31. August 2011 by stationmanager.

A new national study finds a 55 percent jump in emergency room visits for drug-related suicide attempts in men ages 21 to 34 between 2005 and 2009. The study, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), found suicide attempts involving antidepressants rose by 155 percent, while those involving anti-anxiety and insomnia medications increased by 93 percent.

“I think a lot of these people don’t see these drugs as dangerous because it’s a nice, clean little pill,” Peter Delany, Director of the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality at SAMHSA, told USA Today. He said physicians should ask patients about both their mental health and their physical health before they prescribe medication.

The study found that emergency department visits for suicide attempts among males aged 35 to 49 involving narcotic pain relievers almost doubled from 2005 to 2009, and almost tripled among men 50 and older.

In 2009, there were 77,971 emergency department visits for drug-related suicide attempts among males of all ages, and 29,407 such visits by men ages 21 to 34.

“While we have learned much about how to prevent suicide, it continues to be a leading cause of death among people who abuse alcohol and drugs,” SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D., said in a news release. “The misuse of prescription drugs is clearly helping to fuel the problem. Greater awareness about the warning signs and risk factors for suicide, including abuse of alcohol and drugs, can help people take action and save lives.”

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20. August 2011 by stationmanager.

People who own guns are twice as likely to binge drink and to drink and drive, compared with those who don’t own firearms, a new study finds.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis found that heavy alcohol use was most common among firearm owners who also engaged in behaviors such as carrying a firearm for protection against other people, and keeping a firearm at home that was both loaded and not locked away. The study included the results of a telephone survey of more than 15,000 people in eight states.

In the journal Injury Prevention, the researchers conclude that firearm ownership and specific firearm-related behaviors are associated with alcohol-related risk behaviors. “It’s not surprising that risky behaviors go together,” Garen J. Wintemute, author of the study and director of the university’s Violence Prevention Research Program, told CBS 13 Sacramento. “This is of particular concern given that alcohol intoxication also impairs a gun user’s accuracy as well as his judgment on whether to shoot.”

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3. August 2011 by stationmanager.

The abuse of prescription drugs among teens is growing in New Jersey and is leading to heroin addiction, experts testified at a state hearing this week.

Law enforcement experts told members of the State Commission of Investigation that teens can easily obtain prescription pills, such as Xanax, which has become a ‘gateway drug’ to heroin, according to NJ.com.

Teens are getting the pills from their parents’ medicine cabinets. Because the pills themselves are legal, teens don’t see a stigma in taking them, experts said. Teens turn to heroin when prescription pills become too expensive and don’t provide enough of a high, they reported.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2009, 20 percent of U.S. high school students had ever taken a prescription drug, such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin, or Xanax, without a doctor’s prescription.

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