Substance Abuse

Watch the Meth in San Juan County documentary here.

Download the Drug Guide for Parents
The Partnership for a Drug Free America's guide for parents detailing the top 13 drugs of abuse.

I want to update you on some of the ways your support of The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is providing urgent help to families in crisis and keeping millions of young people healthy and drug-free:

The Partnership is creating the first-ever Adolescent and Young Adult Treatment Network to help 8 ½ million people under 25 suffering from the disease of addiction find the quality medical care they need and deserve.  Currently less than 10% get treatment.

We are leading the way in educating parents, teens, and medical professionals about the dangers of abusing prescription medicines, which continues to receive broad coverage throughout the media. 

  • The Partnership helps communities in 24 states hit hard by methamphetamine 'on the ground.'  Our Meth360 program brings together prevention and treatment specialists with local law enforcement to educate citizens on how to take action against this highly destructive drug.   
  • Our new resource Time To Act offers compassionate, science-based and streamlined guidance for parents who suspect or know their child is experimenting with drugs or alcohol - to help them have productive conversations, set limits, and take confident action.

With Time To Talk we are creating a new community of parents who share tools and tips on talking to their kids about the risks of drugs and alcohol.  Five million parents and caregivers have visited www.timetotalk.org and 60,000 have fully joined this new network of support.

Twenty-three million Americans struggle with addiction.  For these individuals and their loved ones, it's a life and death issue.  This year, 4.2 million teens will use an illicit drug or alcohol, and over 100,000 Americans will die drug- and alcohol-related deaths.  We know that it doesn't have to be that way.

The Partnership has proven again and again that we can make a difference in people's lives.  Here are the facts confirmed by numerous national studies:  teen drug use has fallen by half since we started in 1987; overall illicit drug use is down by a third; and in this decade youth drug use is in a continual significant decline for cocaine, LSD and other hallucinogens, Ecstasy, methamphetamine and marijuana.

We share our successes with you, our valued donors and supporters.  We can't do it without you.   Working together is the best hope for keeping our young people healthy and drug-free.  We need you with us now more than ever. 

Thank you again for your help in creating a better future and healthier families across America.

Sincerely,

Stephen J. Pasierb
President and CEO
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America

Working with parents to prevent and get help for teen drug and alcohol abuse.

Substance abuse is the overindulgence in and dependence of a drug or other chemical leading to effects that are detrimental to the individual's physical and mental health, or the welfare of others.[2]

The disorder is characterized by a pattern of continued pathological use of a medication, non-medically indicated drug or toxin, that results in repeated adverse social consequences related to drug use, such as failure to meet work, family, or school obligations, interpersonal conflicts, or legal problems. There are on-going debates as to the exact distinctions between substance abuse and substance dependence, but current practice standard distinguishes between the two by defining substance dependence in terms of physiological and behavioral symptoms of substance use, and substance abuse in terms of the social consequences of substance use.[3]

Substance abuse may lead to addiction or substance dependence. Medically, physiologic dependence requires the development of tolerance leading to withdrawal symptoms. Both abuse and dependence are distinct from addiction which involves a compulsion to continue using the substance despite the negative consequences, and may or may not involve chemical dependency. Dependence almost always implies abuse, but abuse frequently occurs without dependence, particularly when an individual first begins to abuse a substance. Dependence involves physiological processes while substance abuse reflects a complex interaction between the individual, the abused substance and society.[4]

 

Source: Wikipedia

Prescription Medications

Steroids (Anabolic)