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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is releasing “Ending Conversion Therapy: Supporting and Affirming LGBTQ Youth,” a comprehensive report that provides an in-depth review of research and clinical expertise related to conversion therapy. This important new resource makes it clear that conversion therapy is not an appropriate therapeutic approach based on the evidence, and explores alternative ways to discuss sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression with young people.

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On an average day, 881,684 teenagers aged 12 to 17 smoked cigarettes, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The report also says that on an average day 646,707 adolescents smoked marijuana and 457,672 drank alcohol.

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On Wednesday, August 28th, top Administration officials, including Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and Kana Enomoto, Principal Deputy Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), will host a pen and pad media briefing to discuss current overdose trends in the United States and release a new opioid toolkit aimed at reducing the number of deaths resulting from opioid overdose by education for clinicians, patients, communities, first responders, overdose survivors, and family members. The briefing will take place ahead of International Overdose Awareness Day, a day observed each August 31st to recognize victims of overdose.

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A new report on the Synar Amendment program – a federal and state partnership aimed at ending illegal tobacco sales to minors – shows that all the states and the District of Columbia have continued to meet their goals of curtailing sales of tobacco to underage youth (those under 18). The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which sponsors the Synar program shows that the average national retailer violation rate of tobacco sales is 9.1 percent – significantly below the 20 percent target rate set by the program. While this rate represents an increase from the year before, it is the second lowest retailer violation rate in the history of the Synar program.

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A new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that people aged 12 to 49 who had used prescription pain relievers nonmedically were 19 times more likely to have initiated heroin use recently (within the past 12 months of being interviewed) than others in that age group (0.39 percent versus 0.02 percent). The report also shows that four out of five recent heroin initiates (79.5 percent) had previously used prescription pain relievers nonmedically.

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A new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that some drug-related emergency department visits increased by 300 percent -- from 5,605 visits in 2005 to 22,949 visits in 2011. These visits, made by adults aged 18 to 34, were related to the nonmedical use of central nervous system (CNS) stimulants. On average, about 30 percent of these visits also involved alcohol.

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According to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) the percentage of pregnant woman in substance abuse treatment using alcohol (with or without drug use) dropped from 46.6 percent to 34.8 percent over a ten year period. However, the report also shows that the percentage of substance abuse admissions involving pregnant women using drugs (without co-occurring alcohol use) rose from 51.1 percent to 63.8 percent during this same period.

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The Substance and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is issuing a heat advisory to alert the nation to the increased risk of heat-related illnesses for individuals with mental and substance use disorders. Children and older adults with these conditions are particularly vulnerable to elevated temperatures.

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is awarding System of Care Expansion Planning grants totaling up to nearly $4 million. The purpose of these grants is to develop a comprehensive strategic plan to expand and sustain the system of care approach to providing services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families.

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is awarding up to $750,000 to help enable opioid treatment programs to develop electronic health record systems. These systems will allow the opioid treatment programs to fulfill their regulatory requirements, achieve certified status and become interoperable with other patient health record systems. Overall these enhancements will enable opioid treatment programs to provide better service and behavioral health outcomes for their patients.

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A disaster or tragedy is unexpected and often brings out strong emotions. The Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990 can provide immediate counseling to anyone who needs help in dealing with the severe storms making their way through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Kentucky and Virginia. The Helpline is a 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week resource that responds to people who need crisis counseling after experiencing a natural or man-made disaster or tragedy.

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A new report indicates that more than one in five parents of teens aged 12 to 17 (22.3 percent) think what they say has little influence on whether or not their child uses illicit substances, tobacco, or alcohol. This report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also shows one in ten parents said they did not talk to their teens about the dangers of using tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs – even though 67.6 percent of these parents who had not spoken to their children thought they would influence whether their child uses drugs if they spoke to them.

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Administrator Pamela S. Hyde is announcing the appointment of Elinore F. McCance-Katz, M.D., Ph.D. as SAMHSA’s first chief medical officer. In this capacity she will provide medical-scientific expertise to SAMHSA’s major behavioral health efforts including those promoting the prevention of mental illnesses and substance use disorders, as well as the treatment and recovery of people from these conditions.

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A new report shows that among the approximately 57,000 teenage female (ages 12 to 19) substance abuse treatment admissions each year, about 2,000 (4 percent) involve pregnant teens. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) report finds that these pregnant teen admissions tend to face greater challenges than other female teen admissions in a number of key areas such as financial and educational status.

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A new report shows that the number of emergency department visits involving adverse reactions to the sleep medication zolpidem rose nearly 220 percent from 6,111 visits in 2005 to 19,487 visits in 2010. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) report also finds that in 2010 patients aged 45 or older represented about three-quarters (74 percent) of all emergency department visits involving adverse reactions to zolpidem.

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A disaster or tragedy is unexpected and often brings out strong emotions. The Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990 can provide immediate counseling to anyone who needs help in dealing with the tragedy in Boston. The Helpline is a 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week resource that responds to people who need crisis counseling after experiencing a natural or man-made disaster or tragedy.

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Adults aged 18 or older who experienced any mental illness or who have had a substance use disorder in the past year are more likely to smoke and to smoke more heavily than others, according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

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Youth in the 12th grade age range (ages 16 to 18) who have dropped out of school prior to graduating are more likely than their counterparts to be current users of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and other illicit drugs, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

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New reports by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) find that overall, from 2002 to 2011, the percentage of adolescents receiving substance abuse prevention messages in the past year from media fell significantly – from 83.2 percent in 2002 to 75.1 percent in 2011. School-based prevention messaging also dropped – from 78.8 percent in 2002 to 74.5 percent in 2011. The report also finds that roughly 40 percent of adolescents did not talk with their parents in the past year about the dangers of substance use.

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A new report shows that the number of emergency department visits involving attention deficit /hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) stimulant medications more than doubled from 13,379 visits in 2005 to 31,244 in 2010. The study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) finds that the greatest rates of increase in emergency department visits involving ADHD stimulant medications occurred among those aged 18 and older, while the level among those under 18 remained largely unchanged during this period.