Does school-based student drug testing really help?

Here's a heated topic for you – school-based student drug testing. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the home of the Nation’s Drug Czar, continues to push for random testing in schools for illicit substances.

There are some schools that have implemented drug testing for extra-curricular activities, but some civil liberties activists and some parents are fighting a school-wide approach vigorously.

Why would people not want to check if their kids are on drugs?

One argument is that it is an infringement on their rights. Another argument is that drug testing is not an effective deterrent from drug use. Neither topic has a definitive position, but the leading office against drug use in America is advocating for it and providing more funds for schools that want to implement drug testing.

ONDCP Director John Walters was quoted in a press release as saying “Since 2001, there has been a 23 percent decline in youth substance use, with over 840,000 fewer students using drugs. Random student drug testing can play an important role in continuing that progress”.

How much the increase in student drug testing played a role in that decrease is questionable. Also questionable is how that 23 percent was calculated – especially against annual population increases.

Are there really 840,000 less students using drugs? We sure hope so.

It could be looked at this way – substance abuse has a huge negative impact on our society, almost immeasurable. Any effective measure to lessen that impact is a good thing for now and for our future.

Article by Eric

What is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States?

According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 3.1 million Americans reported daily use of marijuana.

In 2004, about 6,000 people a day used marijuana for the first time, equaling 2.1 million Americans. Of these, 63.8% were under age 18.

The 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that, an estimated 97.5 million Americans ages 12 and older had had used marijuana at least once in their lifetimes, representing 40.1% of the U.S. population in that age group.

One study has indicated that an abuser's risk of heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour after smoking marijuana. The researchers suggest that this might occur from marijuana's effects on blood pressure and heart rate and the reduced oxygen-carrying capacity of blood.

The short-term effects of marijuana can include problems with memory and learning; distorted perception; difficulty in thinking and problem solving; loss of coordination; and increased heart rate.

The statistics are incredible, the effects are unbelievable, and still, marijuana is the most commonly abused drug in the United States.

Article by Eric

Mike Tyson - relation between legal trouble and drug addiction

I was reading an article today about Mike Tyson, the former boxing heavyweight champion, and how he has just entered a rehab center for addiction.

I was very interested in the article because Tyson, although very successful as a professional athlete, has struggled with substance abuse for years and subsequently has been in legal trouble off and on for several years.

This is an area that I think should really be looked at... criminal behavior associated with substance abuse. Many people who struggle with drug and/or alcohol addiction often get into trouble legally, and rather than sending these guys to jail where they just await their release so that they can get out and fall right back into the same routine; I would love to see more cases where it is recognized that these people probably will not start living better lives until their addictions are successfully handled.

As a former drug addict, I have experienced this in my own life. When I was addicted to drugs, I did things that I would have never dreamed of doing when I was clean and sober. I myself got into legal trouble, and fortunately for me, I was given the opportunity to seek help for my drug problem rather than being tossed in jail.

For the last 10 years, I have been living a great life and have been able to help thousands of people get involved in effective drug and alcohol treatment programs, and the majority of the people I have helped have had legal problems associated with their addictions.

I am not saying that there should be no repercussions for an addict that breaks the law, but let’s figure out how to turn these people into productive members of society rather than filling prisons with wasted lives... what do you say?

Article by Eric

Substance Abuse & White House 2008 Budget

The White House budget proposal for 2008 has a few ups and downs for the substance abuse treatment and prevention field.

While some areas are marked for decent increases, such as the Drug-Free Communities Act and the National Anti-Drug Media Campaign, others weren’t quite so fortunate. The Centers for Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention were targeted for a combined cut of nearly $84 million.

One area that is also looking at being cut is the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, by almost $5 million. For many in the treatment and prevention field this would be a good thing, if it meant that there was more money being made available for rehabilitation and education programs, but the cuts to those areas as well are leaving people scratching their heads.

Are there other areas or new programs being planned that are taking some of this funding? If there is a lack of performance from programs that have received funding in the past, then instead of just cutting it outright, maybe advocates and lawmakers could help fund those that do work.

What areas do you think should get more or less funding when it comes to making a dent in the supply and demand of harmful substances in the country?

Since prescription drug abuse continues to out-pace other drugs, perhaps a good start would also be to funnel more money into revising the FDA drug approval line, removing pharmaceutical company influence in medical schools, reduce direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising and beef up the prescription drug monitoring programs in every state.

Article by Eric Mitchell

“I guess that’s what they’re calling it these days”

I recently spoke to a woman who was telling me about her 15 year old son’s drug addiction to crack. She said, “I guess that’s what they’re calling it these days” in such a way that you could tell she really hadn’t heard the term before.

She had been out of the loop, thinking she had no reason to know of this particular drug or its nickname until her son came to her about it.

I just couldn’t help but think.... somehow people need to know about this and be aware of it. If she didn’t know about the drug, then she would have no reason to suspect her sons use of it.

This goes for anything: If I had no clue about “bird flu” or whatever the current threat to society is, I wouldn’t be looking for it. I wouldn’t be concerned about my family catching it or anything of the sort. So, maybe if we all knew a little something about the various threats to our society, we would know how to spot them.

I personally have only ever heard the term “crack” in movies, the news etc.... I didn’t really know anything other than that. So it isn’t so unbelievable that this woman didn’t know much about it either.

With all of that said, here are just a few things I have recently learned about the drug known as “crack.”

Pure cocaine is a chemical that comes from the leaves of the coca bush, which grows mostly in Peru and Bolivia. It is then mixed with hydrochloric acid which forms a salt called cocaine hydrochloride. This powdered form of cocaine can be snorted or dissolved in water and injected into a vein. This has been an abused substance for more than 100 years.

Crack Cocaine, a form of cocaine, is made by a simple process: The powdered cocaine is dissolved in sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water. The three are boiled together, where a solid substance separates from the boiling mixture. This solid substance, after being separated and dried, is called crack. The crack cocaine is then broken or cut into “rocks”. The DEA estimates that each rock is between 75% and 90% pure cocaine. These rocks are then smoked using all different apparatuses from glass pipes to tinfoil and straws. Anything to get the smoke inhaled serves the purpose.

Because crack is smoked, it is absorbed much faster than when cocaine powder is snorted. The person begins to feel the effects in less than 10 seconds. The immediate high attainable through smoking crack, is one of the reasons it became so popular in the mid-1980’s. It is also inexpensive to produce and to buy.

Crack is a highly addictive drug, which has effects on the central nervous system. Because the intense effects of crack occur immediately and begin to fade shortly after, crack is smoked again and again to try and keep the high going. You may have heard in news stories that crack is so addictive that if you used it just once, you can become an addict. That is just one of the things that is so dangerous about it.

SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health, found that in 2005, 1.4 million people had used crack cocaine within that year alone. 682,000 had reported past month use of crack and approximately 7.9 million Americans, ages 12 and older had reported using crack at least once in their lifetimes.

Crack cocaine represented 72% of all primary cocaine admissions to treatment in 2004.

Some of the effects of crack cocaine are constricted blood vessels, increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, restlessness, irritability and anxiety. Additional risks include respiratory problems like shortness of breath, chest pains, lung trauma, and bleeding. With long-term use, violence and paranoia has been noted.

Cocaine, although once used for anesthesia during eye, nose, and throat surgeries, has lost all medical purposes and is now used for recreational purposes only.

Article by Eric

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