Hello Mr. Grugel!
 
Reading your e-mail has just made my day and greetings to you from the opposite end of the state (southwest Yuma county).
 
I am probably not as open as you as I work for the federal government and live in quite an evangelical corner of Yuma county--originally from (Hillcrest) San Diego, so even though I have lived in Yuma for 3 years I am still in a bit of culture shock!
 
At any rate, I am thrilled and honored that you are going to be a participant with our project and perhaps the rest of our site as well, if interested.  I have no professional expertise in recovery at all.  All I have is my experience as being addicted to meth and recovering now for 5-1/2 years.  I chose recovery after an almost fatal overdose and after my mother stopped talking to me.  Two wake up calls; everyone has their own bottom.  12-step was a great process for me, however, integrating my recovery by discovering my "Native" ancestry and finding my own spiritual path in sobriety led me to believe that "recovery" is an integrated process of many different methods; one method not necessarily true for the other but another method is equally as valuable to the individual.
 
I would like very much if you would join our website.  There is no charge of course and we're hosted by the Microsoft Network so rest assured this is a secure platform.  You are the first to correspond from the state of Arizona and based on what you have stated, I would be honored if we could list you as the state correspondent for the state.  I have quite a few links posted for the state of Arizona.  If you could give some feedback in this area after looking at the Arizona section I would be thrilled.  I do not know if I have made the greatest of choices.  The state of Arizona is located  here, http://groups.msn.com/BacktotheBasicsPlease/testpage6.msnw  At the top left corner of the website under the "What's New" icon you will see an icon for "Join Now".  This will take you through the process to join and will enable you to post at will.  The message forum for the "Meth Project" is located here, http://groups.msn.com/BacktotheBasicsPlease/cultureworld.msnw  If joining the website for whatever reason is not an option we can continue to use this e-mail address and I can post what you send.  It would be much better however if the members and viewers were able to get to know you on a first hand basis.
 
I am really interested and thrilled to have you as not only a participant but perhaps a lead role for our cause.  This is a non-professional website so actual clinical expertise is something that has been lacking from anything other than the latest found article.
 
I will not post the e-mail that you have sent me (without your permission), however, I will post this message to our members and viewers as an introduction to your coalition and hopefully your membership and as the proposed state of Arizona correspondent at our website.  I will certainly open up the links that you have provided and place them on the website at my earliest convenience.
 
I certainly look forward to further correspondence Mr. Grugel, and look forward to building yet another good glbt meth project for the state of Arizona!
 
Best regards, 
 
 
 
Brandon Bennett
[email protected]
http://groups.msn.com/backtothebasicsplease

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--
Debe Campbell
Coordinator, Navajo County Coalition Against Drug Abuse;
Commissioner, Az Governor's Commission on Service & Volunteerism;
Court Appointed Special Advocate
Public Notary
PO Box1614
Pinetop AZ 85935
Cell: (928) 368-7519
Fax: (928) 358-1645
www.navajocountydrugproject.com

ORDER $10 "NOT EVEN ONCE" ANTI-METH T-SHIRT at www.navajocountydrugproject.com

EVENTS
•Dec 31: Drug & Alcohol Free New Year's Eve Party. McNeil Gym, Show Low.
•Jan 19: 8-11 am, FREE Shred-a-thon for confidential documents to protect identity theft, Pinetop-Lakeside Sanitary District, 2600 W. Alisa Ln, Lakeside.

Substance Abuse and/or Mental Health Concerns?  Contact Community Counseling Centers
Holbrook:  524-6126
Winslow:  289-4684
Show Low:  537-2951

December 11, 2008

Survey Shows Prescription Drug Abuse Remains High; Marijuana Use Also a Problem

While cigarette and alcohol use among youth continued on a downward trend in 2008, the decline in marijuana use across all three grades has slowed and the perception of harm towards using marijuana has decreased. That´s according to the 2008 Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey, released today by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The MTF survey indicates that marijuana use among eighth, 10th, and 12th graders, which has shown a consistent decline since the mid-1990s, appears to have leveled off with 10.9 percent of eighth graders, 23.9 percent of tenth graders, and 32.4 percent of twelfth graders reporting past year use. Heightening the concern over this stabilization in use is the finding that, compared to last year, the proportion of eighth graders who perceived smoking marijuana as harmful and the proportion disapproving of its use have decreased. And while there was no statistically significant change in the use of marijuana, it actually increased among 8th and 12th graders by 0.6 and 0.7 percentage points, respectively.

"The 2008 survey results reinforce the fact that we cannot become complacent in our efforts to persuade teens not to smoke, drink or abuse illicit substances," said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. "As long as young people are being exposed to images that make taking drugs seem glamorous, we need to counter them with truthful messages about the risks and consequences of drug abuse."

Also of concern in the 2008 MTF survey is the continuing high rate of prescription drug abuse among teens, with little change seen in the past six years. In 2008, 15.4 percent of 12th graders said they abused prescription drugs within the past year. Among those, nearly 10 percent reported past year nonmedical use of Vicodin, and 4.7 percent reported abusing Oxycontin, both opioid painkillers. The survey notes that seven of the top 10 drugs abused by 12th graders in the year prior to the survey were either prescribed or purchased over-the-counter.

The MTF Survey also showed a several-year decline among 12th graders who perceive use of LSD as harmful. Similarly, the proportion of 8th graders who perceive inhalants as harmful has declined, as has their disapproval of inhalant abuse.

The good news in the survey is that cigarette smoking is at the lowest rate in the history of the MTF survey, and there continues to be a gradual decline in alcohol use in all grades, with a significant decline from 2007 to 2008 among tenth graders on all measures of use (lifetime, past year, past month, daily, and binge drinking). Nevertheless, given the devastating related health costs, tobacco and alcohol use by teens still remain at high levels. While drinking continues a slow downward trend, close to 25 percent of seniors report having five or more drinks in a row sometime in the two weeks prior to the survey.

In addition, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders are continuing to show a gradual
decline in their use of amphetamines, methamphetamine, cocaine, and crack.

Dr. Lloyd Johnston, the study's principal investigator from the University of Michigan, said all of the drugs that continued to decline this year are central nervous system stimulants. Their decline in use had the effect of lowering the proportion of students reporting use of any illicit drug other than marijuana modestly. However, it was statistically significant only in 10th grade, where
annual prevalence declined by 1.7 percentage points to 11.3 percent.

There was also positive news in the abuse of over-the-counter cough medicines containing dextromethorphan (DXM). There was a decline is use among 8th and 12th graders, with the annual prevalence rate among 8th graders falling by 0.6 percent and 12th graders' by 1.3 percent. "It thus appears that attempts to discourage misuse of dextromethorphan have proven somewhat successful, though certainly not entirely so," the University of Michigan news release stated.

The Monitoring the Future survey - now in its 33rd year - is a series of classroom surveys of eighth , tenth, and twelfth graders conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan under a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Overall, 46,348 students from 386 public and private schools in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades participated in this year's survey.

For more information, visit the MTF Web site at www.monitoringthefuture.org.

--
Debe Campbell
Coordinator, Navajo County Coalition Against Drug Abuse;
Commissioner, Az Governor's Commission on Service & Volunteerism;
Court Appointed Special Advocate
Public Notary
PO Box1614
Pinetop AZ 85935
Cell: (928) 368-7519
Fax: (928) 358-1645
www.navajocountydrugproject.com

1 in 4 Arizona 10th and 12th graders reports using prescription drugs without a doctor's prescription. 17 percent of the 8th graders surveyed reported the same.
Where do they get these drugs? Medicine cabinets. No shady drug dealer required.
Why? Kids say they use the drugs to help them deal with problems, manage their lives, enhance performance or to get high.
Kids are dying.