New Study Confirms Teen Drug Use Trends

A new study, released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and the MetLife Foundation, found a number of interesting trends in teen drug use. Some of them echo the findings of Monitoring the Future from the past year – for example, that marijuana use in teens has been trending up in the past 3 years. Rising ecstasy use was also reported. As you can see in our teen drug use infographic, marijuana use has been rising for a few years, while cigarette use is set on a downward path.

Teen marijuana use appears to be increasing, while cigarette use is continuing to decline.

(data for image taken from Monitoring the Future)

An area The Partnership/MetLife study took a particularly hard look at was underage drinking.  Drinking starts young – 62% of teens that report drinking said they had their first full drink by the age of 15.  25% of those teens had their first drink at the age of 12 or younger.

The study found that about a third of parents were unsure as to how they could prevent their teen from drinking, responding that there was very little a parent could do to stop it.  Meanwhile, a significant number of teens said that used alcohol to deal with stress in some way.  32% said they drank to forget their problems; 24% to deal with problems at home; 20% to deal with school-related pressures.  So, it would appear the idea that incidental teen alcohol use is related to parties and not other issues of self-confidence and social pressure has been debunked.

The % of teens prone to alcohol abuse is alarming, and suggests a need for better parent-teen communication on the issue.  Another issue parents and schools need to better address is teen prescription drug abuse.  The study reports that 1 in 4 teens have taken a prescription drug not prescribed to them at least once in their lives; 23% used a prescription painkiller not prescribed to them by a doctor.  11% of teens have abused cough medicine for its psychoactive effects.

Check out the study here and let us know what you think.  How should schools and parents shift their policies to adapt to these new trends?

More Scandal In Store For Cycling

Of all the sports that have had doping or drug scandals in the past ten years, cycling is the one sport that seems unable to get over it.  In the nineties, baseball taught us about creatine.  A few years ago, Marion Jones taught us to remember that cheating in sports does have real consequences, as she headed off to jail after lying to federal agents about her steroid use.  And today, top cyclist Alberto Contador reminds us that cycling just cannot shake its reputation as a doping-addled sport.

At the moment, Contador’s test is simply a little fishy and no accusations can be proven.  The USA Today reports that Contador’s urine contained traces of a plastic used in blood transfusion bags.  Contador could have had a blood transfusion to boost his stamina.  It’s a common illegal practice in sports like cycling.  This comes days after reports of an earlier failed drug test leaked out.  This test’s results Contador blamed on contaminated food, as sometimes cattle are given steroids (the thought is pretty gross, no?).

As Contador says in the story on the earlier test, “It’s almost normal for people to doubt this sport now.”

No kidding. Floyd Landis was the next American golden boy of cycling once Armstrong took a break, and then he got caught doping. This left Lance Armstrong the undisputed golden boy of cycling, and now Landis is accusing him of doping. Him, and everyone else.

If you’re a sports fan, you’re used to being disappointed by your team. But you stick by them no matter what, and wait for the next competition. You may be disappointed, but you rebound. When it comes to finding out that your team or favorite athlete (or sport) has been blood doping, or abusing steroids, it’s not as easy to get excited about your team. “My team sucked” is a lot different from “my team cheated.”

Regardless of how this turns out, I wouldn’t blame a cycling fan for feeling a sense of fatigue. Cycling is a fun sport that energizes your body and mind. It can give you a natural high…doping and drugs are (and should be) unnecessary.

Klonopin & Drug Tests: Some Facts

Klonopin, like many other prescription drugs, has gained a reputation for abuse in the past years.  It is part of a growing trend that has led to many harmful effects, including the following statistic (from WECT):

“Hospital stays from an unintentional overdose of opioids (such as Vicodin and Percocet) and sedatives (such as Valium and Ativan) jumped 37 percent between 1999 and 2006, the study found. Intentional overdoses of these drugs skyrocketed by 130 percent in that time.”

So here are the facts – what is Klonopin, and how can it be tested?

For starters – Klonopin is also called Clonazepam.   It is a member of the Benzodiazepine family of drugs.  This means that it treats anxiety, seizures and panic attacks, and is related to other commonly abused benzodiazepines, including Xanax, Valium, and Ativan.

Benzodiazepines are pretty serious drugs, and withdrawal from them can be problematic.  They are prescribed with caution and should never be taken recreationally.

The urine drug test that detects Klonopin is the Xanax Drug Test / Valium Drug Test.  It will test for all members of the Benzodiazepine family – Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Ativan, and more – look up the brand name of any prescription and if it is a benzodiazepine, this test will cover it.  Benzodiazepines stay in the urine for anywhere from 3 to 7 days after use.

Klonopin is not safe (as this sad Boston.com story demonstrates).  If you are worried that someone is abusing it, you should definitely test.  For parents, prescription drugs are the new frontier in teen parties and drug abuse, and while being equipped with the facts is always good, being equipped with a drug test is not a bad idea either.