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Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.




Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll
#7569620 - 10/28/07 01:39 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071028/CWS06/710280307/1861
When today's adults were teens, some of them went to farm parties. That usually meant a keg of beer out in the woods after the football game, and they caused trouble enough. A few kids died quickly on the way home by crashing into trees or ditches. Others developed life-long alcohol problems.
But today, a kid who says he's going to a farm party is just as likely to mean he's headed to a pharm party. They're the cool new place to hang, and last week central Wisconsin saw its second death at one.
At a pharm party, kids hang out and pop prescription drugs, often pills stolen from their parents' medicine cabinets.
That's precisely what police say happened last weekend in Stevens Point, where 14-year-old Tyler Trelka died of an overdose after downing nine morphine and Vicodin pills from a stash of stolen drugs.
Another 14-year-old, Blade Kaehn, faces reckless homicide charges in connection with the death. Police and prosecutors say he supplied the drugs after swiping them from home.
This isn't an isolated incident.
In July, a 19-year-old Mosinee man -- Charles Tabaka -- died after taking methadone pills
Prescription medication barely registered on drug-use studies done years ago. But in a 2005 survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 19 percent of teens reported having taken prescription painkillers such as Vicodin or OxyContin, or stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall, for one reason: to get high.
A study that same year by the University of Michigan found that about one in 10 high school seniors had used Vicodin in the previous year.
Marijuana remains the most popular drug -- other than alcohol -- used by kids, with about one-third reporting that they smoked pot within the last year. But prescription drugs are catching up fast.
Experts say several factors are contributing to the trend:
• Today's youths have been raised on drugs. They are members of the most medicated generation in history, with roughly 10 percent having been dosed for ADHD.
• Prescription drugs are readily available. Either their own Ritalin or Adderall, or their parents' Valium or Xanax, it's all there for the taking. In the 2005 Partnership survey, three out of five kids said they could easily get drugs from the medicine cabinet at home.
• Pills are more socially acceptable than "hard" drugs such as meth or coke, and they're perceived as clean and safe. If they come from a doctor, how bad could they be?
• Today's teens were raised by parents who set examples of drug use. They either turn to prescription drugs to treat every discomfort and ache, or they self-medicate with alcohol and other recreational drugs. The mother of the child accused in the Stevens Point case, for example, herself faces homicide by drunken driving charges in connection with a 2005 traffic crash.
What do all those factors get us?
In Stevens Point, a dead 14-year-old boy who never will know life's joys -- graduation, marriage, childbirth and more.
And in other parts of central Wisconsin, it has gotten us what police describe as a drug-fueled crime spree. There's little question that the person holding up area pharmacies is feeding an addiction.
In fact, almost one-fourth of all college students met the criteria for substance abuse or dependence in a study done in 2005.
The numbers all speak for themselves.
There's no easy way out of this mess. A proportion of young people always has found ways to get high, and they'll continue to use whatever they can get their hands on easiest -- beer, Vicodin, pot, whatever.
So the most effective course is to make it harder for them to get pills. Parents should lock up their medicine and dole out their kids' drugs one dose at a time.
The more difficult thing to do is to model responsible behavior -- by living with a little pain or discomfort rather than seeking relief in a capsule, and by using all substances properly.
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robbyberto
Water Boy


Registered: 05/11/06
Posts: 15,499
Loc: Netherlands
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: Bridgeburner]
#7569797 - 10/28/07 02:26 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Why are they focusing on these two deaths from pharmaceuticals when hundreds of teens in that state alone have died from alcohol poisoning? It just doesn't make sense. And there is a way out of this mess. Education and removal of prohibition and treating drug abuse as a social problem as opposed to a criminal one.
-------------------- “People say having kids is life changing, well that doesn’t necessarily mean a good thing, does it? I could take one of my legs off. That would change my life.” -Karl Pilkington
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MrKite1
Cosmo

Registered: 03/02/04
Posts: 1,384
Loc: AK
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: robbyberto]
#7570539 - 10/28/07 06:10 PM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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Don't forget all the deaths yearly of patients who experienced adverse effects from their prescribed drugs.
-------------------- When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
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ManianFH
living in perverty


Registered: 07/06/04
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: MrKite1]
#7572403 - 10/29/07 09:58 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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"So the most effective course is to make it harder for them to get pills. Parents should lock up their medicine and dole out their kids' drugs one dose at a time.
The more difficult thing to do is to model responsible behavior -- by living with a little pain or discomfort rather than seeking relief in a capsule, and by using all substances properly. "
Akin to spying on your kids and reading their journals to make sure they arent doing naughty things.. How about communication and establishing a decent relationship with your children...
this article sucks. focuses on something thats bound to happen, a couple humans acting like idiots and being knocked off the evolutionary ladder and then gives a half-assed proposal as to how to fix it.
-------------------- notapillow said: "you are going about this endeavor all wrong. clear your mind of useless fear and concern. buy the ticket, take the ride, and all that.... " ChrisWho said: "It's all about the journey, not the destination."
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: ManianFH]
#7575476 - 10/30/07 05:47 AM (16 years, 3 months ago) |
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This is stupid. 14 is old enough to not be an idiot... how about finding out the reasonable rec. dose of what your taking... idiots
too bad it happened, but this should not be a criminal matter
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Mr G
Stranger
Registered: 09/21/11
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: robbyberto]
#15110163 - 09/21/11 12:56 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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I am the stepfather of Blade Kaehn. I was there the night this happened and your facts are WRONG! Patrick Bialis is more responsible for his cousins death than Blade. His Mother also.( Tylers Aunt ) We kept our medications in a locked box. Blade's mother was checking on those kids every 20 minutes. My wife was only missing one Morphine tablet..ONE!I saw Tyler ride a bicycle, and he did not appear to be impaired.If that child was as messed up as he must have been, how could an adult not be aware?? He left our house at 9:30 and did not get home until around 11:00. A lot can happen in an hour and a half? Our son was never at the playground. He was at a local restruant with his mother and myself.If I were to take one 30mg Morphine, I would be puking.I really don't see a kid taking 7 or 9 and not being a big pile of vomit? I will say that they were probably doing drugs, but they didn't come from us. And it was not some big pill party. There were 7 kids cooking hot dogs and playing guitars,listening to music.
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Mr G
Stranger
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: robbyberto]
#15110182 - 09/21/11 01:03 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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Oh Yeh- Mother was wrongfully convicted and charges were dropped.
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PatrickKn


Registered: 07/10/11
Posts: 20,563
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: Mr G]
#15110335 - 09/21/11 02:24 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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I wouldn't get too angry about a news posting. It's not like he wrote the article... three years ago.
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Humility
Working on it



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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: PatrickKn]
#15110627 - 09/21/11 06:42 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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Thanks for clearing this up though Mr. G. It's always nice to have someone that's closely related to a story like this come and clear the air.
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sk8ordude
Stranger
Registered: 07/12/11
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: Humility]
#15111169 - 09/21/11 10:18 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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So how is the much greater deathrate of alcohol better then pharms? The article failed to establish that, and went on to use scary drug names and 2 deaths. I think alcohol is just as bad as pharms, at least with pharms people are too lazy to cause other people problems.
I think that maybe if they didn't force a generation of children to start taking amphetimines to go to school, or hand out antidepressents like candy maybe kids wouldn't be so interested in pharms. Proper education on all drugs an alcohol would fix alot of addiction, OD problems, and would probably result in a disinterest in the more harmful drugs.
Propaganda like the above article, result in misinformation that the kids that use drugs know is suspect.
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Apostle
Philanthropist



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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: sk8ordude]
#15111523 - 09/21/11 11:41 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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eleven die fro oxy OD daily in FL
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ant61


Registered: 10/26/03
Posts: 1,186
Loc: colorado
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: Apostle]
#15116706 - 09/22/11 11:23 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
Hologram said: eleven die fro oxy OD daily in FL
true, that
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beachedjesus
A bodypart of God


Registered: 11/16/10
Posts: 546
Loc: there
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Re: Editorial: Lifetimes of drug use taking terrible toll [Re: Bridgeburner]
#15116738 - 09/22/11 11:33 AM (12 years, 4 months ago) |
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And all the cops are like, "Damn!!! How can we get in on this and make money off of these dying kids and act like we want to help them when we're really just nosey fuckbags who want to find another bullshit way to make money?!"
-------------------- hi
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