Comments:Report finds teen substance abuse is top public health problem in US

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i want coke i need it just one sniff the tingling in my nose is so powerfull it feels like the warmth of youre mother hugging you after you havent seeen her your whole life. im doing some as im currently typing this

"A report issued Wednesday by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University finds the top public health problem in the United States is teen drug abuse, including the use of alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, marijuana and other controlled substances."

Alcohol? Legal, but not to minors. Tobacco? Legal to adults. Prescription drugs? Readily obtained. Marijuana? Illegal (and by far the safest of the aforementioned). Alcohol and tobacco are both deadly drugs that corporations urge on US citizens. Prescription drugs are powerful concoctions that pharmaceutical companies urge on US citizens. Marijuana.... is not physiologically addictive and can be grown in your backyard. The researchers emphasize the tenderness of the teenage undeveloped brain; however, they fail to mention CAFFEINE, the most widely consumed psychoactive drug of all, and its ubiquitous presence in the American childhood. Or adulthood. Perhaps there is "cleaner" (more moral? sustainable? healthy) money in making marijuana a readily available recreational drug in all 50 states, while subsequently banning all advertising of these deadlier drugs. That's right! No tobacco commercials, no alcohol commercials; Sacred Liberty is rightfully limited if it endangers anothers'. The overwhelming evidence shows that a more nuanced understanding of drugs must accompany our legislation for and against them: "just say NO" is fucking bullshit.

The results of this study are confounded by the researcher's bias that all use is abuse. Smoke the ganj if you can.68.7.64.48 (talk) 18:25, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

The study is concerned with the public health implications, not with legality or illegality. Alcohol is implicated in something like 40% of serious or fatal automobile accident, for example. Also China, the US and other countries are trying to reduce the use of tobacco because of the tremulous strain tobacco-related disease put on the health care system in countries. The heavy use of marijuana (whether legal or illegal) has been shown to retard social and intellectual development when used by pre-teen and teen-ages. Caffeine has not been shown to have noticeable public health effects, although an individual person may experience harmful side effects, such as tachycardia.

Agreed that advertising of drugs and alcohol etc. glamorize and encourage the use of these substances. The study notes that effect and that it is harmful. The study emphasizes the society in general, and many parents and school personnel, normalize the use of drugs, and thereby encourage their use.

Remember, the U.S. tried to outlaw the use of alcohol in the Prohibition and it didn't work. The solution is education as well as proper role-modeling by adults. If adults are using (as the study says 42% of children live in homes where one or more adults are abusing substances), then children will grow up thinking substance abuse is normal.

Thanks Mattisse. I assumed the long-term development effects of caffeine use on youths was comparable to marijuana use. I'd like to see the articles that show the effects of either on a young brain. I'm just looking at the big picture. You find good articles. 68.7.64.48 (talk) 19:47, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

This is good. My teenage daughter has been using marijuana. We sent to rehab for ten days and I think it helped a bit.

I do not trust her and I don't know if I ever will.

1000 students?? That's not even one school... and they are applying this data nationwide?

As long as the researchers used a random sample, the sample size is irrelevant.

That's true. Unfortunately, none of the sources commented on how the samples were chosen.

I would like to draw your attention to the sample size. 1000 High School students in an ONLINE survey. Not sure about you but my high school participated in national surveys, and there were well over 1000 students in my high school alone. This entire article and the people supporting it reek of statistical manipulation to fulfill an agenda.

Agreed, this article is very misleading, and i really do not know the last time i saw tobacco in an ad or on tv.

mmm....and when you lump alcohol, tobacco, and drugs into one all-inclusive group called "drug abuse", then it could easily top the list of threats to public health

This is a news article reporting on the fact that the findings from the survey were released, and in general what they were, according to the sources.

The most I could find in the sources were that the researchers used online surveys filled out by 1,000 high school students, and 1,000 parents of high school students, and 500 educators, and information from 5 focus groups, and reviews of 2,000 scientific articles and reports.

Granted this is a very vague description of how they gathered and analyzed the data, but it is only one study. It will be evaluated by other researchers who hopefully will gather more data to prove or disprove the findings of this particular study.

"CASA found that 90% of adults who have addictive disorders started using substances before the age of 18. In comparison, only 4% of Americans who abuse as adults started using these drugs when 21 or older."

This seems like a classic example of correlation ≠ causation (or at least not necessarily). The type of people who don't use drugs until 21, are also the type of people who have good self-control. If the addicts waited until 21, they might still have equally poor self-control, and still get addicted later in life.

Very true, i waited until after i was 18 to smoke/drink and it is not somthing i have to have or somthing i abuse. I have a couple drinks and stop, Its easy.

I agree that there are problems with the study, but none of the sources I found commented on the methodological problems. And it was not my place, as I understand wikinews, to point out problems that I saw but that are not found in the sources.

Sensationalist headline combined with a VERY POOR study. Only 1000 students and in an online survey? This reeks of statistical manipulation and propaganda by people with an agenda

"We rightfully worry about other teen health problems like obesity, depression or bullying, but we turn a blind eye to a more common and deadly epidemic that we can in fact prevent." I really hope she's not implying that obesity, depression, and bullying are not preventable. I would imagine that all of these things are preventable, but only with a certain combination of good parenting, after-school activities, and social pressure.

Good topic, good article.