The Partnership at Drugfree.org released the results of the Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) that revealed that prescription painkiller abuse is a huge problem among teens. In fact, 25 percent of teens say they have misused or abused a prescription drug in their lifetime. That marks a whopping 35-percent increase in the past five years. […]

A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that just four years of heavy alcoholic drinking during the college years may be all it takes to increase an individual’s risk for the development of chronic and fatal health problems that include: Heart attacks Strokes Atherosclerosis So how do you […]

You’ve heard it said in a number of different forums and repeated in parenting magazines and public service announcements for years—and for good reason. Family dinners are of huge benefit to your children and one of those many benefits is a decreased rate of drug and alcohol abuse in their teen years, according to a […]

The drug testing of junior high students before they are allowed to play organized school sports is a new phenomenon in some parts of the country. Some parents welcome it while others are furious at what they perceive to be an intrusion upon their child’s civil rights. Who’s right? The Argument for Drug Testing in […]

For preteens and teens diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it’s common to get a doctor’s prescription for a stimulant medication like Vyvanse or Adderall. Increasingly common among teens who are not diagnosed with ADHD is a request for these and other stimulant medications for the purposes of neuroenhancement, according to American Medical […]

When junior high school students who lived in rural areas and small towns received a brief intervention on the topic of prescription drug abuse, a recent study found that they were less likely to engage in abuse of prescription medications, according to the National Institutes of Health. For parents, this means it’s worth it to […]

No matter how the laws change in terms of legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes, it is always harmful to the development of teenager’s brain. No amount of experimentation with marijuana is harmless at this age, and if your son is using the drug for any purpose, don’t hesitate to put a stop to […]

Seizures were ostensibly the cause of the hospital admission and emergency medical treatment of Lil Wayne, a popular rap artist, a few months ago. TMZ reported that these seizures were drug related and may have been connected to a high amount of codeine in his system. He’s not taking the pills, however. If the lyrics of […]

Are drug-sniffing dogs an appropriate response to ferreting out drug use and abuse at home or is it overkill? Some parents have decided that no measure is too large when it comes to finding out whether or not their kids are hiding drugs at home. Some are exceedingly creative: hiding drugs in air-conditioning vents, pulling […]

It’s not just the rate of teen alcohol use but which alcoholic beverages and brands were most often used by teens that was the topic of a recent study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Researchers determined that: Half of underage drinkers drink one or more of the top 25 brands chosen […]

Your opinion matters. Even when your son is busily packing for college, daydreaming about a new life beyond the confines of home and parental boundaries, your input on what he may or may not—or should or should not—experience in terms of alcohol use when he first leaves home has a significant impact on the choices […]

Romance can be just as inciting to drug use and abuse among preteens and young teens as it is for adults, according to a new study published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence. The study found that kids in middle school who dated and had relationships were twice as likely to use alcohol, marijuana, […]