ATOD and Advocacy Update - Week-Ending March 30, 2013

Doctor explains sizzurp's powerful high -- and deadly side effects
Sizzurp, purple drank, lean -- that cough-syrup-laced concoction of many  names -- has been gaining popularity in hip hop culture and notoriety as more celebrities fall prey to its effects. Rapper Lil Wayne was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai last week, reportedly linked to use of the prescription-strength medication. Continue reading here.

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Hybrid addiction: When drug and sex addictions fuse
Treatment providers have long recognized the dangers of "cross-addiction," or reaching sobriety in one addiction and then moving addictive behavior to a new drug of choice. One treatment provider is now recognizing that some addicts aren't waiting to "cross-addict" anymore. They are creating "hybrid addictions" by using multiple drugs of choice concurrently. Addictive or compulsive behavior is defined by the presence of an urge that is greater than one’s will to resist. The destructive results of addiction are obvious to observers; addicts will continue to use despite sometimes monumental consequences: the alcoholic who faces job loss but continues to drink, or the sex addict in danger of losing family who continues indulgence in their demon drug of choice. Read the rest of this story here.

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Marijuana Use in College May Increase Risk of Leaving School, Study Suggests
Using marijuana in college may increase the risk of leaving school, a new study suggests. Researchers found even students who only used marijuana occasionally were more likely to leave than their peers who did not use drugs. The study included 1,133 college students, who were followed over four years. The researchers found students who used marijuana more than 17 days a month were twice as likely as those who used marijuana less than a day per month to have an enrollment gap while in college, HealthDay reports. Even students who used marijuana three to 12 days a month were more likely to have an enrollment gap, compared with those who did not use marijuana. Drugs other than marijuana also were significantly associated with leaving college, the study found. Continuous enrollment was defined as being enrolled in college for at least one credit during each fall and spring semester for the first four years, the article notes. “We wanted to look at whether or not drug use interferes with goals students had set for themselves. Our results show that marijuana use is not a benign thing,” said lead researcher Dr. Amelia Arria, Director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The findings appear in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. In a second study, published in the journal Psychiatric Services, Dr. Arria found students who experience depression symptoms and seek treatment in college may be at risk for an enrollment gap, particularly if they use marijuana or other illegal drugs. If students’ depression was identified and treated before they went to college, they were not at risk for enrollment gaps, the study found.

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New Legislation to Prevent Cough Medicine Abuse Re-Introduced in Senate
U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) this week re-introduced new bipartisan legislation to prevent the abuse of cough syrup to get high, a particularly worrisome trend among American teens. Dextromethorphan (DXM) is the active ingredient in many over-the-counter cough and cold medicines and is safe when taken as recommended, but five percent of teenagers report having intentionally taken large doses of DXM for effects that include hallucinations, confusion, blurred vision and loss of motor control. Senator Casey’s Prevent Abuse of Cough Treatments (PACT) Act will make it harder for teens to purchase the drug for this dangerous use, while still keeping cough medications accessible to those who use them for their intended purpose.

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Shuffleboard? Oh, Maybe Let’s Get High Instead
Statistics suggest that more members of the older generations, like Ms. Neufer, are using marijuana. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported in 2011 that 6.3 percent of adults between the ages of 50 and 59 used the drug. That number has risen from 2.7 percent in 2002. Read the full story here.

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Plan for 3-ounce alcohol drink falls flat

State regulators on Wednesday rejected a brewer's plans to sell 3-ounce vials of high-alcohol malt beverage in North Carolina, saying they feared it would entice teens to drink. Stout Brewing wanted to sell its Stout 21 malt beverage in grocery and convenience stores in such flavors as Margarita, Screwdriver and Apple Pie. The company bills the product as a "Flavored Alcoholic Shooter." Mike Herring, administrator for the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, noted that the 3-ounce can with the twist-off cap contains as much alcohol as a 12-ounce beer. Click here for more.

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Why Aren’t Treatments For Preschoolers With ADHD Effective?

A paper published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry came to two major conclusions based on a 6-year study of 207 preschoolers with ADHD:  Most of them – 89% – continued to meet criteria for ADHD 6 years later Drug treatments were not effective in lowering the risk for ADHD 6 years later What should we make of these data? Read the rest here.

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Some Teens More Genetically Predisposed to Become Heavy Smokers

Some teenagers appear to be more genetically predisposed than others to become heavy smokers, a new study suggests. The researchers developed a genetic risk profile for heavy smokers. They then applied the findings to a study of 1,000 people from birth to age 38, to determine if there was a link between a high risk score and smoking patterns. They found genetic risk score did not influence whether a person started to smoke. However, among people who did start to smoke, those with higher genetic risk were more likely to start smoking daily as teens, to become heavy smokers more quickly, to smoke heavily for a longer period, to develop nicotine dependence, to rely more on smoking to cope with stress and to have a harder time quitting, compared with people with a lower genetic risk. Teens with a high genetic risk score who tried smoking were 24 percent more likely to smoke daily by age 15, and 43 percent more likely to smoke a pack a day by age 18, HealthDay reports. They were 27 percent more likely to become addicted to nicotine, and 22 percent more likely to fail their attempts at quitting smoking as adults. Those with high risk genetic profiles smoked about 7,300 more cigarettes than the average smoker by the time they were 38, the researchers report in JAMA Psychiatry. “The effects of genetic risk seem to be limited to people who start smoking as teens,” researcher Daniel Belsky of  Duke University’s Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development and the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, said in a news release. “This suggests there may be something special about nicotine exposure in the adolescent brain, with respect to these genetic variants.”