Tag Archive for 'Drugs'

Study finds that teen use of pot and alcohol is increasing

Published
by
Jana
on March 2, 2010
in Health and Wellness
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After ten years of declining, a new study has found that alcohol and marijuana use is on the rise. Sean Clarkin, director of strategy at The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, said that we have learned from the past that you usually see an increase in recreational drugs first and the harder stuff usually follows.

The  survey, which is done yearly, discovered that the amount of teens in grades 9 through 12 who said they drank alcohol in the past month rose 11 percent in the past year; with 39 percent reporting alcohol use, which is about 6.5 million teens.

Pot use among teens is up 19 percent. About 25 percent of teens said they smoked marijuana in the last month.

Until recently, these numbers for pot and alcohol use had been on a steady decline since 1998. At this time, use lingered around 50 percent for teens using alcohol and 27 percent for teens using pot.

In addition, the new study unfortunately discovered that teens using the party drug Ecstasy is on the rise. Six percent of teens interviewed admitted that they used Ecstasy in the last month, compared with 4 percent in 2008.

Clarkin said that if parents do suspect their teen might be using, they need to act swiftly. Try to watch them closely, talk to them about the danger of drugs, set rules and if necessary, and get outside help such as a counselor, doctor, clergy or other resource.

During the study researchers asked the teens how they felt about doing drugs or about the friends who did them. It was found that a higher percentage of teens than the last year said that they like being high and more friends said they had friends who often got high at parties. Also, less teens admitted that they would not hang out with kids who smoked pot.

MetLife Foundation sponsored the partnership’s “attitude tracking” study. Researchers in the study surveyed 3,287 teens in grades 9 through 12. Data was drawn from surveys that the teens completed from March to June 2009. The study has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.

The New York-based partnership is a nonprofit group that works to decrease illicit drug use.

Some patients should not receive certain cancer drugs

Published
by
Jana
on January 28, 2009
in Health and Wellness
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According to a recent recommendation from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, many patients who have advanced colon cancer should not use some of the most advanced medicine that is used to combat the disease.

Even though it doesn’t sound right for a team of doctors treating cancer to hold back on a popular treatment for lots of patients, it is more important in cancer research to determine what patient’s health will most likely improve on these cancer drugs. These drugs are not only expensive but can be quite harmful.

Patients whose tumors have specific mutations in a gene called KRAS should not get a class of drugs including Erbitux, which is co-marketed in this country by Eli Lily and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as Amgen’s Vectibix.

Studies have revealed that patients having these mutations, 35% in this immense study, do not benefit from these drugs. A savings of about $600 million a year could be made by not using Erbitux for these patients, the WSJ reports. Amgen proclaimed that the information called for a label change for Vectibix. The WSJ was told by a British spokesman that Bristol and Lilly positively anticipate working with the FDA.

Save On Generic Drugs with BCBSNC

Published
by
Scott
on January 23, 2007
in BCBSNC
. 0 Comments

What is the difference between generic and brand-name drugs and how does that difference affect my benefits?

Answer: A generic drug is identical, or bioequivalent, to a brand name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, performance characteristics and intended use. Certain inactive ingredients that give the generic product its shape, color or flavor may be different than the brand product. Health professionals and consumers can be assured that FDA approved generic drugs have met the same rigid standards as the innovator drug. Although generic drugs are chemically identical to their branded counterparts, they are typically sold at substantial discounts from the branded price.

Depending upon your benefit design, you may substantially lower your out-of-pocket expense by using a generic drug instead of the branded drug. For example, if you have a $10 generic copay (tier 1) and $35 non-preferred brand copay (tier 3), you can save $25 on every prescription just by choosing generics. For drugs you take each month, that’s a savings of $300 over an entire year. If your prescription drug benefit is based on coinsurance, generic drugs will save you money because they cost less than their branded counterparts.(In some cases, employer groups carve out the prescription drug benefit and contract with a vendor separately, please refer to your Member Guide to confirm that your pharmacy benefits are offered through BCBSNC.)