High School and Youth Trends

Since 1975, the MTF has annually studied the extent of drug abuse among high school 12th graders. The survey was expanded in 1991 to include 8th and 10th graders. It is funded by NIDA and is conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. The goal of the survey is to collect data on past month, past year, and lifetime drug use among students in these grade levels. This, the 28th annual study, was conducted during spring 2002.

The 2002 MTF marks the sixth year in a row that illicit drug use among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders remained stable or decreased. In particular, the proportion of 8th and 10th graders reporting the use of any illicit drug in the prior 12 months declined significantly from 2001 to 2002. The decrease in illicit drug use among 8th graders continues a decline begun in 1997, but this is the first significant decline among 10th graders since 1998.

Specific decreases were noted in the use of marijuana, some club drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol. For example, marijuana use in the past year decreased significantly among 10th graders, reaching its lowest rate since 1995. Marijuana use by 8th graders also has declined in recent years and is now at its lowest level since 1994.

In addition, the 2002 survey found the use of MDMA (ecstasy) decreased in every category in all three grades. Significant decreases occurred in past year and past month categories for 10th graders.

Also, LSD use showed major changes from 2001 to 2002, with rates of use decreasing markedly across the board to the lowest rates of use in the history of the survey.

For alcohol, the use rates for 8th and 10th graders are at record lows in the history of the survey in those grades (since 1991).

Use of anabolic, androgenic steroids remained stable from 2001 to 2002 in each grade and category.

Use of amphetamines is down significantly for 8th graders in lifetime and past year categories from 2001 to 2002. Nonmedical use of methylphenidate (Ritalin®) was stable, with past year rates at 2.8 percent for 8th graders, 4.8 percent for 10th graders, and 4.0 percent of 12th graders in 2002.

For the first time, in 2002 the MTF survey looked at the misuse and/or nonmedical use of the prescription drugs Oxycontin ® and Vicodin. Nonmedical use of Oxycontin ® in the past year was reported by 4.0 percent of 12th graders, and Vicodin use in the same time period was reported by 9.6 percent of 12th graders.

The only significant increases in drug use in the 2002 were past year crack use by 10th graders, from 1.8 percent in 2001 to 2.3 percent in 2002, and past year sedative use by 12th graders, from 5.9 percent in 2001 to 7.0 percent in 2002.

The Substance Abuse Costs to Society & Workplaces Are Huge

A new study of 1992 data estimates the economic costs to society of substance abuse at $246 billion for that year, and $276 billion projected for 1995. Alcohol-related lost productivity alone accounted for two-thirds of the total alcohol cost. Drug related crime accounted for over half of the total drug costs.1 Workplaces take the brunt in lost/poor performance, accidents, and crime.

Alcoholism alone accounts for 500 million lost workdays each year. Casual drinkers, in aggregate, account for far more incidents of absenteeism, tardiness, and poor quality of work than those regarded as alcohol dependent. Between 20 and 40 percent of all general hospital patients are admitted for complications related to alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse.

Today, almost 73 percent of all current drug users ages 18–49 are full- or part-time employed – more than 8.3 million workers.

About 7 percent of full-time workers use illicit drugs (6.3m), and about 7 percent are heavy drinkers.5 ¨ About 1.2 million full-time workers both abuse illicit drugs and are heavy alcohol users.

The highest rate of illicit drug abuse and heavy alcohol use is among 18–25 year olds, males, Caucasian, and those with less than a high school education.

In a survey of five work sites, 18 percent of persons who drank alcohol and 12 percent of illicit drug users reported that their performance at work had declined due to alcohol or drug use.

Between 44–80 percent of young adults ages 16–17 work during the year. Those working more than 20 hours per week are at high risk for substance abuse and injury. With our youth entering the workforce in greater numbers, this is a significant issue for workplaces to address.

Understanding Drug Abuse and Addiction

Many people view drug abuse and addiction as strictly a social problem. Parents, teens, older adults, and other members of the community tend to characterize people who take drugs as morally weak or as having criminal tendencies. They believe that drug abusers and addicts should be able to stop taking drugs if they are willing to change their behavior.

These myths have not only stereotyped those with drug-related problems, but also their families, their communities, and the health care professionals who work with them. Drug abuse and addiction comprise a public health problem that affects many people and has wide-ranging social consequences. It is NIDA's goal to help the public replace its myths and long-held mistaken beliefs about drug abuse and addiction with scientific evidence that addiction is a chronic, relapsing, and treatable disease.

Addiction does begin with drug abuse when an individual makes a conscious choice to use drugs, but addiction is not just "a lot of drug use." Recent scientific research provides overwhelming evidence that not only do drugs interfere with normal brain functioning creating powerful feelings of pleasure, but they also have long-term effects on brain metabolism and activity. At some point, changes occur in the brain that can turn drug abuse into addiction, a chronic, relapsing illness. Those addicted to drugs suffer from a compulsive drug craving and usage and cannot quit by themselves. Treatment is necessary to end this compulsive behavior.

A variety of approaches are used in treatment programs to help patients deal with these cravings and possibly avoid drug relapse. NIDA research shows that addiction is clearly treatable. Through treatment that is tailored to individual needs, patients can learn to control their condition and live relatively normal lives.

Treatment can have a profound effect not only on drug abusers, but on society as a whole by significantly improving social and psychological functioning, decreasing related criminality and violence, and reducing the spread of AIDS. It can also dramatically reduce the costs to society of drug abuse.

Understanding drug abuse also helps in understanding how to prevent use in the first place. Results from NIDA-funded prevention research have shown that comprehensive prevention programs that involve the family, schools, communities, and the media are effective in reducing drug abuse. It is necessary to keep sending the message that it is better to not start at all than to enter rehabilitation if addiction occurs.

A tremendous opportunity exists to effectively change the ways in which the public understands drug abuse and addiction because of the wealth of scientific data. Overcoming misconceptions and replacing ideology with scientific knowledge is the best hope for bridging the "great disconnect" - the gap between the public perception of drug abuse and addiction and the scientific facts.

Pharmacological Approaches

Here, bad news for you, who wants to try consume drug. There are no medications currently available to treat cocaine addiction specifically. Several newly emerging compounds are being investigated to assess their safety and efficacy in treating cocaine addiction. For example, one of the most promising anti-cocaine drug medications to date, selegeline, is being taken into multi-site phase III clinical trials in 1999. These trials will evaluate two innovative routes of selegeline administration: a transdermal patch and a time-released pill, to determine which is most beneficial.

Cocaine Addiction Treatment manual covers Disulfiram, a medication that has been used to treat alcoholism, has also been shown, in clinical studies, to be effective in reducing cocaine abuse. Because of mood changes experienced during the early stages of cocaine abstinence, antidepressant drugs have been shown to be of some benefit. In addition to the problems of treating addiction, cocaine overdose results in many deaths every year, and medical treatments are being developed to deal with the acute emergencies resulting from excessive cocaine abuse.

Behavioral Interventions

Many behavioral treatments have been found to be effective for cocaine addiction, including both residential and outpatient approaches. Indeed, behavioral therapies are often the only available, effective treatment approaches to many drug problems, including cocaine addiction, for which there is, as yet, no viable medication. However, integration of both types of treatments is ultimately the most effective approach for treating addiction. It is important to match the best treatment regimen to the needs of the patient. This may include adding to or removing from an individual's treatment regimen a number of different components or elements. For example, if an individual is prone to relapses, a relapse component should be added to the program. A behavioral therapy component that is showing positive results in many cocaine-addicted populations, is contingency management. Contingency management uses a voucher-based system to give positive rewards for staying in treatment and remaining cocaine free. Based on drug-free urine tests, the patients earn points, which can be exchanged for items that encourage healthy living, such as joining a gym, or going to a movie and dinner. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is another approach. Cognitive-behavioral coping skills treatment, for example, is a short-term, focused approach to helping cocaine-addicted individuals become abstinent from cocaine and other substances. The underlying assumption is that learning processes play an important role in the development and continuation of cocaine abuse and dependence. The same learning processes can be employed to help individuals reduce drug use. This approach attempts to help patients to recognize, avoid, and cope; i.e., recognize the situations in which they are most likely to use cocaine, avoid these situations when appropriate, and cope more effectively with a range of problems and problematic behaviors associated with drug abuse. This therapy is also noteworthy because of its compatibility with a range of other treatments patients may receive, such as pharmacotherapy.

Therapeutic communities, or residential programs with planned lengths of stay of 6 to 12 months, offer another alternative to those in need of treatment for cocaine addiction. Therapeutic communities are often comprehensive, in that they focus on the resocialization of the individual to society, and can include on-site vocational rehabilitation and other supportive services. Therapeutic communities typically are used to treat patients with more severe problems, such as co-occurring mental health problems and criminal involvement.

So what?
The best response to the information above is, say no to drug. Any effort to find medications are fail. Just only recovery by intervention to the behavioural of the consumer.

What treatments are effective for cocaine abusers?

There has been an enormous increase in the number of people seeking treatment for cocaine addiction during the 1980s and 1990s. Treatment providers in most areas of the country, except in the West and Southwest, report that cocaine is the most commonly cited drug of abuse among their clients.

The majority of individuals seeking treatment smoke crack, and are likely to be poly-drug users, or users of more than one substance. The widespread abuse of cocaine has stimulated extensive efforts to develop treatment programs for this type of drug abuse. Cocaine abuse and addiction is a complex problem involving biological changes in the brain as well as a myriad of social, familial, and environmental factors. Therefore, treatment of cocaine addiction is complex, and must address a variety of problems. Like any good treatment plan, cocaine treatment strategies need to assess the psychobiological, social, and pharmacological aspects of the patient's drug abuse.

Stupid choice to ignore loneliness

Sometimes we fell alone even though many people around us, sound contrary but many people ever felt like that. Many ways to ignore this condition and responses from individu are vary. Drugs even become choice that taken by people that desperate and no one who care them. It is so pity.

Actually many ways to ignore loneliness, and the worst way is drugs! Ignore loneliness with drug. Stupid choice!!

What is the effect of maternal cocaine use?

Do you love your baby???
Sit, relax and read this……

At this time, the full extent of the effects of prenatal drug exposure on a child is not completely known. But unfortunately, many scientific studies have documented that babies born to mothers who abuse cocaine during pregnancy are often prematurely delivered, have low birth weights and smaller head circumferences, and are often shorter in length. Wow…

It is difficult to estimate the full extent of the consequences of maternal drug abuse. Determining the specific hazard of a particular drug to the unborn child is even more problematic, given that, typically, more than one substance is abused. Such factors as the amount and number of all drugs abused; inadequate prenatal care; abuse and neglect of the children, due to the mother's lifestyle; socio-economic status; poor maternal nutrition; other health problems; and exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, are just some examples of the difficulty in determining the direct impact of perinatal cocaine use, for example, on maternal and fetal outcome.

Many may recall that "crack babies," or babies born to mothers who used cocaine while pregnant, were written off by many a decade ago as a lost generation. They were predicted to suffer from severe, irreversible damage, including reduced intelligence and social skills. It was later found that this was a gross exaggeration. Most crack-exposed babies appear to recover quite well. However, the fact that most of these children appear normal should not be over-interpreted as a positive sign. Using sophisticated technologies, scientists are now finding that exposure to cocaine during fetal development may lead to subtle, but significant, deficits later, especially with behaviours that are crucial to success in the classroom, such as blocking out distractions and concentrating for long periods of time.

Once again, do you love your baby???