Drugs & School Performance

A home drug test can help prevent drops in school performance due to drugs.

Drug abuse is something that has unfortunately become a common aspect of college and school campuses. While students will tell you the reasons why they take specific drugs, the fact is that most of them fail to understand and internalize the short term and long term consequences of what they are doing. The use is so rampant that a study showed that 90 percent claim to have tried alcohol, 50 percent have use marijuana, 17 percent claim to have tried cocaine and 13 percent have used some kind of hallucinogenic drug.

Why Do Students Take Drugs?

There are various reasons why school children resort to taking drugs. While some state that they do so because almost everyone is taking them, there are others that state that drugs help them in managing and handling school related stress. In others who have difficulty amongst those in their peer group, drugs help in overcoming shyness and increasing self esteem, however temporarily (and cyclically). There are also many who take to drugs due to a belief that drugs can enhance their performance by helping them to concentrate better.

How Different Drugs Affect School Performance

Various types of drugs are prevalent at school campuses. And such drug abuse leads to various kinds of issues with regards to school performance whether it is in the area of academics, extracurricular activities or peer group interaction.

Marijuana, for instance causes short term memory loss, distorted perceptions, issues with problem solving and logical thinking and a loss of motor coordination. Not only does this drug cause issues with academics, marijuana drug abuse can cause you to make errors that are likely to cause you embarrassment in front of your peer group too. Athletes also realize that their timing is off and that they are no longer capable of well coordinated movement.

Some serious athletes resort to anabolic androgenic steroids to increase their performance in school sports because of the desire to become the best. But while Methyltestosterone, Oxandrolone or Oxymetholone may increase your muscle mass, they have serious side effects like shrunken testicles, baldness and infertility in men or enlarged clitoris, increased body hair and a deeper voice in women. These can also lead to psychiatric disorders over time.

Stimulants are another commonly abused class of drugs. While these reduce fatigue and increase alertness and aggressiveness in the short term allowing you to give your best in the tournament or prepare for that most important exam, they result in irritability, insomnia, hallucinations, palpitations and convulsions too. It also is arguably unethical to take a drug in order to have an advantage on a test or in a competition.

Among these stimulants, Adderall and other prescriptions drugs that are used to treat ADHD are popular. This kind of drug abuse is very common among high performing students. These drugs are amphetamines that increase focus, enhance logical processing speed and reduce the need for sleep. More than 25 percent of college students are estimated to misuse ADHD medications. Along with the side effects that such drug abuse has, they also make the mind more structured and rigid, leading to a loss of creativity in children. They can also induce anxiety, psychosis and/or sexual dysfunction.

While there are many public awareness drives that are currently ongoing to make schools a drug free place, parents can help a lot by ensuring that they talk to their teens about drug abuse and the dangers associated. A conscious effort not to push the child to perform beyond his means or capability is also necessary. Stocking a home drug test at home can reduce drug abuse to a large extent too, and may be necessary to show your seriousness in dealing with a future or present problem.

– Article by Anne Hamilton

New Drug Use Trends Among Teenage Girls Draw National Attention

Teen Drug and Alcohol Abuse – New Trends among Teen Girls

While the typical (some might say stereotypical) boisterous behavior and rituals that boys indulge in after drinking is notorious, it was found in a recent survey that teen girls are more susceptible to alcohol and drug abuse than boys. A study released by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the MetLife Foundation showed that self medicating was a relatively more common phenomenon among girls than boys.

Reasons for Teen Drug Abuse and Teen Alcohol Abuse

The reasons for alcohol consumption or drug abuse among teens seem to be different for boys and girls. In this study, teens were asked their opinions on alcohol/drug use and why they take part in it. While boys responded that they drink excessively to have a great time and at time to relax in new social situations, teen girls’ alcohol abuse is strongly associated with a need to self medicate. The factor causing this seems to be stress related to school and family issues, as reflected in the statistic that three times as many girls as boys reported symptoms of depression in 2008.

Marijuana use among teenage girls has increased at almost double the rate of boys

The aforementioned study showed that about 70 percent of girls agreed that “using drugs helps kids deal with problems at home.” And more than 50 percent stated that drugs help in forgetting problems. Drinking and drug abuse are up for both young men and young women, but for teenage girls marijuana use grew by 29 percent while it grew by 15 percent among boys.

Reaction to the Study

When drug and alcohol abuse are used to manage life’s issues it makes the addiction or habit more difficult to give up.

It is therefore obvious that the parents of daughters (and sons, too!) need to be more buysoma careful about the typical factors that cause teen drug/alcohol abuse. This awareness can help parents nip the issue in the bud before it gets too bad. It’s not just about symptoms of drug use – it’s knowing which situations in a teen’s life will lead them to think drugs are the answer.

Symptoms of Teen Drug Abuse and Teen Alcohol Abuse

Teen alcohol abuse – The smell of alcohol on the breath, bloodshot eyes, unusually passive behavior, excessive argumentation, deterioration in appearance, flushed skin and memory loss are typical signs of alcohol abuse. A sudden change in typical behavior is something that you should watch out for too.

Teen drug abuse – Frequent smell of tobacco, irritability, and discolored fingertips are signs of tobacco based teen drug abuse. Marijuana use may be indicated by redness of the eyes, sleepiness, lack of enthusiasm and excessive hunger. Depressants cause lowered inhibitions, poor motor coordination and lowered heart rate. Cold medication abuse causes sleepiness and a rapid or slow heart rate. Inhalants cause a runny nose, confusion or irritability and narcotics can result in excessive happiness, slowed breathing or coma. Anabolic steroids increase irritability, aggressiveness, muscle definition and lead to rapid loss of hair.

In addition to that it is good to look out for any sudden change in personality, drop in grades or disinterest in activities that were earlier found interesting. You can also purchase a home drug test that can be kept and used at home.  There are many varieties (saliva, hair, etc.) including substance tests that will allow you to identify if a mysterious substance is indeed a drug. Sometimes the mere presence of these can desist teens from getting involved with drugs or alcohol, and help recovering teens stay on the course to sobriety.

Article by Anne Hamilton

Photo credit: “Talk” by Vojko Kalan

Does Second Hand Marijuana Smoke Show Up On A Drug Test?

A commenter asked a great question on one of our older posts.  That question was, does second hand smoke affect the result of a drug test?  It wouldn’t be fair if it did, of course.  As the commenter points out, (medical) marijuana is legal in some states, and if you are not smoking it, you should not be punished for having been around second hand smoke.

The good news is that none of our home drug test kits (hair, urine, or saliva) will pick up exposure to second hand marijuana smoke as a positive result.  Here is what the test manufacturer said on the subject:

“It [second hand marijuana smoke] would not register on our tests.  We had a test where someone was placed in a isolated room with THC smoke was being pumped in for 24 hours straight and the person did not register.  On a lab test it did pick up about 3 or 4 nanograms but as you know instant tests are set at 50ng/ml.”

Does second hand marijuana smoke affect our drug tests?

Even at the confirmatory GC/MS lab urine drug test level of 15 ng/ml, you would still not test positive for marijuana due to second hand smoke.  The cutoff level for the saliva drug test is 100 ng/ml (so again, second hand smoke would not produce a positive).

When it comes to hair, the manner in which the lab analyzes your sample makes external contamination impossible.  Hair drug testing labs only detect the metabolite of marijuana, THC-COOH.  This is only produced when marijuana directly enters the body (and not through someone’s second hand smoke, which is indirect) and is broken down by the body.  The hair test will not pick up contaminants from the outside.

So, even if you have been exposed to second hand smoke, if you have not yourself smoked you should be safe with our tests.  Thank you to our readers for such great questions and I look forward to more in the future!

Facts About Prison and Drug Use

The terms drugs and prison are often mentioned in the same sentence because of the close association that exists between the two. Not only are people sent to prison due to involvement in drugs in some manner or another, there is some evidence that shows that a large number of crimes are committed under the influence of a drug.

Drug and Prison Statistics

It may surprise many to know that the 85 percent of the estimated 2.3 million prison inmates have had or still do some kind of serious drug abuse history. This is a massive number. About 458,000 inmates were actually under the influence of alcohol or drugs when the crime was committed or are incarcerated due to drug violations like selling or buying drugs.

It is thought that addressing these patterns of addiction and restoring such prisoners to the economy would actually bring down the number of inmates that exist in the prisons today and result in significant taxpayer savings. According to Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) only 11 percent of the nation’s prison population is receiving some kind of treatment for drug abuse.

It is also estimated that those inmates who are in prison due to drugs are more likely to be incarcerated again. These are also people who are likely to have a history of crime and have a complete network of other people involved in crime.

Drugs are involved in a wide range of crimes – violent (78 percent); property (83 percent); weapon offenses (77 percent) and parole violations (77 percent).

Rehab Programs and their Popularity

The CASA report also states that if all inmates who need drug treatment are provided with the rehab that is required (and it works), the nation would break even in a year. This relies upon the treatments actually working and deterring crime, but if so, “the nation would reap an economic benefit of $90,953 per year” per recovered inmate.

However, the fact is that only a small percentage of people are receiving adequate levels of substance abuse treatment and are therefore merely being given a sentence and being put back into circulation for crime. Instead of increasing the rehab options for inmates, there is an attempt to give harsh punishments to those who are caught in drug trafficking or drug dealing. When punishing someone of a separate crime adequate care is not taken to consider the fact that the perpetrator of the crime needs drug treatment.

What often goes unrecognized is that thousands of low level drug offenders are captured and sent to prison and that many also face harsh sentencing even if they have not been involved in any violent crimes.

Understanding the real truth of drug addiction is essential to be able to help drug abusers in a more permanent manner. Unless a more long term and positive approach is adopted towards drugs and prison, drug related crimes shall continue to occur (and recur). And what this means is that the prison cells are likely to remain full all the time, eating away the tax payer’s money continuously, dragging lives in and out of prison to a halt.

While better recognition of the substance abuse problems of inmates is important to remedying this problem, it is also good to nip possible substance abuse in the bud.  With a home drug test you can check up on your child and make sure they are not risk for the dangers of drugs, both physically and socially.

Article by Anne Hamilton.

High Schoolers And Drugs: An Overview

Monitoring the Future (or MTF as it is often called) is a survey that is conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. The survey monitors drug, alcohol and cigarette use among adolescents across the nation. The survey includes 12th, 10th and 8th graders and is funded by the NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse).

While there are some positive findings with regards to cigarette smoking among young people, the use of marijuana does not seem to be decreasing any further. Numbers show that almost 12 percent of 8th graders, 27 percent of 10th graders and 33 percent of 12th graders have used marijuana in the past year. At an overall level it is estimated that past year use of any illicit drug among 12th graders is as high as 37 percent.

drugs and schools

33% of high school seniors have used marijuana in the past year.

Even though drug abuse of marijuana is the most common, almost 10 percent of the 12th graders use inhalants. Drug abuse for hallucinogens is around 7.4 percent and drug use of nonprescription cough medicine is around 6 percent.

Another report from the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), called the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), estimates that about 20 percent of college students have prescription drugs that were actually not prescribed by any doctor. Abuse of the following prescription drugs is common: OxyContin, Vicodin, Dilaudid, Adderall and Ritalin. CNS depressants like Xanax, Klonopin and Valium are also abused.

Prescription buy accutane online drug abuse was found to be most common among white students, says the YRBS survey. Prescription drug use among Hispanics was around 17 percent and 12 percent among black students.

Many college and school students assume that prescription drugs are not as harmful as street drugs since they are also drugs that are prescribed. What they do not understand is that improper abuse of prescription medicines can lead to adverse side effects.

To avoid abuse of prescription drugs, parents should keep their medicines out of reach of children and teenagers. It is common to have pain relievers like OxyContin and Vicodin at home. And these are the medicines that are most commonly abused and distributed among teens and their friends.

Vicodin and OxyContin are members of the opioid class of drugs. Opioids are prone to abuse. Taking them without a prescription can result in drowsiness and constipation. It can also cause result in depressed breathing and can ultimately be fatal too.

Make sure that you have a chat with your teens about prescription drug abuse in particular. Do not just talk about drug use in general because you need to dispel the myth that prescription drugs are less harmful. Keeping an eye on the kind of company your children keep can also help you understand whether they are falling prey to drug abuse.

Explain to your teen the various ways in which a home drug test can be used to ascertain the specific drug that has been consumed. Knowing about the drug test you have at home is a great excuse that your teen can use if they are being pestered by a peer group to try drugs.

Article by Anne Hamilton

Drug Testing And The World Cup

Drug Testing And The World Cup

Everyone is talking about the World Cup this month and just like every other time there is a significant world sports event going on there is a large amount of talk about performance enhancing drugs in the news. So here we provide a guide to the common questions about drug abuse and drug testing in World Cup level soccer.

Drug testing for the World Cup is in compliance with WADA policies. The WADA is the World Anti Doping Agency, an independent foundation that was set up in 1999 to fight the increasing presence of drugs in sports. Headquartered in Canada today, WADA is actively involved in drug testing in the World Cup this year.

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world.

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world.

How does drug testing work in the World Cup?

Earlier this year, FIFA announced a drug testing crackdown. Drug tests were started two months prior to the tournament kick-off and a total of 576 players were to be randomly selected and tested before and during the World Cup. The 32 finalist countries were asked to submit the location details of their teams so that surprise drug testing could be conducted. This was done during the “friendlies” (basically, exhibition games that don’t count toward the tournament) or the training camps.

How common is drug abuse among World Cup players?

The full results of the World Cup drug testing are as yet unknown since 256 of the total 586 drug tests planned are to be done over the course of the tournament. However, over the years FIFA has conducted over 33,000 doping tests with 0.3% yielding positive results. Most of the drug tests that did give positive results tested positive for social drugs such as marijuana and cocaine and not the performance enhancing drugs that would be of higher concern for the sporting authorities. Michel D’Hooghe, FIFA’s medical chief, stated that last year they only had nine cases of anabolic steroids.

There is however, a belief that team sports such as baseball and soccer do not feel the brunt of a drug test as much as individual sports do. It is felt that the high profile sports tend to get away with much more than the individual sports players due to the lack of clout. In fact there are people who believe that there are other forces that govern the positive drug test results of some of the international players in these sports. There is a lot of press and mud is slung in all directions but the dust eventually settles down.

What kinds of drugs are used by players in the World Cup?

While only 0.3% of the drug tests done by FIFA in the last few years have been positive and that too mainly for social drugs, the performance enhancing drugs or anabolic steroids that are known to be used in the sport include lean mass builders, stimulants, painkillers, sedatives and diuretics. The one name that comes to mind when one mentions drugs and soccer is Diego Maradona who was banned from soccer for 15 months after testing positive for cocaine in Italy in 1991. Later he was tested positive for ephedrine in the World Cup in 1994 in the United States too. There are other names like Claudio Cannigian, Christophe Dugarry, Paul Merson, Fernando Couto and more but these names are lesser known.

You can learn more about how to home drug test kits by visiting our homepage.

Article by Anne Hamilton

Photo “Goals” by Peter Griffin