This weekend, a lot of people in the US will be celebrating Independence Day (July 4th). There will picnics and barbeques and fireworks, you name it! There will also be drinking at those get-togethers, and not just for adults over the age of 21, but by minors who shouldn’t be partaking in alcoholic beverages.

There was a study done across hospital emergency rooms in the US and it showed that kids who wind up in the emergency room for underage drinking dramatically spikes during this holiday weekend. It was an 87 percent increase, to give you an idea of what I meant when I said “dramatic increase”.

In addition to kids visiting hospital ERs for alcohol, injuries, arrests and embarrassment can all be attributed to them making the choice to drink. And, to make matters worse, about 5000 people under the age of 21 die each year with alcohol related to their cause of death.

Do you know what your kids have planned for this weekend? It might not be such a bad idea to find out, or to make sure to include your children and their friends in your plans. If they’re going out with their friends, have a talk with them about the dangers of drinking alcohol. Most people chock it up to “kids being kids”, especially if they drank underage. It’s incorrect. It’s not a good example and kids should not be allowed to drink. Oh yeah, and it’s actually against the law.
Let’s vow to lower that dramatic spike in ER visits this weekend by helping our kids learn the facts and dangers about alcohol abuse. It could save their life!

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Did you know that a single alcoholic drink can triple your chances of dying in a car accident while you’re driving? A new study that was done in New Zealand has proven this startling information to be true. Most people are unaware of how little alcohol it takes to make it dangerous to get behind the wheel.

The legal Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) limit in all of the United States is .08%. Since everyone is different, reaching the legal limit will depend on the number of drinks, the amount of time in which they were consumed, your weight and your gender. And, apparently there is enough impairment after only one drink that it increases your chances of dying behind the wheel.

This information is really scary when you think of young people who are not only inexperienced drivers, but also inexperienced drinkers. They don’t know their limits when it comes to either activity. Binge drinking is very common amongst younger drinkers and they’re most likely going way beyond the legal limit.

But, you certainly don’t have to be young to make it dangerous. If one drink raises the level of danger by 30%, it’s better to play it safe and not get behind the wheel. Since you can’t plan on being in an accident, why not plan on having someone else drive who isn’t drinking? Draw straws, take turns being the designated driver or cab it for the night. It’s not safe to get behind the wheel with any amount of alcohol in your system.

Shedding new light on drinking and driving has caused other countries to look at decreasing their legal limit. I think this would be wise to do globally. Victims of drunk driving are not only the drinkers, but other people who get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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There are a plethora of drug rehab choices out there to help combat the world of drug and alcohol addiction. But, which are the most successful and help people to actually get rehabilitated? And, what about relapse, does it really have to be a part of recovery?

Unfortunately, with all of the choices out there, programs that offer short-term and out-patient based treatment don’t have great success rates. With the vast majority of drug rehab programs offering these types of treatment models, many people go through them and do wind up relapsing and just being told that it’s a “part of recovery”. Well folks, it doesn’t have to be that way!

The most successful drug rehab programs out there are at long-term, residential treatment centers. And no, relapse does not have to be associated with recovery. If someone goes through drug rehab, and it’s done thoroughly, there is no reason that he or she can’t continue on to live a totally drug free and productive life.

If you are looking for a drug rehab program that you don’t have to go back to over and over again, call Drug Rehab Referral to get help.

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Some women and fathers-to-be have no clue what the effects of drugs and alcohol are on an unborn baby. Let’s get educated, shall we? If you or your significant other is pregnant, or are planning a pregnancy, or you know someone who is, here are plenty of good reasons to get into a drug rehab program first:

Alcohol can cause: impaired muscle and joint use, impaired speech, behavioral problems, unusual facial characteristics, heart and limb defects and miscarriage. And, just so you’re aware, alcohol use by dad can also produce the same problems.

• Marijuana can cause: hyperactivity or an inability to pay attention, impulsivity, impaired decision making skills and memory problems.
• Cocaine can cause: sudden infant death syndrome, mental deficiencies, lowered IQ and miscarriage.
• Amphetamines can cause: problems with the circulatory system – the heart, arteries, veins and capillaries
• PCP can cause: abnormal development
• Barbiturates can cause: seizures, poor feeding, withdrawal symptoms for the baby and birth defects.
• Opioids can cause: preeclampsia (high blood pressure, swelling, headaches, changes in vision), growth retardation while in the mother, premature labor, complications during pregnancy and abnormalities – all of these problems can effect both mother and baby and can be fatal for both)
• Prescription Drugs can cause: many prescription drugs can have similar effects as described above. The best policy one can have is NO DRUGS WHATSOEVER during pregnancy.

But, what if you’re already pregnant? I’d highly recommend that you consult a medical doctor who specializes in drug detox and drug rehab. If you’re planning on getting pregnant or it’s a possibility, a successful drug rehab program that will get you off of drugs and/or alcohol and help prevent relapse should be done without delay.

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A friend of mine’s son was born with a heart defect. It was a life threatening situation that required an operation on his heart but the doctors said they couldn’t do it until the boy’s body was close to maturity. He would have to endure about 15 years of touch and go; had he experienced the stresses that are part of many childhoods, he could have died. When you look at what my friend had to do to keep his son happy and relatively stress free, you get an idea of what kids go through in life, why they might be tempted to start drinking or taking drugs, and what situations might eventually lead to the need for substance abuse treatment. Here’s a brief summary:

1. He kept in constant, daily communication with his son to find out exactly how school was going. He reviewed what he studied every day, made sure he understood it, could use it in a practical sense, and wasn’t getting hung up on things he didn’t quite get. Many kids don’t understand everything they learn in school and often don’t even realize it. But they become unable to do the work as well as they are inherently capable of, start to dislike school, and every day can become a grind where they feel they’re accomplishing nothing and don’t have much of a future ahead of them. This lowers self-esteem and can lead to substance abuse.
2. He also made sure he knew who his son was meeting, what they were like, and so on – and this included everyone; teachers, students, other connections. Like it or not, there are people out there who don’t have your best interests at heart. Sometimes they can be very misleading – you think they’re your best friend but your life has changed for the worse since you met them – and sometimes they are just out and out bullies. Either way, it can be stressful. My friend made sure his son understood how to recognize these types of people, why they were dangerous, and how to deal with them. When necessary, my friend stepped in. My friend didn’t want to fight his son’s battles for him – but their bigger life and death battle took priority.
3. The boy was brilliant – and very interested in just about everything. At eight years old, he explained to me how rockets work. His dad made sure he went to schools that had the personnel and facilities to teach his son what he was interested in and keep him challenged, but without pressure. Doing this, and the first two steps, also meant that my friend was very involved in his son’s school, with his teachers, and so on.
4. He made sure family life was happy. He and his wife were united in their efforts with their son, and they made sure their own relationship was clean and loving and they were all in good communication. They didn’t impose their problems on their son, and they discussed things rationally and calmly.

When I personally look at what my friend did for his son, it occurs to me that this should be normal – this should be the life of every child. Happy, healthy, not worried about things, able to pursue things he’s interested in, and know he’s progressing towards a satisfying future in which he can accomplish something.So few kids have that, it’s not surprising that many of them wind up experimenting with alcohol and drugs at a young age and, later in life, need substance abuse treatment.Along with teaching your kids about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, do what you can to help your kids create a happy and fulfilling life. If they’ve already crossed the substance abuse line, get them into drug treatment and, after that, do what you can to help them create the life they didn’t have before.And, by the way, my friend’s son did live to have the operation. He is now doing exceptionally well in life. He’s even able to run marathons and pursue the physical activities he never could do when he was younger.

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A recent article discussed the rise in the number of alcohol-related deaths in college-age kids. They increased by about 25% over a 7 year period. About 30 percent were actually in college. When we were our kids’ age, our parents didn’t have to worry so much about these things when we were going off to college. They didn’t think needing alcohol rehab would be an outcome of higher education.

Sure, they worried – about our grades, about the pressure, about how we’d do our first time away from home, and so on – but not about whether we were going to die from binge drinking, driving while drunk or being in a car with someone who was drunk, or having some other kind of accident that would never have happened had we not been drunk.

Personally, if my kid was already drinking before going to college, I’d send them to a good alcohol treatment center before college. I’d also pull them out of college temporarily to make sure they got treatment before they continued school. They’d not only be safer, they’d get a better education.

Did you know that binge drinking – which is how a lot of drinking in college is done, not in some moderate fashion, and it only consists of 4 or 5 drinks at a time – affects the brain? Numerous studies have been done.  Some show impaired memory and more than usual concentration necessary to perform simple tasks (even for people who drink like that only once a week), and some show that critical thinking is impaired for an entire month after one night of binge drinking.

Does that sound like the state they should be in to get a college education? Does that sound like an environment you want to send your kid into? I’d go out of my way to keep my kid OUT of college if those were the consequences.

Yes, most kids survive it all. But many continue on to become heavy drinkers throughout their lives. Not to mention that the vast majority of people graduating college don’t get a job doing what they studied for. Could it be they were too out of it to even know that they weren’t really interested in what they were studying?

It’s time to start taking college a little more seriously. And it’s up to the parents to make sure that’s how their kids feel about it, too. Shore them up against the college environment with alcohol and drug education, even if that means getting them through an alcohol and drug treatment program before they go, and make sure they have a real purpose for the college education they’ll be getting; that will also help keep them focused.

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Alcohol abuse is one of this country’s biggest problems. And, often, the problem starts when we’re young. In fact, those who drink while in their teens have a much greater chance of becoming alcoholics than others. Nevertheless, there are parents all over America who let their kids drink – thinking it’s harmless as long as they’re not out driving or doing something else that’s risky. But, really, you’re setting your kid up for brain damage.

A study on the effects of alcohol on the brain showed that after drinking the equivalent of just three beers, the brain starts to work differently. They put the people in this study in an MRI to scan their brain while they were drinking – and they saw it happen.

Okay – so once isn’t going to kill you. If you’re young and relatively healthy, the brain’s functioning normally again the next day. But what happens when you drink over and over again? You wind up with the “permanent brain damage that is known to occur in alcoholics.”  And that’s quote from the doctors who conducted the tests.

Just a couple more beers – i.e. five for a guy, four for a girl – actually impairs critical thinking for a month! That’s pretty serious. But we do it all the time, and let our kids do it.

Makes me wonder how much of our problems are really from brain damage.

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Tens of millions of parents, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, are in a state of frustrated despair about the drug taking or drinking habits of a family member. And most of them think the person will never change. That may be true if you leave it up to them. But, for the most part, if they could do it on their own they would have quit already. Isn’t it time to take the bull by the horns and get them into an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center, no matter what it takes?

Really, you don’t have to live like that. An alcohol and drug addiction treatment center gets them off the drugs or alcohol, works with them to find the reasons they’re drinking or taking drugs, helps them resolve whatever those issues are, and works out the changes they need to make in their lives so they can stay sober. And it actually works! It’s not a hopeless situation.

The state of New York is currently running a new campaign to get people to quit drinking and taking drugs. They have a website with alcohol and drug recovery stories – stories of parents who got their kids back, or long-term addicts who’ve served jail time and, after getting help through an addiction treatment center are now, and have been for years, up-standing members of their community. Read the stories – you’ll see that it is possible.

There are some things in life we have little control over – but alcohol and drug abuse in the family is not one of them. Get your family member through alcohol rehab or a drug addiction program and it will change their lives, and yours.

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If you’ve ever been to a college football game, a frat party, prom party, or anything similar, you won’t notice too many beer cans or bottles around. Why? They buy it in kegs – a keg holds 15.5 gallons – the equivalent of 165 12-oz. cans of beer. And if they buy domestic beer, it will only cost them about $40, plus a not-too-expensive refundable deposit on the keg itself. Is it any wonder why we have so many young alcoholics checking into alcohol rehab and alcohol detox, so many more getting injured and ill from binge drinking, and so many car accidents and even alcohol-related deaths?

In New York, where one in three college-age kids drinks and one in 10 adults actually has an alcohol problem, they’re putting new restrictions on beer kegs to try to help the problem. A registration tag will be put on the kegs identifying the buyer and seller (and there’s a fine of $250 to $450 for damaging or removing the tag), and the deposit on kegs is being raised from $50 (that’s the NY deposit cost) to $75.

Studies have shown that raising taxes on alcohol may have acted as a mild deterrent, but in a college environment I don’t know how much it will help. With 20 people splitting the cost each person only has to come up with $7.00 and they’re going to get half of that back when they return the keg. Even 5 people would only have to come up with $28 - and there aren’t too many college kids that don’t have $28, especially when they’re going to get half of that returned.

However, many of them would probably have trouble coming up with that amount 2 or 3 times a week, though. So I guess that’s where the deterrent effect comes in.

Obviously, the best deterrent is the person not wanting to drink that much (or at all.) If that’s not the case, though, they may need alcohol rehab – which you can get through an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center. Don’t go for just a detox – that dries them out but does nothing to handle the urge to drink or the person’s ability to quit drinking.

Did you know that one night of binge drinking (that’s five drinks for a guy, four for a girl) impairs critical thinking for a month? Not only is the college kid in danger of becoming an alcoholic, he’s also pretty much wasting his education. Check out alcohol rehab.

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Last week I wrote a blog about people being unaware of why they drink – like the young man who’s only explanation was “I like a few beers when I get home from a day at work.” They know, really, that they shouldn’t drink as much as they do but they never look at why they’re drinking so much. They’ll look at that, and discover the reasons why, if they go to alcohol rehab. But it’s not likely without it.

I recently ran across a disturbing statistic about this unawareness from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI at cspinet.org) – 48% of college drinkers report that “drinking to get drunk” is an important reason for drinking.

Tha certainly explains why you don’t get anywhere when you ask them why they don’t just have one or two drinks and leave it at that – an experience I’m sure 99% of those who have a heavy drinker in the family have had.

What purpose does getting drunk serve? It’s way beyond ’social drinking’ at that point. They want to reach oblivion – reach the point where they are semi-conscious (or unconscious.) Only then do whatever demons they’re fighting move into the shadows.

That’s why the expertise of an experienced drug counselor who can get an answer to the obvious next question – why do you want to get drunk? – is so vital. Until the drinker knows the answer to that question, he’s not going to be able to resolve the drinking problem.

And that’s why you need to address the problem in an addiction treatment center. Give us a call to find out more today.

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