Every day, kids face tremendous social pressure at school, on the playground and just hanging out with friends at home. While some forms of peer pressure are good, such as a friendly competition to get better grades, others can be downright deadly. According to the Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base, approximately 30% of kids admit to being offered drugs or alcohol in middle school and high school. Unfortunately, some of these kids will give in to the peer pressure and place themselves at risk for the negative consequences that accompany addiction. Since peer pressure is a powerful thing, it is important for kids to be empowered with the tools and knowledge they need to overcome temptation. Keep Communication Open It is important for parents to make sure that their kids know they can come to them with any problem. Listen without judgment to any topic your children bring up, and remember that when they say a friend is having a problem, it may actually be about themselves. When you approach every conversation with an open mind, you can get to the true issue at hand and guide your child in the right direction. Be Involved Teenagers who are involved in their school and community develop self-confidence that makes it easier to resist peer pressure. Activities such as playing sports or volunteering also put kids in touch with peers who are less likely to do drugs. Parents should also strive to…

Prescription drug abuse is recognized as the act of taking a prescription drug differently from the way it was intended to be taken. There are many ways a prescription medication can be abused. These include: Consuming a dose larger than what was prescribed by your doctor. Consuming medication that was not originally prescribed to you. Specifically using the medication in order to achieve a “high.” Administering the medication in a way not advised by your doctor. (For example, snorting, injecting, or crushing prescription medication is generally not advised.) The abuse of prescription medication can easily encourage dependence or addiction. Common medications that easily provoke addiction are stimulants, tranquilizers, sedatives, and painkillers. In the United States alone, prescription medication abuse is a rampant problem. It is currently estimated that 1 in 5 US citizens who are at least 12 years of age or older have abused prescription medication before in their lives. This measures out to roughly 52 million people. In fact, young people comprise a large portion of this group. In 2010, NIDA (the National Institute on Drug Abuse) surveyed a large number of high school age people on their habits with prescription drug usage. For every 12 seniors, there was 1 who had abused Vicodin, a prescription painkiller, in that same year. Furthermore, 1 in 20 had abused OxyContin in the same year. Side Effects and Addiction When drugs such as stimulants, tranquilizers, sedatives, opioids, and painkillers are abused,…

Professors and grad students are usually seen as sources of wisdom, sages who push students to go further, dive deeper, and pursue knowledge. But professors and those in academia suffer from job-related pressure, stress, and chaos, sometimes leading to drug use, addiction, and addiction treatment programs. The unique pressures of academia can encourage and even mask a person’s addiction. Professors and grad students are often required to present their research or attend networking events. In both cases, downing a drink or a pill beforehand can help people soothe their anxiety and get through the event. The stress of academic life in general can be a concern as well. Professors must think about teaching, researching, students; they worry about whether they’re a good teacher, whether their CV is robust enough, whether they’ll ever make tenure. The amount of work that people in academia must do is also unbearable at times; a professor may reward herself with a few glasses of wine while pushing through a paper, or a grad student might take a stimulant to fuel a researching session. On top of all this, the structure of academia can even help those with addiction to hide their problems. Professors can disappear during breaks or sabbaticals, avoiding colleagues and students and bingeing in secrecy. The drinking-positive culture of academia can also reinforce unhealthy addictive behaviors. Academic conferences and events often have bars where professionals drink together, and many grad students socialize by…