WESTERN PA. HELP FOR PREGNANT WOMEN!

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, Inc.

Welcome to the the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, Inc. (ADAS) website. Our goal is to provide informative articles, links, and other resources relevant to substance abuse. Suggestions are welcome and may be submitted to:director@adasonline.org

ADAS is the Single County Authority (SCA) for Cameron, Elk and McKean counties. Pregnant women receive preferential services and are a priority population for treatment. There are no treatment service limitations for pregnant women.

ADAS welcomes new Prevention Supervisor

Jennifer Young

Jennifer Young of Saint Marys  joined the agency June 25th as the Prevention Supervisor for ADAS, Inc. Jennifer is a 2010 graduate of Clarion University of PA, where she earned a B.S. in Rehabilitative Sciences. Prior to coming to ADAS, Jenn had worked as a Drug and Alcohol Counselor for Abraxas I in Marienville.

As Prevention Supervisor, Jennifer will  oversee the provision of Drug and Alcohol Prevention and Intervention services  in Cameron, Elk, McKean and (contracted) Potter counties.   ADAS maintains Prevention staff in the Port Allegany, St. Marys, Bradford and Coudersport office locations and provides a wide variety of prevention and intervention programming, including:

• Student Assistance Program consultation
• Evidence/Research Based Alcohol, Tobacco  and Other Drug prevention programs in local schools
• Preparing for Drug Free Years (PDFY)
• Prevention/Education group facilitators at the elementary and secondary levels
• The Incredible Years Program
• Community based programs for youth, women, and businesses.
• First time offenders programs
• Red Ribbon and holiday drunk and drugged driving prevention campaigns
• Healthy Kids Program
• Youthful Offenders Program

Jennifer will be working out of the St. Marys office and can be reached at  814-781-1700 or youngj@adasonline.org

PAINKILLERS FOR KIDS

OxyContin maker wants FDA backing to label addictive drug for 6-year-olds
By Karen Keller Monday, July 2, 2012


OxyContin is not currently labeled for use for children, but some doctors prescribe it to them anyway.


The maker of OxyContin is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval to label the controversial painkiller for use by children as young as 6 in a move that could serve to extend the company’s expiring patent on the lucrative drug, The Daily has learned.

Purdue Pharma has paid dozens of clinical sites around the country to document what happens when OxyContin, an addictive pharmaceutical widely abused by recreational users, is given to children.

The company says that its motivation is to help doctors who currently prescribe the drug off-label to children, a common practice in the treatment of pediatric conditions that involve moderate or severe pain.

But three physicians working with Purdue on the trials said the Stamford, Conn.-based company appears to be doing the research to get a six-month extension on their patent for the original formulation of OxyContin, which expires next year.

“They are doing (the pediatric trial) for patent exclusivity, there’s no doubt about it in my mind — not out of largesse,” said Dr. Elliot Krane, director of pain management at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. “That’s important for their bottom line.”

The family-owned pharmaceutical company earned an estimated $2.8 billion in revenue last year from sales of the powerful opioid, part of the same drug family as morphine and heroin. Purdue is fiercely guarding its exclusivity in the market through ongoing legal battles, and now, it appears, through a pediatric trial that could stave off competitors for another six months.

The Purdue trial involves 154 children ages 6 to 16 and is slated for completion in August of next year, according to a filing submitted to the FDA. The document says that the study is currently recruiting participants.

Many of the nation’s top pediatric pain experts say Purdue’s children’s trial is, all in all, a good thing. But critics, citing Purdue’s history of criminal marketing practices, worry that use of the drug by children could expand and lead to greater addiction and abuse woes.

“There’s good medical evidence that suggests a brain that’s not fully mature is at greater risk at developing the disease of addiction,” said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing and the head of psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. The pediatric community underestimates those risks, he said, because they have given too much credence to drugmakers, who have systematically downplayed the dangers.

“Much of that misinformation (came from a) campaign funded by Purdue.”

In a landmark case for the pharmaceutical industry, Purdue in 2007 admitted in court that it misled doctors and the public about OxyContin’s risk of addiction. The company and three top company executives, each charged with a felony, paid $635 million in fines.

Purdue confirmed it is seeking permission to label the drug for pediatric use and pointed to a need to better understand how opioids affect children.

“We feel it is beneficial for clinicians who are treating pediatric patients with chronic, moderate-to-severe pain to have access to this information in scientific publications and in the product’s label, whether the results are positive or negative, so they can make better decisions about the care of their patients,” company spokesman James Heins wrote in an e-mail to The Daily.

Last year, 0.3 percent of OxyContin prescriptions were written for patients 19 and under, according to Purdue.

Numerous pediatric pain experts consulted by The Daily supported the company’s rationale, saying the trial will yield valuable data about a drug that children are already being prescribed.

“It’s clear in children certain drugs are definitely metabolized differently,” said Dr. Jeffrey Galinkin, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on drugs and research director of anesthesiology at Children’s Hospital of Colorado.

Purdue’s pediatric trial will help clarify how best to use the drug, he said. “It’s information we really do need to have.”

Purdue spokesman Heins told The Daily that the company does not plan to seek the right to market OxyContin to pediatricians — a separate category of FDA approval above and beyond labeling permission that would likely bring additional scrutiny of the company’s motives. A federal green light to market OxyContin for use in children, some worry, could lead to a higher rate of prescribing the drugs for kids and an army of Purdue sales representatives pressuring doctors to prescribe the drug more.

Krane, the physician involved with the study, doubted the company’s disavowal of any desire to market the drug to pediatricians.

“That’s probably disingenuous,” he said. “I believe (an FDA approval for marketing to pediatricians) is where they’re going.”

The question of patent rights looms equally large over the pediatric drug trial.

Purdue has been aggressively seeking to protect its original patent for OxyContin, which is scheduled to expire next year. The company has filed a raft of lawsuits against generic drug makers and is trying to get the FDA to ban generics of the original, easy-to-abuse formulation outright. Purdue released a new tamper-proof version of the drug in 2010 and that patent expires in 2025.

But the clinical trial for children offers another way to extend the life of the original patent.

In recent years the FDA has been encouraging pharmaceutical makers to test drugs for pediatric use and offering six-month patent extensions as a reward. Historically testing drugs for use in children is not something the pharmaceutical industry does, because the pediatric market is much smaller than the adult market.

As a consequence, pediatricians and family doctors simply use adult drugs on kids, making educated guesses about dosage amounts and side effects, several pediatricians said. Today more than 60 percent of drugs prescribed for children are not FDA-approved for pediatric use.

But in the case of Oxycontin, Kolodny and others worry that children are especially vulnerable to addiction. He also points to a 2005 study from the University of Michigan finding that children who are prescribed opioids are more likely to abuse painkillers in later life.
Teen abuse of OxyContin has already taken an epic toll on communities across the country.

“We’ve had 10 people die since May. Constant funerals lately,” said Joanne Peterson, founder of Learn to Cope, a Massachusetts-based group that helps parents of pill-addicted youth. All of the young people died from heroin overdoses, but their addiction started with OxyContin, she said. They moved to heroin because it provides a similar high but is cheaper. “I’m not going to ever trust anybody who mismarketed that drug on purpose.”

OxyContin's track record for abuse so far is stark. Last year painkillers - mainly oxycodone (OxyContin) and hydrocodone - caused more deaths than cocaine and heroin combined. The opioid epidemic has killed more than 100,000 people since 1999, more than U.S. military deaths during the Vietnam war.

Yet a broader view among pediatricians is that addiction risks for children properly prescribed the drug are manageable.

“We’ve been using (OxyContin) for over 10 years,” said Dr. Steven Weisman, pain management director of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. “And we haven’t had any problems with addiction or diversion” of the prescriptions to addicted family members or to the street for resale, he said.

Weisman, along with Krane and Galinkin, received consulting fees from Purdue in recent years. Their hospitals get paid by Purdue to do the trial but there is no direct personal financial benefit to doctors, they said. Purdue is working with many of the nation’s top pediatric pain experts for the trial.

Krane said he’s not worried that Purdue will aggressively push OxyContin on pediatricians. The bad press, fines and criminal convictions in 2007 have changed the game for Purdue, he said.

“From top to bottom, I think they’ve learned from that experience and … they can’t get away with that again,” he said.

He told The Daily he would be “astounded” if OxyContin prescriptions for children rose by more than “1 or 2 percent” if the drug were to get FDA approval.

However, he conceded, it’s possible that even a tiny increase in the rate of prescriptions could do harm.

“We are possibly opening the door to (OxyContin) being abused by a younger, more vulnerable population,” Krane said.

Karen.Keller@thedaily.com@karenakeller

What is codependency addiction?

 ADDICTION BLOG    By Lisa Espich

What Does Codependency Mean?

Are you wondering, “Am I codependent in a relationship?” Simply put, codependency is an emotional and behavioral condition that results in unhealthy relationships. Some of the negative patterns that develop include enabling, denial, low self-esteem, and control issues. Codependency is also sometimes called “relationship addiction.”

In families that are dealing with an addicted member, codependency is a common problem. It is difficult to be in a relationship with an addict and not fall into codependent behaviors. While these patterns don’t happen overnight, most people who live with an addict for a sustained period of time eventually take on codependent tendencies.  How to stop a codependent relationship takes time, awareness, and effort.

What Are Codependent Behaviors?

So what do codependents do? What typically happens is, as the addict gets worse, the family members become mentally and physically unhealthy as well. They spend sleepless nights worrying, suffer from stress-related illness, lie to avoid shame or embarrassment, become financially strained, and grow increasingly resentful toward the addict. This is why addiction is often called a family disease.

While there are many destructive patterns involved with codependency, two of the most common are enabling and denial. Let’s take a closer look at these two behaviors:

1. What Are Enabling Behaviors?

When somebody you care about is suffering with an illness or a disease you naturally want to help. As a result, loved ones often step in to save the addict from the devastating consequences of their actions. This is called enabling. It is difficult to be in a relationship with an addict and not get sucked into enabling behavior.

Family members believe they are doing the right things when they help to save the addict’sjob, help him or her to stay out of jail, help to pay their overdue bills, or save them from whatever horrific thing is getting ready to happen. But, in most cases, it’s not helping. Instead it is making it easier for the addict to continue drinking or using drugs because the consequences aren’t bad enough to convince him or her to stop.

If loved ones can learn to let the crisis happen for the addict, the consequences could be enough to convince the addict to accept help. So how can somebody love an addict without stepping in and enabling the addiction? You do this by treating the addict with respect (expecting him or her to handle their own responsibilities), getting educated to understandaddiction, and offering hope and words of encouragement.

2. How Is Denial A Drug?

Along with enabling comes the behavior of denial. The addict denies his or her problem, the family denies how bad things have gotten, and emotional or psychological abuse is often denied as well.

When family members refuse to admit that the addiction is causing serious health, relationship, and financial problems – this is called denial. Denial is a defense mechanism. Sometimes we are faced with something that is too uncomfortable to accept, so we reject it, insisting that it is not true despite evidence.

As addiction becomes more severe, the family’s denial may get worse as well, until the problems become so obvious that denial is no longer possible.

Help Getting Over Codependency

If you have a loved one struggling with addiction, and you have fallen into these codependent patterns, now is the time to reach out for help. If you can’t find the courage to do that, then how can you expect the addict in your life to find the courage? Set the example and lead the way to positive change.

Family support groups, such as Al-Anon, are one of the best forms of support available. Through these groups you will learn how to handle the challenges of living with an addict, learn to set healthy boundaries, and discover how to create an environment that encourages recovery.

Recovery Connections: PAIN KILLER DEATHS TRIPLED IN TEN YEARS

Recovery Connections: PAIN KILLER DEATHS TRIPLED IN TEN YEARS: By Will Godfrey   THE FIX According to a new government report, an epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse is causing more fatalitie...

PAIN KILLER DEATHS TRIPLED IN TEN YEARS

By Will Godfrey  THE FIX

According to a new government report, an epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse is causing more fatalities than heroin and cocaine combined.

Just in case anyone still doubted the extent of the prescription drug epidemic gripping the US, along comes a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detailing a huge surge in painkiller abuse and overdose deaths—which have tripled in the past ten years. In 1999, 4,000 people died from painkiller ODs. By 2008, that had risen to 14,800 attributed fatalities—Heath Ledger was the most famous of them—or 4.8 per 100,000 population. And with 12 million Americans—5% of those aged 12 and over—using these drugs unprescribed in 2010, mortality rates are unlikely to have dropped since, as the report notes. Death is typically caused by respiratory depression, which stops you breathing. Sales to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors' offices of opiod painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin have quadrupledsince 1999. In 2010, enough opiod painkillers were sold to give every single American adult a 5mg dose of hydrocodone every four hours for a whole month.

Painkiller abuse is highest among white and Native American populations, in rural and poor areas, among men and among middle-aged people. Many get hooked on legitimately prescribed drugs, quickly building up a tolerance. In some areas, many of these addicts move onto use heroin—although to describe this as an escalation of the problem is perhaps missing the point, when prescription pain pills themselves now kill more US citizens than heroin and cocaine put together. What's more, these stark stats actually underestimate the lethal impact of painkillers, because many death certificates fail to specify the drug responsible. So where's the hope here? Well, the government can hardly ignore numbers like these; a federal prescription tracking program has been approved by every state except Missouri and New Hampshire this year. And the nature of supply is more concentrated, and so perhaps more easily targeted, than the countless street-level dealers of previous illegal drug epidemics: one study showed that just 3% of doctors account for 62% of all the opiod painkillers prescribed in the US, and they can now expect to find themselves under more scrutiny than ever. "It is an epidemic but it can be stopped," says CDC Director Thomas Frieden"

The United State of AA

By Susan Cheever   THE FIX

After hundreds of meetings in almost as many places, our intrepid columnist discovers the one thing, despite the diversity and differences, they all they all have in common: a state of mind.


I went to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting long before I was an alcoholic. On a summer evening, when I was in my 30s, after dinner with my parents at their house in Westchester, my father suggested that I keep him company at one of the meetings he was going to every night. He had been sober a few months after spending 28 days at Smithers, a New York City rehab.

In that short time our family had come alive again. There were no more drunken fights and taunts, no more Daddy passed out in the living room, no more delirium tremens, and no more scary late-night racing to the local hospital ER. (My brothers and I were stealing the signs in the hospital parking lot, expressing our grief as larceny; we agreed that when he died we would steal the largest one—the big red-and-white “One Way” arrow.)

The AA meeting that summer night was at a long wooden table under high windows in the parish house of the local Presbyterian church. As the last daylight faded, I listened to people I had never seen in my life talk with startling honesty about their problems and their feelings. One handsome man in a suit and tie confessed that he was afraid of what his son might be up to at college; another man was worried about his marriage because his wife had gotten a job and seemed to have lost interest in the household. The woman next to him talked about her anger at her boss. My father confessed his fear that he might drink on an upcoming trip to Russia.


I have found the same connection among strangers at Jitters, the Log Cabin, the Dry Dock, Morning Glories and the Shoes That Fit.

Somehow, I felt at home at that long table in a room that smelled of furniture polish and coffee. I raised my hand and thanked them all for helping my father. Even though I was not an alcoholic, I said, I had really enjoyed the meeting. The handsome man in the suit smiled in unconditional welcome. “Keep coming back,” he said.

That same sense of connection was present in the meetings I went to with my father in the ’70s, in the meetings I went to when I first got sober in the ’80s and in the meetings I have been going to since 1992 when I had what I pray was my last drink. I have been to meetings in Vermont and California, Florida and New York City. Alcoholics often name meetings, and I have been to Jitters in Minneapolis, the Log Cabin in Los Angeles, the Dry Dock in San Francisco, Morning Glories in Cambridge, Mass., and the Shoes That Fit in Saratoga Springs.

In Vermont AA members complain about snow removal, tree problems and balky oil burners. In Los Angeles they complain about the movie industry. In New York they complain about real estate.

Alcoholism and recovery are great levelers, and meetings often include Harvard grads, high school janitors and homeless men, famous actors and half-recovered alcoholics with uncontrollable tics, rich people who complain that AA won’t accept their money (there is a limit of $3,000 on annual giving) and people who are hoping that the meeting will end with someone paying for their dinner (it very often does). Many meetings are held in grotty basements where cockroaches roam and fluorescent lighting shows worn linoleum. It doesn’t matter at all. That sense of belonging with strangers that I first felt in the Presbyterian church parish house almost always hits me within a few minutes of walking through the rusty door. It’s more than the psychology of the group, and it has a power beyond what I feel in church on Sunday.

“The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element of the powerful cement that binds us,” the book Alcoholics Anonymous explains in chapter 2, titled "There is a Solution." “But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined.” The joining feels like magic. And this particular magic, this freedom from anxiety, this temporary peace and feeling of belonging, is almost exactly what I looked for in the bottle when I was drinking. A drink could calm my mind and shift improve my perspective. A drink could make me feel at home in the world. In a dark bar I had what I thought was a deep and meaningful connection with the other drinkers—that is, I had it until the lights went on after last call and I wondered if I looked as drunk and shabby as they did.


This particular magic is almost exactly what I looked for in the bottle when I was drinking.

The great psychologist Carl Jung famously explained to Bill Wilson that the only cure for alcoholism—the disease of drinking spirits—is spirituality. Only the spirit (spiritus) can conquer the spirits (spiritum). “You see, ‘alcohol’ in Latin is ‘spiritus’ and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison,” Jung wrote Wilson in 1961. “The helpful formula therefore is: spiritus contra spiritum.”

What creates this magical experience, this powerful, healing spirit, these “vital spiritual experiences” and “huge emotional displacements and rearrangements” that Jung described.

Clearly, it is not necessary to think you are an alcoholic in order to have this feeling of belonging in a meeting. Is it the spirituality of the group, the common prayers and litany, the shared relief of finding a way to stay sober? Is it the power of men and women with similar experience? Our stories are often very different, but we have all faced the same kind of despair.

It is all that and something more. As Bill Wilson wrote, “We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.” AA meetings are where we find that fourth dimension of existence.

Susan Cheever, a regular columnist for The Fix, is the author of many books, including the memoirs Home Before Dark and Note Found in a Bottle, and the biography My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson—His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Talking Urinal Cakes Fight Drunk Driving

Authorities in Michigan plan to deliver PSAs to a captive male audience. You can hear them here.

If you've ever thought, “Gee whiz, there should be more ways to deliver anti-drunk driving PSAs,” you're in luck. Michigan officials have come up with a radical idea to interact with drinkers: talking urinal cakes. Motion-activated, the talking cakes will shower captive audiences with some golden advice: shake off any notion of driving drunk. Authorities plan to deliver 400 of the devices to 200 locations in time for July 4. “Listen up. That’s right, I’m talking to you," the talking urinal cakes begin, in a warm, mellow woman's voice. "Had a few drinks? Maybe a few too many? Then do yourself and everyone else a favor: call a sober friend or a cab. Oh, and don’t forget to wash your hands.” The cakes are made by Wizmark, and the Maryland-based company claims to manufacture the first and only interactive items of their kind: some sing and flash lights, others help keep the streets clear of drunk drivers. Authorities aim to drive home their message by making it part of the inevitable final bathroom break that men take right before they leave the bar. The talking urinal cakes also take advantage of bathroom “guy rules,” as the Detroit News points out—by which it's socially mandated that men must only look straight forward or down while at the urinal, never talking or making eye-contact with neighbors. The only sound remaining—almost—will be the speaking urinal cakes. Listen up to a couple of the prototype messages:



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Recovery Weekend XXVII NEW JERSEY

Posts in category Capital Area Events

EARLY MORNING RECOVERY 21ST GROUP CELEBRATION
MAY21
2012LEAVE A COMMENTWRITTEN BY ADMIN


EARLY MORNING RECOVERY
21ST GROUP CELEBRATION

50 ESCHER STREET
(BASEMENT) REAR
TRENTON, NJ

JUNE 16, 2012
8:30 – 11:00 AM
FOOD, FUN, & FELLOWSHIP

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FLYER


Recovery Weekend XXVII Speakers Wanted!!!
MAY21
2012LEAVE A COMMENTWRITTEN BY ADMIN


Speakers Wanted!!!
Do you have experience and a working knowledge of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions?

Would you like to share the experience, strength, and hope of your journey through the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions?
Sign up today and join us at

Recovery Weekend XXVII
Sept. 28 through Sept. 30, 2012

Contact:
Michele S. (609) 731-5192
Ted T. (609) 647-8174

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FLYER

Recovery Weekend XXVII
MAY21
2012LEAVE A COMMENTWRITTEN BY ADMIN


Recovery Weekend XXVII
Sept. 28 through Sept. 30, 2012
YMCA Camp Ralph S. Mason
23 Birch Ridge Road Hardwick, N.J. 07825
$ 115 per person early bird
Free t-shirt included
$ 120 per person after August 30th
(No personal checks accepted after August 30, 2012)
There is a charge for day visits. Please call for info
Lodging, meals, canoeing, boating, fishing, archery, riflery, nature walk,
NA MEETINGS, and new this year “Zip Line”
Please bring with you: bedding or sleeping bag, pillow, clothing, toiletries.
Optional: flashlight, folding chairs, fishing gear, etc.
We are staying in SPRUCE LODGE again this year.
Make check or money order payable to CAASC
Mail to: Capital Area Recovery Weekend
P.O. Box 649
Trenton, N.J. 08605
Contacts: Michele S. (609) 731-5192
Ted T. (609) 585-8055

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE REGISTRATION FORM

THE BRIDGE WAY SCHOOL PHILADELPHIA

Mission & philosophy

The mission of The Bridge Way School is to offer a strong academic program to students in grades 9–12 who are in recovery from substance abuse and/or addiction that allows them to focus on learning in an environment in which sobriety is required and supported. We believe that a sober school that incorporates 12-step principles is a key component on the continuum of treatment and recovery management.

While the paramount objective of The Bridge Way School is to provide a meaningful and challengingeducational program, we recognize that our students need time during the school day to develop tools and strategies for maintaining sobriety. These combined objectives will help our students succeed on the life-long road to recovery as they continue to live, work, and play in their communities.

Finally, The Bridge Way School strives to empower students to continue their road to recovery beyond their attendance at our school as they continue onto another secondary school, college, or career.



Welcome to The Bridge Way School– Philadelphia’s first recovery high school.

We are accredited by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and provide a challenging academic program for students in grades 9 – 12 in an environment that requires and supports sobriety utilizing 12-step principles.
The Bridge Way School may be right for you if
you have at least 30 days of sobriety
you are actively working a recovery program
you seek a strong college-preparatory program that recognizes individual learning styles
Summer Session from July 9 – August 17

Offering summer credit-recovery courses, sober outdoor activities including horseback riding, certified clinical recovery supports and professional drug testing. For more information.
An Insider’s Perspective

Charlie Hugo, a young adult sober since the age of sixteen, talks about his experiences attending a recovery high school and later college. Attending a recovery high school allowed him to build lasting relationships with others, facing similar problems. “Treatment alone isn’t enough.”

Watch the video, an »insider’s perspective on recovery education.

The Bridge Way School
4101 Freeland Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19128
267-437-2194

HORIZON HIGHSCHOOL

About us

Horizon High School is an emotional growth, recovery high school. This means that although there are aspects of the program targeted at teens in recovery, anyone that needs an alternative to a traditional high school setting is welcome.The classroom setting is small, in order to promote an individualized curriculum and to allow for students' needs. Horizon High School's guideline for enrollment is to maintain a student-teacher ratio of five to one. Currently Horizon has a part time counselor, full time teacher and part time director. As more students enroll, more staffing will be considered. Our student population varies and is usually between 6-9 students.

To maintain an engaging and educational atmosphere, Horizon High School incorporates guest speakers and field trips. Generally, an outing is planned every week. Speakers who highlight many topics of interest, particularly related to recovery, make occasional presentations.

Since our creation, we have served over 60 young people. Today many of these are enrolled in colleges and colleage universities, employed, or in the military.

Curriculum

The Horizon High School curriculum integrates interest groups and differentiates students based upon their career goals and academic needs. Institutional approaches focus on discussion and hands-on rather than busy-work. However, there are classes that students need to take, both to fulfill credit standards and to have a traditional classroom experience in preparation for post-secondary career or vocational goals.

Our History

In March 2004, 6 individuals (mostly parents with kids in recovery) got together for coffee at SunPrint on Odana Road, to discuss the concept that one of us (Shelly Dutch) described as essential for teens struggling with alcohol and drugs: recovery schools, where our kids could go after getting out of AODA treatment. We started doing research and found there were about 20 around the country, with most in Minnesota. Another member of the group had intimate knowledge of the local school system and advised that attempting to charter would probably not succeed. That November we received a $10,000 gift from a family, which was enough to start up. In December we incorporated, got all the paperwork together, hired a young teacher and in late January 2005 opened operation with 5 students in a church basement. Soon we had 9. And as they say, the rest is history.

For more information, contact:
Traci Goll, Director
608.335.0387
ttgoll@tds.net


Or write to:
Horizon High School
P.O. Box 45045
Madison, WI 53744in

5005 University Ave
Suite 130
608.442.0935

HANSEN FOUNDATION

The Hansen Foundation's objective is to help recovering addicts by assisting those in need to access treatment. The Hansen Foundation owns and operates three Serenity Houses, supportive sober-living houses in South Jersey. The Serenity Houses treat each resident as an individual with her or his own unique circumstances in order to help them sustain a life in recovery.


The Hansen Family
Through their own family struggles during Jennifer's 10-year battle with drug addiction, Roger, Edwina, Jennifer and Erika Hansen recognized the need to address the lack of affordable, long-term residential treatment facilities in their community for people seeking to change their lives through recovery.

The Hansen Foundation was formed to support Jennifer's dream to open such a facility, hence, the Hansen House in Galloway Township, New Jersey was born. Hansen House for Men opened its doors in 2004. Hansen House for Women opened in 2006. Hansen House is currently owned and operated by Hendricks House of Vineland, NJ. For more information about Hansen House, click HERE.


Erika, Roger, Edwina & Jennifer Hansen

In 2007, the foundation established its first Serenity House, a restorative sober-living residence for women in Absecon, New Jersey, and in 2011, Serenity House Meadows in Pleasantville, New Jersey opened, as well as The Randy Scarborough House for Men in Somers Point, NJ (a division of Serenity House).


For more information about Serenity House and The Randy Scarborough House,
visit website HERE.

Supreme Court Decision “Extremely Uplifting” for Substance Abuse Field, Expert Says

By Join Together Staff | June 29, 2012 | 4 Comments | Filed in Addiction,Drugs, Government, Healthcare, Legal & Treatment


The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is extremely uplifting for the substance abuse field, according to A. Thomas McLellan, PhD, CEO of the Treatment Research Institute and former Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Dr. McLellan, who served on President Obama’s healthcare reform task force, notes the debates and research around the ACA produced two startling facts. “First, unaddressed substance use now costs mainstream healthcare upwards of $100 billion annually, particularly in areas such as ER and trauma care, but also in the treatment of virtually every chronic illness,” he said.

Dr. McLellan added that because of the severity and complexity of their conditions, the 23 million ‘addicted’ Americans are disproportionately costly – but it is the 40-45 million Americans with lower severity but still significant ‘harmful substance use disorders’ who comprise the largest burden of illness and cost to healthcare.

“The second realization produced in the ACA debates is that while there is provision to treat ‘addiction’ in specialty care programs(though clearly more coverage is needed) there had never been healthcare benefits or reimbursement options for those with ‘harmful substance use,’” he noted. “Thus, one of the historic aspects of ACA is the requirement that care services for the full range of substance use disorders be part of the ‘essential benefit design’ in all health plans.”

Dr. McLellan called this “the beginning of a new era in prevention, early intervention and office based care for patients who are not addicted – but whose drinking, smoking, and use of other substances is harming their health and compromising the effectiveness of the care they are receiving for other illnesses and conditions.”

The Supreme Court on Thursday largely upheld the constitutionality of the Obama Administration’s health care law. The mandate was upheld as a tax.

STRUCTURED SOBER LIVING

Hi!
Thanks for your invite to join your group with such a key mission! We'd love to pair with you to do some outreach if that's something you might be interested in. We are a structured sober living program that is unique in our mission (to genuinely help addicts to regain a MEANINGFUL life through activism, responsibility, and compassion), our long-term emphasis (absolute minimum stay with us is 6 months but most clients stay 1 year and our program is designed to last up to 3years), and our dedication to healing the whole person rather than solely treating the disease. We require clients to secure part-time and then full-time employment while with us (once they are medically and psychologically ready) and we also emphasize strong sober social competence. We do cater exclusively toward professionals (or former professionals) and students. Please let us know if we can be of any assistance to you as (with a goal as broad as ours), we can use all the teamwork we can get : )
I will absolutely post information on our program onto your page! I will also keep you posted on events- we host an annual International Treatment Center Cooperative Conference (ITCC) and would be glad to keep you informed of impending dates and programs. We are located in two states with 3 properties around Vero Beach, FL and one in Alexandria, VA (outskirts of DC). Thank you again and I look forward to continued correspondence

Best,
Lauren Ashley
GRR Intern
tiptonl@thegrr.com
843.283.8068

The Simple Truth of Mary Kennedy's Suicide

Another tragedy befell the Kennedy family with the suicide last week of RFK Jr.'s wife. The media may be dwelling on the "Kennedy Curse," but the curse in this case is all too common.


Robert, Jr., and children at Mary's casket photo via


By Susan Cheever

05/21/12
At first, the Mary Richardson Kennedy story seemed like the same old tragic same old. Yes, she had it all: the handsome husband whose family was American royalty; the four beautiful children the house surrounded by woods and lawns in Westchester’s horse country. But in the kind of reverse Cinderella, riches-to-rags story the media loves, it turned out that even all those wonderful things were not enough to make the 52-year-old Mary Kennedy want to stay alive. Let’s pray that her soul rests in peace while her story continues to whirl through the tabloids and gossip magazines like a dervish of confusion and obfuscation even after her star-studded funeral on Saturday. (The Richardson family holds its own separate services today.)

Every suicide has its own specific causes, the chain of events that leads up to a moment when life becomes unbearable, but Kennedy’s is less a mystery than many. Alcoholism, especially coupled with chronicdepression, is a fatal disease that requires treatment. Why is that so difficult to understand?

There had been plenty of unhappy moments in Kennedy’s recent years. She had twice been arrested for driving under the influence—once for alcohol and once for prescription drugs. Her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., had separated from her and was suing her for custody of their children, a particularly frightening and shameful attack for any mother, let alone one who lived in the public eye. Her husband was also being photographed dating perky blond television star Cheryl Hines. American Express was after her for unpaid bills. Her lovely house had been the setting of terrible scenes; her husband had called the police to intervene in an argument he said was started by her crazy behavior. Once, when he was driving her to Northern Westchester Hospital for psychiatric observation, he reported, she had tried to jump out of the moving car. Her husband’s sister Kerry, who had been her best friend since childhood, said she was sometimes paralyzed with depression. There had reportedly been other suicide attempts. Mary Kennedy was so desperate that she even tried going to Alcoholics Anonymous.


When an alcoholic is a "dual diagnosis" and famous, we skip over the real cause—alcoholism—and revel in the delicious circumstances of their downfall.

By focusing on these and other painful details of Kennedy’s life that the media has so voraciously hunted down, we can distract ourselves from the simple truth: Most suicides are drug and alcohol related. Mary Kennedy was an alcoholic and probably a drug addict, with the common complication of depression. (Counselors call this a dual diagnosis.) She had a disease; she needed treatment. Like a majority of people who have a dual diagnosis, she apparently didn’t get treatment for any of her problems.

When someone has a disease like diabetes that is not socially stigmatized, we focus on their lifestyle choices and we send them to a doctor. When someone has cancer—which was once so frightening as to be almost unmentionable—we immediately talk about where they should be treated and choosing among the medical options. The diagnosis is discussed with sympathy. But when someone has alcoholism, suffers from depression and is suicidal, especially when that person is privileged or famous, we skip over the real cause of their actions—the disease of alcoholism—and revel in the delicious circumstances of their downfall. This is even more true if they actually take their life—in Mary Kennedy’s case, by hanging herself in the barn on her estate. And of course our endless fascination with the Kennedys and their so-called curse—alcoholism runs in families—only further stokes the fire.

Kennedy seems to have followed the heartbreakingly predictable path of millions of alcoholics. At first alcohol works beautifully. Bill Wilson, the cofounder of AA, wrote that when he had his first drink, he thought he had found the elixir of life. With a drink, depression seems to lift; the anxious become relaxed, the shy become social, the uptight become expansive and funny. My father handed me my first real drink, a cool gin and tonic on a hot summer day. Within a few swallows, my perspective did a wonderful somersault: I went from being an unpopular loser to being a glamorous literary princess leading an adventurous life. Needless to say, I had another drink.

But inevitably alcohol turns on you. “Alcohol gave me wings to fly/and then it took away the sky,” they say. Slowly but progressively, drinking stops being the magnificent solution and becomes the deadly problem. (As a depressant, it is especially dangerous for someone who is depressed.) For an alcoholic this is a frightening and confusing process. The drinks that used to make everything possible stop working. As with all addictions, seem necessary for even normal functioning. After 30 years of using alcohol to solve my problems, I was so depressed that I did not see how I could continue living. I had a glamorous husband and beautiful children, but alcohol had turned on me. Through a series of miraculous accidents, I got treatment for my disease. Mary Kennedy was not so lucky.


Mary Kennedy reportedly went to AA and got sober for a while. But somehow the 12 Steps and the meetings didn’t take.

I am still amazed at how many people misunderstand alcoholism. The press often reports it as a loss of self-control, and many people I talk to agree. If the alcoholic isn’t drunk, they seem to think, there is no problem. But an alcoholic is impaired all the time. It takes days for alcohol to clear the system; the damage to the brain can take months to heal and the psychological wounds much longer.

Mary Kennedy reportedly went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and got sober for a while—ironically she lived in Bedford, New York, just a few miles from Stepping Stones in nearby Bedford Hills, where Bill Wilson spent his last 30 years. But somehow the 12 Steps and the meetings didn’t take. Perhaps like many alcoholics, she needed to spend a few months in rehab. Sometimes, especially with a dual diagnosis, a second course of treatment is required. (At the funeral on Saturday, Kerry Kennedy told to the New York Daily News: that Mary Kennedy had gone to AA, had been sober for the past five months and had been seeing doctors who were trying to get her on a psychiatric medication combination that worked. These new details made Mary Kennedy's problems appear better managed by all concerned, thereby only deepening the confusion and obfuscation surrounding her suicide.)

What remains the real mystery is the fact that someone with the brains, money and resources to have the best treatment available somehow missed getting it. Certainly living in a culture where alcoholism is still thought to be a shameful loss of control didn’t help. When are we going to take this disease seriously?

In the past few decades we have made dramatic strides in the way our culture treats once-stigmatized issues. For example, we know now that smoking is unhealthy and we have banned it in many places. We know now that sexual orientations are as natural and various as eye color, and this recognition has resulted in a huge increase in tolerance. But we don’t seem to get it when it comes to alcoholism and addiction. Why not?

Susan Cheever, a regular columnist for The Fix, is the author of many books, including the memoirs Home Before Dark and Note Found in a Bottle, and the biography My Name Is Bill: Bill Wilson—His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Consumer Healthcare Assoc.

Hello Joseph,

I wanted to thank you for calling attention to the issue of medicine abuse in your recent blog post on the Mitch Winehouse “Meet the Parents Hour.” In addition to prescription medicine abuse, more and more young people are now using cough medicine to get high – approximately 5% of teens reported abusing OTC medicines in 2011.

You can visit www.stopmedicineabuse.org to learn more about these issues, read parent and child testimonials, and find ways to prevent abuse or steps to take if you believe your child is abusing cough medicine. It would be great if you could share this information with your readers on the blog. If you or your readers have any questions about cough medicine abuse, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Best,

Jenni Terry

Manager, Communications

Consumer Healthcare Products Association

900 19th Street, NW

Suite 700

Washington, DC 20006

Telephone  (202) 429-3534

Fax (866)332-0490

E-mail: Jterry@chpa-info.org

http://www.CHPA-info.org

http://www.OTCsafety.org

http://www.stopmedicineabuse.org

Drug Abuse Kills 200,000 People Each Year: UN Report

By Join Together Staff | June 27, 2012 | 4 Comments | Filed in Drugs


Drug abuse kills about 200,000 people worldwide each year, according to a new United Nations (UN) report. Global treatment for drug abuse would cost $250 billion per year if everyone who needed help received proper care, according to the UN.

Fewer than one in five people who need treatment actually receive it, according to the Associated Press. Crimes committed by people who need money to finance their drug habit, as well as loss of productivity, add tremendous costs for many countries, the report notes.

The UN estimates that about 230 million people, or 5 percent of the world’s population, used illegal drugs at least once in 2010. In the United States, female drug use was two-thirds the male rate, while in India and Indonesia, females constituted only one-tenth of those using illegal drugs.

The 2012 World Drug Report cited an increase in synthetic drug production worldwide, “including significant increases in the production and consumptions of psychoactive substances that are not under international control.” Overall, use of illegal drugs remained stable during the past five years, at between 3.4 and 6.6 percent of the world’s adult population. Marijuana was the most widely used drug.

Coca bush cultivation has decreased 33 percent over the past 12 years. Seizures of methamphetamine more than doubled in 2010 compared with 2008. In Europe, seizures of Ecstasy pills more than doubled.

“Heroin, cocaine and other drugs continue to kill around 200,000 people a year, shattering families and bringing misery to thousands of other people, insecurity and the spread of HIV,” the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Yury Fedotov, said in a news release. He added that as developing countries emulate industrialized nations’ lifestyles, it is likely that drug consumption will increase.

CA Doctor Ordered to Stand Trial for Prescription Drug Overdose Deaths

By Join Together Staff | June 27, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inCommunity Related, Legal & Prescription Drugs

A physician accused of prescribing drugs to three young men who died of overdoses was ordered to stand trial for second-degree murder, the Associated Press reports.

Dr. Hsui-Ying “Lisa” Tseng is one of only a few physicians nationwide to be charged with murder related to prescription drugs, the article notes.

The decision to order Tseng to stand trial came after a three-week preliminary hearing. Young men testified they saw Tseng after using up prescriptions written by other doctors. While there was testimony about 12 of her patients who died of drug overdoses, prosecutors charged her with three of the deaths, which they said were caused solely by her prescriptions.

Some patients who testified said they used illegal drugs, such as heroin, that they did not obtain from Tseng. She was accused of prescribing drugs including oxycodone, methadone, Xanax and Soma, according to the AP.

Tseng and her husband operated a storefront medical clinic in suburban Los Angeles. Authorities allege she wrote more than 27,000 prescriptions in a three-year period. Tseng pleaded not guilty to 24 felony counts. She could face 45 years to life in prison if she is convicted on all charges. Her bail was set at $3 million. The judge denied a defense request to have bail lowered to $1 million.

Prescription Drug Monitoring Pilot Program Launched in Two States

By Join Together Staff | June 22, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed inCommunity Related, Government, Prescription Drugs & Prevention


A pilot program to expand and improve access to prescription drug records for physicians, pharmacists and emergency departments is being launched in Ohio and Indiana, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced. The program aims to reduce prescription drug abuse.

The program, launched by the HHS Health IT Division, is designed to make it easier for physicians to use prescription drug monitoring databases, Reuters reports. While 49 states have authorized theprograms, many doctors avoid using them because they are difficult to navigate, the article notes. Doctors also say the data is often old by the time it becomes available in the system, making it less useful when they are deciding whether to write a prescription. The new system will provide real-time information.

Government data will be merged with the electronic health recordssystems used in doctors’ offices and pharmacies, according to Marty Allain, a senior director at the Indiana Board of Pharmacy, who worked with HHS to design the pilot program.

In Indiana, emergency department staff will be encouraged to access patients’ prescription histories through a database already used in hospitals in the state. The Ohio project will test a new drug risk indicator in the electronic health record, and will determine how that affects doctors’ decisionmaking.

“Technology plays a critical role in our comprehensive efforts to address our nation’s prescription drug abuse epidemic,” Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy, said in a news release. “Together with education, proper disposal practices, and enforcement, improving existing prescription monitoring programs is a priority for this administration.”

Chronic Cocaine Use May Hasten Aging of the Brain

By Join Together Staff | April 25, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed in Drugs &Research

Chronic cocaine use may accelerate aging of the brain, a new studysuggests. The study found people with cocaine dependence have greater levels of age-related loss of nerve tissue in the brain called gray matter.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge compared brain scans of 60 people with cocaine dependence with those of 60 people with no history of substance abuse. People who used cocaine lost about 3.08 milliliters of brain volume a year, nearly double the rate of healthy people, HealthDay reports.

The decline in brain volume in cocaine users was most pronounced in the areas of the brain associated with attention, decision-making, memory and self-regulation, the researchers noted.

“As we age, we all lose gray matter. However, what we have seen is that chronic cocaine users lose gray matter at a significantly faster rate, which could be a sign of premature aging. Our findings therefore provide new insight into why the [mental] deficits typically seen in old age have frequently been observed in middle-aged chronic users of cocaine,” researcher Dr. Karen Ersche said in anews release.

She noted the findings highlight the importance of educating young people, who take cocaine, about the long-term risk of aging prematurely. She added the study also shows that accelerated aging from cocaine use also affects older adults. “Our findings shed light on the largely neglected problem of the growing number of older drug users, whose needs are not so well catered for in drug treatment services. It is timely for health care providers to understand and recognize the needs of older drug users in order to design and administer age-appropriate treatments,” she said.

The study appears in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Simonsen Road Farm Recovery Center Oregon!

Holistic, Alternative Addiction Recovery


"Simonsen Road Farm Recovery Center was a life saver for me. After literally being locked away in detox for 5 days to come to a beautiful home in a pastoral setting where I felt welcome and able to relax with absolutely no triggers to make me want to use again was exactly what I needed." Debbie (April 2012)

Simonsen Road Farm Recovery Center is a 25 acre private country sanctuary for persons overcoming the crippling effects of alcohol and or drug addiction. Located 20 minutes S.W. of Eugene, Oregon in the beautiful Lorane Valley of the Pacific Northwest, Simonsen Road Farm offers the safety and sanity of a drug and alcohol free environment and the structure of a holistic 12 Step - based program of recovery.

Our program is 30 days residential treatment. We attend daily AA/NA meetings in town and residents are encouraged to share. Additional meetings with certified treatment specialists and persons in recovery take place throughout the week at the farm.

We have our own Equine Based Therapy Program in which residents are encouraged to bond with our horses. In our small private facility residents are able to discover for themselves that a fulfilling life without the use of drugs/alcohol is possible and attainable on a daily basis.

Personal growth is promoted through a self-help whole recovery approach with emphasis on healing of the body, mind and spirit. This is a non-judgemental environment. Everyone is equally important here. At Simonsen Road Farm we speak the language of Recovery.

Special Thanks to Caleb Garvin at: www.naturalimagesphoto.net


Address: 82912 Simonsen Road, Eugene, Oregon
Phone: 541 344 1735 or 323 404 6981

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How to set boundaries with an alcoholic or addict! BY:Addition Blog .ORG

How to set boundaries with an alcoholic or addict
June 3, 2012
By Lisa Espich


What Happens When You Don’t Have Boundaries

Throughout the first sixteen years of my marriage my husband, Dean, struggled with his addiction to alcohol, prescription pain pills, and crack cocaine. As his addiction continued to get worse, my ability to set healthy boundaries failed. This didn’t happen overnight – it was a gradual process that eventually left me feeling powerless. And I had a hard time trying to stop being codependent.

In the beginning of our relationship, I was a confident young woman. Unfortunately, I had failed to recognize the signs of Dean’s addiction until we were married and I was pregnant with our son. As Dean began to take on addictive behaviors, I attempted to ‘lay down the law’. I would make threats to leave if he didn’t change his ways – and he would make empty promises that helped me feel better in the moment.

Each time I allowed Dean to pass a boundary – rather than standing my ground – I would allow my boundary to get pushed further. I was stuck in a cycle of making threats even when I knew I didn’t have the courage to follow through. Dean quickly learned that my boundaries didn’t really exist, and, as a result, my self-esteem was slowly chipped away. But codependency addiction recovery is possible when you learn to set healthy boundaries. But what are boundaries?
What Is A Boundary?

A boundary is your own limit – an invisible line that you will not allow others to cross. If it is crossed, you take action in order to protect your boundary. For example: you may have a boundary that you will not allow others to put you down. If somebody crosses that boundary, you respond by letting them know you will not tolerate being put down, and then you get up and leave the room.

In my own experience, I attempted to set many boundaries, but my failure came at taking action when those boundaries were crossed. Until I could find the courage needed to stand by my words, I would continue to have others take advantage and disrespect my boundaries.
What Do You Do When People Do Not Respect Your Boundaries?

1. Respect you own boundaries. If people are not respecting your boundaries, it is because you are allowing it. In my relationship I told my husband over and over again what actions I would take if he crossed my boundaries. But over and over again, I failed to follow through. I was teaching him to disrespect my boundaries, because I did not respect them myself.

2. Don’t make threats you aren’t prepared to follow through on. Many times I threatened divorce, threatened to leave, threatened to call the police, but I never made good on those threats. I knew in my gut, even when making those statements, that I wasn’t really going to follow though — I just wanted to scare my husband into believing it. It didn’t take him long to figure out my game. I had to learn to stop making those threats unless I was prepared to keep my word.

3. Work on building up your self-esteem. The courage needed to protect your own boundaries comes from a healthy self-esteem. So how do you build up your self-esteem? This was my biggest challenge. My plan included exercise, journaling, meditation and visualization. As I began to turn my focus inward, I grew more and more confident. Eventually, I was able to stand by my boundaries, and Dean slowly learned that he could no longer disrespect the boundaries I set.

4. Reach out for help. Turn to the people who care about you. Remember that you don’t have to do this on your own. When you’re lacking strength you can borrow it. Pick up the phone and reach out to a friend. Join a family recovery group such as Al-Anon. There you can find a sponsor to help give you the courage needed to stand by your boundaries.

By learning to set healthy boundaries – and stand by them – positive changes began to happen in my marriage. My husband noticed the changes, and I sensed a new found respect from him. He grew receptive to accepting help, and eventually admitted himself into treatment. He became open to honesty in drug recovery, a parallel path to my own recovery from codependency. He has now been clean for over six years, and we are enjoying a healthy marriage. Learning to stand by my boundaries was the first step toward healing in our marriage.

You Dont Want To Miss This One!

Dear Joseph,

Last July, fans, friends and family mourned the loss of the talented singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse after years of her very public battle with drugs and alcohol.


This summer, Amy’s father, Mitch Winehouse, offers his personal view of his daughter’s life and takes readers on an emotional journey into her music, family and her addiction in his new book, Amy, My Daughter.

From his account of Amy singing Frank Sinatra songs as a little girl to the details of how she created her iconic and unforgettable look, Amy’s father tells the tale of the real woman behind the headlines in his compelling collection of memories and stories.

The Partnership at Drugfree.org is honored that Mitch Winehouse will host the next "Meet The Parents Hour" – a live Facebook Q&A chat – to talk about substance abuse and how it affected Amy’s life on Wednesday, June 27 at 3 p.m. EDT/12 p.m. PDT.

To make sure everyone has the chance to ask his or her question, submit yours in advance and Mitch will do his best to get to it during the session.


Submit your question to Mitch Winehouse now.

An extremely gifted singer, songwriter and five-time Grammy award winner, Amy Winehouse's tragic death was followed by a public tabloid frenzy. Today, Mitch aims to not only tell his daughter’s story, but to help educate and influence the conversation around addiction with his new book.

Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to chat live with Mitch Winehouse.

Submit your question now and then visit our Facebook timeline on June 27 to take part in the real-time conversation.

We look forward to seeing you at our next "Meet The Parents Hour."

Thank you,

Tom Hedrick
Parent Support Leader
The Partnership at Drugfree.org

P.S. If you haven't Liked us yet on Facebook, do it now so you can participate in the live chat session.

P.S.S. Text DRUGFREE to 50555 and reply YES to make a $10 donation to The Partnership at Drugfree.org. Your gift will help to continue important programs like "Meet The Parents Hour".

Message & data rates may apply. Full Terms at mGive.org/T

Use of ADHD Drugs Grew By 46 Percent in Children From 2002 to 2010

By Join Together Staff | June 19, 2012 | Leave a comment | Filed in Mental Health, Prescription Drugs, Research & Youth

Use of drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children jumped 46 percent from 2002 to 2010, according to a new report in the journal Pediatrics. Ritalin was the top drug prescribed for teenagers, with more than four million prescriptions filled in 2010.

“What the article is suggesting is that the number of children that we are treating for attention deficit disorder has gone up,” said Dr. Scott Benson, a spokesperson for the American Psychiatric Association, told Reuters. “For the most part I think the overall increase reflects a reduction in the stigma. It used to be, ‘You’re a bad parent if you can’t get your child to behave, and you’re a doubly bad parent if you put them on medicine.’”

Overall, the number of drugs prescribed to children in the United States dropped slightly from 2002 to 2010. Antibiotic use and prescription painkiller use both decreased 14 percent. Prescriptions for allergy medications, cough and cold medicines and antidepressants also dropped.

The report found 263 million prescriptions for minors were filled in 2010, down 7 percent from 2002. When population changes are taken into account, that corresponds to a 9 percent drop, the article notes. Adult prescriptions rose 11 percent during the same time period.

A recent article in The New York Times noted a growing number of high school students are using ADHD drugs, such as Adderall and Ritalin, to help them get better grades. Teens get them from friends, buy them from student dealers, or pretend to have ADHD in order to get prescriptions.