Meet Molly: The Truth About MDMA
Recently, Madonna created some buzz when she mentioned “Molly” at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival. Madonna shouted to the audience, “How many people in the crowd have seen Molly?” Madonna was talking about the song “Have You Seen Molly?” by Cedric Gervais. However, “Molly” is also a nickname for MDMA. Many news outlets reported that the legendary pop singer was talking about drugs, not the song. Madonna responded by saying, “I don't support drug use and I never have.”
All About Molly
We were happy to hear that Madonna doesn’t encourage her fans to use MDMA, because it’s a very dangerous drug. MDMA is...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - May 1, 2012 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
Addicted to French Fries: Is Food a Drug?
According to the American Heart Association, about one in three kids and teens in the United States is overweight or obese. Obesity can lead to chronic health problems like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Obesity can even shorten your life.
You probably already heard this in the news. But, did you know that a diet high in saturated fats, refined sugars, corn syrup, and carbohydrates literally tricks our brains into craving more unhealthy stuff?
Brains React to Food
Most people don’t just consume food for “fuel” or energy. Most of us enjoy eating, especially our favorite foods. Science backs this up:...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - April 3, 2012 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
Leads for Treating Methamphetamine Addiction
My name is Yamini Naidu and I am a sophomore at Valley Catholic High School in Beaverton, Oregon. I have been working on a science project about Methamphetamine (METH) addiction for the past two years, beginning in the summer of 2009. To those who read this blog, I wanted to share my research experience on METH so you could learn about the great potential for biochemistry that exists in the world of drugs and addiction. I received guidance for this project from the Oregon Health and Science University, the Portland American Chemical Society, and my high school chemistry and biology teachers. My research focuses on developi...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - July 20, 2011 Category: Addiction Authors: Yamini Naidu, Addiction Science Award Winner Source Type: blogs
Real Teens Ask: What Are Designer Drugs?
Questions about drugs? Lots of teens are asking. That’s why each year, NIDA scientists spend a day chatting online with high school students and answering their questions.
At the last Drug Facts Chat Day, “Boxy” from St. Henry District High School in Kentucky asked:
What are designer drugs?
The term “designer drugs” refers to drugs that are created in a laboratory (typically, an “underground,” or secret, illegal lab). A designer drug is created by changing the properties of a drug that comes from a plant—such as cocaine, morphine, or marijuana—using the tools of chemistry. The resulting “designer” dr...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - March 17, 2011 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
Real Teens Ask: Which Drug Is Most Addictive?
On Drug Facts Chat Day, we get thousands of questions about drugs from high school students all over the country. Today, we’re taking one from Casa Grande Union High School in Arizona:
Which drug is most addictive?
Let’s start with this basic truth—although some drugs are stronger or more powerful than others, all drugs are potentially dangerous. Each has a way of tapping into your brain’s pleasure circuitry and altering your physical or emotional state. And this means—Any of them can lead to abuse and addiction.
But what makes one drug more addictive than another has to do with a person’s environment (like str...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - August 11, 2010 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
Meth Mouth and Crank Bugs: Meth-a-morphosis
The SBB has already told you about some of the nasty effects that methamphetamine can have on the body—remember that post about how scavengers won’t even eat the dead bodies of meth users?
Not only can meth mess up your body’s chemical structure and even cause problems with your heart and lungs, it also changes your appearance and behavior. Soon, meth users might not even look or act like themselves.
Bad news for teeth and skin. Ever heard of “meth mouth?” It isn’t pretty. Meth reduces the amount of protective saliva around the teeth. People who use the drug also tend to drink a lot of sugary soda, neglect pers...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - January 11, 2010 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
NIDA News: Back to the Future?
It's that time of year again-time to announce the results of NIDA's annual Monitoring the Future survey. For the 34th year, researchers went into classrooms all over the country and asked young people to fill out surveys about their drug use. This year 46,097 8th, 10th and 12th graders participated—that's a lot of teens! As the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, this is one of my favorite times of the year because we hold a big news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to let the public know what the researchers learned. Here's the news this year, good and bad.
The good news is that meth...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - December 14, 2009 Category: Addiction Authors: Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of NIDA Source Type: blogs
Real Teens Ask: Do Many Kids in High School Do Drugs?
Questions about drugs? Lots of teens are asking. That's why each year NIDA scientists spend a day chatting online with high school students and answering their questions.
At our last Drug Facts Chat Day, Livelaughlove94 asked:
"Do many kids in high school do drugs?"
The best way to find out if high school kids do drugs is to ask them. That's exactly what NIDA does every year in its annual Monitoring the Future Study. This survey of more than 46,000 teens—8th, 10th, and 12th graders to be exact—showed that only about 3 percent, or 3 in 100 teens have used cocaine or Ecstasy in the last year, and only about 1 in 100 used...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - October 5, 2009 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
Meth Dead Don't Get Eaten
That's what 17 year old Daniel Jeffrey Martin from Desert Vista High School heard from his mom one day while driving near a piece of the desert near his home town of Phoenix, Arizona. "Huh?" he asked. His mom, a forensic scientist (think: CSI), explained to him that when dead bodies are found in the desert by animals like coyotes, bobcats, and wolves, these scavengers will usually eat them—except for the bodies of methamphetamine users (proven by an autopsy).
Winner Daniel Jeffrey Martin with NIDA science fair judges at the 2009 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Daniel thought this would be a perfect sc...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - July 28, 2009 Category: Addiction Authors: Sara Bellum Source Type: blogs
