Socioeconomic Status Affects the Ease of Quitting Smoking

Jan 26, 2012

Issues: Smoking

Drug type: Tobacco

New research finds that quitting smoking is doubly hard if you are poor and uneducated. Pyschcentral.com featured an article on its website this week that highlighted the work of researchers from The City College of New York who followed smokers from different socioeconomic backgrounds after they had completed a statewide smoking cessation program in Arkansas.

After a program of cognitive-behavioral therapy, either with or without nicotine patches, underprivileged and those from higher social economic backgrounds were able to quit at about the same rate.

However, as time progressed, a significant number of the underprivileged returned to smoking. Those with the fewest social and financial resources had the hardest time staving off cravings over the long run.

“The poorer they are, the worse it gets,” clinical psychologist Christine Sheffer, Ph.D., who directed the program, told the website.

Shaffer discovered smokers on the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder were 55 percent more likely than those at the upper end to start smoking again three months after treatment.

By six months post-quitting, the probability of their going back to cigarettes jumped to 2-1/2 times that of the more affluent smokers.

The research will be published in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health and will appear online under the journal’s “First Look” section.

As part of the study, Sheffer and her colleagues noted that overall, Americans with household incomes of $15,000 or less smoke at nearly three times the rate of those with incomes of $50,000 or greater.

Smoking is still the greatest cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S. today, noted Sheffer. “And it’s a growing problem in developing countries.”

Sheffer believes there are several reasons why it may be harder for some to give up tobacco permanently. Stress is a common reason for nicotine addiction. Unfortunately, those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale suffer more hardships than those at the top, in the form of financial difficulties, discrimination, and job insecurity, to name a few.

And for those smokers who started as teenagers, they may have never learned other ways to manage stress, Sheffer said.

Research on “Dissolvable” Tobacco

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will this week evaluate the health safety and risks of candy-like tobacco products such as lozenges and strips, HealthDay’s Denise Mann reports.

Public health advocates are concerned about the dissolvable, smokeless tobacco products putting children at risk for nicotine addiction and poisoning.

“Dissolvables” are flavored mints, strips and sticks of smokeless tobacco. These products are not stop-smoking aids. Instead, they are designed to allow people to satisfy their cravings for nicotine in places where smoking is banned, the article states.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is test marketing Camel Orbs, Camel Strips and Camel Sticks in two cities, and Star Scientific Inc., is marketing two other dissolvable tobacco products, Ariva and Stonewall.

2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gives the agency authority over the manufacture, distribution and marketing of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

According to an FDA memo obtained online, the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee will be discussing a range of issues including accidental poisoning from dissolvable tobacco, the effects of product packaging, marketing practices, youth perception of the products, and the behavioral, toxicological and physiological effects of dissolvable tobacco.

Marijuana Smoke Not Good For You!

This week, The Fix, a website about addiction, recovery and the drug war, published Former Obama Administration drug policy advisor Kevin A. Sabet’s commentary discussing a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that claims occasional marijuana use doesn’t harm the lungs.

Dr. Sabet recommends a longitudinal study that looks at current trends of high dose marijuana and heavy users, especially those using frequently for “medical purposes.”

“But to say that marijuana smoke is now good for you, as some have suggested, is both disingenuous and dangerous,” Dr. Sabet writes about the highly addictive substance.

To read his entire article, visit http://www.thefix.com/content/is-marijuana-good-your-health7100.

RACE TO THE TOP!!

$200 MILLION NOW AVAILABLE FOR RACE TO THE TOP

 

 

ROUND THREE

Starting in mid November, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina can apply for a share of the

$200 million Race to the Top round three fund. The nine round two finalists are invited to submit applications tailored to support a portion of their Race to the Top plan,

including a meaningful investment in advancing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

said, “Race to the Top round three will enable these nine states to further their reform efforts already underway and help them get better faster.”  States will apply in two

parts. First, applicants will submit a portfolio of assurances confirming their commitment to comprehensively reform education across their state.  Assurances will

include information such as state funding for education and efforts to enhance data systems, raise academic standards, and improve evaluation systems.  Once 

assurances are reviewed and approved by the Department, states will be eligible to submit part two, a detailed plan and budget explaining how the selected reform effort 

 will have a broader impact in supporting student learning and improving STEM education. Proposed STEM investments can be incorporated from a state’s round two

plan by selecting a dedicated STEM activity or including a STEM focus within one of Race to the Top’s four core education reform areas:  Adopting standards

and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace; Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers

and principals how to improve instruction; Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and

Turning around persistently lowest-performing schools. 

 

Available funding will allow for awards ranging from around $12 million to $49 million, depending on state

population.  Amounts will adjust based on the number of participating states that successfully meet assurance requirements. Full participation will make available

awards of up to $12.25 million for Colorado, Louisiana, South Carolina and Kentucky; $17.5 million for Arizona; $28 million for Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and

$49 million for California.  Applicants had to submit part one by November 22, followed by part two by December 16. Awards will be announced in late December.  Race 

to the Top, announced by President Obama in 2009, has been a catalyst to nationwide education reform efforts and generated widespread participation with 46 states

and the District of Columbia submitting applications  between rounds one and two. The Obama Administration’s 2012 budget proposal includes a request to continue  

investing in K-12 education reform through a $900 million district-level Race to the Top competition.

For more information, visit

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/200-million-now-available-race-top-round-three.

Tobacco and Major League Baseball…No Longer Hand in Hand

Dec 01, 2011

Coalition resources: Social Norms

Drug type: Tobacco

This week, Major League Baseball announced it would no longer allow the use of chewing tobacco when fans are present, ending a longstanding tradition, but pleasing health advocates who say it’s a long overdue social norm change.

Since baseball became a professional sport in the mid-19th century, players and coaches have been tucking tobacco between their gums and cheeks and spitting out brown saliva. It’s a ritual that has permeated the game.

Senate leaders and health officials have been calling on Major League Baseball to get tough on tobacco. Dr. Cynthia Simmons, Arlington, Texas’ public health authority, and Pamela Walker, her counterpart in St. Louis, Mo., asked their respective hometown baseball players to refrain from using smokeless tobacco throughout the recent World Series and asked the MLB Players Association to discuss a ban on smokeless tobacco in the 2012 contract negotiations. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig promised anti-tobacco groups that he would propose a ban on smokeless tobacco during 2012 contract talks.

Prevention advocates say a big part of the problem is that young people aren’t aware of the dangers posed by spit tobacco and many believe it’s safer than smoking cigarettes. However, research shows that spit tobacco can be as harmful as cigarettes. In fact, according to Tobaccofacts.org, a person who uses eight to 10 dips or chews of tobacco a day receives the same amount of nicotine as a heavy smoker who smokes 30 to 40 cigarettes a day. The American Cancer Society notes that oral tobacco can cause cancer of the mouth, pancreas, and esophagus, in addition to many other health problems, such as gum disease, destruction of the bone sockets around the teeth, and tooth loss.

The practice is such a problem among the communities that CADCA member-coalitions across West Virginia have joined forces to launch a campaign that aims to cut down on spit tobacco use—a growing problem in West Virginia. The campaign, “Save Face: Stop Spit Tobacco,” counters the tobacco industry’s century-old advertising strategy to market their products by painting barns in rural areas.

Greg Puckett, Executive Director of West Virginia’s Community Connections, says this week’s news of the Major Leagues prohibiting players from using “snuff” is probably the best news he has heard about tobacco in the past several years.

“This is a huge environmental change shift, affecting fans of Major League Baseball and raising the bar for fans and players all the way down to the Little League,” Puckett said.

Overdose on Painkillers at All Time High

Nov 03, 2011

Issues: Prescription Drug Abuse

Coalition resources: Data Analysis

Drug type: Prescription Drug

The death toll from overdoses of prescription painkillers has more than tripled in the past decade, according to an analysis in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Vital Signs report released this week. This new finding shows that more than 40 people die every day from overdoses involving narcotic pain relievers like hydrocodone (Vicodin), methadone, oxycodone (OxyContin), and oxymorphone (Opana). The death rate was highest among persons aged 35–54 years. 

“Overdoses involving prescription painkillers are at epidemic levels and now kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined,” said CDC Director Thomas Frieden. “States, health insurers, health care providers and individuals have critical roles to play in the national effort to stop this epidemic of overdoses while we protect patients who need prescriptions to control pain.” The increased use of prescription painkillers for nonmedical reasons (without a prescription for the high they cause), along with growing sales, has contributed to the large number of overdoses and deaths. In 2010, 1 in every 20 people in the United States age 12 and older—a total of 12 million people—reported using prescription painkillers non-medically, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Based on the data from the Drug Enforcement Administration, sales of these drugs to pharmacies and health care providers have increased by more than 300 percent since 1999.

The study found:

• State death rates from overdoses (from 2008 data) ranged from a high of 27.0 deaths per 100,000 people in New Mexico to a low of 5.5 deaths per 100,000 people in Nebraska.

• Nonmedical use of prescription painkillers ranged from a high of 1 in 12 people aged 12 and older in Oklahoma to a low of 1 in 30 in Nebraska.

• States with more non-medical use tend to have more deaths from drug overdoses.

• Prescription painkiller sales per person were more than three times higher in the highest state, Florida, than in the lowest state, Illinois. States with higher sales per person tend to have higher death rates from drug overdose.

CDC is releasing “Policy Impact: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses,” one in a series of issue briefs highlighting key public health issues and important, science-based policy actions that can be taken to address them. Through this new publication, CDC supports state-based efforts to reduce prescription drug abuse while ensuring patients have access to safe, effective pain treatment. CADCA’s website, preventrxabuse.org, also offers resources for coalitions interested in getting involved in reducing prescription drug abuse.

Teens and Prescription Drug Abuse…Higher Statistics Than One Would Think!

Oct 20, 2011

Issues: Over the Counter Drug Abuse, Prescription Drug Abuse

Drug type: Over the Counter, Prescription Drug

CADCA and the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), which represents the leading makers of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, have joined forces to honor their annual National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of youth prescription and OTC medicine abuse.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution last month that named October as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. The joint CADCA and CHPA campaign features a coordinated and concentrated effort to educate parents and youth of the potential dangers associated with prescription and OTC medicine abuse.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that medicine abuse is our nation’s fastest-growing drug problem. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2010, 2.4 million people abused prescription drugs for the first time. In addition, the 2010 Monitoring the Future Survey found that five percent of teens have abused over-the-counter cough medicines—sometimes as much as 25 to 50 times the recommended dose—containing the active ingredient dextromethorphan to get high over the past year. When abused in extreme excess, dextromethorphan can produce dangerous side effects, especially when combined with alcohol, illicit drugs, or certain prescription drugs.

“While prescription and over-the-counter medicines are safe and necessary for many people, too many teens are abusing these drugs to get high. We hope that our efforts during National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month will raise awareness of the numbers of young people who currently abuse medicines, and spur communities to action to prevent and reduce medicine abuse among youth,” said Gen. Arthur T. Dean, CADCA’s chairman and CEO.

“As we work toward curbing teen cough medicine abuse, education and community engagement continue to be our most valuable tools,” said CHPA President and CEO Scott M. Melville. “National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month offers us the opportunity to provide additional resources to communities interested in raising awareness among parents and teens about the dangers of abusing cough medicine. Additionally, the leading makers of OTC cough medicines and our partners realize that as we tackle this issue head-on our efforts would be bolstered with federal legislative initiatives that would give parents further tools to address this type of abuse.”

These initiatives include a federal ban on sales of OTC cough medicines to teens under the age of 18 and a federal restriction against the sale of the raw, unfinished form of dextromethorphan to anyone other than an entity registered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month coincides with the beginning of the school year and offers a platform for communities nationwide to become involved in this important issue and to take advantage of free and downloadable free and downloadable educational materials. As a part of this effort, community anti-drug coalitions in more than 50 locations throughout the country will be hosting town hall meetings and educational forums in their communities throughout the month of October. These coalitions have access to the online toolkit—A Dose of Prevention: Stopping Cough Medicine Abuse Before It Starts—created by CHPA and CADCA. In addition, CADCA has developed a toolkit to help substance abuse prevention leaders reduce prescription drug abuse, titled Rx Abuse Prevention Toolkit: From Awareness to Action.

To view the materials or to learn more about all of CADCA and CHPA’s activities to help curb prescription and OTC cough medicine abuse, visit PreventRxAbuse.org and StopMedicineAbuse.org.

NIAAA Study on Lack of Counsel to Young Adults on Drinking Habits

Oct 13, 2011

Issues: Abuse, Binge Drinking

Coalition resources: Data Analysis

Drug type: Alcohol

Physicians often fail to counsel their young adult patients about excessive alcohol use, according to a study led by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

NIAAA guidelines for low-risk drinking call for men to drink no more than four drinks in a day and no more than 14 drinks per week. For women, the guidelines are three or fewer drinks per day and no more than seven drinks per week. Previous studies have shown that screening and brief interventions by health care providers such as asking patients about alcohol use and advising them to reduce risky drinking can promote significant, lasting reductions in drinking levels and alcohol-related problems. In addition to NIAAA, professional groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, as well as the U.S Preventive Services Task Force, recommend routine screening for alcohol misuse in primary care and brief interventions for individuals who screen positive.

In the current study, Ralph W. Hingson, director of NIAAA’s division of epidemiology and prevention research, and colleagues at Boston University School of Public Health and Boston Medical Center conducted a random survey of more than 4,000 people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 39. The researchers asked survey participants about their drinking habits and whether they had been seen by a doctor during the past year. Those who had seen a doctor were asked additional questions to determine whether the doctor had assessed their alcohol use and advised them about safe drinking practices during the visit. The researchers report that 16 percent of those surveyed were non-drinkers, 24 percent drank at or below daily or weekly limits, 47 percent exceeded daily or weekly limits, and 13 percent exceeded both.

The findings are published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

“Two-thirds of the people we surveyed had been seen by a doctor in the past year,” Dr. Hingson said. “However, of individuals whose drinking exceeded NIAAA guidelines, only 49 percent recalled being asked about their drinking, and only 14 percent were counseled about it. Young adults between ages 18 and 25 were the most likely to report drinking in excess of NIAAA guidelines, and only 34 percent of them were asked about drinking by their doctors, compared with 54 percent of adults ages 26 to 39.”

“In the United States, excessive alcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of death,” NIAAA Acting Director Kenneth Warren, said. “It’s also a significant cause of disability for men and women in this country. The findings reported by Dr. Hingson and his colleagues indicate that we must redouble our efforts to help clinicians make alcohol screening and brief intervention a routine part of patient care in the United States.”

NIAAA’s ‘Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician’s Guide, available at the NIAAA website, provides a research-based, simplified approach to alcohol screening and brief intervention for both primary care and mental health clinicians.

Insufficient Sleep Impacts Teen’s Health-Risk Behaviors

Sep 29, 2011

Issues: Binge Drinking, Smoking, Underage drinking

Coalition resources: Data Analysis

Drug type: Alcohol, Marijuana, Tobacco

About 70 percent of U.S. high school students don’t get enough sleep on school nights and this is linked to health-risk behaviors, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They concluded that insufficient sleep is associated with a variety of health-risk behaviors, including: physical inactivity, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, drinking soda, fighting, being sexually active, marijuana use and seriously considering attempting suicide.

High school students participating in the 2007 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey were asked, “On an average school night, how many hours of sleep do you get?”

The study, published online by Preventive Medicine, said 68.9 percent of adolescent responders reported insufficient sleep on an average school night. Insufficient sleep was considered less than 8 hours and sufficient sleep 8 or more hours of sleep.

Students who reported insufficient sleep were more likely to engage in the health-risk behavior than students who reported sufficient sleep, researchers said.

“Many adolescents are not getting the recommended hours of sleep they need on school nights. Insufficient sleep is associated with participation in a number of health-risk behaviors including substance use, physical fighting, and serious consideration of suicide attempt,” Lela McKnight-Eily of the CDC said in a statement to United Press International.

McKnight-Eily recommended public health intervention, and the consideration of delayed school start times to help students get more shut-eye.

Why eating dinner with your teen is important!

Sep 22, 2011

Drug type: Alcohol, Tobacco

Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners (five to seven per week), those who have infrequent family dinners (fewer than three per week) are almost four times likelier to use tobacco; more than twice as likely to use alcohol; two-and-a-half times likelier to use marijuana; and almost four times likelier to say they expect to try drugs in the future, according to The Importance of Family Dinners VII, a new report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA Columbia).

The CASA Columbia family dinners report revealed that teens who have infrequent family dinners are likelier to say they have ready access to alcohol, prescription drugs (without a prescription in order to get high) or marijuana. Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners, those who have infrequent family dinners are more likely to be able to get alcohol, prescription drugs or marijuana in an hour or less. In contrast, teens who have frequent family dinners are more likely to report having no access to such drugs.

The CASA Columbia family dinners report reveals that 58 percent of teens report having dinner with their families at least five times a week, a proportion that has remained consistent over the past decade.
 
“This year’s study reinforces the importance of frequent family dinners,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA Columbia’s Founder and Chairman and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. “Ninety percent of Americans who meet the medical criteria for addiction started smoking, drinking, or using other drugs before age 18. Parental engagement in children’s lives is key to raising healthy, drug-free kids and one of the simplest acts of parental engagement is sitting down to the family dinner. Seventeen years of surveying teens has taught us that the more often children have dinner with their families the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.”

Coalitions are encouraged to put the theory into practice at Family Day — A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children on Monday, Sept. 26. The national movement launched by CASA Columbia in 2001 reminds parents that frequent family dinners make a difference. CADCA is a partner in this national, annual event.