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December 16, 2014 | That Was The Week That Was | Volume 2., No. 17
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Thursday, December 18, 2014
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 Dear Joseph, My son, now 25, first started using drugs when he was 16. His addiction took our family on a rollercoaster ride. Life in our home was beyond a nightmare, and I kept wondering how this had happened to us. Having an addict in the family wasn’t on my list of life goals. Yet here I was, caught in the middle of a living hell. At times, I felt alone; like no one else could understand the turmoil that my family faced.  The community has responded to my story with encouragement, support and hope. Most importantly, I learned one very important thing: I am not alone. Just like the millions of others facing addiction, there are so many people out there who have been there and understand. The Partnership is able to provide this support service thanks to generous donations from people like you. Your gift this holiday season will help sustain this invaluable community for others facing addiction.  My son, now in recovery, is finally in a good place. And thanks to the Partnership's support on this journey, we are in a better place too. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. 
Dean Dauphinais
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Blackouts Common Among Teens Who Drink: Study
December 17th, 2014/
Among teens who drink, 90 percent have blacked out after drinking at least once by the time they reached age 19, according to a new study of British adolescents. Teens who black out after drinking are more likely to be female.
When a person blacks out, they appear to be awake, alert and intoxicated, but they have no memory of what has happened. At high enough doses, alcohol impairs the acquisition of memory.
Females are more likely to black out because they weigh less and have less body water to dilute the alcohol, the researchers noted. The study included 1,402 teens ages 15 to 19 who drank. Other risk factors for blacking out after drinking included smoking, having sensation-seeking and impulsive behaviors, lacking conscientiousness and having friends who also drank or used other substances, Time reports.
The findings appear in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
“It’s not as if a blackout in these kids was an isolated phenomenon,” said lead researcher Marc Schuckit, professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego. “Blackouts are unfortunately often considered to be a funny thing as opposed to dangerous. I am not sure the average person realizes the dangers associated with blackouts.”
In a press release, he noted, “Someone who has had a blackout cannot remember part of their drinking episode. As you can imagine, blackouts are likely to occur when the drinker is vulnerable to a range of additional dangerous consequences. Women might have unprotected sex, place themselves in a situation where they can be raped, or not be fully capable of protecting themselves. Men can get into fights, use very bad judgment regarding another person, and are often the driver when BACs (blood alcohol concentrations) associated with blackouts can lead to a car accident. Blackouts are very dangerous for both men and women.”
States With More Traffic Stops and DUI Arrests Have Fewer Drunk Drivers
December 17th, 2014/
States that have a greater number of random traffic stops and a higher number of DUI arrests have a lower rate of drunk driving, a new study concludes.
The study looked at almost 6,900 weekend nighttime drivers in 30 communities who were stopped and screened for blood alcohol levels.
“Hardly any new laws are being passed regarding drinking and driving,” said study lead author James Fell, a senior research scientist with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Maryland. “So we think the best strategy for making progress on reducing impaired driving could be better enforcement of the laws we already have.”
The study is published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
“The public notices police cars on the side of the road issuing citations or arresting drivers for DUI,” Fell said in a news release. “That serves as a general deterrent and increases their perceived risk of being caught driving impaired.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 10,076 people died in crashes involving a drunk driver in 2013 — one death every 52 minutes.
“People only change their behavior when they think they’re going to get caught,” Kara Macek, a spokeswoman for the Governors Highway Safety Association in Washington, D.C., told HealthDay. “When it comes to drunk driving you need to use the stick more than the carrot.”
Study Finds Meth Users Three Times More Likely to Get Parkinson’s
December 17th, 2014/
A new study finds people who use methamphetamine are three times more likely than those who do not use illicit drugs to develop Parkinson’s disease.
Methamphetamine use is associated with a number of serious health issues including severe dental problems, convulsions, changes in brain structure, strokes, heart attack and death.
The new study, by researchers at the University of Utah and Intermountain Healthcare, found women who use meth may be almost five times as likely to develop Parkinson’s compared with women who do not use drugs, according to MedicalXpress.
“Typically, fewer females use meth than males do,” study senior author Glen R. Hanson, D.D.S., Ph.D., noted in a press release. “Even though women are less likely to use it, there appears to be a gender bias toward women in the association between meth use and Parkinson’s.”
The researchers reviewed more than 40,000 records in the Utah Population Database, which provides genealogical, medical and government-provided information on Utah families. They looked at medical records of almost 5,000 people whose health records indicated they had used meth, more than 1,800 people who had used cocaine, and more than 34,000 people whose health records showed no illicit drug use.
The study found people who used cocaine were not at increased risk for Parkinson’s. “We feel comfortable that it’s just the meth causing the risk for Parkinson’s, and not other drugs or a combination of meth and other drugs,” Hanson said in a news release.
The study is published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
A study published in 2011 also found a link between methamphetamine and the risk of Parkinson’s. That study did not report risks based on gender, and only included records of hospital inpatients, the article notes. The new study used both inpatient and outpatient records, which captured a wider segment of the population, the researchers said.
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