also called myths. Take a look at some of them.

MYTH: Forget working out. Just pop some steroids and you’ll bulk up fast with no problem.

FACT: Not exactly. Steroids can make pimples pop up and hair fall out. They can make guys grow breasts and girls grow beards. Steroids can cause livers to grow tumors and hearts to clog up. They can even send users on violent, angry rampages. In other words, steroids throw a body way out of whack and then, it’s anybody’s guess what happens.

MYTH: There are no long-lasting harmful results.

FACT: Wrong. Some long-lasting health consequences for males and females include liver cancer, heart attacks, and elevated cholesterol levels. In addition to this, steroid use among adolescents may prematurely stop the lengthening of bones resulting in stunted growth.

MYTH: If I don’t like them, I’ll just stop taking them.

FACT: Some steroid abusers experience withdrawal symptoms that include mood swings, fatigue, loss of appetite, insomnia, reduced sex drive, and depression. This depression, if left untreated, can persist for a year or more after the abuser stops taking the drugs and can lead to suicide attempts.

MYTH: Using supplements that have steroids in them is not as dangerous as regular steroids.

FACT: In 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration was so concerned that these products, marketed as dietary supplements and promoted for building muscle and increasing strength, may cause serious long-term adverse health consequences in men, women, and children that many were warned to stop selling them or face seizure and injunction.

If you are a young athlete with a wish to shape your body, please check your local gym for a trainer who will design a program for you. One or two visits are usually inexpensive and you can then follow his or her training program on your own.

Marijuana - The Effects, Treatment and Recovery

2010-05-22T05:37:00.000-04:00

The effects of marijuana on each person depends on the type of cannabis and how much THC it contains; how the drug is taken; how experienced the user is; where the drug is used; and the use of other drugs and/or alcohol. Even genes can influence how cannaboids affect their physical and mental health. Although it’s common for some users to feel nothing at first use, others may feel high. Ordinary sights, sounds or tastes may seem extremely interesting or funny. Time seems to slow down. Sometimes the user feels very hungry or thirsty. As the immediate effects fade, usually after 2 to 3 hours, the user may become sleepy.

Short term use: Intoxication, a dry mouth, rapid heartbeat, some loss of coordination and poor sense of balance, and slower reaction time. Blood vessels in the eye expand, so the user's eyes look red. For some people, marijuana raises blood pressure and can double the normal heart rate.

Some users, especially someone new to the drug or in a strange setting, may suffer acute anxiety and have paranoid thoughts. This is more likely to happen with high doses of THC. In rare cases, a user who has taken a very high dose of the drug can have severe psychotic symptoms and need emergency medical treatment.

Stronger doses intensify reactions. The individual may experience shifting sensory imagery, rapidly fluctuating emotions, fragmentary thoughts with disturbing associations, an altered sense of self- identity, impaired memory, and a dulling of attention despite an illusion of heightened insight. High doses may result in image distortion, a loss of personal identity, fantasies, and hallucinations. This is one reason why hashish, or hashish oil, is so dangerous. These substances are a more concentrated, resinous form of cannabis. Hash oil, a sticky black liquid, is highly concentrated.

Long term effects: Marijuana hinders the user's short-term memory (memory for recent events), and he or she may have trouble handling complex tasks. With the use of more potent varieties of marijuana, even simple tasks can be difficult. Because of the drug's effects on perceptions and reaction time, users could be involved in auto crashes. Drug users also may become involved in risky sexual behaviors, which could lead to the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Under the influence of marijuana, students may find it hard to study and learn. Young athletes could find their performance is off; timing, movements, and coordination are all affected by THC.

Up until a few years ago, it was hard to find treatment programs specifically for marijuana users. Treatments for marijuana dependence were much the same as therapies for other drug abuse problems. These include behavioral therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy; multi-systemic therapy; individual and group counseling; and regular attendance at 12-step meetings. Recently, other methods to help marijuana users abstain from drug use were tested.

Progress in treatment to help marijuana users includes a number of programs set up to help adolescents in particular. Some of these programs are in university research centers, where most of the young clients report marijuana as their drug of choice.

Others are in independent adolescent treatment facilities. Speak to a professional therapist, pediatrician, physician or other professional counselor who has experience dealing with young marijuana-dependant users for information about appropriate treatment for your child. Each child is different. What are the underlying problems, if any?

Myths & Facts About Marijuana

2010-05-19T05:36:00.000-04:00

There are so many myths about marijuana that most users are the last ones to know the truth about “pot”, “mary jane”, “dooby-do”, “”blunts”, “ganji” or whatever the slang term for marijuana is this year. Let’s look at some:

MYTH: Marijuana is harmless.

FACT: Marijuana is more potent and harmful than ever because the THC put in it is more potent and harsh.

MYTH: Marijuana users are “mellow” – they don’t harm anyone like other drug users might.

FACT: Getting high on marijuana impairs judgment which can lead to risky decisions on issues like sex, criminal activity, or riding with someone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol or driving under the influence yourself. This can cause the death of innocent drivers and pedestrians.

MYTH: There are no long-term consequences to marijuana use.

FACT: Smoking marijuana can and have destroyed academic or job performances, and cause long term depression and anxiety.

MYTH: Marijuana is used for cancer patients so it can’t be harmful to anyone.

FACT: Smoked marijuana is not medicine. Even advocates of legalization of marijuana and medical proponents of its use for medicinal purposes say that youngsters should never use marijuana. It causes them physical, social, behavioral and academic harm.

MYTH: You can't get addicted to marijuana.

FACT: Wrong. Youths can get dependent on marijuana. Addiction is simply untreated dependency. Each year, more kids enter treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependence than for all other illicit drugs combined.

MYTH: So what if I buy marijuana? I’m not hurting anyone else.

FACT: Not true. Demand drives supply. Marijuana trafficking is a big, violent business whether the plants are grown on foreign soil or cultivated in basements, backyards, and farms in the United States. If drug criminals didn’t have buyers, they wouldn’t have any business. If you buy, you are part of the drug business. Get it?

MYTH: Okay, so drug dealers sometimes get killed. That doesn’t harm the “good guys.”

FACT: Again, not true. Much marijuana produced in America is grown on public land like national forests and parks, areas set aside to preserve wildlife habitats, provide playgrounds for children, and to serve as natural refuges for recreation. To protect their crops, marijuana growers use fishhooks hung at eye level, crude booby traps, bear traps, punji sticks and rat traps rigged with shotgun shells on these lands. Most marijuana grown on public land in the U.S. is grown in the national forests of California by armed, dangerous Mexican drug traffickers carrying high –powered assault weapons. Hunters, campers and others have been fired upon after stumbling by accident on these illegal marijuana “farms.”

In addition, there is a long list of innocent bystanders, including children and babies, who have been shot and killed during drug disputes. If you don’t buy, no one can sell. Still think no one is getting hurt but you? If you are not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

MYTH: Young kids aren’t exposed to marijuana.

FACT: Not true. Between 1991 and 2001, the number of 8th graders who used marijuana doubled from one in 10 to one in five.

MYTH: There's not much parents can do to stop their kids from "experimenting" with marijuana.

FACT: Not true. Most parents are surprised to learn that they are the most powerful influence on their children when it comes to drugs. BY STAYING INVOLVED, KNOWING
WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE DOING, AND SETTING FIRM LIMITS WITH CLEAR RULES AND NO-WIGGLE-ROOM CONSEQUENCES, YOU CAN KEEP YOUR KIDS DRUG FREE.

MYTH: Parents who experimented with marijuana in their youth are hypocrites if they tell their kids not to try it.

FACT: No. Times and people change. Much more is known today about the serious health and social consequences of using marijuana. One, the THC potency in marijuana, hashish/hash oil is stronger since the 1970s and quickly getting more so.

CANNABOIDS: Just “Kid Stuff?”

2010-05-17T05:21:00.000-04:00

Canniboids include marijuana, strong forms of cannabis including sinse-milla (sin-seh-me-yah), hashish ("hash” for short), and hash oil. All are produced from the hemp plant, Cannabis Sativa. . The main active chemical is (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC), the main drug in marijuana – which includes hashish and hash oil -- plus more than 400 other chemicals!

All forms of cannabis are mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs; however, the effect on the user depends on the strength or potency of the THC it contains. The THC potency has increased since the 1970s and continues to increase.

According to recent government studies, lifetime marijuana abuse decreased among 10th-graders, from 34.1 percent in 2005 to 31.8 percent in 2006. It also reports that marijuana abuse fell by 36 percent among 8th-graders this past year.

Nearly 45 percent of U.S. teenagers try marijuana before finishing high school. It is the most commonly used illegal drug in the U.S.

Why do youngsters use marijuana? Curiosity and the desire to fit into a social group are common reasons. Youngsters who already smoke cigarettes and/or use alcohol are at high risk for marijuana use. Parents, grandparents, and older siblings in the home who use alcohol or drugs are role models many children follow. Some young people are influenced by friends who use drugs and urge them to do the same. Once a child starts using marijuana, they may become dependant upon it, making it hard for them to stop using it.

Others mention psychological coping as a reason for their use - to deal with anxiety, anger, depression, boredom, and so forth. They take the drugs to stop the pain, not to die. Inner emotional pain drives youngsters to drugs of all kinds to help them “numb out.”

For any youth who is reading this: if you are a user, you need and can get help. Think of all the adults in your life: a preacher you trust, a teacher, a doctor, even a neighborhood policeman or woman you like and trust can be approached. Using drugs is not the end of your story. Each day is a new beginning.

Cocaine

2010-05-15T05:11:00.000-04:00

Cocaine, also known as Coke, Dust, Snow, Flake, Blow, Toot, Nose candy, Her, She or Girl produces a carefree feeling, relaxation, a sense of being in total control and such an intense “high” that nothing and no one means anything to the user but that feeling. Cocaine “high” causes the user’s behavior to change radically. He or she may become more sociable but will also become more arrogant and domineering. Its use can make the user aggressive, both verbally and physically.

According to scientists involved in neuroscience, cocaine use negatively affects the functioning of neurons (cells located in the brain and spinal cord), primarily in the prefrontal cortex, but also in a number of other areas in the brain.

The result is a reduced ability to weigh benefits versus drawbacks and a reduced ability to control behavior.

Cocaine has recently become the drug most frequently involved in emergency room visits. Major affects that usually cause a cocaine abuser to go to an emergency room include severe headache, seizures, loss of consciousness that can be caused by not breathing or bleeding in the brain, stroke, hyperthermia (increased body temperature), coma, loss of vital support functions such as low blood pressure, slow heart rate, slow respirations, and death.

Cocaine hydrochloride, distributed on the street, looks like a fine white powder. It is frequently “cut” or mixed with crystalline vitamin C, which has a similar appearance. “Crack” cocaine is hydrochloride cocaine “cooked” with ammonia or baking soda and water. It resembles white chips, chunks or rocks and is usually delivered in a thin glass tube that may look like a cigar or laboratory test tube.

Now for the glamorous part. The effects on the human body:

Cocaine in powder form is sniffed up one’s nostrils. We’ve all seen this demonstrated in films and television shows that often claim to be anti-drug messages. Anyone who believes that still believes in the tooth fairy. It’s “show and tell” for our kids – and to add insult to injury, we pay to support these “messages.” Hello?

All this sniffing of highly irritating chemicals down the nose not only helps the cocaine to reach the brain very quickly, thereby inducing an intense “high” but it burns out the mucous in nostrils. Constant snorting can eventually cause the nasal septum to collapse. Red nostrils and seemingly unwarranted nosebleeds are one sign of cocaine abuse. Needle “tracks” or red raw-looking scars on ones arms – or legs – can be a sign of injecting cocaine. Sharing needles to inject cocaine offers the added risk of acquiring HIV infection/AIDS. Cardiac arrest or seizures related to cocaine use can cause death. Incidentally, cocaine is considered both a narcotic and a stimulant.

Since cocaine is a very expensive “high”, it’s usually connected with large sums of missing moneys, theft of expensive jewelry, household items or electronics, cash, negotiable checks, and/or criminal behavior including shop lifting, muggings, burglaries and prostitution among both genders.

Most cocaine addicts are over 26 but some are only 15. That said, cocaine abuse and addiction continues to be a problem that plagues our nation. For instance, from 1965 to 1967, only 0.1 percent of youths surveyed had ever used cocaine, but rates rose throughout the 1970s and 1980s, reaching 2.2 percent in 1987. After a brief decline, lifetime prevalence rates peaked at 2.7 percent in 2002.

The worse news is that while we worry about the health and safety and life expectancy of users, we sometimes ignore the impact of drug abuse on the innocent non-user.

Those not so wise folks who use cocaine live on the myths they embrace about cocaine. Let’s share some of them with you.

Myth: Cocaine is NOT addictive.

Fact: Cocaine is highly addictive, especially in its “crack” or condensed form. The addiction is physical and psychological. In studies, animals addicted to cocaine preferred the drug to food, even when it meant they would starve. Some users report being hooked after one use.

Myth: Cocaine is a safe drug.

Fact: Common physical effects include damage to the inside of the nose, increased heart and pulse rate or irregular heart and pulse rate (arrhythmia), sweating, nausea, paranoia and hallucinations, increased blood pressure and strokes. Sniffing cocaine can and does damage the nasal septum and nasal passages. That’s why “coke heads” have violent nosebleeds.

Myth: There is no hangover.

Fact: The “crash” or “low” that follows the “high” can be so bad, it can lead to depression and suicidal thoughts.

Myth: Cocaine really makes you swing on your job or in the arts, and sexually. Maybe at first that may seem to be so.

Fact: Long time use eliminates interest in jobs, sports, school or sex. Long term use can cause loss of concentration, energy, memory, and can cause anxiety, irritability, paranoia, and loss of interest in sex. A cocaine habit can cost thousands of dollars a week to maintain.

Myth: Using cocaine is glamorous.

Fact: It can cost you everything you own or hope to own and your future. It often leads to criminal acts like prostitution, theft, burglary, and worse. It can destroy your health, your professional life, your sex life, and your financial security.

Paying through the nose is not just a saying if you use cocaine.

From Street Drugs to Prescription Drugs

2010-05-12T05:17:00.000-04:00

In 2002, more than 26,000 people died in the U.S. as a direct consequence of drug use. That does not include those killed as a consequence of drug-using behavior, like deaths caused by drivers whose perceptions, coordination and/or decision making skills were grossly impaired by drugs.

According to the largest teen drug use survey in the United States, there’s been a 23 percent reduction in the number of young people using drugs since 2001. This includes fewer teens using marijuana and methamphetamines (meth). However, prescription drug abuse among teens is rapidly increasing, as is inhalant abuse. Prescription drug abuse now ranks second to marijuana as the nation's largest illegal drug problem, with nearly 6.4 million people reporting non-medical use.
Facts courtesy of the White House’ 2007 National Drug Control Strategy Plan

“After an increase in LSD use during the 1990s, the reported rates of LSD use by young people have declined by nearly two-thirds since 2001,” reports the Strategy Plan. This is attributed to the dismantling of the world’s leading LSD manufacturing organization in 2000.

“MDMA (Ecstasy) use has made a similar dramatic turnaround since U.S. law enforcement partnered with the Netherlands to disrupt several major MDMA trafficking organizations in recent years.” the Plan says.

Before you heave a huge sigh of relief, the latest drugs of choice are in your medicine cabinet. Prescription drugs are now the second most commonly used illegal drug by teens to get high, after marijuana. A majority of teens who use these products are getting them easily -- and often for free.

"Parents need to know that teens are turning away from street drugs and increasingly abusing prescription drugs to get high. They should also be aware that suppliers of these drugs . . . are more likely close friends or relatives," said John P. Walters, Office of National Drug Control Policy’s director. "Too many young people see popping pills as a painless high."

Moving on to Phase Three

2010-05-10T05:25:00.000-04:00

Having identified the source of our problem in phase two and cultivated a daily practice over long periods of time, we have now arrived at a level where the solution becomes more experiential for us each day. Having practiced our spiritual principles of recovery, we now know that the spiritual foundation of our recovery is to put principles before individual personalities. This is the spiritual foundation of the 12-step recovery groups. Now that we have spent considerable time establishing a strong foundation apart from our most fundamental addictions and attachments, and have gained some freedom from these problems, we can venture into other practices to supplement our recovery. In phase three, we no longer live in the problem but rather in the solution.

As recovering addicts, we may tend to gravitate toward some of the more intense writings in order to increase our understanding of spiritual truth. Still, nothing can replace the actual work that has to be done in the early phases of recovery and which will always serve as the foundation of our spiritual path. Reading these sacred texts over and over will not help the stubborn addict who refuses to take action and seek out help from other addicts or alcoholics. It is in our humility that we have first learned to practice spirituality and not through our “elevated” intellectual stance. It is in the taking action and living of the experience of spiritual truth which makes the greatest personal impression in our lives and becomes the cornerstone from which our future advancements will be made.

Regardless of the phase of our recovery, we must always recognize that nobody needs to be a literary expert about the many spiritual writings or teachers in order to be truly spiritual. Simply knowing that there is the possibility for a better life may be enough to inspire us to improve ourselves and begin our spiritual life. We may have already begun to cultivate an experience which is similar to the experience of these teachers and authors of these great books regardless of our intellectual knowledge. It is not necessary to read every book and visit every teacher in order to achieve a truly spiritual life.

Through the practices of prayer, contemplation and meditation, we may develop a relationship with a Higher Power that transcends the many differences of religions or teachings and which recognizes that all truth comes from the same ultimate Source. Regardless under what name, the fundamental spiritual intention is the same.

In phase three recovery, we have learned that it doesn’t matter which drug or addictive behavior we had been controlled by because another problem was always waiting beneath the surface anyway. Similarly, it doesn’t matter which form of spiritual truth we may pursue as long as it works for us. Every addiction is merely another means to keeping us separate from our Higher Power and this separation is at the heart of the addiction’s structure. With courage, willingness and love, we learn to overcome the obstacles that our addiction places in front of us and to move ahead toward a more spiritual vision of the world around us. This opens our heart to the higher levels of spiritual power which are now available to us through perseverance and intention.

Anything is possible for us in the spiritual life and, with devotion and perseverance; we discover that the road is open to us just like it has been for many others throughout history. We are all part of the totality of the universe and our very existence is the validation that an experience of this totality is also possible for us. All we need to do is make a conscious decision to begin and the road will open up ahead of us in its infinite potential.

Progress and Failure

2010-05-08T05:20:00.000-04:00

Progress and failure are a necessary part of the freedom from addiction journey. Once we truly decide that this is the most important thing in our lives, the biggest roadblock to our freedom will be removed.

Taking action is easy. Sticking to a plan is hard. Many people start with a list of the things they want to work on and mark off their progress on a daily calendar. They cultivate a serious intention about this project and watch themselves as they make some successful efforts and initial failures. For them, however, the underlying principle remains the same all along the way.

Maintaining their devotion to a new set of behaviors and continually practicing self-observation are the keys. Whether we feel we are being successful or we are failing, we continue to observe ourselves and learn what makes us tick. We look closely at our emotions and the way they control our behavior. This self-observation is the energy that eventually begins to erode the negative hold that our addiction and our ego have upon us. At first it takes a lot of effort but eventually we start to lose those old feelings of depression or fear and they are replaced with a more peaceful equanimity in our lives. It isn’t just luck or accident that makes some people more peaceful and happy. It is the result of long periods of spiritual work that help them to develop a happier life.

The bottom line is that if you truly want to be free, nothing will be able to stop you. Clarity of intention is the foundation of the spiritual life, and it states that your desire for freedom, your impulse to evolve, has to become more important to you than anything else in this world. Wanting to be free more than anything else is not a feeling; it’s an action. -Andrew Cohen

Focusing on Ourselves

2010-05-05T05:36:00.000-04:00

One thing that is extremely easy to see are the problems of others, but the things that are extremely hard to see are the problems in ourselves. This is why very few people ever truly uncover the solution to addiction and discover their true Self. The true Self is our Higher Power and we can’t be developing a relationship with our Self if we are constantly focused on other people’s problems. Turning toward the problems of others may eventually become a diversion and distraction if we don’t remember the true nature of spiritual growth.

It isn’t up to us to determine whether someone is doing what is best for them. When we can’t keep the focus on ourselves, a sponsor from a twelve step group may help us to see how the problems we see in others are really a reflection of our own problems. Rather than wanting to look at our own problems, we immediately start to notice how “they” are talking too much or “they” aren’t really working their spiritual program. In actuality, it is us who is at fault and we are projecting our own problems onto others. Almost instantaneously, as if by some strange contagious virus, we have caught the same problem that we thought we noticed in another. If we aren’t skilled at observing ourselves, this fact will elude us completely and stunt our progress on the spiritual path for many years.

Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll
understand what little chance you have in trying to
change others. -Jacob Braude

When we turn to point our finger, even for a second, we have lost focus on ourselves and given up our practice of “seeing the problem”. We have started to become experts at how “others” become egotistical. We have started to develop what is commonly termed “The spiritual ego”. To continually see how others are falling short and constantly be speaking about the great knowledge we have acquired is often a distraction from true self-observation and authentic change in ourselves. Rather than looking at ourselves, we become obsessed with the behavior of others. We point our finger and refer to others as “control freaks” or “those lost in their egos”. Though we may not think we fall under that heading ourselves, we all have this buried behind our own wall of denial. It manifests itself constantly in every thought and emotion we may have. Any addict who has ever given up his or her addictions knows this first hand. You begin to see that you too have been suffering from a hidden “control freak” mechanism or that somehow, without realizing it, you too are “lost in your ego”.

Seeing of the problem

2010-05-03T05:34:00.000-04:00

As we progress in phase two, we come to recognize the most important truth about spiritual development. The real solution to multiple addictions is not in becoming perfect or becoming a saint. The real solution is in just one thing. It is in the seeing of the problem. This is a much bigger task than it may sound.

Early on in our recovery, we stressed the importance of taking action. We took concrete steps to change our lives and found that a Higher Power was necessary to make these changes. Now that those changes have happened, we begin to look at ourselves from a new perspective. We do this through the eyes of a Higher Power which makes “seeing the problem” a completely different experience than it might have been before.

“Seeing the problem” is a simple thing to say but an extremely hard thing to do. It first takes a devoted form of action in our lives and then it takes a new perception that can only come through a relationship with a Higher Power. Seeing the problem in ourselves requires continual attention each and everyday. It requires a determination that very few people have to both maintain a new lifestyle and maintain a new vision. We must look deeply at ourselves and the way we live our lives each day but remember that it isn’t we who are doing these things. This is an ability that can only be developed over long periods of time. It can be easily talked about but is rarely experienced.

The solution of “seeing the problem” cannot be overstated nor can it be over-applied in our lives when it comes to multiple addiction. We may sometimes feel guilt or shame about something we have done in the past but a new found relationship with a Higher Power will assure us that these experiences no longer belong to the person we used to be. That person who we thought we were was part of our ego and we no longer act that way anymore.

When we truly begin to see that the solution involves every aspect of who we are, it starts to become apparent that it involves a complete change of lifestyle for us. We have to change our behavior and our attitude in such a way as to make it easier to see our own problems. Stopping the old behaviors is the first part of this process. Learning to see ourselves in a new way is the next step. We have to move away from the more destructive addictions into the more benign ones and ultimately to an entirely different experience of who we are. We have to make “seeing” an easier thing to do but also recognize that this is a process rather than an “instant fix”. If we decide that this is too much for us, we may turn back for a while and return to some of our earlier habits. If we are serious, however, and decide that we want something better, we may finally decide to begin some more serious changes.

"Finding Spirituality"

2010-05-01T05:33:00.000-04:00

A final element of phase two recovery that must be acknowledged is spirituality. Many recovering addicts who begin to get a glimpse of some progress in their lives, soon begin to read and learn a lot of information about spirituality and can be heard talking about everything they have learned until they are blue in the face! This is a very natural part of phase two recovery which is oftentimes referred to as "finding spirituality". The "finding spirituality" may or may not have anything to do with religion or your religious beliefs.

Spirituality isn’t such a bad thing to have as we enter phase two of our recovery because it allows us to celebrate our progress in a somewhat harmless manner. The only person who has to suffer is the person who lives with us! Our ongoing lectures and speeches about the "spiritual truths" we have discovered can become pretty tedious for our loved ones. Hopefully, we don’t drive the ones we love away as we profess all our great new realizations! If we can eventually become more humble and quiet in our spiritual progress, we will keep the ones we love close at hand and make them our partners in our spiritual journey. A silent humility is the greatest example we can give to the people who are closest to us and we might be best to save our speeches for meetings or spiritual groups which are better suited for that end.

People are naturally excited that they have made some progress and they are eager to move ahead at an extremely fast pace. Although big leaps in consciousness are sometimes seen to happen, most recovering addicts and alcoholics have found constancy and persistence to be a more common experience in recovery.

Continual "speedy progress" has not been possible for other addicts and learning to settle into some daily habits is part of the program for any serious student of spiritual work. It is common for us to forget that progress takes time. We have to go through the ups and the downs to really make a truly spiritual life.

“Pink Cloud” Syndrome

2010-04-28T05:17:00.000-04:00

Many addicts and alcoholics have referred to the early stages of recovery as being typical of a “pink cloud” syndrome in which the first signs of success make a person think they are “free forever”. In phase two, we learn that this is not the case. We may have stopped our drinking or our co-dependant relationship but we haven’t rooted out the real culprit beneath the surface. Without humility and a true relationship with Higher Power, we know that our efforts will not likely have a lasting effect. Our Higher Power helps us to keep tabs on the addiction and to continually develop spiritually.

In order to keep its hold on the person, the addiction looks for any chance to lull us into a complacency and tell us that we don’t need to make the same efforts we used to make. “We are cured!” says the addiction and gives us the “ok” to give up on this spiritual quest. If we listen to the lies of our addiction, we will soon be presented with a rude awakening and find ourselves right back in phase one of our recovery.

If we are wise, and wish to move on to phase two recovery, we will likely have seen others whose pride has led them into dangerous places and who have relapsed or even ended up in worse places than when they first started. As we now know, although we may be able to quit the first addiction, another one will certainly raise its ugly head and a legion of addictions will eventually appear which never were a problem beforehand. This is the wisdom that countless addicts and alcoholics have found to be the truth after years of abstinence from either one drug or one behavior in their lives. Multiple addictions are the true reality which hides beneath the surface and only the very determined seeker who sticks by their commitment to overcome this disease will ever understand this problem at its root. In phase two recovery we begin to see that our addiction is a constant source of problems and every addiction can ultimately lead us back to the earlier phase of our recovery if we aren’t careful.

Determined quitters in phase two have sometimes compared addiction to a sinking ship. The "captain", who runs the ship, is racing around trying to plug up the holes in the stern. Just when the captain thinks he's got all the holes plugged, he gets the terrible news that there are a whole new set of leaks at the bow of the ship. The leaks just keep on coming! People who try to quit smoking always end up eating a lot more. Girlfriends who break up with their abusive spouse "Butch" always ends up marrying another chauvinist named "Rocko". The problem, which has always been the same, continues to spring up and create a leak. Phase two recovery shows us how to keep watch on these problems each and every day. Through prayer and meditation, we may begin to develop a deeper relationship with a Higher Power that can get us through our darkest times.

Regardless of the changing perceptions and changing fads of each drug or addictive behavior, as long as the real problem is not identified, the underlying problem continues. Many centuries ago, it was opium and alcohol that were the big problem. Today, it is "ecstasy" and "crack cocaine". The different addictions have changed but, if we are to make a real go at the process of recovery, we must begin to look more closely at the real underlying problem in order to get to the real solution. In phase two recovery we begin to read more and more material about spiritual recovery and how to address the problems of our addiction. We begin to join more groups and to expand our circle of friends into new areas. We take on new jobs and greater challenges in order to face our fears and to overcome our negative emotions such as apathy, depression or anger. Each day becomes an added challenge to facing our character defects and making ourselves more suited to what will eventually become phase three of our recovery.

Phase Two Recovery - Dawn of a New Life

2010-04-26T05:32:00.000-04:00

Phase two signals the dawn of a new life and some freedom to tackle new challenges that we may have never thought we were capable of in the past. Still, the addiction has likely been devising some new plans during these changes we have made and it isn't going to give up that easy. Our addiction has been around for a while and it isn’t going to give up its hold on us in just one day. Although we have gotten some freedom from our most troubling addictions, we still must recognize that we cannot abandon our efforts just because we have a bit of freedom. We are grateful to a Higher Power for the new freedom we have gained but we don’t become overly prideful else we might lose the progress we have made.

Actual experience brings a newfound relationship with a Higher Power. It can be heard in our voices and seen in our body language once it starts to take effect in our lives. We are happier, calmer and more confident than we have been. Our spiritual life has taken hold of us through our actions and our addiction is no longer running the show as it did before. Actions develop and change as we progress. As our actions change, so do our perceptions of ourselves. This can be a good thing but it can also signal a new chance for our addiction to take over if we aren’t careful. We may start to focus more on our intellectual understanding of addiction rather than our practical recovery. If we wish to truly maintain our place in phase two recovery, we must remember that the addiction never sleeps! Rather than seeing these great new changes as something that "we" have done, we now begin to see the need to remember our Higher Power in everything that we have. Maintaining our humility is the critical element of phase two recovery.

Although the addiction refuses to be rooted out, we still know that some progress has been made in phase two. This is something that we can point our fingers at in our lives. We no longer drink as we used to drink! We no longer hide from the personal problems that we have suffered from. Still, we now know that addiction is extremely clever so it will typically celebrate the achievements of recovery with an overly strong sense of pride which can sometimes be our downfall. For this, we have turned to a Higher Power to help us through the trials and tribulations that recovery might bring.

Understanding Our Problem

2010-04-24T05:27:00.000-04:00

The different drugs and behaviors that make up the various addictions continue to change for us everyday. They are like a virus that keeps mutating into a newer and stronger strains. Although, the underlying principle of recovery remains the same, the more determined quitter comes to see that it is more than one drug or one drink or even a certain set of behaviors that are causing the problem. It is actually a self-centeredness in our ego which is a the root of this very common disease. We want to believe that we are all powerful and all knowing and it is our ego which constantly reminds us of this desire. Coming to understand the manner in which our negative emotions hold us down and prevent us from experiencing a more happy existence is the first part of understanding our problem.

The very core of the ego can be seen as an addiction in and of itself and that, in spiritual work, a constant stream of thoughts and emotions must eventually be transcended if we are to reach our True Self. Learning to sit still and be quiet can be extremely hard for many of us who have been running and gunning most of our lives. In phase two, however, we learn that overcoming the addictive tendencies of the ego is now a wider project that includes our entire ego.

After we gain some freedom from our old habits, we may begin to look toward an even greater degree of happiness in our future. This is something that we may only begin to envision in phase two of our recovery. It is one of the greatest gifts of a spiritually determined person to know that they have made real progress and that they now have a very real spiritual life which they can build upon in order to make their life even better than it has already become.

Finding a Higher Power

2010-04-21T05:28:00.000-04:00

Having learned that we can’t make any real or lasting progress on our own, we begin to find the courage to look elsewhere, outside of ourselves, for some help. This may involve various groups, counselors, teachers and books to aid us in our recovery. Emotional maturity comes through hard work. We don't become doctors and lawyers and accountants without studying hard and going to school and we won't gain emotional maturity without also putting a lot of extra effort and time into the project.

Typically, the things that we find ourselves afraid to do will be a signal to us in phase one of our recovery. If we are afraid to go to meetings, then we probably need more meetings. If we don’t like to sit still and read, then we probably need to sit still and read. In Phase one recovery, we begin to see that our entire being is subject to our own selfish inner will. We have to examine ourselves and search for our weaknesses. We have to also begin to utilize the higher emotions that will replace the older negative emotions. A “Higher Power” becomes a reality when we learn to face our inner attractions or aversions and, instead, instill that Higher Power into our lives.

Of course, the application of the ideas which are presented in the 12-step groups take a lot work and effort to be put into practice. Attending 12-step meetings and changing our lifestyle won’t just happen by reading a book. It will take a stringent application of many of the suggestions which are commonly given at these groups such as reaching out to help others, providing service to others, utilizing prayer and meditation for a better life. It is not something that can be talked about so much as it has to be done. As we begin to take these ideas seriously, we begin to look at the things that we "over-indulge" in and begin to watch ourselves more closely around our negative behaviors. We may keep better track of our spending habits or our obsessive television watching. We may start a daily calendar and check off the number of times we did something we told ourselves we “wouldn't do”. Once we have safely put our worst habits behind us, it then becomes possible to actually look at other habits that we never even dreamed of changing. This is the process of phase one recovery and the beginning of a relief from the problem of multiple addictions.

We might never have thought about changing other habits in our lives if we hadn’t cleared the landscape of the first and most detrimental phase one addictions or attachments. These attachments were often associated with our most negative emotions like shame and guilt. Many people carry these addictions into their thirties and forties without ever really facing their own spiritual development. As spiritual aspirants, the initial "clearing away" is the means by which a Higher Power eventually enters our lives. We also come to recognize that recovery wasn’t really possible without that Higher Power. Phase one recovery is a process toward a greater happiness for us and a greater happiness for the others around us.

Phase One Recovery

2010-04-19T05:12:00.000-04:00

Although it would be impossible to accurately tell someone they have “entered a certain phase” of recovery, we can generally divide recovery into three levels or phases for a simpler means of explaining the process. Phase one has likely been achieved by everyone at some time or another because we all get to a point in our lives where we want to change something about ourselves in order to be more happy. Let’s look at the most common time of year when people try to “quit” some bad habit......“New Years Day”. Remember how you quit for a while because of the guilt or the dissatisfaction you were experiencing in your life? Then you wanted to go back to the same old behavior but you "forced" yourself not to? This was phase one recovery. If you stayed away for a while, you felt a little better. If not, you told yourself “at least I tried”. Everyone has tried to quit something or thought about doing it at least one time in their lives and everyone has two or three different habits that they would like to quit if they only had the will power. Trying to quit these habits is what is commonly referred to as Phase one recovery.

For those of us who really get serious about quitting, there is an eventual crossroads we must come to somewhere along the way. Should we go back to that same habit again and try to attempt some kind of "moderation" or should we decide to give it up for good? This crossroads is a place where many people turn back and never come to see the true nature of multiple addictions. They never move on to phase two because they didn’t believe there was more beneath the surface. For those others who stay away for good, however, there is a surprising truth that is soon revealed.

Quitting any kind of serious bad habit requires a complete change of lifestyle which brings about the need for other experiences and other habits. In phase one recovery, we learn to substitute our old habits for new ones. Sometimes these new habits are better and less destructive to ourselves and others. Sometimes the new habits are not much better. Whichever the case, in phase one recovery, we start to see that something else must always come along to replace the old problem and, if it doesn’t give us something better, then it leaves us with an entirely new problem. Serious quitters find that it wasn't really the “alcohol” or the “drugs” or the abusive spouse named "Butch" which was their problem. The real problem was always further beneath the surface. Experiencing this is a lot different from just hearing about it. You just can’t just get it by reading a book! You have to go out there and do it!

Phase one recovery presents a person with the actual experiences which are unique to them and which show them the nature of their own personal addictions or attachments. It sets the stage for a truly spiritual life. If we don’t have the devotion or the commitment to completely give something up, we may never come to the point where we can move beyond phase one. Many people never make it far enough to ever experience a new sense of self. They remain children trapped in a grown-ups body.

For phase one recovery, we begin to see what kind of emotional effort it will eventually take to move out of a very serious addiction. This is because addictions are necessarily fueled by our negative emotions and giving these emotions up takes a concerted effort on our part to both witness these emotions in our lives and substitute them for more positive attitudes. In phase one, we learn what it means to need a “Higher Power” for the solution and to give up our old negative emotions which have previously been ruining our lives. We now begin to understand what being a better person can mean to us and we start to have new ideas about the person we could eventually become. We may begin to ask ourselves; “ Does every habit have to be replaced with something new that ultimately becomes the same problem over again?” We don’t just ask this intellectually anymore. Now we begin to ask it through an actual experience of quitting our bad habits and through a real life experience of sacrificing the lower level emotions for the higher ones.

Finding out that there are other problems beneath the surface is all part of phase one recovery. This discovery may be put off for any number of reasons but one of the primary reasons for avoiding this truth is that it sometimes brings about an initial sense of hopelessness or powerlessness in many of us. We want to believe that we are capable of doing anything on our own and that we don’t really need any one else’s help. We want to feel “all-powerful” and we rationalize our problems away so as to be capable of imagining that this fantasy of “all-powerfulness” were somehow true. Confronting the powerlessness of our ego, however, is part of becoming an adult. It is the most important thing that will bring us out of phase one recovery and begin to transition us into phase two of our spiritual growth.

Prevention needs a comprehensive, communitywide approach

2010-04-17T05:18:00.000-04:00

Although schools can and should play a role in prevention education, Join Together concluded they "should not be relied upon to act as the principal provider of general prevention programs." What works best, they said, is a comprehensive community prevention strategy that includes parents and other social institutions. Schools should also work with parents and these institutions to identify and support students who exhibit early behavior patterns that might be precursors to adolescent substance abuse.

Communities can help prevention efforts by implementing strategies that help reduce underage drinking, such as raising alcohol taxes (the five states with the highest beer taxes have much lower rates of teen binge drinking); tightening the age and terms of drivers' licenses for adolescents; adopting social host laws where adults who serve alcohol to minors are held accountable; controlling the number of alcohol outlets in a particular area; and doing frequent compliance checks to deter sales to minors.

Instead of wasting time and money on ineffective prevention strategies, Join Together recommends that schools adopt proven prevention programs that are researched-based, involve parents and community, offer teacher training and support, and use interactive teaching methods. They also suggest that teachers have easy access to prevention materials, and such information be supplemented in after-school and extra-curricular activities. Ideally, schools should also offer opportunities where older students are trained to help teach younger students about alcohol and drug abuse. Finally, when teachers and administrators have substance abuse prevention education specified as part of their job, their performance should be included in their formal evaluations.

"As the leading publisher of research-based prevention programs, Hazelden knows from experience how effective such programs are in reducing adolescent alcohol and drug use," said Marty Harding, prevention specialist at Hazelden. "But it takes a solid commitment from communities and schools to provide the time and resources necessary so such strategies can be put into action. Select the programs carefully and make sure teachers are given enough training and time to implement them. And be sure to involve parents. When parents, schools, and community join forces and send consistent messages to our young people, it empowers them to make responsible choices, and amazing things can happen."

Go to www.jointogether.org (click on "Get Involved" and "Resources") to access the complete report, "Prevention Education in America's Schools: Findings and Recommendations from a Survey of Educators."

Alive & Free is a health column that offers information to help prevent and address addiction and substance abuse problems. It is provided by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide range of information and services on addiction and recovery. For more resources, call Hazelden at 1-800-257-7800 or check its Web site at www.hazelden.org.

Achieving healthy friendships: A lifeline to sobriety

2010-04-14T05:14:00.000-04:00

There is an old song that goes "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." While those words work well when sung around a campfire, the reality is that we can't keep each and every friend we make throughout our lives. As we grow more solidly into who we are ultimately becoming, some friendships refashion themselves to accommodate our changes, some friendships have to fade away, and sometimes new and healthier friendships emerge when we let go of a toxic relationship.

"When I was using, it was very clear who my friends were; they were the people I could get high with and the folks who provided the dope," said a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. "Now that I'm sober I realize I never really had any true friends. I learned through AA that friendship takes work and it's not just about me."

Friendship should be treated as a verb--a process of finding out how we want to relate to others and how we want others to relate to us. Friendship takes practice being with other people and learning from our interactions. It is a mutual bond of respect, trust, and vulnerability that encourages healthy growth and acceptance.

For people in recovery from alcoholism, a healthy friendship can be a lifeline to sobriety, just as an unhealthy relationship can be a threat to hard-won abstinence. "It is crucial for recovering people to discern between relationships that are affirming and those that keep them stuck in old roles," said Rosemary Hartman, supervisor of Hazelden's Family Services. "If one friend is in recovery and one isn't, there's a power differential."

People who are chemically dependent themselves often feel threatened when a friend enters recovery, because they may be encouraged to look at their own drug or alcohol use, said Hartman. "They may argue against the person's belief that they have a problem, or pressure them to go to social events or places they know will have drugs or alcohol."

It's often harder for older people in recovery to let go of unhealthy friendships, because friends may have a long history with each other that includes many positive memories, and it's harder in later years to meet new friends, said Hartman. She said recovering people of all ages should ask themselves, "When do I spend time with this person? Have I always used with him or her and do they encourage me to use more? Does this person affirm my efforts to stay sober?"

Hartman said you need to be assertive yet kind, compassionate yet honest with friends, and set new boundaries that honor and insure your abstinence. If your friend cannot support your recovery, you should take a break or end the relationship. "Behave with integrity," she suggests. "Although we can't control how someone else will behave, we are responsible for our own behavior."

Saying goodbye to a friend can be painful, but members of a recovery group can often help because they are also working to maintain healthy relationships in their sobriety. Hartman suggested that, in addition to their regular groups, men and women might benefit from attending an all-male or all-female group where they can meet new friends.

"If you started using at age 14, most of your friendships will be based on using and you'll have little practice on how to make friends," she said. "Recovery groups are safe places to practice new skills. Focus on forming friendships that allow you to be the kind of person you want to be."

Recovery means change, not just for the person who embarks on the recovery journey, but for his or her friends and loved ones, too. Choosing whether to continue a relationship is an important part of recovery, but the better the choices are, the more solid recovery--and friendship--will be.

________________________________________
--Published June 28, 2004
Alive & Free is a health column that provides information to help prevent substance abuse problems and address such problems. It is created by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide range of information and services on addiction. For more resources, email or call Hazelden at 800-257-7810 (outside the US 651-213-4200).

Relapse starts well before the decision to drink or drug again

2010-04-12T05:10:00.000-04:00

There's an old saying about recovery from dependence on alcohol or other drugs: Staying clean and sober is easy. Just change everything about your thinking and behavior, and do it now.

According to Al Tighe, supervisor of Continuum Services at Hazelden, it is "stinking thinking" that usually precedes relapse—a return to drinking or other drug use after a period of abstinence.
Tighe has worked in the field of relapse prevention for 23 years. He says that relapse often comes as a surprise to the person in recovery.

"The most common situation I see is a person who wakes up at eight in the morning and says that he feels fine—and then ends up in detox that night," says Tighe.

While this might seem a mystery, relapse is often preceded by subtle changes that occur over a period of time and go unnoticed.

Many of those changes are shifts in attitude, says Tighe: "There's a saying in Alcoholics Anonymous about the importance of HOW, which stands for honesty, openness and willingness. When attitudes like these start to erode, the seeds of relapse are already present."

Tighe recommends the following strategies for preventing relapse:

Remember that addiction is a chronic disease marked by relapse. In terms of potential for relapse, dependence on alcohol and other drugs is not unique. For example, people living with asthma, hypertension and insulin-dependent diabetes must also make long-term changes in attitudes and behavior. When they don't, their health immediately deteriorates.

What's more, the danger of relapse is always present. "We are susceptible to relapse whether we have decades of sobriety or just a few weeks," Tighe says.

Look for "red flags" in attitude change. The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous emphasize a daily review of "character defects." Among them are attitudes that allow people to rationalize a return to drinking or drugging. Examples are a desire to control the outcome of every event and a demand that other people always behave according to our expectations. These represent a general refusal to "live life on life's own terms."

In turn, such attitudes fuel feelings of sadness, anger and fear. And when those feelings reach crisis levels, they prompt the search for a quick "solution" that seemed reliable in the past—alcohol or another drug.

If you're in recovery, remember that your friends and family members can sometimes spot changes in your attitudes long before you can. Give them permission to speak up when they see a "HALT" situation—signs that you're becoming hungry, angry, lonely and tired. Then be willing to listen if you receive this feedback.

Identify high-risk situations. If you're a person in recovery, then you need to prepare for three risks in particular:

• Any person, place or feeling that's been associated with drinking or use of other drugs in the past.
• Any situation where alcohol or other drugs are available.
• Any situation that's associated with high stress.

Create a relapse prevention plan. It's easy to say, "If I ever get in a slippery situation, I'll just call somebody." However, a vague intention is not enough. Write out a plan to handle high-risk situations.

Include specifics such as:

• The names of people you can call when you have thoughts about drinking or drugging again, including phone numbers that you can program into a cell phone.
• Places you can immediately go for help.
• Thoughts that will inspire you to avoid relapse, such as a favorite slogan, prayer or quotation from a recovery book.

Once you have a plan in writing, give copies of it to your sponsor, friends in recovery, family members and other key people. This sheet of paper represents instant accountability—a contract with yourself and others to prevent relapse by taking the actions that sustain a lifetime of sobriety.

Alive & Free is a health column that offers information to help prevent and address addiction and substance abuse problems. It is provided by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn., that offers a wide range of information and services on addiction and recovery. For more resources, call Hazelden at 1-800-257-7800 or check its Web site at www.hazelden.org.

Multiple Addictions & Denial

2010-04-10T05:30:00.000-04:00

The term "multiple addictions" usually conjures up images of a terribly troubled individual plagued by various addictions to pills, sexual perversions and alcoholic beverages. In short, a virtual “circus”. Actually, an extreme case such as this is not usually the norm. Many times the extreme image we raise in our minds is just a way of avoiding the issue of multiple addictions in our own lives. We already have the problem and we use the method of denial in the same way that an extreme addict or alcoholic would use it. We simply say “That isn’t me”. Multiple addictions affect everyone in some way. If the problem has become deadly serious, you may be lucky enough to have others around who will help you. If things still haven’t gotten that bad, then coming to an understanding of the problem may be the first part of the solution.

Oftentimes, people refuse to accept this problem in themselves because they don’t feel they have the strength to overcome it alone. They rationalize it away, calling them “bad habits” and invent the scapegoat image of a drug addict lying in the sewer with a needle hanging from their arm. The image helps to chase away their own very real problem and procrastinate the solution. In and of itself, “Procrastinators Anonymous” is one of the most popular 12-step groups today. It boasts of thousands of members who all deal with this very real problem. Creating a scapegoat image is just another way of displacing our own issues onto the face of another imaginary person. Multiple addictions affect everyone and it is really just a matter of getting honest with yourself about whether you want to quit something or not.

Where Can You Find Support?

2010-04-07T05:23:00.000-04:00

Whether or not the person you are living with who is addicted to drugs or alcohol receives the treatment they need to start recovery, you will need support. Take comfort in knowing that support is everywhere.

Al-Anon and Alateen are confidential support groups that have regular meetings located nationwide. Some people avoid support groups for fear that the word will get out that they've attended. One of the basic principles of Al-Anon and Alateen is anonymity. To be effective, people who attend meetings need to feel assured that the stories they share will remain among the people who attend the meeting and not go any further.

During a meeting, no one is forced to offer any information they don't feel comfortable with. If you feel like just sitting and listening to other people talk about their situations, that is fine. No one will force you to speak. However, many times after attending a few meetings and seeing that they aren't the only person going through this problem, people feel comfortable talking about their spouse or child's addiction.

You can find information regarding groups like Al-Anon and Alateen by looking in your phone book or by calling your local hospital and speaking with a counselor. Many times there are group meetings that take place right at the hospital. Also, visit Al-Anon and Alateen online at http://www.al-anon.alateen.org. From the website you will find helpful information on alcoholism and information about how to contact your local chapter to get meeting times.

Even if you don't feel comfortable going to an Al-Anon or Alateen support group, you can seek out the support and help in other ways. Seeing a family counselor or counselor trained in dealing with drug and alcohol addictions can help you change your behaviors so that you can cope with what is happening in your home. Some people seek a more spiritual way to deal with their spouse or child who is addicted by seeing a family pastor to discuss their problems.

The point is, a person who is dealing with a loved one who is addicted to drugs or alcohol does not have to deal with this problem alone. There is as much or as little support as you want or need to help you deal with your loved one's addiction. As long as you are committed to changing your life for the better, you will see it through.

Parents - Coping with an Addicted Child

2010-04-05T05:38:00.000-04:00

It can be devastating when a parent finds out that their child is addicted to drugs or alcohol. It is very easy for a parent to blame themselves for somehow doing something wrong or not being there for their child in some way. But nothing could be further from the truth.

If you suspect that your child is addicted to drugs or alcohol, seek help with your child's pediatrician or school counselor. It can be draining for a parent because not only is the child battling their addiction, they're also battling the normal stages of adolescence that can be a difficult time in a child's life. Getting the child into treatment immediately will help stop the cycle of addiction before it gets out of control.

No matter who you are in relation to the addict, the most important thing you can do to help cope with living with an addict is to seek out support for yourself. Groups like Al-Anon and Alateen have meetings all over the country. At first, it may be painful to go to a meeting. But many people who go to group meetings like Al-Anon or Alateen find that they feel comfort in knowing that they aren't the only one going through this problem.

Many times the education you get by listening to how other people have dealt with a loved one being addicted to drugs or alcohol can be invaluable. Implementing the tools you learn in group support can go a long way toward helping you cope with a loved one who is an addict.

Children - Coping with an Addicted Parent

2010-04-03T05:32:00.000-04:00

It is important for children to know that when a parent drinks or takes drugs it is not because the child did anything wrong or because the parent does not love them. All too often a child will take that burden on themselves because there is no one there to tell them that they are not to blame.

If the parent who was an addict is still using drugs or alcohol, the best thing a child can do to cope is to make sure they stay in a safe place. If they know a parent drinks in the afternoon, staying in their room or going to a friend's house that they trust will keep them from having to be exposed to volatile behavior that is common with addiction. If the child is very young that can be hard to do.

By nature children do not want to tattle on their parents. They want to be loyal because they love their parents regardless of the way they behave. Encourage children of alcoholic or drug-addicted parents to talk to another adult that they trust. This person can be a close neighbor that they can run to if the situation in their house becomes dangerous or unbearable. It could be a teacher or another family member the child can call. Knowing that they are not stuck in a situation that is frightening for them will help them feel more secure.

If the child is a teenager, it can be very difficult simply because by nature teenagers are struggling with their own autonomy. Mixing that with an alcoholic or drug-addicted parent can spell disaster. But the same advice holds true for teenagers. Let your teenager know it is okay to seek the help of a teacher at school, a family friend that he or she trusts or another family member.

It helps if the child can be exposed to a normal environment. Spending long weekends during school vacation in another home, whether it be a family member or friend's house, will let the child know that there is an alternative. Not everyone behaves the way an alcoholic or drug abuser behaves. This can help break the cycle of addiction that is so common in families.

Many studies have been conducted on children of alcoholic parents. These studies show that children who have a strong, consistent family member present in their life who they feel safe coming to can grow up and move past the pain they experienced as children with alcoholic parents.

Finally, encourage the child to talk about what is happening honestly. Just like adults, children have feelings of embarrassment and guilt. Admitting that your parent is an alcoholic or drug user can be difficult for a child, but it is important to acknowledge the problem before the problem can be solved. Just like with adults, a child can't stop their parent from drinking or using drugs; therefore, it is vital that the responsible adult is able to assure the child that they didn't do anything wrong and that they can't do anything to change their parent. The parent has to be the one to make that change.

Spouses - Coping with the loved one who is an addict.

2010-03-31T05:29:00.000-04:00

Many times the spouse of an addict will walk around on eggshells because they never know what will set off their spouse. They begin to worry about children and money issues, especially if the addict is using household money to fund their addiction.

Arguments are common between husband and wife when one of the spouses is an addict simply because the security of the family is at risk. If a person suspects that their spouse is addicted to drugs or alcohol and is using family funds, it's best for the spouse to open up his or her own bank account. It doesn't matter if you've never had separate bank accounts in the past. What matters is you need to be proactive and make sure that your family is taken care of because your spouse is either unwilling or unable to take care of the family financially.

Many spouses feel that part of their marriage vow means that they need to take care of their addicted spouse. That's not the case. It is important for the person in the relationship who is not addicted to drugs and alcohol to take care of themselves, too. It is very easy to get wrapped up in the destructive behavior of an alcoholic or drug abuser. But this can do serious emotional damage to the person who is not addicted.

For this reason it’s important that the person in the relationship who is not addicted spend some time outside of the house and the relationship. Living day in and day out with an addict can feel very isolating. Pretty soon it can become difficult for the spouse who's not addicted to have trouble relating to other people because of embarrassment, self-deprecation and depression.

Maintaining your own interests and seeing your friends on a regular basis will help keep balance in your life and give you a break from the struggle of dealing with an addicted spouse. It is also helpful to be around other people who understand boundaries, because in an addictive situation boundaries are often broken.

It can sometimes be hard to know when it is time to remove yourself from the relationship. If the addiction gets so bad that the relationship progresses to violence, it is best to remove yourself from that situation to keep you and your family safe.

Sometimes that can be a wake-up call for the addict. But don't count on that. There may be a temptation to play games to force the addict into treatment, but the only way an addict will go into treatment is when they are ready. The only thing games will accomplish is hurting yourself and hurting the relationship.

Attending formal programs like Al-Anon or seeking the advice of clergy can help give support to a spouse of an alcoholic or drug abuser. Don't let your fear or embarrassment get in the way of seeking help. Even though it might feel that way, you are not alone and there are many support groups available to give you education and advice on how to cope with a spouse who is an addict.

How Do You Cope With An Addict?

2010-03-29T05:14:00.000-04:00

Living with a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol is not a walk in the park. In fact, not only can the alcohol or drugs consume the addict’s every waking thought, it can also consume every waking thought of the person living with the addict.

Living with an addict is more than just simply staying out of the addict's way. Strong emotions are involved. For instance, the wife of an alcoholic might spend her afternoon watching the clock, waiting for the car to pull in the driveway, and wondering if her husband is going to be drunk. A child might hide out in their room, pretending to play with their toys but keeping their attention focused on the noises in the other room just in case a parent is drunk. A parent might walk the floor at all hours worrying about their child drinking and driving.

That kind of worry and constant obsession with wondering what is going to happen when an alcoholic or a drug user walks through the door is no way to live. Many people can't live with the stress of dealing with a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Arguments and depression are commonplace in families living with an addict. Many marriages break up for just this reason. Children will run away from home rather than live in a house that is in such chaos just to escape the fear and anxiety of living with an addict.

Unless you've lived through the experience, it's hard to understand the constant worry and the reasons why people stay or they go. No one person can make that decision for you.

Coping with addiction means you not only have to keep yourself physically safe, it also means you need to protect your emotions. Alcoholics and drug users feed off of the emotions of people around them. They use them to their advantage. You might not think that the person you love is calculating or manipulative, but this is what addiction does to people. It can change loving and caring individuals into liars where everything they say is suspect.

I once heard a recovering alcoholic who had been sober for four years say that he now has children. He went on to explain that when he was drinking he was not a parent as soon as the alcohol touched his lips. All images of his two sons went out of his mind. He forgot about his job, his wife and his responsibilities. He never meant to desert them emotionally, but that is exactly what he did. His addiction took over the moment he took his first drink.

This is a hard concept for a person who loves the addict to understand. Many times a spouse or child will feel like they are the ones that should have done something to stop the one they love from drinking or taking drugs. They should have been strong enough to do it or they should have loved them enough to make it work. They can't believe that their father or mother or son or daughter or grandparent or uncle or aunt would ever do anything to hurt them.

Four types of intervention

2010-03-27T05:29:00.000-04:00

There are four types of intervention - Simple Intervention, Crisis Intervention, Classical Intervention and Family System Intervention.

Simple Intervention

This is the most common first intervention, although it can amazingly be ignored by many family members and friends as being effective. If someone in your life is drinking or abusing drugs, simply ask them to stop. Sometimes that is enough to make the addict stop their behavior or seek help.

Unfortunately, because of so much fear surrounding addiction, this simple step is overlooked and not done because the people around the addict feel it won’t make a difference. It may not. But it’s always worth a try. And if done in the beginning stages of addiction, it can have a better affect on the addict than later on when their addiction becomes too advanced.

Crisis Intervention

When a person is in immediate danger of hurting themselves, either through drinking and driving, using a weapon or displaying violent behavior, Crisis Intervention is called for. You will often see this type of intervention in a hospital after the addict has had a car accident, or has been in a fight that was violent or one where a weapon was used.

The goal of this type of intervention is to defuse the situation and keep not only the addict safe but those around him or her safe. Because the situation is so volatile and the behavior is so out of control, it also creates an opportunity to “open the eyes” of the addict and urge them to seek help. While some people might feel that trying to intervene during the middle of a crisis is cold or harsh, it does represent a great opportunity to reach the addict whose behavior is out of control.

Classical Intervention

The Classical Intervention, which is also called The Johnson's Approach, is the most common form of family intervention and has been successfully used as an intervention method for over thirty years.

The goal in classical intervention is to get the addict to treatment as soon as possible. If you are able to leave the intervention and go straight to treatment, you've succeeded. Letting any time lapse gives the addict time to think about why they shouldn't go into treatment.

Planning for the intervention should happen the day before and all people who will be attending the actual intervention should be present during the planning stage. It's important for the family and friends who will participate to know how the intervention will work, how the counselor will help the participants and the addict facilitate the intervention, and for the participants to voice any concerns they have.

With classical intervention, a meeting will also be scheduled the day after the intervention to help educate the family in ways to adjust while the addict is in treatment and for when the addict comes out of treatment. Many substance-abuse treatment facilities already have classical intervention programs in place and can help in setting up an intervention as well as educating the family. It is important that everyone understands that life after addiction will change for everyone, not just the recovering addict.

Family System Intervention

In many ways a Family System Intervention is like the classical intervention in that education for all parties is key. Family system intervention focuses on the family, not just the addict. Many times the way the people around an addict interact with him or her affects the addict's ability to make changes for the better. While family members may not mean to contribute to an addict's destructive behavior, fear and guilt sometimes make it so.

For instance, giving the addict money for food when you know the addict will only go out and spend it on drugs or alcohol is enabling the addict. It can sometimes be hard for a family member or friends to see their loved one struggling with their addiction. But it is necessary for all the people involved with the addict to know how their individual behavior influences the addict.

For this reason, the actual intervention with the addict is only one small part of family system intervention. This type of intervention is really an intervention for the entire family. Because this involves more than just the addict, sometimes the addict is invited to be a part of the entire process right from the beginning.

Whether or not the addict decides to go into treatment, the family's participation in this type of intervention is ongoing. It does not stop just because the addict decides not to go into treatment. The focus of family education regarding guilt, shame, enabling and behaviors that help provoke the addict are addressed and a recovery plan is then put in place. This helps give the family the tools they need to cope with ongoing addiction if the addict chooses not to get help.

Every family situation is different. The size of families or the amount of support that one can hope to get for the addict is different. But even a small group of family members and friends can be a strong influence to help the addict seek treatment. The important thing is to make the effort to intervene and educate yourself in how you can help the addict stop their behavior. The rest is up to the addict.

Intervention

2010-03-24T05:25:00.000-04:00

Intervention is a meeting that happens between family and friends, a specialized counselor trained in dealing with substance abusers, and the addict. It can sometimes be hard to get the addict to come to an intervention if they know that is the purpose of meeting. It may be necessary to keep things between family, friends and the counselor.

Some people find that they are uncomfortable with lying to someone they love. But remember, these are extreme measures. An intervention happens when all other avenues have been exhausted. Most likely, the person who has the problem is already lying to you as much as they are lying to themselves.

The reason an intervention works better than one-on-one reasoning is that you have a group of people confronting the addict at the same time. Remember, a person who has an addiction becomes crafty in playing one person off the next. But if all the people who love them are in the same room and saying the same thing, it's harder for them to manipulate the situation and harder for them to ignore.

Can the people in the room be just anyone the addict knows? If that were the case, then therapy would help everyone. Unfortunately that's not the case. The people who are present for an intervention must be people more meaningful to the addict. They need to have some kind of impact on the person so they can show how that person's addiction has affected everyone around them, not just the person who is the addict.

An intervention that is controlled by a trained professional and that focuses on changing the addict's behavior, at least for the moment, can be highly effective in helping the addict seek treatment. It is done in such a way that the counselor and the family and friends who attend control the meeting, not the addict. The counselor will schedule a meeting with the people who will be part of the intervention ahead of time. The council will then discuss how the meeting will take place, go over what each individual will say to the addict, and give them an idea of what is likely to happen, good and bad.

The goal is to have the addict leave the meeting and go straight to a treatment program to begin recovery. It doesn't always happen that way, so all the people involved must be prepared so that the meeting does not get out of control. Most likely when the addict knows that the meeting is an intervention, there will be anger and tears. The person having the intervention will most likely feel betrayed, hurt and angry with you.

But remember that in doing an intervention, you are trying to help the person you love help themselves because their addiction prevents them from seeing how they can help themselves on their own.

The counselor who runs the intervention may suggest that one or more members of the family not be present. If that's the case, don't be alarmed or upset. If the counselor feels that you will coddle the addict or cave-in if the scene gets too difficult, or you won't be strong enough to deal with how stressful the intervention will be, they might suggest that you not be there. Try not to be hurt by the counselor's suggestion.

Your goal in an intervention is to make sure that the addict seeks treatment immediately. Everyone in the room must be committed to working toward that goal and to learning what it will take for the addict to succeed in the goal.

Often times, a family member or friend will believe that it's only the addict that needs to take action. The fact is that everyone participating in an intervention has something to learn, something to do. Intervention is a way for family members or friends to vent their emotional feelings about the addict's behavior and learn ways to deal with it as well as open the eyes of the addict enough to let them see they need help.

Can You Make An Addict Stop?

2010-03-22T05:30:00.000-04:00

When a loved one is addicted to drugs or alcohol, it can be the most maddening thing for the people around them. For someone who was sober, it's hard to understand why the person who has the addiction just won't stop the behavior. After all, don't they see their destructive ways? Can't they see how they're hurting themselves? Don't they know that they're hurting everyone else around them?

The answer is no and that is an answer that is sometimes hard to accept. Many times the people around an addict will try to talk them out of the behavior. At first it may start with a simple conversation. For example, "You've been getting drunk a lot lately. Don't you think you should stop?"

That simple conversation can begin to escalate very quickly when the behavior continues. For the person who has the addiction, it feels like everyone is ganging up on them. They don't understand. They don't know what you're going through. And they're right. Unless you know what it's like to be an alcoholic or drug addict you don't know what it's like for the person going through it.

And they don't know what you're going through having to watch them be self-destructive by hurting themselves and everyone else around them. No amount of pleading or nagging on your part is going to get through to them enough for them to see that they have to change. When trying to talk reason with an addict, the conversation can quickly turn argumentative. Tempers flare; things are said to each other that end up breaking down a relationship instead of helping it.

Does that mean it's hopeless? Absolutely not. There's always hope to get through to a person who has a substance-abuse problem. But you can't always do it alone. In cases where an addict won't listen to the people around them and does not seek help, an intervention may be necessary.

Is There A Cure For Addiction?

2010-03-20T05:18:00.000-04:00

Medical science has come a long way in developing cures for many 21st-century diseases. With so much study and so much support available to substance abuse addicts, is easy to assume that we've reached a point where we can cure addiction.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. While there are many treatment programs that have high success rates with substance abusers who follow the program, there is no cure for addiction. Once you have some type of addiction, you will always have the tendency toward that addiction even if you stop drinking alcohol or using drugs for years.

However, it is not a death sentence to those who are suffering from addiction or for the people who have to live with the person who is an addict. While you'll never get to a point where you can control alcohol again, you can control the addiction. The key to success for people who have managed to control their addiction is to work the program. Studies show that when a person is an alcoholic or drug user, and they faithfully commit themselves to taking the steps needed to control their addiction, they have a higher chance of succeeding long-term than those who don't follow the program.

It is important to note that one can't be "cured" of alcohol or drug addiction. Once you are an addict you then become a recovering addict and will need to maintain your commitment to stay in recovery for the rest of your life. Even after 10 or 20 years, if a recovering addict lets their guard down and is convinced that they can fall off the wagon just this once, it can be detrimental to their recovery. No matter how much time has passed, the body remembers addiction and it will be much easier to fall victim to substance abuse again.

For this reason, having a strong supports system in place around the addict can help ensure continued recovery success. Groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and group support meetings for drugs help the recovering addict stay on track by reminding them of their sobriety and what it takes to stay that way. It also helps to know that other people have stayed in recovery for a long period of time, therefore giving the addict a much-needed boost that they too can succeed.

Remember, many drug and alcohol abusers suffer from low self-esteem. By continuing to work on building self-esteem, and not blaming themselves for the past behavior, but learning from it and learning to move on, the recovering addict can learn to get on with their life and leave their past mistakes behind.

While it is possible for an addict to learn to live without alcohol or drugs, the person must change their behavior and deal with the feelings that brought the addiction about. By learning to live life in a new way, the person can then control their addiction.

Who Is Most Likely To Become An Addict?

2010-03-17T05:28:00.000-04:00

Most people have heard the phrase "that would never happen to my kid," or "that would never happen to my husband or wife," uttered at some point in their life. As mentioned earlier, addiction does not discriminate. It knows no age, race or social status.

The truth is that alcohol and drug abuse can happen to anyone and at any age. But there are some people who are more vulnerable to falling into addiction than others.

• Children of alcoholic parents are three to four times more likely to become alcoholics than children whose parents do not drink.

• Children who start drinking before the age of 15 have a higher likelihood that they could become alcoholics than children who start drinking after the age of 15.

• The earlier you have your first drink, the higher likelihood that you will develop alcoholism.

• Children who have an older brother or sister who drink or take drugs have a higher likelihood of becoming addicted themselves.

• People who have low self-esteem or want to escape their problems have a greater risk of becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol.

• People who are known to "hold their liquor well" have a greater chance of becoming alcoholics.

It is interesting to note that research from a 1996 study of adoptive children and their adoptive parents and children with their biological parents showed that genetics do carry some weight in whether a person becomes an alcoholic. This gives some credence to the idea that some people are pre-disposed to becoming alcoholics.

This study showed that adoptive children who had alcoholic parents had fewer instances of becoming alcoholics themselves than children who lived with their biological parents who were alcoholics. When further research was done connecting the adoptive child to their biological parents, the connection of higher instances of alcoholism when a parent was an alcoholic could be seen.

While that is startling news, it doesn't mean that just because you have a parent who is an alcoholic that you'll become an alcoholic. Education on how alcoholism or drug addiction starts and how you can prevent it from happening to you goes a long way in preventing alcoholism.

Self-esteem plays an enormous role in addiction. People who come from loving and stable homes can still suffer from depression and low self-esteem, making them more vulnerable to becoming addicted to drugs or alcohol. Because of this, teen depression should never be considered "just normal" based on a child's age. Depression is not normal. And while many teens become depressed as a normal course of growing into adulthood and finding themselves, it should never be taken lightly. Any experimentation with drugs or alcohol during the teen years, coupled with depression, can lead to future addiction if left alone.