Great New ONLINE RESOURCE: Victorian AOD Statistics – easy to access and evaluate. Perfect to keep across impact of AOD on various demographics and LGA’s in the State of Victoria.
www.aodstats.org.au
Gateway Theory continues to consolidate:
Gateway theory has long persisted in different forms. Further emerging evidence demonstrate that sequencing and timing of use, added to delivery mechanism (mostly via cigarettes) does what Gateway Theory postulates. According to the literature, approximately 100,000 people 'QUIT' tobacco each year, but sadly are replace by the same number taking it up. No prizes for guessing the demographic servicing that statistic - sadly it is this emerging generation that are most susceptible to the drug taking libertarian culture too.. http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1405092 (View Paper)
Study: Teens who smoke weed daily are 60% less likely to complete high school than those who never use and seven times more likely to attempt suicide:
Teenagers who smoke marijuana daily are over 60 percent less likely to complete high school than those who never use. They're also 60 percent less likely to graduate college and seven times more likely to attempt suicide. Those are the startling conclusions of a new study of adolescent cannabis use out today in The Lancet Psychiatry, a British journal of health research.
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Young Adult Sequaela of Adolescent Cannabis Use:
Interpretation: Adverse sequelae of adolescent cannabis use are wide ranging and extend into young adulthood. Prevention or delay of cannabis use in adolescence is likely to have broad health and social benefits. Efforts to reform cannabis legislation should be carefully assessed to ensure they reduce adolescent cannabis use and prevent potentially adverse developmental effects. (View Paperr)
When you publicly ‘permit/promote’ drug use, this is what you get!
Yesterday the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index™ (DTI) data was released. Important DTI headlines to note include:
- The percentage of positive drug tests among American workers has increased for the first time in more than a decade, fuelled by a rise in marijuana and amphetamines use
- Marijuana positivity increased 6.2 percent nationally in urine drug tests, but by double digits in Colorado and Washington
- Detection of marijuana continues to increase significantly in oral fluid testing
- Methamphetamine positivity increased across all drug testing types
- Oxycodone positivity declined for the second consecutive year
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Binge drinking ONCE during pregnancy can damage your child's mental health and school results
- Children of mothers who binge drank once or more during pregnancy had lower school results at age 11
- Builds on previous research showing binge drinking in pregnancy leads to children having poorer mental health, especially hyperactivity and inattention
- Binge drinking defined as having four or more units in one sitting- the equivalent of two pints of beer, four single G&Ts or small glasses of wine
- A quarter of mothers reported binge drinking at least once during pregnancy and more than half said they'd done so once or twice in the past month
- Experts said findings highlight the need for 'clear policy messages' around binge drinking when pregnant
- Researchers said that data was collected 20 years ago when attitudes towards drinking might have been different
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Snapshot of Victoria’s Alcohol Culture – Vic Health (View Paper)