RWHN's adventures in Teenage Land.

[hooplala]

There's that, too.  Yes.

[LMNO]

Mardi Gras I made hurricanes (virgin ones for the kids).

Isn't that just Tang and Kool-Aid, with extra sugar?

I would also advocate that parents become more familiar with brain research and understand the implications of a young person drinking.  

Not to kick this door open again, but exactly how definitive is the research, anyway?  I heard a few weeks ago that alcohol doesn't actually kill brain cells...

[Cain]

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/HealthIssues/1103162109.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4496727.stm
http://www.livescience.com/mysteries/070518_brain_alcohol.html
http://alcoholism.about.com/od/brain/a/blunc041105.htm
http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news/Mapping-alcohol-brain-damage-2069-1/
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/node/4559

[AFK]

This bit from the last link Cain posted sums it up nicely:

"When used in excess, alcohol damages brain structure and function. Alcoholics have impairments in the ability to reason, plan or remember," said Crews, also professor of pharmacology and psychiatry in UNC's School of Medicine. "A variety of psychological tests show alcoholics have a difficulty in ability to understand negative consequences."

Although, in that same article the researchers seem to have witnessed some regeneration after an alcoholic starts to abstain.  That would be huge if it were the case.  Current knowledge has pretty much been once you lose it, it's gone.  I suspect as brain research continues we are going to discover that there is indeed some recovery possible, though I'm pretty sure it won't be a 1 to 1 ratio.  But some is better than none. 

[LMNO]

For the record, I wasn't trying to say that alcoholism is harmless, just that I wasn't sure if the studies were definitive.

Ok, moving on.  Did you talk about huffing at all, or LSD?

[AFK]

No, we haven't talked about hallucinogens yet.  So far we've covered marijuana, Rx drugs, and alcohol.  Next week is the last one and the kids wanted a more open, anything goes discussion.  I think we'll probably touch on the hallucinogens though I suspect huffing won't come up.  Huffing, at least in Maine, tends to be more prevalent amongst kids in middle school.  That's not to say kids in high school aren't doing it, but, it seems by then they've "grown out" of huffing and moved on to the cool social drugs like pot. 

[Jenne]

Yeah, huffing here is a middle school thing.  I explained it to my now-middle schooler, and he was both repulsed and intrigued at the same time.   Ah me, the dangers of too much info.

Anyway, yes, virgin anything is usually juice, which is why my kids rarely get virgin-anything.  I just give them soda (usu orange, their favorite) if they want something in that category.  But they were wondering what all the falderal was aroudn a hurricane.  They weren't really impressed. 

[AFK]

Well, if he becomes too intrigued let me know.  I have a friend and colleague who works for the Poison Center who has some great material on huffing that will scare him straight.   

[Jenne]

Oh his father would scare him straight.  All you have to do is look at the current pix of Afghanistan and know your dad will send you there in a heartbeat if you fuck up.  But luckily, I don't have one of THOSE kids, YET.  I'm not counting out experimentation, but he's actually intrigued as to the WHY of it rather than the how.  Again, LUCKILY.  He still thinks girls are icky and Brahms and Bach are his favorite music.

Nerd/Geekdom has its usage atm.

[Cain]

The best advertisement against huffing was watching the retards on Totse who advocated it, trying to create coherent sentences out of their disjointed rambling and failing.

[Iason Ouabache]

The best advertisement against huffing was watching the retards on Totse who advocated it, trying to create coherent sentences out of their disjointed rambling and failing.

Or, you know, this guy...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0721051gold1.html

[AFK]

Well, the inside of his lungs are probably rather pretty, and fucked up. 

[Darth Cupcake]

I always relied on my enormous superiority complex and general disdain for the behavior of my peers to keep me from getting mixed up in dangerous drugs.

That and I grew up in a shmancy rich area, so I enjoyed being DD with other people's stupid nice cars.

[AFK]

I drove the Drunk Bus in college.  The college I attended was set atop this huge hill and we found that the inebriated dorm students had a tough time getting up the hill without passing out on someone's porch.  The town was very happy to have us alleviate that situation.  I actually got some tips too. 

[Iason Ouabache]

BTW, RWHN.  Not to jack this thread but I was wonder if these numbers are accurate.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/978041.html

Cole says that in 1914, when the first federal drug law was enacted, the government estimated 1.3 percent of us were addicted to illegal drugs. In 1970, when the War on Drugs began, the government estimated 1.3 percent of us were addicted to illegal drugs. Thirty-nine million arrests later, he says, the government says 1.3 percent of us are addicted to illegal drugs.

''That,'' says Cole, ``is the only statistic that's never changed at all.''