1) Music, lights intensify the effects of ecstasy.
2) Nonsmokers are healthier than smokers.
3) Sports stadiums serve alcohol to intoxicated, underage fans.
Monthly Archive for October, 2008
I’ll use just about any excuse to post a picture of my dog, Casey, and this story about drug-sniffing dogs hired by parents to “discreetly” detect drugs in their teenagers’ bedrooms is as good as any. Parents, if you’re worried that your kid is stockpiling ecstasy somewhere in their bedroom other than the normal places where teens hide stuff they don’t want you to find, a New Jersey-based company will rent you a specially trained dog for $200 an hour.
You can borrow Casey for $200, too, although the only thing he’ll be sure to locate in your house is a tennis ball—or leftover Chinese food.
*A fascinating study about overeating and the brain, which tackles some of the same complicated ground I cover in America Anonymous.
*World’s heaviest man gets married, doesn’t touch wedding cake.
*Crystal meth replacing cocaine in New York City?
*Some drug dealers turn to prostitution.
*What bad economy? Tobacco companies are doing just fine.
*It’s not a good time to be a neurotic college student. More than 140 college campuses are now completely smoke-free.
*What if you threw a party for all of your Facebook friends and only one person came?
*Susan Cheever’s excellent new book, Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction, is in stores. Check it out.
In a finding deemed “surprising,” researchers in Scotland found that individuals with higher childhood intelligence scores could be more prone to drinking problems later in life. I find it surprising that this surprises anyone. When they aren’t drinking, alcoholics are an insufferably smart lot. Not quite as brilliant as sex addicts, but still.
*Miss Louisiana Teen USA loses crown after pot bust.
*A sad story about a drug-addicted Boston doctor who was found dead in a hospital closet.
*Further proof that man has long liked to get high.
*Some 9,179 toddlers and kids under age 6 were exposed to widely prescribed drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and methadone between January 2003 and June 2006.
*When it comes to addiction, McCain would focus on law enforcement, while Obama would emphasize treatment.
*My friend Lauren Kessler has a cool new blog about her family’s attempt at energy independence.
*Adorable Iraqi puppy adopted by soldier finally en route to U.S.
*Northwestern will go to 7-1 this Saturday when they beat Indiana. Go Cats!
*A look inside the sinking campaign of John McCain.
It will be interesting to see what teens think about this ad campaign targeting their use of “that’s so gay.” Two of the television spots are hilarious. I wonder, though, whether focusing on an expression that doesn’t even bother many young gay people was the right way to go. Why not target more overt homophobic language? (Although it’s probably hard to run an ad using the word “fag.”) I’m also not sure how effective the “knock it off” line is at the end of the spots. Telling a teen in a television ad to knock something off is a surefire way to get them to tune you out—or to get them to say, “That commercial was so gay!“
British psychologist David Smallwood argues (unconvincingly) that increasing numbers of women are addicted to gathering friends on facebook. He calls this “friendship addiction,” and he estimates that 10 percent of women suffer from the disorder. I’m all for a broad definition of addiction (and I can attest to facebook’s addictive quality), but I find it amusing how “experts” will throw out a number (5 percent, 10 percent, 20 percent) based on nothing.
I won’t be posting much this week as I’m on the road. In a yellow rental car.
Can I tell you how much I hate yellow cars? When I see a yellow car on the road, I think to myself, “Really? Yellow?”
Now, in a sure sign that I am being punished for something (or that I’m supposed to get over myself and appreciate all the things in my life that aren’t yellow), I am stuck with the above “subcompact.” Fun! =)
Rachel Resnick has written a heroic and heartbreaking memoir about sex and romance addiction.
Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander and Paint in Black, described Resnick’s book perfectly when she said, “Reading Love Junkie is like watching a sleepwalker taking a stroll on a freeway. All you can do is pray.”
Rachel puts it ALL out there in this beautiful memoir, and she’s going to help a lot of people in the process.
The book comes out next month but is available for pre-order on amazon. Rachel recently participated in a smart discussion about sex and love addiction on NPR.
A recent study by Hall and Partners for Break Media finds that while 31 percent of American men between the ages of 18-35 say they couldn’t live without a television, 69 percent insist they couldn’t live without the Internet.
Over at Epicenter, they find it “eye-opening” that only 74 percent of the men in the survey said they would rather have sex than surf the web. “What’s up with the other 26 percent?” Wired wants to know. I’ll tell you what’s up with the other 26 percent. They’re watching Internet pornography.
The Internet is an even bigger draw for teenagers, who are the largest consumers of online porn. As I write in America Anonymous (where I profile a college student addicted to pornography and escorts), sex addiction expert Patrick Carnes is getting more and more calls each week from parents who are shocked to discover that their 12-year-old kid is watching thirty hours of online pornography a week. “Even when confronted about it,” Carnes told me, “the kids can’t stop.”
If you’re an adult and can’t stop, be sure to pick up a copy of The Porn Trap, by my friend Wendy Maltz.
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