Teens Drinking Less; Boomers Drinking More
The University of Michigan’s “Monitoring the Future” study reported that teenage and college-aged Americans are drinking alcohol at far lower rates than a decade ago. Now, many experts are weighing in on the reasons why. Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University professor of epidemiology, contends that young people organize their social lives far differently than previous generations did. She pointed to a “slow life strategy” among American youth, wherein they put off activities that the previous generation would have adopted because they’re being raised in “relatively affluent times.”
“You’re sort of cocooned where you don’t have to make that transition to adulthood so quickly,” Keyes said. Interestingly, national alcohol consumption rates aren’t going down, which only means one thing: older Americans are drinking more. Researchers have discovered that boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) have stepped up their drinking in recent years, finding that the percentage of older Americans who binge-drink increased from 12.5% to 14.9% over the last 10 years. “We know that if you drink the same amount of alcohol as you get older you’re going to have increasing problems with side effects from that alcohol,” Duke University’s Dr. Daniel Blazer said. “The baby boomers are carrying a heavier load of alcohol use than the people who are currently in the Silent Generation.”
No Criminal Charges Filed in Prince’s Death
CNN reported on Thursday that no criminal charges will be filed in the death of performer Prince. Attorney Mark Metz said that the late rocker died from an accidental fentanyl overdose: “Prince had no idea he was taking a counterfeit pill that could kill him,” Metz said, adding that there is no evidence of how he actually received the painkiller. The CNN story comes on the heels of a recent $30,000 settlement between the US and the Minnesota doctor who saw Prince in the weeks leading up to the singer’s death. According to CNN, the physician agreed to pay the settlement over allegations that he prescribed drugs to another person, all the while knowing that Prince would be the one taking the painkiller.
Scientists Working on Drug to End Addiction
Scientists aren’t simply hard at work on an experimental vaccine against addiction, The New York Times reported: they’re making progress on it. The vaccine, the story said, is intended for people “already hooked on heroin or related opioids like Oxycodone and fentanyl—people who would be at risk of death should they detoxify and then relapse, as all too many do.” Dr. Gary Matyas, an immunologist, claimed that he’s making real strides in the vaccine’s development, adding that his drug would be effective against H.I.V., too. The idea is that the drug will stop opioids from reaching the brain. It won’t reduce cravings for opioids, the Times noted, but it will eliminate the high. “It would be part of [addicts’] therapy for recovering,” Dr. Matyas said. “If they mess up and take a dose of heroin, the heroin won’t work.” In the meantime, a lot of work remains to be done in the vaccine’s development, including testing on humans and approval from federal authorities.
Trump Calls for Medication to Combat Addiction
President Trump is pushing to expand the use of medication to treat addiction. In fact, according to CBS News, “it’s a rare instance in which Trump isn’t trying roll back Obama Administration policies, and where fractious Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together.” Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), which uses a combination of behavioral therapy and FDA-approved medication, has been embraced in recent years by experts in the field of addiction. As Congress began working to approve $1 billion for an opioid-specific treatment program last month, Trump announced that “we’re making medically assisted treatment more available and affordable.” What’s also unique about Trump’s stance, CBS News suggested, is that the government is tackling addiction, mental health and treatment in ways they have never before. MAT puts out “the fire of active addiction, of having to wake up and use,” one addict told CBS News. “I believe that addiction is based on and driven by loss, and at the core of it is pain. If you don’t address those issues, sooner or later you’re going to relapse.”
Marijuana Over Alcohol: The Key to Reducing Dementia?
A brand-new study from Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health indicates that alcohol puts drinkers at a greater risk for dementia, Forbes reported. “The findings indicate that heavy drinking and alcohol use disorders are the most important risk factors for dementia, and especially important for those types of dementia which start before age 65, and which lead to premature deaths,” study co-author Jürgen Rehm said, observing that alcohol-induced brain damage and dementia are highly preventable.
That said, the Forbes story pointed to studies that show marijuana as being effective against binge-drinking and alcoholism. One study, for example, observed that medical marijuana patients regularly use pot as a substitute for prescription meds and alcohol; another study noted that in states where marijuana has been legalized, binge-drinking rates have fallen considerably. The Forbes piece considers that if marijuana was legalized everywhere, national dementia rates may fall, too.
Millions of Americans Abusing Prescription Stimulants
A new study in the American Journal of Psychiatry revealed that nearly 5 million Americans misused or abused prescription stimulants—a staggering number, given that 16 million Americans are annually prescribed stimulants. Many Americans illegally used stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin, the study said, for “cognitive enhancement” reasons. While many believe the stimulants are prescribed to children, the study discovered that over half the stimulants prescribed in 2015 were written for people over 20. “I was surprised at the large number of adults who use these medications,” Dr. Wilson Compton, the study’s lead researcher, told The Washington Times. The study was based on data taken from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2015 and 2016, which included responses from over 100,000 adults 18 years and older. The Times reported that typical stimulant abusers tended to be single white males between 18 and 49 years old from a lower-income households, while “a woman with private health insurance” was the profile of someone who correctly takes prescription stimulants.
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