In the news . . .

It's time to clean out my "to share" file again!

Parenting
Parents, just say no to sharing tales of drug use with kids: New research suggests that parents should not talk to their children about their underage drug use.

Prescription Drug Abuse
The existential pain of being young, white, and affluent discusses how the abuse of prescription drugs is most common among those who enjoyed the most advantages in adolescence.

Washington near top, again, in prescription pain pill use provides information from the 2010-11 National Survey on Drug Use and Health that shows that our state ranks in the top five among all 50 states in the percent of people 12 and older who report misusing prescription painkillers.

Washington State Department of Health data show that while hospitalizations for prescription pain medication overdoses continue to increase in our state, the number of deaths have decreased.  A story broadcast on KPLU reports that Washington deaths have dropped for three years in a row.  "We can't point to just one thing we have done and say, 'This is the reason we have this outcome.'  It's been a number of things over time," says Dr. Maxine Hayes, State Health Officer at the Department of Health. 

Alcohol
The geography of violence, alcohol outlets, and drug arrests in Boston suggests that areas with the highest levels of violent crime were poorer and had greater numbers of alcohol outlets and higher drug arrest rates.

A model to determine the likely age of an adolescent's first drink of alcohol discusses a study that added social and family risk factors to an assessment used to determine when a teenager is likely to start drinking.

Bucking the teen curfew in Switzerland describes a growing trend among Swiss towns to introduce curfews as a way to reduce "the sight, and sound, of teenagers drinking alcohol in the park on long summer nights."

Marijuana Legalization in Colorado
Colorado task force says marijuana should be in child-proof packages and not contain any logos or ingredients designed to solely appeal to children.

Drug testing company sees spike in children using marijuana and " . . . it appears that they're using pot more often."  Experts also say that "children are getting higher than ever with alarming levels of THC, marijuana's active ingredient, in their bodies."