According to the latest National Institute on Drug Abuse‘s Monitoring the Future Survey, marijuana use is more popular than heroin, opioid analgesics and cigarettes combined. The survey gives talks to teens in grades 8-12 to get a feel for how many students are using drugs, which ones, how often and how much.
Illegal Use of Prescription Drugs and Heroin is Only Popular Among Adults
The NIH has declared that use of prescription drugs and heroin is at its lowest since the Monitoring Future Survey was first introduced. These drugs have not seen a decline in popularity for adults, but teenagers tell an entirely different story. The use of synthetic cannabinoids, Vicodin, inhalants, methamphetamine, amphetamines, ecstasy and alcohol is at an all time low in NIH records, in all age-groups that took part in the survey.
For 8th-10th graders, the use of Ritalin, Oxycontin, bath salts, over the counter cough medicine and bath salts also saw a significant decrease, and it is at its lowest since the survey was first made. 12th grader reported the lowest amount of crystal meth and sedative use as well.
Drug Use in Teens is Down to 27.2%
The only drug that has seen only a slight decrease is alcohol. 40% of teens surveyed were revealed to have gotten drunk in the past year. The popularity of e-cigarettes is also evident. While the use of regular cigarettes is at it’s lowest, 9.5% of 8th graders, 14% of 10th graders and 16.2% of 12th graders had used e-cigarettes in the past year.
The Only Drug that Did Not Lose Popularity is Marijuana
6% of high school seniors reported having smoked marijuana daily. 6.5% high school freshman and 16.6% of sophomores smoked in the past month. 21.2% of seniors admitted having used it in the past month. The perception of marijuana at high schools has seen a steady shift. 31.9% of seniors surveyed said that consistent use of marijuana could be harmful, which is down 6% from last year.
These Figures Should Be Taken With A Grain of Salt
Dr. Nora Volkov, director of NIDA, advises the community to still remain alert. The fact that figures are lower doesn’t mean that they will continue to decline. The past twenty years have seen a trend shift toward relatively safer drugs, but rates of drug use are still very high at the national level.
In comparison to other countries, the United States has some of the highest rates of drug use among younger age groups. It will likely be some time before global surveys show us any different. There is lots of work to do until illegal drug use is kept at a manageable line.
Will Legalized Medical or Recreational Marijuana Factor into These Figures in the Future?
If marijuana is legalized under federal law, it may no longer factor into these figures. Whether it for in medical or recreational use, marijuana shows no signs of becoming less popular. Aside from the fact that it introduces potentially harmful fumes and tar into the lungs, there is little to be said about opposing marijuana. While it does impair judgment, it has shown potential to treat pain, depression and other ailments in moderate amounts.
Party Drugs Are Dead to Teens
The fact that this survey shows marijuana as the most popular drug of choice is probably not only for the teenage age group. Figures for young adults in or recently out of college are probably similar. In any case, it’s good news that party drugs and dangerous opioid analgesics are less popular, perhaps because marijuana is as trendy as it is accessible in the United States. Whether or not the trend will stabilize is yet to be seen, as the government has been increasingly considering of legalizing the plant.
Parents should have had a booze talk with two-year-old Cheng Cheng. Many of us have heard of him, the world’s youngest alcoholic, known as ‘Little Winebibber’, who shuns milk in exchange for alcohol in China. He first tasted wine on his father’s chopsticks at the age of 10 months and now, he downs bottles of wine and beer in minutes – faster than his parents. Cheng Cheng’s taste for alcohol is extreme yet not uncommon: underage drinking is literally everywhere.
Have the booze talk with kids at age 9
Every day in the United States, more than 4,750 kids under the age of 16 have their first full drink of alcohol; furthermore, the average age at which young people (12-17 years-old) begin to drink is 13 years old. Underage drinking is estimated to account for between 11% and 20% of the U.S. alcohol market and even the lower estimate of 11% represents 3.6 billion drinks each year.
Most of us, at some point, have engaged in similar behaviors. Regardless of the repercussions, alcohol poses a far greater threat to children than many parents or peers care to admit. If you have a 9-year-old, it’s time to have a booze talk – at least according to a new report on underage binge drinking.
Beyond hangovers
A report by the American Academy of Pediatrics states that alcohol is the substance most frequently abused by children and teens. But the true picture is much darker: drinks are linked to the leading causes of death and serious injury, such as accidents, homicides and suicides.
According to Dr. Lorena Siqueira, the co-author of the report, adolescents can face “serious consequences — including death — with their first episode of binge drinking,” mainly due to their smaller frames and their lack of experience with alcoholic beverages.
When children start to think positively about alcohol
Researchers recommend talking with children about drinking before they take their first sip – and before they turn 10. Being exposed to ads for alcoholic beverages, watching role models use alcohol, and even seeing the adults around them drinking causes kids to start thinking positively about booze between the ages of 9 and 13.
In 2014, half of twelfth graders and one in nine eighth graders reported having been drunk at least once in their life, the report found. These kids are influenced by what they see in the world around them, stated Dr. Bennett Leventhal, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. But are parents ready to talk frankly with their kids about alcohol at such an early age?
Do you think having the booze talk with kids at age 9 is weird? Share your experiences in the comments section below.
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Two in New York City, five in Denver, and a host of other locations will partake in “Starbucks Evenings.” “Starbucks created the Evenings menu to give customers a place to begin and end their day,” said Alyssa Zauderer, report for PIX 11 news. “Starbucks Evenings” will begin after 4 p.m. The menu for each location will differ based on the opinion of the public and local companies.
Although only 70 out of 12,000 locations will begin serving alcohol tomorrow, Starbucks has submitted liquor licenses for hundreds of their locations. After five long years of working towards this goal, the company hopes by the end of this year each and every liquor license will be approved. Five years from now the company hopes to have 2,000 locations licensed to sell alcohol.
Wine or Beer?
“Red, white and sparkling wines are also available, alongside a local Brooklyn craft beer,” said Carly LedBetter, writer for the Huffington Post. Beverages containing alcohol cost $6- $15. They are served with dishes that are not typically sold at Starbucks. “Small plates include truffle mac & cheese, chicken skewers, artichoke & goat cheese flatbread, meat balls with tomato basil sauce, bacon-wrapped dates, a cheese plate and truffle popcorn,” said Aaron Smith, writer for Channel3000.com.
Baristas and Bartenders
“Baristas will have to learn a bigger menu and learn to prepare the small plates. On top of that, not every employee will be able to serve alcohol depending on what state they work in,” said Victor Jacobo, writer for touchvision.com, “But Starbucks is convinced this move will boost business.” Starbucks typically sells scones, donuts and coffee. The company is guaranteed to make more money and attract more customers because Starbucks offers a great deal of new menu options.
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Drunk driving. Millions of Americans do it. Many say “What’s the harm, I got home safely and no one was hurt?” They put those keys in the ignition and drive away after drinking.
A brand new research by the Centers for Disease Control found that near 2% of American adults – around 4.2 million – have reported about at least one alcohol-impaired driving episode in the last 30 days. And it’s probably an underestimate, researchers said.
Beyond Hangovers: Drunk driving
Amy Jewett and colleagues based the study on a 2012 data from CDC to outline the typical drunk driver. They found that binge-drinking younger males between the ages of 21 and 34 made up one-third of drunk drivers. Men overall comprised 80% of impaired drivers.
“Alcohol-impaired driving crashes have accounted for about one third of all U.S. crash fatalities in the past two decades,” researchers said.
One of the victims is 7-year-old Xitclalli Vásquez — friends and family call her Chilli. She was on her way home from the mall after getting her hair cut and having a manicure as she wanted to look pretty for her birthday just three days away, Faces of Drunk Driving reported. A drunk driver slammed head-on into her car. He landed in jail for 10 years, and Chilli landed in a wheelchair for life.
“Alcohol and asphalt don’t mix. If you’re drinking, don’t get behind the wheel and take a chance on being arrested or hurting yourself or someone else,” the team behind Faces of Drunk Driving said.
Too much to drink
For the report, researchers asked people across the US the following question: “During the past 30 days, how many times have you driven when you’ve had perhaps too much to drink?”
“An estimated 4.2 million adults reported at least one alcohol-impaired driving episode in the preceding 30 days, resulting in an estimated 121 million episodes and a national rate of 505 episodes per 1,000 population annually,” researchers found. Overall, people who reported driving drunk also admitted other types of risky behaviors. Two particularly stood out: binge drinking and no seatbelt on.
Deadly asphalt
In 2013, more than 10,000 people died in vehicle crashes in which the driver had a blood alcohol concentration above 0.08 percent, the legal limit for drunk driving, according to the report. The whole nation has adopted 0.08 percent BAC (blood alcohol concentration) as the legal limit for operating a motor vehicle for drivers aged 21 years or older, but rates of alcohol-impaired driving rates varied by more than fourfold among states, and were highest in the Midwest U.S. Census region, researchers wrote. The highest per-capita rate was found in Hawaii and the lowest in Utah.
Separate reports by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) found that alcohol affects drivers’ capabilities of managing maneuvers behind the wheel. Despite increased public awareness, drinking and drugged driving continues with an average of nearly 13,000 people killed each year in alcohol-related accidents and hundreds of thousands more injured.
So how can we reduce these numbers?
According to the team of researchers alcohol-impaired driving can be curbed if states and communities start increasing the use of effective interventions. These include publicized sobriety checkpoints and a strict enforcement of 0.08 g/dL, blood alcohol content laws as well as ignition interlocks for all persons convicted of alcohol-impaired driving, increasing alcohol taxes and enacting primary enforcement seat belt laws.
Did you ever witness an episode of drunk driving? Share your experience in the comments section below.
Whether you think success is an the individualist’s carrot to enjoy after a lifetime of thoughtful adaptation to an increasingly capricious market, or a fictitious stick specifically designed to drive you absolutely mad, heed this – if you’ve achieved equity, had a family (or perhaps chosen not to), and are basically capable of being a healthy, active and sociable fifty-something or older, it may be time for you to stop drinking, or perhaps ease off the drinks, per de rigueur de la classe.
STOP DRINKING? au CONTRAIRE MON CAPITAN
In a statistical study receiving 9,000 responses, researchers have concluded that over-drinking is a “middle class phenomenon,” that is possibly a major strand of social dissonance, causing unnecessary health and social destitution to an extent that really isn’t emotionally or psychologically necessary for an older person who’s already flourished.
To be more specific the study found that men in their early 60s had a higher rate of heavy drinking than all other ages over fifty. Conversely, instead of a latent peak, women’s risk for heavy drinking fell proportionately with age. This isn’t to imply that women *get it* earlier (because somehow, we already knew that).
WHY SHOULD THE SOON-TO-BE-AGED STOP DRINKING?
From the researchers’ study, it appears that the present’s golden-age population may be drinking more frequently, and in heavier doses than they have since they first became acquainted with drinking in college.
Additionally, greater income increases the chances for women over fifty to drink more. However, smoking, higher education diplomas, and fair health each significantly increase the risk of heavy drinking, for both the sexes.
WHY DO MEN HAVE IT EASIER?
When it comes to the risk of drinking, it actually doesn’t. Women’s drinking habits seem unaffected by the status of domestic partnership, but men who live alone are more likely to drink heavily, especially if they’re divorced or separated, especially if they’re caucasian.
MATERNAL INSTINCTS ARE A GOOD THING
Women responsible for others’ care tend to take care of themselves too, in this respect, lowering their likelihood to drink dangerously. In England, though, the researchers declared this phenomenon of increased likelihood for heavy drinking to be more of a “middle class phenomenon,” and so presumably something the fifty-somethings and older of the upper class does not have to be susceptible to. People over fifty in good health, with more income, higher educational diplomas and a generally more active social life are more likely to overdrink than simply stop drinking.
Researchers concluded that this will to alcoholism among those men and women over fifty is something associated with affluence, and the coveted “successful” aging process.
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Everyone enjoys going out or staying in with friends and having a drink every once in a while. Similarly, we all have that one friend who is quite shy and reserved–that is, until he or she gets a little too much liquid courage in his or her system. According to a new study done by the University of Missouri, this is one of the four types of drunk known as the “Nutty Professor”.
While the study doesn’t account for every single type of drunk personality and doesn’t make up a total of 100 percent, it gives a pretty good look at the four main types of drunk that someone might be:
1. The ‘Hemmingway”
This category is what most drinkers would fall into, accounting for about 40 percent of drinkers, according to the study. This is the category that people belong to that reported their personality only changed very slightly while intoxicated. Drinkers that are affected less by intoxication can allegedly handle their alcohol better much like the famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, for whom the category is named after. Hemmingway once declared that he could, “drink hells any amount of whiskey without getting drunk.”
2. The ‘Mr. (or Ms.) Hyde’
This is the second of the four types of drunk that the study found. Taking up residence in about 20 percent of drinkers, people who belong to this category report being considerably less responsible, thinking less, and being more aggressive while drunk than they would had they been in their ‘Dr. Jekyll’, or sober state.
3. The ‘Mary Poppins’
Having the least amount of people in this category of the four main types of drunk, the ‘Mary Poppins’ takes root in about 15 percent of drinkers. The ‘Mary Poppins’ types of drunk are those who embody the epitome of everything sweet and good with the world. These people tend to handle their alcohol more responsibly and have fewer problems due to alcohol.
4. The ‘Nutty Professor’
Taking up another 20 percent of drinkers is the final of the four types of drunk, the ‘Nutty Professor’. These are people who are introverted and shy when sober, but really come out of their shell once they’ve had a few. They can go from being not even noticed to being the life of the party. While this drunk personality often is the most extreme change, it doesn’t correlate with a higher level of harm done. That means that these drunks are fairly responsible, even with their dramatic change.
The Alcohol Tracker, a smartphone drinking app, let’s you know how much alcohol you’ve got in your body and basically, if you’ve had enough.
Drinkaware
We tend to think that alcohol problems are associated with binge drinkers or those dependent on it. The truth is that no level of alcohol is risk-free. Drink smart.
Singapore-based doctors have developed the perfect drinking app, helping users to keep track of their daily or weekly consumption of alcohol. That’s not all. If you are getting out of control, the technology will send a notification, warning you that the alcohol limit recommended by health organizations has been reached, Live Science reported.
Experts compared the app to having a 24/7 portable therapist, which users can consult at any time.
Drinking app “could save thousands of lives,” developers said
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans moderate alcohol consumption is defined as having up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men. Now, although doctors don’t except everyone to follow such strict rules, monitoring our drinking habits can prevent hangovers (nobody likes those) and more serious health repercussions on the long run.
Alcoholic beverages are widely consumed throughout the world, yet the true picture of alcohol practices is often shrouded in myths and assumptions, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). One thing’s for sure though, the harmful use of alcohol results in approximately 2.5 million deaths each year.
Researchers behind this innovative app said that it could prevent millions of deaths from alcohol-use disorders.
The good and the bad app
Researchers examined 500 alcohol smartphone applications and found that the vast majority is misleading or even harmful to users.
Globally, excess alcohol kills millions every year, yet many available smartphone drinking apps “are not informed by clinical evidence and are largely for entertainment”, developers said.
Most apps actually promote irresponsible drinking; instead of helping people better manage their intake of booze.
Know your drinking
This free Android app not only tracks your alcohol unit intake, it also includes a self-assessment option for alcohol misuse called the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. This is a validated questionnaire, which enables users to find out if their drinking puts them at risk. The app also comes with an alcohol helpline as well as psychological therapies for users interested in changing their drinking habits.
Android users can download the drinking app now for free at the Google Play store.
When you go out to a bar, especially if you are limited on cash, the first drink you would normally choose is beer. Well, I certainly do anyway. Normally you are able to muster up the change in your coin purse and grab yourself a nice cold pint after work. The only downside? Beer is unhealthy, right? Full of empty calories and carbohydrates, the beer belly that runs in your family is always at the back of your mind after your second or third round. Luckily for us, this guilt needn’t be. Studies have shown that there are many reasons why we actually SHOULD keep buying pints. Read on to find out the benefits of drinking beer. NB: This is all to be in moderation, please be drink-aware before and after this article.
It Keeps Your Kidneys Healthy
A Finnish study has shown that one of the benefits to drinking beer is that it helps reduce the risk of kidney stones by 40%.
It Combats Stress
Maybe a slightly obvious answer for many alcoholic substances, but researchers at the University of Montreal found that two glasses of beer a day can relieve work related stress and anxiety. Who’s joining me at the pub later?
Beer Can Smooth Your Skin
Beer contains vitamins that have a positive impact on women’s skin pigmentation, leaving them with smoother complexions.
It Contains Vital Vitamins
A Dutch study found that those who drink beer regularly had a higher percent of vitamin B6. B6 is vital for giving you energy and maintaining healthy skin, hair and eyes.
Beer Can Improve Your Memory
As we get older, our memories deceive us. In my case, it happens far too often. According to research, one of the benefits of drinking beer is that you are far less likely to suffer from memory loss, such as Dementia in later years.
While drinking beer is obviously great in moderation, these benefits will not occur if you drink five pints every night. In fact, it will be likely to cause far more damage than good. However, with the news that beer – the cheapest, ‘most for your money’ beverage is in fact oozing with health benefits, it does cause for a good excuse for a celebratory drink. As you read this, I will be saying ‘cheers’ with my pint. Happy, responsible, healthy drinking, y’all.
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