Star’s Death Places Spotlight on Xanax

What is Xanax?

Xanax is a prescription medication for anxiety disorders (some outlets have incorrectly reported that it is an anti-depressant). It works by acting on GABA receptors, the “brakes” of the brain. It is part of the benzodiazepine class of medications and is in a larger group of medications commonly referred to as “downers” or “sedatives.”

While many people with anxiety disorders benefit from treatment with them, benzodiazepines have the potential to become addictive and can be abused. Drugs that people feel the effects of quickly and that leave the system quickly are more likely to be abused. Of the benzodiazepines, Xanax is one of the fastest acting and most potent.

Are all anxiety medications potentially addictive?

No. There are other kinds of medication for anxiety that affect the brain differently than Xanax and the other benzodiazepines.

Are drugs like Xanax dangerous?

All drugs have risks, which increase when they are not used as they should be. For example, overdoses of the commonly used over-the-counter drug Tylenol are the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S. Benzodiazepines like Xanax can put the brakes on the brain too much, particularly the part that controls breathing. When too high a dose of these medications is used, especially if they are combined with other substances that affect breathing – such as alcohol – breathing can become too slow or shallow or even stop completely. Per SAMHSA (Substance Abuseand Mental Health Services Administration), over three quarters of benzodiazepine-related ER visits in 2002 involved at least two substances. Alcohol was by far the most common second substance. Doctors who prescribe these medications routinely warn patients not to drink alcohol while taking them. Medications like Xanax can often be used safely as long as they are used as prescribed.

Middle school parents warned about dangers

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By Aaron Sanborn

asanborn@seacoastonline.com

February 17, 2012 2:00 AM

STRATHAM — Alcohol, marijuana and tobacco are the most abused substances among middle schoolers.

This was one statistic Student Assistance Counselor Margot Walker and School Resource Officer Michael Oliveira shared with Cooperative Middle School parents Wednesday night during a community forum at the school titled “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Teen Drug and Alcohol Use In Our Community But Were Afraid To Ask.”

Statistics

Ÿ Use of Ecstasy has risen among Grade 8 and 10 students. From 2009 to 2010, lifetime use of ecstasy among eighth-graders increased from 2.2 percent to 3.3 percent

Ÿ Among youth, the use of alcohol and other drugs has been linked to unintentional injuries, physical fights, academic and occupational problems, and illegal behavior

Ÿ 40 percent of those who started drinking at age 13 or younger developed alcohol dependence later in life.

Ÿ Teenagers whose parents talk to them on a regular basis about the dangers of drug use are 42 percent less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t.

Ÿ 20 percent of eighth-graders report that they have tried marijuana.

Ÿ More than 60 percent of teens said that drugs were sold, used, or kept at their school.

*National statistics from Teen Help LLC

“Does it happen here? Not usually. But every year we usually have one or two of these incidents (with substances),” Walker said.

“For the most part it happens at home or someone else’s home,” Walker said. “Kids who steal alcohol at this age steal from their parents or other parents. They even steal marijuana from their parents.”

Oliveira said he gets concerned when he finds out middle school students are using these substances. Most addicts he’s encountered in his career start abusing drugs when they’re 14 years old, he said.

“Those two things are always generally linked at an early age,” he said.

Walker said alcohol is the biggest concern because it kills more youths then most drugs combined. Youth are getting it at a younger age, as early as 13, and don’t understand it. As a result, alcohol overdose deaths have increased.

Drinking and driving deaths also remain a problem, according to Walker.

In addition to talking to their kids about the risks of drinking, Walker said, parents need to talk to them about what to do if they find themselves in a situation where they drank too much and are in trouble or have a friend that is in trouble.

Walker said marijuana use is another major concern for her because most kids feel that it isn’t a big deal but many will move on to a stronger drug when the high no longer satisfies them.

Parents were warned that a major risk period for starting drug use is the summer between eighth grade and freshman year of high school because the anxiety associated with the transition.

While they may not currently be a major problem in the SAU 16 school district, a lot of the forum was spent on educating parents about the harder drugs, such as ecstasy, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, synthetic drugs and prescription drugs.

Oliveira said these drugs do concern him because they are available in the Seacoast area, particularly concerning are some recent methamphetamine busts on the Seacoast, including one in Seabrook a couple weeks ago.

He said methamphetamines are a major issue in the western states and it causes people to hallucinate and sometimes harm themselves.

“If what comes here is the stuff on the West Coast, we’re in big trouble because methamphetamine is nuts,” Oliveira said.

Oliveira said recent crime trends on the Seacoast also alarm him. He cited a recent mugging in Portsmouth as an example.

“To me that reeks of drug use,” he said.

Both Walker and Oliveira told parents the drugs out there today are not the same drugs that were out there when they were in school. Many of the drugs nowadays are mixed with different chemicals, he said.

They stressed early intervention and education as the best way to prevent a problem.

Walker said parents can’t ignore that these drugs are out there and must talk to their children about them.

Wednesday’s forum on substances was one of a series of forums the school has hosted on teenage risk factors.

Statistics

Ÿ Use of Ecstasy has risen among Grade 8 and 10 students. From 2009 to 2010, lifetime use of ecstasy among eighth-graders increased from 2.2 percent to 3.3 percent

Ÿ Among youth, the use of alcohol and other drugs has been linked to unintentional injuries, physical fights, academic and occupational problems, and illegal behavior

Ÿ 40 percent of those who started drinking at age 13 or younger developed alcohol dependence later in life.

Ÿ Teenagers whose parents talk to them on a regular basis about the dangers of drug use are 42 percent less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t.

Ÿ 20 percent of eighth-graders report that they have tried marijuana.

Ÿ More than 60 percent of teens said that drugs were sold, used, or kept at their school.

* Statistics from Teen Help LLC

CHAPTER I

Return from India. The war and the “search for the miraculous.” Old thoughts The question of schools. Plans for further travels. The East and Europe. A notice in a Moscow newspaper. Lectures on India. The meeting with G. A “distinguished man.” The first talk, G.’s opinion on schools. G.’s group. “Glimpses of Truth.” Further meetings and talks. The organization of G.’s Moscow group The question of payment and of means for the work. The question of secrecy and of the obligations accepted by the pupils. A talk about the East. “Philosophy,” “theory,” and “practice.” How was the system found? G’s ideas. “Man is a machine” governed by external influences Everything “happens.” Nobody “does” anything In order “to do” it is necessary “to be.” A man  is  responsible  for  his  actions,  a  machine  is  not  responsible.  Is psychology necessary for the study of machines? The promise of “facts.” Can wars be stopped? A talk about the planets and the moon as living beings. The “intelligence” of the sun and the earth. “Subjective” and “objective” art.

CHAPTER II

Petersburg in 1915 G. in Petersburg. A talk about groups. Reference to “esoteric” work “Prison” and “Escape from prison.” What is necessary for this escape? Who can help and how? Beginning of meetings in Petersburg. A question on reincarnation and future life. How can immortality be attained? Struggle between “yes” and “no.” Crystallization on a right, and on a wrong, foundation. Necessity of sacrifice. Talks with G and observations. A sale of carpets and talks about carpets. What G. said about himself. Question about ancient knowledge and why it is hidden. G’s reply. Knowledge is not hidden. The materiality of knowledge and man’s refusal of the knowledge given to him. A question on immortality. The “four bodies of man.” Example of the retort filled with metallic powders. The way of the fakir, the way of the monk, and the way of the yogi The “fourth way.” Do civilization and culture exist?

CHAPTER III

G.’s fundamental ideas concerning man. Absence of unity. Multiplicity of I’s. Construction of the human machine. Psychic centers. G.’s method of exposition of the ideas of the system. Repetition unavoidable. What the evolution of man means Mechanical progress impossible. European idea of man’s evolution. Connectedness of everything in nature. Humanity and the moon. Advantage of individual man over the masses Necessity of knowing the human machine.

the midst of mass madness. “Events are not against us at all.” How to strengthen the feeling of “I”? Brief return to Petersburg and Moscow. A message to the groups there. Return to Piatygorsk. A group of twelve foregathers at Essentuki.

CHAPTER XVII

August 1917. The six weeks at Essentuki. G. unfolds the plan of the whole work. “Schools are imperative.” “Super-efforts.” The unison of the centers is the chief difficulty in work on oneself. Man the slave of his body. Wastages of energy from unnessary muscular tension. G. shows exercises for muscular control and relaxation. The “stop” exercise. The demands of “stop.” G. relates a case of “stop” in Central Asia. The influence of “stop” at Essentuki. The habit of talking An experiment in fasting. What sin is. G. shows exercises in attention. An experiment in breathing. Realization of the difficulties of the Way Indispensability of great knowledge, efforts, and help. “Is there no way outside the ‘ways’?” The “ways” as help given to people according to type. The “subjective” and “objective” ways. The obyvatel. What does “to be serious” mean? Only one thing is serious. How to attain real freedom? The hard way of slavery and obedience. What is one prepared to sacrifice. The fairy tale of the wolf and the sheep. Astrology and types. A demonstration. G. announces the dispersal of the group. A final trip to Petersburg.

CHAPTER XVIII

Petersburg.  October  1917.  Bolshevik  revolution.  Return  to  G.  in  the Caucasus. G ‘s attitude to one of his pupils. A small company with G at Essentuki.  More  people  arrive  Resumption  of  work.  Exercises  are  more difficult  and  varied  than  before  Mental  and  physical  exercises,  dervish dances, study of psychic “tricks.” Selling silk Inner struggle and a decision. The choice of gurus. The decision to separate. G goes to Sochi. A difficult time: warfare and epidemics. Further study of the enneagram, “Events” and the necessity of leaving Russia. London the final aim Practical results of work on oneself: feeling a new I, “a strange confidence.” Collecting a group in Rostov and expounding G.’s system. G. opens his Institute in Tiflis. Journey to Constantinople. Collecting people. G arrives New group introduced to G. Translating a dervish song. G the artist and poet. The Institute started in Constantinople. G authorizes the writing and publishing of a book. G. goes to Germany. Decision to continue Constantinople work in London, 1921 G organizes his Institute at Fontainebleau. Work at the Chateau de la Prieuré. A talk with Katherine Mansfield. G. speaks of different kinds of breathing. “Breathing through movements.” Demonstrations at the Theatre des Champs Elysées, Pans. G.’s departure for America, 1924. Decision to continue work in London independently.

Self-study must begin with the study of the four functions, thinking, feeling, instinctive function, and moving function.

So now we must try to understand the four chief functions.

I will take it for granted that it is clear to you what I mean by the intellectual or thinking function. All mental processes are included here: realization of an impression, formation of representations and concepts, reasoning, comparison, affirmation, negation, formation of words, speech, imagination, and so on.

The second function is feeling or emotions: joy, sorrow, fear, astonishment, and so on. Even if you are sure that it is clear to you how, and in what, emotions differ from thoughts, I should advise you to verify all your views in regard to this. We mix thought and feelings in our ordinary thinking and speaking; but for the beginning of self-study it is necessary to know clearly which is which.

The two functions following, instinctive and moving, will take longer to understand, because in no system of ordinary psychology are these functions described and divided in the right way.

The words “instinct,” “instinctive,” are generally used in the wrong sense and very often in no sense at all. In particular, to instinct are generally ascribed external functions which are in reality moving functions, and sometimes emotional.

The instinctive function in man includes in itself four different classes of functions:

FIRST: All the inner work of the Organism, all physiology, so to speak; digestion and assimilation of food, breathing, circulation of the blood, all the work of inner Organs, the building of new cells, the elimination of worked-out materials, the work of glands of inner secretion, and so on.

SECOND: The so-called five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch; and all other senses such as the sense of weight, of temperature, of dryness or of moisture, and so on; that is, all indifferent sensations- sensations which by themselves are neither pleasant nor unpleasant.

THIRD: All physical emotions; that is, all physical sensations which are either pleasant or unpleasant. All kinds of pain or unpleasant feeling such as unpleasant taste or unpleasant smell, and all kinds of physical pleasure, such as pleasant taste, pleasant smell, and so on.

FOURTH: All reflexes, even the most complicated, such as laughter and yawning; all kinds of physical memory such as memory of taste, memory of smell, memory of pain, which are in reality inner reflexes.

The moving function includes in itself all external movements, such as walking, writing, speaking, eating, and memories of them. To the moving function also belong those movements which in ordinary language are called “instinctive,” such as catching a falling object without thinking.

The difference between the instinctive and the moving function is very clear and can be easily understood if one simply remembers that all instinctive functions without exception are inherent and that there is no necessity to learn them in order to use them; whereas on the other hand, none of the moving functions are inherent and one has to learn them as a child learns to walk, or as one learns to write or to draw.

 Besides these normal moving functions, there are also some strange moving functions which represent useless work of the human machine not intended by nature, but which occupy a very large place in man’s life and use a great quantity of his energy. These are:

formation of dreams, imagination, daydreaming, talking with oneself, all talking for talking’s sake, and generally, all uncontrolled and uncontrollable manifestations.

The four functions-intellectual, emotional, instinctive, and moving-must first be understood in all their manifestations, and later they must be observed in oneself. Such self-observation, that is, observation on the right basis, with a preliminary understanding of the states of consciousness and of different functions, constitutes the basis of self-study; that is, the beginning of psychology.

It is very important to remember that in observing different functions it is useful to observe at the same time their relation to different states of consciousness.

February 12 to 18,   2012

An estimated 25   percent of all children in the United States are affected by or exposed to a   family alcohol problem. SAMHSA supports the National Association for Children   of Alcoholics (NACoA) during its Children of Alcoholics (COA) Week. COA Week   celebrates the recovery of the many thousands of children (of all ages) who have   received the help they needed to recover from the pain and losses suffered in   their childhood, and it offers hope to those still suffering from the adverse   impact of parental alcohol and drug addiction.

During COA Week, we   acknowledge the millions of children affected by a parent’s substance use   disorder and celebrate that there is hope and healing for these children now   and throughout their lives. This week—and throughout the year—remember to   ask, “What about the children?” when speaking about recovery from   substance use disorders.

http://www.nacoa.org/coaweek_tools.html ]]> http://missionunity.org/440/honoring-children-of-alcoholics-week/feed/ 0 http://missionunity.org/435/florida-turns-tide-on-prescription-drug-abuse/ http://missionunity.org/435/florida-turns-tide-on-prescription-drug-abuse/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:10:25 +0000 George Filhour http://missionunity.org/?p=435 Florida turns tide on prescription drug abuse

BRADENTON HERALD EDITORIAL | Crackdowns, new measures stem oxycodone epidemic

Florida can celebrate several major milestones in the struggle to contain the state’s prescription drug abuse and pill mill epidemic. Striking new evidence exposes the depth and depravity of this years-long nightmare. While doctors purchased some 46 million oxycodone tablets in 2010, that figure plunged to 1.2 million last year — an astounding 97 percent drop.

A new state law that took effect July 1 prevents doctors from selling oxycodone, a powerful painkiller, and other narcotics directly from their offices — typically in cash deals to walk-in drug abusers and traffickers masquerading as patients, often from out of state.

Overall statewide sales of oxycodone from pharmacies and doctors fell from 622 million doses in 2010 to some 498 million pills last year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also reported last week — another promising indication that Florida is finally gaining the upper hand in the battle against this terrible scourge. In 2010 alone, oxycodone contributed to more than 1,500 drug overdose deaths, a staggering increase from the 350 victims in 2005.

The Manatee County death toll from 2010 reached 246, causing untold heartache among family and friends. When pain clinics began popping up around the county that dreadful year, the City of Bradenton wisely adopted a moratorium on new pill mills in May, soon followed by similar measures in Manatee County and Palmetto.

Florida finally awoke to this shameful situation several years ago, adopting a law establishing a prescription drug database that required doctors and pharmacies to report prescriptions and sales of powerful pain and anxiety medications. Still, some legislators and Gov. Rick Scott wanted to repeal the 2009 law, labeling the database a violation of privacy rights. Public safety and health priorities finally trumped that misguided concern, and the state launched the overdue Prescription Drug Monitoring Program this past September.

The database, designed to inform doctors and pharmacies about over-prescribed patients who obtained prescriptions from a variety of sources, now contains information on 26 million prescriptions. Not only does the monitoring system help prevent “doctor shopping” by patients, law enforcement can access the tool to uncover doctors and pharmacies that are prescribing and selling inordinate amounts of narcotic medications.

Investigations this past year brought indictments against dozens of pain clinic owners and doctors, including several from Manatee County. Fewer out-of-state drug abusers and dealers are flocking to the Sunshine State for easy scores. And Florida, once home to 90 of the nation’s top 100 physicians for writing oxycodone prescriptions, saw that number drop to 13 last year.

While prescription drug abusers and traffickers may be moving on to other substances, Florida can no longer be considered complicit in the mishandling of oxycodone and other legal narcotics — a remarkable and quick turnaround.
Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/02/05/3846084/florida-turns-tide-on-prescription.html#storylink=cpy

Previous research has pointed to these differences, but it was unclear if  they resulted from the ravages of addiction or if they were there beforehand to  predispose a person to drug abuse.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge compared the brains of addicts to  their non-addicted siblings as well as to healthy, unrelated volunteers and  found that the siblings shared many of the same weaknesses in their brains.

That indicates that the brain vulnerabilities had a family origin, though  somehow the siblings of addicts — either due to environmental factors or other  differences in brain structure — were able to resist addiction.

“Presumably, the siblings must have some other resilience factors that  counteract the familial vulnerability to drug dependence,” said the study led by Karen Ersche of the  University of Cambridge, published in the journal Science.

“An individual’s predisposition to become addicted to stimulant drugs may be  mediated by brain abnormalities linked to impaired self-control.”

Researchers tested 50 biological sibling pairs, in which one was addicted to  drugs and the other one had no history of chronic drug abuse. They also tested  50 healthy, unrelated pairs of people as a control group.

The tests involved measuring how well they could control their impulses in a  stop-signal reaction time test that assesses how quickly a person can switch  from following one set of instructions to another.

Addicts are known to have poor impulse control.

The researchers found that the sibling pairs — even the non-addicts –  fared significantly worse on the test than the healthy volunteers.

Brain scans showed that the siblings shared some of the same weaknesses in  the frontal lobe and its connections to the basal ganglia, which mediates motor,  cognition and behavior.

In an accompanying Perspective article, Nora  Volkow and Ruben  Baler of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse said that knowing more  about brain circuitry could help understand and treat other “impaired control”  disorders, like obesity, pathological gambling, attention deficit hyperactivity  disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

“Several childhood and adolescent interventions can improve executive  function and self-control,” though more study is needed to see how such work may  or may not impact the brain, they wrote.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/drug-addicts-born-abnormal-brains-study-article-1.1017882#ixzz1lco9CIPs