Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Are you Alice? Teen Reading




Alice COULD BE ANYONE. Alice COULD BE SOMEONE YOU KNOW. Alice USES DRUGS. With over a million copies in print, Go Ask Alice has become a classic of our time.

Synopsis:
Alice is your typical teenaged girl. She worries that she is too fat. She wants a boyfriend: "I wish I were popular and beautiful and wealthy and talented." She frequently makes resolutions in her diary to do better in school, work toward a calmer relationship with her mother, and lose weight. Her life changes when she goes to a party and is given acid in her drink. She loves the feeling the drug gives her: "Closed my eyes and the music began to absorb me physically. I could smell it and touch it and feel it as well as hear it." She wants more and quickly becomes a part of the drug scene. For about a year and a half Alice goes on and off drugs and runs away from home twice. Each time she manages to find her way back to her parents. They take her in, get her help, and all seems to be rosy until Alice is once again given acid without her knowledge. This time, she has a bad trip, ends up in the hospital, and then a mental hospital. Her parents stick by her, but her life of drug abuse ultimately ends with a fatal overdose—whether it is intentional or accidental is not known. Go Ask Alice has become a classic story of warning against the use of drugs. For the teen scene of 2006, this story will appear as slightly dated. The issues of relationships both in and out of school have not changed much in the last thirty years, but there are subtle differences in the culture that may prove distracting for a young person reading this book today. The basic story remains a chilling cautionary tale. 2005 (orig. 1971), Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster, , and Ages 14 to 18.

Commonly available in most bookstores and a good first-hand journal of a good healthy teenage girl and how she falls into the world of drugs.

A "High" Scavenger Hunt

Inhalants are a diverse group of volatile substances whose chemical vapors can be inhaled to produce psychoactive, mind-altering effects. While other abused substances can be inhaled, the term “inhalants” is used to describe substances that are rarely, if ever, taken by any other route of administration. A variety of products common in the home and workplace contain substances that can be inhaled to get high; however, people do not typically think of these products as drugs because they were never intended to induce intoxicating effects. Yet young children and adolescents can easily obtain these extremely toxic substances and are among those most likely to abuse them.



Categories:

1. Volatile Solvents: liquids that vaporize at room temperature
  • Industrial or household products, including paint thinners or removers, degreasers, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, and lighter fluid
  • Art or office supply solvents, including correction fluids, felt-tip marker fluid, electronic contact cleaners, and glue
2. Aerosols: sprays that contain propellants and solvents
  • Household aerosol propellants in items such as spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays, fabric protector sprays, aerosol computer cleaning products, and vegetable oil sprays
3. Gases: found in household or commercial products used as medical anesthetics
  • Household or commercial products, including butane lighters and propane tanks, whipped cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets), and refrigerant gases
  • Medical anesthetics, such as ether, chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas”
4. Nitrites: a special class of inhalents that are used primarily as sexual enhancers
  • Organic nitrites are volatiles that include cyclohexyl, butyl, and amyl nitrites, commonly known as “poppers.” Amyl nitrite is still used in certain diagnostic medical procedures. When marketed for illicit use, organic nitrites are often sold in small brown bottles labeled as “video head cleaner,” “room odorizer,” “leather cleaner,” or “liquid aroma.”
Ages 12-15 typically use glue, shoe polish, spray paints, gasoline, and lighter fluid.
Ages 16-17 use nitrous oxide or whippets.
Adults commonly use nitrites.

Side Effects:

Effects are similar to that of alcohol, such as slurred speech, lack of coordination, euphoria, and dizziness.  Other common effects are lightheadedness, hallucinations, and delusions.  Other chemicals found in the inhalents may also cause confusion, nausea, or vomiting.

By removing air in lungs, inhalants deprive the body of oxygen which can damage cells throughout the body, especially cells of the brain. Therefore, this damage can cause the loss of the ability to learn new things or increase difficulty in carrying simple conversations.

Long-term usage may affect nerve fibers which can lead to muscle spasms, tremors, or even permanent difficulties talking, bending and walking.

Harmful Irreversible Side Effects:
  • Hearing loss—spray paints, glues, dewaxers, dry-cleaning chemicals, correction fluids
  • Peripheral neuropathies or limb spasms—glues, gasoline, whipped cream dispensers, gas cylinders
  • Central nervous system or brain damage—spray paints, glues, dewaxers
  • Bone marrow damage—gasoline
Serious But Reversible Side Effects:
  • Liver and kidney damage—correction fluids, dry-cleaning fluids
  • Blood oxygen depletion—varnish removers, paint thinners
The following are a few interesting articles published on teens and inhalents and include current statistics:

Inhalant Abuse Remains a Major Problem for Teens: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GeneralPediatrics/19606

Close-up: inhalants: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1590/is_11_59/ai_98541302/



Monday, December 6, 2010

What are your weekend plans? Club and E?


Ecstasy is popular among teens and young adults in dance clubs and all-night dance parties called "raves." 

What is Ecstasy?
MDMA is called Ecstasy, X, XTC, Adam, Lover's Speed, E, Clarity on the streets.  It is a synthetic drug that produces both stimulant and mild sensory-altering effects.  It is usually taken orally, by tablet or capsule and the effects last for 3 to 6 hours. These pills can be different colors, and sometimes have cartoon-like images on them. 
 


What are the health hazards of Ecstasy?

The following are symptoms that may occur from the uses of Ecstasy:
  • Psychological difficulties, including confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and paranoia -- during and sometimes weeks after taking Ecstasy  (psychotic episodes have also been reported).
  • Physical symptoms such as muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, rapid eye movement, faintness, and chills or sweating.
  • Marked increase in body temperature (hyperthermia), which may further be exacerbated by the hot and crowded conditions characteristic of the rave environment.  Hyperthermia can lead to liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system failure.
  • Increases in heart rate and blood pressure, a special risk for people with circulatory or heart disease.  Other cardiac effects include arrhythmia, heart muscle damage, and reductions in heart rate and blood pressure. (Initially, Ecstasy increases heart rate and blood pressure, but following repeated use, this effect is reversed.)
  • Ecstasy can affect the hormone that regulates the amount of sodium in the blood, which can also cause hyponatremia (water intoxication).
  • Chronic use of Ecstasy has been associated with memory impairment, which may indicate damage to the parts of the brain involved in memory processing.
  • Sometimes a rash that looks like acne will appear on the skin which has been linked with liver damage.
For more information and interesting facts on Ecstasy and the effects, click on the video below to watch a documentary on the drug.
 

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Should it be legalized? The 411 on the 420

A New York Times article on Sunday discussed the debate over whether the potent types of cannabis affects the levels of addiction to the drug.  This particular issue is the main concern over the large debate of whether marijuana should be legalized.  Many antidrug activists dispute that if the drug is legalized more people will use it and addiction will worsen, as well.

Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant. You may hear marijuana called by street names such as pot, herb, weed, grass, boom, Mary Jane, gangster, 420, or chronic. There are more than 200 slang terms for marijuana.

Marijuana contains THC, which is short for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, along with over 400 other chemicals.  However, THC is the main active chemical that determines the potency of the drug.  Marijuana is mind-altering and changes how the brain works.  THC is rapidly absorbed by fatty tissues in various organs.  It can be detected by standard urine testing methods several days after a smoking session.  In heavy users, it can be traced weeks after they have quit.

This drug is commonly advertised on shirts, bumperstickers, internet, movies, and songs.  This peer pressure usually encourages teenagers to start smoking.

Short-term effects:
  •  problems with memory and learning
  •  distorted perception (sight, sounds, time, touch)
  •  trouble with thinking and problem-solving
  •  loss of motor coordination
  •  increased heart rate
Long-term effects:
  • cancer: usually because most marijuana users also smoke cigarettes
  • lungs & airways: such as coughing and wheezing, or even pneumonia
  • immune system: impairs the T-cells in the lungs' immune system to fight off infections
What are the signs if someone is high?
  • seems dizzy or having trouble walking
  • seem silly and giggly for no reason
  • have very red, bloodshot eyes
  • have a hard time remembering things that just happened
Once effects have faded, users normally become sleepy.


 
Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug used by teens today. Approximately 60 percent of the kids who use drugs use only marijuana. Of the 14.6 million marijuana users in 2002, approximately 4.8 million used it on 20 or more days in any given month.
    The marijuana that is available to teens today is much stronger than the marijuana that was available in the 1960’s. Sometimes it is also laced with other, more potent drugs, such as cocaine. Marijuana is physically addictive. Each year, 100,000 teens are treated for marijuana dependence. Teens who smoke marijuana heavily experience much of the same symptoms of withdrawal as users of nicotine.

If  you know of a teen that is experiencing addiction problems with marijuana, visit http://www.marijuana-anonymous.org/, or call the hotline (800) 766-6779.
 

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

World AIDS Day 2010

December 1st is dedicated as World AIDS Day to promote awareness in the world about AIDS and the effects in the lives of those infected with this virus and how to fight it, or avoid it entirely.  You may be driving and see signs on school fences made by the students in red usually reading "Say No to Drugs."  You may also see other people wearing a red ribbon.  These are different ways in which the world is trying to support the cause of helping the world become more aware and helping to find a cure.

Over 90,000 people are living with HIV in the UK and new infections continue every year. World AIDS Day 2010 is all about raising awareness to tackle HIV prejudice and help stop the spread of HIV.
The Relations of Drug Abuse and AIDS

Injection Drug Use (IDU): Injection drug use refers to when a drug is injected into a tissue or vein with a needle.  HIV is typically transmitted through the sharing of needles or syringes between drug users. Other infections, such as Hepatitis C, can also be transmitted this way.  IDU has directly and indirectly accounted for more than one-third (36%) of AIDS cases in the United States.  The most commonly injected drugs are heroin and other opiates, cocaine and amphetamines, and the prevalence of each is likely to vary according to location and population group.

Poor Judgement and Risky Behavior: Drug and alcohol intoxication can affect a person's ability to make decisions and can lead to unsafe sexual practices.  These unsafe sexual practices can put them at risk for getting HIV and possibly transmitting it to various other sexual partners.

Biological Effects of Drugs: Use of drugs and addictions can affect the person's overall health and possibly make them more susceptible to HIV.  People that are already infected with HIV and are drug users are worsening the progression of the virus, and especially affecting the brain.

How Are Teens Affected?
In general, middle and late adolescence is the common stage when teens engage in risk-taking and sensation-seeking behaviors that may put them in jeopardy of contracting HIV. However, regardless of whether a teen takes drugs, unsafe sexual practices increase a person's risk of contracting HIV. But drugs and alcohol can increase the chances of unsafe behavior by altering judgment and decision making.


If you would like to make a difference and do something in promoting AIDS awareness, visit http://www.worldaidsday.org/.