Schools to Begin Mandatory Drug and Alcohol Testing

It is no secret that high school is a time when kids will begin to determine the course of their lives. It is a time that can be full of hard decisions and peer pressure, mainly the pressure and opportunities to use drugs and alcohol. Recently, certain high schools across America have begun to implement more stringent testing of students for drugs as well as alcohol.

Restrictions Common in Past Years

Alcohol and drug control on campuses have always been a commonly occurring issue in public school systems. Limiting time between classes, requiring see-through backpacks, and even bringing in the occasional drug dog has been typical of most schools throughout the nation. However, districts are now feeling the need to take further action.

In some school systems such as Pequannock Township High School in New Jersey, a new type of test will be administered to students. This test is called the ETG urine test and can detect traces of alcohol consumption up to 3 days after the fact. Other schools will conduct hair sample tests in order to detect traces of drugs, such as marijuana, in addition to alcohol. While these test will determine whether a student has used drugs or alcohol it cannot determine if tobacco products, such as chewing tobacco, cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, were used.

This new testing policy has stirred up different types of reactions from many individuals.

Reasons for the Testing

School officials believe that by implementing random drug and alcohol tests they will reduce the risk of illegal usage by students. By giving students a legitimate reason to say no kids will be empowered to make better decisions. 

Furthermore, if a student tests positive for any substance, the schools have made it clear that they will not discipline the individual. Instead, the school will offer counseling programs that will aide the student in becoming substance free. Parents of the student will also be informed and the course of action will be left for them to decide.

This push for alcohol testing is being made mainly due to the fact that drunk driving is responsible for the deaths of around 2000 underage kids per year. This is a number that is hard to ignore, and school officials feel that it is their duty to take action.

Resistance to New Policy

Although these actions are being carried out with the best intentions they lie in an area of moral ambiguity. The American Civil Liberty Union argues that this type of testing is an invasion of privacy and an infringement on constitutional rights. In addition, many students and parents believe that it is not the job of the school to monitor what a student does on the weekend.

Also in question is the accuracy and validity of the ETG tests. Although theses tests can detect alcohol 3 days after consumption they have been known to test positive if substances other than alcohol, such as vanilla and hand sanitizer, are present. This could lead to innocent individuals being victimized and could create unnecessary problems.

It is understandable that schools want to ensure that their educational environments remain untainted, however, the boundary of how far officials should be allowed to go is a topic that needs to be clarified.

Up in Green Smoke: E-cigarettes Evade Pollution from Toxins Found in Traditional Cigarettes

When most people think of the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes, they typically only take into account the smoker. However, the deadly toxins evaded from secondhand smoke in cigarettes are just as deadly. A cleaner, safer alternative to smoking has millions questioning quitting the deadly habit, as well as benefiting those around them and the environment.

The Risks Associated with Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke is similarly dangerous to non-smokers as it is to those inhaling the toxic carcinogens. Secondhand smoke delivers over 4,000 toxic substances to a passive smoker. Known as environmental tobacco smoke, the carcinogenic compounds and inhalation of the smoke hospitalizes approximately 15,000 children per year in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency conducted numerous studies showing that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in passive smokers. This passive smoking causes the death of over 3,000 lung cancer patients each year who have never smoked a cigarette day in their life.

The continuous exposure to secondhand smoke also heightens the risk of heart disease, especially in women. Children are especially more susceptible to secondhand smoke, because their bodies are still developing and have elevated breathing rates than adults. A household where the parents smoke around their children can trigger asthma symptoms that were nonexistent prior to the presence of secondhand smoke.  In infants, the risk of sudden infant death is heightened by secondhand smoke. Children under the age of six years are at an increased risk for respiratory problems such as pneumonia or bronchitis and ear infections.

The smoke that is projected from cigarette smokers increases the risk of cardiac disease by 30% and is held accountable for over 35,000 deaths in the United States each year. The government has made valuable efforts in preventing these deaths through reduced exposure programs such as the Clean Indoor Air Act. In California alone, a similar Act has been associated with saving the lives of over 59,000 non-smokers between 1989 and 1997, as well as a decrease in hospital admissions linked to acute myocardial infarction.

One would think that passive smokers have a very low chance of acquiring the same health problems as smokers.  While the dosage of smoke being delivered to non-smokers is 100 times less than what the smoker inhales, the health problems associated with smoking have similar diagnosis rates. The risk of heart disease in a smoker is 1.78 compared to 1.31 in a non-smoker that inhales cigarette smoke passively. These numbers are close in proximity.

A Cleaner Alternative

The toxins in traditional cigarettes are linked to millions of deaths globally on an annual basis. The secondhand smoke evaded from them also accounts for unnecessary deaths each year. While quitting smoking is one of the hardest habits to deter, a new product offers ease in the process. Electronic cigarettes, booming universally, are helping thousands of quit smoking. Beyond the beneficial health aspects to the smoker themselves (electronic cigarettes are a concoction of water vapor, nicotine and flavoring), the smoke evaded from them is purely water vapor. There are no toxic chemicals or compounds that harm passive smokers when they inhale.

By eliminating the 4,000 plus toxic compounds emitted from traditional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes are becoming more beneficial to a smoker’s and non-smoker’s health, as well as eliminating the pollution of the environment.     

Clinical Trials to be Performed by the American Association for Cancer Research Regarding Tobacco as a Carcinogen

It is understood worldwide that tobacco kills millions of people per year. However, despite this awareness and knowledge, the World Health Organization predicts that the death toll caused by tobacco usage will increase by 2030. Currently tobacco use kills an average of five million people per year globally.

Reasoning for the Research

While the cure for cancer is still an ongoing battle with researchers, studies have shown that cancer is not one, single disease. In fact, cancer is a combination of over 200 various diseases. This makes the search for a cure even more challenging, because it is nearly impossible to identify epigenetic and genetic alterations within a tumor. Tumors that are the result of tobacco carcinogens make things even more difficult to identify the biological mechanisms of the tumor. This results in the fact that tobacco carcinogens are activated metabolically in genes that bind to DNA. This then mutates in important gene growth, resulting in aggressive tumors.

The American Association for Cancer Research and numerous oncology departments are providing tobacco cessation treatment for patients suffering from cancer or those being screened for it. Cessation treatment options are not commonly found presently in oncology centers, and the AACR is fighting for that to change.

The research will provide key, cement correlation that links tobacco use with the form of cancer being treated or possibly diagnosed. Current research shows that patients that continue tobacco use during and after treatment can lead to worsened health effects such as renewed tumor growth or mortality.  The AACR is adamantly stating that without an increase in cessation programs, patients will be likely to return to their habit and form new malignancies or even suffer from premature death.

While research has shown that 90 percent of oncologists believe tobacco is a carcinogen, only 40 percent regularly provide their patients with cessation programs. The AACR is trying to combat that by promoting oncology centers to seriously take part in their patient’s overall treatment and health.

Tobacco as a Carcinogen

Tobacco, consumed in any form, has carcinogenic factors. In 1964, the United States Surgeon General reported on smoking and health. There was a determined relationship between lung cancer and smoking. The link comes from the over 5,000 chemical toxins found in tobacco cigarettes, 60 of which have been identified as carcinogenic. Tobacco usage is linked to causing cancer in at least 18 different organs in the human body. In the United States alone, tobacco causes 30 percent of all cancer deaths and 87 percent of all lung cancer deaths. That’s close to 20,000 lives lost due to cancer caused by tobacco. 

Smoking is an unbelievably challenging habit to kick. Even those diagnosed with cancer and treat the illness go back to the habit at rates of 40 to 60 percent of patients. Determining a method on how to quit and having a support system is the most important thing a smoker can do. Utilizing such nicotine products as electronic cigarettes or nicotine patches can assist a smoker in successfully quitting the habit. Eradicating the harmful toxins and carcinogenic factors of cigarettes through nicotine substitutes will save the lives of millions of smokers in the next decade.

New York to Impede Stiff Laws on Smokers

New York City is trying to reform their public health measures by changing the age to purchase cigarettes from 18 to 21 years old. While many are in favor of the change stating that young people will be more deterred from taking up smoking, others such as retailers and tobacco shops are unhappy with the proposal.

Reforming Public Health

The idea behind increasing the age to purchase cigarettes stems from the idea that younger children and teenagers in high school will be less prone to smoking. The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley, stated that other cities have been highly successful in decreasing the number of young people that smoke by increasing the purchasing age. In Needham, Massachusetts the age to purchase cigarettes was changed to 21 years old. A month later, the number of high school students that reportedly smoked went down to 5.5 percent from 12.9 percent. Also, in England when the age was increased to 18 from 16 in 2007, high school students that smoked dropped 30 percent. Those that support the proposal, including Dr. Farley, state that many people becoming addicted to cigarettes around the age of 21 when drinking accompanies it. If the age to purchase cigarettes changed to 21, however, younger people would be less likely to start to become addicted to smoking at 18 years old.

Mayor Bloomberg is adamant to deter young people from smoking and to promote good, overall public health. Restaurants and bars have been non-smoking for a long period of time now; however, the mayor has also added parks, beaches and plazas to the list to ensure secondhand smoke is minimal throughout the city. The question of whether these bans are working or not are crucial to understand if increasing the purchasing age would help as well. Statistics have shown that in 2002, the city entailed over 20,000 high school students that reportedly smoked, which was 21.5 percent of public high school students. That number declined to 14.8 percent in 2011, which shows that something is already working to deter youth in New York City from smoking.

Other public health reforms have taken place throughout the city as well. Recently, Mayor Bloomberg has banned trans fats in all restaurants and required them to post calorie totals. The administration for the city is trying to get back public health after numerous studies showed high rates of obesity and poor health.

A Boom in the Black Market

Those opposed to the proposition state that even if 18 year olds are unable to purchase cigarettes, they will still get their hands on them. Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs in the world and simply increasing the age to purchase cigarettes will not help someone quit. In fact, many high school students state that even when they were 15 or 16 years old they still found ways to purchase cigarettes. The age increase may only harm the city’s economy by putting emphasis on bootlegging and the black market.

Retailers are also concerned about the proposal stating that there are already too many restrictions on tobacco and alcohol products citywide. A recent proposition from the mayor was to try and hide all tobacco products in retailers; however, this would have been a harmful blow to newsstands who already have limited space to sell their products. Raising the age to buy cigarettes to 21 years will only drive 18 year olds to the black market rather than legally buying them from retailers. This will in turn hurt many small business owners throughout the city.

In the debate regarding an increase in purchasing age to 21 years old, the question arises on related products such as electronic cigarettes. Since the product is relatively new and its health effects unknown, there has been substantial debates regarding an age limit on purchasing them. Since Mayor Bloomberg is adamant about numerous other bans, most recently a proposal for a ban on super-sized sodas, electronic cigarettes are probably next in line after the age to purchase cigarettes is increased.