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Teenage Drug Use Prevention Website

Link: Prevention Resource
NIDA Calls for Communities to Help Teens Learn the Link about Health Issues Through Science, Storytelling, and Video

5% of Teens, Young Adults Have Abused Cough Meds

Link: Cough Meds

A new report has found that 5% of people ages 12 to 25 -- about 3.1 million young people -- have abused cough syrups and cold pills to hallucinate or get high. Whites reported taking cough and cold medications to get high at a rate three times higher than blacks, the research showed.

Teens with Bipolar Disorders May Be More Likely to Use Drugs

Link: Teens

Teens with bipolar disorder are more likely to smoke and abuse drugs, according to a Massachusetts General Hospital study published in the June issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. "Young people with [bipolar disorder] need to carefully be screened for smoking and for substance use and abuse and that adolescents known to abuse drugs and alcohol -- especially those who binge use -- should also be assessed for [bipolar disorder]," said study leader Dr. Timothy Wilens, director of Massachusetts General Hospital's substance-abuse services.

U.S. News: Ritalin and the Risk of Substance Abuse

Link: USNews.com

A new report in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry adds to the ongoing debate about the risks and rewards of using stimulant drugs like Ritalin and Adderall to treat kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Previous research has suggested that the stimulant medications offer a protective effect against drug abuse during adolescence. The new study, by Harvard researchers, shows that when those adolescents reach early adulthood, any protective effect is gone—though there doesn't seem to be an increased risk of substance abuse. U.S. News spoke with Brian Doyle, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center and fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, to help put these and other recent findings about the stimulants into perspective.

WashingtonPost.com: ADHD Drugs Won't Raise Risk of Substance Abuse

Link: WashingtonPost.com

SATURDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Parents of children who are prescribed psychostimulants for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) might have one less thing to worry about now that a new study concludes these kids are no more likely than their peers to abuse drugs and alcohol as young adults.

The report, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, is published in the March issue of theAmerican Journal of Psychiatry.

"The results should reassure clinicians who might be hesitant to treat ADHD because of concerns about future substance abuse," said study co-author Michael C. Monuteaux, assistant director of research at the pediatric psychopharmacology program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Perspectives on Parenting: Discussing Drugs

Link: Discussing drugs

You have decided it is time to talk to your kids about drugs. What are you going to tell them? Drugs are bad? Don’t do drugs? That’s it?

Well, that mantra has been the basic approach employed by public service agencies, schools, and many parents for the past couple of decades. And it clearly has not worked very well. Drug abuse is worse than ever among adolescents and young adults in our society and has reached virtually epidemic status. Perhaps that is because the premise that drugs are evil and should be avoided is much too simplistic and fundamentally inaccurate, inappropriate, and downright hypocritical.

The fact is that as human beings we find substances capable of altering our consciousness to be useful and enjoyable.