Parents who are concerned about keeping their child off drugs have a big challenge ahead of them. With all the new names and types of drugs, parents may find all the information overwhelming, but with a little help, parents can eventually navigate through the details they need to know.

Denying a Problem

Ignorance is bliss, according to some people. Many parents take a hands off -”what we don’t know won’t hurt us” – approach to parenting, especially when it comes to teens and drugs. They feel that it is best if they don’t make a big deal of things. They believe all kids are going to experiment with drugs at least once, so the best thing to do is let kids be kids and get it out of their system.

Talk To Your Teen

Studies show, however, that parents who do not talk to their kids about drugs or who are accepting of their child’s drug experimentation end up with kids who do drugs – often in a dangerous way. Parents who talk to their kids, however, about the dangers of drugs are the voice that often influences the child so that they do say no to drugs. Parents need to be the first step in drug prevention for their child, and then continue to be aware and on the lookout for their teen to try drugs so they can get help if necessary.

Be Aware

It is important, therefore, for parents to have some knowledge of the current drug scene. This scares many parents, but it doesn’t have to be intimidating. Just do a little research. Many parents know about age-old drugs like marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and LSD. They are aware that club drugs like Ecstasy and meth are out there, and that prescription drugs like OxyContin are becoming a huge problem. Parents may need to investigate further, however, to find out about the new synthetic drugs making their way around the country, such as bath salts and synthetic marijuana. These substances are trickier because they can be very misleading and sometimes even legal, yet just as harmful as illicit drugs. “It’s chemistry. They’re able to change the chemical structure just by small amounts to avert the law, even though it would have some of the same common properties and same psychoactive effects”, said Bruce Reeve, of the Division of Criminal Investigations Crime Lab. (1)

Investigate the Topic

Parents can gather a lot of information by doing some quick Internet searches. The Internet provides a host of how-to sites on ways to make drugs, get drugs, and pass drug tests. If parents can access this kind of information, so can their teen, so it is important for parents to look for details about drug abuse in this way.

Parents can talk to local law enforcement or hospitals, or attend seminars that are designed to inform about drug trends. By doing a little investigating and talking to their teens, parents can feel confident in their knowledge of drug dangers that their child faces, in the hopes that they can help their child stay drug-free. Knowledge is power.

Sources

(1) Special Report: Synthetic Drug Use Spreading Fast

Guard Against Synthetic Drugs

Synthetic drug use hard to track

A summary of global drug abuse statistics was released by Australian researchers last week. The report shows the estimated numbers of drug abusers in various areas of the world, and finds that wealthier, more advanced countries are more at risk. Among the study’s findings are estimates of illicit drug abuse throughout the world:

• Between 149 million and 271 million people worldwide used an illicit drug at least once in 2009; which equals 1 in 20 people aged 15 to 64 who have used an illegal drug. (1)
• In North America, nearly 11% of the population aged 15 to 64 used cannabis in 2009. (1)
• Between 14 million and 56 million people aged 15 to 64 worldwide used amphetamine-type stimulants, such as speed and crystal meth. (1)
• Cocaine use was highest in North America in 2009, and it had 14 million to 21 million users worldwide. (1)
• Opioid use, including heroin, had an estimated 12 million to 21 million users globally. The highest rates of use were in the Near and Middle East, where up to 1.4% of the population aged 15 to 64 had tried the drug at least once in 2009. (1)
• There are between 11 million and 21 million people who inject drugs worldwide. (2)

More Drug Abuse in Wealthy Countries

Much of the drug abuse around the world can be found in the wealthiest and most developed countries. This is possibly because residents have more access to drugs, or have the means to buy drugs, or maybe because people in these countries are of the mindset that they deserve what makes them feel the best. The study “serves to confirm something addiction experts have known for some time — that the extent of illicit drug use and abuse in developed countries like the United States has reached epidemic proportions,” said Dr. Jeffrey T. Parsons, a professor in the department of psychology at Hunter College, in New York City. (2)

Prescription Drug Abuse

Countries like the U.S. have other things to worry about also, besides illicit drugs. Legal prescription painkillers are becoming the most abused substances in our country. Dr. Marc Galanter said, “It is important that we call attention to very serious drug abuse problems that still exist in the United States. For example, we are seeing recent increases in abuse of painkillers in the United States, as well as the abuse of MDMA [Ecstasy] by adolescents and young adults. Abuse of these particular drugs is not prevalent in less industrialized countries.” (2)

Tobacco and Alcohol Are Also Risks

Other substance, like tobacco and alcohol also have a huge impact on countries throughout the world. Although illicit drug use was linked with about 250,000 deaths worldwide in 2004, alcohol claimed roughly 2.25 million lives globally during that same time period, while tobacco use led to an estimated 5.1 million deaths. (1)

Sources

(1) Worldwide illegal drug use estimated at 200 million people a year

(2) Global Study Finds Drug Abuse Highest in Richer Nations

200 Million People Use Illicit Drugs, Study Finds

According to a new study, nicotine should be looked at as a pretty powerful gateway drug, even possibly leading users to cocaine addiction. Researchers are now wondering about the implications for treatment for cocaine addicts who also smoke, and will be exploring what other substances may also be gateway drugs.

Dangers of Nicotine

Nicotine is one of the most commonly used drugs, and it is very addictive. In 2009, nearly 70 million Americans age 12 and older had used a tobacco product at least once in the month prior to being surveyed. Cigarette smoking increases the risk for lung cancer, emphysema, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory illness. Cigarette smoking accounts for 90% of lung cancer cases in the U.S., and almost 50,000 deaths per year can be attributed to secondhand smoke. (1) But according to this week’s study, there may be other reasons to stay away from nicotine.

Nicotine and Cocaine

The study was done at New York’s Columbia University. Researchers treated mice with nicotine and then exposed them to cocaine. The mice who got the nicotine beforehand showed more characteristics of addiction than those who weren’t exposed to nicotine first. Researchers have tried to connect this study to surveys done on humans in the past. In a previous study, researchers found that 81% of young people who used cocaine did so at the same time they were also actively smoking tobacco. (2)

Researchers are now wondering what this new information means for treating cocaine patients. First of all, there would be a great benefit to treating a nicotine addiction as well as cocaine addiction, rather than allowing the person to continue to smoke while detoxing from cocaine.

Gateway Drugs

Past studies were unable to link substances like nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana to an increased vulnerability to use illicit drugs. Now researchers want to find out if alcohol and marijuana could also enhance the effects of cocaine on the brain. The theory of gateway drugs has been disputed in great detail, but if the mouse study holds true for humans, there could definitely be substances that help exaggerate the brain’s response to cocaine.

“Now that we have a mouse model of the actions of nicotine as a gateway drug this will allow us to explore the molecular mechanisms by which alcohol and marijuana might act as gateway drugs,” said Eric Kandel, M.D., of Columbia University Medical Center and senior author of the study. “In particular, we would be interested in knowing if there is a single, common mechanism for all gateway drugs or if each drug utilizes a distinct mechanism.” (3)

In short, there must be more research on the topic to prove any connection between possible gateway drugs and illicit drugs in humans. But it is a real possibility that certain substances biologically increase vulnerability to other drugs.

Sources

(1) Tobacco/Nicotine

(2) Nicotine primes the brain to embrace cocaine, study says

(3) NIH study examines nicotine as a gateway drug

Drug traffickers are brazen, bold, and clever, but not all of them are smart. An Irish man who swallowed cocaine has made headlines because of his failed (and foolish) attempt at smuggling. Unfortunately, these stories are all too common.

Ingesting Drugs

The 20 year old man was apprehended in Sao Paolo, Brazil, trying to get on a flight to Lisbon. Airline personnel thought he was acting nervous, so they alerted police. What the police found, upon examination and medical image review, were 72 bags packed with cocaine inside the man’s body. That’s equal to 1 kilo, worth about $200,000. The man was taken to the hospital where the 2 pounds of cocaine were removed. It is uncertain how the man planned to eliminate the drugs from his body when he got to his destination, but it turns out authorities did the work for him.

He, of course, is not the first person to use such methods to smuggle drugs. People regularly carry drugs across borders by hiding the balloon-like bags in body cavities. These “balloon swallowers”, as they are called, have become quite inventive with their methods, but they are all still risking their lives in doing so. Others have died with even relatively small amounts of drugs hidden in their body. A Columbian woman died recently when her 26 ounce bag of coke burst in her stomach. Another man recently died near Philadelphia when, after being pulled over by police, he proceeded to swallow the cocaine he had with him.

Consequences for Drug Smuggling

We know drug trafficking is wrong, and there are consequences for it. The Irish man could get 15 years in jail, and others have gotten similar sentences. Some people who wouldn’t normally consider themselves drug traffickers have fallen prey to the lure of large amounts of money in return for carrying drugs across borders. Tourists are still approached to smuggle drugs back to America after visiting Central and South American countries. For some, the money is too good to pass up. Other people, native to these countries, may agree to do it because they are so impoverished that they do it to survive. But there are stiff consequences for those who are caught, and one bad choice can completely alter someone’s life course.

Dangers of Drug Smuggling

Drug trafficking is also incredibly dangerous. The story of the Irish man shows what lengths someone will go to for some cash. More than one drug lord has killed someone who threatened their operation. Not only are drug lords and drug dealers shady and quick to save their business by any means necessary, but drugs are physically harmful to the body. Stuffing one’s body with drugs is in essence creating a ticking time bomb that can lead to disaster at any time.

Sources

Stopped by cops, he swallows coke, dies 

Man Who Swallowed 72 Capsules of Cocaine Deserves Drug Trafficking Award

Irish National caught with cocaine in Brazil

Sometimes it is necessary to review history in order to understand just how we got to where we are today. This is true about the history of drug use and abuse; there is so much we can learn from looking at the past.

The history of drug abuse is filled with experimentation, conflict, violence, and successes and failures. The DEA traces illegal drug abuse back to the early 1800s, to the Opium Wars. We’ve become knowledgeable over the years, but we should not forget the past. The Drug Enforcement Administration Museum in Arlington, VA, chronicles the history of drug abuse through exhibits and artifacts.

Museum Exhibits

The Drug Enforcement Administration museum is free and open to the public. Touring through the exhibits, visitors can see advertisements from the 1800s and early 1900s for things like cocaine filled Coca Cola, opiate based children’s cough syrup, and a hypodermic syringe kit for opiate users from the Sears Roebuck catalog. Visitors to the museum can also learn about drug addiction trends, from the anything-goes 1960s and 70s, to the drug problems of the elite upper class of the 80s. The museum displays artifacts from the war on drugs of the 80s and 90s, including the beginnings of the international drug trafficking operations by the Mexican cartels. Guns and other weapons are on display as well as the stories behind the drug conflicts throughout time. Badges, weapons, and protection used by DEA agents can also be viewed at the museum.

Another exhibit remembers those who died from drug overdose, including popular musicians and writers, such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, as well as not as well known, everyday people. A slide show of people who have died from drugs runs throughout the exhibit, with pictures submitted to the museum by their loved ones.

Good Medicine, Bad Behavior

The DEA museum continues to update its exhibits, and some new displays tell of more current drug events. Good Medicine, Bad Behavior: Drug Diversion in America is an interactive exhibit that highlights the prescription drug abuse problem of America today. Another exhibit talks of how home meth labs have become a problem in recent years.

The DEA museum, in an effort to improve and expand its exhibits, accepts donations of both money and artifacts for display. The museum not only provides visitors with incredible and entertaining stories, but it also illustrates the advances we have made in medicine and in our knowledge of drugs. By looking at the history of drug abuse, we can learn what things we want to avoid doing again, and we can see a broader picture of both where we’ve been and where we are headed.

Sources

Mexico’s Drug Museum

DEA Museum

For the lowdown on getting high, visit the DEA Museum

Amidst a surge of new and trendy drugs is one that is more dangerous than the rest. This drug is more addictive, more lethal, and cheaper than many other drugs that people are familiar with or that are new on the scene.

Made with Toxic Chemicals

Oxidado, or “Oxi” for short, is taking lives and ruining others, yet it remains popular among certain groups of people. Oxi is derived from cocaine and looks like crack, but it also contains chemicals such as gasoline, battery fluid, and acetone. Oxi is made in people’s homes, using cocaine paste that has been soaked in gasoline. Other household solvents are added during the process, making this drug more toxic than most others. The director of a drug research center in Rio de Janeiro, Ivone Ponczek, said that Oxi was more dangerous than crack because it was easier to be produced. “While crack needs a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and others, and still needs a little know-how to be done, Oxi can be handmade, can be made by anyone,” (1) Unfortunately, this makes the drug very plentiful in places like Brazil.

An Unfortunate Brazilian Export

Oxidado, which means “rust”, originated in Brazil, possibly as early as the 1980s, but has increased in popularity since 2008. It is still a drug used primarily in Brazil, but word of it is spreading to other countries as well. It won’t be long until Oxi, which is causing a public health emergency in Brazil, will be causing alarm throughout the world. Because of how it is made, Oxi is up to five times cheaper than crack cocaine. The average price for one rock of Oxi is $1 to $3, while cocaine is often found for $60 a rock.

Dangers of Oxi

Before anyone goes looking for this drug to find themselves a cheap high, they should heed the warnings. Most people who use Oxi even one time get hooked. Most users die within one year. According to one researcher, Alvaro Mendes, who has studied the drug and its effects, “In the 15 years I have been working with chemical dependency, I have never seen a drug with such a potential of destruction as Oxi.” (2) Mendes calls Oxi the most addictive and powerful drug he has ever seen. Out of the 80 Oxi users he studied, 34 died during the study.

Oxi has the potential to grip its users so powerfully that they can think of nothing other than their next hit. The effect of smoking Oxi lasts only 3 to 5 minutes, but the damage to the body can be irreversible. Oxi causes users to quickly develop liver problems, severe stomach aches, vomiting, and diarrhea, and users lose weight quickly. But instead of being able to stop taking the drug or seeking help, users stop eating and are compelled to spend their time in abandoned buildings getting high. Most addicts forget about not only their responsibilities and families, but also personal hygiene and basic human needs. As one addict said, “You lose your shame when you take Oxi.” (2)

Sources

(1) Reports: New drug ‘oxi’ terrifies Brazil

(2) Inside Brazil’s toxic drug culture

Oxi: New Dangerous Drug Spreads in Brazil

Wouldn’t we all be happy if we could cure things like cocaine addiction? Drug abuse has ruined so many lives, and things would be much better without these struggles. Imagine a world without drug addiction. What if a simple vaccine could put an end to addiction?

Cocaine Vaccine Study

A new study provides some hope in the treatment of cocaine addiction, but we need to be careful not to get our hopes up too much. Headlines about this study read ” Probable Cure for Cocaine Addiction Developed” and ” New Cocaine Vaccine May Squelch Cravings; Remedy Addiction”, and articles are claiming that there is a cure coming in the near future. These are some pretty powerful words. Do these people know how hard it is to kick a cocaine habit? Without being too negative here, we need to be cautious to not put all our hopes in a quick fix or an easy way out of this habit.

The study, conducted by Dr. Ronald Crystal and colleagues of Weill Cornell Medical College in NYC, came up with some very dramatic data. Laboratory mice were injected with engineered pieces of the common cold virus combined with cocaine-like substances. This caused the mice to build up antibodies to cocaine and to fight the molecules. The result was that in these mice, their bodies fought the cocaine and destroyed it before it ever reached the brain, thereby hindering any effect of the drug.

There is No Quick Fix

This all sounds great, and researchers are pushing to start human trials soon. But we do need to be careful to not get too excited about a potential vaccine that will cure drug, tobacco, or alcohol addiction, or provide a quick way to get someone off drugs. The reason is this; someone who is addicted to drugs like cocaine is most likely physically dependent on the substance, but also mentally addicted. Keeping the drug from producing a high will help the person if they want to get clean, but it isn’t that easy. Becoming sober takes reconditioning, therapy, and retraining the body and the mind. These are things that require time, hard work, and dedication. A vaccine alone is not enough. Behaviors need to be changed, triggers dealt with, and healing in other ways must occur; otherwise the person risks relapse or switching to another substance.

More research will most likely be done on cocaine vaccinations. Maybe someday these kinds of vaccines will be used to keep someone from starting with drugs in the first place. While we are interested to see where these studies will lead us, it is important for us to continue to work toward healthy, drug-free lives.

Sources

New Cocaine Vaccine May Squelch Cravings; Remedy Addiction

Probable Cure for Cocaine Addiction Developed

Vaccine Protects Mice From Cocaine’s Effects, Study Finds

A study done by Wake Forest University School of Medicine looked into the relationship between stress and drug use. The study grouped monkeys together for a time, until a social structure was established, consisting of dominant and subordinate monkeys. The monkeys, when put in a stressful social situation, were then given access to both food and cocaine. The subordinate monkeys were more likely to give themselves a lot more cocaine, while the dominant ones gave themselves less. Brain scans showed the dominant ones actually gained pleasure from the test situation, and that they had a greater number of dopamine receptors.

Self-Medicating with Drugs

There are many reasons people get involved with drug abuse, one of them being to deal with stress or unhappiness in life. We know that people that have experienced a trauma are often found using drugs years later, as a way to numb the pain. Teens that have a difficult time at school may start doing drugs, in an attempt to fit in, or deal with the hurt. Alcoholics drink to push feelings away, and many people drink after a stressful day to reward themselves. Stress and negative feelings often lead to drug use. Drugs and alcohol have a way of numbing our feelings, making us forget our troubles, and for a time, make us feel good.

But as we know, the euphoric feelings don’t last forever, and a habit of self-medicating with drugs or alcohol can quickly become an addiction. We are a society of instant gratification – if it makes us feel good, do it, no matter what the consequences are.

Dopamine and Drugs

Some people have concluded from the monkey study that we need to help people overcome their self doubts, inferiority issues, and negative feelings in order to help them overcome substance abuse. They may be accurate to some extent; the dominant monkeys in the study had more dopamine receptors than subordinate ones. In humans, people with more receptors seem to feel the effects of drugs less. The drugs can still stimulate these receptors, but with more receptors, a larger percentage of them are left unaffected. However, because of the many different reasons people try and become addicted to drugs, we can’t say that improving one’s social status will make them less prone to drug abuse.

Stress Management

What we can say is that people with better coping skills are less likely to do drugs. Someone who feels inferior, has a negative outlook on their life, and views himself as being in a slump is more likely to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol. But if we can teach people to think positively, find healthy alternatives to reduce stress, and come up with the power to fight their way out of a slump, they will have a much greater hope of staying sober.

Sources

Low rank monkeys more prone to cocaine addiction

How Do You Make Yourself Feel Better 

Social anxiety and drugs: A lesson about addiction from monkeys

The term “crack baby” came about in the 1980′s and 90′s when large numbers of women on crack and cocaine were having babies. Public view at the time was that these babies were born addicted, had to go through withdrawal symptoms, and faced a lifetime of suffering and inferiority. But after seeing these children grow up and develop over the last 20 years, researchers have found that those first assumptions were not correct.

The Effects of Environment

Crack became an epidemic in the late 80′s and early 90′s. During their drug addiction, many pregnant women had little regard for the developing babies that they were carrying. In 1991, there were 22,000 babies left in hospitals across the country by parents who couldn’t or did not want to care for them. Many of these were crack babies. In many ways, these babies were the lucky ones. Current research shows that many of these babies that were abandoned and were taken in or adopted by loving families grew up to live an almost normal life. The lasting effects of cocaine exposure during development are not so severe as once thought, it turns out. Some of the negative effects can actually be made up for by being brought up in a good environment.

The future was the bleakest for those children that were raised by their crack-addicted parent. Poverty, neglect, abuse, poor schooling, and lack of nutrition and health care are the major reasons some crack babies have struggled as they get older.

Effects of Crack and Drugs

This is not to say that crack doesn’t have a negative impact on a developing fetus. It does. These babies are often born prematurely, have low birth weight, and have a small head size. Many have trouble focusing, are diagnosed with ADHD, may have cerebral palsy, and may show defiant behavior. But there is little evidence to support the belief that crack babies are brain damaged or more likely to be involved with crime or violence as they get older.

Some researchers have compared crack-exposed babies to those exposed to tobacco; however, we have to be careful not to downplay the consequences of any substance on a developing fetus. A 2007 study done by the Department of Health and Human Services found that 5.2% of pregnant women reported using illicit drugs, 11.6% used alcohol, and 16.4% used tobacco. All of these substances have a potentially negative impact on the baby, and it is impossible to predict what or how severe the lasting effects will be. Parents that are addicted to drugs or alcohol should get help immediately, in order to ensure the best outlook for their child’s future.

Sources

Crack Babies

The Epidemic That Wasn’t

Once written off, ‘crack babies’ have grown into success stories

Part of the United States’ anti-drug program involves working to decrease supplies of certain drugs that make their way into our market. International policies have recently focused on decreasing cocaine crops and production in South American countries.

The Top 3 Cocaine Producers

The U.S. government continues to allocate funds into efforts in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, the top 3 countries for cocaine production. By decreasing the supply of the drugs, the government is expecting that our cocaine problem in the U.S. will decrease also. In fact, the U.S. is so sure this is the way to go that the government has spent $71.7 million on the cause in Peru this year, and $5 billion in Colombia in the last 10 years. The money is used for staff, facilities, supplies, and equipment, such as helicopters that spray fields of coca.

The Profit of Coca Plants

Many people disagree with our government’s plan of supply-oriented intervention. Some of the people most impacted by the eradication of coca crops are the farmers that grow the plants in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. These locals are often so poor, that taking this crop away would take away any means they have to support their families. Their governments have pledged to help the farmers grow different crops, but so far this has not happened. No other crop could come close to bringing in the kind of money coca does, anyway, not even coffee or cacao. Even though coca is used in local religious ceremonies legally, it brings in a much higher profit when sold to drug traffickers.

Drug Traffickers on Top of the Game

These traffickers have been busy at work for the last few decades. When governments crack down on one area of a country for their drug production, drug traffickers are able to quickly pick up and move to a different region. This is another reason many people see the U.S.’s efforts and money spending as futile. We are now going back to areas in Peru which had been the focus of coca reductions in the past, but the traffickers keep popping back up when the focus is turned elsewhere.

Another concern is guerilla groups, such as Shining Path, which waged war on local governments that tried to reduce coca production. This group controls many of the growing areas, and will not stand by and let them be taken away. Some people see Peru and Bolivia becoming ravaged by guerilla groups just as Mexico is being torn apart by cartels now.

Solutions to the Drug Problem

The United States is largely responsible for the cocaine demand being as high as it is today. To many people, it doesn’t seem fair that we are now the ones demanding that troops take local farmers’ livelihoods away from them.

Instead, prevention and treatment are areas where huge strides are being made. By focusing on helping our people get well, or avoid using cocaine in the first place, we can naturally reduce the demand for the coca plant.

Sources

Coca Production Makes a Comeback in Peru

Coca Cultivation is Growing in Peru

Bolivia eradicates coca crops amid local grumbling