Archive for November, 2011

7 Teenage Drug Abuse Myths Exposed

Teenage drug abuse is a serious issue. However, some people, including parents, may not realize the severity because of commonly accepted myths. For parents, it is important to get accurate drug abuse information.

1. Myth: Using prescription drugs is less harmful than street drugs.

Fact: Many prescription medications intended to alleviate pain, depression, or anxiety are just as dangerous and addictive as illegal drugs. Because of this assumption that prescription drugs are safer, many children are more willing to start experimenting with these medications. And more often than not, teenage prescription drug abuse is accompanied by alcohol consumption.

Prescription drugs are only safe when taken as directed by a doctor. The wrong dosage and/or potential interactions with other drugs, one’s diet, or physiological makeup may have damaging or even deadly effects.

2. Myth: Using alcohol or marijuana as a teenager is a normal part of growing up.

Fact: Less than half of American teenagers drink alcohol or smoke marijuana. Exposing a developing child to such substances is illegal for good reason. Besides the lasting damage it can cause to the brain, using substances can also harm teenagers’ social development.

In hindsight, people who experimented with substances as teenagers report they were “looking for something.” Trying to have a good time, simplifying social interactions, or solving problems with drugs or alcohol often means they are learning to go to those substances for help. This maladaptive learning process is not easily unlearned. Read the rest of this entry »

Prevent Teen Drug Abuse Using Drug Testing Kits at Home

Teen drug abuse became a serious health problem in United States. It is hurting the healthcare system, burdening the economy, and causing millions of deaths every year. Of the many causes that promote drug abuse among teens, lack of parental supervision is a major one. Teens should be guarded properly by their parents as they are still immature.

Since, early intervention leads to effective prevention of this unhealthy habit, parents should identify drug abusing habits in teens and take preventive measures. Parents can take help of home drug testing kits which are effective and easy to use.

In this article, we will discuss about teens and their vulnerability to drug abuse; how to identify teen drug abuse and how important are drug testing programs at home to prevent teen drug abuse.

Teens – vulnerable to drugs abuse: Many scientific studies have already proved that teenagers are more prone to risk taking and are vulnerable to drug abuse when compared to adults. This typical behavior of teens during adolescence is because of the major changes in parts of the brain that are responsible for functions such as self-control, judgment, planning, organization, and emotions. Since teen brains are not yet fully developed, they cannot take proper decisions and fall victims to unhealthy habits like drug and alcohol abuse.

Signs and symptoms of drug abuse: The primary step towards prevention of drug abuse in teens is to identify their unhealthy habits. Prominent changes, both in their behavior and in physical appearance can be noticed even at the early stages of abuse. Following are the warning signs: Read the rest of this entry »

Drug Testing Facts and Methods

We all know that there are different kinds of drug tests and each one of them is used for the same objective – to detect drug users. Depending on the type of drug test, a biological specimen (urine, blood, saliva, sweat, or hair) is technically analyzed to detect the presence of drugs or their metabolites.

The drug testing facts and methods by which the different types of drug tests are, in turn, tested are quite similar in many ways. The specimen is placed in an appropriate container, sealed, and then sent to a laboratory for analysis. At the laboratory, the specimen’s seal is first checked before being accepted for testing; that is, the seal should not show any signs of tampering. If it does, the laboratory will reject the specimen and will not test it.

All drug tests are initiated with one particular step: make the specimen testable. For some of the drug tests, urine or saliva can be used in its unaltered, presently existing condition. For other tests, however, there is a need to extract the drugs from the specimens in advance.

Other specimens require some preparation prior to testing:

-Plasma from the blood specimen may have to be separated with the use of centrifuge, a machine that makes use of centrifugal force to separate substances of different densities.

-Sweat sample from patches used in sweat drug screen is immersed in a solvent to break up any drugs present.

-Hair sample is first washed before breaking down the keratin with enzymes.Drug testing conducted in laboratories is performed in two levels with the use of two different types of testing methods: screening test and confirmation test. Read the rest of this entry »