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By Join Together Staff
Tobacco companies were aware of the dangers of a radioactive substance in cigarettes as early as 1959, but hid this knowledge from the public, according to a new study.
The substance, called polonium-210, causes cancerous growths in the lungs of smokers, according to ABC News. Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, studied 27 documents that had never been analyzed, and found tobacco companies calculated how much radiation a regular...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Almost one-third of workers in mining, construction, and the accommodation and food service industries smoke, compared with about 20 percent of the general U.S. adult population, according to a new survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
USA Today reports only about 9 percent of teachers and librarians smoke.
Smoking rates among specific occupations may have as much to do with workers' education levels as with the jobs...
read moreIn 2009, 21.3 percent of American households with children experienced food insecurity, which means they had limited or uncertain access to adequate food at all times for an active, healthy life. In the current economic downturn, even more children may be at risk. Food insecurity is a public health problem with serious consequences for children, including greater likelihood of depression, anxiety, poor academic performance, birth defects, and behavior problems.
A new policy brief -...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Police and medical professionals in Maine say use of "bath salts" is becoming an epidemic. They have witnessed a growing number of people acting strangely - and dangerously - while under the influence of the synthetic drugs.
The drugs first appeared in Bangor, where police respond to one to three calls a day involving bath salts. The problem has since quickly spread throughout the state, the Bangor Daily News reports.
Rockland Police...
read moreBy Join Together Staff
Welfare applicants in Florida are less likely than Americans in general to use drugs, the Associated Press reports. The state compiled the figures as part of a new state law that requires drug tests for welfare applicants.
About 2.5 percent of up to 2,000 applicants for welfare in the state have tested positive for drugs since the law went into effect in July, and an additional 2 percent declined to be tested.
The 2010 National Survey on Drug Use...
read moreThe Senate Appropriations 2012 Budget, approved Wednesday, zeroed out $19.7 million in funding for the Center for Disease Control's Youth Violence Prevention activities, causing surprise and worry amongst advocates across the country.
Prevention Institute, one of the nation's leaders in the development and implementation of youth violence initiatives, is calling for the Senate to reinstate the funding immediately, saying the funding cuts are simply unacceptable.
"...
read moreAdults rate drug abuse and childhood obesity as the top health concerns for kids in their communities, according to the fifth annual survey of the top 10 health concerns for kids conducted by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.
Most of the top 10 health concerns pertain to long-recognized risky behaviors for youth: drug, alcohol and tobacco use, as well as teen pregnancy. The top health concerns this year also include...
read moreBy Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times
An analysis of 31 studies on alcohol drinking patterns worldwide has found that people born in North America after World War II are more likely than other groups to engage in binge drinking and develop alcoholism. Younger groups consistently consume more alcohol than older generations.
Researchers, led by Katherine M. Keyes of Columbia University, evaluated data dating from 1948. She found that the United States differs from Western Europe and...
read moreExperts around the world have issued a call to doctors to lead the battle against alcohol abuse.
A group of international medical organizations say physicians can help their patients avoid the harmful effects of excess alcohol, and it also urged governments to take action and address the problem, which has become the third leading risk factor in preventable and premature disease, affecting 76 million people globally.
The statement, which comes ahead of next week's United...
read moreBy Mary Elizabeth Dallas
A new study shows few suicidal teens are getting the mental health treatment they need in spite of information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that suicide is the third leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 24 years.
The researchers found only 13 percent of teenagers with suicidal thoughts visited a mental health professional through their health care network, and only 16 percent received treatment during the year, even...
read moreBeginning September 30, 2011, spirits makers in the U.S. and Europe will be held to a new set of self-regulatory guidelines for advertising and marketing on social networking sites and other digital media designed to prevent marketing their products to kids.
The new rules require restricting access to spirits makers' official brand pages on social networking sites, like Facebook, to adults who are of legal drinking age. Marketers also are required to monitor those sites for...
read moreIndividuals with alcohol, drug, or mental (ADM) disorders combined make up over 40% of all smokers in the U.S. Primary care providers play an important role in smoking cessation counseling, but their effectiveness with this population is unclear.
A recent journal article, Primary Care Providers Advising Smokers to Quit: Comparing Effectiveness Between Those With and Without...
read moreA new pamphlet called Military Suicide: Fallen Heroes is now available.
For the 2nd year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. This pamphlet discusses the causes, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), warning signs, prevention, facts and myths of getting help and finding support.
By Join Together Staff
Government researchers report a dramatic jump in the number of hospitalizations for overdoses caused by drugs and alcohol among 18- to 24-year olds.
The researchers, from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, found that between 1999 and 2008, hospitalizations among this age group rose by 25 percent for alcohol overdoses, 56 percent for drug overdoses and 76 percent for overdoses caused by a combination of drugs and alcohol.
One...
read moreThe effects of the worst economic recession in 80 years came through loud and clear in the 2011 Department of Social and Health Services Client Survey. The survey, the seventh in a series conducted by the Department since 2001, documents how an economy-driven increased demand for social services collided with budget-driven cuts in services, benefits and staffing.
The economic hard times have...
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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