Addiction Blog

An article on the Health24 site talks about parenting tips to help prevent drug addiction in their children as they grow older. Many drug addicts have been predestined to drug abuse since childhood, so there are techniques parents can use to help prevent problems later.

Label behavior instead of the identity of children is one tip. According to the article, labeling the children themselves as somehow bad or inadequate damages self esteem and can cause people to turn to drugs later to fill the void or block out negative self-image thoughts.

Encouraging kids to feel and express their feelings is a wonderful tool that will promote health in children and healthy adults later on. Other tips are to set boundaries and promote self-esteem in children. Each of these techniques will have a positive impact on children in the home and will be something that will help them later in life as well.

Lindsay Lohan, 20-year-old actress and star of “Georgia Rule,” “Bobby” and “Mean Girls” has reported checked into the Malibu Promises Rehab Center for treatment of drug and alcohol related issues. Lohan was arrested this past Saturday in Beverly Hills, California for driving under the influence.

The police report also specified that a drug believed to be cocaine was found in Lohan’s Mercedes SL-65 automobile. Lohan crashed the vehicle around 5:30 a.m. and had two other passengers riding in the vehicle at the time.

In January of this year, Lindsay Lohan had reportedly checked into the Wonderland Center in West Hollywood. Lohan’s publicist also reported that Lohan had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for over a year at that time.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada hosts North America’s only safe injection site and research about its InSite facility has show positive results. According to researchers, the InSite facility has reduced the spread of HIV and crime in the area.

Not only that ,but the safe injection site has also shown a 30-percent increase in drug addicts going into addiction treatment programs. Rates of injection among users at the facility have also dropped.

Since its opening in 2003, the safe injection program has been under fire from Canada’s conservative federal health minister. So, the continuation of the program is unknown at this moment.

What if fictive thoughts were to play a role in addiction asks researchers at Baylor College of Medicine. Fictive thoughts, or fictive learning uses “what if” scenarios on subjects to see “what might have been” and their emotional responses to these questions and fictional situations.

The study used MRI technology to detect changes in the brain in accordance to stimuli presented in the “what if” scenarios. Real world examples of stock market crashes, gambling and other scenarios are given subjects along with choices on how to react.

The studies measures emotional regret for choices taken and choices not taken and have tied these fictive learning experiences into the role of choices in addiction.

As if traditional meth labs aren’t bad enough, where criminals cook a combination of over-the-counter and acquired hazardous materials to feed the addicts’ need, now these same criminals are evading police in mobile meth labs. When meth labs are housed in a home or apartment, there is the inherent danger of explosion from chemical reactions and fire used to produce the drugs.

Illegal drug makers, though, have been a sitting target fearing police intervention at any moment. Static meth labs have also given government officials, motel owners and other landlords the added obligation of sending out the HAZMAT team to cleanup the hazardous chemicals whenever a meth lab is busted.

But, now the methamphetamine makers have taken to the streets in groves in order to evade detection by police, creating mobile meth labs in cars, vans, trucks and RV’s. According to reports in 2002, at least 20-percent of the meth labs were then mobile. Recent reports state that this number is now over 30-percent.

Last week the American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM) held their 38h Annual Medical-Scientific Conference in Miami, Florida. The focus on the conference was to present the most current research, development and treatment available in the field of addiction.

The conference was open to physicians, nurses, counselors, psychologists and students in the field of addiction. Some of the topics covered by the workshops included Buprenorphine in treatment, complications of heavy drinking, OxyContin misuse in rural West Virginia, prescription stimulant abuse, chemical dependency and pregnancy, anabolic steroids, adherence monitoring, correctional settings, co-occurring mental disorders, PTSD and addictions and parity for substance abuse treatment.

Home Box Office (HBO) has teamed up with the Open Student Television Network (OSTN) to bring the documentary Addiction to students on their TV’s and computers. The public service initiative will be free to students nationwide on over 4,500 campuses.

HBO’s Addiction features a 90-minute full-length documentary featuring industry experts, case studies and the real human impact of drug and alcohol abuse in the United States. Additionally, there are 13 shorter films, many of which feature interviews with the experts in the field, that delve more deeply into many of the issues of the 90-minute film.

Some of the key messages of the film state that addiction is a brain disease, that many addicts have one or more co-occurring mental disorders that also need to be treated, new medications are available to help with cravings and treatment does not have to be voluntary to be effective.

The 13 supplementary short films for Addiction focuses on such subjects as relapse prevention, the adolescent addict, treating stimulant and opiate addictions and interviews with leading experts.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to cut $25 million from drug rehab programs sponsored by Proposition 36, which was approved by voters in 2000. Supporters of Proposition 36 have filed a lawsuit against Schwarzenegger’s attempt to enact tougher penalties for those who do not complete rehab, including more jail time. Governor Schwarzenegger has threatened to cut funding in response to the lawsuit.

A recent report by UCLA researchers states that one-third of those sentenced by the courts into rehab simply do not show up. Two-thirds of those who do show up for rehab fail to complete it. Only 25-percent of those sentenced to drug rehab in California complete the program.

Supporters of Proposition 36 say what is needed is more money for drug treatment and more intensive treatment programs. Proponents say that cutting funds is sending the wrong signal that drug addiction is a criminal act instead of a health issue, which flies in the face of the voter’s will when Proposition 36 was first enacted.

Utah’s Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. has proposed increased funding for drug courts and rehabilitation services for those addicted to methamphetamines. Acknowledging the state’s growing meth addiction problem the governor has particularly noted women as the key at-risk group.

Because methamphetamines are “uppers” they deliver increased energy and weight loss, which is appealing to some women who become addicted. Women also reported that the rapid weight gain associated with quitting meth was also the major reason for relapse.

Both career men and women alike have reported the allure to meth, which had helped them to work longer hours or more than one job, increasing their net income.

Remember the public service announcement from 1987, where the TV guy would show an egg and say “This is your brain” and then crack the egg into the frying pan and say “This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?” This is one of many slogans against drugs that have been played before the public over the years.

In a new take on an old slogan, Dr. Daniel G. Amen is using SPECT imagery so that we may see what our brains look like when they are on drugs. SPECT stands for single photon emission computed tomography and is a nuclear medicine imaging technique that provides 3D results.

The SPECT images show areas of decreased activity among those who abuse drugs and / or alcohol. Variations in colors, “holes” and textures show clearly the degradation of the brains of users versus non-users. It is an interesting take on an old subject not just from a diagnostic and treatment point of view, but also from a drug and alcohol prevention point of view as well.