Addiction to drugs or alcohol can have many devastating effects–not just on the lives of the user, but for their families and friends as well. Not only does addiction damage relationships, jobs, education prospects, and self-esteem, it can have irreparable effects on the body and mind. Worse, alarming studies over the past several years have shown that people who are addicted to substances also have the weight of death by suicide hanging over their heads. (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…)
More than half a million adults in California seriously thought about committing suicide during the previous year, according to a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
The study, which uses data from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), is the first by the center to focus on suicide ideation.
In California, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death, the researchers noted. An average of nine deaths by suicide occur each day in the state. (more…)
