Nothing like a hard day at school. B-ball practice, yearbook committee and that pep rally skit at lunch sure can make for a busy day. By the time you hop off the bus and walk through that front door, nothing sounds better than a nice cold Capri Sun and a handful of Grandma’s Percocet. Then it’s nothing but Spongebob and Dorito’s until mom gets home.

According to the New York-based Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 20 percent of teenagers have admitted to abusing prescription medication.  Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen a decline in teen abuse rates for drugs, alcohol and tobacco. The only area of abuse that seems to be unchanged is teen prescription medication abuse. So, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America has teamed up with prescription drug maker, Abbott, to create a new campaign to combat prescription med abuse. The program, called Not In My House, seeks to educate both teens and parents about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

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I wonder if obesity rates in the US would drop if upon unwrapping a hot, juicy McDonald’s hamburger, you were to uncover graphic images of bed-ridden, clinically obese individuals or gruesome photos of a gastric bypass surgery? New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene tested this similar theory on cigarette consumers this week.

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There is little we know for certain about reducing tobacco use other than policy works. If a state increases the tobacco tax or passes a clean indoor air law, tobacco rates will go down. However, policy alone has not eliminated tobacco use anywhere—not even close. So what else is needed to fight tobacco? And what about those states where growing tobacco is a way of life—a way that families make their living, perhaps for many generations? What happens when policy is just not that easy to pass?

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Hey U, wake up and smell the smoke! While the smoking rates of college students have declined during the past decade, the tobacco industry has stepped up its game by targeting vulnerable college students at the places they love best: dorms, bars, nightclubs, and their school campuses. As explained in the U.S. News article Fewer College Kids Smoking, But Industry Tactics a Threat , tobacco conglomerates are spending millions a week targeting young adults during their life stage changes.

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OMG!

I was in high school when pagers were cool.  I knew where every pay phone in the city was, which ones were 25 cents vs 30 cents, and what phones wouldn’t take incoming calls.  Burger King parking lot was your best bet in Strongsville, Ohio.  But no more.  The tidal sweep of cell phones across culture has put pagers in sock drawers or  relegated them to doctors on E.R.   Though they are portable phones, it seems that actual phone calls are secondary to text messaging.  The Partnership for a Drug-Free America has recognized the power and popularity of this medium in teen culture and is promoting parent-to-child texting in their 2008 Time to Talk campaign.

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Hopefully by now you are aware that sub-Saharan Africa is more heavily affected by HIV and AIDS than any other region in the world. The statistics and facts about the African AIDS epidemic are startling and frightening: AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa, which has accounted nearly half of all global AIDS deaths. In just the past year alone, AIDS has claimed the lives of an estimated 1.5 million people in the region. Over 11 million children have been left orphaned by AIDS.

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 The 2008 presidential election has hit the high gear, and while baby bumps , Van Halen , and the inevitable patriot pissing contest is in the spotlight now, I am hoping that my fellow Americans will dig through the Hollywood during the debates.  A major issue that will be addressed is America’s dependency on foreign oil (subtext: perverted motives for war(s), foothold in the Middle East, typical greedhead  stuff, etc).  And while $4.50 gas has stomped out the last of the middle class, and the next possible Queen-to-be is in favor of thrashing the earth for a whiff of petroleum, we find it necessary to put a billboard on wheels, gas it up, and drive it around town.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the American Advertising Frankenstein…The Mobile Billboard.

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The aural assault of “discrimination” echoing out the chalky mouths of smokers lies buried beneath common sense. Smoking bans are in place for one reason and one reason only: public health. An act enjoyed by a minority can have devastating consequences for a larger population who chooses not to smoke. Granted, bans and regulations make smoking inconvenient but smokers really have no choice but to put up with it. After all, they need their nicotine fix.

Big tobacco has been attempting to counteract the inconvenience of smoking by introducing a slew of new tobacco products: snuff, snus, nicotine pills. Essentially, ways to get nicotine into your system if you don’t have time to find a designated smoking area...or you just plain aren’t allowed to smoke. These products have had mediocre success at best. Why? Simple. Smokers like to smoke. Aside from chemical addiction, the physical act of smoking creates a sort of mental dependency that cannot be filled with pills, powders and packets.

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