Are your college kids taking ‘study’ drugs? Have they told you that everyone in school is taking them and that it doesn’t get them high, it just helps them focus so they can get better grades? Have they told you that they don’t take them all year, just at exam time? Have you been worried about it and wondering if they need drug rehab?

Whatever your kids have told you about these drugs – which are primarily Adderall and Ritalin – here is what you as parents should know, and should look into further.

Here are the side effects for each drug – taken from drugs.com. The lists are long, and there may be things on them you don’t understand. You can look them up online. But, even if you didn’t look up anything, there’s enough there that you will understand to make you realize that these drugs are nothing to fool around with. And if your kids are taking them, it might be time to contact a drug rehab program and speak with a professional to see if there’s a problem.

Adderall

Cardiovascular: Palpitations, tachycardia, elevation of blood pressure, sudden death, myocardial infarction. There have been isolated reports of cardiomyopathy associated with chronic amphetamine use.

Central Nervous System: Psychotic episodes at recommended doses, overstimulation, restlessness, dizziness, insomnia, euphoria, dyskinesia, dysphoria, depression, tremor, headache, exacerbation of motor and phonic tics and Tourette’s syndrome, seizures, stroke.

Gastrointestinal: Dryness of the mouth, unpleasant taste, diarrhea, constipation, other gastrointestinal disturbances. Anorexia and weight loss may occur as undesirable effects.

Allergic: Urticaria, rash, hypersensitivity reactions including angioedema and anaphylaxis. Serious skin rashes, including Stevens Johnson Syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis have been reported.

Endocrine: Impotence, changes in libido.

Ritalin

Nervousness, insomnia, hypersensitivity (including skin rash, urticaria, fever, arthralgia, exfoliative dermatitis, erythema multiforme with histopathological findings of necrotizing vasculitis, and thrombocytopenic purpura); anorexia; nausea; dizziness; palpitations; headache; dyskinesia; drowsiness; blood pressure and pulse changes, both up and down; tachycardia; angina; cardiac arrhythmia; abdominal pain; weight loss during prolonged therapy, Tourette’s syndrome, toxic psychosis has been reported, abnormal liver function, cerebral arteritis and/or occlusion; leukopenia and/or anemia; transient depressed mood; aggressive behavior; scalp hair loss, neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS).

So, now your kids are going to say they’ve already taken it and nothing like that has happened to them. But, that doesn’t mean it won’t. It’s probable that they won’t have some kind of severe physical allergic reaction to it if they’ve already taken it and nothing has happened – but it’s not true that none of the other things will happen. They could happen at any time.

Another really worrying thing is that kids often get their drugs from other kids – not from doctors. Their friends either sell them to them or give them to them free of charge. And your kid might do the same – give someone a few of their pills to ‘help them out’ during exams time.

But they never know how that person is going to reaction. What if they did have a severe reaction? What if they wound up in hospital or, heaven forbid, dead. Your child would feel horrible about that for the rest of their lives. It might even ruin their life.

Also, if your son or daughter knew about the possible effects of these drugs, continues to take them and also doesn’t tell others about how dangerous the drugs can be, and then someone they know is injured while taking these drugs – that’s another guilt trip.

Don’t take your son or daughter’s word for what is safe and what is not – no matter what their friends have told them and how many of them are doing it. Learn the information you as parents need to have to make certain that something is safe for yourself.

And don’t get fooled into thinking “Oh, that could never happen to my son!” I’m sure you could guess that that’s what most parents of kids who’ve gotten into trouble with drugs or alcohol told themselves.

If you’re not successful at getting your kids to stop taking drugs by reasoning with them and giving them the full and correct information – they need drug rehab.

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If you’re wondering why with all the billions of dollars spent on the war on drugs, seeing how that money is spent might shed a little light on things. The new White House Drug Policy pages give a breakdown, state-by-state, on federal grants to deal with drug problems. If the money were more wisely spent, there’s a good chance the alcohol and drug addiction problem wouldn’t be half of what it is. That money needs to go toward drug rehab and prevention.

Let’s just have a look at the money spent preventing kids from drinking and taking drugs, and let’s take Tennessee as an example.

Tennessee gets $107 million to combat the drug problem. Where does it go?

The Department of Health and Human Services gets $65 million, about $27 million goes to the Department of Justice for law enforcement, prisons, and so on, and about $3.4 million is spent by the Department of Housing and Urban Development on shelters. There are also several other, smaller, activities.

What’s missing? Educating kids. It’s a well known fact that children who drink or take drugs in elementary school, high school and college are more likely to become alcoholics and drug addicts as adults. If you can stop them from drinking and taking drugs while they’re still young, there’s a good chance they won’t turn out to be drinkers or druggies at all.

Kids who drink are four times more likely to become alcoholic adults than those who don’t.

So, how much goes to the Department of Education to educate kids and help prevent them from taking drugs and alcohol? Under $6 million – out of $107 million.

And of that $6 million, only $425,000 goes to Alcohol Abuse Reduction Grants, and $375,000 goes to Grants for Coalitions to Prevent and Reduce Alcohol Abuse at Institutions of Higher Education. That’s about $15,000 for each of Tennessee’s 25 public colleges and universities.

Tennessee is on the list of top ten states for drug addiction overall and is the top state for non-medical use of pain relievers (e.g. OxyContin, methadone, hydrocodone, etc.). It also has a drug-induced death rate 30% higher than the national average.

Someone needs to take a look at what the money is being spent on and start preventing the state’s alcohol and drug problems. And for those young people who are already abusing alcohol or drugs, a good drug rehab program will set them straight so they don’t continue. Helping kids now will make huge changes in everyone’s future.

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Finally, the problem of alcohol abuse, drug abuse and addiction in colleges has become the focus of White House Drug Control strategy. I don’t know if it will work – the War on Drugs hasn’t been any big success – but at least it will probably make parents and college kids aware of the problem. And it will lead to more college kids getting into and alcohol or drug rehab program.

Did you know, for example, that …

• More than one in five kids who drop out of college do so because of something related to alcohol?

• Each year there are nearly 2,000 college students die from alcohol-related incidents?

• Over 600,000 college students are unintentionally injured due to alcohol?

• One in four people aged 18 through 34 binge drink – five drinks or more in one sitting?

• Alcohol is involved in 90% of college rapes?

• 70% of college kids say they had unplanned sex because of alcohol and that 20% did not use protection?

• 22.9% of college students meet the medical definition for alcohol or drug abuse or dependence. The rest of the population averages 8.5%.

• That the number of kids using prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet non-medically is rising dramatically?

• That more than 20% of college kids use Adderall as a study drug or to party?

• That 90% of the students who use Adderall also binge drink and are heavy drinkers?

• That full-time college students who use Adderall are 3 times more likely to use marijuana, 8 times more likely to use cocaine, 8 times more likely to use tranquilizers, and 5 times more likely to use pain relievers?

This is pretty serious stuff – and not at all what parents had in mind when they sent their kids off to college with the money the family had been saving for years.

These kids aren’t just having a good time – they are doing things that are very dangerous.

If you have a son or daughter that’s drinking or taking drugs, don’t take it lightly. It’s easy to think that something bad won’t happen to your kid, or that your kid’s drinking or drug taking won’t get worse – some parents even think that going to college will straighten them out. But, statistically, that’s just not true. Get them through a drug rehab program – they also address alcohol – before they go to college. A good program will help them resist the temptation when college comes around.

And, remember, 25% of college students say that drinking alcohol has adversely affected their performance as a student. Don’t be afraid to take your college kid out of college for a while to sort them out. They have far more chance of getting the education and having the future both they and you envisioned.

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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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This blog is not about psychiatrists or psychiatry but when you consider that there are so many people taking prescription drugs – many of which are very dangerous and addictive – for alleged psychiatric reasons, it’s hard to stay off the subject sometimes. What’s spurred me on this time?

Psychiatry has systematically been re-classifying just about every one of life’s imperfect experiences as disorders that, according to the psychs, need to be treated with drugs.

The latest psych/Big Pharma target is college kids. Someone must have told them that college kids are already abusing prescription drugs like crazy – mostly to get high, sometimes to enhance their focus (they call them ‘study drugs’) - and now they’re going after that lush market with a study that shows that 1/2 of college-aged kids suffered a psychiatric disorder within the last year.

Of course, whatever the kids experienced is a ‘psychiatric disorder’ only because the psychs have reclassified it as such. The ‘science’ is totally their own – it doesn’t hold up under real medical scrutiny.

Next thing you know, they’ll be lobbying to pass a law that all college kids have to be screened for ‘disorders’ they should take drugs for. And they’ll be on their way to capturing a new public.

Do you think that’s the plan?

It’s not appropriate to use curse words in a blog, so I’m holding back here.  But I challenge you to find one that doesn’t apply to the psychs and Big Pharma creeps that will do anything to get someone on drugs.

Beware of what’s happening with your college-age kids. Many are already taking prescription drugs and some are coping with prescription drug addiction and abuse without ever having seen a doctor.  What’s going to happen when it’s sanctioned by the fact that they have a prescription?

All because they were stressed out about an exam coming up. It’s life. Not a disorder.  But you can be sure of one thing – if they get into taking these drugs, they’ll develop a disorder of one sort or another. And next thing you know, your normal college kid who was worried about passing a test will be in an addiction treatment center, or worse.

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Kids using prescription drugs is a big problem – many of us know that. Unfortunately, not too many schools are up on it. Even those that do drug tests usually only test for street drugs. But following the prescription drug-related arrests of students, some New York schools are taking a proactive approach to prescription drug addiction and abuse in the hope that they can nip it in the bud.

They’ve had grades 6 through 12 fill out surveys, the teachers have had some training, and they’re having a meeting with the student leaders to figure out what they can do to get the message across.

A local trooper, Rae Ann Hickock, said she’s had to arrest many kids for prescription drugs – even handing someone one pill is considered a sale. If that pill was OxyContin, hydrodone, Vicodin, Percocet or any other narcotic, the kid has just committed a felony. Hickock also said the kids have no idea that the pills are dangerous, or that what they’re doing is illegal.

Statistics show that kids whose parents talk to them about the dangers of prescription drugs (or any drug, including alcohol) are 50% less likely to take them. If the schools also jump on the bandwagon, a lot of kids might be able to avoid drug problems, and the possibility of prescription drug rehab.

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Although there is a lot of research done in the U.S. about alcohol and drug abuse, sometimes it doesn’t seem to get down to the day-to-day effects in real life. In England, for example, which has the same problem alcohol and drug addiction as we do, they’ve taken a much better look at what’s happening with alcohol and drugs in schools than we have.

For example, and average of more than 10,000 kids were sent home for alcohol or drug abuse every year for the last four years because they were drinking or taking drugs. When you take off weekends and holidays, that adds up to about 50 kids a day being sent home.

They also found that about 1/2 million kids under 18 years old (their legal drinking age) are served in bars.

And, perhaps the most shocking statistic – 47% of kids who drink admit having been involved in criminal activity.

Bearing in mind that kids who drink or take drugs early in life are likely to continue as they get older, that’s what the country’s looking forward to.

In the U.S., the situation is no different. And their kids becoming one of those kids is a risk parents take every day when they send their kids to school. And it starts early. Often by grades 7 or 8.

If these kids were gotten into an addiction treatment center for help before they were allowed to continue in school, the other kids would be a lot safer. And it would send a very strong message to parents and kids that alcohol and drugs are not acceptable.

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The lockers of the students in three schools in Massachussetts were K9 searched for drugs earlier this week. They caught one kid, with a lot of marijuana – all bagged up and ready to go. He’s been arrested. The searches were done to demonstrate the zero tolerance policy of illicit drugs in schools – the only problem is that illicit drugs are probably not the major problem. What they need to focus on is prescription drugs.

Prescription drug addiction and abuse is more popular among teens these days that marijuana. OxyContin and other opiate painkillers, stimulants, tranqilizers – the kids get them free from their parent’s medicine cabinets, give them to their friends, take them to parties where they’re thrown in a big bowl so kids can take whatever they want, not even knowing what the drugs are – that’s what the schools are really up against. And it’s the hardest to detect. K9s are trained to smell Xanax.

Truthfully, half the kids in school could have been high that day – having a good laugh afterwards. If the kid who was arrested doesn’t go to jail, chances are he’ll start dealing prescription drugs instead. And while the search will certainly keep marijuana, heroin and speed out of the school – which may help – what’s really needed is a body search and a urine or other type of test that will identify the presence of prescription drugs. Only that way can you stop prescription drug addiction or abuse.

I admire the fact that law enforcement is doing something about the drug problem in schools – but they’ve got to get the right target. Then they can find the kids with a problem and get them into prescription drug rehab for help. 

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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) had it’s second ever Drug Facts Chat Day. It’s just a one day thing and, by noon, they’d already been contacted by 6,000 people. Amazing. The director commented on the number of questions about prescription drugs. It’s good to see that the news is getting out there on prescription drug addiction, dependency and abuse.

Most people think that certain drugs are safe because they’re prescribed by a doctor. Being very familiar with the effects of prescription drugs I’m often surprised when speaking to someone who is quite casual about taking them. They, too, trust that a doctor would not harm them. It never occurs to them that prescription drug addiction, or addiction to any drug, can happen to upstanding citizens who would never, ever consider ‘taking drugs.’

If you missed the chat line and think you or someone you know might have a drug problem and you have any questions about it or about drug addiction treatment centers, you can always give the experts at Drug Rehab Referral a call. They’d be happy to help.

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There’s been so much news out there lately about the prescription drug addiction and abuse epidemic that it’s overshadowed the usual illegal drugs – the focus of the U.S. ‘war on drugs.’ But the DEA hasn’t forgotten about them. In fact, the agency has launched a travelling exhibit about the dangers of drugs that anyone concerned - parents, teachers, high school and college administrators, and the general public – should attend. Prevention is the most effective way to ensure someone you care about stays out of a drug addiction treatment center.

According to Michele M. Leonhart, DEA Acting Administrator, the exhibit ”will open eyes to the vast and tragic consequences of illegal drugs — from their damaging health effects, to lost lives, to taxing our healthcare and social welfare systems, to billions in economic losses, to family despair, environmental harm, impaired worker performance, to funding terrorism.”

It opens at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on October 2, 2008 and will be there for six months. While it’s good to have it in LA long enough so a lot of people can see it, it’s unfortunate that it will be a long time before it travels to other cities.

If I were a parent in the LA area, I’d be planning on taking my kids – even if they’re only six years old. The earlier kids are educated about drugs, the lower the chances of them getting involved in them. And the lower the chances that parents will be finding a drug addiction treatment center for their kids in the future.

If I were a teacher, I’d be organizing outings for my classes. And probably taking the students there at least three times so they ‘get it’. It will be a lot of information. And I’d also get their parents to take them. Kids whose parents educate them on drugs are 50% less likely to get involved.  But it’s important it comes from the parents. And it’s important the parents are also educated.  I’d start with kids in grade five. And I would also make attending the exhibit mandatory for college students.

Of course, that’s not going to handle the prescription drug addiction and abuse problem. Unfortunately, most kids think those drugs are okay because doctors prescribe them. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are just as many people going into a drug addiction treatment center for prescription drug addiction or abuse as for the illegal drugs that I assume will be the focus of the DEA exhibit.

You have to hit drug education scene from all angles. And when you have a resource like the DEA exhibit to bring it home, you shouldn’t waste it. If you already have a kid or someone else in your life who’s on drugs you should also take them there. It might be just what they need to realize they have a problem and decide to get into a drug addiction treatment center.

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