Most alcoholics begin drinking in their teens, but the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has concluded that a third of kids between ages 12 and 17 had their first drink before the age of 13. The Partnership for a Drug Free America revealed that ten percent of nine year olds have had more than a sip of alcohol. Columbia’s research indicates that people who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol and substance abuse problems than people who wait until they are 21 or older to begin …

I was recently talking to a new girl that I’d met in AA and asked her what she was doing for her summer. “I’m in rehab!” she responded, laughing. I could relate. We joked about her getting to say she spent the summer in Malibu, hanging out with new friends from all over the country, and eating good food, but really, summer is a great time to go to rehab. Some kids go to summer camp, and some of us go to adolescent drug treatment in Malibu.Long stretches of days full of nothingness and minimal supervision are a good recipe …

A Starbucks in Seattle will begin serving beer and wine to their coffee-drinking customers starting next week! If the Seattle customers respond well, Starbucks is looking to expand the alcohol sales to other Starbucks locations in metropolitan cities across the country, with bottled beer and glasses of wine available for $4 to $7. The coffee chain claims that the reasoning behind the alcohol sales is to give Starbucks a more authentic “European-style” feel, but we think $tarbucks are looking to make a quick buck!!They’ve been closing LOTS of stores! What do U think of having a glass of chardonnay on …

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4tuxWjqmeU]Kayla and Kupono address addiction through dance on the Fox series So You Think You Can Dance. Click Here to contact us if you would like more information about adolescent drug treatment.

An adolescent treatment center reported a twenty-two year old man from East London died this week from cirrhosis of the liver. He was denied a liver transplant based on guidelines requiring transplant recipients to remain sober for six months prior to the transplant. The young man, Gary Reinbach, had been bing drinking since he was an adolescent at the age of thirteen. Gary’s story highlights the very real and tragic consequences of teen alcohol abuse in London and around the world. When you are a teen, it is easy to think that drinking can’t actually hurt you, but Gary’s death …

My friend recently pointed out to me that she had gone to the beach for the first time sober and that it was really weird for her. I totally understood. Part of getting sober means building new associations with people and places. In early recovery, I let people, places, and things trigger me- which means they made me want to use. I learned that I had a choice in what I let trigger me. It was all about perception and my willingness to change. Teen drug rehab helped me gain new experiences sober that helped me rebuild my perception of …

Medical sources report Bam Margera’s suspected “overdose” was a legitimate case of dehydration? Margera was in the middle of a 4-day drinking binge to drown his marital sorrows when he was rushed to the hospital after his wife Missy learned the Jackass star had taken an Ambien on top of all the booze, according to Margera’s mom. Mixing Benzodiazepams like Ambien, Xanax, Valume…with alcohol is extremely dangerous and often results in overdose but apparently not for Bam. Bam says he managed to damage his kidney and leg muscles from not keeping sufficiently hydrated or nourished while drinking. Margera has returned …

One major university has concluded a study indicating that underage drinkers consume 90% of their alcohol while binge drinking. This is no surprise to me really. Our culture, including the media, often promotes this attitude towards drinking. The problem for young people, is that younger drinking increases the chances of dependent drinking later on, and for some of us, that happens much earlier than others. The way I know that I was different from my drinking peers is that my life became quite unmanageable pretty quickly. I was consumed with the need to drink, and the longer I drank, the …

A recent study reports that teenage girls who use drugs and alcohol are more likely to make decisions that negatively affect their lives. They are more likely to contract STD’s and have unplanned pregnancies. Drugs and alcohol go hand in hand with poor decision making, which includes having unprotected, unplanned sex. When I was drinking and using, sex was a big part of my destructive repertoire. I used people to feel better just like I used drugs. When I was drinking and using, I didn’t think through consequences and only lived for instant gratification. In teen drug treatment, it was …

Mischa Barton has been involuntarily hospitalized in Los Angeles, with early reports speculating that she recently felt suicidal and out of control following a cocaine binge. She was due to appear at the premier of her new movie in New York this weekend, but friends called police to her LA home after they became concerned about her behavior. Mischa has hit the tabloids a lot recently following getting kicked out of a London night club, her yo-yoing weight, and erratic behavior. She has already been arrested for DUI. Cocaine use can lead to extreme paranoia, weight loss, erratic behavior and …