Plans To Study Freshman Drug and Alcohol Use

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on October 9, 2016 under Addiction Trends | Comments are off for this article

Going away to college for the first time is an exciting time for most teenagers. For many, this is the first time they are living away from home, without the constant supervision of their parents. This newfound freedom, combined with the stressors of college and the influence of hundreds of new classmates, can join together to become catalysts for drug use and excessive alcohol consumption. However, these are mainly assumptions and observations, until now.

A new study being conducted among first-year college students seeks to track the actual influences regarding alcohol and drug use. The researchers at Brown University are also looking at the effects of media and social media on these behaviors as well.

“We know that (peers) become more important than parents as a source of information and a source for modeling. Peers are the most influential when it comes to health-related topics. Social networks allow us to study those connections,” explained Nancy Barnett, professor of behavior and social sciences at the School of Public Health at Brown University.

The project will be called Squad2020 and is being conducted by Barnett and a group of students, who came up with the name. The group specifically wanted to target freshman students because they are still at an age where they are developing their friendships, meeting new people and all share the common experience of drastically changing their social environment.

The researchers hope to be able to publish the results of the study in the spring of 2018. The hope is that the study will highlight how social media impacts new college students and their inclination to use drugs and drink. If researchers can better understand the pressures presented to students, they will be more able to develop new methods of prevention and help students in need.

Colleges students throughout the country are faced with much of the same temptations and anxieties. These feelings, paired with the immediate flood of pictures and posts of other students drinking and using drugs can only exasperate the issue.

Students Helping Fight Prescription Drug Abuse

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on October 1, 2014 under Prescription Drugs | Comments are off for this article

One of the scariest things about the prescription drug abuse problem in our country is the number of children who have access to the deadly drugs. More and more teens are reporting illicit use of painkillers and other prescription drugs and some wonder how they are obtaining the pills. Many teens do not have to look far in order to get their hands on prescription painkillers, as they are most often found in medicine cabinets of family members or friends. One teen decided to investigate how common prescription drug use is among his peers.

Stowe’s film “Out of Reach” takes a look at classmates and how many of them are taking prescription drugs, as well as how easy it is for them to obtain the pills. “What we found out was, we’d go into the restroom and students right before a test would go into a stall, pop an Adderall, sometimes snort it, and trade more hard drugs like Oxycontin, hydrocodone, and just take them as if it was vitamin C,” he said.

While abusing prescription drugs may be openly done amongst their peers, many teens can hide the fact that they are taking the drugs from their parents and teachers. This may be because most parents are not sure what they are supposed to be watching out for when it comes to prescription drug abuse. Educating parents on what signs to look for is important when dealing with teen drug abuse. When a person is taking prescription painkillers they are oftentimes sleepy, their pupils are dilated, and they tend not to have an appetite and may exhibit weight loss.

Cyrus Stowe hopes that his documentary will not only educate parents on the reality of prescription drug abuse, but also shed some light on the secret behavior of many of his peers. While many families are dealing with the tragedy of losing a child to a prescription drug abuse problem, many more families are still willing to look the other way when it comes to talking to their children about the deadly addiction.

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