Long-term heavy use of marijuana may cause two important brain structures to shrink, Australian researchers said.Brain scans showed the hippocampus and amygdala were smaller in men who were heavy marijuana users compared to nonusers, the researchers said on Monday.
The men had smoked at least five marijuana cigarettes daily for on average 20 years. The hippocampus [...]
Researchers have made a breakthrough in uncovering the mystery behind why teens get hooked on cocaine more easily than adults by finding that developing brains are more powerfully motivated by drug-related cues.
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The study found that adolescent rats given cocaine were more likely than adults to prefer the place where they got it.
Epidemiological studies confirm that [...]
Image by art.improbable via Flickr
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Parents are used to hearing their teens speak in code - from the trendy catchphrase of the week to the popular acronyms used for text messaging and online chatting. But one term that might come up more frequently this time of year is “420″ (pronounced “four-twenty”).
Those familiar with popular drug [...]
Athletes who take human growth hormone may not be getting the boost they expected. While growth hormone adds some muscle, it doesn’t appear to improve strength or exercise capacity, according to a review of studies that tested the hormone in mostly athletic young men.
“It doesn’t look like it helps and there’s a hint of evidence [...]
Experts Fear Side Effects on Health
Doping in professional baseball has trained a spotlight on two hormones that many pro athletes use to get ahead of the competition — anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.
But the use of those drugs isn’t limited to the professionals athletes.
They also can be found in colleges, high schools [...]
Although teens are turning away from street drugs, now there’s a new threat and it’s from the family medicine cabinet: The abuse of prescription (Rx) and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs.
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Parents and caregivers are the first line of defense in addressing this troubling trend.
What’s the problem?
Teens are abusing some prescription and over-the-counter drugs to get high. This [...]
Club drugs are being used by young adults at all-night dance parties such as “raves” or “trances,” dance clubs, and bars. MDMA (Ecstasy), GHB, Rohypnol, ketamine, methamphetamine, and LSD are some of the club or party drugs gaining popularity. NIDA-supported research has shown that use of club drugs can cause serious health problems and, in [...]
The girl’s mother sounded really upset. “She shuts herself up in her room and sniffs a cloth soaked in petrol. I don’t understand it at all,†she said. “Strange behaviour… How did it start,†asked the doctor. Apparently innocently enough, as it turned out, smelling the rags discarded by her mother after cleaning the petrol [...]
HOUSTON: Two Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston are working on a cocaine vaccine they hope will become the first-ever medication to treat people hooked on the drug.
“For people who have a desire to stop using, the vaccine should be very useful,” said Dr Tom Kosten, a psychiatry professor who is being assisted [...]
Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant drug that strongly activates certain systems in the brain. Methamphetamine is closely related chemically to amphetamine, but the central nervous system effects of methamphetamine are greater. Both drugs have some medical uses, primarily in the treatment of obesity, but their therapeutic use is limited.
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Street methamphetamine is referred to by [...]
LSD, aka “acid,” is odorless, colorless, and has a slightly bitter taste and is usually taken by mouth. Often LSD is added to absorbent paper, such as blotter paper, and divided into small, decorated squares, with each square representing one dose.
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Health Hazards
Physical Psychological short-term effects. The effects of LSD are unpredictable. They depend on [...]
Inhalants are common products found right in the home and are among the most popular and deadly substances kids abuse. Inhalant abuse can result in death from the very first use. About one in five kids report having used inhalants by the eighth grade. Teens use inhalants by sniffing or “snorting†fumes from containers; spraying [...]
Ketamine hydrochloride, or “Special K,” is a powerful hallucinogen widely used as an animal tranquilizer by veterinarians. Users sometimes call the high caused by Special K, “K hole,” and describe profound hallucinations that include visual distortions and a lost sense of time, sense, and identity. The high can last from a half-hour to 2 hours. [...]
Years ago, thoughts of using a needle kept many potential heroin users at bay. Not anymore. Today’s heroin is so pure, users can smoke it or snort it, causing more kids under 18 to use it. Kids who snort or smoke heroin face the same high risk of overdose and death that haunts intravenous users. [...]
Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid or GHB, is a compound that was initially used by body builders to stimulate muscle growth. In recent years it has become popular as a recreational drug among club kids and partygoers.
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This “designer” drug is often used in combination with other drugs, such as Ecstasy. GHB is synthesized from a chemical [...]
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Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug of abuse. Individuals who have tried cocaine have described the experience as a powerful high that gave them a feeling of supremacy. However, once someone starts taking cocaine, one cannot predict or control the extent to which he or she will continue to use the drug. The major ways [...]
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MDMA, called “Adam,” “ecstasy,” or “XTC” on the street, is a synthetic, psychoactive (mind-altering) drug with hallucinogenic and amphetamine-like properties. Its chemical structure is similar to two other synthetic drugs, MDA and methamphetamine, which are known to cause brain damage.
Beliefs about MDMA are reminiscent of similar claims made about LSD in the 1950s and 1960s, [...]
Think that drug abuse among teens is limited to illegal substances like marijuana and club drugs such as Ecstasy? Think again.
If you’re like most parents, you’re probably not aware that a number of over-the-counter (OTC) products can potentially be abused by teens looking to get high. But it’s important to educate yourself about the [...]
Usually smoked as a cigarette or joint, or in a pipe or bong, marijuana has appeared in “blunts” in recent years. These are cigars that have been emptied of tobacco and re-filled with marijuana, sometimes in combination with another drug, such as crack. Some users also mix marijuana into foods or use it to brew [...]
Action Items: Phase One
Step 1……….
Download Action Items PDF:
Want to know more about the influences and pressures your teen faces? Dive into his or her world by completing one or more of these fun, but insightful, tasks.
Go to www.youtube.com and type in “marijuana†AND “smoking†in the search bar at the top. Watch some of [...]
