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| WELCOME
to MAY, 2008 - 'NEWS OF HOPE'
WELCOME
to May, 2008 -
'NEWS OF HOPE'
MAY 2008
Newsletter
Content
* Observations
from the Road -
Susie Vanderlip
* Current Drug
Trends in
America's Youth
* FREE
Prevention and
Parenting/Grandparenting
Tools
* Girls Most
Frequent Abuser
of Prescription
Drugs
* Tips for
Preventing
Prescription
Medicine Abuse
* Tools
Available to
Help School
Nurses Address
Rx Abuse
* Group Therapy
Works for
Youngest
Addicts/Teens
Pictured Above,
from left:
Pic 1 - Susie
meets with
Marina High
School
cheerleaders in
Huntington
Beach,
California
before an
evening PTSA-sponsored
LEGACY OF
HOPE program
Pic 2 - Susie
and Glenda
Mercado -
hardworking
President of the
Marina High
School PTSA who
organized the
evening's
activities
Pic 3 - Students
at Sowers Middle
School,
Huntington
Beach, CA at
lunch just
before a LEGACY
OF HOPE
assembly
Pic 4 - The
enthusiastic
staff of Parents
as Teachers in
Wichita, Kansas
where Susie had
the privilege of
addressing 100
pregnant or
parenting teens.
Check
out Past
Newsletters on
our website for
other great
topics |
|

|
FREE
Prevention and
Parenting/Grandparenting
Tools!
At all of my
programs, I
bring free
pamphlets on
various drug and
lifestyle issues
for teens and
families. Many
of these I
obtain from NCADI
- the National
Clearinghous for
Alcohol and Drug
Information. You
can order from
50 to 200 of
EACH PAMPHLET
for FREE from
their website,
and that
INCLUDES
SHIPPING!
Check the site
out and start
sharing
prevention tips
and tools with
those in your
world:
http://ncadistore.samhsa.gov/catalog/top.aspx
****************************************************
FREE - ONE
YEAR
SUBSCRIPTION to GRAND
Excellent
magazine for
grandparents of
all ages!
Read articles
Susie has
written for
various GRAND
Magazine and
order your free
subscription:
Get
your Free GRAND
Subscription and
read articles
here |
|
|
 |
| Observations
from the
Road -
by Susie
Vanderlip
As
summer
approaches,
we want
to alert
families
once
again to
the
trends
in teen
substance
use and
abuse.
Summer
can mean
more
unstructured,
unsupervised
time for
teens
leading
to more
boredom
and more
susceptibility
to
dangerous
entertainments
like
prescription
drugs
obtained
from the
medicine
cabinets
of
family
and
friends.
This new
and
disturbing
abuse of
pharmaceutical
drugs by
teens
has
revealed
itself
more and
more as
preteens
and
teens
come up
to talk
with me
after LEGACY
OF HOPE®
assemblies
across
the
country.
Middle
school
teens,
in
particular,
have
expressed
concern
over
friends
using
“Zani’s”
(Zanax),
Oxy (Oxycontin)
and
other
pharmaceutical
drugs.
7th and
8th
graders
are
letting
me know
that
these
drugs
are
popular
and in
vogue.
As the
teens
tell me
about
their
families
and life
circumstances,
the
abuse of
pharmaceutical
drugs
often
correlates
with
teens
who are
experiencing
feelings
of
alienation,
neglect,
verbal
abuse
and/or
are the
victims
of or
are
witnessing
physical
abuse in
the
home.
From
conversations
with
thousands
of teens
each
year, it
appears
that
teens
that
live
with
anger,
fear,
depression,
loneliness,
self-loathing,
and/or
hopelessness
are more
susceptible
to
alcohol
use,
pharmaceutical
drugs,
illicit
drugs,
sexual
relations
at a
younger
age,
self-harm,
and poor
choices.
As a
“messenger
of
hope”
to these
emotionally
troubled
teens, I
am
convinced
that the
emotional
and
social
well-being
of our
youth is
a
critical
factor
in their
choices
and life
outcomes.
In
communities
with a
high
level of
low
income
families
and/or a
scarcity
of jobs,
parents
are
financially
and
emotionally
stressed,
fearful,
and
hopeless
as well.
Parental
alcohol
and
substance
abuse
increases
as well
as the
subsequent
verbal
and
physical
abuse in
the
home. As
parents
turn to
destructive
and
inadequate
methods
of
emotional
coping,
they
become
role
models
of poor
coping
skills
as well
as the
source
of their
children’s
pain,
PTSD,
and
emotional
wounds.
This
past
month, I
had the
privilege
of
working
Family
and
Children
Services
in
Battle
Creek,
Michigan
in
collaboration
with the
United
Way of
Greater
Battle
Creek.
LEGACY
OF HOPE®
was
presented
for the
community
and for
local
providers
of
various
youth
and
family
services.
I also
participated
in a
collaboration
breakfast
of local
agencies
where I
was
thrilled
to
experience
a mutual
recognition
of how
critical
it is to
reach
both
youth
and
parents
with
tools to
increase
emotional
coping
skills
– what
I call
“Emotional
Wisdom.”
This
group of
creative
providers
included
representatives
from the
Teen
Pregnancy
Prevention
Program,
high
school
nursing,
Public
Health,
Substance
Abuse
Prevention,
the
United
Way and
more.
They
shared a
mutual
consensus
that to
address
a
particular
issue
such as
teen
pregnancy
requires
attention
to
related
and
influential
issues
including
familial
alcohol
and drug
abuse,
domestic
violence,
gangs,
economic
problems,
and
more. I
was
rewarded
to find
that
everyone
agreed
that the
lack of
“Emotional
Wisdom”
was
severely
lacking
in
families
with
these
problems
and was
a root
cause.
In
months
to come,
you will
hear me
speak
more
about
“Emotional
Wisdom.”
It is a
core
message
that
both
youth
and
adults
respond
to in LEGACY
OF HOPE®
. I am
HOPEful
that we
are
entering
a time
of
greater
awareness
and new
and
creative
ways to
reach
parents,
other
adults
and
youth
about
their
own
emotional
awareness
and
coping
skills.
We at
LEGACY
will
remain
devoted
to
carrying
a
message
about
the
critical
need to
improve
parental
and teen
communication,
role
modeling
emotional
responsibility,
and
guiding
both
teens
and
adults
to good
choices.
Your
comments
are
welcome
---
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Current
Drug
Trends
in
America's
Youth
As we
have all
probably
seen
throughout
our
lives,
what’s
in one
day
might
not be
in the
next.
Whether
it be
brand of
clothing,
hairstyle,
fad
diet,
etc.,
trends
are
constantly
changing.
Drug
trends
are no
different
than any
other
trend
out
there,
one
generation
might
have
preferred
cocaine
while
they
were in
high
school
while
marijuana
might
experience
more
popularity
amongst
another
generation
or
class.
As you
will see
in the
following
research
(reported
by the
National
Institute
on Drug
Abuse
– NIDA)
even
within
the past
ten
years
drug use
trends
have
changed
pretty
significantly.
The
following
statistics
on
current
drug use
trends
was
reported
by NIDA
(www.nida.nih.gov/InfoFacts/HSYouthtrends.html)
Positive
Trends
• Any
illicit
drug
– From
2006 to
2007,
8th-graders
reporting
lifetime
use of
any
illicit
drug
declined
from
20.9
percent
to 19.0
percent
and past
year use
declined
from
14.8
percent
to 13.2
percent.
Since
2001,
annual
prevalence
has
fallen
by 32
percent
among
8th-graders,
nearly
25
percent
among
10th-graders,
and 13
percent
among
12th-graders.
Since
the peak
year in
1996,
past
year
prevalence
has
fallen
by 44
percent
among
8th-graders.
The peak
year for
past
year
abuse
among
10th-
and
12th-graders
was
1997;
since
then,
past
year
prevalence
has
fallen
by 27
percent
among
10th-graders
and by
15
percent
among
12th-graders.
• Marijuana
– Past
year use
of
marijuana
among
8th
graders
significantly
declined
from
11.7
percent
in 2006
to 10.3
percent
in 2007,
and is
down
from its
1996
peak of
18.3
percent.
Annual
prevalence
of
marijuana
use has
fallen
by 33
percent
among
8th-graders,
25
percent
among
10th-graders,
and 14
percent
among
12th-graders
since
2001.
Disapproval
of
trying
marijuana
“once
or
twice,”
smoking
marijuana
“occasionally,”
or
smoking
marijuana
“regularly”
(3)
increased
significantly
among
8th-graders
from
2006 to
2007,
and
remained
stable
for
10th-
and
12th-graders
for the
same
period.
• Methamphetamine
–
Lifetime
and past
year
methamphetamine
use
decreased
among
8th- and
12th-graders
between
2006 and
2007;
lifetime
use
among
8th-graders
declined
from 2.7
percent
to 1.8
percent,
and
lifetime
use
among
12th-graders
declined
from 4.4
percent
to 3.0
percent.
Past
year
methamphetamine
use was
reported
by 1.1
percent
of
8th-graders
in 2007
(a
decline
from 1.8
percent
in
2006),
1.6
percent
of
10th-graders,
and 1.7
percent
of
12th-graders
(a
decline
from 2.5
percent
in
2006).
• Sedatives/Barbiturates
–
There
has been
a
decline
in the
lifetime
use of
sedatives
from a
peak of
10.5
percent
in 2005
to 9.3
percent
in 2007.
Past
year use
of
sedatives/barbituates
declined
from a
peak of
7.2
percent
in 2005
to 6.2
percent
in 2007.
(This
question
is asked
only of
12th-graders.)
• Inhalants
–
After
some
increases
in
recent
years,
there
were no
significant
changes
from
2006 to
2007 in
the
proportion
of
students
in the
8th-,
10th-,
and
12th-grades
reporting
lifetime,
past
year, or
past
month
abuse of
inhalants.
• Crack
Cocaine
– Past
month
abuse of
crack
among
10th-graders
declined
from 0.7
percent
in 2006
to 0.5
percent
in 2007.
From
2001 to
2007,
students
in 8th
and 10th
grades
showed
declines
of crack
use of
29.6
percent
and 58.0
percent,
respectively.
Past
month
abuse of
cocaine
(powder)
among
12th-graders
declined
from 2.4
percent
in 2006
to 1.7
percent
in 2007.
Disapproval
of
trying
cocaine
“once
or
twice”
increased
among
8th-graders
from
86.5
percent
in 2006
to 88.2
percent
in 2007,
and
disapproval
of
trying
crack
“once
or
twice”
increased
from
87.2
percent
to 88.6
percent.
Disapproval
did not
change
among
10th- or
12th-graders
for the
same
period.
Negative
Trends
• Prescription
Drugs
–
Prescription
drug use
remains
unacceptably
high
with
virtually
no drop
in
nonmedical
use of
most
individual
prescription
drugs.
This
year,
for the
first
time,
researchers
pulled
together
data for
all
prescription
drugs as
a
measurable
group
(including
amphetamines,
sedatives/barbituates,
tranquilizers,
and
opiates
other
than
heroin
such as
Vicodin
and
OxyContin)
and
found
that
15.4
percent
of high
school
seniors
reported
nonmedical
use of
at least
one
prescription
medication
within
the past
year.(5)
• MDMA
(Ecstasy)
– The
2007
results
represent
the
third
year in
a row
showing
a
weakening
of
attitudes
among
the
youngest
students
regarding
MDMA.
Among
8th-graders,
the
perceived
harmfulness
of
taking
MDMA
“occasionally”
decreased
from
52.0
percent
to 48.6
percent
from
2006 to
2007.
Among
10th-graders,
the
perceived
harmfulness
decreased
from
71.3
percent
to 68.2
percent.
Perceived
risk of
MDMA use
remained
unchanged
for
12th-graders
from
2006 to
2007.
Concurrently,
between
2004 and
2007
past
year use
of MDMA
increased
in
10th-graders
from 2.4
to 3.5
percent,
and
between
2005 and
2007
past
year use
of MDMA
increased
among
12th-graders
going
from 3.0
to 4.5
percent..
• Hallucinogens
–
Among
10th-graders,
the
perceived
harmfulness
of
taking
LSD
“once
or
twice”
decreased
from
38.8
percent
in 2006
to 35.4
percent
in 2007.
The
perceived
harm of
taking
LSD
“regularly”
decreased
from
60.7
percent
in 2006
to 56.8
percent
in 2007.
Disapproval
of using
LSD
“once
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