Cognitive skills are still developing during your teenage years. However, it is also in these years where social and peer pressure peak. These factors can have a significant impact on behavior and developing habits. Drug use and experimentation are some of the habits that your parents are most afraid of for their teens. If you…
The risks of adolescent substance abuse go beyond marijuana and alcohol use. Today, substance abuse includes the abuse of prescription drugs such as benzodiazepines. Benzos, as many people call them, are a category of drugs known as sedatives. Even though doctors prescribe these medications, they can also be abused, in which case, you might need…
When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made its 2017 declaration of an opioid public health emergency, it underscored the grim reality of the opioid crisis in Mississippi and across the country. States like Mississippi found themselves in the grips of a nightmare, with constant news reports of people overdosing or dying in…
Gustav Ahr, known as rapper Lil Peep, died on Wednesday, November 15, 2017. The rapper was found dead in his tour bus after what officials suspected as an accidental overdose. The night in question, Lil Peep posted videos to his Instagram which showed him taking “bars,” the street name for tablets of the popular benzodiazepine…
Addiction and substance abuse in children, teenagers, and adolescents is not always obvious. Behavioral signs can indicate that something is off with a beloved child and quickly reveal that substances are playing a part. Loss of interest Passion and a vertigo of focus are common characteristics of children. A child who has found their passion…
You clean everything out. You search every corner of the house. You put locks on medicine cabinets and liquor cabinets. Time after time, your kid continues to find drugs and alcohol. Here are some of the most common places your kid is making their discovery. Your medicine cabinet Most kids find drugs at home through…
When an epidemic of the proportions the opioid epidemic is ravaging the world, the youth have to be taken into consideration. Losing friends, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, schoolteachers, and other critical adults in their lives to opioids takes a toll. Experiencing the opioid epidemic second hand has an effect. Exposure to a drug-affected…
Teenage boys get hurt. Mothers, fathers, and care providers for adolescent males know that another injury is just one decision away. Trips to the emergency room and doctor’s office are common for another stunt, athletic injury, or mindless repercussion of a poorly thought out decision. As parents, we expect this kind of behavior from our…
Most kids can’t stand the taste of cough syrup and other cough-treating products. As parents, we know the struggle all too well of trying to get our sick children to swallow just a brief spoonful of trusted medicines. Robitussin, Nyquil, and other sticky liquids were never the favorite remedy and often ended up spilled on…
Emotional abuse can result in post traumatic stress disorder. According to a new study published in Addictive Behaviors, childhood experiences of emotional trauma can lead to opioid abuse in adulthood. Various studies have indicated that childhood traumatic experiences can lead to a higher risk of experimentation and/or substance abuse in adolescence as well. Post traumatic…