Red Ribbon Week Winners

Congratulations to Cassie Johanning! Her 5th grade classroom was the winner of the pizza party for the Red Ribbon Week poster contest.

Help us celebrate National Recovery Month

The Regional Preventi0n Center and the Addiction Recovery Center are co-hosting an open house at 1105 Hugh, Frontenac, KS to help education community members, agencies, and other professionals about the services from prevention to treatment that are available in the community.

Join us from 3 pm to 7 pm on September 22nd!

Binge Drinkers Forget Worst Aspects of Being Drunk

Binge drinkers tend to forget the negative aspects of getting drunk and focus on the pleasant memories, which may help explain why they continue to drink despite instances where they get sick, black out, or have other problems. The Independent reported Sept. 10 that Theodora Duka, a researcher from Sussex University, said that studies show that alcohol affects memory selectively, and that many binge drinkers don't remember the worst aspects of their drinking experiences.
"The effects of alcohol on mood are known contributors to its use and abuse. It is less known how its effects on memory and inhibitory control add to alcohol being and addictive drug," said Duka, a Sussex University professor. "Material acquired in an intoxicated state is less effectively retrieved in a sober state. Thus people who abuse alcohol forget the consequences of intoxication during periods of abstinence."

Adults Provided 40% of Alcohol to Underage Drinkers

Adults over the age of 21, including a substantial number of parents and guardians, are contributing to the underage drinking phenomenon by supplying free alcohol to young people, a nationwide report. The report, Underage Alcohol Use: Findings from the 2002-2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, states that more than 40 percent of youths ages 12 to 20 who used alcohol in the past 30 days reported receiving free alcohol from an adult. One in 16 underage drinkers, or an estimated 650,000 youths, had received alcohol from a parent or guardian in the past month.
SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline, Ph.D. "Its findings strongly indicate that parents and other adults can play an important role in helping influence — for better or for worse — young people's behavior with regard to underage drinking." The report also states that binge drinking rates are significantly higher for young people living with a parent who engaged in past-year binge drinking. A total of 30.3 percent of underage drinkers reported that they were in their own home when they had their last drink, while 53.4 percent were at someone else's home and comparatively few were at a restaurant, bar or club.

JV Games Yields to Pressure on Beer Pong Wii Game

After feeling the pressure from drug and alcohol prevention advocates across the country, JV Games announced that they changed the name of its WiiWare Beer Pong game to "Pong Toss" and removed all alcohol references. Prevention advocates say that while the move is a start, ultimately the game should be removed from store shelves. In addition to changing the name, JV Games changed the sound that the balls make when hitting the cups. Rather than a splash sound, it makes a rattling sound. They also changed the throw-power meter from a glass of beer to a bullet.

In May, CADCA wrote to JV Games expressing its concern that the Beer Pong game normalized binge drinking among youth, particularly those who are underage, and urged the company to either remove it from the market or give it an appropriate rating of AO for Adults Only. The game is currently rated as "T" for teens, ages 13 and up, by the independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). Despite the changes, the Nintendo Wii game still gives players the ability to practice the tossing skills required for Beer Pong, a popular drinking game on college campuses that involves throwing ping pong balls into other players’ cups of beer so that the other players are forced to drink the cup of beer.

In fact, research from the American Psychological Association has shown that video games with violence in them can increase a person’s aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and reduce pro-social thinking and behaviors. In addition, studies show that video games can be even more harmful than violent TV shows and movies, because they are interactive. “Taking action to change the name of the game and remove any alcoholic references and intent from the original game may be considered proactive, but if underage youth identify the game with beer pong, and are at risk for engaging in risky behaviors, this may influence them to experiment with the drinking strategies of the original game,” Dr. Novince said. “Of particular concern are the rewards—the points players receive for their behavior—which may also play a role in influencing individuals to engage in actual behavior.”