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One in 12 Americans Admit Driving While Possibly Drunk

More than 30 million Americans will hit the road this Labor Day weekend for one last summer road trip. But a new survey indicates many of those drivers admit they may be driving while under the influence of alcohol.

One in 12 American adults admit they may have driven while drunk within the last year, according to a new survey by FindLaw.com (http://www.findlaw.com/), the most popular legal information website. The survey found that 7 percent of American adults say they have driven within the last 12 months even though they thought they may have been over the legal blood alcohol limit for drinking and driving in their state.

Problem parents -- those who fail to monitor their children's school night activities, safeguard their prescription drugs, address the problem of drugs in their children's schools, and set good examples -- increase the risk that their 12- to 17-year-old children will smoke, drink, and use illegal and prescription drugs, according to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIII: Teens and Parents, the 13th annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

"This year's survey reveals that too many mothers and fathers are problem parents who fail to take essential steps to prevent their kids from smoking, drinking or using drugs. By their actions -- and inactions -- by failing to become part of the solution, these parents become part of the problem of teen alcohol and drug abuse," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. "Indeed, these problem parents enable -- some even encourage -- their 12- to 17-year-olds to use and abuse tobacco, alcohol, and illegal and prescription drugs."

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Group Therapy for Younger Addicts

News Briefs - News Briefs

Written by Jenna Bensoussan

Thursday, 13 March 2008

Health experts are turning more and more to group therapy to help troubled tweens defeat troubling levels of pot and booze addictions.

The number of 12- and 13-year-olds treated for addiction hit a three-year high in 2007, with 34 kids in Massachusetts facilities, up from 27 in 2005, according to Department of Public Health figures obtained by the Herald.

“It is definitely disturbing,” said Jennifer Gearhart, director of outpatient mental health at Brockton-based South Bay Mental Health, which treats more than 1,000 young addicts each year. “We’re finding that the most effective treatment is group treatment. It is a more recent development and more effective than the usual one-to-one counseling.”

She added that while group therapy is a huge component, getting families involved in support is also crucial to weaning a child off alcohol or marijuana. Gearhart said her state-funded organization, which has facilities from New Bedford to Lowell, has treated children as young as 10 for substance abuse.

“It is very worrying because the younger they start using, there is an increased likelihood that they will develop an addiction,” said psychologist Dr. Monica Rozner, director of clinical services for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. “Also worrying is that at the age of 12 or 13, the brain is still developing and substance abuse could have significant impact on that.”

A new state-funded treatment center in Worcester that helps youngsters battle addiction is planning to increase the number of beds it houses after opening in October.

“The need for services (for young people) is only going to snowball. It is a really big problem,” said Teri Newman, director of the four-month-old Motivating Youth Recovery program.

Boston-based Bridge Over Troubled Waters, which helps homeless youngsters, deals with many young clients whose lives have been ravaged by drugs.

“I was 13 when I first started on pot, pills and cocaine. It became an everyday thing,” said a homeless 18-year-old man being helped by the program who asked that he remain anonymous. His addiction drove a wedge between him and his family and he eventually moved from North Carolina to Massachusetts to be near his father in 2006.

“I had a lot of family who tried their best for me, but I would steal from them to buy drugs,” he said. “I got into harder drugs like methadone, crack and cocaine. I ended up in jail and now I’m homeless because of it. They ruined my life.” DPH figures show that 1,182 people under 16 were admitted for treatment in 2004 but dropped to 980 in 2005. It shot up in 2006 to 1,012 admissions before dropping to 833 last year.

“For us it is a big worry,” said Michael Bottecelli, director of the DPH’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. “Underage substance abuse is a main priority for the department,” Bottecelli said.

American Medical Association researchers last year published the results of a 20-year study that revealed young drinkers suffered “significant and possibly irreversible” damage to parts of the brain.

--Boston Herald