October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
Representing drug prevention, treatment, and policy organizations from around the world, the International Task Force on Strategic Drug Policy met in Brussels, Belgium on Feb 27-28 to discuss effective drug policy strategies and compose this statemen
We support the United Nations position that the goal of national and global drug policies and strategies must be to [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
Fri, Jan. 27, 2006
By Betsy Taylor
TOWN AND COUNTRY, Mo. - The young men walking the halls at Christian Brothers College High School in suburban St. Louis couldn’t look more clean cut than they do in their school-sanctioned collared shirts and dress pants.
But administrators here - looking to move beyond appearances_ are proposing a mandatory drug [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
SUICIDE, HOMICIDE AND MENTAL ILLNESS
Two papers in the Journal this month investigate suicide rates among two groups in recent contact with mental health services – one group having been in contact with services in the previous 12 months (Hunt et al, pp. 135–142) and the other group a sample of in-patients and those within 3 [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention, For Parents
Start early
As a parent, take the opportunity to talk to your child first, before they hear and receive mixed messages from their peers.
Initiate conversations with your child
Speak clearly to your child and use vocabulary that they will be able to understand. Wait for a window of opportunity to initiate conversation; try not to interrupt your [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
Harm promotion, dubbed harm reduction, is a flawed notion proponents of the drug legalization movement use as a tactic to normalize drug use, claiming it is inevitable. Harm reduction attempts to reduce the physical consequences of drug use without reducing the use of legal and illegal drugs. The proven efficacy of drug prevention and abstinence-based [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
Risk Factors and Protective Factors
What are risk factors and protective factors?
Research over the past two decades has tried to determine how drug abuse begins and how it progresses. Many factors can add to a person’s risk for drug abuse. Risk factors can increase a person’s chances for drug abuse, while protective factors can reduce the [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
Planning for Drug Abuse Prevention in the Community
How can the community develop a plan for research-based prevention?
The first step in planning a drug abuse prevention program is to assess the type of drug problem within the community and determine the level of risk factors affecting the problem. The results of this assessment can be used [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
Applying Prevention Principles to Drug Abuse Prevention Programs
How are risk and protective factors addressed in prevention programs?
The risk and protective factors are the primary targets of effective prevention programs used in family, school, and community settings. The goal of these programs is to build new and strengthen existing protective factors and reverse or reduce risk [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
Examples of Research-Based Drug Abuse Prevention Programs
To help those working in drug abuse prevention, NIDA, in cooperation with the prevention scientists, presents the following examples of research-based programs that feature a variety of strategies proven to be effective. Each program was developed as part of a research study, which demonstrated that over time youth who [...]
October 6th, 2008 | Full text | published by BRAHA Editor in Drug Prevention
Selected References
The following references have been selected as either summaries of the literature of the past several years or as the latest findings on specific aspects of prevention research, which have been cited in the publication presented in the next articles of this website..
1 Aos, S.; Phipps, P.; Barnoski, R.; and Lieb, R. The Comparative Costs and [...]
In the wake of a meeting of the UK government’s advisory body on drugs to discuss the harmful effects of ecstasy, Professor Keith Laws and Professor Fabrizio Schifano will reveal research findings about the drug at the university’s Health and Human Sciences Research Institute Showcase on October 21. [...]
Lester Grinspoon, MD, a psychiatrist and associate professor at Harvard, is frequently used as an “expert” in support of “medicalization of marijuana.” He has publicly attested to his personal use of illicit drugs and on several occasions has published statements in leading medical journals that cocaine is neither harmful [...]
It has been known for more than two decades that many illicit drugs inflict damage on the immune system leaving the body open to a host of opportunistic infections, not the least of which is the HIV virus. Other drugs accelerate the progression of HIV to full blown AIDS. In fact, a study [...]
Relief from pain. In some people, prescription pain relievers also cause euphoria or feelings of well being by affecting the brain regions that mediate pleasure. This is why they are abused. Other effects include drowsiness, constipation and slowed breathing. [...]
On Sunday researchers at the University of Buffalo reported that Ritalin, used on children diagnosed with ADHD, may cause long-term changes in the brain. Many clinicians regard Ritalin as short-acting but the research with gene expression in an animal model suggests that it has the potential for causing long-lasting changes [...]
The body produces many chemicals and hormones, i.e., histamines, steroids, thyroid hormone, digitalis-like substances, adrenalin, etc, all of which work by attaching to corresponding brain receptors. The key is that these natural substances produced by the body are present in nanogram amounts [...]
Among the things everybody knows is that Democrats, being the party of the little people, raise money in small contributions, whereas Republicans, being the party of fat cats, raise funds in huge basketfuls from wealthy corporate types. At least, that’s the way the world is usually portrayed by the “Today Show,” The New York Times and the Democratic Party. So it’s of more than passing interest to see [...]
A full page ad appeared Sunday, April 25, l999 in the Denver Rocky Mountain News. It had a picture of Steve Allen and an appeal to Parents. A partial quote from the ad read: Are you as disgusted as I am at the filfth, vulgarity, sex and violence TV is sending into our homes? are you fed up with steamy unmarried sex situations, filthy jokes, perversion, vulgarity, foul language, violence, killings, etc.? [...]
A study from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University looked at driving under the influence of various types of music using a virtual Volkswagen New Beetle. The music used was Kenny G, “Stranger on the Shore” at 56 bpm, Spyro Gyra’s “Cashaca,” at 112 bpm, and DJ Jurgen, pop trance mix at 132 bpm. The study’s findings are just [...]