Suburban Teen Binge Drinking Rates Outpace Nation

While some parents may think it’s better to allow their kids and friends to drink supervised at home, social hosting, as it’s called, is punishable by jail time in Illinois.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Suburban-Teen-Binge-Drinking-Rates-Outpace-Nation-510098251.html

Suburban Chicago teens are getting their hands on alcohol and drinking to excess more often than most of their peers across the country.

NBC 5 Investigates has learned that about 24-27% of suburban Chicago high school seniors admitted to drinking to excess once every two weeks. The information was collected via the Illinois Youth Survey. For comparison, a 2017 Centers for Disease Control study indicated 19% of all high school students binge drink.

Teen Binge Drinking Rates Outpace Nation: Web Extra 1

Binge drinking is defined as 4 drinks for a woman and 5 drinks for a man in a 2-3 hour time frame.

Surveys also show teen binge drinking in some of Chicago’s north suburbs far outpaces the national average.

For example, New Trier Township High School District 203 said 33% of its students answered “yes” to binge drinking at least once in the last 30 days in the CDC’s 2018 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. School district officials announced the findings in a February report and said binge drinking is a significant health concern that may be an issue to which the community is predisposed.

Teen Binge Drinking Rates Outpace Nation: Web Extra 2

“We have taken significant steps to address this issue within the school and now need to shift our focus to confronting binge drinking as a community issue,” wrote Assistant Superintendent for Student Services Timothy Hayes.

Still, Deputy Chief Brian O’Connell of the Winnetka Police Department said there has not been an increase in teen-related alcohol arrests.

“The New Trier survey results do not reflect what law enforcement is seeing,” said O’Connell .

NBC 5 Investigates talked to North Shore high schoolers who said today’s teens face a lot of real world pressures that could lead some to drink alcohol.

“Everything’s just kind of out in the open now with the influence of the Internet in a way that makes like even the littler things just a lot more high stress,” said one Lake Forest High School junior.

A Lake Forest High School senior said, “There’s kids here that are running businesses, making films, doing these internships that are out-of-this-world and going to these, like, unbelievable colleges. So it’s like they’re living an adult life and so those things kind of come with being an adult.”

Todd Nahigian manages the Committee Representing Our Young Adults (CROYA) after school program in Lake Forest. He said teens often model the behaviors they see from their parents.

“In this area it almost seems that there’s a level of acceptance, that that’s the drug of choice, that that’s a socially acceptable way to have a cocktail at a party or enjoy yourself at the end of a long day,” Nahigian said.

According to Nahigian, parents are the one factor that will have the biggest impact on reducing teen drinking.

“It doesn’t mean that they’re not going to drink if their parents don’t want them to, but they’re more cautious, they’re more safe, they’re more interested in making the right decision knowing that their parents will be awake when they get home, knowing that their parents will be asking where they’ve been,” Nahigian said.

While some parents may think it’s better to allow their kids and friends to drink supervised at home, social hosting, as it’s called, is punishable by jail time in Illinois.

NBC5 Investigates searched through state records and found that state liquor-control officers have cited more than thirteen hundred (1,349) bars, restaurants, groceries and liquor stores for selling alcohol to minors in the greater Chicagoland area — including northwest Indiana – in the past five years.

• We found 161 places that have been cited more than once.

• Another 13 places have been cited three times.

• A liquor store in south-suburban Calumet Park has been cited four separate times.

• And we discovered a convenience store in Crown Point, Indiana that has been cited five separate times – just in the past five years.

But state liquor control officers only focus on certain towns and areas – so this does NOT include all citations and arrests made by local police.

The CDC’s 500 Cities Project also surveyed adults (18 +) about binge drinking and found Arlington Heights, Schaumburg and Palatine ranked among the top ten highest binge drinking cities in the country.

“We’ve wiped out literally most of the prevention money in the state of Illinois. It is important to get prevention education back into schools so that people can learn about drugs and alcohol,” said addiction treatment specialist Dr. Dan Lustig.

Sgt. Doug Hajek of the Arlington Heights Police Department said several northwest suburban police departments are participating in a program to keep alcohol out of the hands of those under 21 years of age, by reminding those over 21 that it is illegal to buy for those who are underage.

Teen binge drinking rates in Portage, Indiana, have been reduced by more than half in the past decade, according to the Porter County Substance Abuse Council. Law enforcement said a combination of proactive policing, students participating in school programs and local business involvement have helped reduce teen binge drinking rates, per youth surveys, from 32.1% in 2009 to 9.1% in 2018.

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135 officers arrest 50 people in massive Connecticut heroin bust: 11 suspects on the run

https://www.foxnews.com/us/police-arrest-51-people-in-massive-connecticut-heroin-bust

State and Federal law enforcement arrested 50 people in Connecticut on Friday as part of a massive undercover operation that resulted in the seizure of thousands of bags of heroin, guns and $15,000 in cash.

Police in Waterbury say the arrests were part of an investigation called “Operation Raw Deal” that began in September “in response to an increase in heroin overdoses and heroin-related deaths in the city.”

According to Fox 61, detectives issued 92 warrants for the 52 suspects, with charges ranging from the sale of narcotics, conspiracy at the sale of narcotics, firearm violations and possession in a school zone. Thirteen police teams carried out those warrants in a series of raids across the quiet Connecticut town.

The arrest phase of “Operation: Raw Deal” consisted of 135 detectives, officers, agents and investigators, from the VICE and Intelligence Division, Criminal Investigation Bureau (CID), Gang Task Force (GTF), Street Crime Unit (SCU), Emergency Response Team (ERT), Patrol Division, forensic technicians and investigators from other local and federal law enforcement agencies.

Forty-one suspects from the original list of 52 were arrested for various drug-related offenses, while nine people were arrested for various drug-related offenses and other crimes.

Detectives seized 8 ounces of raw heroin, thousands of bags of heroin packaged for sale, $15,000 in cash, two cars, two handguns, bullets and a rifle.

Waterbury police say most of those arrested in the monthlong operation were mid-level heroin dealers.

Lt. David Silverio says this operation was about saving lives, not just making arrests.

“You have the people that have a medical need and may need treatment and then we have traffickers and suppliers. This kind of operation is targeting the trafficker side of the narcotics problem,” Lt. Silverio of the Waterbury Police Department told Fox 61.

“As of May 4, there’s been 24 deaths in Waterbury this year alone and 99 overdoses. This year, the numbers hopefully will get better, but we have a problem right here in this city,” added Lt. Silverio.

In a nationwide study by the CDC, overdose deaths in 2017 are nearly four times as frequent as they were in 1999. Heroin overdoses have remained stagnant, as other forms of opioid use have increased dramatically.

Fox 61 says there are still 11 people on the run from the operation. The Waterbury Police says if you recognize one of the suspects, do not approach them and contact police immediately.

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Here is a recent article stating that legal opiates filled is down to 34 doses per adult. 

Hope in the drug crisis: New data shows prescription opioid use fell at a historic rate last year

If one presumes that the minimum treatment for a intractable chronic pain pt’s treatment would be TWO LONG ACTING DOSES PER DAY…  would “take care of” < 50% of the estimated 20-35 million intractable chronic pain pts.  Maybe this why many hospitals are giving post surgery pts Tylenol & Motrin because they know that the day is coming when opiates may not be available at all.

I case you haven’t noticed … the DEA has been ABSENT and TOTALLY SILENT in regards to any/all meetings with HHS, FDA, CDC and others..

Oregon recently rescinded their rule that all chronic pain pts on Medicaid has to be off opiates by the end of the year – but if the DEA continues to cut production quota… being prescribed pain meds that there is little/no availability.. does Oregon’s action really mean anything to those seeking pain treatment.

Here is a story that suggests that the DEA is using the state’s PMP database to extract fines out of pharmacies  https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190416/cvs-to-pay-535000-for-filling-forged-prescriptions

39 forged Rxs filled at several CVS stores in Rhode Islands… and how did the DEA find all of these forged Rxs in several stores ?   Perhaps one CVS Pharmacist caught one and they turned it over to police or DEA and they went data mining in the State’s PMP database to see what other stores have filled the same C-II from the same doctor and then went to the particular store to look at the Rx.. to see if it is a forged Rx..

If you also notice that the DEA is fabricating cases against prescribers based on GROSS NUMBERS.. here is one in Munster Indiana

Munster doctor sentenced for over-prescribing pain pills

this doc was the 9th largest prescriber of CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES in Indiana and largest in Lake County, but they got him to PLEAD guilty to prescrobing hydrocodone, an opioid, for non-medical purposes.  Nothing in the news article which indicated the reason for their original data mining of the state’s PMP (INSPECT).

Maybe the chronic pain community should look at to what is now starting to happen after a couple of states that have passed anti-abortion laws where abortions can’t be preformed after fetal heart beat can be heard – around 6 weeks… normally before the woman even knows that she is pregnant.  There is already talk of LAWSUITS being filed, because it is believed that these state laws are in conflict with the Supreme Court decision of Roe v Wade. The outcome of this/these lawsuits will just validate that politicians can create laws that are UNCONSTITUTIONAL and unless they are challenged in our court system… they will be enforced.

Then we have HR 6 – Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 – National Key Vote   Which throws 8 BILLION toward treating substance abuse and in this Congress that is highly partisan… this bill got ONE NO VOTE in the SENATE and NINE NO VOTES in the House.. That means that 98% of Congress VOTED FOR THIS BILL.

Until the chronic pain community gets the attention of this Administration, Congress and DOJ/DEA and drag them into the conversation…  the path that the chronic pain community is on … IS A DEAD END !

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New OU study profiles the ‘changing face’ of suicide

https://www.athensmessenger.com/news/new-ou-study-profiles-the-changing-face-of-suicide/article_dbfd1a33-10e6-5218-9da3-9b24f6080277.html

Where does suicide live in Ohio? How old is it? What does it look like?

According to a new study released by The Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health (The Alliance), its identity is increasingly comprised of individuals both young and old. In the past 10 years, suicide rates have risen more than 30 percent for those ages 20 to 29 and approximately 57 percent for those aged 60 or older.

The data also revealed a troubling reality unfolding across Appalachian Ohio, which is home to nine of Ohio’s 10 counties with the highest suicide rates per 100,000 population over the past 10 years. Meigs County experienced the highest suicide rate in the state at 21.5, followed by Jackson County (19.9) and Hocking County (19.7).

Such trends are disturbing to mental health organizations across Ohio, including the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

“The data in this report is very relevant to the work of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services,” said Lori Criss, director of that state department. “Suicide is a serious public health issue. Tackling this issue in Ohio will require collaborative efforts that cross state government, private partners, community mental health and addiction boards and providers, colleges and universities and others.”

The Alliance is a collaborative effort created by Ohio University’s College of Health Sciences and Professions (CHSP), the University of Toledo’s College of Health and Human Services and now including 28 partner organizations. The Alliance recently completed a review of suicide fatalities in Ohio based on data provided by key state partners between January 2008 and December 2017.

Rick Hodges, director of The Alliance, said that 526,501 years of life expectancy was lost in Ohio between 2008-2017 due to suicide. He noted that this sobering figure is largely attributed to the increase in suicide rates of individuals 29 years of age and younger.

“The Alliance’s research indicates that the suicide rate within our state’s younger population (29 and younger) has increased by 33 percent since 2008,” Hodges said. “Our ultimate hope is that this study will help to inform state- and community-level discussions surrounding how the risk of suicide can be reduced in Ohio and beyond.”

Hodges also referenced a June 2018 Alliance study that calculated more than 500,000 years of life were lost in Ohio between 2010 and 2016 due to opioid overdose.

Orman Hall, executive in residence for CHSP and author of the study, said that The Alliance’s research revealed a total of 15,246 suicide fatalities in Ohio between 2008-17, an overall increase of approximately 24 percent per 100,000. White individuals who reside in economically distressed Appalachian communities continue to exhibit the highest suicide rate in Ohio.

Hall emphasized that the intent of The Alliance’s study was not to serve as an exhaustive study of cause and effect, but rather to analyze the scope of suicide fatalities and to identify key demographic characteristics of decedents for this serious and growing problem.

Although the highest suicide rates were experienced in Ohio’s Appalachian region during the 10-year period that was studied, it is important to note that both rural and suburban areas experienced the greatest increase in the rate of suicides per 100,000 population. Cuyahoga (1,461) and Franklin (1,408) counties were home to the highest total number of suicide fatalities in the study.

Tony Coder, director of the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF), reported that OSPF trains as many community members and healthcare providers as they possibly can across the state. He said collaborative partnerships with various agencies are in effect or are being built to create a state suicide strategy with the goal of reducing suicide attempts and death.

Ohio University College of Health Sciences and Professions Dean Randy Leite shared that the University is doing its part to train the nation’s next generation of mental health professionals.

“Clinicians often encounter mental health clients experiencing crisis; such distress can increase a person’s risk of suicide,” Leite said. “Our college is dedicated to educating the best healthcare professionals in the country and doing everything within our power to help alleviate this serious and growing problem. It is time we recognize suicide as the serious public health issue it is and do all we can to prepare future health and human service professionals to respond to those who may be at risk.”

Joan Englund, executive director of the Ohio Mental Health and Addiction Advocacy Coalition, said that The Alliance’s most recent study shines an important light on a growing need for suicide treatment and prevention services.

“Local, state and federal decisions and actions can reduce the growing number of Ohio suicides. In order to help change the current upward trajectory, all Ohioans must have timely access to appropriate mental health and substance use disorder prevention, treatment and support services,” Englund said. “This report provides public officials and other community leaders with critical data that can be used to inform strategic and impactful policymaking, support the system of care and target this alarming trend.”

Additional key data points within The Alliance’s study include:

• The lowest suicide rates per 100,000 population in the state were reported in Holmes County (6.85), Delaware County (9.87) and Hardin County (10.29).
• Men accounted for an average suicide rate over the 10 years of 21.4 deaths per 100,000, compared to a rate of 5.36 for women.
• Suicide rates for Caucasians were higher (14.6) than African-Americans (7.37).
• Between 2008 and 2017, 161 suicides occurred among those 14 years of age or younger. Senior citizens experienced the highest suicide rate increase by age cohort, climbing from 12.4 deaths per 100,000 in 2008 to 19.5 in 2017 — a 57 percent increase.
• The data show 3,459 people were 60 or older when they died by suicide and nearly 70 percent of those over age 60 used a firearm.
• Firearms accounted for 50.9 percent of all suicide fatalities for the 10-year period, followed by “other” (33.3 percent) and “self-poisoning (overdose)” (15.8 percent).
• “Other” causes of suicidal death included, but were not limited to, cuts or pierces, drowning, falls, machinery and motor vehicle traffic.

“We need to come together as a field to address this problem,” Coder said. “We know that opiates are a big issue, but with suicide being the second-leading cause of death for individuals ages 10-24, this is a public health crisis in which we need to assign the appropriate resources and manpower.”

Additional resources for the study include the Bureau of Vital Statistics, the Ohio Death Certificate File and the Centers for Disease Control.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, warning signs may include threats or comments about suicide, increased alcohol and drug use, aggressive behavior, social withdrawal, dramatic mood swings, talking, writing or thinking about death and impulsive or reckless behavior. If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services offers suicide prevention guidance for veterans, school-age youth, faith-based groups, older adults and behavioral health providers.

The Buckeye Firearms Association works to emphasize education that encourages suicide prevention and helps to identify potential suicide warning signs; they often collaborate with county and state partners, including Franklin County LOSS and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, to help share their message.

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Texas woman taken off life support against family’s wishes – then a pro-life group stepped in

https://www.foxnews.com/health/texas-woman-plug-pulled-life-saving-escape

A Texas woman was taken off life support Monday, against her family’s wishes, after the hospital invoked a law allowing it to deny further care.

But a pro-life group stepped in and helped her “escape” to a place that was willing to provide care. She is now in stable condition.

Donald Jones and his daughter, Kina, were preparing their final goodbyes earlier this week as their wife and mom, Carolyn Jones, 61, who suffered a stroke in 2017 and has been transferred between different rehabilitation facilities, was denied life-saving care by the ethics committee at Memorial Hermann Southwest in Houston.

Texas Right to Life and other pro-life groups in the state rallied together after the plug was pulled and the hospital refused to give Jones dialysis. They were able to get her out Wednesday night using a private ambulance.

“It’s kind of crazy that you try to get someone out of a hospital so their life could be saved,” Mark Dickson, director and vice president of Right to LIfe East Texas, who was with Jones, told Fox News.

The lead pastor of SovereignLOVE church in Longview felt God call him to drive the several hours it took to help rescue Jones. He read her Psalm 71, “about people that are trying to take your life” and encouraged her to keep fighting — that God nor they would abandon her.

“We never thought we’d have to arrange an escape from a hospital,” Dickson recalled. “But we did.”

On Thursday, Jones began receiving dialysis at the new hospital.

Her daughter, Kina, said her mom is in stable condition and looks like herself once again.

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Heart-Drug Suppliers for Millions Faulted Over Data, Bugs and Dirt

https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/29738-heart-drug-suppliers-for-millions-faulted-over-data-bugs-dirt

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North Dakota to Appeal Ruling in Suit Against Opioid Maker

www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/15/us/ap-us-opioids-lawsuit-north-dakota.html

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They have already in the process of changing from using the term opiate EPIDEMIC to opiate crisis – because  the term  epidemic suggests that we are dealing with a contagious disease and neither pain nor substance abuse is contagious.

They have also seemed to be in the process of getting rid of the term dependency and addiction and anyone taking/using a opiate (legally/illegally)  > 90 days is now claimed to  have a opiate use disorder.  Does this give the DEA a bigger “body count” ?

They are now also seeming to no longer using the term “accidental opiate death”… now anyone having a opiate showing up in their toxicology one of their causes of death will be “opiate related death” and this could also add to the “body count” for the DEA

Who believes that there is ‘over prescribing of opiates” ?  Especially since the number of opiate Rxs have been declining since 2012.  Maybe the term should really be “careless opiate prescribing”…  some of it being fueled by greed others where the prescribers gives out 2-3 times the days supply that the pt dealing with acute pain really needs and/or abruptly cutting off pts that have been given too many doses and/or too many refills and they are thrown into cold turkey withdrawal and they and their family come to the conclusion that they are “addicted”…  when in reality if they were properly weaned… there really was no real addiction being dealt with.

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https://www.gofundme.com/f/retired-navy-chief-chris-fowler-funeral-fund

From Valorie Hawk:

I am in a state of shock. Chris Fowler was a good man, and no one should have to raise money to do this. His wife Nicole Howe Fowler was one of my first ‘mom friends’ in Hawaii, as we were in a baby hui together. Nicole was/is (we haven’t seen each other in over a decade, but keep in touch) a very good friend, and an enormous support to Jack and I during some very difficult times, as was was Chris. Please share this, especially to any military groups you might be in, as it’s wrong to have this kind of stress on top of grief and shock. The military will pay for the funeral, but they must get his body cremated and get to where the funeral/burial site is. RIP Chris

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