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By Join Together Staff
Girls appear to be especially vulnerable to the effects of binge drinking on the brain, a new study suggests. The study found that binge drinking can affect teens' ability to perceive the space around them, and then remember and work with this information, known as spatial working memory.
"Even though adolescents might physically appear grown up, their brains are continuing to significantly develop and mature, particularly in frontal brain...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering banning menthol cigarettes following a recent report, from its Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, that the cigarettes are extremely popular among African Americans, the poor and young.
About 19 million Americans smoke menthol cigarettes. The FDA already has banned other types of cigarettes, including flavored beedies, cloves, and cigarettes with vanilla, peppermint and spices, to...
read moreA new report on the Synar Amendment program -- a federal and state partnership aimed at ending illegal tobacco sales to minors -- shows that that the average national retailer violation rate of tobacco sales is down to 9.3 percent -- the lowest level in the 14 year history of the program.
Washington State's retailer violation rate for 2010 was 9.8 percent.
"This report brings welcome news about the measurable progress states have made in reducing illegal sales of...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
A growing number of smokers are rolling their own cigarettes using pipe tobacco in order to avoid paying high excise taxes.
The popularity of pipe tobacco cigarettes started in April 2009, when the federal government increased the excise tax on a pack of cigarettes from 39 cents to $1.01. The tax also jumped for tobacco used in roll-your-own cigarettes, and is now $24.78 per pound. The tax for pipe tobacco is $2.83 per pound.
Many smoke shops are...
read moreAn interview with Carol J. Boyd, PhD, MSN, FAAN, is Research Professor at the University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center
Join Together:
You have done quite a bit of research on drug use among 12 to 17 year olds. Why do you believe it is important to focus on that age group when it comes to Rx abuse?
CB:
Substance use disproportionately starts between the ages of 12 to 25. When we look at National Survey on...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Children who breathe in secondhand smoke at home are more likely to develop attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disorders and other behavior problems, compared with children who grow up in smoke-free homes, a new study suggests.
The study does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between secondhand smoke and these disorders, and does not define how much smoke a child must be exposed to in order to be at increased risk, HealthDay...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Current guidelines for sensible drinking are not adequate for preventing cancer, according to a new report. The authors say many countries' recommendations for moderate drinking don't take into account the long-term risks of alcohol use.
The Los Angeles Times reports the researchers, from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, argue that the idea of "sensible drinking" may help prevent people from drinking too much at...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Some college students continue to drink heavily even when they experience harmful effects such as hangovers, fights and unwanted sexual situations, because they perceive the benefits of drinking to outweigh the negative, a new study suggests.
The students participating in the study said the benefits of drinking include an increase in courage and chattiness, Medical News Today reports. The study authors say the findings suggest that programs targeting...
read moreWe're outraged. Federal guidelines that would help limit junk food marketing to kids are under attack by big food companies, and we need your help today. Parents shouldn't have to play defense in a world designed to make their kids consume unhealthy food, just so companies can make bigger profits. But we need to speak up today in support of the proposed standards or they might be dropped.
Federal guidelines released last April will, if companies follow them, ensure that foods...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Drivers high on marijuana represent an unrecognized crisis, experts tell the Los Angeles Times. A 2009 report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), based on blood, breath and saliva tests collected on weekends from drivers in 300 locations nationally, found that 16.3 percent of drivers at night were impaired from legal or illegal drugs, including 9 percent of drivers who had detectable traces of marijuana in their system.
The...
read moreA quarter of the world's youngest children suffer one or more forms of severe deprivation and risk, such as poverty, disease, and exposure to violence.
Early childhood development (ECD) programs are considered one of the most promising approaches to providing more equitable outcomes for deprived and at-risk children and families. While the number of children and families served by ECD programs has grown, research shows that without a concurrent commitment to program quality,...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
The majority of countries are doing nothing or are not doing enough to reduce smoking rates, the World Health Organization (WHO) said this week.
The WHO did acknowledge progress is being made in some countries in packaging of cigarettes. More than one billion people in 19 countries are now covered by laws that require large, graphic health warnings on packages of tobacco, nearly double the number from two years ago.
The WHO Report on the Global...
read moreBy Join Together
Staff A study of drug overdose deaths in Florida between 2003 and 2009 has found that prescription medications were involved in 76 percent of cases.
The death rate for prescription drugs increased 84.2 percent between 2003 and 2009. The greatest increase was seen in the death rate from oxycodone, followed by alprazolam (Xanax) and methadone. By 2009, the number of deaths involving prescription drugs was four times the number involving illicit drugs, the...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
A new study suggests that the more alcohol-related memory blackouts a college student has, the greater the risk he or she has of future accidental injuries related to drinking. The study of 796 undergraduate and 158 graduate students at four U.S. universities and one Canadian university found that over a two-year period, hazardous drinking was widespread.
HealthDay reports that more than half of the students had at least one memory blackout in the year...
read moreThe Center for Substance Abuse and Addiction (CASA) recently released a new report, Adolescent Substance Use: America's #1 Public Health Problem, that calls teen smoking, drinking, misusing prescription drugs and using illegal drugs a public health problem of epidemic proportion.
The report goes on to identify substance abuse as the primary origin of the complex brain disease of addiction. Because the adolescent brain is still developing, teens are more likely to take risks like...
read moreContact Us
Washington State Health Care Authority
Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery
P.O. Box 45330 Olympia, WA 98504-5330
Email: DBHRAthenaTeam@hca.wa.gov
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