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Kids who were in 8th grade at pandemic’s start have ushered in an era of abstaining.

"Teen drug use continued to fall in 2024, extending a dramatic decline spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that experts expected would reverse now that the acute phase of the global crisis is well over.

But, according to data released Tuesday [December 17, 2024], the number of eighth, 10th, and 12th graders who collectively abstained from the use of alcohol, marijuana, or nicotine hit a new high this year. Use of illicit drugs also fell on the whole and use of non-heroin narcotics (Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet) hit an all-time low.

"Many experts in the field had anticipated that drug use would resurge as the pandemic receded and social distancing restrictions were lifted," Richard Miech, team lead of the Monitoring the Future survey at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. "As it turns out, the declines have not only lasted but have dropped further."

The Monitoring the Future study—which has been running for 50 years and is funded by the National Institutes of Health—surveys a nationally representative group of teens each year on their involvement with the ever-evolving drug landscape. This year, the survey collected data from over 24,000 students at more than 270 public and private schools.

The initial drop in drug use between 2020 and 2021 was among the largest ever recorded. And researchers like Miech expected the rates would bounce back, at least partially. But now, the data suggests the pandemic has started a wave of abstention that is still rippling through grade levels.

A new era

"Kids who were in eighth grade at the start of the pandemic will be graduating from high school this year, and this unique cohort has ushered in the lowest rates of substance use we’ve seen in decades," Miech noted.

For alcohol, use in the past 12 months among eighth graders was at 12.9 percent in 2024, similar to 2023 levels, which are all-time lows. For 10th graders, the rate dropped significantly from 30.6 percent in 2023 to 26.1 percent, and for 12th graders, from 45.7 percent to 41.7 percent—both record lows.

For nicotine vaping, rates fell for 10th graders (from 17.5 percent to 15.4 percent) and remained at low levels for eighth and 12th graders. For marijuana, use remained low for eighth and 10th graders and fell significantly for 12th graders (from 29 percent to 25.8 percent). All three grades are at lows not seen since 1990.

For abstainers from alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine in the prior 30 days, the rate among eighth graders hit 90 percent, up from 87 percent in 2017, when it was first measured. The rate was 80 percent among 10th graders, up from 69 percent in 2017, and 67 percent for 12th graders, up from 53 percent in 2017.

"This trend in the reduction of substance use among teenagers is unprecedented," Nora Volkow, director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), said. "We must continue to investigate factors that have contributed to this lowered risk of substance use to tailor interventions to support the continuation of this trend.""

-via Ars Technica, December 17, 2024

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Following a SARS-CoV-2 infection, many individuals suffer from post-COVID-19 syndrome. It makes them unable to proceed with common everyday

Apart from the prescription of transcutaneous nicotine application as a substitute for weaning smokers, the transcutaneous application of this substance has been investigated in clinical trials evaluating its therapeutic effects on neurologic or gastrointestinal disorders in non-smoking patients; these investigations showed no substantial side effects (Newhouse et al. 2012; Sandborn 1997; Pullan et al. 1994). Using very high dosages of nicotine (up to 107 mg/day), however, led nearly every patient with more than 90 mg/day to present with frequent nausea and vomiting (Villafane et al. 2007). Nonetheless, all individuals in a trial investigating the ameliorative effects of nicotine on Parkinson’s disease (PD) showed improved motor scores under reduced dopaminergic treatment (Villafane et al. 2007). In contrast to the well-known addictive potential linked to the chronic inhalation of nicotine, none of the trials could show a nicotine dependency after the withdrawal of transcutaneous nicotine application at the end of the investigations (Newhouse et al. 2012; Sandborn 1997; Pullan et al. 1994; Villafane et al. 2007).

Furthermore, among the severe and fatal cases of COVID-19, the proportion of nicotine consumers was significantly lower than non-consumers of nicotine (Miyara, et al. 2020).

CIGARETTES CONFIRMED FOR HEALTHY. CIGARETTES CURE LONG COVID im kidding but nicotine therapy is actually showing a lot of promise check it out

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fastest way to tell if someone genuinely cares about addicts and people with mental health issues in general? ask them how they feel about people who vape. vaping is and has been a hot button issue for like the last ten years or so and the way you hear people talk about people who vape, including teenagers, actual children, is insane. “at least i can go five minutes without needing a hit of flavored air” “kids who vape are cringe and just doing it to look cool” “when the addict loses their pen and tears their whole house apart looking for it” it’s like. you guys are just making fun of addiction. vapes are extremely addictive, way more so than cigarettes, and their flavors are deliberately targeted at children and young people. you achieve nothing by making fun of “kids who vape,” especially when you turn around five seconds later and claim to care about addicts. valing is an addiction like any other.