What impact may legalization of recreational marijuana in Oregon have on teen marijuana use? Recent results from an Oregon Research Institute (ORI) study indicate that the influence of legalization on youth may depend on whether they were already using at the time of legalization. Following legalization of recreational marijuana, no significant changes in the numbers of youth who used marijuana occurred, yet increases in the frequency of use by youth who were already using marijuana were found. For teenagers who had tried marijuana by 8th grade, the frequency of use during the following year increased 26% more for those who were in 9th grade after marijuana was legalized compared to those who were in 9th grade prior to legalization. The research results are published online in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. Source: Science Daily and Oregon Research Institute

Anuvia Prevention & Recovery Center, NCADD’s Charlotte, NC Affiliate, offers a range of programs for youth, including prevention and treatment. Programs are available in school and community settings as well as through an outpatient treatment setting. In general, the goals of these programs are to support youth in developing strong social skills to help them in avoiding alcohol, tobacco and other drug use or to treat adolescents who have a substance use issue. Prevention programs generally consist of lessons that include motivational activities, social skills training, and decision making components that are delivered through group discussions, games, role-playing exercises, videos and worksheets. Most programs are available to be delivered in English or Spanish. For young people who may have signs of increased risk for developing problems such as truancy issues or those already experimenting with some high-risk alcohol or drug choices, Anuvia offers early intervention programs. Designed for youth involved with...

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence—Greater Detroit Area (NCADD-GDA) is known for serving many of Metro Detroit’s most talented youth. NCADD-GDA’s Youth Prevention programs target under-served, economically disadvantaged youth ages 10-21. The programs’ mission is to provide a safe environment where youth receive support and resources needed to be drug-free, attain academic success, and develop social responsibility. These services are delivered by two unique programs: S.T.E.P.S. (Strong Teens Excelling In Prevention Services) and SAFETY (Successful Alliance For Educating Talented Youth). SAFETY (Successful Alliance For Educating Talented Youth)The SAFETY program’s target population is underserved, economically disadvantaged teens, ages 10-18. Its mission is to provide a safe environment where youth receive the support and resources needed to graduate from high school. They also are encouraged to become productive citizens of the community. Services are provided through collaborations with Detroit Public Schools, Detroit Housing Commission, Detroit Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment,...

The American Medical Association (AMA) is calling for a ban on powdered alcohol to protect young people, Medscape reports. The group notes alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse among young people, leading to 4,300 underage deaths annually. Powdered alcohol is not yet available in the United States, the article notes. The product, to be sold under the brand name Palcohol, could be snuck into school by teens, the AMA warned. The AMA House of Delegates voted at the group’s annual meeting last week to support federal and state laws that prohibit the manufacture, importation, distribution, and sale of powdered alcohol. “Given the variety of flavors that could be enticing to youth and concerns that the final alcohol concentration could be much greater than intended by the manufacturer, we believe that powdered alcohol has the potential to cause serious harm to minors and should be banned,” AMA Board Member...

Too many children ages 2 to 5 who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are receiving medication as the first treatment, before behavioral therapy is tried, a new government report states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says about 75 percent of young children with ADHD receive medicine as treatment, the Associated Press reports. Only about half of young children with ADHD in Medicaid and 40 percent with employer-sponsored insurance receive psychological services, including the recommended first-line treatment, behavior therapy. Behavior therapy improves ADHD symptoms without the side effects of medicine, the CDC notes. “ It is an important first step for young children with ADHD and most effective when delivered by parents,” the report notes. “With the support of healthcare providers and therapists, parents can learn specific ways to improve their child’s behavior and keep their relationships strong.” Behavior therapy involves a therapist teaching parents over...

Nonmedical use of Adderall, a medication used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), rose 67 percent among young adults between 2006 and 2011, a new study finds. The number of emergency room visits involving misuse of the drug among 18- to 25-year-olds also rose during this period, NPR reports. The number of ER visits related to Adderall among this age group rose from 862 visits in 2006 to 1,489 in 2011. During this period the number of prescriptions for the drug remained unchanged among young adults. ER visits associated with the ADHD drug Ritalin rose only slightly among young adults between 2006 and 2011, the researchers found. Nonmedical use of Ritalin was much lower than misuse of Adderall. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said in many cases, young adults who misuse ADHD drugs get them from a friend or family member who has been prescribed...

Young infants are just as likely as older children to be accidentally poisoned, a new study finds. Babies younger than six months old are most likely to be accidentally poisoned by acetaminophen, according to HealthDay. Other common substances involved in babies’ accidental poisonings include H2-blockers (for acid reflux), gastrointestinal medications, combination cough/cold products, antibiotics and ibuprofen. “I was surprised with the large number of exposures even in this young age group,” said lead author Dr. A. Min Kang of Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix in Arizona. “Pediatricians typically do not begin poison prevention education until about six months of age, since the traditional hazard we think about is the exploratory ingestion — that is when kids begin to explore their environment and get into things they are not supposed to.” The study appears in the journal Pediatrics. The researchers reviewed poison control center calls from 2004 to 2013 that were related to...

A study of more than 100 video games finds 42 percent feature characters smoking cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars and other products, or make references to those products. Experts tell CNN they are concerned young people who play the games may be influenced to start smoking. The study by researchers at the University of California San Francisco included 118 games released between 1994 and 2015 that were rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which makes age recommendations for video games. The findings were published in the journal Tobacco Control. Previous studies have found that teens ages 12 to 17 who see the greatest amount of smoking in movies are about twice as likely to begin smoking, compared with their peers with the least exposure to smoking in movies. Much less is known about the effect of tobacco references in video games, the article notes. Robin Koval, Chief Executive Officer and President of...

High prescribing rates of opioid painkillers are likely a factor in the increase in neonatal abstinence syndrome, according to the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Nora Volkow wrote the British Medical Journal that between 2000 and 2009, the incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome among newborns increased from 1.2 to 3.4 per 1,000 live births. An estimated 14 percent to 22 percent of pregnant women in the United States are prescribed opioid painkillers, HealthDay reports. There have been reports of an increase in the rate of painkiller abuse among pregnant women, the article notes. Babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome undergo withdrawal from the addictive drugs their mothers took during pregnancy, such as oxycodone, morphine or hydrocodone. The syndrome affected seven babies for every 1,000 admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit in 2004. That number jumped to 27 infants per 1,000 by 2013. Opioid use during pregnancy...

Teens are likely to try alcohol before they try either tobacco or marijuana, a new study concludes. The findings come from a study of 2,835 U.S. high school seniors, The Washington Post reports. The researchers from Texas A&M University and the University of Florida examined data from the Monitoring the Future study, an annual survey of teen substance use. The researchers found that teens were less likely to start using marijuana first, compared with alcohol and tobacco. “Alcohol was the most widely used substance among respondents, initiated earliest, and also the first substance most commonly used in the progression of substance use,” the researchers wrote in the Journal of School Health. Teens who started drinking alcohol in sixth grade reported significantly greater lifetime illicit substance use, and more frequent illicit substance use, compared with teens who started drinking in ninth grade or later. Teens who had their first drink in sixth...