Do Drugs in Groups, It's Less Dangerous. Okay?!

I couldn't help but post this because I just found it humurous when I read it...

Loner Teens Worse Off Than Social Addicts
HEALTH NEWS BYTE
Thursday, January 18, 2007

Isolation and loneliness are two of the most common and debilitating pains of adolescence. According to a new study in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, they may also be among the most dangerous. Conducted by researchers at the nonprofit RAND Corporation, the study concludes that teens who drink or take drugs alone are more likely to suffer health problems than their peers who engage in social substance abuse. The study was based on surveys of more than 6,000 adolescents who were monitored over the course of nine years. Overall, solitary substance abusers showed worse physical health and engaged in more instances of delinquent and disruptive behavior than teens whose drug use was primarily restricted to "party" situations.

What This Means for You
While socializing may offset a few of the deadliest risks of drug use in the short run, the long-term impact of substance abuse hits loners and partiers alike. Talk to your kids about not using drugs.

[Link for the above article]

It's almost like I can see the parents having the talks with there children now...

"Honey, if you're gonna do drugs, make sure you're with other people. Don't do them alone. It's less dangerous."

HA! HA!

Okay, don't get me wrong. I do see the benefits of the study and why it can be helpful to know that sort of findings, but at the same time, if one is going to consider the part of getting their teen OFF drugs, I would think the peer pressures of being in friend groups with other teens that are doing drugs would be difficult. One, because they are the added pressure to engage in drug activity. Sure, you can encourage the teen get a different group of friends, but that puts even more stress and pressure on the teen, which leads to point number two. Having to go through the strain of changing/losing friends could encourage the teen to go back to their coping through drug use.

I think overall, this article is not sharing enough information about the teens studied. What was mental health of these teens? Were the "solitary substance abusers" "loner" adolescents who possibly were using to cope with their depression of a lack of social interactions? Or, how about how they mentioned, "teens whose drug use was primarily restricted to 'party' situations." So how often were these teens involved in "party situations?" If they were only partying on weekends, and the "solitary substance abuser" was using every night when he was home in his room because he was depressed, then sure, he is going to have more health issues because he is using more often.

Oh well... I just thought it was an interesting article.