Your Brain on Prescription Drugs #drugabuse #ed4ed4all

Get Smart About Teen Medicine Abuse #drugabuse #teens #parenting

Source: treatmenttalk.org via Addiction on Pinterest

Prescription Drug Abuse :A National Epidemic

Source: a-health-blog.com via Health on Pinterest

Part 2: Drinking Hand Sanitizer? Seriously Serious!

Part 2
Today we look into the nasty dangerous game of drinking hand sanitizer to get high!
Yes, kids and teens are actually doing this, and landing their butts in the ER and ICU's intoxicated and barely breathing.
Alcohol is a drug or specifically the drug/chemical ethanol is a central nervous system depressant, thus slowing down the respiratory drive of the drinker, to much and you can stop breathing.
The following article from CBS News shows incidents and possible solutions.

(CBS News) Would you drink hand sanitizer? The idea may sound repulsive to most people, but California doctors are warning parents of what may be a fast-growing dangerous trend after six local teenagers were hospitalized in separate incidents with alcohol poisoning from drinking the soapy stuff.
Popular "cinnamon challenge" has potential to be deadly
Dangerous "games" that may harm kids and teens
The Los Angeles Times reported some of the teenagers used salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer using instructions found online. If a liquid hand sanitizer contains 62 percent ethyl alcohol, that means a "drink" can be as high as 120 proof, whereas a shot of hard liquor such as whiskey or vodka is typically 80 proof.

"All it takes is just a few swallows and you have a drunk teenager," Dr. Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxicology bureau for the county public health department and a medical toxicology consultant for Children's Hospital Los Angeles, told the Los Angeles Times. "There is no question that it is dangerous."
Teens who presented to the emergency room had symptoms such as slurred speech and a burning sensation in the stomach. Some teens were so drunk they needed to be monitored in the emergency room.
Rangan said although there have been only a handful of cases, the practice could become a nationwide problem since hand sanitizers are cheap and easily available, and teens can easily look up how to extract alcohol from a bottle. KTLA in Los Angeles reports there were no such cases last year, and the recent spate of cases in recent weeks is surprising.
"It is kind of scary that they go to that extent to get a shot of essentially hard liquor," Rangan said.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Health told HealthPop there was no official city-wide warning or statement at this time.
Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said he has taken care of some teens out who had ingested hand sanitizers at school as a "dare," only to come to the ER drunk with dizziness, nausea and vomiting.
"They denied drinking any 'alcohol', had no smell of alcohol on their breath, but when their blood alcohol was quite elevated, they later admitted to drinking the hand sanitizer," Glatter told HealthPop.
Glatter said it's essential that warning labels be placed on hand sanitizers to educate parents and the public of potential risks.
"Officials in institutions where these products are available - including hospitals, schools, offices, heath clubs, and day care centers - have a duty to inform people about the alcohol content in these products, and subsequent dangers if ingested," he told HealthPop.
Doctors told the L.A. Times that parents should purchase foam hand sanitizers since they're harder to extract alcohol from compared with gel-based products, and they should monitor hand sanitizer bottles around the house as if they are liquor or medicine bottles.
"Over the years, they have ingested all sorts of things," Helen Arbogast, injury prevention coordinator in the trauma program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, told the Times. "Cough syrup had reached a very sexy point where young people were using it.... We want to be sure this doesn't take on the same trend."
The industry trade organization, the American Cleaning Institute, responded to the recent reports.
"One case of product misuse - intentional or otherwise - is always one too many," Nancy Bock, vice president of education at the American Cleaning Institute said in an emailed statement. "But let's not lose sight of the fact that millions of people are not abusing these products and do responsibly use them as needed."

Video shows kids laughing about this crazy trend and posting YouTube videos

What next? I am sure there is something out there just as bad, I will find it to share next :) Leslie

Be ExtraOrdinary!

Make a difference in the life of someone this week

Be that extraordinary person that

is inside you!

You are the Change the world wants so desperately to see!

Sniff me, Snort me, Suck me up

 

What Types of Products Are Abused as Inhalants?

 Inhalants are commonly known as Glue, Kick, Bang, Sniff, Huff, Poppers, Whippets, and Texas Shoeshine.

Chance are most of these substances are right there in your kitchen,garage or pantry. If I try it just one time to see what if might do to my body, it won't hurt..............or will it? 

Magic question~ do you want to find out?  

Inhalants generally fall into the following categories:
Volatile solvents—liquids that vaporize at room temperature

• Industrial or household products, including paint thinners or removers, degreasers, dry-cleaning fluids, gasoline, and lighter fluid
• Art or office supply solvents, including correction fluids, felt-tip marker fluid, electronic contact cleaners, and glue

Aerosols—sprays that contain propellants and solvents

• Household aerosol propellants in items such as spray paints, hair or deodorant sprays, fabric protector sprays, aerosol computer cleaning products, and vegetable oil sprays

Gases—found in household or commercial products and used as medical anesthetics

• Household or commercial products, including butane lighters and propane tanks, whipped cream aerosols or dispensers (whippets), and refrigerant gases
• Medical anesthetics, such as ether, chloroform, halothane, and nitrous oxide (“laughing gas”)

Nitrites—a special class of inhalants that are used primarily as sexual enhancers

• Organic nitrites are volatiles that include cyclohexyl, butyl, and amyl nitrites, commonly known as “poppers.” Amyl nitrite is still used in certain diagnostic medical procedures. When marketed for illicit use, organic nitrites are often sold in small brown bottles labeled as “video head cleaner,” “room odorizer,” “leather cleaner,” or “liquid aroma.”

These various products contain a wide range of chemicals such as—

• toluene (spray paints, rubber cement, gasoline), 
• chlorinated hydrocarbons (dry-cleaning chemicals, correction fluids),
• hexane (glues, gasoline),
• benzene (gasoline),
• methylene chloride (varnish removers, paint thinners),
• butane (cigarette lighter refills, air fresheners), and
• nitrous oxide (whipped cream dispensers, gas cylinders).

How Do Inhalants Affect the Brain?

The effects of inhalants are similar to those of alcohol, including slurred speech, lack of coordination, euphoria, and dizziness. Inhalant abusers may also experience lightheadedness, hallucinations, and delusions. With repeated inhalations, many users feel less inhibited and less in control. Some may feel drowsy for several hours and experience a lingering headache. Chemicals found in different types of inhaled products may produce a variety of additional effects, such as confusion, nausea, or vomiting.
By displacing air in the lungs, inhalants deprive the body of oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. Hypoxia can damage cells throughout the body, but the cells of the brain are especially sensitive to it. The symptoms of brain hypoxia vary according to which regions of the brain are affected: for example, the hippocampus helps control memory, so someone who repeatedly uses inhalants may lose the ability to learn new things or may have a hard time carrying on simple conversations.
Long-term inhalant abuse can also break down myelin, a fatty tissue that surrounds and protects some nerve fibers. Myelin helps nerve fibers carry their messages quickly and efficiently, and when damaged, can lead to muscle spasms and tremors or even permanent difficulty with basic actions such as walking, bending, and talking.

Lethal = Dead -- one way road to your coffin

Sniffing highly concentrated amounts of the chemicals in solvents or aerosol sprays can directly induce heart failure and death within minutes of a session of repeated inhalation. This syndrome, known as “sudden sniffing death,” can result from a single session of inhalant use by an otherwise healthy young person. Sudden sniffing death is particularly associated with the abuse of butane, propane, and chemicals in aerosols.

Sudden Death can occur the first time you try inhalants! or the 100th time you try them, it's not choosy. All your luck it will be your first time!

Sniff Me, Snort Me, Suck me Up and Die!! Stupid is as Stupid Does!! Don't Be Stupid!!

Choose Life!! 

 

Fact Sheet

Are smart kids more likely to use drugs?

 An ambitious new study suggests a surprising link between a child's IQ and his use of illegal substances as an adult

previously posted on Alltop.com here

Photo: CORBIS
 
Classroom know-it-alls may be more likely to experiment with drugs as they enter adulthood, according to a new study.

Smart kids are more likely to use drugs such as marijuana and cocaine when they grow up — and the likelihood is stronger among females than males — according to a new British study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Researchers have previously posited that children with a high IQ can grow up to be heavier drinkers. Now drugs, too? A concise guide to the findings:

What was the study's methodology?Researchers tracked about 8,000 people across three decades, recording their IQ scores at age 5 and again at age 10, says Makiko Kitamura at Bloomberg Businessweek. As adults, "participants were asked about use of substances including cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, crack and heroin."

And what did they find?
Subjects "who had high IQs when they were aged 5 and 10 were more likely to use certain illicit drugs at age 16 and at age 30," says Denise Mann at Web MD. In particular, women with high IQ scores at 5 years of age were "more than twice as likely" to have smoked marijuana or tried cocaine by age 30 than women with lower IQs. As for men who tested well as kids, 50 percent were more likely to use amphetamines like speed, 65 percent more likely to have tried ecstasy, and, overall, 57 percent more likely to have used two or more illegal drugs by the time they hit 30.

Why are smart kids more likely to use drugs?
While parents may find the results "surprising at first glance," intelligent children fit the "established" profile of drug experimenters in many ways, says Karen Kaplan at the Los Angeles Times. Among the social factors that can lead individuals to try drugs are boredom and a "tendency to be teased" by peers as a child. (Drugs could be used as a "coping strategy.") Moreover, smarter individuals are typically more willing to try new things. As the researchers note: "High-IQ individuals have also been known to score highly on tests of stimulation seeking and openness to experience" — which illegal drugs can provide.

What do you think? 
Sources: Bloomberg Businessweek, LA Times, Web MD

Wednesday blessings ~~ Our angels

~~~Joshua~~~

10/11/97 - 6/13/11  

Another Angel in Heaven because of the Choking or Fainting game, another kid dead, yes, he is really gone! This does not have to happen, Joshua was only 13 yrs old, his entire life was in front of him. News Article about Josh's death with a video

Each Wednesday instead of a senseless picture posting we will feature one of our Angels, kids that we have lost due to youth risk behaviors, poor choices and lack of knowledge. Hopefully this will be an important reminder to parents, teachers and kids that "games" that involve "risk taking behaviors" such as the "Choking Game" , Pharm or pill parties, Self Destructive or mutilation behaviors, Huffing and inhalant abuse, synthetic drugs such as "bath salts" or K2 are only a road that leads down a "dead end" street. Death is not selective, it can sneak up on you the first time you make a poor choice or the 100th time you do, so why play Russian roulette with your life?
Educate yourself, your kids, your students and save a life. Might even be your child's life.

More information and downloadable free educational materials available on our website here http://ed4ed4all.com 

Now there is "Fake weed" with real dangers

We worry about marijuana and other drugs, but now synthetic versions of these dangerous substances tease our kids and send invitations out to party, only to leave
them with an invitation to a Russian roulette party game that they did not plan on playing. Educate yourself on these newer forms of dangerous substances, here is one article about K2 or "fake weed" ........ more to come...

From examiner.com:
There is a new and dangerous “fake weed” drug known as K2 that is becoming popular among America’s teenagers. Although it’s referred to as “fake,” the dangers to teens are very real. The marijuana-like substance can cause hallucinations, vomiting, agitation and other dangerous side effects, according to Fox News.
What Is K2?
K2 is a mixture of herbal and spice plant products, but it is sprayed with a potent drug that is causing many adverse effects. It sells for about $30-$40 per three-gram bag, and is more potent than marijuana. K2 is made to be a potpourri or an incense, and it can be burned in a small burner. However, a growing number of teens are choosing to smoke it. K2 can be purchased in local smoke shops.
The Dangers of K2:
K2 “fake weed” causes the usual side effects of marijuana, like sleepiness, relaxation, reduced blood pressure, and at high doses, hallucinations and delusions. However, unlike marijuana, K2 also produces increased agitation, elevated blood pressure and high heart rates. Leading physicians agree that the “fake weed” is dangerous. "It's like playing Russian roulette. You don't know what it's going to do to you," Clemson University’s organic chemist John Huffman told Fox News. In Missouri, a 14-year-old vomited, suffered seizures, and even quit breathing after smoking a small amount of K2. He remained unconscious for five hours and spent the night in the ICU. Similar cases are being reported across the country, including 14 right here in Georgia. A teen in Atlanta went into a coma and almost died this past weekend. He has since recovered fully, but he considers himself lucky and is telling other teens about the dangers of K2. Georgia legislators are currently trying to ban the synthetic pot.
K2 Usage is on the Increase:
Because K2 is generally considered an “herbal smoke,” reports of its increased usage are cropping up all over the country," explains Dr. Anthony Scaizo, a professor of toxicology at Saint Louis University. "I think K2 is likely a bigger problem than we're aware of at this time," he added.
What’s a Parent To Do?
Be sure to research K2 and become familiar with its dangers. Talk to your teenagers about this latest herbal drug, and why it is so dangerous. Hopefully, armed with information, your teen will choose not to abuse. K2 is no laughing matter.
To read more about K2, click here to read the complete report from Fox News. Click here to read more about the teen from Missouri who almost died from K2.
Click here to view a local report about K2 from WSB-TV in Atlanta.
Sources: Fox News and KY3 TV

Video you need to see:
http://www.wsbtv.com/videos/news/teen-on-ventilator-after-k-2-use/vCcDW/

Stay safe and educate
Leslie~~ Ed4Ed4all.com