The Sara Bellum Blog

What do you want first, the good news or the bad news? Whenever a conversation starts this way, you just know things are going to get interesting.

Check out this video clip where Dr. Nora Volkow, NIDA’s Director, talks face-to-face with 100 teens at Harlem High School in New York about drug abuse. See what she says when someone asks her about Internet addiction. She is really open and honest, explaining both the good and the bad about taking risks. View the video to the left and feel free to share it with your friends.

Figuring out what to do when a friend or someone you know is having trouble with drugs or alcohol can be tricky. You want to help, but you might not know how to bring it up. Here are some tips.

Listen. If he talks to you, just be there for him. Admitting a problem––never mind talking to someone about it––is really hard. Listen to what he has to say about his drug use without making judgments.

Encourage. Suggest that she talk to an adult she trusts––a coach or teacher, a school counselor, a relative, or a doctor.

Share. Maybe your friend doesn’t see his or her drug use as a bad thing. But plenty of real scientific information about what drugs can do to a person is on the NIDA Web site. Once your friend understands how drugs affect the brain, boy and life, it might open their eyes.

Inform. When he’s ready to make a change and seek treatment, help him frind a doctor, therapist, support group, or treatment program. You can use SAMHSA’s SUbstance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator or call 1-800-662-HELP.

Support. Don’t give up on your friend, even if she isn’t ready to get help. Keep reading out. Encourage them to treatment, and support them along the way––that’s the best way to help someone you care about who is struggling with addiction.

Have you been at a restaurant or party where people are smoking, and acting like their clouds of smoke are no big deal? Do you put up with breathing secondhand smoke to hang out with your friends? In this video, Dr. Gaya Dowling and Dr. Redonna Chandler sink a few balls while sharing some real facts about smoking.

Fact:  Nicotine is addictive.

Fact.  Most smokers start smoking before the age of 18.

Fact.  It only takes eight seconds for the nicotine in cigarette smoke to be inhaled, enter your brain, and start affecting your brain cells whether or not you’re the one who lit up in the first place! That’s less time than it takes most people to cue up and make a shot.

Watch the video and see how much of this you already know.

What are your biggest questions about drug abuse? What words come to mind when you think about addiction?

We took the transcript from the morning session at NIDA’s 2008 Chat Day and used it to make this “word cloud.” The biggest words are the words that were used the most often in the conversation between teens and NIDA scientists like drugs, school, and high. There were lots of questions about specific drugs, including marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco, and also about how to find help if you’re worried that you or a friend might have problems with drug abuse or addiction. If you look closely, you can spot NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow, who was answering questions online with kids, and some schools that participating in Chat Day, like Rockville High in Maryland and Yonkers High in New York.

It’s kind of cool to see a conversation between scientists and teens all summed up in a picture like this! You can read frequently asked questions from NIDA’s Chat Day. And, you can make your own word cloud pictures using any Web site or text at www.wordle.net.

Regardless of whether or not teens should care about body image or physical appearances, the truth is that we do care, a lot. And working out is a healthy way to look and feel better. The rouble comes when people sacrifice their health to look buff like by taking steroids.

While not that many teens try steroids even once, according to NIDA surveys (about 3 in 100), those who do use steroids are getting a lot more than just large muscles. Steroids can cause acne and make your hair fall out. They can also damage your heart and change your hormone levels so that girls might grow facial hair, and boys could develop breasts. Seriously.

NIDA scientists Dr. Baler reveals more about what steroids can do in the video to the left.

Scientists here at NIDA are always saying that teens shouldn’t use drugs, tobacco, or alcohol. But do you know why they say that? It’s because of scientific studies like this one by Dr. Jay Giedd, which shows that your brain won’t reach it adult potential until you’re over twenty years old. If you’re a teen—even if you’re a high school senior—your brain is still maturing. Your nuerons are still growing, and connections between different parts of your brain are still forming. Drugs andalcohol may mess up that process.

Along with his colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Giedd created this scientific figure. Looks like a bunch of colorized floating brains, right?

But actually, this picture is a cartoon depicting how the human brain continues to change between the ages of four and twenty-one years. As you move from left to right along the red arrow, the brain gets older. Above the arrow are side views of the brain (as if someone was standing in front of you, looking toward your right shoulder). Below the arrow are views of the brain from the top (like you are looking down on someone’s head).

So what’s with the rainbow colors? The colors represent the amount of “gray matter” (or active brain cells called neurons) that the researchers found in brains of different ages, using a brain imaging technique called MRI. Gray matter isn’t usually this colorful (hence the term ‘gray’ matter), but these brain pictures have been color-coded to show areas of more or less gray matter. Pink and red areas have the most gray matter, while green and blue have the least.

So, who do you think have more gray matter—you, or your parents? What does the figure show? read more