Tag Archives: prevention

“Bullying and Other Risky Behaviours” – McGill workshop for teachers & school personnel

Are you a k-6 teacher, school librarian, psychologist, guidance counsellor or principal concerned about bullying and risky behaviours? Check out my Feb. 23rd workshop, part of McGill University’s Distinguished Educator’s Seminar Series through the Centre for Educational Leadership:

“Protecting students from high-risk activities should begin as early as kindergarten. It’s never too early and rarely too late to build resilience in students by teaching strategies for dealing with conflict and the temptations of high-risk activities.”

McGill Flyer p.1

Mcgill seminar flyer p.2

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Synthetic drugs and kids – what parents need to know

Girl with capsuleBath salts. Dragonfly. K2. Fake pot. Spice Gold. Mr. Nice Guy. Ivory Wave. Vanilla Sky. Europa.

If there’s one thing we can depend on, it’s the relentless creativity and productivity of the underground illegal drug market. There’s always some deadly new way to get high, usually with a bizarre, seemingly innocuous name. It will instantly be given credibility and PR by countless Youtube videos of teens being wasted and apparently having a fine old time. Sometimes these concoctions can even be whipped up from ingredients found in your average medicine cabinet and spice drawer, or ordered over the Internet.

Kids are curious. They try it out, perhaps when friends promise an exceptional high with “all natural ingredients” or “harmless cold medicines.”

And then they start dying.

Synthetic drugs are not new. This category includes things like methamphetamines and MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy). Unlike drugs like heroin or cocaine, which are illegal to possess in even the tiniest amounts, crystal meth and ecstasy are made from “controlled” substances like ephedrine and pseudoephedrine (found in cold medications), which are legal to possess. And until this past June when a new law was passed, Canada had earned the unwelcome reputation as a haven for these drug producers because much of the key manufacturing paraphernalia was not illegal to own or sell.

Other drugs, like synthetic pot, contain a chemical version of the cannabinoid that causes the high associated with marijuana. This synthetic alternative to THC (tetrahyrdocannibinol) was originally manufactured to treat multiple sclerosis and chemotherapy patients. Though banned in Canada and some U.S. states, it is often sold openly as incense or “spice” and can be ordered online. It tends to be sold in 3 gram packets in various flavours.

Smoking synthetic marijuana can have such side effects  as deep depression, hallucinations, feelings of impending death, and severe  panic attacks. And since “fake pot” can actually be 3 to 5 times stronger than real marijuana, kids can get in trouble judging how much of the drug to consume. Smoking the drug has particularly destructive effects on the lungs (one boy who died smoked it out of a plastic Pez candy dispenser). It has been linked to several deaths in the U.S.

“Bath salts” is the name of another synthetic drug. It contains various potent chemicals, including mephedrone, which is a stimulant. Like fake pot, it is often sold openly as another kind of product (typically as plant food) and is often labelled “not for human consumption.” Side effects include increased heart rate and blood pressure, not sleeping, not eating and eventually becoming paranoid.

Dragonfly (or Bromo-Dragonfly) is an extremely potent and long-acting psychedelic hallucinogen. A dose of a few milligrams can be life-threatening. It’s usually sold on blotter paper, though tablets, capsules or powder forms are sometimes distributed as well. Although the effects of the drug can last up to 36 hours, the experience of the high can go from lucid to extreme psychedelic intoxication and back again, leading some users to mistakenly take more and risk overdose. There have been deaths reported by users mixing Dragonfly with pot or ketamines, and it is sometimes confused with the less deadly street drug called 2C-E, leading to tragic results in at least one case recently publicized on the Dr. Oz show.

Bromo-Dragonfly has not yet been regulated by the Drug Enforcement Agency in the U.S. and can be ordered online. It has sent several teens to the emergency room so far this year.

So what practical advice can we offer to parents? Aside from knowing your kid and his or her habits, keep an eye out for sudden changes in friends, in behavior, school performance or physical appearance. Any unusual packages arriving by post, especially with customs declarations, should be promptly investigated.

Have regular discussions with your teen about the drugs that are out there, and he surprising ways they can be dangerous. It might not occur to a 14 or 15-year-old that they can have a stroke or heart attack that can leave them severely disabled or dead.

Parents should also educate their kids about what to do if they find a friend having seizures, vomiting or passed out. Too often, the life-saving measures that could potentially save a kid’s life are put off for precious minutes or hours simply because their peers are afraid of getting in trouble.

It’s the kind of advice we hope they never have to act upon, the kind of thing we don’t often realize we have to teach. But it can be the difference between a brush with the law and a funeral packed with high school students.

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Energy drinks and kids: what parents need to know

Teens and energy drinks

Red Bull. Monster. Full Throttle. Hype. Wired. Spike Shooter. The brand names of popular energy drinks clearly suggest the youth market (12-35 years, according to industry figures) that has embraced them. But new warnings from Health Canada and the Canadian Medical Association may have parents confused about what specific dangers these caffeine and sugar-laden drinks pose for their kids.

What’s the story with energy drinks? Teens, athletes and young adults seek out these drinks to give them an energy boost for a variety of reasons: a big game, sleep deprivations, staying up all night to study or party. Celebrities have given them an important pop culture cachet and club-goers willingly pay highly inflated prices for the drinks.

On their own, energy drinks can be unhealthy for teens for  a variety of reasons. The amounts of caffeine, while variable from brand to brand, are always higher than what you’d find in a conventional can of cola.  A 12 oz. can of Coke or Pepsi has 34-38 mg of caffeine, while a cup of brewed coffee has between 80 and 100 mg of caffeine.  A 12 oz. can of Red Bull has 116 mg. Other brands contain between 120 mg (Monster), 258 mg (Wired X344) and a staggering 428 mg (Spike Shooter).

Since the drinks are served cold, they are often consumed much more quickly than a hot cup of coffee, and the shooter formats are downed in a single gulp, forcing the body to process these stimulants very quickly (along with sugar, amino acids and herbal stimulants like taurine, guarana and gingko). Since teens are less likely to realize the potent effects of the drinks, they may drink or 4 or 5 in a short time.

Not too surprisingly, that can prove very dangerous. Energy drinks have been linked to seizures, heart palpitations, strokes and even sudden death. We also know that most of these drinks are consumed in the evening and are thus likely to affect sleep quality. Since many teens already deal with chronic sleep deprivation, this is a real concern.

If they are risky on their own, then energy drinks can prove even more deadly when combined with alcohol. Sometimes called “hair of the dog,” the cocktail combinations are intended to stave off the depressant effects of alcohol with the stimulating properties of the caffeine and sugar.

One clinical research study found that the combination can make users feel less drunk (and thus more likely to over-consume) but had the same impairment of motor coordination and visual reaction time. Another study of university students found that those who regularly mixed energy drinks and alcohol got drunk twice as often as those who just stuck  to alcohol and were far more likely to be injured and require medical treatment while drinking.

Just as frightening, energy drink mixers more likely to be victims or perpetrators of aggressive sexual behaviours, even after researchers controlled for the amount of alcohol consumed.  Another researcher found that energy drinks were highly linked to risk-taking among teens, what she called “toxic jock behavior.” Kathleen E. Miller, Ph.D. found that:

Frequent energy drink consumers (six or more days a month), according to Miller’s findings,  were approximately three times as likely than less-frequent energy drink consumers or non-consumers to have smoked cigarettes, abused prescription drugs and been in a serious physical fight in the year prior to the survey.  They reported drinking alcohol, having alcohol-related problems and using marijuana about twice as often as non-consumers. They were also more likely to engage in other forms of risk-taking, including unsafe sex, not using a seatbelt, participating in an extreme sport and doing something dangerous on a dare.

Health Canada’s recommendations are for teens to consume no more than 2.5 mg per kilogram of body weight. Older and heavier adolescents can follow adult recommendations, which are for no more than 400 mg of caffeine a day. It’s own expert panel has recommended that energy drinks be removed from grocery and convenience store shelves and sold under the supervision of pharmacists.

However the newest restrictions by Health Canada ignore their own best advice. Instead, energy drinks sold in Canada cannot have more than 180 mg of caffeine in a single serve container, equivalent to about 5 355 ml cans of Pepsi. It’s also more than double the recommended amount of caffeine for kids 10-12 years old. These regulations also exclude the highly concentrated “energy shots” sold at convenience stores and gas stations.

No one is happy about these watered-down health measures. Child safety and medical experts believe they don’t go far enough to protect teens.

In the meantime, parents need to understand the risks these drinks pose to their kids. Discuss your concerns with your kids, and explain the medical reasons for limiting their consumption. It’s also important to explain why it’s not safe to consume them with alcohol. It’s very possible your teens have no idea that the drinks, which look completely harmless on the shelves next to regular colas, could be so dangerous.

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