Bath Salts Cause Concern in Some Communities

Officials in 25 states are growing concerned about alarming numbers of adolescents and others ending up in emergency rooms and mental hospitals after intentionally snorting, injecting or smoking "fake cocaine," a powder legally sold as "bath salts," and are proposing bans.

Sold under such names as Ivory Wave, Red Dove, Bliss and Vanilla Sky, law enforcement officials and poison control center staff say the effects of the stimulants the powders often contain (mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, also known as MDPV) are a central nervous system stimulant that is not approved for medical purposes in the United States, and provide for users a cocaine-like high.

The chemicals in these bath salts can cause hallucinations, paranoia, rapid and irregular heartbeats and suicidal thoughts, authorities say. The chemicals are in products sold legally at convenience stores and on the internet as bath salts and even plant foods. A small packet of the chemicals typically costs around $20.

Mississippi lawmakers this week began considering a proposal to ban the sale of the powders, and a similar step is being sought in Kentucky. In Louisiana, the bath salts were outlawed this month by an emergency order after the state's poison center received more than 125 calls in the last three months of 2010 involving exposure to the chemicals. Dr. Mark Ryan, director of Louisiana's poison control center, told The Huffington Post that calls about the chemicals have dropped sharply since Louisiana’s ban.

Two other states have also taken steps. North Dakota's Board of Pharmacy banned MPDV and related chemicals, and legislation has already been put forward in Kentucky to outlaw MPDV. Abroad, the Great Britain banned these so-called bath salts last April when several people died after ingesting it.

The stimulants aren't regulated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, but they are studying it as a “drug of concern.”

Bullied Girls at Risk for Substance Abuse

A new study has found that adolescent girls who are victims of bullying are more likely to engage in substance use as a result of bullying-related depression.

As schools reopen following the holidays, the message to parents of adolescent girls is that bullying can have serious consequences: "If your daughter is a victim of bullying, take it seriously, do all possible to prevent recurrence, and attend to possible depression and substance use. For parents of boys who are bullied: depression is still an issue, but it may not explain the relation between victimization and substance use," according to Jeremy Luk of the University of Washington.

His study is the first to identify depression as a possible link to the relation between victimization and substance use among adolescents. The findings are generalizable because they are based on data from a nationally representative sample of 1,495 tenth graders.

The study was based on data on bullying from the 2005/2006 U.S. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC).

"Bullying is a serious problem among adolescents. Previous research has shown that it is associated with loneliness, depression and suicide. But no previous national studies have identified depression as an explanation for the relationship between victimization from bullying and substance use," Luk said.

The findings have been published in the Prevention Science , a journal of the Society for Prevention Research.

Get Youth Involved in Counter Super Bowl Alcohol Advertising

The NFL Super Bowl is known for its commercials as much as the game itself. Did you know that about 18 percent of the Super Bowl's total viewing audience will be youth under 21, meaning that children and youth will be exposed to the dozens of alcohol-related commercials shown during the Super Bowl? To help shed light on how alcohol advertising impacts youth, the Drug-Free Action Alliance is inviting youth to participate in their Big Bowl Vote 2011, an annual survey open to middle and high school students.

Last year, more than 40,000 middle and high school students in 39 states participated in the Drug-Free Action Alliance Super Bowl Survey 2010, which once again revealed the youth appeal of alcohol advertising. This year, the newly branded survey is called Drug-Free Action Alliance Big Bowl Vote 2011.

Through a simple, two-question, student survey given Monday morning following the Super Bowl, middle and high school students share their impressions on what advertisements they remember seeing and which commercial was their favorite. Drug-Free Action Alliance will collect and summarize the data, and you’ll receive the results just days after the Super Bowl. The NFL’s Super Bowl XLV is scheduled for February 6, 2011, with television coverage on FOX.

This valuable, fresh and local information can then be used to educate parents, students, lawmakers and the media about the effects of alcohol advertising on youth.

Why is this data important? Because, through research, we know that the more youth are exposed to alcohol in advertising, the more likely they are to consume alcohol underage. So getting this type of information out to lawmakers and the media is key.

Download the Big Bowl Vote Toolkit that includes everything you’ll need to quickly and easily implement your local student survey, with additional ideas on student engagement and follow-up activities. Visit www.DrugFreeActionAlliance.org or contact Michelle Morse at mmorse@DrugFreeActionAlliance.org with questions or for more information.

Pain Killers: A Growing Addiction

According to the subscription-based Harvard Mental Health Letter article, "Pain killers fuel growth in drug addiction," prescription painkillers kill about twice as many people as cocaine and five times as many as heroin. Nearly two million Americans are dependent on or abusing opioid pain relievers—nearly twice as many as are addicted to cocaine.

Because opioid painkillers target the same brain receptors as heroin, causing euphoria, they carry the risk of addiction, the article states.

Dr. Michael Miller, editor in chief of the publication, explains that treatment for a painkiller addiction is most successful when it consists of two phases: detoxification to reduce or eliminate withdrawal symptoms after opioid use stops, followed by a longer (and sometimes indefinite) maintenance phase. Although counseling is an important part of treatment, most people addicted to painkillers require treatment a medication such as methadone or buprenorphine during both detoxification and maintenance therapy. Although most people addicted to opioids make multiple attempts to kick the habit, it can be done, he writes.

Check out a free educational webcast hosted by CADCA partner MCTFT "Preventing Prescription Abuse" from 1-2 p.m. EST Jan. 27. During this show, prevention and law enforcement leaders will discuss strategies to help prevent prescription drug abuse. See how takeback programs can help keep drugs from getting into the wrong hands. Find out how prescription drug monitoring programs are working in many states and how a center of excellence is working to improve them. Guests include Senta Goudy, Chief of Prevention, Florida Office of Drug Control, and Charlie Cichon, Executive Director, National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators.

Parenting Style Plays Role in Teen Drinking

Researchers at Brigham Young University have found that teenagers who grow up with parents who are either too strict or too permissive tend to binge drink more than their peers. The study was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

"While parents didn't have much of an effect on whether their teens tried alcohol, they can have a significant impact on the more dangerous type of drinking," study author Stephen Bahr, a professor of sociology at BYU, told National Public Radio.

As part of the survey of 5,000 teens, researchers asked 7th- to 12th-grade students a series of questions about their alcohol such as how frequently they binge drink, how often they communicated, in general, with their parents, and what kind of parenting style did they think their parents possessed.

The teens being raised by “indulgent” parents who tend to give their children praise and warmth, but who don’t monitor bad behavior were among the biggest alcohol abusers.

"They were about three times more likely to participate in heavy drinking," Bahr said.

This was also true for teens whose parents were strict.

"Kids in that environment tend not to internalize the values and understand why they shouldn't drink," Bahr said. They were more than twice as likely to binge drink.

The parenting style that led to the lowest levels of problem drinking struck a balance between both styles: accountability and support.