Posts Tagged ‘alcohol’

Study Shows Group Associations Affect Alcohol Consumption

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Drinking habits increase or decrease with the company you keep

As reported in HealthDay News, data taken from the 32-year Framingham Heart Study regarding the drinking patterns of more than 12,000 people was examined by researcher Dr. J. Neils Rosenquist and others at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  The new study showed that the alcohol consumption of individuals has a direct correlation to the people they associate with.

The recent study, appearing in the Annals of Internal Medicine, concludes that people are 50 percent more likely to drink heavily if they have friends or relatives who are considered heavy drinkers.

The article states the researchers also found in general that being surrounded by heavy drinkers increased the reported alcohol consumption by about 70 percent, while being surrounded by abstainers decreased reported alcohol consumption by half.

Many treatment programs warn former addicts to stay away from alcohol-abusing associates, and the Narconon® drug and alcohol rehabilitation program takes this a few steps further by examining characteristics in people that may influence their sobriety, defining their own personal ethics, and applying specific steps to improve their conditions in life.

"Identifying both risk and support factors of groups and other individuals is a key component to permanent recovery," remarks Narconon International president Clark Carr, "Former addicts who associate with people who share their new-found desire for sobriety are much more likely to stay drug-free.  This is one reason why our rehabilitation program helps clients to regain control over themselves and their surrounding environment."

The release of the study coincides with Alcohol Awareness Month, when doctors, researchers, treatment and prevention professionals and other advocates focus on reducing the damage caused to individuals and to society by heavy alcohol consumption.

The U.S. Narconon network participation in this campaign has included Public Service Announcements (PSAs), educational presentations and other awareness measures with its centers across the country.  The highly effective long-term Narconon rehabilitation program uses the drug-free methodology based on research by the late American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard.  The organization now has over 150 centers and groups in more than 40 countries throughout the world.

For more information about Narconon’s involvement in Alcohol Awareness Month or to get help for a loved one in need visit www.narconon.org today.

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Alcohol Awareness Month

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Narconon draws focus on prevention of alcohol abuse and addiction among adolescents and college students.

April is National Alcohol Awareness Month, situated squarely between spring break partying and the upcoming prom and graduation season. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), youth binge and heavy drinking rates were 8.8 and 2.0 percent, respectively. The rate of binge drinking was 41.0 percent for young adults aged 18 to 25, while heavy drinking was reported by 14.5 percent in that age range.

Additionally, an estimated 7.2 percent of 16 or 17 year olds, 16.7 percent of 18 to 20 year olds, and 26.1 percent of 21 to 25 year olds reported driving under the influence of alcohol in the past year.  Among college students alone, than 2 million drove after drinking in the past year.

If these statistics aren’t alarming enough, then it is the consequences of these actions that should be inspected. Roughly 1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes. Nearly 100,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape, and another 1.3 million students are injured unintentionally or through acts of assault by other students, as reported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

"One of the major influences on our nation’s young people regarding alcohol comes from pop culture and the media," comments Narconon International’s director of drug education Bobby Wiggins, "Many of today’s reality TV shows with young adults contain plenty of on-camera alcohol abuse, which can somewhat legitimize or even idolize that behavior in the eyes of impressionable teenagers. At the very least it sets a poor example."

Narconon® has drug prevention and education programs for students in grade school through college and even for the workplace. Narconon presenters speak to more than 500,000 young people per year internationally.  There are also drug education videos available, one of which focuses on alcohol and the media that are viewed by millions more people each year in the U.S. and abroad.

The Narconon drug education curriculum was studied and the results published in the peer-reviewed journal Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy in 2008. The study showed that there were significant reductions measured for alcohol, particularly reducing heavy drinking.

For more information about Narconon drug education and prevention visit www.narconon.org today.

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Alcohol: The Real Gateway

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Alcohol It’s not only the most abused substance in America but also leads to the use of other drugs

In the week before Alcohol Awareness Month in April, the Narconon® Drug Rehabilitation and Education program reminds people that alcohol is probably the most dangerous substance in America  According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), about 6% (7.1 million) of people age 12 or older who drank alcohol in the past month also reported using an illicit drug within 2 hours of their last drink of alcohol.

The latest report also showed that more than 17 million Americans were considered heavy drinkers. Of the estimated 22 million people who were classified with substance dependence or abuse in the past year, 15 million were dependent on or abused alcohol but not illicit drugs and another 3 million were dependent on or abused both alcohol and illicit drugs.  In other words, alcohol is involved in more than 80 percent of all substance abuse in the country.

Many people are under the influence of alcohol at the time they decide to use an illicit drug and many addicts who relapse back to street drugs do so after having consumed alcohol, although exact statistics have not been calculated.  The reason for this behavior is that alcohol not only lowers inhibitions but also greatly reduces the ability to think rationally.

"If we can help prevent alcohol abuse among young people," comments Narconon International’s director of drug education Bobby Wiggins, "then we know that we have a very strong possibility of keeping them away from illicit drugs as well."

Recently, alcohol use among youth aged 12-17 showed a decline in binge and heavy drinking by lowering from 9.7 percent to 8.8 percent in one  year.

Narconon’s drug prevention program includes a curriculum consisting of 8 modules of presentations and videos along with lesson plans for teachers.  Its effectiveness was studied and published in the journal Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy in 2008. The study showed that there were significant reductions measured for alcohol.

For more information about Narconon drug education and prevention visit www.narconon.org today.

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Narconon International drug education seminar for beleaguered Mexico City parents

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Narconon International president Clark Carr gave a three and a half hour drug education seminar to 100 parents and college age youth in Mexico City on February 10th, offering key data to explain why youth turn to drugs and also how to combat this perennial risk to youthful wellbeing. A recent national Mexican study of alcohol and other drug use indicated that alcohol is the worst problem, that 27,000,000 Mexicans between 12 and 65 drink, a quarter of those drinking heavily. Marijuana follows as the other gateway drug with abuse of pharmaceuticals from the house and internet also growing alarmingly, paralleling U.S. drug use.

Some parents said that there has been an increase in bullying and other youthful violence mirroring the increase in binge drinking by Mexico City youth.

But the explosion of youthful use of the internet is probably what is driving up the sale and use of pharmaceuticals, just as it is in the U.S. Carr told the parents that before they are going to talk to their children about drugs, they have to be willing to be honest about their own use, not just of the medicine cabinet but of alcohol.

There was lots of back and forth on how to recognize symptoms and the toxic effects of drugs, with the greater concentration on how talk to young people about drugs.

“More important than knowing about each separate drug,” Carr said, “is to know that drugs, including alcohol, are basically toxic and that it’s really the quantity of a drug used that creates its different effects.” Alcohol in moderation is a stimulant, and this is its popular, desirable effect. But the same alcohol used in excess begins to sedate, slow the person down both physically and mentally, and finally too much, too fast can put one into an alcohol coma or kill him. The conversation turned quite lively over whether or not “cerveza” (beer) is toxic. “It’s not that one beer is toxic,” said Carr, “but how much beer, how fast, for how long. Ethyl alcohol is toxic, yes. But the liver can detoxify alcohol when consumed in moderation.

The parents asked Narconon International for further training and drug education sessions in the future. For further information on Narconon drug education visit www.narconon.org.

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New Study Reveals A Killer Combination of Abused Substances

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Substance abuse by itself is bad enough in that it can lead to addiction or arrest. But in some situations, drug abuse leads to sudden death. A study just released by the Institute of Legal Medicine in Seville, Spain, discovered a combination of factors that resulted in death for twenty-one drug abusers. These deaths weren’t caused by drug overdoses – it was the fatal combination of drugs that ended these lives.

The Spanish study set out to determine factors involved in sudden deaths in southwest Spain between 2003 and 2006. Through autopsies and toxicology reports, the study determined that in three percent of sudden deaths, a fatal combination of cocaine, alcohol and tobacco use caused sudden death. Among these cocaine-related deaths, 76 percent had also used alcohol at the time of death, and 81 percent were smokers.

It’s long been known that cocaine places stresses on one’s heart, a fact tragically brought to light when Len Bias, the promising young basketball star, died suddenly after using cocaine in 1986. These days, many substance abusers abuse multiple drugs at the same time. In the U.S., 72 percent of drug-related deaths are caused by poly-drug use.

In the Spanish study, 62 percent of the cocaine-related deaths were associated with cardiovascular (heart) problems. Another 14 percent were associated with cerebrovascular causes (blood vessels in the brain) like strokes or aneurysms.

The Spanish report emphasizes the importance of effective drug rehabilitation. Providing drug addiction treatment is how the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program has saved lives for four decades. Although traditional drug treatment centers have success rates of 16 percent or less, Narconon rehab centers achieve a 70 percent success rate year after year. Around the world in 120 centers, Narconon drug rehabs help addicts return to stably drug-free and alcohol-free lives, thus preserving them from the damage found in this study.

In addition, Narconon centers and staffs provide drug prevention services for schools and community groups. If you would like more information on Narconon’s drug education, prevention and rehabilitation programs, visit www.narconon.org.

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