Clean: Overcoming Addiction (Now in Paperback)

By David Sheff

From the bestselling author of Beautiful Boy, David Sheff brings you Clean.

A myth-shattering look at drug abuse and addiction treatment, based on cutting-edge research
Addiction is a preventable, treatable disease, not a moral failing. As with other illnesses, the approaches most likely to work are based on science — not on faith, tradition, contrition, or wishful thinking. These facts are the foundation of Clean.

The existing addiction treatments, including Twelve Step programs and rehabs, have helped some, but they have failed to help many more. To discover why, David Sheff spent time with scores of scientists, doctors, counselors, and addicts and their families, and explored the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine. In Clean, he reveals how addiction really works, and how we can combat it.

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Please Love Me (A look into teen suicide)

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By Penelope Przekop

For as long as she can remember, 17-year-old Peyton Bound has struggled to remain strong despite being lost in the whirlwind of her emotionally disturbed mother’s life … then she finds Matthew Adler at a frat party. He’s the first boy who kisses her with open eyes; Peyton finally sees herself in their sparkling reflection.

She’s sure that her fairytale moment has finally arrived, the day when everything will magically fall into place, and the burdens of her disturbing childhood will begin to lift. But when everything goes wrong, Peyton can no longer run from the truth about herself. Something is missing, and no one can save her.

Artist and writer Penelope Przekop grew up in Louisiana during the 1970s and 80s. Despite fictional elements, Please Love Me is her memoir; she is Peyton Bound, a character she created as a young adult to understand how she fell into a destructive relationship that led to a suicide attempt, and violent public cry for help.

As she wrote the book, she realized it was about much more than first love gone wrong. It was about her dysfunctional childhood, her mentally ill mother, and her desperation to break free. Please Love Me gives a raw voice to some of the deepest issues contributing to teenage suicide. It is an honest look into the human spirit's need for love and truth in a world full of craziness, and just how far some will go to find it.

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Learn more here.

Sticks & Stones: New Program Designed to Bring Parents and Teenagers Closer

The Sticks & Stones Seven-Week Program bridges the communication gap between parents and teenagers. The Program helps parents and teens learn how to work together to communicate more effectively and build a stronger bond.

Parents are always looking for new and creative ways to get their teens to communicate with them. Author Meaghan Roberts has just released her new program designed specifically to help parents create an environment where teenagers feel comfortable opening up.

The Program consists of two eBooks, Sticks & Stones and My Rock. Sticks & Stones is a self-help guide for teens concerning daily issues they deal with such as bullying, self-esteem and peer pressure. The guide is also an e-journal where teens can privately write their thoughts, feelings and questions. The purpose is to create a safe outlet for teens to express themselves. They will read one chapter a week and spend the remainder of the week reflecting and writing about what they learned. My Rock is a supplemental guide that gives parents insight on what their teens are reading each week as well as communicative skills to help facilitate a conversation with their teens. Each week, a day prior to reading a new chapter, parents and teens will meet to discuss what their teens have learned and any questions they have.

The Program is safe, secure and private.

Meaghan developed the Sticks & Stones Seven-Week Program because traditional parenting books offer advice to parents but none to teens. When parents apply the advice, their teens have no idea where the change is coming from. Teenagers are no longer children and can no longer be treated like children. The only way a parent-teen relationship can develop is if both parties are involved. The Sticks & Stones program encourages parents and teens to work together to build trust as well as prepare teens for conversations they will have with their parents.

The Sticks & Stones Program is available only at www.mysticksandstones.com

Contact Information
Meaghan@mysticksandstones.com

www.mysticksandstones.com

WAKE UP: STUDY REVEALS 75% OF TEENS REPORT INCREASED KNOWLEDGE FROM PRESCRIPTION DRUG PREVENTION PROGRAM

Orlando, FL ( April 3, 2013 ) – Results released this week by the independent research firm Touchstone Research Institute , reveal s the 2012 t een prescription drug abuse pilot program, WAKE UP!, to be a success . Compared to a benchmark survey of approximately 3,800 students conducted prior to the program launch, data shows that more than 75 percent of all respondents were significantly more aware of the dangers of misusing and abusing prescription drugs.

According to the U.S Office of National Drug Control Policy, most teens initially get prescription pills from family and friends, including straight from home medicine cabinets. Prescription drug abuse has become an epidemic in the United States. More than one - third of those abusing prescription drugs in the U.S. are between the ages of 12 - 17. Deaths from prescription drug overdoses h ave become the second leading cause of accidental deaths nationwide, and the leading cause in as many as 15 states.

WAKE UP! , established by The Pain Truth, a Florida 501(c)(3), was implemented in to five pilot schools , thanks in part to a grant from Millennium Laboratories, three in San Diego, CA, and two in Tampa Bay , FL. T he objective of the in - school prescription drug educational program i s to raise awareness, increase knowledge, and change perceptions co ncerning the misuse and abuse of controlled prescription medications among high school students , providing students with knowledge to make better decisions and prevent first use. WAKE UP! us es multi - media, social marketing and other tactics that are familiar and appealing to teens, but WAKE UP! program developers believe the real motivating force is the science - based facts presented to the students.

 Read the complete press release here.

Visit www.wakeupnow.org for more information.

Making a tough decision during holiday times

When it comes to sending your child to residential therapy it is probably one of the hardest decisions a parent can make.  It just doesn't seem normal to send your teenager to a behavioral modification program.  Let's face it - we all know that sending them to college is part of the circle of life, but no one prepares us for the potholes that some families face - residential treatment centers.

As the holidays approach a teenager's behavior can sometimes escalate and this can leave a parent with a decision that they don't want to make.  How can they send their child into a teen help program during this time of the year?

As a Parent Advocate and Parent Consultant, I share with parents that you have many years ahead of you to have many wonderful holidays together - however in some cases, it can mean saving your child's life by removing them from not-so-safe situations - especially if they are involved in drug use or hanging out with unsavory groups of what they consider friends.  With the extra time off from school -it sometimes can add up to more time for trouble.

Are you struggling with your teenager?  Confused about what school or program is best for their needs?  I founded Parent's Universal Resource Experts, Inc over a decade ago for parents that are at their wit's end - after I was duped and my daughter abused at a program that mislead us.  Our experiences are only to help educate parents - there are more good programs than there are not so good one.  It is up to you to do your due diligence.

Remember, family is a priority - your child's welfare comes first.  There will always be more holidays - let's be sure your child's safety and security are first and foremost. 

Back to School: Stop Medicine Abuse

StopMedicineAbuse.org was created by the leading makers of OTC cough medicines and their trade association, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA).

CHPA, founded in 1881, is a member-based association representing the leading manufacturers of over-the-counter medicines. CHPA and its members are involved in a multi-pronged effort to curb the abuse of over-the-counter cough medicines containing dextromethorphan with the help of a host of partners. Included in those other concerned organizations are the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, and D.A.R.E. America.

In addition to preventing the abuse of OTC medicines, CHPA and its members also work to provide information on the safe and responsible use of medications through the nonprofit CHPA Educational Foundation.

Learn about the abuse of OTC:

Recent studies among middle and high school aged kids across the country show a disturbing form of substance abuse among teens: the intentional abuse of otherwise beneficial medications, both prescription (Rx) and over-the-counter (OTC), to get high.

Teens who learn a lot about the risks of drugs from their parents are 50 percent less likely to use drugs.

According to data from the 2011 Monitoring the Future Study, teen past-year abuse of over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicine has remained at roughly 5 percent.



The ingredient the teens are abusing in OTC cough medicines is dextromethorphan, or DXM. When used according to label directions, DXM is a safe and effective ingredient approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is found in well over 100 brand-name and store-brand over-the-counter cough medicines. When abused in large amounts, DXM can be dangerous.

StopMedicineAbuse.org was developed by the leading makers of OTC cough medicines to build awareness about this type of substance abuse behavior, provide tips to prevent it from happening, and encourage parents to safeguard their medicine cabinets. Substance abuse can touch any family: The key to keeping teens drug-free is education and talking about the dangers of abuse.
 
Join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer and healthier teens.

SuicideHotlines.com

Suicide Hotlines.com

For suicide prevention and emotional crisis, please take a moment to pass this on to someone you know is struggling or if you need this yourself.

You are not alone, there are people that care, people that will listen and help.

Visit www.suicidehotlines.com and click into your state.

Toll free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

1-800-SUICIDE   1-800-273-TALK
1-800-784-2433   1-800-273-8255

Born, Not Raised: Voices from Juvenile Hall

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By Susan Madden Lankford

 For two years, Lankford interviewed more than 120 incarcerated teenagers, eight of them weekly, and features their voices, views, writing and drawings along with interviews with pediatric psychiatrists, neurobiologists, judges, probation officers and other professionals in BORN, NOT RAISED.

In researching her book on women in jail, Lankford learned that a majority of inmates had at least two children in foster care, living with relatives or in detention. Many of them would end up in jail, too, because they lacked the basic parenting necessary to become productive individuals.

Jefferson-award-winning and number-one New York Times bestselling author Dave Pelzer writes, “Susan’s Lankford's BORN, NOT RAISED spotlights the raw stories of children traumatized by neglect, abuse and poverty. Working with outside professionals, Susan exposes an overburdened juvenile justice system, while offering powerful tools for change."

University of California at San Diego Professor of Medicine Vincent J. Felitti says, “This important book clearly illustrates the vast gap between what we typically believe of ourselves as a successful society and the dark side that contains our failures, which we prefer locking up or overlooking.”

Library Journal declares, “More policy-oriented than academic, this book is a powerful reminder of the social costs of neglecting the specific needs of at-risk youth.”

Lauri Burns, founder of Orange County, CA’s The Teen Project and author of Punished for Purpose, declares, “Susan Lankford has captured a powerfully personal glimpse into my life and the lives of other children in the Juvenile Hall system. Every parent should read it. I was so moved by this book’s message. If I hadn’t gotten rehab while incarcerated, I would have stayed a street prostitute and heroin addict.”

Order today on Amazon.
Watch a preview on YouTube.

My Problem IS My Teenager

By Ronae Jull


Do you struggle with that one family member who constantly challenges your serenity, twists your stomach into knots and keeps you up at night, questioning your sanity? If that family member is your teenager, you’re not alone.

Teenagers can cause feelings of anger, incompetence, and helplessness in even the most confident parents. Regardless of how successful your professional life, your home keeping skills, or your other relationships,parenting a teen can challenge your resolve to remain calm and mindful when dealing with him or her.

Maybe you’ve come to feel that you shouldn’t have become a parent, you can’t do anything right, and that your teen may not make it to his or her adult years in one piece.
You don’t have to feel this way.

Order My Teenager IS the Problem! today and recapture peace and sanity for you and your family. The book — authored by The HOPE Coach, Ronae Jull — provides specific step-by-step strategies, guaranteed to save your teen and renew your peace-of-mind.

Read just a few of the proven solutions offered in this amazing book below:
Creating and enforcing boundaries

• Dealing with bad attitudes
• Substance abuse
• Dealing with and stopping rage
• Helping your depressed teen
• Coping with bullying behavior
• Helping your mentally ill teen
• …and much more…

For more information on Ronae Jull and her services, visit her website at www.RonaeJull.com.  You can follow Ronae Jull on Twitter and join her on Facebook!

As a Parent Advocate and Author of a parenting book on residential therapy, Parent Coaching can be an avenue a family can use prior taking the step into residential therapy.

Home Drug Test Kits: Teensavers

Do you suspect your teen is using drugs?

Teensavers Diagnostics Inc. is proud to announce that CVS Pharmacy and CVS.com has added the entire family of Teensavers® Home Drug Test Kits.  

"CVS.com and the CVS/Caremark family are absolute leaders in the home health care industry.    Families rely on the CVS family for every day products and life saving prescriptions.    We value the support that CVS.com has shown the Teensavers® family, including our family branded drug tests in their diagnostics category.   We share the importance and enthusiasm for families looking to lead a healthy life," said Teensavers Diagnostics Inc. President Steve Stahovich.    

Teensavers Diagnostics Inc. created the Teensavers® Home Drug Test Kits with the family in mind.   Government statistics show that 4,000 teens try drugs for the first time every day.   2,500 of those kids are experimenting with pills.    Many parents are seeing the explosion of teen prescription drug use in our community.    But they don't know what to do about it.    The Teensavers® Home Drug Test Kits can help detect possible opiate use.    It can help deter kids from taking pills, prescribed for a legitimate patient, from the medicine cabinet to use recreationally.

"We are proud that parents can find our total family solution, from the same chain where they are getting their prescriptions.    Just as any health ailment requires immediate attention, potential teen substance abuse requires the same immediate attention and care.   Teensavers® Home Drug Test Kits provide more than a positive or negative result.   Our complete kit helps parents understand through the entire process, whether it's diagnosing the drug use, or finding the best solution for your family," said Stahovich.

There are five different Teensavers® Home Drug Test Kits available on CVS.com ranging from a 1-panel (THC only) test to a comprehensive 12-panel test.     The prices range from $16.99 to $39.99.

Stahovich says choosing the right test is based on alert and informed parenting.  Stahovich says, "Choosing the right drug test kit not only depends on your family and the child's exposure to drugs, but the drug culture of the community.    It is critical for parents to be proactive by talking with other parents in the neighborhood, finding out about drug issues in the schools, and within the community.   Some communities have marijuana and cocaine problems.    We are seeing an explosion of prescription drug abuse across most of the country.   Parents may want complete tests for popular pills.     Proper home drug testing involves pro-active parenting"

The Teensavers® Home Drug Test Kit is 99.9% accurate, made in America, and approved for over-the-counter sales by the FDA. The test is endorsed by America's Parenting Coach, Tim Chapman, a 30-year treatment veteran.   The Teensavers® Home Drug Test Kit was recently named a 2011 “Top Products” Winner by Parent Tested, Parent Approved, one of the most reliable and valuable online resources for parents.

===Product Specs===

-- 1-panel ($16.99) Marijuana (THC) test.
-- 3-panel ($21.99), screens for Marijuana, Cocaine, and Methamphetamine.
-- 5-panel ($25.99) screens for the previous three drugs, plus Oxycodone and Opiates.
-- 7-panel ($29.99) screens for the previous 5 drugs plus Benzodiazepines and Ecstasy (MDMA.)
-- 12-panel test ($39.99) is the most comprehensive Teensavers® Home Drug Test Kit. It screens for Marijuana, Cocaine, PCP, Opiates, Amphetamines, Methamphetamine, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines, Oxycodone, Methadone, Ecstasy (MDMA), and Tricyclic Antidepressants.
# # #

Founded by President Steve Stahovich, a long time recovery and addiction specialist, Teensavers Diagnostics Inc. (http://myteensavers.com) is an ally to parents who suspect their teen may be using narcotics. We are the latest generation in home drug testing kits, offering a total solution, and not just results. We are endorsed by America's Parenting Coach, Tim Chapman, founder of Chapman House.
To contact Teensavers Diagnostics about our total solution home drug test kit, or if you are a pharmacist or medical distributor, call 866-728-7833 or visit our website at HTTP://Myteensavers.com

Teensavers Diagnostics sister company Independent Drug Testing Supply, manufactures business drug test kits and has been supplying hospitals, jails, and corporations for years. If you are a company interested in our business model drug test kits, contact us at (949) 727-3750.

Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner's Guide

If you manage the health and well-being of 9- to 18-year-olds, this Guide is for you.

“Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner’s Guide” is designed to help health care professionals quickly identify youth at risk for alcohol-related problems. NIAAA developed the Guide and Pocket Guide in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, a team of underage drinking researchers and clinical specialists, and practicing health care professionals.

Why use this tool?

• It can detect risk early: In contrast to other screens that focus on established alcohol problems, this early detection tool aims to help you prevent alcohol-related problems in your patients before they start or address them at an early stage.
   
• It’s empirically based: The screening questions and risk scale, developed through primary survey research, are powerful predictors of current and future negative consequences of alcohol use.
   
• It’s fast and versatile: The screen consists of just two questions, which can be incorporated easily into patient interviews or pre-visit screening tools across the care spectrum, from annual exams to urgent care.
   
• It’s the first tool to include friends’ drinking: The “friends” question will help you identify patients at earlier stages of alcohol involvement and target advice to include the important risk of friends’ drinking.

Download or order the Guide and pocket guide.

You may also be interested in related resources to support you, your patients, and their families

Red Ribbon Campaign: Preventing Teen Drug Use

The National Family Partnership organized the first Nationwide Red Ribbon Campaign. NFP provides drug awareness by sponsoring the annual National Red Ribbon Celebration. Since its beginning in 1985, the Red Ribbon has touched the lives of millions of people around the world. In response to the murder of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena, angered parents and youth in communities across the country began wearing Red Ribbons as a symbol of their commitment to raise awareness of the killing and destruction cause by drugs in America.

Enrique (Kiki) Camarena was a Drug Enforcement Administration Agent who was tortured and killed in Mexico in 1985. When he decided to join the US Drug Enforcement Administration, his mother tried to talk him out of it. "I'm only one person", he told her, "but I want to make a difference."

On Feb. 7, 1985, the 37-year-old Camarena left his office to meet his wife for lunch. Five men appeared at the agent's side and shoved him in a car. One month later, Camarena's body was found. He had been tortured to death.

In honor of Camarena's memory and his battle against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin. Parents, sick of the destruction of alcohol and other drugs, had begun forming coalitions. Some of these new coalitions took Camarena as their model and embraced his belief that one person can make a difference. These coalitions also adopted the symbol of Camarena's memory, the red ribbon.

In 1988, NFP sponsored the first National Red Ribbon Celebration. Today, the Red Ribbon serves as a catalyst to mobilize communities to educate youth and encourage participation in drug prevention activities. Since that time, the campaign has reached millions of U.S. children and families.

The National Family Partnership (NFP) and its network of individuals and organizations continue to deliver his message of hope to millions of people every year, through the National Red Ribbon Campaign.

Learn more - click here.

SOBERLINK Family - Monitoring Promotes Accountability and Your Teens

What is SOBERLINK?

Soberlink is a patent pending medical device that remotely monitors a person's blood alcohol level without being physically present. Soberlink compiles a sobriety report that transmits to a web-based monitoring portal for counselors to review.

Monitoring helps promote accountability with your teenagers: 

• It is proven that families who use monitoring techniques provide their children with one more good reason to say "NO" in the face of social pressures.
  
  
• Proactive parents desire their children to be successful in every aspect of life. Most teenagers want to make the right decision, but compromise when faced with a moment of social pressure and peer expectation.
  
  
• The accountability of SOBERLINK empowers your teenager to make the right choices in the moments that matter most.

 Learn more at www.SoberLink.net.

Watch then video of how SOBERLINK works here.

Join me on Facebook  and follow me on Twitter for more information and educational articles on parenting today's teenagers.

Informed Families the Florida Family Partnership

THE NUMBER ONE REASON KIDS GIVE FOR NOT USING DRUGS IS THEIR PARENTS!  

However, 40% of parents believe they have little influence on their children's drug use. Worse, 50% of parents expect their children will use drugs. 

When we ask kids what they would like us to do to help with the drug problem, the surprising answer is "talk to our parents about drugs." 

Informed Families/The Florida Family Partnership, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is a broad-based, grass roots volunteer/parent organization that is affiliated with the National Family Partnership. Informed Families is an education, training and support center for parents, schools and communities to help raise safe, healthy and drug-free children. 

We teach people how to say no to drugs and how to make healthy choices. To reduce the demand for drugs, Informed Families has focused its efforts on educating and mobilizing the community, parents and young people in order to change attitudes. In this way we counteract the pressures in society that condone and promote drug and alcohol use and abuse. The organization educates thousands of families annually about how to stay drug and alcohol free through networking and a variety of programs and services . 

Informed Families offers children's substance abuse prevention activities in various locations throughout the State of Florida. While the agency is headquartered in Miami, other service locations include the Orlando and Pensacola Regions.

Follow PACT Prevention Coalition on Twitter.

Parents Helping Parents: Join Us on Facebook

Are you struggling with a teen that was always a good kid - now making some horrible choices?

Are they hanging out with kids that are questionable?

Did you get a report card that was less than acceptable?

Have you seen evidence of them smoking or using other substances?  Maybe drinking?

Don't be parent in denial!  You are only prolonging them getting the help they may need.  You don't want to see them get arrested - you want to see them get back on a positive road to a bright future.

Join us on Facebook - and LIKE our community of professionals, parents and educators that want to help.

Also visit www.HelpYourTeens.com for a free consultation.

Teen Gangs A Global View

By Maureen Duffy, ed
 and Scott Edward Gillig, ed

Gang activity in 14 countries, including the United States, is discussed within the larger framework of social and economic conditions.

Teen gangs are a hot issue in the United States. This volume shows the international scope of the phenomenon today. Gang activity in 14 countries, including the United States, is discussed within the larger framework of social and economic conditions. Each chapter explains the nature of the gang activity in that country; touches on the causes, such as poverty, marginalization, and self-identity problems; and heavily emphasizes the responses, including education and community-based intervention. Students and researchers will find a wealth of current information on teen gangs to mine and use for comparisons.

Order on Amazon today.

More Than Sad: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), a 501(c)(3) organization, has been at the forefront of a wide range of suicide prevention initiatives in 2010 -- each designed to reduce loss of life from suicide. We are investing in groundbreaking research, new educational campaigns, innovative demonstration projects and critical policy work. And we are expanding our assistance to people whose lives have been affected by suicide, reaching out to offer support and offering opportunities to become involved in prevention.

We are increasing the number of community-based chapters, now at 39, with two-dozen more in development. And we have a growing list of friends and supporters leading a grassroots constituency that can advocate for the policies and legislation at the state and federal levels to advance suicide prevention.

With a suicide attempt estimated to occur every minute of every day in the United States and over 34,000 lives lost each year, the importance of AFSP's mission has never been greater, nor our work more urgent.

Visit www.asfp.org for more priceless and educational information. More Than Sad offers valuable information on teen depression, suicide and other tools to help you parent  your children through difficult times.

Read more about the recent suicide pact of two teens.  Click here.

Teen Rage and Anger: Explosive Behavior

Child Rage: Explosive Anger in Kids and Teens

By Janet Lehman, MSW

Screaming fights. Destructive behavior. Volatile moods. Do your child’s anger and rage make you feel exhausted and out of control? In a recent Empowering Parents poll, Angie S. commented, “I walk on eggshells around my 15-year-old son. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I’m afraid of his explosive temper.” In that same poll, more than 50 percent of respondents said that they end up “losing control and screaming back” when their child’s anger reaches the boiling point. But matching your child’s rage with your own angry response is not the answer. Janet Lehman, MSW, explains why—and tells you how to form a plan to help you handle their behavior.

By getting you to tiptoe around him, your child is teaching you to behave differently—he’s training you to anticipate his angry outbursts.

 

As a parent, one of the most difficult things you will ever have to do is manage your child’s behavior when they are in an angry, volatile mood. Whether you refer to it as a temper tantrum or extreme rage, I believe the most important thing you can do is create a “Rage Plan” to help you handle your child’s behavior. The following 5 steps are the basis of this plan:

1. Make sure the area around your child is safe. Make sure that the area your child is in is safe and that no one can be hurt if and when he lashes out. Remove yourself and any siblings from the area. Reduce any stimulation in his vicinity. Turn off the TV, lower the lights. The idea is to let your child wear himself out. (This step applies to adolescents as well as to young children.)
2. Try to get calm: Even if emotions are running high, work to calm yourself down. Talk to your child in an even tone of voice. Tell him that his behavior is unacceptable and that you’ll speak with him when he’s calmed down. Model good behavior for your child. Remember, kids learn from their parents, which is another reason you want to remain calm. You’re teaching him appropriate ways to manage stressful situations.
3. Don’t respond to name-calling or verbal abuse. If your child is screaming things at you, calling you names, or saying you’re “the worst parent in the world,” do not respond to it. Simply leave the room or send him to his bedroom. Don’t yell back at your child because it will bring you into his rage and make you the focal point of his anger.

Read the entire article from Empowering Parents - click here.

Order your FREE trial Total Transformation program today and help you help your children and teens

Teen Drinking: Dangerous Games Teens Play

A modest meeting amongst friends on campus can be enhanced immeasurably with the introduction of a fun, buzz-inducing drinking game. Of course, drinking in general is associated with the college experience, in which young adults assert their independence by going buck wild. Such behavior usually comes with the lack of a true understanding of the consequences of alcohol, and thus reckless behavior — albeit fun behavior — ensues. Consequently, some drinking games can turn a lively shindig into a deadly or at least vomit-inducing debacle.

Here are a few to avoid if you value the function of your liver (or eyeball).

1. Vodka Eyeballing: Originating in the UK, the Vodka Eyeballing craze has spread across the Atlantic Ocean thanks to YouTube, and now it's catching on with numbskull American teens and college students. Unlike other drinking games, the feared repercussion isn't alcohol poisoning; it's the potential of losing eyesight. Vodka eyeballers test their eyeball's strength by pouring vodka directly onto it with the purpose of achieving a quicker buzz. The results can be less than pleasant, however, as the potent liquor causes the removal of eye's protective membrane covering, burning and scarring the cornea.
2. Power Hour: Partaking in Power Hour is a great way to end the night drowning in a pool of your own vomit. Traditionally, participants in the game take a shot of beer each minute for 60 minutes, ending the hour completely sloshed — if they're not sloshed much earlier. The rate of consumption at which participants are required to drink can be very unhealthy, especially if they're small in size. The rapid increase in blood alcohol content ensures a quicker buzz, thus making the game an extremely difficult one to conquer.
3. 21 for 21: Power Hour has inspired a couple of offshoot games — 21 for 21 and 60 Seconds, neither of which are any less dangerous. In the case of 21 for 21, it exclusively occurs on a participant's 21st birthday, a night of heavy drinking regardless of whether or not drinking games are involved. At the behest of one of their friends, the birthday boy or girl downs 21 shots of liquor or mixed drinks. It's a way to celebrate a rite of passage, making the most of their first night of legal drinking. But overdoing it can trigger tragic results; there are numerous documented cases of people dying of alcohol poisoning on their 21st birthdays, including one who apparently played 21 for 21.
4. 60 Seconds: Sixty Seconds is the game of choice for wannabe speed drinkers looking to prove their mettle while in the presence of their drinking buddies. Each player selects a number between one and 60, chugging a pint continuously for a minute when the second hand on the clock passes their number. The game proceeds until there's one person left standing, which usually is the problem. Just like its forerunner Power Hour, 60 Seconds causes each player's blood alcohol content to rise quickly, and as you probably know, rapid consumption can produce dire results.
5. Edward Fortyhands: When Edward Fortyhands was "in" on college campuses a few years ago, it was met with resistance by opponents of youth alcohol abuse. Notably, the chairman of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Joseph Califano, made it explicitly clear that participants could be rewarded with a trip to the morgue. The game — if you're not already familiar with it — is a race in which each participant strives to finish two forty-ounce bottles of malt liquor that are duct-taped to their hands. The inability of participants to use their hands, particularly when they need to use the bathroom, motivates them to finish fast. In some circles, upon finishing, participants must break the bottles to free themselves. So not only do they face the danger of quickly chugging a beverage with high alcohol content, but, while in their drunken stupors, their hands become recklessly operated weapons equipped with shards of glass.
6. Beat the Barman: You may notice that most games on this list are simple and to the point. None of them require a lot of thinking — just a lot of booze. Set in your favorite not-so-crowded bar, Beat the Barman involves cash, a cool bartender, quick drinking and that's it. Each participant separately orders a shot from the bartender, pays in more cash than its worth, and finishes it off before the bartender returns with change. The process repeats until a drinker falls over or the bar closes. In other words, there really are no winners; alcohol poisoning is a distinct possibility. Beat the Barman is also dangerous because the participants, in most cases, partake in the game at a bar that?s beyond walking distance from home.
7. Beer Race: A singe match of Beer Race won't cause major harm to a participant, but nobody plays just one match — and therein lies the problem. Each participant chugs a full pint of beer hoping to finish first, proving their superior manhood or womanhood — usually manhood. The first finisher indicates they're the winner by putting their empty glass on their head, and everyone else must follow by doing the same with their unfinished glasses. In most cases, the competitive spirits of the participants override reason, and they play until they're lying unconscious in a pool of their own vomit — pools of vomit are common parts of these games — ironically stripping them of their manly or womanly pride.
8. Kill the Keg: Once "Kill the Keg!" is screamed by a fellow partygoer, participation is immediate and mandatory. A few lucky guys and gals line up at the keg and down the remaining beer goodness. Of course, the actual luckiness of the guys and gals is highly dependent on when "Kill the Keg!" is yelled and how many thirsty people are attending the party. If partygoers are called to action at 9 p.m., for example, when just a handful of people are hanging around and the keg is full, then the game is much, much less enjoyable.
9. Dead Man Walk: If your primary goal is to get messed up as quick as possible, ignoring the process by which you reach that end, then Dead Man Walk is the game for you. The title is self-explanatory: participants take a drink for each step they make, seeing who can walk the farthest without face-planting. Because someone inevitably does faceplant, the game yields painful results. The authors of the game — drinking game authors are always looking out for the greater good — urge participants not to drink spirits, as the use of them "will probably result in a premature death." Sound advice.
10. Death Ring: Death Ring is a fittingly ominous title. The rules of the game are slightly complicated, so we'll refrain from detailing them here, but they are included in the link. Hopefully, the people dumb enough to partake in it are also too dumb to consistently follow the rules. The game requires a deck of cards and a few cases of beer, which tend to disappear quickly as each player takes about umpteen drinks during each of their turns. If participants escape death, they'll undoubtedly wake up the next day feeling like death.

Special Contributor: Florine Church
Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD, formerly Students Against Drunk Driving) has a mission to provide students with the best prevention tools possible to deal with the issues of underage drinking, other drug use, impaired driving and other destructive decisions. (See video on sidebar)

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