Gov Strickland's State of the State

As I continue to teach and attempt to develop lessons for students of English and Communications, I wonder why are these kids angrier, less interested, more inclined to hurt themselves in so many ways? How can we help them? In every age before, young people came from dysfunctional families. Students were good students, bad students, had learning disabilities, etc. But these kids have more help to achieve and resolve those issues than ever before. They certainly have more protection from abuse and places to go for help. They have help to be more engaged. They have help to cope with the nature’s disabilities. They have more toys to play with to avoid boredom, more things to do to express themselves, more interscholastic sports to play whether they are male or female. If they are bored as seniors, schools have developed a capstone or senior project to give them a head start in their post secondary education.

But no. More kids are unhappy, reaching into the medicine cabinet for the pharmaceuticals to relieve their stress or emotional pain or just to get a high.
Last week at my school a girl put her fist through a double pane window. Why?
Because she was angry.

I love creating opportunities for teens in my class. But unless everything is done for them, many don’t want to take the opportunities. They want to take the moldy old ruts because it is easier. They do not read even if it means they will fail. They want to be fed the stories. Even time given in class is not used; students fuss and play forcing disciplinary action. Kids have even been blatant enough to report they have not read a book they have only watched the movie of the book (usually a weak representation).

I am not looking for blame. I am looking for ways to educate and solve the problems at hand. Today, our governor, Ted Strickland gave his State of the State address. I am excited. Yes, I am an eternal optimist. Many of the things I do in my classroom were mentioned; my advisory of senior project and subjects of communication, technology, and media literacy will now be required. I am practical too. I know these things still have to pass the senate and the house. Both have fixtures of destruction that have their own agendas. These fixtures have been around for the seventeen years that our unconstitutional funding has been in place. And they will try to do their best to tear the new ideas to pieces offering no new ideas of their own.

Let’s hope that some of what he has proposed can help some of the kids I see every day be less angry or bored .

Ohio could join six other states in banning Salvia

Let's hope Strickland signs this.
COLUMBUS — Purchasing a psychoactive herb known as Salvia divinorum for a mind-bending trip soon could be illegal in Ohio.

Gov. Ted Strickland is reviewing a bill passed by the General Assembly at the end of its lame-duck session.

If he signs it, Ohio will become at least the sixth state to ban the obscure Mexican herb in the mint family, putting it on a par with marijuana as a plant that is illegal to purchase, possess or sell in any quantity. The ban would go into effect in 90 days.

The active ingredient in the plant -- known as Salvinorin A -- is widely regarded by biochemists as one of the strongest natural hallucinogens, but it is not considered addictive.

Lawmakers said they were prompted to act by the death of a Loudonville boy who was killed by a friend who had smoked the herb. But users of the plant have said it's unlikely the drug played a role in the killing because its effects are so debilitating.

Small packages of the herb are sold at head shops across Ohio under various names, including Holy Smoke, and are available on the Internet in varying degrees of potency.

The plant, used for centuries by medicine men of the Mazatec Indian tribe in Mexico, produces potent and intense hallucinations in which users report feeling as if they had been separated from their bodies and were entering another reality. The effects are said to last only for a short time, compared with synthetic hallucinogens such as LSD.

University of Mich: Monitoring the Future Survey 12/11/08

For the last 33 years, the University of Michigan has conducted a survey called Monitoring the Future. It measures use of drug, alcohol and cigarettes among adolescents nationwide. It also measures the attitudes of our young people about those same items. Over forty-six thousand students from 386 public and private schools in grades 8, 10, and 12 participated in this year's survey. The survey is funded by the NIDA, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and conducted by the University of Michigan.

We are winning in some areas with our students and losing in others. There are still some suburban folks who think this is only about young people in inner city high schools, but according to this survey white middle class suburban parents are the ones who need to take notice.

If you are interested in looking at the whole report try this URL http://www.nida.nih.gov/newsroom/08/NR12-11.html.

First the good news about cigarette and alcohol trends, they continue to decline. The use of marijuana decline has started to level off (10.9 percent of eighth graders, 23.9 percent of tenth graders, and 32.4 percent of twelfth graders reporting past year use). The concern seems to be there is an increase of eighth graders who are proportionately starting to think about marijuana as not as bad.

Some bad news, the survey sees a continuing high rate of prescription drug use. There is little change in the past six years.
"Nearly 10 percent of seniors reported past year nonmedical use of Vicodin, and 4.7 percent report abusing Oxycontin, both powerful opioid painkillers. In fact, seven of the top 10 drugs abused by twelfth graders in the year prior to the survey were prescribed or purchased over-the-counter."



Good news:Cigarette smoking is at the lowest rate in the history of the MTF survey. "... there continues to be a gradual decline in alcohol use in all grades, with a significant decline from 2007 to 2008 among tenth graders on all measures of use (lifetime, past year, past month, daily, and binge drinking). Nevertheless, given the devastating related health costs, tobacco and alcohol use by teens still remain at high levels. More than one in ten high school seniors say they smoke daily; 5.4 percent smoke more than a half pack a day. While drinking continues a slow downward trend, close to 25 percent of seniors report having five or more drinks in a row sometime in the two weeks prior to the survey."

Bad news: Attitudes are shifting. Among 12th graders it seems that the LSD is not considered to be as much of a risk as it was before. Our teachings are losing its strength. The same is for the eighth graders. A shift of perception is softening about the harm that marijuana and inhalants can cause.

Methadone-Turning into a Killer?

I looked this up again to make sure I was reading the article from Bedford, IN Times-Mail correctly.

Methadone Maintenance Therapy
A type of treatment for individuals who are addicted to heroin or other opiate drugs (such as Percodan or OxyContin). Methadone is a safe and effective medication that acts as a stabilizer so people can return to daily life. Methadone does not make people high and does not replace one drug addiction with another - methadone's effects are very different from opiates. Most people receive methadone daily from a clinic, where counseling and group meetings are also available. (Join Together)

Okay, so this isn't suppose to get people high and it is safe. Well not according to a recent article from this city outside of Indianapolis. The coroner in this town has said that 10 of the 58 deaths he has investigated were related to overdose. Plus 10 more were related to drugs. These deaths were the result of prescription drugs with "methadone leading the way."

Methadone tablets, mostly what’s being abused on the area, is prescribed for chronic pain. Other prescription drugs being abused include hydrocodone and Xanax.


Isn't what the coroner saying the opposite of what the treatment is suppose to do?

Here is another fact I found in the article:
Nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of methadone-related deaths increased by 390 percent from 1999 to 2004: 786 deaths in 1999 compared to 3,849 deaths in 2004 (the most recent year for which statistics are available).

Now, if the individuals are getting methadone to assist them with their already existing habit, why are not these people being closely monitored? I know that prescription drugs are easily taken,but how are they getting the multiple doses?
Doctor shopping, robbery...those are current answers. Kids are selling their drugs for gas money is another comment. But 16 - 20 pills is what overdoses consist of. Sometimes even more. It boggles my mind.

Parents and Boys

If you read my bio, you know I am a teacher. This last week my school had parent conferencing. Once again, my heart went out to parents of boys. I see and hear about how these parents are angry, sometimes cry at the conferences. Teachers who have had these parents at the conference table speak about feeling so badly for the family and also feel at a loss to help. They want advice and we would love to give it if the answers were simple to give.

It is a shame really. These boys will some day want to be head of their own households and they will work to make their dreams come true. But some will permanently be a burden to their parents. And their parents will most likely feel guilty for the rest of their lives for what they will feel is their fault. When you think of the joy once felt by the family unit at the birth of these boys and now the sadness and frustration they are causing each other, it is sad....mournful. It just shouldn't have to be.

A spiral seems to start early. I am not sure when. Sometimes in elementary school, when the paretns realize their progeny will not meet their standards or their expectations. It may be because their son is not smart as they would like or may have a learning disability that rears its head and not caught in time to cause a delay in his learning.

It also may start at the middle school level when peers, girls and hormones become distractions and the discipline that was established is rebelled against or the discipline that wasn't needed now becomes necessary.

It is hard to forget the little boy who hugged his mommy, wrapping his chubby arms and legs around her at every turn. It is hard to not to yearn for those times when this new baggy-pant or smelly or strange haired or quiet, sullen boy was little.

It is hard for the dad who wanted his son to be the football (baseball, basketball,etc)
hero, the success he never was. it is hard for a dad to give up the idea that his son will not make the same mistakes he did.

It is hard to put all that aside and let this boy earn his own embarrassment of his adolescent years, wonder why he screwed up, and burn his teenage pictures.

It is hard to do the right things for this boy, to figure out the right combination of choices to help this boy be pulled through to his version of successful manhood. But I do know that you need to hang in there and use the strength of your love that you felt on that first day of his life to do whatever it takes to pull him through.

Five invitations a day

I have a gmail address. Like everyone else I receive so much spam that it would choke the
system if I did not on a weekly basis dump the junk mail.

I decided about three weeks ago to check the junk for prescription drug offers. In three weeks I have
recieved over 100 offers of saving money on drugs that need no doctor script.

Check your spam. If you are getting the spam for drugs, so are your kids.

Syracuse creative kids

Kids sure are creative when they want something and this article from Syracruse demonstrates this.
Teens are actually going to strangers' homes and asking to use their bathroom. While they
are in those strangers' homes, they rifle through these good hearted people's medicine
cabinets for prescription drugs. A new twist this nervy practice is teens will go to a realtor's
open house and tell the representative that their parents are soon to follow them and again to ask
to use the bathroom. You got it. They rummage and walk away with whatever drugs the owners
have in their medicine cabinet.

Syracuse law enforcement are still finding cocaine and marijuana use down. But kids as young
as 12-13 are abusing Prescription drugs. If they don't get them at home, they get them from relatives.
Plus in deals better than Krogers, they can also obtain pills for $3 to $5 from peers.

They still don't get these pills can hurt them.