Boarding Schools for Girls

A Massachusetts mother whose daughter died after an evening of heavy drinking is suing other teenagers who were with her.

Kathi Meyer told reporters that her case was not about money, but rather about raising awareness of how teen binge drinking can lead to tragedy.

Meyer's daughter, Taylor. was 17 years old in October 2008 when she and friends were celebrating after a high school football game. They went to some parties, and then to an abandoned airport, and finally to forest near a swamp area. Three days later Taylor's body was recovered from the swamp.

Five of the defendants are under 18 years old and were drinking that night with Taylor. Meyer told reporters that the only consequences these teens received included a $50 fine and eight hours of community service

"The people involved in the circumstance of Taylor's passing definitely did not realize how much they contributed to it," Kathi Meyer said. "We're suing 17-year-old kids, and it's not about the money. It's about the principle in owning the accountability and hopefully, they will make a change."

Labels: alcohol, binge drinking

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

One hundred twenty-three college presidents are taking part in the Amethyst Initiative, an effort to stop college binge drinking. The controversial plan calls for lowering the drinking age to 18 years old.

Binge drinking, defined as having five or more drinks in a row, took the lives of 157 college-aged individuals between 1999 and 2005, according to the Associated Press.

All 50 states set the legal drinking age at 21 years, partly in response to pressure from Congress. If a state raises its drinking age, it loses federal highway funds.

The presidents, including ones from Duke, Tufts, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Ohio State, and other major universities, signed a statement saying that the current laws are not working, instead creating a "culture of dangerous, clandestine binge drinking." Many privately acknowledge that they cannot enforce the law on campus or control underage drinking.

"Kids are going to drink whether it's legal or illegal," said Johns Hopkins President William R. Brody. "We'd at least be able to have a more open dialogue with students about drinking as opposed to this sham where people don't want to talk about it because it's a violation of the law."

Some of the college presidents who signed the Amethyst Initiative argue that having the legal limit at 21 years old means that many students drink in the early evening because they know that once they go out to parties or public places, they will not be served alcohol.

"If they drink too much in the beginning [of an evening], they can get alcohol poisoning," said Baird Tipson, president of Washington College in Chestertown. "They're really not aware of how their judgment is impaired. We hope they don't get into a car. Or, if they're a young woman, go to a fraternity party. It's just not healthy."

Many experts oppose lowering the drinking age, arguing that it will simply push the current problem on to high schools. Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services and current president of the University of Miami, said, "I remember college campuses when we had 18 year-old drinking ages and I believe we have made some progress since then."

Others, like Joanne Glasser, president of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, believe that universities should instead promote activities that reduce the abuse of alcohol instead of talking about age limits. The recent deaths of two Bradley students were linked to over-consumption of alcohol.

Laura Dean Mooney, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said that lowering the drinking age will result in more automobile deaths and that "even a 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced on certain college campuses." She is asking the public to call or write to signatories of the Amethyst Initiative and demand they remove their names from the list.

The Governors Highway Safety Association plans a workshop "to help highway safety agencies counter any effort in their states to lower the drinking age."

Labels: colleges, alcohol, drinking-age

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

A survey conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) indicates that "problem parents" are to blame for increased rates of smoking, drinking, and drug use among U.S. teens.

According to an Aug. 14, 2008, release on the CASA website, the organization's 13th annual "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse" reveals that parents who are lax in their supervisory responsibilities or who model inappropriate behaviors put their children at greater risk for engaging in unhealthy activities:

Problem parents - those who fail to monitor their children's school night activities, safeguard their prescription drugs, address the problem of drugs in their children's schools, and set good examples - increase the risk that their 12- to 17-year old children will smoke, drink, and use illegal and prescription drugs.

"This year's survey reveals that too many mothers and fathers are problem parents who fail to take essential steps to prevent their kids from smoking, drinking or using drugs. By their actions - and inactions - by failing to become part of the solution, these parents become part of the problem of teen alcohol and drug abuse," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

"Indeed, these problem parents enable - some even encourage - their 12- to 17-year olds to use and abuse tobacco, alcohol, and illegal and prescription drugs."

The release included the following findings that CASA personnel said were indicative of poor parenting:

• Though 46 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds reported leaving the house on school nights to hang out with friends, only 14 percent of parents said their children did so.
• Thirty-four percent of teens with knowledge of prescription drug abuse said the abusers got the medication from home.
• Twenty-five percent of students who were surveyed said they know another teen whose parent smokes marijuana - and 10 percent said that the parent has smoked marijuana in the presence of teenagers.

"Every mother and father should look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are doing the parenting essential to help their child negotiate the difficult teen years free of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs," Elizabeth Planet, CASA's Director of Special Projects, said in the release.

Labels: parenting, alcohol, drug_use

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

If your daughter is spending too much time in a tanning both, skin cancer may not be your only worry.  

According to a new study in the medical journal the Archives of Dermatology, teens who overuse tanning booths are more likely to overuse alcohol and drugs too.

Researchers from the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and State University of New York studied 421 college students, asking them questions that would reveal an "addiction" to indoor tanning salons such as "Do you ever feel guilty that you are using tanning beds too much?" and "Do you try other non-tanning related activities but find you really like spending time in tanning booths?"

About 42% of the students in the survey who were compulsive about indoor tanning reported using more than one drug in the previous month. They were more likely to drink alcohol and smoke more marijuana than other students.

A new federal law provides that tanning booth customers pay an extra 10% tax starting this summer. Studies from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that indoor tanning causes skin cancer, premature aging, and eye damage.
 

Labels: alcohol, tanning, drug_use

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 0 Comments

Young women who drink, smoke and use drugs may not only have a genetic tendency for substance abuse, but they also may have a genetic tendency to choose friends who also abuse substances. These friends in turn reinforce their habits, according to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.

Professor Arpana Agrawal and her colleagues studied 2000 female twins. By comparing identical and fraternal twins, they found that selection of friends had a genetic basis, and that some young women also have a genetic predisposition toward drug abuse.

"Nature and nurture do not just combine to produce a woman who drinks, smokes or uses drugs -nurture can also increase the effect of nature," said Dr. Agrawal.

The study appeared in the journal Addiction.
 

Labels: friendships, alcohol

Posted By: Boarding Schools for Girls 0 Comments

Adolesent and teen girls today are maturing in an era marked by increased alcohol and drug abuse among adult women.

One in five women who work full-time engage in binge drinking and almost 5% use illegal drugs, according to a new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The study found that as working women get older, they tend to drink, and use drugs less frequently. For example, among 18 to 25-year-old working women, 37% are binge drinkers, compared to 18% of 35 to 49-year-olds, and 9% of 50 to 64-year-olds.

The researchers estimated that 3.6 million of the 50 million full-time female workers need substance abuse treatment. Currently, the majority (78%) of women in substance abuse treatment are unemployed.
 

Labels: alcohol, drug_use, drug

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 1 Comment