Privelege Doesn't Always Protect Us

Michael Douglas' son, Cameron, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to dealing mass quantities of meth and cocaine last year while holed up at the posh Hotel Gansevoort.

Cameron told the judge that after a New York City contact asked him to supply the drugs in 2006, he began supplying on a regular basis. And when asked by a judge if he knew what he was doing was wrong, he said, "Yes, your honor."

He also pleaded guilty to heroin possession after his girlfriend tried to sneak the drug into an electric toothbrush while he was on house arrest.

Douglas signed a plea agreement, but the details are unknown. Although, he is facing minimum prison sentence of 10 years.

So privileged and he still couldn't pull it together.

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Cocaine Contributed To The Death Of Billy Mays!

It has been found that cocaine use was a factor in the death of Billy Mays, spokesman for products such as OxiClean and Orange Glo. The medical examiner concluded that cocaine use was a factor in the development of his heart disease, which made it a factor in his death. The pitchman also had therapeutic levels of Xanax, Valium, hydrocodone and oxycodone. I never realized that cocaine can contribute to heart disease, but CNN reports that cocaine, a stimulant, raises blood pressure which can thicken the wall of the left ventricle in the heart.
It is truly unfortunate when anyone meets their end at the hands of drugs and alcohol, but celebrity drug-related deaths can help draw attention to the fact that addiction doesn’t discriminate. Drugs are a harmful force that can ruin lives, young and old. Drugs like cocaine and prescription pills can be very difficult to stop on one’s own. Visions Adolescent Treatment Center recognizes the seriousness of teenage drug abuse, and offers an all-encompassing program to treat all aspects of addiction, from the roots of the problem to the aftermath, such as damaged family relationships and academic performance. It makes me sad any time anyone dies unnecessarily from drug abuse, because we don’t have to be alone anymore. Help exists. Getting clean young provides a whole lifetime of continued freedom.

Becoming a Better Person

A medication aimed at fighting cocaine addiction failed in clinical trials recently. Things like this make me really think about my addiction and recovery. If I was offered a medical “cure” for my addiction, would I take it? Would I stop my involvement in recovery and being of service to other addicts and alcoholics and just take a pill? I don’t think so. When I think of the life I have in recovery, I know that most of the fulfillment in my life comes from the community I have built around myself. Treatment introduced me to a whole new way of life.

When I first went to adolescent Drug Treatment, all I could focus on was figuring out how to not use drugs. I couldn’t think of much else. As time went by, I began to learn that in order to stay clean, I had to change a lot of things about myself; recovery was going to take a lot more than not using drugs. I began to want to be a better person. When I was using, I damaged the relationship I had with my family. I wasn’t trustworthy. I never did what I said I was going to do. I messed up in school and brought a lot of chaos into my home. In rehab, we learned how to become better sons and daughters, siblings, and friends. When I, I got more involved in 12-step fellowships and began to give back what was given to me. I speak on panels at rehabs, sharing my experience, strength, and hope. I work with young people in treatment and in meetings. I try to set an example. One of the coolest things to me about recovery is that we are all trying to be better people. A pill treating the physical side of my addiction wouldn’t give me a reason to try and be better person, or to build the fantastic relationships I have in my life today. Rehab gave me more than a life free of drugs and their consequences; it gave me a new way to live.

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Cocaine Use Genetically Passed On

Cocaine Gene

One of the concepts that prove the most difficult for people to grasp is the concept of addiction/alcoholism being a disease. It has always been somewhat difficult for me personally to fully concede to. When I first learned about addiction I was 13 years old and my mom started going to Alcoholics Anonymous. When she told me that alcoholism is a disease, being the angry teenager that I was, I believe I responded by letting her know that I thought that it was a cop-out and people should learn how to man up (or woman up in this case) and take responsibility for their behaviors. Through working at Visions and going through the process to become a chemical dependency counselor I have learned a lot about the disease concept and it has become an easier concept to wrap my head around.

These days technology continues to advance and science continues to make more discoveries. Now insurance companies recognize addiction as a disease and will compensate individuals for their treatment. The American Medical and Psychiatric Associations also now recognize addiction as a disease. This is just some of the evidence that helped me succumb to the idea that addiction/alcoholism is a disease.

Among these scientific discoveries is one that is helping to spread the disease concept of addiction as a more globally acceptable idea. November 11, 2008 scientists discovered a gene that shows one’s vulnerability to cocaine addiction. The study was initially done on mice and later on humans. Rainer Spanagel, a professor of psychopharmacology at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, led the study. They noted that out of 670 cocaine addicts, 25 percent were more likely to carry the gene variant than people who did not use the drug. They also concluded that cocaine addiction can be passed down in families just like other mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. It was noted that cocaine addiction is 70 percent genetic.

The Link Between ADHD and addiction

The Link Between ADHD and addiction

It is very common for people who struggle with ADHD to turn to addictive behaviors, such as eating disorders, gambling and substance abuse as a way to deal with their untreated ADHD. A person with untreated ADHD is constantly looking for something that will help to calm their restless brains and help them function better. A lot of times someone with untreated ADHD will struggle with staying focused and in turn deal with low self-esteem due to feeling like they are less than, or not understanding why tasks seem to come so easily to others. Addictive substances and behaviors are a way for one to self-medicate and sometimes briefly improve their performance.

The problem lies in the fact that self-medicating works at first. ADHD is most commonly treated with prescriptions such as adderall and Ritalin, which can be classified as stimulants. Street drugs such as cocaine, diet pills and “speed” mimic the effects of the prescription medication and seem to help with the symptoms. Nicotine, caffine and sugar can act in the same way. After self-medicating for a period of time this behavior cam bring on many addiction related issues such as impulsive crimes, high risk behaviors, violence, unemployment, health issues and difficulties in relationships. Many people who deal with untreated ADHD are in need of treatment for co-occuring disorders.

How Drugs Effect Teenagers

How Drugs Effect Teenagers

A drug is any chemical that produces a therapeutic or non-therapeutic effect within a body. Teenagers may be involved with legal or illegal drugs in various ways. Sometimes, experimentation with drugs during adolescence can be common. However, teenagers generally do not see links between their actions of the present and their consequences of the future. Teens also tend to feel invincible and immune to the problems that others around them experience.

Using alcohol, marijuana and tobacco at young ages will increase the potential of using other drugs like heroin, cocaine or speed later down the road. Some teens might experiment and stop, or continue to use occasionally, without significant problems. Others develop a dependency, moving on to more dangerous drugs and causing significant harm to themselves and possibly others.

When teenagers use drugs, they will tend to have symptoms or signs of something being wrong. For example, as far as physical appearance goes, the teen might have a sense of fatigue, red and glazed eyes and/or a lasting cough. On an emotional level, the teenagers might have general mood swings, or irresponsible behavior, possible low self-esteem, general lack of interest in anything or could be generally depressed. In a family environment, a teen drug abuser can often be argumentative, or they become very secretive in movements. In school, a teenager could decline participation, drop in grades, skip certain classes, or generally accumulate a myriad amount of tardiness. These are some of the reasons why it is important to keep kids safe and pay more attention to all that they need. They (teenagers) are always in need of something one way or another.

Drug Abuse - Cocaine

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  Teen addiction is generally used to make up for something that is missing or not visible in a teen’s life. It generally meets the needs of an addicted teenager who knows no other options. This could result in depression, general unhappiness, or a simple inability to deal with everyday situations that occur in real life.
  
  Cocaine is a quite common weapon of choice for troubled/addicted teens. No matter how cocaine is taken, whether it is snorted or smoked, it is highly dangerous and in some instances has killed some users when it (cocaine) has been mixed with alcohol. Serious health problems can evolve from using cocaine such as: major heart conditions, including heart attacks, respiratory conditions, nervous system breakdowns, including strokes, as well as extreme digestive complications.
  
  According to www.wrongdiagnosis.com 91% of hospital consultant episodes for mental and behavioral disorders due to use of cocaine required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03).
  
  Additional stats that are highly startling are as follows from www.drug-statistics.com
  
  
  
  
• 1 out of 4 Americans between the age of 26 and 34 have used cocaine in their lifetime
  
• According to the Minnesota Institute for Public Health and Drug Resource Center, 5,000 adults in the United States try cocaine for the first time each day. (1985)-
• Today it is estimated that 22 to 25 million people have tried cocaine at least once. Conservative estimates indicate that there are over two million cocaine addicts in the United States today.
  
• Contrary to earlier belief, high dose use of cocaine can be detected as long as 10 to 22 days after last use.
  
• Near half of all drug related emergency room visits are due to cocaine abuse.
  
  
  
  Hopefully, if more information about cocaine addiction is voiced more extensively, it will educate the population and possibly prevent future rising statistics.
  
  Andrew C

To Teach At an Adolescent Treatment Center

To teach at an adolescent treatment center has been such a gift to me. I have recognized my own weaknesses and strengths. The residents’ struggles remind me of my own when I was their age. Their strengths remind me to strive higher than I ever thought possible for myself and others. The adolescent years are very crucial in forming their perception towards who they are and who they choose to be. It is the time that they can recognize that they have a choice. It is their crossroad.

The lists of drugs that are available today are much more extensive than when I was in high school. During my time, it was marijuana and alcohol. Now, the kids have been introduced to a variety of pain killers, more harmful drugs such as heroin, meth, cocaine and more. I feel for these kids. They have a difficult battle to fight. I have to say, they surprise me more often than I thought with their progression towards recovery than their regression towards using.

Solange Petrosspour

Teen binge drinking

Teen binge drinking is a huge problem with teens and more common than one might think. Depending on tolerance and body weight, binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks within a few hours. This risky behavior can result in serious health problems, sexual promiscuity, and death. Recent research indicates that two-thirds of those high school students surveyed admitted to binge drinking. Teenage males tend to engage in binge drinking more than their female counterparts. Teen binge drinkers were also more likely to use dangerous drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and inhalants. They were also much more likely to smoke tobacco cigarettes.

It seems that binge drinking takes away all capacity for reason, as studies show that binge drinkers are more likely to get in the car with a drunk driver. That’s not to mention the dangers of binge drinkers behind the wheel of a car. Further proof that extreme alcohol consumption is harmful, teen binge drinkers were shown to have lower grades than non-binge drinkers. Perhaps most disturbing, binge drinkers were nearly four times more likely to be highly sexually active, victims of rape, and suicidal.