KD Consulting has taken their company to a new design and a new look for company image. They have been helping families with interventions and treatment options for almost a decade. With their new website, it will provide more informative information for all the steps necessary for families to succeed in recovery for themselves and able to acheive their goals for their loved ones to seek treatment immediately.
KD Consulting offers a variety of additional services from entering into treatment and providing aftercare solutions to benefit the long-term success of an individual and families. They believe that it is not only the addicted individual that needs healing, but the family as a whole needs it more than anything. They have many options such as chaperone/escort servies, sober companion, sober life coaching, and much more.
There Founder and President is Kevin Dixon and he is an expert in the field of addiction. He has more than fifteen years of experience providing solutions for those wanting help and those unwilling. He has been able to help over two thousand families through interventions and overcoming denial. He has a 98 percent success rate helping patients that have been unwilling receive treatment on the day of intervention. He leading guidance makes him an amazing interventionist.
Visit the new website at www.kdconsulting.org to learn more about their services or you can contact KD Consulting Interventions at 866-631-0026.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
When is the Best Time for a Drug and Alcohol Intervention?
It is hard to know when is it the best time to have a drug and alcohol intervention. But if you know someone who is getting worse each day and refusing to receive treatment for their addiction, it might be best to consult with a professional interventionist to determine what your options are and the best way you can help someone. There is no perfect time when it comes to having an intervention, but it is definitely worth a try before it is too late.
Many individuals that suffer with addictions struggle with entering into a rehab programs or receiving an clinical assessment. They continue trying on their own attempts, yet the pattern is evident and they continue to fail, with no success. Yet each time with a fail attempted their addiction progresses a little more due their failed attempt.
There is no better time than now, for an intervention, especially if their abusing alcohol, opiate, heroin, or cocaine because of the risk associated. These types of substance can lead individuals down a path of no return or being locked up in prison for possession charges.
For families and loved ones, it is often times better to have tried to help someone through an alcohol or drug intervention for them to see their is a better way. Interventions work and can help motivate a patients through the process involved. If is motivated by family, spouse, employment, or children, whatever the reason, it is the start to recovery. Through substance abuse rehab and treatment, they can understand the root cause of their abuse and learn more about their own addiction.
There is no better time then having an intervention now. To learn more about interventions, visit www.kdconsulting.org or call 866-631-0026.
Many individuals that suffer with addictions struggle with entering into a rehab programs or receiving an clinical assessment. They continue trying on their own attempts, yet the pattern is evident and they continue to fail, with no success. Yet each time with a fail attempted their addiction progresses a little more due their failed attempt.
There is no better time than now, for an intervention, especially if their abusing alcohol, opiate, heroin, or cocaine because of the risk associated. These types of substance can lead individuals down a path of no return or being locked up in prison for possession charges.
For families and loved ones, it is often times better to have tried to help someone through an alcohol or drug intervention for them to see their is a better way. Interventions work and can help motivate a patients through the process involved. If is motivated by family, spouse, employment, or children, whatever the reason, it is the start to recovery. Through substance abuse rehab and treatment, they can understand the root cause of their abuse and learn more about their own addiction.
There is no better time then having an intervention now. To learn more about interventions, visit www.kdconsulting.org or call 866-631-0026.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Prescription pills are popular drugs among teens, police say
The Metropolitan Police Department recently informed parents about drug abuse among teenagers.
“The abuse is heavy in our community right now,” said Detective Joseph Pannullo, a narcotics officer, during the department’s 1st Tuesday program at the Southeast Area Command, 3675 E. Harmon Ave. “We always think, ‘It’ll never happen to my kid,’ but they may be battling things we don’t know about.”
The department hosts the open house-style event monthly on the first Tuesday at area commands around the valley.
Pannullo said marijuana, spice, prescription pills, heroin, ecstasy and molly are common drugs that teenagers abuse.
PRESCRIPTION PILLS
Pannullo said prescription pills are the fastest-growing drugs used among teenagers because they have access to their parents’ medicine cabinets.
“Kids are impressionable. They don’t think pills are going to hurt them,” he said. “They think, ‘My parents take pills. My grandparents take pills. They won’t hurt me.’ ”
Prescription pills are the cause of more drug-related deaths in Clark County than any other substance, police said.
Oxygontin, Lortab, Vicodin, Valium and Alprazolam are a few medications commonly abused. Pannullo said parents should lock or hide their prescription pills from children and pay attention to missing medication.
“If they have a (drug) problem, they’re going to go searching for it,” he said.
MARIJUANA
Teenagers sometimes have misconceptions about the effects of marijuana, according to Pannullo.
“Kids get it in their head that it’s God’s plant and it won’t hurt them,” he said. “It clearly does. It leads them to other drugs.”
Known as the “gateway drug,” Pannullo said most drug abusers he has questioned said their habits started with marijuana as a teenager.
“That high wasn’t enough, so they were introduced to methamphetamine or cocaine,” he said. “Once you get addicted to a drug, you’re always chasing a bigger high.”
Marijuana can be smoked using pipes, bongs or cigarette papers or ingested ANAthrough food and beverages. It has many nicknames, such as weed, pot, Mary Jane and grass.
SPICE
Spice, or K2, is a synthetic compound that can be smoked to mimic the effects of marijuana, Pannullo said.
Although the drug is marketed as potpourri or herbal incenses and labeled “not for human consumption,” possession of spice in Nevada is a felony.
Spice is made by spraying an herbal mixture sprayed with a chemical compound, said Lt. Peter Boffelli, a narcotics officer.
“It has to be analyzed by the lab before we can charge anyone,” Boffelli said. “It could be six days, six weeks, six months before we even know that we have an illegal substance.”
Unlike marijuana, spice does not show up on drug tests, according to Pannullo.
“The users can get their high and not have to worry about getting drug tested at work,” he said. “There’s no drug test that can identify spice in their system, and that’s the dangerous part.”
HEROIN
Because most pain pills contain morphine-like chemicals called opioids, Pannullo said it’s common for teens who use pills to start abusing heroin because of the cost difference.
“Sometimes they’re paying $25 or $50 for pills, and that can get expensive once they don’t have the supply from their medicine cabinet,” he said. “They turn to heroin because they can get the same high for way less.”
Heroin use in high schools is growing as drug dealers target wealthy neighborhoods, Pannullo said.
“(Drug dealers) are giving it to kids to try because they know they’ll get hooked once these kids try it,” he said. “The dealers figure mom and dad have a lot of money and can support (their child’s) habit.”
Heroin is commonly sold in multicolored balloons for about $10, and some addicts spend up to $500 a day, Pannullo said.
Common paraphernalia used with heroin are spoons, needles and pipes. It can be smoked, snorted or injected and is nicknamed black tar, dope and big H.
ECSTASY
Ecstasy is a stimulant that has hallucinogenic properties and is usually sold in pill form.
Pannullo said the drug increases a user’s blood pressure and body temperature and enhances pleasure and touch.
“It’s basically the happy drug,” he said. “The only good thing about it is (users) are generally not violent people.”
The drug gives users a rush of energy for two to three hours before causing extreme fatigue. Common nicknames are MDMA, E and roll.
“It’s very dangerous if they’re not taking in the water to keep their body temperature down,” Pannullo said. “They could overheat themselves and die pretty quick.”
MOLLY
Molly is marketed as ecstasy in capsule form but may contain additional substances, Pannullo said.
“Dealers are trying to make a profit by making as many capsules as possible,” he said. “They’ll throw in some bath salts and caffeine with the ecstasy so the person will still get high and the dealer can make more money.”
Emily McCaughan, 22, died in June 2012 after taking molly at the Electric Daisy Carnival, police said.
Police said she fell from her Circus Circus hotel room on the 27th floor after having paranoid delusions caused by the drug.
“There was definitely something more than ecstasy in that pill,” Pannullo said. “That’s what’s so scary about mollies. Dealers could put anything they want in these things, even poison.”
WARNING SIGNS
Regardless of the type of drug, Pannullo said everyone will react differently, and sometimes it takes only one dose to kill a person.
“We’ve seen drug addicts that have been on drug cocktails for years and live to be 90,” he said. “Then sometimes we have one kid who tries it one time and they die from it.”
Parents should be aware of warning signs if they are suspicious their child is using drugs. These include becoming secretive or clandestine, performing poorly in school or no longer associating with friends or family.
“If the child is not the open person they raised them to be, that’s a big sign to say, ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ ” Boffelli said.
Parents should not hesitate to search their child’s room, according to Boffelli.
“They have to remember they own the home and the room their teenager occupies,” he said. “They have the right to go in there if they suspect anything.”
Pannullo said parents should also be aware of missing household objects or strange items found in their child’s possession.
“Most kids don’t have jobs, so they have to steal stuff and sell it or trade it to get drugs from their dealer,” he said.
If parents find their children abusing drugs, they can seek assistance through church groups, their health insurance or the drug enforcement administration office, according to Boffelli.
Residents who suspect illegal activity in their neighborhood are advised to call the police.
“We care about everyone’s safety,” Pannullo said. “That’s why we’re here.”
Contact Southwest/Spring Valley reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@viewnews.com or 702-380-0403.
If you need more assistance on how to deal with a loved abusing narcotic drugs please contact KD Consulting Corporation 866-631-0026 or visit www.kdconsulting.org.
“The abuse is heavy in our community right now,” said Detective Joseph Pannullo, a narcotics officer, during the department’s 1st Tuesday program at the Southeast Area Command, 3675 E. Harmon Ave. “We always think, ‘It’ll never happen to my kid,’ but they may be battling things we don’t know about.”
The department hosts the open house-style event monthly on the first Tuesday at area commands around the valley.
Pannullo said marijuana, spice, prescription pills, heroin, ecstasy and molly are common drugs that teenagers abuse.
PRESCRIPTION PILLS
Pannullo said prescription pills are the fastest-growing drugs used among teenagers because they have access to their parents’ medicine cabinets.
“Kids are impressionable. They don’t think pills are going to hurt them,” he said. “They think, ‘My parents take pills. My grandparents take pills. They won’t hurt me.’ ”
Prescription pills are the cause of more drug-related deaths in Clark County than any other substance, police said.
Oxygontin, Lortab, Vicodin, Valium and Alprazolam are a few medications commonly abused. Pannullo said parents should lock or hide their prescription pills from children and pay attention to missing medication.
“If they have a (drug) problem, they’re going to go searching for it,” he said.
MARIJUANA
Teenagers sometimes have misconceptions about the effects of marijuana, according to Pannullo.
“Kids get it in their head that it’s God’s plant and it won’t hurt them,” he said. “It clearly does. It leads them to other drugs.”
Known as the “gateway drug,” Pannullo said most drug abusers he has questioned said their habits started with marijuana as a teenager.
“That high wasn’t enough, so they were introduced to methamphetamine or cocaine,” he said. “Once you get addicted to a drug, you’re always chasing a bigger high.”
Marijuana can be smoked using pipes, bongs or cigarette papers or ingested ANAthrough food and beverages. It has many nicknames, such as weed, pot, Mary Jane and grass.
SPICE
Spice, or K2, is a synthetic compound that can be smoked to mimic the effects of marijuana, Pannullo said.
Although the drug is marketed as potpourri or herbal incenses and labeled “not for human consumption,” possession of spice in Nevada is a felony.
Spice is made by spraying an herbal mixture sprayed with a chemical compound, said Lt. Peter Boffelli, a narcotics officer.
“It has to be analyzed by the lab before we can charge anyone,” Boffelli said. “It could be six days, six weeks, six months before we even know that we have an illegal substance.”
Unlike marijuana, spice does not show up on drug tests, according to Pannullo.
“The users can get their high and not have to worry about getting drug tested at work,” he said. “There’s no drug test that can identify spice in their system, and that’s the dangerous part.”
HEROIN
Because most pain pills contain morphine-like chemicals called opioids, Pannullo said it’s common for teens who use pills to start abusing heroin because of the cost difference.
“Sometimes they’re paying $25 or $50 for pills, and that can get expensive once they don’t have the supply from their medicine cabinet,” he said. “They turn to heroin because they can get the same high for way less.”
Heroin use in high schools is growing as drug dealers target wealthy neighborhoods, Pannullo said.
“(Drug dealers) are giving it to kids to try because they know they’ll get hooked once these kids try it,” he said. “The dealers figure mom and dad have a lot of money and can support (their child’s) habit.”
Heroin is commonly sold in multicolored balloons for about $10, and some addicts spend up to $500 a day, Pannullo said.
Common paraphernalia used with heroin are spoons, needles and pipes. It can be smoked, snorted or injected and is nicknamed black tar, dope and big H.
ECSTASY
Ecstasy is a stimulant that has hallucinogenic properties and is usually sold in pill form.
Pannullo said the drug increases a user’s blood pressure and body temperature and enhances pleasure and touch.
“It’s basically the happy drug,” he said. “The only good thing about it is (users) are generally not violent people.”
The drug gives users a rush of energy for two to three hours before causing extreme fatigue. Common nicknames are MDMA, E and roll.
“It’s very dangerous if they’re not taking in the water to keep their body temperature down,” Pannullo said. “They could overheat themselves and die pretty quick.”
MOLLY
Molly is marketed as ecstasy in capsule form but may contain additional substances, Pannullo said.
“Dealers are trying to make a profit by making as many capsules as possible,” he said. “They’ll throw in some bath salts and caffeine with the ecstasy so the person will still get high and the dealer can make more money.”
Emily McCaughan, 22, died in June 2012 after taking molly at the Electric Daisy Carnival, police said.
Police said she fell from her Circus Circus hotel room on the 27th floor after having paranoid delusions caused by the drug.
“There was definitely something more than ecstasy in that pill,” Pannullo said. “That’s what’s so scary about mollies. Dealers could put anything they want in these things, even poison.”
WARNING SIGNS
Regardless of the type of drug, Pannullo said everyone will react differently, and sometimes it takes only one dose to kill a person.
“We’ve seen drug addicts that have been on drug cocktails for years and live to be 90,” he said. “Then sometimes we have one kid who tries it one time and they die from it.”
Parents should be aware of warning signs if they are suspicious their child is using drugs. These include becoming secretive or clandestine, performing poorly in school or no longer associating with friends or family.
“If the child is not the open person they raised them to be, that’s a big sign to say, ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ ” Boffelli said.
Parents should not hesitate to search their child’s room, according to Boffelli.
“They have to remember they own the home and the room their teenager occupies,” he said. “They have the right to go in there if they suspect anything.”
Pannullo said parents should also be aware of missing household objects or strange items found in their child’s possession.
“Most kids don’t have jobs, so they have to steal stuff and sell it or trade it to get drugs from their dealer,” he said.
If parents find their children abusing drugs, they can seek assistance through church groups, their health insurance or the drug enforcement administration office, according to Boffelli.
Residents who suspect illegal activity in their neighborhood are advised to call the police.
“We care about everyone’s safety,” Pannullo said. “That’s why we’re here.”
Contact Southwest/Spring Valley reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@viewnews.com or 702-380-0403.
If you need more assistance on how to deal with a loved abusing narcotic drugs please contact KD Consulting Corporation 866-631-0026 or visit www.kdconsulting.org.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Laser lights to brain may help shut off addiction: Discoveries
|
Cocaine addiction, which affects about 1.4 million Americans, may soon be treated by stimulating an area of the brain that is "silenced" by the addiction. Mapping the human genome was one such advance.
Optogenetics is another. The technique, which over the past eight years has galvanized brain research, has transformed neuroscientists from passive observers of the brain to active manipulators of its workings.
Amazingly, these researchers can now use hair-thin fiber-optic laser lights to turn individual brain cells on or off, and can watch as their animal subjects' behavior changes accordingly.
The most recent study to make use of the method in rats has immediate implications for the approximately 1.4 million Americans who are addicted to cocaine.
Researchers with the National Institutes of Health, the Ernest Gallo Clinic and the Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, successfully used optogenetics to cure cocaine addiction in rats by stimulating the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that had been "silenced" by repeated exposure to the drug.
The health consequences of cocaine addiction are serious. Heavy use may double the brain's aging. Even occasional use of cocaine may boost the risk of heart problems, and the drug is also a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes for people under 35.
While researchers won't be implanting fiber optics into human brains anytime soon to short-circuit addiction, there is another safe, FDA-approved way to stimulate the same area in cocaine addicts, they say. It is transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, which uses a portable, powerful electromagnet to deliver a magnetic pulse strong enough to evoke electrical activity in the brain. TMS has been used to treat depression.
“We don’t need to wait 10 or 15 years to possibly figure out what to give to patients as a therapy."
"We don't need to look for a drug," said the study's principal investigator, Dr. Antonello Bonci, scientific director of the intramural research program at the NIH's National Institute on Drug Abuse. Using an already-approved treatment such as TMS will shave years off the time it takes to get the potential treatment to patients. "We don't need to wait 10 or 15 years to possibly figure out what to give to patients as a therapy -- we have the ability now to set up clinical trials and hopefully try to help patients within a matter of months."
Bonci and his team think they could have a TMS clinical trial for cocaine addicts recruiting patients by the end of the year.
Their confidence stems from the somewhat stunning black-and-white nature of their results in rats, which were unheard of before optogenetics. Their study, published in April in the journal Nature, explained how rats trained to seek cocaine rewards were cured by a switch in the prefrontal cortex.
To produce a group of rats that closely mimic human addiction, the researchers first gave the animals free access to cocaine, which they could get by pressing a lever. Then they introduced mild shocks to the rats' feet at random intervals as a negative consequence of the drug use.
About 70 percent of the rats stopped pressing the lever when the shocks started. The rest, though, kept compulsively seeking the cocaine reward despite the unpleasant result; they were addicted.
"The addicted rats showed this silence in that part of the brain," Bonci said, which the researchers were able to measure electrically after the animals were euthanized. The prefrontal cortex, the area "silenced" by the cocaine addiction, correlates to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in people, he said.
"Human studies have shown that chronic cocaine abusers do have a very low productivity in that area," Bonci said. Both brain areas appear to be implicated in regulating the conscious control of decisions that either harm or benefit: In this case, should I take the drug, or not?
The addicted rats' brain cells in this area were then turned into on/off switches using the optogenetics technique. Researchers injected special light-activated proteins (called rhodopsins) targeted to that brain area by genetic manipulation, and implanted the tiny fiber optic cables.
With the flip of a switch, laser light from the fiber-optic cable turned on activity in the prefrontal cortex, and "within a matter of hours" the addicted rats were no longer addicted.
Even more amazing, perhaps, is what the group did to further prove that they were targeting the right area. They took the nonaddicted rats (the ones that stopped going after the cocaine when shocked) and used their method to turn off the prefrontal cortex area. The rats became addicts just as quickly.
"This is amazing," Bonci said. "It shows causality, that the activity of this brain region is clearly tied to this behavior, but also that the brain can go back to normal after months of exposure to something that is pretty toxic."
"[TMS] is cruder, but of course the advantage is that it's not invasive and you have nearly zero side effects," he said. "What matters for now is that we know what we should be doing in that brain region to try to reduce craving. We know what to do and we have proof that it should work."
And that's very good news for the millions of people struggling with addiction and for those who love them, too.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
The addict's stigma: Perception of weakness hampers treatment: Editorial
The addict's stigma: Perception of weakness hampers treatment: Editorial
By
on February 24, 2013 at 7:10 AM, updated February 25, 2013 at 11:54 AM
on February 24, 2013 at 7:10 AM, updated February 25, 2013 at 11:54 AM
The first time a person sips a drink, takes a painkiller or shoots heroin, there'™s no addiction. Over time, however, the substance takes hold and dependency develops. Hardliners say it'™s weak willpower; medicine says addicts no longer have a choice. If you’re diabetic and binge on birthday cake, you can go to the emergency room for treatment — and health insurance will pay for it. You get the same medical care for your third heart attack that you did for the first two, again, with full coverage.
But the underlying attitude in the United States, clouded by social and legal stigma, is that addicts get one shot. Get clean, but fall off the wagon, and you’re on your own.
And, as The Star-Ledger’s Dan Goldberg reported in last Sunday’s editions, many families find convincing their health insurers to cover addiction treatment is a life-and-death struggle. Some commit fraud, lying their way into inpatient rehab programs.
Diseases afflicting the body — diabetes, heart disease, cancer — have clear paths for treatment, as recommended by your physician. Depending on your policy, doctors and insurers might quibble over details, but care is typically covered.
Addiction, on the other hand, is stigmatized as a personality weakness. Just as marijuana’s medicinal value was ignored because pot’s illegal, the perception of people addicted to drugs such as heroin is clouded by law, too.
The first time a person sips a drink, takes a painkiller or shoots heroin, there’s no addiction. Over time, however, the substance takes hold and dependency develops. Hardliners say it’s weak willpower; medicine says addicts no longer have a choice.
Insurers told The Star-Ledger cost-benefit calls are made on all medical treatments, including addiction. They might cover less expensive outpatient rehab, even when doctors recommend costlier inpatient stays. In that respect, critics say, addiction is treated differently, and parity laws are needed to ensure addiction has equal access to care.
If a diabetic misses an insulin shot, doctors restore the blood-sugar balance. If an addict slips, we call it relapse and say treatment didn't work.
The Affordable Care Act requires addiction and mental health parity, but it’s still part of the law’s interim rules, and advocates worry there’s too much wiggle room for insurers to deny coverage.In New Jersey, where heroin addiction is rising at double-digit rates, parity laws have failed to advance in past legislative sessions, though a bill mandating parity in state employee health plans is moving through the Legislature.
Like diabetes, addiction is chronic, forcing patients to make lifestyle changes. When a diabetic misses an insulin shot, doctors try to restore the blood-sugar balance. When an addict slips, we call it a “relapse” and say treatment didn’t work. Both patients need — and deserve — lifetime care to maintain balance.
The “addicts brought this on themselves” argument can be made about overeaters who get diabetes or smokers who get lung cancer. Addictions deserve the same access to insurance coverage. It’s the right path, medically and morally.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Intervention for High-Risk Teens Can Reduce Alcohol Abuse
Intervention for High-Risk Teens Can Reduce Alcohol Abuse
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on January 25, 2013
Mental health interventions directed toward high-risk teenagers significantly reduces their drinking behavior and that of their schoolmates.
Results from the randomized study were so strong that UK researchers believe the intervention should be administered throughout the country to help prevent teenage alcohol abuse.
The study is published in JAMA Psychiatry.
The research effort, termed the “Adventure Trial,” involved 21 schools in London that were randomly allocated to either receive the intervention, or the UK statutory drug and alcohol education curriculum.
A total of 2,548 year-10 students (average age 13.8 years) were classed as high or low-risk of developing future alcohol dependency. Those classed as high-risk fit one of four personality risk profiles: anxiety, hopelessness, impulsivity or sensation-seeking.
Eleven students were monitored for their drinking behavior over two years. Four members of staff in each intervention school were trained to deliver group workshops targeting the different personality profiles. Eleven schools also received the intervention where 709 high-risk teenagers were invited to attend two workshops that guided them in learning cognitive-behavioral strategies for coping with their particular personality profiles.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Patricia Conrod, from King’s Institute of Psychiatry and lead author of the paper, said: “Through the workshops, the teenagers learn to better manage their personality traits and individual tendencies, helping them to make good decisions for themselves.
Researchers discovered cognitive-behavioral strategies helped some students better manage high levels of anxiety, reduce their tendency to have pessimistic reactions to certain situations, and helped to control their tendency to react impulsively or aggressively.
“Our study shows that this mental health approach to alcohol prevention is much more successful in reducing drinking behavior than giving teenagers general information on the dangers of alcohol.”
After two years, high-risk students in intervention schools were at a 29 percent reduced risk of drinking, 43 percent reduced risk of binge drinking and 29 percent reduced risk of problem drinking compared to high-risk students in control schools.
The intervention also significantly delayed the natural progression to more risky drinking behavior (such as frequent binge drinking, greater quantity of drinking, and severity of problem drinking) in the high-risk students over the two years.
Additionally, over the two year period, low-risk teenagers in the intervention schools, who did not receive the intervention, were at a 29 percent reduced risk of taking up drinking and 35 percent reduced risk of binge drinking compared to the low-risk group in the non-intervention schools, indicating a possible ‘herd effect’ in this population.
An excellent upside of the intervention is the carry-over effect reducing unhealthy behavior among friends and peers of the youth receiving the intensive counseling.
“This ‘herd effect’ is very important from a public health perspective as it suggests that the benefits of mental health interventions on drinking behaviour also extend to the general population, possibly by reducing the number of drinking occasions young people are exposed to in early adolescence.”
Said Conrod, “This intervention could be widely administered to schools: it is successful from a public health perspective, appreciated by students and staff, and because we train school staff rather than professional psychologists, the intervention remains relatively inexpensive to roll-out.”
Drinking is a significant issue in England as approximately 6 out of 10 people aged 11-15 in England drink and approximately 5,000 teenagers are admitted to hospital every year for alcohol related reasons.
Across the developed world, alcohol accounts for approximately 9 percent of all deaths of people aged 15-29, and so far, universal community or school-based interventions have proven difficult to implement and shown limited success.
Nick Barton, chief executive of Action on Addiction, said: “Dr. Conrod’s study, which helps young people reduce their chances of developing an addiction to alcohol and/or drugs in the future, is an exciting development for prevention work in the UK.
“This is generally recognized as inadequate, and as we see regularly in the media, currently fails to address binge drinking and drug taking among young people. We treat a large number of people who began misusing substances in their school years, and we welcome any evidence-based research which may help to reverse this trend.”
Source: King’s College London
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
World's first alcoholism vaccine to run preclincial trial in Chile
World’s first alcoholism vaccine to run preclinical trial in Chile
The vaccine could affect hundreds of millions of alcoholics worldwide. In Chile, one in 15 men have an alcohol use disorder, according to the most recent 2011 study from the World Health Organization (WHO).
“If it works, it’s going to have a worldwide impact, but with many vaccines one has to test them carefully. I think the chances that this one will work are quite high,” said Asenjo.
Normally, the liver turns alcohol into the compound acetaldehyde, which can be thanked for the vicious hangovers that often follow heavy drinking. An alcohol-metabolizing enzyme then breaks the compound down.
The vaccine would work for six months to one year through RNA, which can control gene expression. The so-called anti-aldh2 antisense RNA acts as a messenger to tell the liver not to express genes that metabolize alcohol. In other words, the vaccine ups the ante on hangovers in order to discourage consumption.
Asenjo said his research team in Chile is heading up the only trial of alcohol vaccines in the world, but the concept isn’t new.
Nearly a century ago, a drug called Disul?ram hit the shelves. Disulfiram blocks the enzyme from breaking down alcohol, thus intensifying the body’s negative response to alcohol.
The drug doesn’t ease intense cravings and has a high toxicity level. Coping with harsher hangovers is apparently a tough pill to swallow as patients often don’t continue taking the medicine as directed.
The vaccine, once injected, can’t be reversed until completion.
Inspiration for the vaccine struck from the far East, said Asenjo. Some hangover-prone individuals have a gene mutation that, like Disulfiram, inhibits the breakdown of alcohol and subsequently slashes alcoholism rates among those with the gene.
“People who are Japanese, Chinese or Korean and have this mutation – Let’s say 15 to 20 percent of the population – they don’t touch alcohol, and that’s because they feel bad with the vomit and the nausea,” Asenjo said.
Chile’s National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research’s (CONICYT) Fondef program, which gives money to develop science and technology, financed researchers at Universidad de Chile to look into this phenomenon. They found a way to alter a person’s gene expression to mimic this gene mutation, thus providing a long-term treatment.
The only lasting treatment currently available demands an iron will, according to the director of general services at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Chile. He said hasn’t picked up a drink in the past 36 of his 75 years.
The recovering alcoholic, who asked to remain anonymous, agreed that a vaccine alone can’t solve addiction.
“Personally, I hope it works, but it’s not so easy for the person who already has alcoholism,” said the director. “Once you have this problem. You don’t have a solution. You pick up a drink, think you can handle a few, but it’s not possible.”
He leafed through a long list of AA’s sister organizations from Neurotics Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous to Compulsive Shoppers Anonymous. A vaccine, he said, can’t cure all. It won’t fix the mental challenges that plague addicts. They might latch onto an even more lethal substance with alcohol out of the picture.
“I had a friend. He quit drinking. Then he became a terrible smoker. He was connected to an oxygen tank for two months to keep him alive,” said the director.
“A person needs to confront themselves,” he added.
By Katie Manning (manning@santiagotimes.cl)Copyright 2013 - The Santiago Times
Tuesday, 22 January 2013 19:57
Vaccine promises to cure alcoholism, but without mental health treatment, could society swap one addiction for another?
Splitting headaches and waves of nausea – a drinker’s worst enemy – may soon provide alcoholics with an unlikely rescue from a crippling addiction. A preclinical trial for the Universidad de Chile’s alcoholism vaccine, set to break ground in February, will use mice to determine dosing. Researchers will apply the findings to a human trial in November this year.
Splitting headaches and waves of nausea – a drinker’s worst enemy – may soon provide alcoholics with an unlikely rescue from a crippling addiction. A preclinical trial for the Universidad de Chile’s alcoholism vaccine, set to break ground in February, will use mice to determine dosing. Researchers will apply the findings to a human trial in November this year.
Photo courtesy of Imagens Evangélicas/Flickr.
Dr. Juan Asenjo, director of the Institute for Cell Dynamics and Biotechnology at Universidad de Chile, thinks that although the vaccine is not a cure-all, it could provide an important first step.
“People who end up alcoholic have a social problem; a personality problem because they’re shy, whatever, and then they are depressed, so it’s not so simple,” Asenjo said. “But if we can solve the chemical, the basic part of the problem, I think it could help quite a bit.”
The preclinical trial precludes the phase one clinical trial in India, when doctors will inject people with the vaccine for the first time. If all goes well, the vaccination could be available as soon as two years from now, according to Asenjo.“People who end up alcoholic have a social problem; a personality problem because they’re shy, whatever, and then they are depressed, so it’s not so simple,” Asenjo said. “But if we can solve the chemical, the basic part of the problem, I think it could help quite a bit.”
The vaccine could affect hundreds of millions of alcoholics worldwide. In Chile, one in 15 men have an alcohol use disorder, according to the most recent 2011 study from the World Health Organization (WHO).
“If it works, it’s going to have a worldwide impact, but with many vaccines one has to test them carefully. I think the chances that this one will work are quite high,” said Asenjo.
Normally, the liver turns alcohol into the compound acetaldehyde, which can be thanked for the vicious hangovers that often follow heavy drinking. An alcohol-metabolizing enzyme then breaks the compound down.
The vaccine would work for six months to one year through RNA, which can control gene expression. The so-called anti-aldh2 antisense RNA acts as a messenger to tell the liver not to express genes that metabolize alcohol. In other words, the vaccine ups the ante on hangovers in order to discourage consumption.
Asenjo said his research team in Chile is heading up the only trial of alcohol vaccines in the world, but the concept isn’t new.
Nearly a century ago, a drug called Disul?ram hit the shelves. Disulfiram blocks the enzyme from breaking down alcohol, thus intensifying the body’s negative response to alcohol.
The drug doesn’t ease intense cravings and has a high toxicity level. Coping with harsher hangovers is apparently a tough pill to swallow as patients often don’t continue taking the medicine as directed.
The vaccine, once injected, can’t be reversed until completion.
Inspiration for the vaccine struck from the far East, said Asenjo. Some hangover-prone individuals have a gene mutation that, like Disulfiram, inhibits the breakdown of alcohol and subsequently slashes alcoholism rates among those with the gene.
“People who are Japanese, Chinese or Korean and have this mutation – Let’s say 15 to 20 percent of the population – they don’t touch alcohol, and that’s because they feel bad with the vomit and the nausea,” Asenjo said.
Chile’s National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research’s (CONICYT) Fondef program, which gives money to develop science and technology, financed researchers at Universidad de Chile to look into this phenomenon. They found a way to alter a person’s gene expression to mimic this gene mutation, thus providing a long-term treatment.
The only lasting treatment currently available demands an iron will, according to the director of general services at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Chile. He said hasn’t picked up a drink in the past 36 of his 75 years.
The recovering alcoholic, who asked to remain anonymous, agreed that a vaccine alone can’t solve addiction.
“Personally, I hope it works, but it’s not so easy for the person who already has alcoholism,” said the director. “Once you have this problem. You don’t have a solution. You pick up a drink, think you can handle a few, but it’s not possible.”
He leafed through a long list of AA’s sister organizations from Neurotics Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous to Compulsive Shoppers Anonymous. A vaccine, he said, can’t cure all. It won’t fix the mental challenges that plague addicts. They might latch onto an even more lethal substance with alcohol out of the picture.
“I had a friend. He quit drinking. Then he became a terrible smoker. He was connected to an oxygen tank for two months to keep him alive,” said the director.
“A person needs to confront themselves,” he added.
By Katie Manning (manning@santiagotimes.cl)Copyright 2013 - The Santiago Times
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