A recent study showed that 40% of high school kids have tried marijuana. Many are probably not using it enough to need drug rehab yet, but, still, nearly one out of two kids is a lot.

Who’s most likely to NOT use marijuana?

• Those getting A’s in school
• Those participating in sports or other extra-curricular activities
• Those who live in a two-parent household

When raising your kids, you might want to take the above into consideration.

Many people think of marijuana as completely harmless. But studies have linked marijuana use to several physical, mental and emotional problems;

• high levels of anxiety
• depression
• wanting to kill yourself
• aggression
• psychotic symptoms
• tobacco use
• nicotine dependence
• other substance abuse
• poor sleep
• respiratory problems
• cancer
• learning, memory, and intellectual functioning problems
• poor school performance
• school dropout

And things get worse if the usage continues beyond adolescence into young adulthood and beyond.

“There is considerable evidence that it’s not just an innocent sort of thing,” said the lead author of the study, Ty S. Schepis, a professor at Texas State University in San Marcos. “This is a period of strong change in the brain. We’re very concerned that marijuana alters the ways in which adolescent brains normally mature, particularly among heavy users.”

Parents who think of marijuana as a harmless right of passage and know or suspect that their kids are using it might want to familiarize themselves with more of the research and get addiction help for their kids before further damage is done.

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I hear the FDA is looking at banning prescription drugs containing acetaminophen, as well as drugs containing acetaminophen that are sold over the counter - Tylenol, Excedrin, and so on.

I realize that acetaminophen can cause liver damage but I don’t understand why that would be motivation to ban the prescription drugs containing it, like Vicodin, when there are so many other side effects - like shallow breathing, slow heartbeat, ligh-headedness and dizziness, fainting, confusion, fear, unusual thoughts or behavior and seizures, to name just a few – that haven’t been reason enough to get rid of those drugs. Not to mention the fact that every drug rehab program in the country is servicing people who’ve become addicted to these drugs.

It makes me wonder what the drug companies are up to. If Vicodin and Percocet are banned, that will probably increase the sales of OxyContin – which I’m sure have suffered since Purdue was fined $634 million for lying about how addictive it was. They even said it was less addictive than Percocet and Vicodin.

Also, if we can’t buy Tylenol or Excedrin we’re also more likely to get OxyContin from our doctor. Next thing you know we’ll be taking OxyContin for mild headaches and things we would normally take Tylenol for, and the drug treatment centers will continue to fill up. This time for OxyContin rehab – and there are already plenty of people in treatment for OxyContin addiction right now.

I think it would be wise for anyone who takes Tylenol or Excedrin, or any other drugs that might be included in this ban, to start finding another solution to their problem. Getting onto OxyContin could be far worse than Tylenol ever was.

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Great – now we’ve got drugs that cause addictive behavior. And I’m not talking about an inherently addictive drug like OxyContin or Xanax. The specific drug in question here is Mirapex, used to treat Parkinson’s Disease, and it can cause addictive behaviors like gambling and compulsive eating.

It’s true, a lot of drugs save lives. But there are so many successful methods, other than drugs, for dealing with many of our problems. Pain can be addressed with certain nutrients and natural analgesics (and if you have to get into drugs you can certainly find some a lot less dangerous than things like OxyContin – OxyContin abuse has probably put more people into a drug treatment center than heroin (of course, OxyContin IS heroin, so what can we expect?)

And you can also get physical therapy, chiropractic, or acupuncture – which I understand does wonders for pain. My father got over debilitating hip pain in just two acupunture sessions. And it’s never come back!

There are also nutrients and natural remedies to address depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, and any number of things. These three can often even be addressed by just doing some exercise. But, instead, we put up with drugs, their outrageous side effects, and the possibility of drug overdoses, interactions, reactions, and so on.

What a mess.

A large percentage of people going into a drug treatment center program these days have a problem with prescription drugs – and they often started out by being prescribed the drugs by their doctors.

In some European countries, where people are much healthier than Americans, there is far more emphasis on natural remedies and prevention. Hopefully, Obama’s new health care plan will address some of these issues.

In the meantime … if you’re having trouble coming off a drug like painkillers, anti-anxiety or depression meds and would like to see if you can resolve your problems without them, contact us to find out if there’s a drug treatment center that can help you.

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