In a study that followed thousands of veterans over a decade, initiating non-medical use of opioid painkillers was associated with a more than 5-fold risk of also beginning to use heroin. (more…)
Seit sie 20 wurde, lebt sie entweder in einer psychiatrischen Klinik oder im Gefängnis: «Die gleichen Patienten kommen und gehen.»
Nach einem Suizidversuch und der Einlieferung in die Psychiatrische Klinik mit 15 Jahren war ihr freiheitliches Leben zu Ende. Die heute 23-Jährige versucht seit Monaten vergeblich, ein Wohnheim zu finden, um im Leben wieder Tritt zu fassen.
Konzentriert mit dunklen wachen Augen, die dem Fragenden nie ausweichen, und mit fester Stimme, schildert die 23-jährige Rosa Meier* wie sie mit 15 Jahren erstmals in die Psychiatrische Klinik Waldau BE eingeliefert wurde und seither ihre Selbstständigkeit nie wieder erlangte. Der jüngste Versuch, den ersten Tritt für ein selbstständiges Leben in einem Wohnheim zu fassen scheiterte erneut. Nun lebt sie seit über vier Monaten wieder in der Klinik. «Mein Ziel ist, eine Wohngemeinschaft zu finden und eine Lehre anzufangen», sehnt sich Meier. Ihr Lebenslauf in Stichworten: «In der Familie erlebte ich Gewalt, landete auf der Gasse, nahm Heroin und Kokain. Eingeliefert wurde ich nach einem Suizid-Versuch und seither bin ich nie mehr wirklich heraus gekommen.» (more…)
ANN ARBOR — National samples of 45,000 to 50,000 students in three grades (8, 10, and 12) have been surveyed every year since 1991 as part of the nationwide Monitoring the Future study. Among the most important findings from this year’s survey of U.S. secondary school students are the following:
Marijuana. After four straight years of increasing use among teens, annual marijuana use showed no further increase in any of the three grades surveyed in 2012. The 2012 annual prevalence rates (i.e., percent using in the prior 12 months) were 11%, 28%, and 36% for 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, respectively. (Among the 8th graders there was a modest decline across the past two years—from 13.7% in 2010 to 11.4% in 2012—that reached statistical significance.) (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The U.S. had the second-lowest proportion of students who used tobacco and alcohol compared to their counterparts in 36 European countries, a new report indicates.
The results originate from coordinated school surveys about substance use from more than 100,000 students in some of the largest countries in Europe like Germany, France and Italy, as well as many smaller ones from both Eastern and Western Europe.
Because the methods and measures are largely modeled after the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future surveys in this country, comparisons are possible between the U.S. and European results. The 15- and 16-year-old students, who were drawn in nationally representative samples in almost all of the 36 countries, were surveyed last spring. American 10th graders in the 2011 Monitoring the Future studies are of the same age, so comparisons are possible. (more…)
The United States remains the world’s largest market for cocaine, with 4.8 million users, although its importance has been reduced in recent years, according to the INCB (International Board for Narcotics Control).
“In 2009, 4.8 million people consumed some form of cocaine in the U.S., compared with 5.3 million in 2008,” the INCB said in its report in 2010. With this number of consumers, the U.S. represents 41% of the international drug market, ahead of Europe, with 29%, according to the board, stating that “Although the market for cocaine has been reduced in North America, it continues to grow in Europe.” (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Several important findings come out of this year’s Monitoring the Future study, the 36th annual, national survey of American teens in a series that launched in 1975.
• Marijuana use, which had been rising among teens for the past two years, continues to rise again this year—a sharp contrast to the considerable decline of the preceding decade.
• Ecstasy use—which fell out of favor in the early 2000s as concerns about its dangers grew—appears to be making a comeback this year, following a considerable recent decline in the belief that its use is dangerous.
• Alcohol use—and, specifically, occasions of heavy drinking—continues its long-term decline among teens into 2010, reaching historically low levels. (more…)
Heroin, Cocaine, Marijuana. You know them all. They are just brothers and sisters, and belong to one big and powerful family (commonly known as drugs, or druggs etc.).
May be you would like to ask, “OK, it’s a family, then who is the father”.
