[Vision2020] DARE to speak the truth

[Ted Moffett]

I did not write the quote that is attributed to me...

Refute the Columbia University CASA (Center on Addiction and Substance
Abuse) study, if you wish, but do not state that I wrote sentences that I
did not write.

Ted Moffett

On 2/25/09, Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   Ted writes:
> "...from 1992 to 2003, while the U.S. population increased 14 percent, the
> number of 12 to 17 year olds who abused controlled prescription drugs jumped
> 212 percent..."
>
> The number of car accidents from 1929 to 2009 has increases my times over.
> Do you think cars are more dangerous now than ever before, or do you think
> there are other factors, such as the increased number of cars, and an
> increase in the number of people.
>
> The number of prescription drugs has increased far more than 212% between
> 1992 and 2003. Also, what  was the definition of abuse in 1992 versus that
> of 2003, and the methods of reporting the abuse changed, is it more
> accurate? The number of anything goes up when your methods and definitions
> of reporting change and reporting is easier. A woman reporting rape in 1970
> had a much harder time that of a woman in 2007.
>
> You forget, that most of the youth growth in population between 1992 and
> 2003 are minority poor and far more likely to end up on drugs then previous
> populations. In addition, has the enrollment of DARE increased in the same
> numbers and $ over that same period of time?
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Donovan
>
>
>
> --- On *Wed, 2/25/09, Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
> From: Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Vision2020] DARE to speak the truth
> To: "vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 6:34 PM
>
>  DARE is a failure!  Why?
>
> According to The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at
> Columbia University:
>
> "...from 1992 to 2003, while the U.S. population increased 14 percent, the
> number of 12 to 17 year olds who abused controlled prescription drugs jumped
> 212 percent..."
> --------------
>  "The increase in new abusers 12 to 17 years old was far greater than among
> adults (four times greater for opioids; three times for tranquilizers and
> sedatives; two and one-half times for stimulants). - From 1992 to 2002, new
> abuse of prescription opioids among 12 to 17 year olds was up an astounding
> 542 percent, more than four times the rate of increase among adults. - In
> 2003, 2.3 million 12 to 17 year olds (nearly one in 10) abused at least one
> controlled prescription drug; for 83 percent of them, the drug was opioids.
> - In 2003, among 12 to 17 year olds, girls were likelier than boys to abuse
> controlled prescription drugs (10.1 percent of girls vs. 8.6 percent of
> boys). - Between 1991 and 2003, rates of lifetime steroid abuse among high
> school students increased 126 percent, with abuse among girls up by nearly
> 350 percent, compared to 66 percent among boys. - Teens who abuse controlled
> prescription drugs are twice as likely to use alcohol, five times likelier
> to use marijuana, 12 times likelier to use heroin, 15 times likelier to use
> Ecstasy and 21 times likelier to use cocaine, compared to teens who do not
> abuse such drugs. "
> ------------------
> Perhaps someone can offer more recent data on this trend?
>
> Any questioning of the DEA "War On Drugs" should include data on the
> failure of the policies insofar as they did not prevent the dramatic
> increase in pharmaceutical drug abuse occurring over the past two decades.
> I was amazed to discover the extent of pharmaceutical drug abuse; and even
> more amazed to discover how few people seem aware of the gravity of the
> problem.  While the DEA and US foreign policy focus on foreign sources of
> cocaine, heroin, cannabis, methamphetamine et. al. (Columbia, Mexico,
> Afghanistan...), and aggressive domestic law enforcement against these drugs
> and others, an epidemic of pharmaceutical drug abuse in the US has
> exploded.
>
> Note the 2005 report below from The National Center on Addiction and
> Substance Abuse that labels the problem thus: "...Prescription Drug Abuse at
> Epidemic Level."  In some respects, abuse of pharmaceuticals has exceeded
> the social harm from cocaine, heroin and some other illegal drugs.  Consider
> the data from this report, some of which is at the top (I recommend reading
> all the info at the URL below), and the commentary I will quote:
>
>
> http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/167299/new_casa_report_controlled_prescription_drug_abuse_at_epidemic_level/
>
> Under the Counter: The Diversion and Abuse of Controlled Prescription Drugs
> in the U.S., a 214-page CASA report detailing the findings of an exhaustive
> three-year study of prescription opioids (e.g., OxyContin, Vicodin), central
> nervous system (CNS) depressants (e.g., Valium, Xanax) and CNS stimulants
> (e.g., Ritalin, Adderall), found that from 1992 to 2003, while the U.S.
> population increased 14 percent, the number of 12 to 17 year olds who abused
> controlled prescription drugs jumped 212 percent and the number of adults 18
> and older abusing such drugs climbed 81 percent.
>
> The 15.1 million Americans abusing controlled prescription drugs exceed the
> combined number abusing cocaine (5.9 million), hallucinogens (4.0 million),
> inhalants (2.1 million) and heroin (.3 million).
>
> "Our nation is in the throes of an epidemic of controlled prescription drug
> abuse and addiction," said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA's chairman and
> president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. "While
> America has been congratulating itself in recent years on curbing increases
> in alcohol and illicit drug abuse, and in the decline in teen smoking, abuse
> of prescription drugs has been stealthily, but sharply, rising."
>
> Among the report's major findings: - From 1992 to 2002, prescriptions
> written for controlled drugs increased more than 150 percent, almost 12
> times the rate of increase in population and almost three times the rate of
> increase in prescriptions written for all other drugs. - From 1992 to 2003,
> the number of people abusing controlled prescription drugs increased seven
> times faster than the increase in the U.S. population. - From 1992 to 2003,
> abuse of controlled prescription drugs grew at a rate twice that of
> marijuana abuse; five times that of cocaine abuse; 60 times that of heroin
> abuse. - From 1992 to 2000 -- -- The number of new opioid abusers grew by
> 225 percent; new tranquilizer abusers, by 150 percent; new sedative abusers,
> by more than 125 percent; new stimulant abusers, by more than 170 percent.
> -- The increase in new abusers 12 to 17 years old was far greater than among
> adults (four times greater for opioids; three times for tranquilizers and
> sedatives; two and one-half times for stimulants). - From 1992 to 2002, new
> abuse of prescription opioids among 12 to 17 year olds was up an astounding
> 542 percent, more than four times the rate of increase among adults. - In
> 2003, 2.3 million 12 to 17 year olds (nearly one in 10) abused at least one
> controlled prescription drug; for 83 percent of them, the drug was opioids.
> - In 2003, among 12 to 17 year olds, girls were likelier than boys to abuse
> controlled prescription drugs (10.1 percent of girls vs. 8.6 percent of
> boys). - Between 1991 and 2003, rates of lifetime steroid abuse among high
> school students increased 126 percent, with abuse among girls up by nearly
> 350 percent, compared to 66 percent among boys. - Teens who abuse controlled
> prescription drugs are twice as likely to use alcohol, five times likelier
> to use marijuana, 12 times likelier to use heroin, 15 times likelier to use
> Ecstasy and 21 times likelier to use cocaine, compared to teens who do not
> abuse such drugs.
>
> ---------------
>
> Another study worth reading on pharmaceutical drug abuse (fatal overdoses)
> is sourced from JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association):
>
> http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/300/22/2613
>
> *Results * Of 295 decedents, 198 (67.1%) were men and 271 (91.9%) were
> aged 18 through 54 years. Pharmaceutical diversion was associated with 186
> (63.1%) deaths, while 63 (21.4%) were accompanied by evidence of doctor
> shopping. Prevalence of diversion was greatest among decedents aged 18
> through 24 years and decreased across each successive age group. Having
> prescriptions for a controlled substance from 5 or more clinicians in the
> year prior to death was more common among women (30 [30.9%]) and decedents aged
> 35 through 44 years (23 [30.7%]) compared with men (33 [16.7%]) and other
> age groups (40 [18.2%]). Substance abuse indicators were identified in 279
> decedents (94.6%), with nonmedical routes of exposure and illicit
> contributory drugs particularly prevalent among drug diverters. Multiple
> contributory substances were implicated in 234 deaths (79.3%). Opioid
> analgesics were taken by 275 decedents (93.2%), of whom only 122 (44.4%)
> had ever been prescribed these drugs.
>
> *Conclusion * The majority of overdose deaths in West Virginia in 2006
> were associated with nonmedical use and diversion of pharmaceuticals,
> primarily opioid analgesics.
>
> ------------------------------------------
>
> Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20090228/efdf34bd/attachment-0001.html